Do you think dbt Labs could become a PBC (Public Benefit Corporation) like RStudio (now Posit) did? Imho, that’s how you hedge against the wall street pressure to monetize the community
I doubt it - it's a full-on for-profit business with for-profit shareholders and all of that. I could see them eventually creating a somewhat independent community entity that separates the two a bit though. (Which is something I'm completely making up, by the way; I have no idea if that's a thing that's either possible or that dbt Labs is interested in doing. But it _sounds_ reasonable.)
It was on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, with my college friend Doug. We were 21 and didn't give a single eff.
We bought these 'shrooms from "some guy he could trust" at Pi Kapp. He was a Chi Phi, though. You know how these frat relationships go.
We didn't know what we were in for. We set out on a plan. We'd spend all day on the beach, in March, just nice enough that the weather wasn't bad, but it wasn't tourist season quite yet. The beaches would be empty.
We stocked up on anything we'd need for the day: Advil, magazines, Pringles for calories, a Robitussin in case one of us developed a cough or had an adverse reaction to the mushrooms.
So then we tripped on mushrooms.
About 40 minutes in, on the beach blankets, reading the magazines (I was reading a Vogue, he a Hustler) I crossed my eyes. Whoa. Crossing your eyes means seeing double. Crossing your eyes when on mushrooms means seeing 8 of everything.
I looked up at Doug. He looked up at me. He had also crossed his eyes while reading his Hustler. Oh yes, we were *there, man*
We walked down the beach.
"Lauren," he asked me, "Do seals like it in this part of North Carolina?"
I laughed. I was a Virginian, used to North Carolina getaways to the OBX.
"No, man. Seals don't live in this part of the country. The water isn't right."
"Lauren, then why is there a seal 100 feet in front of us?"
Wow. He was right. There was the biggest bull seal I had ever seen in my life, snarling, struggling on the edge of the water and beach.
I took a picture of this gigantic bull seal, on my 2011 not-smart phone. I sent it to everyone in my contacts.
My dear, sweet aunt. My high school English teacher and academic decathlon coach, where I was the #1 ranked player in Virginia two years running.
But there was no seal. It was just a picture of waves hitting the beach.
So I get the skepticism about dbt as a product and all that, but, even if that's all a house of cards, I think it's much harder to reject the community elements as a mirage. As I said, it's obviously not perfect: there are cliques; there are walls that keep some people out; elements of it can be smug and self-congratulatory. But 1) it's thousands of people, so that stuff is inevitable, and 2) on the whole, it provides a lot of support and connection for lots of people who can't find that elsewhere. And those feelings are real - they are "there" - regardless of what happens to the product or company that catalyzed them.
this post has given me the worst case of FOMO I've experienced this year.
in fairness, i suspect the people who had to hang out with me didn't quite feel the same way.
💜
So bummed to miss this year due to a conference in Europe. Here’s hoping the music lasts a little longer...
Do you think dbt Labs could become a PBC (Public Benefit Corporation) like RStudio (now Posit) did? Imho, that’s how you hedge against the wall street pressure to monetize the community
https://www.rstudio.com/blog/rstudio-pbc/
I doubt it - it's a full-on for-profit business with for-profit shareholders and all of that. I could see them eventually creating a somewhat independent community entity that separates the two a bit though. (Which is something I'm completely making up, by the way; I have no idea if that's a thing that's either possible or that dbt Labs is interested in doing. But it _sounds_ reasonable.)
So you’re sayin there’s a chance...
of all the companies to do it, i wouldn't put it past them.
I remember my first mushroom experience.
It was on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, with my college friend Doug. We were 21 and didn't give a single eff.
We bought these 'shrooms from "some guy he could trust" at Pi Kapp. He was a Chi Phi, though. You know how these frat relationships go.
We didn't know what we were in for. We set out on a plan. We'd spend all day on the beach, in March, just nice enough that the weather wasn't bad, but it wasn't tourist season quite yet. The beaches would be empty.
We stocked up on anything we'd need for the day: Advil, magazines, Pringles for calories, a Robitussin in case one of us developed a cough or had an adverse reaction to the mushrooms.
So then we tripped on mushrooms.
About 40 minutes in, on the beach blankets, reading the magazines (I was reading a Vogue, he a Hustler) I crossed my eyes. Whoa. Crossing your eyes means seeing double. Crossing your eyes when on mushrooms means seeing 8 of everything.
I looked up at Doug. He looked up at me. He had also crossed his eyes while reading his Hustler. Oh yes, we were *there, man*
We walked down the beach.
"Lauren," he asked me, "Do seals like it in this part of North Carolina?"
I laughed. I was a Virginian, used to North Carolina getaways to the OBX.
"No, man. Seals don't live in this part of the country. The water isn't right."
"Lauren, then why is there a seal 100 feet in front of us?"
Wow. He was right. There was the biggest bull seal I had ever seen in my life, snarling, struggling on the edge of the water and beach.
I took a picture of this gigantic bull seal, on my 2011 not-smart phone. I sent it to everyone in my contacts.
My dear, sweet aunt. My high school English teacher and academic decathlon coach, where I was the #1 ranked player in Virginia two years running.
But there was no seal. It was just a picture of waves hitting the beach.
There was not a "there there" at all.
So I get the skepticism about dbt as a product and all that, but, even if that's all a house of cards, I think it's much harder to reject the community elements as a mirage. As I said, it's obviously not perfect: there are cliques; there are walls that keep some people out; elements of it can be smug and self-congratulatory. But 1) it's thousands of people, so that stuff is inevitable, and 2) on the whole, it provides a lot of support and connection for lots of people who can't find that elsewhere. And those feelings are real - they are "there" - regardless of what happens to the product or company that catalyzed them.