Download - The Art of the Quest - Confab 2012
wQuestTHE ART OF THE
#contquest@mthomps
There are only two or three human stories,and they go on repeating themselves
as fiercely as if they had never happened before.
WILLA CATHER
MMonomythTHE
Public Domain image
Public Domain image
The Quest moves online.
iWhy Quests?
(cc) Jemimus / Flickr
344 chapters. 4,223 pages.
Quests can sprawl.
The Dark Is RisingBeowulf
The Epic of GilgameshThe Faerie Queene
The Odyssey & IliadThe Lord of the Rings
The Chronicles of NarniaStar Wars
Harry PotterA Song of Ice & Fire
The Dark Tower
They thrive on transparency.
They invite participation.
They have a template.
KQuest ObjectTHE
This is Josh Reich.
CallTO
Adventure
QUEST:
Build a better bank.
SELL THE QUESTION,not the answer.
SELL THE MISSION,not the product.
One of the more surprising things I've noticed while working on Y Combinator is how frightening the most ambitious startup ideas are. In this essay I'm going to demonstrate this phenomenon by describing some. Any one of them could make you a billionaire. That might sound like an attractive prospect, and yet when I describe these ideas you may notice you find yourself shrinking away from them.
Don't worry, it's not a sign of weakness. Arguably it's a sign of sanity. The biggest startup ideas are terrifying. And not just because they'd be a lot of work. The biggest ideas seem to threaten your identity: you wonder if you'd have enough ambition to carry them through.
PAUL GRAHAM
One of the more surprising things I've noticed while working on Y Combinator is how frightening the most ambitious startup ideas are. In this essay I'm going to demonstrate this phenomenon by describing some. Any one of them could make you a billionaire. That might sound like an attractive prospect, and yet when I describe these ideas you may notice you find yourself shrinking away from them.
Don't worry, it's not a sign of weakness. Arguably it's a sign of sanity. The biggest startup ideas are terrifying. And not just because they'd be a lot of work. The biggest ideas seem to threaten your identity: you wonder if you'd have enough ambition to carry them through.
PAUL GRAHAM
Refusal OF THE
Call
I think the way to use these big ideas is not to try to identify a precise point in the future and then ask yourself how to get from here to there, like the popular image of a visionary. You'll be better off if you operate like Columbus and just head in a general westerly direction. Don't try to construct the future like a building, because your current blueprint is almost certainly mistaken.
Start with something you know works, and when you expand, expand westward.
PAUL GRAHAM
pProtagonistsTHE
Journalist as protagonist
Company as protagonist
Company as protagonist
Company as protagonist
Company as protagonist
SupernaturalAid
User as protagonist
The most important trait ...
Empathy.
Show us your struggles.
Tell us what you don’t know.
UPlanningTHE QUEST
World Domination Plan
Personas
Themes
Questions
EducatorPersona
CurriculaTheme
How are curricula changing?Question
QUEST:
Write the ultimate guide.
Guide outline I
Guide outline II: More authority.
First post in the series.
TWinningTHE QUEST
My favorite questing engine.
My favorite questing engine.
My favorite questing engine.
July 2009.
PUBLISHING IS A
beginning,NOT AN ENDING.
APitfallsPOTENTIAL
Not everything merits a quest.
Fan capture.
FansFriends
Foreigners
FansFriends
Foreigners
FansFriends
Foreigners
Solipsism &filter failure.
MediaSite™
Your local news source.
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NEWS ARTSPLASH SPORTZBUZZ YOURVOICES HOMESLICE GO!
Real-Time News
Memorial Garden dedicated
ArtSplash
YourVoices
SportzBuzz
#brandcastle
#brandcastlen. A media experience purporting
to offer content and storytelling, but in reality obsessed primarily with how a media entity thinks of itself.
What I didn’t talk about ...
We have not even to risk the adventure alone,for the heroes of all time have gone before us —
the labyrinth is thoroughly known.
JOSEPH CAMPBELL
Thank you.
#contquest@mthomps
