What to expect on Sundays

The Compound Years is a short Sunday letter about building things, early careers and playing the long game. Each issue picks one idea. Then it shows you who said it best, what it looks like in practice, and one question to sit with. It’s written for anyone starting out who wants to get a little better every week. That includes me.

I read a lot of newsletters. Most of the best lines I’ve come across belong to someone else, so each issue is built around short quotes from people who’ve done the thing. Every quote is word for word, with the person’s name and a link to where they said it. That line above is from the PostHog team, Product for Engineers. When I’m summarising instead of quoting, I’ll say so.

Some weeks I’ll have a story of my own: building Pi-Squared and Braindex, chess, football, moving from Ireland to the US. When I do, it’ll be true and I’ll keep it short. When I don’t, you’ll get someone else’s story, told in their words. A great example from the person who lived it beats a made-up one from me every time.

Kyle Gilboy wrote that in a Substack note, and it stuck with me. This list is small, and that’s fine by me. The aim is to share what I learn along the way and be useful to hungry young people starting out, the way so many writers have been useful to me. No hype and no invented numbers. If a figure appears, it comes with a source.

Every issue ends with one question, and this is the first. Reply with a name and the one line of theirs you still remember. If it’s a good one, I might build an issue around it, with full credit to them.