Why I write a weekly newsletter for my own company

Almost a year ago I started a habit that, as a founder, I wish I’d implemented much earlier.

Every week I write up some informal notes, so everyone at Rasa can see what I’m thinking about. People comment, start discussions, and refer back to them in conversation.

It’s one of those things that’s so obvious in hindsight. As a founder, you have an enormous information privilege because you get pulled into so many discussions. This gives you a uniquely broad view of what customers are saying, what potential customers are asking about, what product and engineering are cooking up, and so on.

Also, having been in this space for a while means I’m connected to a lot of smart people in conversational AI. I get to learn a lot from them and share that with the team.

These conversations, internal and external, are constantly shaping and evolving how I think about our strategy.

Writing down my notes gives me a way to think out loud and tap into the collective brain of the company.

It’s also a way to influence without dictating. You can nudge teams to look at a particular challenge or explore a specific direction.

Here’s the format I use. It’s in four sections:

1. Shouts & murmurs — noteworthy things I heard in conversations with people outside of Rasa
2. Information diet — what I’ve been reading
3. Cool projects — repos I found on GitHub, new models, new products, etc.
4. Data — some data I found interesting or worth sharing

It’s kind of like a newsletter, but one that anyone can comment on. People at Rasa really like it, and I can highly recommend giving it a try.