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Alright, new rule: if your startup's logo looks like a loading icon having an identity crisis, you have to tell us what it does.
You’ve seen this image. It’s on everyone's second monitor this week. "Context Method." It's popping up on LinkedIn. I had three different people ask me about it at Roberts yesterday morning, and they all whispered, like it's the next Manhattan Project or a new flavor of La Croix.
I'll be honest, I'm intrigued. But nobody knows what it is. Everyone just has "clues" from a "source," and the clues... man, the clues. It's like a scavenger hunt designed by a philosophy professor.
Based on the chatter, I've compiled a few theories.
This started on Tuesday. I got a forwarded text—a screenshot, actually—of what looks like an internal FAQ. The first line, in bold: It is not a SaaS platform.
Read that again. In Menlo Park. Not. A. SaaS. Platform.
The screenshot says it "requires bespoke construction" and is some kind of... "apprenticeship."
You know what "bespoke construction" means, right? It means it doesn't scale. It means there’s no ARR. It means you're about to pay a guy with a very serious haircut a lot of money to "systematize your judgment." And you can't "delegate" it. The founder has to do it personally.
I was talking to a guy—an old-timer, been around since the 80s—and he told me, "This just sounds like EST for the AI age." And I'm starting to think he's right.
Is it... just a consultant? Are we re-branding "consulting" now? It's a bold move, I'll give them that.
This one comes from Sarah Chen. She was in a pitch for her fund, and the founder mentioned this "Method" as an inspiration.
She said the whole idea is that it's not about automation for speed.
In fact, its big feature is—and this is the quote she wrote down—"productive friction."
Friction.
We just spent twenty years and about five trillion dollars of investor money trying to eliminate friction from every conceivable human interaction, from buying socks to finding a date. And these guys are rolling into town selling latency? "Automation for wisdom," was the other phrase she caught.
What's next, "Artisanal Dial-Up"? A "Mindful 404 Error"? It's... a choice.
Here's where it goes completely off the rails.
I was at The Dutch Goose last night with Mike, and he's been hearing things from his new team. He says his sources told him the "Context Method" is not focused on documented facts (episteme) or processes (techne).
Oh, good. Because we're drowning in those.
No, this thing apparently captures... phronēsis.
Phronēsis.
I had to look it up. It’s Greek. It means "practical wisdom." Which, I guess, is just the ancient word for "shit you can't put in a spreadsheet."
Mike was literally reading from a doc on his phone: "It's not a knowledge management system... it's a living system that captures judgment."
I asked him if you have to water it. He didn't laugh.
I... give up. I really don't know.
It's not software. It's not fast. It's not delegable. It's not for "facts." It's some "bespoke transformation" to capture your personal "phronēsis."
Maybe it's a mirror that makes leaders terrified of AI feel like their "human judgment" is a magical, priceless resource. Maybe it's the next big thing. Maybe it's both.
I have no idea what this is. But I guarantee you, "pitch deck" is going to be in every pitch deck from here to Q2.
I'm going to work. Somebody ping me when you figure it out.