2024 Year in Review

Navigating the S-Curve in a year of experimentation and slow growth

Dec 29, 2024

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Hello friend, Patrick here.

Today I'm back with the eighth edition of my quarterly-ish "business review." This year has been a lesson in navigating the less glamorous parts of growth—the parts where progress feels slow, breakthroughs seem far away, and doubt creeps in.

When I think about what this year has felt like, I keep coming back to the idea of S-curves. Growth isn't the smooth, exponential curve that we so often see in charts or success stories. If you zoom in, it's more like a chain of S-curves—slow progress for a long stretch, a sudden burst of momentum, and then settling back into a new baseline before the process repeats.

The challenge is that, as the person in the driver's seat, you don't know when the next upward swing is going to happen. You feel the rush of a breakthrough, but when you're back in the grind of slow growth, it's hard to stay the course. And yet, the only way to reach the next step change is to keep moving forward, trusting that if you're doing the right things, another inflection point will appear.

The Year in Review

This year wasn't about big wins or obvious progress—it was a series of experiments, recalibrations, and moments of doubt, all tied together by a commitment to keep going.

Here's what stands out:

Experiments in Entrepreneurship

I experimented with running a closed online community and later joined a friend's startup project as co-founder. In each case, there were highs, lows, and ultimately a prompt finish line. Both experiences taught me a lot very quickly, but mostly about what I didn't want: to manage a community as a business or be a tech startup co-founder. So, yes, these were failures—but I wouldn't have learned those lessons or gotten that clarity without making those stops along my journey.

Reframing the Newsletter

Rebranding from Better by Design to Unknown Arts marked a shift in how I see my newsletter. When I started writing in 2022, I had the aspiration to build the design equivalent of

Lenny's Newsletter

The Pragmatic Engineer

. But as time went along, I found that even if I was able to break through in terms of subscriber base, locking myself into the worldview of the design industry was just never going to be a comfortable fit for me. My background is too diverse, my interests too broad—I can't carry that torch.

So, I'm happy with where Unknown Arts is headed. It’s less beholden to a specific career path and more experimental and philosophical which feels aligned with who I am and sustainable for the long haul. While it hasn’t led to a breakthrough in readership, it is a great way for me to stay grounded in my exploration, share my learnings, and connect with likeminded people. I trust that, sooner or later, something significant will come from the thousands of hours I’ve devoted to this pursuit.

Finding New Inspiration

After stepping away from the startup this fall, I attended an AI and creativity meetup that reignited my energy. If I'm honest, I'd been avoiding doing an AI deep dive because I didn't want to face the implications. But this event changed my attitude.

The people there came from many disciplines—music, film, illustration and more—and they were all embracing their curiosity and putting these new tools to work to amplify their creativity. Of course, they were all mindful of the broader implications of this tech, but they were approaching it thoughtfully and making progress in the face of their collective uncertainty.

I wanted to contribute to this growing community, so I committed to confronting the inevitable and applying my skills where I can, which is by using design to make these tools better for everyone and using writing to help people understand the magnitude of the wave we're starting to ride.

What I Learned (and What I'm Struggling With)

The S-curve idea feels particularly true for where I am right now. I'm somewhere in the middle of a long stretch of slow growth, and staying the course isn't easy. Here are a few lessons I'm trying to hold onto:

Clarity only comes through action

The experiments I tried this year weren’t successful, but they gave me valuable clarity about what I want—and what I don't. Sometimes, the process of elimination is its own form of progress.

Progress often appears more linear than it feels

I've seen firsthand how slow periods eventually give way to breakthroughs, but it's hard to remember that when you've hit a new plateau. The challenge is learning to keep moving forward and have faith, even when you can't see the next turning point.

Patience is a practice

I believe that if I keep showing up, the pieces will come together. But patience isn't a passive act—it's something I have to actively cultivate, especially in moments when doubt feels stronger than certainty.

Looking Ahead

As I head into 2025, I’m focusing on building meaningful projects in the AI space, combining my unique mix of design, writing, programming, and philosophy. My goal is to find a role working on the AI frontier where I can collaborate with a team, solve big challenges, and push myself creatively and intellectually.

The newsletter will remain an integral part of my journey—a way to reflect, share, and connect. I'm committed to providing free value to this community, trusting that when you share your best work openly, good things come to both you and the people you serve.

Final Thoughts

If this year has taught me anything, it's that the long stretches of slow progress are an inescapable part of the journey. They're hard, uncertain, and unglamorous—but they're also what allows for the next major advance. To anyone else navigating their own S-curve plateau—feeling stuck in the slow part, wondering if the next breakthrough will ever come—you're not alone.

Thank you for being here with me this year. 2025 is shaping up to be a bellwether year for AI and the future of creative work and I'll be throwing myself into the deep end to understand how we might create new paths forward. Here's to another year of exploration and building toward what's next—another step on our journey to explore Unknown Arts.

Happy New Year,
Patrick