Special Superhuman Part II Designing Software to Feel like a Game (with Rahul Vohra)

In this episode of "Acquired," hosts Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal welcome back Rahul Vora, founder of Superhuman, to explore the game design principles behind the development of his fast email client. Vora shares insights on how Superhuman has evolved from its initial product-market fit to a suite of professional tools, including new calendar functionality. He emphasizes the importance of designing software to evoke specific emotions, such as joy and surprise, rather than relying on gamification tactics like points and badges. Vora also discusses the meticulous engineering behind Superhuman's speed, including merging local and server searches, and the careful attention to typography to enhance the user experience. The conversation delves into the broader application of game design principles beyond product development, illustrating their relevance in creating emotionally resonant experiences in various contexts.

• Ben Gilbert introduces himself as the co-founder of Pioneer Square Labs.
• David Rosenthal introduces himself as an angel investor and independent advisor.
• They welcome Rahul Vora, the founder of Superhuman and a repeat guest on the show.

"I'm Ben Gilbert, and I'm the co-founder of Pioneer Square Labs, a startup studio and venture capital firm in Seattle." "And I'm David Rosenthal, and I am an angel investor and independent advisor to startups based in San Francisco."

The quotes introduce the hosts of the podcast and their professional backgrounds, establishing their credibility in the technology and investment sectors.

• Rahul Vora's last appearance was a standout episode and the finale of season five.
• Superhuman, known for its fast email client, has become famous for its product-market fit framework.
• The discussion will cover Superhuman's evolution from initial product-market fit to a suite of professional tools, including calendar functionality.

"Rahul had probably, I don't know if it's exactly the most listened to episode of all time, but it was certainly a standout episode when we released it." "His frameworks for finding product market fit and how they did it at Superhuman have since become quite famous this year."

The quotes highlight the success of Rahul Vora's previous appearance on the podcast and the impact of Superhuman's approach to achieving product-market fit.

• Rahul Vora has been thoughtful in the process of fundraising and building companies.
• He has experience with his previous company, Reportive, and now manages two funds, including an AngelList rolling fund.
• A masterclass on fundraising will be discussed in the LP (Limited Partner) episode.

"Not only has Rahul done this like a total pro, with superhuman really being thoughtful about the process and employing every tactic in the book for building a great company and capitalizing it the best way he sees fit, but also with his previous companies with reportive, he actually also now has two funds of his own, the most recent being an angellist rolling fund."

The quote emphasizes Rahul Vora's expertise in fundraising and company building, as well as his current involvement in managing investment funds.

• Pilot is a company providing accounting, tax, and bookkeeping services for startups and growth companies.
• It is the largest startup-focused accounting firm in the US, backed by Sequoia, Index, Stripe, and Jeff Bezos.
• The service aligns with the philosophy of focusing on core business activities and outsourcing non-core functions like accounting.

"Pilot is the one team for all of your company's accounting, tax and bookkeeping needs."

The quote describes Pilot's comprehensive service offering, which is relevant for startups that need to manage their financial operations effectively.

• Rahul Vora discusses the concept of designing software like a game.
• He references Jesse Shell's definition from "The Art of Game Design," stating a game is simply something that you play.
• The conversation explores the semantics of play, the difference between a game and a toy, and the role of fun and surprise in defining a game.

"A game is simply something that you play." "A game is something you play, a toy is an object you play with."

The quotes provide a foundational definition of a game and distinguish it from similar concepts like toys, setting the stage for a deeper exploration of game design principles.

• Rahul Vora outlines seven principles that Superhuman considers when designing software with game-like elements.
• These principles span five factors: goals, emotions, controls, toys, and flow.
• He discusses the importance of mastery, emotion, interaction, wonder, and psychological flow in game design.

"There are seven principles that we think of when it comes to what makes a good game at superhuman." "Bushnell's law talks a bit about goals, and it talks a little bit about a related concept of mastery, but it doesn't talk about how you feel when you're going through a game."

The quotes introduce the concept of the seven principles of a good game and highlight the multifaceted nature of game design, going beyond simple definitions like Bushnell's law.

• Rahul Vora's passion for game design started at a young age, leading him to learn to code and create games.
• He honed his game design skills professionally at Jagex, the creator of Runescape.
• His experience at Runescape and lifelong interest in game design inform his approach to software development at Superhuman.

"By the time I was about 18 years old... I'd spent 10,000 hours programming, mostly around creating my own games." "That was where I really cut my teeth professionally."

The quotes reflect Rahul Vora's extensive background in game design and programming, which underpins his expertise in creating engaging software experiences.

• Rahul Vora started professionally as a game designer.
• He applied his passion and experience with video games to creating content for Runescape.
• Runescape was one of the most enjoyable jobs he had.

I took all the things I'd learned, both as a passionate fan and player of video games, as well as a hobbyist game programmer, to creating quests and content for the players of Runescape.

This quote highlights Rahul Vora's transition from a video game enthusiast and hobbyist programmer to a professional game designer for Runescape, emphasizing the joy he found in this role.

• Runescape was a browser-based game, which was a novel concept at the time.
• It was built on Java, not Flash, and was known as Java graphical extensions.
• Andrew Gower, the creator, developed a custom object model for Java to achieve real-time graphics in a browser, a technical marvel at the time.

It was in fact browser based. And the clue is in the name. It was not in fact Flash. Few people know this, but Jagx stands for do you want to give it a go? David?

Rahul Vora clarifies the technology behind Runescape, indicating it was Java-based, not Flash, and explains the origin of the name Jagex, which stands for Java graphical extensions.

The very original technical definition was Java graphical extensions.

This quote provides the original technical definition of Jagex, the company behind Runescape, highlighting the innovative approach to browser-based gaming.

• Rahul Vora discusses the concept of flow, a state where time passes without notice while deeply engaged in an activity.
• He relates flow to his experience with programming and game design.
• Vora also ties the concept of flow to an intense driving experience in a Lamborghini Gallardo, which inspired the speed and flow in the design of his company's product, Superhuman.

What experience in your life would you most want to share with others? It's probably very unique. Very few other people will have had access to it. And for me, it was one of those flow experiences.

Rahul Vora encourages people to think about unique experiences they would like to share with others, linking this to the concept of flow and how it has influenced his work.

Now, of course, I can't literally recreate that sensation, but it was an underlying inspiration for why we built the fastest email experience in the world.

This quote connects Rahul Vora's extreme flow experience while driving a Lamborghini to the inspiration behind creating a fast email experience with Superhuman, aiming to engineer for flow.

• Rahul Vora's company, Superhuman, is designed to embody principles of game design and flow.
• He describes the unfair advantage programmers have in creating their own tools, which led to the idea of bringing this level of software to everyone.
• Superhuman aims to provide instantaneous response times, search, and beautiful design to all users.

How about we do that? But for everybody else, let's take the things that we take for granted. 100 millisecond response times, instantaneous search, command palettes, keyboard shortcuts, beautiful layouts, typography.

Rahul Vora's pitch to his co-founder highlights the goal of Superhuman to bring the advantages of programming tools to a broader audience, emphasizing speed and design as key features.

• Superhuman faced the challenge of merging local and server email search results seamlessly.
• They spent two years developing technology to download, store, and index emails in the browser, ensuring a fast search experience.
• Another challenge was aligning the typography and layout on a subpixel grid for aesthetic perfection.

And it does turn out to be this ridiculously hard problem. It's actually a computer science hard problem. How do you merge two infinite lists on the screen without having things like pop in?

Rahul Vora explains the complex computer science problem Superhuman solved in merging local and server search results to provide a seamless and fast user experience.

We dove into the chrome source code, reverse engineered the font layout engine, and then built our own layout framework, actually entirely in CSS, because we wanted this thing to be super fast as well.

This quote describes the meticulous effort behind Superhuman's typography and layout, demonstrating the team's commitment to both speed and aesthetic detail.

• Easter eggs can be a delightful addition to a product, offering hidden features or surprises that users can discover.
• They are often seen as a fun, engaging aspect of the user experience.

"That's so awesome. What a great Easter egg to have in the product."

The quote shows appreciation for the inclusion of Easter eggs in products, highlighting their appeal as a delightful, unexpected feature.

• Effective transitioning between topics is seen as a skill, likened to becoming a professional in conversation management.
• The transition in conversation is used to shift focus from one subject to another smoothly.

"All right, speaking of Easter eggs, I'm going to take this opportunity to transition us."

Ben Gilbert uses the mention of Easter eggs as a segue to transition the conversation to a new topic, demonstrating the technique of smooth topic change.

• Gamification involves adding game-like elements such as points, levels, and badges to non-game contexts.
• Game design is the craft of creating the actual games, focusing on the intrinsic enjoyment of the game itself.
• Gamification was once popular but has become less so due to its ineffectiveness in many cases.
• The effectiveness of gamification depends on whether the underlying experience is already enjoyable as a game.

"Game design is not gamification. It is not simply taking your product and adding points, levels, trophies, or badges."

Rahul Vora emphasizes the difference between gamification (adding game elements to products) and game design (creating inherently engaging games), stating that true game design is not about superficial rewards.

• Intrinsic motivation comes from within and is driven by personal satisfaction and interest.
• Extrinsic motivation is driven by external rewards and recognition.
• Extrinsic motivators can undermine intrinsic motivation, making people less interested in activities they previously enjoyed.
• The balance between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is crucial in product design.

"The perhaps counterintuitive conclusion is that extrinsic motivation can actually undermine our intrinsic motivation."

Rahul Vora explains that external rewards can diminish a person's internal desire to engage in an activity, which is a key consideration in designing motivational systems within products.

• A study from the 1970s demonstrated that children who expected rewards for drawing spent less time drawing compared to those who did not expect rewards.
• This study illustrates how extrinsic rewards can reduce intrinsic motivation.
• The findings from such studies inform product design, particularly in relation to user engagement and motivation.

"The extrinsic reward had literally halved their motivation."

Rahul Vora references a study showing that children expecting rewards were less motivated to draw for their own enjoyment, highlighting the negative impact of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation.

• Designers and product managers are encouraged to focus on creating fun experiences rather than just meeting user wants and needs.
• Emotional design is about crafting a user journey that evokes specific feelings, such as inspiration, triumph, or tranquility.
• This approach can lead to more engaging and satisfying products.

"I would really advise us as an industry to pull back from this obsession with user wants and user needs, and instead to design for fun."

Rahul Vora advises product designers to prioritize creating enjoyable experiences that elicit desired emotions, rather than focusing solely on functional requirements.

• A respectful approach to users involves providing them with tools that align with their goals and trusting them to use the product effectively.
• Gamification techniques can be perceived as disrespectful if they treat users like children.
• The design should empower users and respect their intelligence and autonomy.

"It feels like it's also kind of an element of just respecting your users, too, and their intelligence."

David Rosenthal comments on the importance of respecting users' intelligence in product design, suggesting that shallow gamification can come across as condescending.

• The process of testing and iterating on product features is essential for successful implementation.
• User feedback and behavior analysis are crucial in determining which features resonate with users.
• The streaks feature in Superhuman is an example of a feature tested for its impact on user motivation and engagement.

"We tested it in good old fashioned product management style. We didn't write any feature code."

Rahul Vora describes the process of testing the streaks feature in Superhuman without initially coding the feature, relying on user data and feedback to refine the concept.

• Statsig is introduced as a sponsor, providing a platform for feature management and experimentation.
• The platform is used by companies to make data-driven decisions about product changes and to understand the impact of new features on business metrics.

"Statsig is a feature management and experimentation platform that helps product teams ship faster, automate A/B testing and see the impact every feature is having on the core business metrics."

Ben Gilbert describes the functionalities of Statsig, which aids product teams in rapidly deploying features and measuring their effectiveness through data analysis.

• The Inbox Zero feature in Superhuman was designed based on the emotional resonance of clearing one's inbox.
• The feature aims to evoke specific emotions, such as accomplishment and satisfaction.
• The design process involves understanding and catering to the nuanced emotional experiences of users.

"Inbox Zero, we fairly quickly learned, is one of the most emotionally resonant moments in someone's interaction with their inbox."

Rahul Vora shares insights into the emotional significance of achieving Inbox Zero for users, which informed the design of the feature in Superhuman.

• Rahul Vora discusses the importance of emotional design in product experience, specifically in the context of achieving Inbox Zero.
• Emotional design aims to resonate with users on an emotional level, creating moments that feel rewarding and special.
• Superhuman uses the emotion wheel by the Hunto Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership to guide their design process.
• They focus on emotions such as joy, enthusiasm, excitement, optimism, hopefulness, pride, and triumph.
• When users hit Inbox Zero, Superhuman displays stunning imagery to evoke emotions of love, surprise, peace, tranquility, longing, sentimentality, amazement, and awe.

So before we'd invented split inbox, which took years to get to, it was an impossibility for me to actually hit Inbox Zero. So I simply didn't know. But in interacting with our earliest of customers, we quickly realized that Inbox Zero was one of the most emotionally resonant moments.

This quote highlights the discovery that achieving Inbox Zero was a significant and emotionally resonant moment for users, which led to the development of the split inbox feature.

And so at superhuman, we care deeply about the emotion of joy. And Joy has many subfacets. We design for things like enthusiasm and excitement. Our users come to us super excited. We design for optimism and hopefulness. Our users want superhuman to improve their lives. And we design for pride and triumph.

Rahul Vora emphasizes the importance of designing for various facets of joy to create a positive and impactful user experience.

• Rahul Vora discusses the application of emotional design principles to personal relationships.
• He advises founders to undergo conflict training and learn how to give and receive difficult feedback.
• The process involves separating the objective description of behavior from the emotional response it elicits.
• Using specific emotions from the emotion wheel can improve communication during disagreements.
• Understanding nuanced emotions and having a greater emotional vocabulary can enhance both managerial and personal relationships.

One of the things that I strongly advise any founder to go through is conflict training or training on how to give feedback, or how to give difficult feedback, or how to receive difficult feedback.

Rahul Vora suggests that conflict training is crucial for founders, as it teaches them how to navigate challenging conversations effectively.

What we should actually say. And once again, I'm just going to give a big up to the Hunter Institute for Entrepreneurial leadership. There's hundreds of emotions on that wheel. What we actually want to say is something like, I'm feeling lonely, or I'm feeling disappointed, or I'm feeling anguish or whatever it is, and you can go to the emotional wheel and look it up.

This quote underscores the value of identifying and expressing specific emotions, as opposed to using passive descriptions, to improve clarity and understanding in personal interactions.

• Rahul Vora extends the application of game design principles to various aspects of experience design, not limited to technology products.
• He illustrates how these principles can be applied to real estate, focusing on creating an emotionally resonant experience for potential tenants.
• Sensory experiences, such as scent, are employed to evoke specific emotions and memories, demonstrating the versatility of game design tools in different contexts.

This set of principles across goals, emotions, controls, toys and flow, really is about experience design.

Rahul Vora explains that the principles of game design are fundamentally about crafting experiences, whether in software or other fields.

I would put a vanilla scent in the kitchen to evoke memories of baked goods. Perhaps when you were a child and your folks would bring back a little baked treats, I would put a lavender scent or similar scent in the lounge to evoke perhaps being in a meadow or in some other really relaxing place.

The use of sensory elements like scent to evoke positive emotions and memories is an example of how game design principles can be applied in non-technology contexts to enhance experiences.

• Rahul Vora invites listeners to try Superhuman and offers to expedite the onboarding process for listeners of the podcast.
• Superhuman aims to help users manage their email more efficiently and achieve Inbox Zero sustainably.
• The mention of a waitlist and the offer of priority access for podcast listeners creates a sense of exclusivity and urgency.

Head to Superhuman.com sign up there. We do have a big waitlist. It's more than 350,000 people at this point. But what I shall say is that for listeners of this podcast, members of the acquired community, I would be more than happy to jump you to the front of the line.

Rahul Vora encourages listeners to sign up for Superhuman and promises to give podcast listeners preferential treatment in the onboarding queue.

• Crusoe is highlighted as a clean compute cloud provider specializing in AI workloads and partners with Nvidia.
• Crusoe's data centers are powered by wasted, stranded, or clean energy, which allows for cost savings and environmental benefits.
• The company's unique approach to locating data centers at stranded energy sites differentiates it from traditional cloud providers.

Crusoe's data centers are nothing but racks and racks of a because Crusoe's cloud is purpose built for AI and run on wasted, stranded or clean energy, they can provide significantly better performance per dollar than traditional cloud providers.

This quote describes Crusoe's specialized infrastructure for AI and its use of alternative energy sources, which results in better cost efficiency for customers.