My First Million
In the age of AI, taste has become a crucial competitive advantage. The ability to create things that emotionally resonate with people matters more than pure technical execution. Developing good taste follows a four-step process: decide what you want to say, blindly copy people who already say it we
N/AKey Takeaway
In the age of AI, taste has become a crucial competitive advantage. The ability to create things that emotionally resonate with people matters more than pure technical execution. Developing good taste follows a four-step process: decide what you want to say, blindly copy people who already say it well, learn the underlying rules, and study the history. This isn't just about aesthetics—it's about economic success and soul-level fulfillment.
Episode Overview
This episode explores why taste is becoming one of the most important skills in the AI era and provides a practical four-step framework for developing it. The host argues that while AI makes building things easier, the ability to create work that appeals to people emotionally will become the key differentiator. Using examples from design history (the Braun T3 radio's influence on Apple), music (Dr. Dre sampling George Clinton), and his own fashion journey, he demonstrates how understanding tradition, copying intentionally, learning rules, and studying history creates authentic taste that translates to both business success and personal fulfillment.
Key Insights
Taste as Economic Moat in the AI Era
With AI democratizing the ability to build products, the hard part is no longer technical execution—it's creating things that appeal to people emotionally. Taste becomes a competitive advantage because it helps you make stuff that gets people to 'move and buy and follow.' The ability to speak to people's emotions through design, branding, and aesthetics will separate successful products from mediocre ones.
Good Taste Has a Formal Definition
According to David Marx's book 'Status and Culture,' good taste requires two things: proposing an identity that matters and is valued in your chosen community, and using lifestyle choices to clearly, congruently, and authentically communicate that identity. In simpler terms, it's determining what you want to say, choosing the right language to say it in, and learning to speak that language effectively.
The Bauhaus Movement Shows How Defiance Creates New Design Languages
After WWI, German designer Walter Gropius created the Bauhaus movement as a rejection of ornamental Victorian design that represented the old regime. The philosophy was radical simplicity: reduce everything to its essentials and only include what's necessary for the user. This movement influenced Dieter Rams' designs at Braun, which directly inspired Apple's aesthetic under Steve Jobs and Johnny Ive, showing how design philosophies cascade through generations.
Copy Work Develops Texture Recognition Before Original Creation
Just as guitar students don't start by writing original songs, developing taste requires deliberate copying before creation. Whether it's copying David Ogilvy ads word-for-word, recreating website designs pixel-by-pixel in Figma, or wearing exactly what stylish people wear, blind copying helps you learn the 'texture' of what makes something work. This practice isn't plagiarism—it's apprenticeship that builds pattern recognition.
Personal Values Drive Authentic Style Choices
The host discovered his attraction to military-influenced clothing, workwear, and Ivy style wasn't random—it reflected his Midwestern stoicism, appreciation for frontier spirit, and aspiration toward generational family traditions he didn't have growing up. Understanding the 'why' behind your aesthetic preferences reveals what identity you're trying to communicate and ensures your choices are congruent rather than arbitrary imitation.
Notable Quotes
"With the rise of AI, taste is going to be one of the biggest moats that you could possibly have. Previously, it was about who can build stuff, who could either raise the most money to hire the most engineers to make something good. That's not really the hard part anymore. The hard part now is going to be appealing to people."
"Good taste, it requires two things. One is proposing an identity that matters to be valued in the community of your choice. And the second thing is using your lifestyle choices to clearly, congruently, and authentically communicate that identity."
"One of the best ways to learn how to become a better writer is this thing called copy work where you find work that you love. So for example, I really love David Ogilvy. I would find famous David Ogilvy ads and I would spend hours every single day for six or eight months when I was in like my apprentice period and I would copy his work word for word on a piece of paper every single day because when you start copying people, you learn the texture of what makes them great."
"The definition of good taste is doing exactly what I said, which is understanding what you want to say and following the rules to say it. The definition of great taste, which we're not going to talk today, is then taking those rules and breaking them."
"Being around beautiful stuff, stuff that sings to you, it honestly makes my life happier. And a lot of times I always felt like I knew that, but I didn't have the language to describe what I liked or why I liked it."
Action Items
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1
Curate Your Inputs for One Month
Unfollow everyone on Instagram and only follow people whose aesthetic speaks to you (even if you don't know why yet). Bookmark 30-40 examples of websites, fashion, or design that resonate with your desired identity. Let the algorithm feed you similar content so you're constantly exposed to the language you want to learn to speak.
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2
Practice Deliberate Copying
Choose 3-5 examples you bookmarked and copy them exactly. If it's writing, copy ads or articles word-for-word by hand. If it's web design, recreate sites pixel-by-pixel in Figma or sketch them out. If it's fashion, buy and wear exactly what people you admire wear. This builds pattern recognition for what works and why.
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3
Study the Rules Behind What You Like
After copying, identify what category or movement your favorites belong to (Bauhaus, Ivy style, Swiss design, etc.). Read books and watch YouTube videos explaining the principles. For fashion, use books like 'Dressing the Man' to learn rules like the 'rule of thirds' for jacket length or collar shapes for face types.
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4
Connect Your Preferences to Your Values
Ask yourself why you're drawn to certain styles. What identity are they communicating? What values do they represent? Understanding this connection—like recognizing your love of workwear reflects Midwestern stoicism—ensures your taste is authentic rather than empty imitation.