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← People and their mental models

Peter Steinberger's mental models

9 claims Peter Steinberger made fit 5 mental models. Most often: Bottlenecks, Value moves to what stays scarce, Make it real. Everything they said here.

Models we see in what they say

Our reading: their claim applies the idea without naming it. The claim is theirs; filing it here is ours.

Bottlenecks

A system moves only as fast as its narrowest point; speed up anything else and nothing changes.

Used by 88 others

The binding constraint on agent work is machines, not models: a cloud session is easy for web work and almost every tool fails the moment the job needs macOS.

  1. Peter Steinberger Founded PSPDFKit in 2011 and ran it for a decade Now, if I do web stuff, it's easy to create a cloud session. If I do like something that requires Mac OS, that's already where like 99% of the tools fail me. Peter Steinberger: "Fun Is Velocity"youtube.com · 10 Aug 2026 · 35:26 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Now, if I do web stuff, it's easy to create a cloud session. If I do like something that requires Mac OS, that's already where like 99% of the tools fail me.

    Watch from 35:26 plays here

    ↗Peter Steinberger: "Fun Is Velocity"youtube.com

    10 Aug 2026 · video · 41m · spoken · machine transcript

Using synchronous database access when moving OC to SQLite became limiting once one agent might run 50 parallel sessions used by a whole team.

  1. Peter Steinberger Founded PSPDFKit in 2011 and ran it for a decade The biggest design mistake I made when we moved OC to sqlite: using sync db access. When it was just an agent that reports to you on Slack or iMessage this was fine; now that one agent might do 50 sessions in parallel and the whole team works on it, it is limiting. @steipete on Xx.com · 26 Sept 2026
    The biggest design mistake I made when we moved OC to sqlite: using sync db access. When it was just an agent that reports to you on Slack or iMessage this was fine; now that one agent might do 50 sessions in parallel and the whole team works on it, it is limiting.

Value moves to what stays scarce

When something becomes cheap and plentiful, the value moves to whatever is still rare next to it.

Used by 59 others

Now that anyone can build fast, the hardest problem in starting something is not the tech, the software or the people, but getting attention.

  1. Peter Steinberger Founded PSPDFKit in 2011 and ran it for a decade Second of all is I hope you worked on your personal brand and on visibility because in this day and age there's so much noise out there that your hardest problem is not the tech, it's not the software, not even the people. The hardest problem now is like getting eyeballs. Peter Steinberger: "Fun Is Velocity"youtube.com · 10 Aug 2026 · 40:20 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Second of all is I hope you worked on your personal brand and on visibility because in this day and age there's so much noise out there that your hardest problem is not the tech, it's not the software, not even the people. The hardest problem now is like getting eyeballs.

    Watch from 40:20 plays here

    ↗Peter Steinberger: "Fun Is Velocity"youtube.com

    10 Aug 2026 · video · 41m · spoken · machine transcript

Pick something hard and boring: fun problems are the crowded ones now that anybody can prompt a thing into existence.

  1. Peter Steinberger Founded PSPDFKit in 2011 and ran it for a decade Maybe I would pick something again that's that's in the category hard and boring because that's usually a category that is a little bit easier to actually find people that will appreciate when you solved something. If you pick something that is fun, even if it's hard, you're gonna have a very tough time, especially in a time where people can just prompt things into existence. Peter Steinberger: "Fun Is Velocity"youtube.com · 10 Aug 2026 · 40:35 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Maybe I would pick something again that's that's in the category hard and boring because that's usually a category that is a little bit easier to actually find people that will appreciate when you solved something. If you pick something that is fun, even if it's hard, you're gonna have a very tough time, especially in a time where people can just prompt things into existence.

    Watch from 40:35 plays here

    ↗Peter Steinberger: "Fun Is Velocity"youtube.com

    10 Aug 2026 · video · 41m · spoken · machine transcript

He would rather read your broken English than your AI-written text; we are reaching the point where typos are valuable again.

  1. Peter Steinberger Founded PSPDFKit in 2011 and ran it for a decade But I much rather read your broken English than your AI slob. You know, of course there's a human behind it, and yet they, they prompt it. I'd much rather read your prompt than what came out. Um, I think we're reaching a point where I value typos again. OpenClaw: The Viral AI Agent that Broke the Internet - Peter Steinberger | Lex Fridman Podcast #491youtube.com · 12 Feb 2026 · 2:48:36 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    But I much rather read your broken English than your AI slob. You know, of course there's a human behind it, and yet they, they prompt it. I'd much rather read your prompt than what came out. Um, I think we're reaching a point where I value typos again.

Make it real

Build a prototype; it settles arguments a description cannot.

Used by 25 others

Bringing a colleague a feature idea rather than a built, screenshotted prototype now wastes everyone's time, because most ideas die the moment you try to build them.

  1. Peter Steinberger Founded PSPDFKit in 2011 and ran it for a decade At the same time, at work, if you come to me and you you tell me this feature idea, I'm going to get mad at you. Like, it's so easy that you just discuss the feature idea with an agent, you build it, you make screenshots, you let me play with it. Peter Steinberger: "Fun Is Velocity"youtube.com · 10 Aug 2026 · 28:11 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    At the same time, at work, if you come to me and you you tell me this feature idea, I'm going to get mad at you. Like, it's so easy that you just discuss the feature idea with an agent, you build it, you make screenshots, you let me play with it.

    Watch from 28:11 plays here

    ↗Peter Steinberger: "Fun Is Velocity"youtube.com

    10 Aug 2026 · video · 41m · spoken · machine transcript

Moats

What protects a business is whatever a rival cannot copy, and that is rarely the software.

Used by 10 others

Anything you build can be forked or cloned, but your name cannot — so your personal brand matters more than any single product you will ever start.

  1. Peter Steinberger Founded PSPDFKit in 2011 and ran it for a decade Everything that everything you can build can be forked or cloned, but your name cannot. So your personal brand is way more important than any single product that you ever will start working on that before you need it. Peter Steinberger: "Fun Is Velocity"youtube.com · 10 Aug 2026 · 12:48 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    Everything that everything you can build can be forked or cloned, but your name cannot. So your personal brand is way more important than any single product that you ever will start working on that before you need it.

    Watch from 12:48 plays here

    ↗Peter Steinberger: "Fun Is Velocity"youtube.com

    10 Aug 2026 · video · 41m · spoken · machine transcript

Second-order thinking

Ask "and then what?": follow a decision past its first effect to the ones that come after.

Used by 86 others

With agents a new feature is one prompt away, which means the whole cost of a feature has moved to what happens after you ship it.

  1. Peter Steinberger Founded PSPDFKit in 2011 and ran it for a decade You know features are the fun part. A new feature is is just a prompt away. The real cost comes after every feature we shipped of course with a configuration option because we didn't want to break everyone's setup. Peter Steinberger: "Fun Is Velocity"youtube.com · 10 Aug 2026 · 16:33 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    You know features are the fun part. A new feature is is just a prompt away. The real cost comes after every feature we shipped of course with a configuration option because we didn't want to break everyone's setup.

    Watch from 16:33 plays here

    ↗Peter Steinberger: "Fun Is Velocity"youtube.com

    10 Aug 2026 · video · 41m · spoken · machine transcript