# HogMail #15 Copy page # HogMail #15 - [ ![](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmukukwp6/image/upload/c_scale,w_50/andy_86a7232754) Andy Vandervell](/community/profiles/30208.md) Oct 27, 2022 > Welcome to HogMail, our newsletter featuring the best of the PostHog blog, tutorials, product guides, and curated articles on building great products and companies. We send it every two weeks. [Signup here](https://newsletter.posthog.com/subscribe) so you don't miss it. ## #posthog-blog ๐Ÿ™Œ [CEO diary: How we made something people want](https://posthog.com/blog/making-something-people-want): It's one thing to build something, it's another to build something that people want. CEO James Hawkins shares his and Tim's journey to building PostHog. ๐Ÿ›  [Building an open source data stack](https://posthog.com/blog/open-source-stack-for-engineers): You really can replace Segment, Looker, Zapier and more with open source data tools. Did we mention PostHog is open source? ๐Ÿฆ” [5 essential PostHog apps for new users](https://posthog.com/blog/essential-posthog-apps): An introduction to the world of PostHog apps. They're small and powerful, just like... hedgehogs? It's a power-to-weight ratio thing. ## #tutorials-and-guides ๐Ÿ”Ž [Tracking pageviews in single-page apps](https://posthog.com/tutorials/spa): All the ways to track pageviews in single-page apps (SPA) using PostHog. ๐Ÿ“‰ [How to calculate and lower churn rate with PostHog](https://posthog.com/tutorials/churn-rate): Master using session recordings, cohorts, and actions to lower churn. ## #good-reads [The Case Against Collaboration](https://paulitaylor.com/2022/05/06/the-case-against-collaboration/) by Paul Taylor, makes some interesting points about the limits of collaboration on creativity: - Research by MIT found that brainstorming sessions "reduced creativity" because they lead to incremental modifications, rather than radical and potentially superior solutions. - "A meta-analytic review of over 800 teams indicated that individuals are more likely to generate a higher number of original ideas when they donโ€™t interact with others." - Collaboration is best used to solve complex problems that require diverse expert opinions. - At PostHog, we find [successful offsites](https://posthog.com/blog/planning-a-company-offsite) and hackathons are built on preparation. Plan ahead. Set expectations early. Ask people to come up with ideas before the offsite so they have time to think. [Writing better error messages](https://wix-ux.com/when-life-gives-you-lemons-write-better-error-messages-46c5223e1a2f) by Jenni Nadler, on how Wix changed the way they wrote error messages. Takeaways: - "Oops! Something went wrong" and similar jovial messages are just annoying and aggravate users. Be clear about exactly what went wrong. - Offer solutions. If there's a potential way to fix the problem, suggest it. If there isn't, make it easy to get help. - Fixing bad error messages requires shared responsibility across teams and roles. Wix created a cross-function team just to tackle error handling, and reviews them constantly. [How has Tesla generated unparalleled operating leverage?](https://aakashgupta.substack.com/p/how-has-tesla-generated-unparalleled) by Aakash Gupta, which looks at how Tesla's success is supported by controlling costs: - "Most companies spend too much on R&D + SG&A \[sales, general & admin\]. Tesla doesnโ€™t. As a result, it has unparalleled operating leverage." - Tesla increased R&D spend in 2021 by 71% by funding R&D through revenue increases alone, holding its total R&D spend at just 5% of revenue. Meta, by comparison, spends 21% of revenue on R&D. - Thanks in large part to Elon's fame, Tesla doesn't spend much on paid advertising. Most startups don't have an Elon, but focusing on the most cost-effective marketing channels, such as SEO and word-of-mouth, prevents overspending. Tesla is a product-led growth company. - Tesla went from making 100k cars in 2017 to nearly 1 million in 2021 (a 9x increase), but only increased headcount from 37k to 99k (a 3x increase). Keeping headcount under control lead to a huge increase in margins. This is vital for startups to achieve [default alive status](http://www.paulgraham.com/aord.html) . ## #random - [Determine Soccer Player Jersey Colors From Video Footage Using Python](https://betterprogramming.pub/determining-soccer-player-jersey-colors-from-video-footage-31365e12e39c) - [One trick Apple uses to make you think green bubbles are โ€œgrossโ€](https://uxdesign.cc/how-apple-makes-you-think-green-bubbles-gross-e03b52b12fed) - [Are San Marzano Tomatoes actually worth it?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMMFUKibW-c) (Video) - [How Do You Prove a Secret?](https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-to-prove-you-know-a-secret-without-giving-it-away-20221011/) ![](https://res.cloudinary.com/dmukukwp6/image/upload/icon_ae03b6df11) Subscribe to our newsletter #### build mode Read by 75,000+ founders and builders Subscribe We'll share your email with Substack > PostHog is the leading platform for building self-driving products. With a full suite of developer tools โ€“ [AI observability](/ai-observability.md), [product analytics](/product-analytics.md), [session replay](/session-replay.md), [feature flags](/feature-flags.md), [experiments](/experiments.md), [error tracking](/error-tracking.md), [logs](/logs.md), and more โ€“ PostHog captures all the context agents need to diagnose problems, uncover opportunities, and ship fixes. A [data warehouse](/context-warehouse.md) and [CDP](/cdp.md) tie it all together, unifying that context into one source agents can read across. You can steer it all from [Slack](/slack.md), [the web app](/ai.md), the desktop ([PostHog Desktop](/desktop.md)), or your own editor via [the MCP](/mcp.md). ### Community questions Ask a question