Welcome to this edition of our Tools for Thought series, where we interview founders on a mission to help us make the most of our mind. Vladimir Oane is the co-founder of Deepstash, an app for building your personal knowledge library, helping you become more inspired and productive through bite-sized ideas curated by a community of smart people like you.
In our previous interview, we discussed the nature of ideas and how curation is an act of creation. In this interview, we further explored these topics, and also talked about multiplayer knowledge management, how to combine organization and discovery, the power of ideas to spark conversations, and much more. Enjoy the read!
Hi Vladimir, thanks for agreeing to a follow-up interview! Deepstash has grown a lot since we last spoke. Before we get into all the exciting changes, can you remind our readers of Deepstash’s core mission?
Delighted to be back. Deepstash is like a sneaky ninja of knowledge. It looks like a regular social media app, but instead of boring news and fake influencer posts, you’ll find amazing insights from books, articles, and podcasts. It’s like a fresh breath of air, keeping you away from the endless scroll of doom and instead filling your mind with stuff that will actually help you grow.
For most, Deepstash is like a healthier alternative to social media. For the pro knowledge junkies, it’s like a secret weapon that lets you capture and share the best stuff you’ve learned, turning you into a personal knowledge hub.
Is there such a thing as having too many ideas?
Yes. I’m one of those unlucky folks who’s constantly plagued by a never-ending stream of ideas. It manifests by never-ending curiosity and involuntary propensity to boil the ocean by debating any little thing… just for the fun of it.
On a regular day you may get bored by all the small talk and non-sense that you are exposed to, but you get labeled as an insensitive know-it-all when you open your mouth. Thank God for platforms like ours where I can share our thoughts with like-minded people.
Kidding aside, having too many ideas can sometimes lead to procrastination, especially when you feel like you need more information before taking action. But hey, compared to the anxiety-inducing vortex of social media dopamine hits, I’d say it’s a pretty awesome problem to have.
The multiplayer aspect of Deepstash is quite unique in the personal management space. What are some of its challenges and opportunities?
Let’s take most note-taking tools (and there are so many cool ones out there). They are so appealing with their promise to act like this second brain for all your precious insights. They get me all excited with their graphs, ontologies, and bi-linking features. So cool.
But the reality is that taking good notes and keeping them organized is a whole other beast. Months later, your knowledge base turns into a jumbled mess of poorly written, incomplete notes, and that’s the norm for most of us. Left alone, we’re not the best at this knowledge-gathering game.
But what if we start playing it together? That’s where Deepstash comes in. Our secret sauce is our social DNA. Ideas are public by default, easily discoverable, and ready to be shared with like-minded folks. Your published ideas get seen by others who are interested in those topics, and you can even grab ideas from others and add them to your private stash.
This social multiplayer element not only makes the whole thing more fun but also acts as the ultimate quality check. Knowing that others will read your ideas is a powerful motivator to write things that are clear, concise, and insightful. That’s awesome for both you as the curator and for the ones who save your work.
Specifically, how do you balance keeping ideas organized while still making them discoverable?
There’s no need to choose between organization and discovery. When you open Deepstash, you’re automatically in discovery mode, and we’ll show you the ideas we think you’ll love, based on the topics and users you follow. We’re taking the amazing recommendation algorithms from those social media apps that we love to hate for ruining our lives and using them for a good cause.
As a bonus, all that metadata we gather for recommendations also makes organization a breeze. You don’t need to create a complex tagging system in Deepstash. You can make your own folders, which we call stashes, but all your saved ideas come with topics and other metadata already attached. If you want to see everything you’ve collected about a specific topic, just tap on it, and voilà! It’s all right there.
Deepstash features more than 200,000+ ideas from books, podcasts, and articles. What are some of the most popular types of ideas?
Productivity and personal growth ideas are the most popular, but they’re just a tiny fraction of the hundreds of diverse topics we cover, like health, investments, and relationships.
The beauty of sharing ideas in this bite-sized form is that they can come from anywhere. We’ve seen a surge of ideas from anime TV shows lately! Who knew there were so many life lessons to be learned from this medium? We were so impressed that we’ve added it to our list of featured categories.
Each user can check their own stats and explore their individual preferences with some new visuals we just added to their profiles.
A lot of apps keep ideas in a silo which makes it hard to actually use those ideas.
To re-use one of my favorite quotes: “Ideas are not true unless shared.” It’s something that smarter people like Jefferson or Feynman have highlighted as well. I think it’s important to spread and discuss knowledge with others. That’s why Deepstash doesn’t keep any content behind a paywall like some summarization or reading apps. We believe that ideas should be free and accessible to everyone.
For those interested in taking their experience to the next level, we offer a Pro plan that comes with additional goodies on top of the ideas themselves. You’ll get offline storage, more stashes, and audio playback. And if you’re part of the Nesslabs community, we have a pretty good deal for you to try it out.
How do users typically use those ideas?
Deepstash isn’t your average “content consumption” experience. Beyond life-changing impact, Deepstashers use the platform to:
- Spark conversations and spread new ideas: “Hey, did you hear about this mind-blowing concept?”
- Communicate with clarity and precision: “This groundbreaking idea has three key steps.”
- Reflect on what they’ve learned and absorbed: “What was the most profound takeaway from this book?”
It’s about diving into ideas, sharing them with others, and transforming your life. Our community is buzzing with fresh perspectives, and our members are raving about the transformative power of Deepstash. We have over 100,000 glowing testimonials for proof.
What about you, how do you use Deepstash nowadays?
As an active Deepstash contributor, I devour books, podcasts, and anything else that sparks my curiosity. I love stashing these gems for future reference and sharing them with the world. I am quite grateful for the newly released AI companions. They help me polish my writing or suggest images that would make them easier to remember and stand out from the pile.
My obsession with specific topics often leads me to deep dives into particular fields and I use Deepstash to document and share my findings. I recently wrapped up a phase of intense fascination with René Girard’s ideas and because of Deepstash I can have a thought trail of everything that I consumed on the topic, alongside my favorite insights.
I’ve got a few stashes that overflow with practical ideas I constantly refer to. Like my treasure trove of interview questions that come in handy during recruitment drives. Or that ever-evolving list of gamification methods we pull from in our product design meetings.
How do you recommend someone get started?
Grab our app from the App Store or Google Play and embark on a journey of intellectual growth.
Tell us about your passions, the books and podcasts that ignite your curiosity, and the authors who inspire you. We’ll curate a personalized collection of ideas to kickstart your learning adventure.
With daily recommendations, we’ll keep your reading streak alive, celebrate your achievements, and ensure you’re always on track to become a smarter, more informed individual.
And finally… What’s next for Deepstash?
This must be the least original answer so far, but we do have some amazing new AI features, helping you polish your writing, suggest relevant images, and ensure your content stands out from the crowd. With more to come.
Outside of that you will see Deepstash becoming more fun. Ideas are to be discussed, trashed, debated. As a “great” man once said: “Why so serious?”
Thank you so much for your time, Vladimir! Where can people learn more about Deepstash?
Get our app for Apple or Android, visit our website or follow us on: X, LinkedIn or Instagram.