Hance Zhang writes about AI, product building, business models, investing, and human relationships. Across these topics, he is ultimately interested in one thing: structure.
His work explores how incentives shape behavior, how time amplifies what is already there, and how systems quietly train people, organizations, and markets over the long run. Rather than focusing on slogans or stated values, he is interested in the deeper mechanisms that produce durable outcomes.
A business model isn’t an arithmetic problem. It’s a behavioral training machine. Whatever it rewards, that’s what your company becomes.
Modern culture has moralized ’long-term’ into political correctness. But time doesn’t compound by default. It only amplifies existing structure.
Why ‘seek truth from facts’ is not about honesty, but about letting reality rewrite your beliefs
The smart person’s social problem isn’t being too smart—it’s not knowing when to shut up
The real challenge isn’t doing things well. It’s doing them at all.
Why psychological theories don’t make you happier, and how the illusion of control creates more anxiety than ignorance ever did
Efficiency gains don’t create leisure because technology is selecting what kind of humans survive
Product development in the AI era isn’t about building better products—it’s about building better assembly lines
In the AI gold rush, ‘being contrarian’ has become its own consensus; the real move is choosing the life that fits you.
The model and product layers in the AI industry are more clearly separated than ever.