Weird Behavior Predicts Trends

Shaan Puri shares his evolution from dismissing unusual behaviors to actively seeking them out, recognizing that what seems weird today could be mainstream tomorrow. He learned this lesson after mocking esports early on, only to later become a director of esports when his company was acquired by Twitch.

Key Points:

• Approach to Unusual Behaviors:

  • Instead of judging weird behaviors, lean in with curiosity
  • Ask questions to understand the phenomenon: why people do it, how many others do it
  • Look for communities and patterns around unusual behaviors

• Philosophy on Future Trends:

  • "The future is already here, it's just not everywhere"
  • People doing weird stuff are often living in the future
  • Find people who already live in the future to understand what's coming

• Learning from Past Mistakes:

  • Initially dismissed esports as weird/nerdy behavior
  • Years later, it became a multi-billion dollar industry
  • Personal embarrassment led to changing approach to new phenomena

• Pattern Recognition:

  • Look for instances where something sounds silly at first but ends up working
  • Study cases where people dismissed ideas that later became successful
  • Try to avoid making the same dismissive mistakes others have made

• Practical Application:

  • When encountering something unusual, pull up a chair and learn more
  • Look for communities (like subreddits) that form around these behaviors
  • Treat weird behaviors as potential indicators of future trends

This perspective suggests that being open-minded to unusual behaviors and actively studying them can help identify future trends before they become mainstream.