Smash Notes

Back to Can You Engineer Serendipity?, with Evan Baehr & Chris Taylor.

What Is Rosedale?

Rosedale is a physical room Zac Solomon runs for serious, non-dogmatic argument. The project started very niche. Zac Solomon seeded it through X with a lot of newsletters. About a year in, it changed and became much broader. The room itself is broader still.

The wider room filters for how people communicate, the rigor of the discussion, and a non-dogmatic approach. A person can stress-test an idea they do not necessarily believe. Nobody holds them accountable. The talk is not online, so a crazy comment is not held against the person who said it. The room tries to find a deeper truth together.

Filmmakers come in often. Writing is not required unless the person is a screenwriter. The earlier circle and Rosedale overlap, and the room is built to go past writing alone.

Transcript

Can You Engineer Serendipity? ·

Austin Next

More from this episode

  1. Why Do University of Texas Grads Work in the Bay?Evan Baehr says top CS students at UT and the Austin companies that want engineers keep missing each other.
  2. What Is Serendipity Manufacturing?Chris Taylor says serendipity manufacturing is mostly the room.
  3. Why Did Less Writing Make a Writing Club Happier?Zac Solomon says a writing club is really about talking to other people. People use the writing as the excuse for showing up.
  4. Why Is Fridge Starting to Charge Event Hosts?Chris Taylor says a big benefit of being a Fridge member is throwing events in the space for free once the group is above 10.
  5. Why Do Big Spenders Love the Free Golden Ticket?Evan Baehr runs a for-profit membership with a very high price and a free version called the golden ticket for extraordinary people under 25.
  6. Why Did a Member Mop the House Floors Unasked?Zac Solomon is the only employee, and the members already got the picture.
  7. Why Does a Small Austin Club Survive Losing Half?Zac Solomon calls a small rented room probably the most sustainable way to run a community in Austin. He is a little younger and takes very minimal risk.
  8. Are Sweet Greens the Way of Texas?Evan Baehr says an experience of Texas made of Sweet Greens and La La Land is not the way of Texas.

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