Today’s Loose Ends looks at why “good enough” software is winning, how thinking in centuries changes what founders build, and a strangely compelling Kindle-style phone case. Small shifts, long horizons, and products that quietly earn their place.

There’s a quiet downgrade happening in how people choose tools — and it’s intentional.

For years, software sold aspiration: best-in-class, all-in-one, infinitely customisable. Today, more users are deliberately choosing good enough.

Not because they don’t care. Because they care about different things.

“Good enough” software:

This shift isn’t about price sensitivity. It’s about cognitive load.

People are tired of configuring tools instead of using them. Tired of feature creep masquerading as progress. Tired of being asked to learn systems that exist to justify their own complexity.

The winners now aren’t the most powerful products. They’re the least demanding ones.

That’s why simple, opinionated tools keep displacing flexible platforms. Constraints reduce decision fatigue. Defaults beat options.

For startups, this changes the game.

Differentiation no longer comes from capability. It comes from restraint. Knowing what not to build is now a competitive advantage.

The irony is that “good enough” tools often outperform their sophisticated competitors — not because they’re better, but because they actually get used.

In saturated markets, simplicity isn’t a design choice.

It’s survival.

Masayoshi Son, founder of SoftBank, operates on a 300-year vision. While most founders think in quarters or years, Son makes decisions assuming he’ll be wrong in the short term—but right over decades.

⏱️ Son’s core idea:
The longer your time horizon, the fewer people you’re competing with.

🧠 Why founders rarely do this:

📐 What long-term thinking unlocks:

🛠️ Try this:
Ask: If this only paid off in 5 years, would it still be worth doing? If yes, short-term noise matters less than staying the course.

In a tangled startup, Son’s lesson is powerful: patience isn’t passive—it’s a strategic moat.

(Insight inspired by Masayoshi Son)

A clip-on e-ink display that turns your smartphone into a distraction-free reading device. The InkCase i7 mirrors selected content from your phone onto an e-ink screen—notifications, Kindle books, calendars—without glare or notifications pulling you back in.

Deeply niche and a little strange. But for people who want phone utility without phone dopamine, it’s a clever physical hack rather than another app.

Your weekly haul of tools, links, and discoveries worth stealing.

That’s All Folks

Before you go:

Until next time,

Connor / Loose Ends