Principles
Build the hard thing.
The most important problems live in important-but-not-urgent purgatory. That's where Cascade works: pragmatic in execution, but pointed at cures, not symptoms.
Design for effortless adoption.
The technology to solve many of the world's hardest problems already exists. The bottleneck is adoption.
Understand why, then build — and make the right thing easier than the status quo.
Pay the rent, don't take it.
We all win when big problems get solved, and we hurt the effort when we gate the solutions. Cascade stays sustainably funded, but past that threshold, ships open-source and free, even if someone else captures more of the value than we do.
Yes, potential clients can probably exploit this to negotiate me down. Please be nice. Rent is expensive.
Bottom-up.
The best outcomes come from the public square and when people with skin in the game drive their own solutions. We build tools that elevate those closest to the problem, rather than handing down answers from a distance.
Have fun.
It's a profound privilege to spend your working life applying creativity to problems that matter.
Recognize that. Enjoy the work and the people you work with. Build things that spark joy and make you smile. Don't take yourself too seriously.