1. Survey Papers Summarizing Advances in Machine Learning by Eugene Yan. Machine learning survey papers across subjects including Recommendation Systems, Deep Learning, NLP, Embedding and more.
  2. Where Are All the Robots by Rajat Bhageria at Techcrunch. Futuristic thinking led us believe that we’d be surrounded by far more robots today than we actually are. Successful robotics companies largely operate within controlled industrial environments. However, there’s plenty of opportunity in unconquered fields. 
  3. Curators Are the New Creators by Gaby Goldberg. With increasingly abundant information, the value creation shifts towards those who can curate high-quality content.
  4. On Systems – Living a Life of Zero Willpower by Neel Nanda. A collection of life adjustments to increase productivity at a given level of willpower. This pointed me towards the “have a work session with a stranger” tool Focusmate, which I have been using ever since. 
  5. When The Magic Happens by Morgan Housel. Housel argues that the most groundbreaking innovation happens during disaster. “It’s doubtful that business owners and entrepreneurs would have so urgently found new efficiencies without the record threat of business failure.”
  6. Pinduoduo: Injecting Tech into Agriculture presentation at Worldbank. How the social e-commerce platform Pinduoduo uses co-operatives to secure and improve the output of its farmers. A double-edged sword. 
  7. Leadership’s Role in Fixing the Analytics Models that COVID-19 Broke by Burkhardt, Fernandez Naveira, Giovine, and Govindarajan at McKinsey. Unexpected events wreak havoc on analytical models, as seen in the performance of sophisticated models during the pandemic. To strengthen analytics strategies, systems need to become more agile, real-time, and diverse.
  8. Visualizing Uncertainty – A Short Introduction by Levontin and Walton (2020) for the Decision Makers Network. While uncertainty is information in itself, it is difficult to present clearly in a chart or visualization. The paper contains a summary of scientific research as well as best practices for visualization. 
  9. How to Build a Super App by Ryan Rodenbaugh at East Meets West. Eastern countries have leap-frogged the app with Super Apps that offer a range of services, all building on shared tech and user information.
  10. What’s Your Favourite New SaaS Product? Tweet by angel investor Jason Calacanis, which has turned into a goldmine of SaaS product recommendations. Roam and Notion seem to draw a lot of excitement.