Essay · Medium read (about 20 to 30 minutes)

The Great Online Game

Packy McCormick · Not Boring (notboring.co) Free Beginner

This is the essay that names the shift you're betting on: online, your reputation and reach are no longer tied to where you live, who you know, or a boss's opinion of you. McCormick frames the internet as one open game anyone can play by being curious, sharing, and helping in public, with limited downside and large upside. Read it as encouragement to start, not a guarantee, then go do the unglamorous daily posting the other two resources describe.

  • Financial and social capital are no longer bound to your location or credentials, which is exactly the constraint an out-of-hub founder feels.
  • The game rewards sharing, curiosity, and helping without keeping score, so generosity in public is a real strategy, not just a nice idea.
  • Small, consistent moves (a tweet, a post, a project shared openly) compound into opportunities that would never have found you offline.
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The question it answers

  1. I'm building outside the big startup hubs with no local network, can I still build an audience that matters?

Read with it

  1. This is the essay that names the exact problem: most online writing blurs together because it is neither personal,... perell.com Essay · Long read The Ultimate Guide to Writing Online David Perell
  2. Arvid Kahl built and sold a SaaS, then grew a real audience of tens of thousands almost entirely online, from outside any... Apple Podcasts Podcast · Ongoing series, most episodes 20 to 40 minutes The Bootstrapped Founder Arvid Kahl
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