Influences
People, publications, tools, and ideas that shape how we think about design and technology.
Influences
A living catalog of people, publications, tools, and ideas that shape how I think about design, technology, and building products. Grows over time. Agents reference this for context on what I value and who I pay attention to.
People
| Name | Domain | Why They Matter | Where to Follow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simon Willison | AI, Python, open source | Pragmatic AI engineering, builds in public | Blog, Bluesky |
| Pieter Levels | Indie hacking, AI products | Solo founder shipping profitable products fast | Blog, X |
| Julie Zhuo | Design leadership | Former VP Design at Facebook, clear design thinking | Substack |
| Lenny Rachitsky | Product management | Best product/growth newsletter out there | Substack |
| Ben Thompson | Tech business strategy | Deep analysis of tech business models | Stratechery |
| Andrew Ng | AI, education | Foundational AI thinking, The Batch newsletter | deeplearning.ai |
| Justin Welsh | Solopreneurship | Building a one-person business playbook | Blog, LinkedIn |
| Jack Clark | AI policy, research | Import AI — weekly deep dives on AI progress | Substack |
Publications & Newsletters
| Name | Domain | Format | Feed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hacker News | Tech, startups | Aggregator | RSS |
| TechCrunch AI | AI, startups | News | RSS |
| Ars Technica | Tech | News | RSS |
| The Verge | Tech, product | News | RSS |
| Platformer | Tech, business | Newsletter | RSS |
| Product Hunt | Product, startups | Daily digest | RSS |
| Latent Space | AI engineering, agents | Podcast + newsletter | RSS |
| The Rundown AI | AI tools | Daily digest | RSS |
| Indie Hackers | Solopreneurship | Community + stories | RSS |
| A List Apart | Web design | Essays | RSS |
| Smashing Magazine | Design, UX, web | Articles | RSS |
| Nielsen Norman Group | UX research | Research reports | RSS |
| Lenny's Newsletter | Product, growth | Weekly | RSS |
| Stratechery | Tech business | Daily/weekly | RSS |
| Every | AI, business | Essays | RSS |
| Dense Discovery | Design, tech | Weekly curated | Newsletter |
| Sidebar | Design | Daily 5 links | Newsletter |
| UX Collective | Design, product | Newsletter | Newsletter |
| Growth Design | UX case studies | Newsletter | Newsletter |
| TLDR AI | AI news | Daily digest | Newsletter |
| The Batch | AI roundup | Weekly | Newsletter |
| Ben's Bites | AI tools, business | Daily | Newsletter |
| Import AI | AI deep dives | Weekly | Newsletter |
| The Pragmatic Engineer | Software engineering | Weekly | Newsletter |
| Rock Health | Digital health | Reports | RSS |
| Fierce Healthcare | Healthcare industry | News | RSS |
Tools & Products I Admire
| Name | Why |
|---|---|
| Linear | Clean design, developer-friendly, opinionated |
| Arc Browser | Rethinking a stale category with bold UX |
| Obsidian | Vault-first, local-first, extensible |
| Claude | Obviously |
Books & Talks
(Add as encountered)
Last updated: 2026-02-24 To add an influence: just tell Claude in any session or Slack message. It gets cataloged here.