Today I say goodbye to @smashing_app, which I spent the last 3 years of my life focused on. When I set out to build it I had one big idea: the internet is full of brilliant content—but most of it is nearly impossible to find. And yet, when you do find a gem, it can be so meaningful. I believed (still do!) that a better online reading experience was possible. One built around finding insightful, accurate, and relevant articles, podcasts, and blogs - not noise. One that used the power of AI to personalize recommendations based on your interests, and the wisdom of a community to surface what’s truly worthwhile. One that made you feel smarter, not more distracted. And for a while, we saw that vision come to life. But we simply didn’t grow fast enough to keep going. We weren’t able to scale it into a sustainable product. This is the hardest part of being a founder. But it's the right thing to do - keep trying new things! I don't regret a second of it. Will miss the app and community terribly. Goodbye @smashing_app!

I love 3 body problem books so this was a fascinating comparison. Basically it's too hard to be truly open and honest on the open web so most of us are doing that in safer more private spaces. This why I'm building @Smashing_App - it's easier for everyone to curate not just the forest creatures! smashing.xyz/contents/agains…

With the election tomorrow I have been trying to understand the impact of tariffs. I found, surprisingly that the top thing that helped me better understand the proposals was to read a variety of sources that supported both sides. It inspired me to write a piece on how to use @Smashing_App to better do that. I'd love to hear any top recommendations on better understanding this key issue if you have any! smashing.substack.com/p/smas…

A thing about Smashing that not everyone understands yet - you can use it to follow *any* industry or set of companies, people, places. It's like Google Alerts on steroids.

Thank you @sarahpereztc and @techcrunch for the write up! xitter.cf/TechCrunch/status/1805…

5/ This is just the beginning. Our vision: A curated, community-driven way to find content across articles, news, blogs, podcasts, videos, and more. Join our journey to make your internet better and be part of the Smashing community. Join our waitlist here: bit.ly/3xoqvJo

4/ We believe in Time Well Spent, not popularity. Smashing uses Worthwhile upvotes to prioritize meaningful content over clicks and likes. Curators who are right about what others like can earn Curator Points, which are reputation in Smashing. Our powerful AI combined with community curation delivers the best content directly to you, cutting through the endless scrolling. Smashing > scrolling.

3/ Trusted voices make all the difference. Ever ask a friend for the best thing to read on a topic you both love? That's the level of excitement we want to capture with Smashing. The internet is full of interesting articles, podcasts, and videos. I come from a long line of journalists and have a deep appreciation of the value of journalism; and yet, we live in a world where often the gems are strewn across blogs or tweets or podcasts. There is a lot of great content out there. What we have is not a content problem, it's a curation problem. 👥

2/ My wife and I cofounded Goodreads in 2007, and in my 14-year journey as its CEO I learned a lot about building community to drive discovery of books. In fact, one of the most salient things I learned was just that—community is the best way to drive discovery. Now, I’m applying what I learned to all online content! 📚✨

Everyone knows the internet is increasingly full of noise. But it’s also filled with so, so many good reads (😊). I’m thrilled to announce Smashing, a new app that helps you find the gems. We’re building a trusted community to curate the web. Join us at Smashing dot xyz 🌐 💎 1/