Dan Hock's Essays

How to make your writing C.R.I.S.P.

A framework for improving your business writing with templates and an LLM prompt

Sep 4 • 

Dan Hockenmaier

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July 2025

Vibe Analysis

AI is coming for data analysis, and it will never be the same

Jul 31 • 

Dan Hockenmaier

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Build, Sell, Understand

A framework for navigating your startup career

Jul 14 • 

Dan Hockenmaier

106

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June 2025

The internet killed general-purpose products. AI will bring them back.

AI will break fundamental trade-offs in product design and bring back massive general-purpose products in retail, media, education, and more.

Jun 11 • 

Dan Hockenmaier

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February 2025

How to Design an Org for Founder Mode

Examples from Apple, Airbnb, Shopify, and Nvidia

Feb 7 • 

Dan Hockenmaier

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January 2025

Why Did DoorDash Win?

Three stories, all of which are true.

Jan 22 • 

Dan Hockenmaier

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December 2024

The Leaky Bucket Theory of Network Effects

A framework for understanding the strength of a marketplace’s network effect

Dec 9, 2024 • 

Dan Hockenmaier

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October 2024

Playing Game One

A two-minute career manifesto for ambitious people

Oct 8, 2024 • 

Dan Hockenmaier

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September 2024

How to be Strategic

The actual nature of strategic work, and how to become great at it

Sep 30, 2024 • 

Dan Hockenmaier

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August 2024

When to join a startup

Learning to assess risk will help you maximize the economic outcome of joining a startup

Aug 1, 2024 • 

Dan Hockenmaier

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February 2024

The Best Way to Drive Demand in Marketplaces is Hiding in Plain Sight

This is a joint post by Casey Winters and Dan Hockenmaier.

Published on Casey Accidental • Feb 22, 2024

Why growth models fail

Why most growth models don't get adopted, how to avoid this fate, and a template model to get you started.

Feb 14, 2024 • 

Dan Hockenmaier

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