Those of us living in the modern world are spoiled by convenience. Businesses are thriving on making things more and more convenient. Ordering food to your door, hailing a ride from your phone, same-day delivery, streaming music online, wearing a computer on your face, credit cards… the list of products goes on and spans every industry over hundreds of years.

The common thread between these advancements is that they save time and ease pain more than the incumbent solutions. This convenience almost always comes from simplification of the task at hand. Simplicity begets convenience. Convenience begets customers.

But, where does that simplicity come from? How is it achieved? How is it mastered? …

On December 4th, I joined Splice as Director of Product. I want to share the story of how I got here and why I believe Splice will become the most transformative company in music technology.

It Started With My Journey To Become a Producer

Most of you know me for creating Secret, an anonymous social network for your friends. I left Secret in January of 2015, and around that time, Justin Kan told me he wanted to build a music studio in his new co-working space. I’d always been interested in making music and had spent a good amount of time dabbling. So, I offered to help.

At the time, I was very into bass music and admired artists like RL Grime, Flosstradamus, and What So Not. I loved the way their bewitching drops ignited something primal inside of me and I wanted to make tracks that made people feel that same way, but with my own touch. The problem was, I was a total newbie when it came to music production. …

Apple is misplaying the hand Steve built, making themselves vulnerable to competition for the first time since iPod.

When Apple was ahead, they made bold moves

Apple has always been at least one step ahead of the competition in hardware advancements and software experience. To switch to Android or Windows, you’d have to give up functionality, user experience and access to the latest and greatest apps. The switching cost to move to a competitor was very high.

Apple used this position to gain the upper-hand in partnerships — deal terms were often in their favor. It also gave them leverage on the consumer side. We were more willing to tolerate buying new adapters for their Apple devices because the upside was worth it. This year, they doubled down on the “f*ck you” playbook instead of making major leaps in technology to bolster the position that allowed them to use the playbook in the first place. …

I spend a good amount of time advising people on product design. I define product design as the empathic decision-making process from the inkling of an idea to the moment it reaches product-market-fit. This has always been a very introverted process for me, and at times I find it challenging to articulate my advice from an intellectual standpoint. The process is more sensory than cerebral. And then today it hit me — product design is no different from traditional art forms, except the paint brush is empathy and the canvas is human behavior.

Let me explain, through music. 🎶

Since my early 20s, I’ve had a swelling desire to create music. Last May, I had an opportunity to help build a music studio in my friend Justin’s new apartment. I had limited knowledge, but unlimited excitement, so I gladly obliged. And for 4 months, I spent 8-16 hours a day as the only producer in the studio and published eight full songs — an average of 40 hours of work each. I was probably there more than Justin himself (thanks guys!). …

You wake up in the morning and fumble around your bed to find your phone, cursing yourself because you forgot to plug it in. Thankfully, it still has 18%. You open the screen and plug your phone back into the charger and your nervous system. New emails have come in while you were asleep, some new Tinder matches, an alert from your bank and dozens of desperate Twitter notifications about people you don’t even know. It’s too much to process right now, so you lock your phone and squirrel away your future dopamine hits.

We’re constantly being peppered by notifications. On average, we get about 65 notifications each day*, roughly the same amount of sips of water we take daily. That’s one notification every 16 minutes during waking hours, and each is a chance to interrupt you and deplete your willpower. …