ideas that refuse to die

• some ideas are like cockroaches - they survive everything and thank fuck for that
• while you’re grinding at your 47th startup, let’s talk about five people who actually changed the world
• spoiler alert: none of them had a series A

coluche’s legacy

• french comedian sees people starving, gets pissed off
• doesn’t write a medium post or create a DAO
• just starts feeding people - fucking feeds them
• today: 140 million meals and 73,000 volunteers
• no blockchain required - compassion scales better than your revolutionary app

l’abbé pierre’s shelter movement

• saw homeless people and decided “nah, fuck that”
• started with one shelter while bureaucrats filled forms
• now emmaus runs 350+ communities in 41 countries
• didn’t need permission or whitepaper
• just built shit that mattered

jesus and love revolution

• no pitch deck, no team page, no investors
• walked around telling people to love each other and forgive enemies
• radical shit even today
• 2.4 billion followers later, still trending
• call that product-market fit if you want to be a dick about it

satoshi’s disappearance

• dropped most important financial innovation since money itself
• then ghosted everyone - no ted talks, no podcast circuit
• no crypto influencer bullshit
• solved a problem and disappeared
• trillion-dollar market later, we’re still processing what happened
• pure cypherpunk-legacy - build the tool, skip the glory

einstein’s patent clerk revolution

• patent clerk by day, universe-hacker by night
• didn’t wait for credentials or permission to think differently
• “hey, maybe everything we know about physics is wrong” - proved it
• a century later, your GPS works because this dude couldn’t stop asking “what if?”

the pattern of immortal ideas

Simple Idea ──► Open Evolution ──► Unstoppable Impact

• none started with market research or competitive analysis
• they started with people giving enough of a shit to solve real problems
• feed people, shelter people, love people, fix money, understand reality

viral ideas of hope

• not all immortal ideas are good (racism, you persistent piece of shit)
• but ones that make humans better are like viruses of hope
• they mutate, spread, refuse to die
• don’t care about your quarterly targets

building something that outlasts

• want to build something that outlasts your startup’s runway?
• stop trying to be the next zuck - nobody needs another zuck
• we need people crazy enough to solve real problems
• your idea doesn’t need your ego, personal brand, or vision board
• just needs to be real
• embrace open-everything - let your idea evolve beyond you

ideas don’t die. people do. build accordingly.

See also

• ml/blog/cypherpunk-legacy.md
• ml/blog/open-everything.md