Hello and welcome! In this episode of Ally’s Newsletter we will continue in our everlasting search for inspiration by following a whim - specifically, the photo below that we’ll talk about shortly.

I was scrolling on Unsplash and Pexels when I came across a photo that really made me pause.

Normally, I would move past that moment of awe and get something productive done. But, this newsletter isn’t about being productive. It’s intentionally creating a messy space to play, learn and be inspired, so I thought I’d do some research on it.

To be, or not to be: a supertree

This is a real photo of a real place, and it’s called the Supertree Grove in Singapore.

Singapore, not satisfied with being known as ‘The Garden City’ (because of its beautiful parks and green space), is striving to instead be known as the ‘City in a Garden’, and they are well on their way to achieving that.

The entire 250 acre ecosystem was meticulously designed so that everything from the irrigation system to the energy usage is sustainable.

For instance, as part of the irrigation system, they built lakes and put aquatic plants within the lake to clean the water and reduce nitrogen levels in the water (reducing the growth of algae, which ruins water quality).

In order to cool the glass domed conservatories within the Grove, they leverage state-of-the-art cooling methods with efficient energy consumption. And 7 of the 18 Supertrees are designed to harvest solar energy, which are used at night to light up the Supergrove.

And on top of all that, each of the Supertrees are sustainable vertical gardens. They host over 162,900 different plants.

Threads is actually kinda fun

Ok, now back to my usual forte - tech!

Meta takes on Twitter. People were already looking to leave Twitter because of a number of unpopular product decisions made by Elon, and now Zuck has launched Threads, which is basically a mirror image of Twitter, THIS WEEK.

Why would people join Threads over Bluesky or Mastadon? Because they can port their Instagram followers into Threads.

Having just created an account myself, I have to admit it’s kinda… fun. I hate the idea of another Zuck app doing well, but I also love testing out new products. Regardless of whether this pans out in the long run, follow me on Threads.

Do you know how to measure product market fit? A real question.

Why is no one talking about the fact that there’s a leading indicator for product market fit? It seems like most people I know who’re building products from the ground up are not talking about measuring the only known measurement for whether or not you have PMF and it puzzles me.

It applies to both web2 and web3 products, btw.

A quote worth pondering

“Questions are very resilient. Advice is context dependent, whereas questions are very adaptable.” - James Clear

^Note to self to ask more questions and say less statements!

Thanks for meandering with me around Supertrees and experimenting with Threads.

If this newsletter is making you smile or is useful to you in some other way, subscribe and we’ll stay in touch.

Have a great weekend!

Ally