15) To have an impact, we have to leave the lab. We must explore better thinking with people outside the bubble whose interests go far beyond note-taking and PKM. We must explore this with poets, teachers, students, managers, and researchers.
Conversation
16) These people don’t get brownie points for accurately following a suggested workflow. These people benefit from generating, embodying, and applying new insights and ideas.
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17) We started Napkin as a self-funded, execution-oriented exploration company. While there is still more to learn than known, we are not a research company. We are focused on providing practical value along the way and started with a working prototype right from the beginning.
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18) Our hypothesis:
The system has to be beautiful. You have to want to use it.
The system has to be simple. The cognitive load required by using the system must be minimized so more cognitive bandwidth is available for the content.
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19) The system has to be effective. Relevant connections must be shown, and building upon them has to come with a low threshold.
The system has to allow for the emergence of structures. Nobody knows ahead of time which questions have to be answered.
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20) The system has to be timeless. Starting a thinking process with a blank page means wasting all ideas we encountered previously.
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21) In May, we opened the beta. Everybody who feels like supporting our exploration can do so by using the prototype and providing critical feedback.
Our supporters get access to an experimental web app that is far from “done” but stands out in several points already.
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22) Dynamic interface: Most note-takers don’t revisit their notes. It sounds ridiculous, but it's true. Taking a step back, this makes perfect sense. How often would you open Spotify if you had to know the song you want to hear in advance and then had to search for it explicitly?
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23) Napkin resurfaces relevant notes automatically. Related notes attract each other, while unrelated notes push each other away. The navigation is playful and reaches from serendipitous browsing to a focused stream of thoughts.
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24) Connecting notes automatically: Collecting ideas shouldn’t feel like work. We have enough todos already. Our read-later app, our email inbox, and our bookmarks. These things need time, and they let us know about it. Often instilling a feeling of work overload.
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25) This is poison for creative thinking. So we implemented AI doing the work for you. Every note you take or send in automatically gets tagged and connected to your previous notes. Of course, you can edit the tags easily, but it feels good not to have to do it.
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26) Outlining opinion pieces: Napkin is none-hierarchical and none-linear. Every note, independently of source and time created, can be connected with every other note. This is great for inspiration but not sufficient for forming an argument.
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27) We implemented Stacks. Stacks are micro-collections in which you can outline ideas in a linear order, drag and drop them until you have the perfect scaffolding for your next op-ed or a Twitter thread, and then export it to your favorite text editor via the clipboard.
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28) Compared with our vision, this is the first step, but the combination of functions already leads to a remarkable experience. It is the most effortless way we know to connect the dots.
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29) We are deeply grateful for the support we have from beautiful minds across the globe. Our supporters come from over 75 countries. The youngest is 18, from Japan, the oldest is 82, and from the U.S.
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30) We are allowed to witness Napkin’s application across a wide array of cultures, milieus, and use cases. Nothing is more motivating than helping people to live a more inspired life. ❤️🧠🚀
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31) We are grateful for everybody spreading the word. 🙏 Sharing this thread works best with the first tweet:
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1) Napkin is not about better note-taking. It is about better thinking. And note-taking is only one part of it. Our point of view...
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