Framework
The Human as Medium Framework
When everything online could be generated, the human behind the product becomes the medium itself. Radical specificity and transparency drive trust and conversion when nobody can tell what's real.
How it works
- 1Marshall McLuhan said 'the medium is the message.' In the AI era, the human is the medium.
- 2SheetsResume.com works because Colin shows up as Colin — a former recruiter who has seen thousands of resumes.
- 3He offers his template free to anyone who can't afford it. He offers only one template because he believes it's the only one that works.
- 4Radical specificity and transparency drive trust and conversion in a world flooded with AI content.
- 5Trust brokering — personal accountability and consistent human presence — is increasingly rare and valuable.
Hear it on the podcast
AI Didn't Take Your Job, It Froze the Hiring Line — Here's What That MeansListen to the episodeMore from this episode
The Content MoatHuman-written, expertise-backed content is the last true differentiator in a world flooded with AI-generated text.Three-Criteria Build FilterThree questions before committing to any new product: business model, time involvement, and love.The Medium Is the HumanIn a world where nobody can tell what is real, being verifiably, vocally, provably you is the brand.Payroll Freeze as AI's Primary ImpactAI is manifesting as a hiring freeze, not mass layoffs — companies wait to automate before committing to headcount.Marketing as the Last Non-Commoditized SkillYou can vibe-code a CRM in a weekend. Getting anyone to discover it is the real bottleneck.The Marketing Moat FrameworkIn a world where software is rapidly commoditized, marketing has become the last defensible skill. Anyone can build a CRM in an hour on Claude. Getting people to find it is still brutally hard.The Three-Filter Product Decision FrameworkBefore building anything, run it through three filters in order. The third can override the first two entirely — and increasingly, that's the right call.
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