Old New Old New Old New Old New Old New Old New Old New Old New Old New Old New Old New Old New

The 1964 mental model for separating business value from modern hype.

Why Startups Need to Understand the Lindy Effect —

Startups chase the new

The Problem

New frameworks.

New growth hacks.

New strat- egies.

New trend

50% of startups die between years 2 and 5.

years 2 and 5.

startups

die

between

50% of

on trends

that don't last.

They rely

Why?

Why?

Survival is evidence

The Idea

1964. Lindy's Deli.

Broadway comedians...

noticed a pattern.

the longer you'll last.

The longer you last,

White Dotted Arrow

The Lindy Effect.

Taleb named it

Taleb named it

The Lindy Effect.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb / Wikipedia

For perishable things,

age means death.

Humans age.

Machines break.

Perishable things

die with time.

For non-perishables — ideas, technologies, brands —

age means strength.

Ideas spread.

Technologies adapt.

Non-perishable things

strengthen with time.

Expect 40 more.

Expect 40 more.

A book in print for 40 years?

Wait and watch.

Wait and watch.

The one that just became a bestseller?

Scribbled Underline

Still default.

Decades old.

Arrow

Email.

Spread-sheet.

PC.

Scribbled Underline

Brief lives.

Big noise.

Arrow

Segway.

Quibi.

HD-DVD.

What do we learn?

The Takeaway

Survival is the

We Learn That

strongest signal.

New is risky.

Old is tested.

Build on what

time has kept.

- Keep upskilling.

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