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There's plenty of digital goods with low margins that apple forces a 30% cut.

e.g. Spotify, Twitch, Patreon etc. Most of the funds go to the creator. Completely breaks the model when Apple forces a 30% cut of gross.

That being said, i'd also argue Apple's app store is a complete monopoly on iPhones. Iphones and app stores are such an essential part of life, they deserve to be neutral a la internet neutrality. Not sure how we all become pro internet neutrality but somehow suffer Apple's 30% tax.

Dollars and euros are in areas with the strongest economic regions in the world. What about the billions of people in emerging markets such as turkey, argentina, africa etc that dont have a stable currency to transact?

Crypto is used everyday by millions in many countries including turkey, argentina, africa. You may be lucky to have a great financial system in the US but thats a very narrow POV.

TL;DR You cant offboard USD with binance, but you can offboard crypto. It forces binance US users to Coinbase or kraken etc

There's a lot of utility outside of the US, in countries without stable currencies.

It's no web, but its a lot more impactful than say self driving cars (thus far), 3D-printing, or vegan meat.

Edit: This is not to discount those technologies, rather to emphasize that crypto is used by millions worldwide for real transactions.

Likely the investors negotiated the terms in return for funding.

It's all dependent on performance. $30/month is actually really low if it works well.

If an employee costs $300k/yr fully loaded, then they only need to save ~15 minutes per month to break even (At $150k/yr per employee, its still breakeven at 1 minute saved per day)

It's not that different to superhuman.com charging $30/mo for an email client.

$30 gets you access to not just email, but docs.

According to the S-1: They are paying out about $400m/yr to preferred shared holders, which will be wiped clean on IPO (preferred shares convert to common), allowing the company to retain these earnings.

Under "Undistributed earnings attributable to preferred stockholders"

It's possible the downtown will get worse, not better. S&P500 near all-time highs. Unclear if things actually get better in a year or two.

Perhaps the owners think the valuation is reasonable, and want liquidity. Selling at $10b+ is still a great achievement for a company founded in 2012.

People often conflate AI progress with hardware progress.

If we had hardware as flexible, robust, and "cheap" as the human body, we'd solve a lot of these problems such as retail, trades etc.

The problem isn't software. It's hardware.

Yes there is of course a subset.

There is no 100% painting of Yoda, with exception of perfectly copying an existing work.

You can a take a photo of Yoda at Disneyland. Disney still cant take your photo and slap it on t-shirts to sell without your permission. (It doesnt mean you can either)

An analogy for software engineers:

Scenario: The XYZ Algorithm

Let's say you are a software developer working on an extensive library that deals with data processing. You come across a small, but particularly efficient algorithm developed by Company A, which they've shared on their blog. This algorithm, called the XYZ Algorithm, is explicitly mentioned to be freely usable but retains the copyright to Company A.

You decide to use this XYZ Algorithm as a component within your larger library. You integrate it as-is, without modifying the original code of the XYZ Algorithm.

Implications:

Rights on the XYZ Algorithm: Even though you've integrated the XYZ Algorithm into your library, Company A retains the copyright on that specific algorithm. If they've specified particular licensing terms or conditions for use (like attribution), you'd have to abide by them.

Rights on the Entire Library: The rest of your library, which you developed independently, remains your intellectual property. Company A's copyright doesn't extend to the whole library, just the specific portion that constitutes the XYZ Algorithm.

Distribution and Licensing: If you decide to distribute or sell your library:

You'd have to ensure you comply with any licensing terms or conditions attached to the XYZ Algorithm. For the parts of the library you own, you can choose any licensing model you like.

Just because Company A can stop you from commercializing your entire Library, does not mean they own rights to your entire Library.