Hardbound: Why I invest in weird magic

Hardbound.co

The team behind Hardbound launched their mobile app last week. They reached #1 on Product Hunt and captured the ever-fleeting attention of tech Twitter. A few founders asked me why I invested so I thought it would be valuable to share my perspective more broadly.

I had heard Nathan Bashaw’s name (Founder/CEO) surface in conversation a few times recently. We share many mutual friends. Each spoke highly of him and said he was “working on something interesting.” Not only is Nathan intelligent, creative and ambitious, but he had previously seen success at Product Hunt, Olark and General Assembly.

One of the most impressive things about Nathan is his conviction in the inevitability of Hardbound’s success. He constantly talked about product roadmap milestones revolving around the acquisition of millions of users during our first conversation. This wasn’t some bullshit fundraising ploy, but rather a deep, authentic belief in what he’s building.

As democratization of information accelerates, platforms are competing for the finite resource of human’s time and attention. Certain products defy logic by easily capturing attention. These products usually possess something I call “weird magic.” It’s hard to articulate exactly what weird magic is, but you know it when you see it.

It’s one part weird, one part magic. It’s the perfect combination of awkwardness and entertainment. At first glance, you’re overwhelmed with beauty, functionality and the need to calibrate yourself to the software. It’s the purest form of engagement.

Most people focus on content, rather than the platform, when talking about entertainment. But instead of focusing only on the content, what if you built a platform that was entertaining regardless of the content? This is what excites me about Hardbound’s vision.

I believe that habitual products are built by blending entertainment into structural pipes that make users forget there was an intentionality behind the software — or in other words, habitual products are a combination of core, novel features.

Hardbound does this with it’s “tap to read more” functionality. I quickly realized I was experiencing the next story-telling format after reading the first story. Each tap of the screen unlocked more content. Not only was I compelled to see what was waiting on the next screen, but I was quickly addicted. Dopamine is one powerful drug.

With such thoughtfulness and novelty built into Hardbound’s app, it’s easy to lose sight of this team or the macro trends that make the timing right for the next great story-telling format. It’s encouraging to see so many people passionately supporting Hardbound — this is only the beginning.

I’m excited to see the product evolve over time and feel fortunate that Nathan felt Full Tilt Capital was the right partner.

Stay tuned!

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