I made a song

If you’re new here: Hi, I’m Ryan Hoover, founder of Product Hunt and early-stage investor at Weekend Fund. I also helped write Hooked and occasionally publish essays. This newsletter highlights my latest experiments, essays, and curiosities. If someone forwarded this to you, subscribe alongside 20K others here. :)

I'm mixing up my newsletter format, inspired by Michael Karnjanaprakorn's newsletter, Tings.

Rather than simply forwarding a copy of my latest blog post, I'll share more of what I'm exploring in an effort to spark serendipity. And as a reminder, the reply button works. :)

So, here's what's going on:

1. Sometimes I dabble in Ableton. I'm a noob. Here’s a track I made using the words from David Spinks' blog post, Finding Enoughness; text-to-voice models from Eleven Labs; and text-to-image models from DALL-E 3 for the album art. Listen here.

2. I've been listening to a lot of dub techno lately with my new Sonos Ace headphones. It gets me into a flow state. Enjoy this mix.

3. I appreciate this quote from Jean-Michel Basquiat: "Art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time." (h/t Daniel Ek).

4. I'm interested in novel funding models as a means to support genuine, driven people. Michael Karnjanaprakorn published Seed Stage Philanthropy. In it, he quotes Nadia Asparouhova: "Returns are measured by social capital: if a grantee does something admirable or interesting in the world, they make you look good." IMO, social capital is undervalued, especially today where it's easier than ever to convert respect, trust, and reputation into other forms of capital. I might write a post on this later.

5. It's hard out there for first-time fund managers. The graph below is a bit deceptive. It only includes announcements in Q1 of this year, but the decline from 2021's peak is dramatic. Signature Block plug: Here are some tips for those raising from LPs.

6. I've been wrestling with knee pain off and on for several months. This has led me down the peptides rabbit hole (again). I’m now taking CJC-1295 Ipamorelin, BPC-157, and TB4. Six weeks in, my knees feel better, although it’s difficult to know how much peptides influenced my recovery. Nevertheless, I’m almost ready to get back on the padel court. :)

7. If you know me, you know I love Philz Coffee. But when I'm home, I drink Cometeer decaf. It's delicious and easy. Use this link for $20 off.

8. A few weeks ago I tweeted my number, 415-741-1771, and offered text-based accountability to solo founders. Over 200 people reached out, eager to pay. I accepted 12 founders and just wrapped up the two-week project. Feedback was very positive, but I decided to end the experiment. Here's the retro.

9. In less fun news, I had dental surgery a few weeks ago to address (thankfully non-visible) recessions. Not fun. My face is no longer swollen and I can eat normal foods. I go in later today for a checkup. 🤞🏼

10. Here's a thread of free startup ideas. YMMV.

11. I recently added rock climbing to my fitness stack. I enjoy the social aspects of climbing – the culture is particularly positive and welcoming to newbies. If you're in Miami and climb, let me know. A new gym called Velocity recently opened.

12. A friend of mine sent me this video: How To Be Alone. It’s beautiful.

13. Newsletters I’m following: Michael’s Tings, Anu’s Working Theorys, and Justin’s The Next.

Until next time. ✌🏼

– Ryan (@rrhoover)