Welcome to Product Punks

In January 1977, seminal British punk fanzine Sniffin’ Glue published its now-legendary guide to forming a band. Stripping back rock ‘n’ roll to its bare bones, it was a rallying cry for a generation bored of the bloated stadium rock of their older siblings.

In New York and London, teenagers began creating their own culture rather than waiting for the media to sell it to them. Bands, record labels, fanzines and art projects emerged from the streets instead of the pages of the music and fashion magazines. It was the birth of a defiantly DIY ethos that has endured into the digital age.

With the rise of Agile methodologies and no code development, doing it yourself has become the norm. Instead of forming bands, kids in college dorms are creating startups that are changing the world. Technology has become the new rock ‘n’ roll.

From Silicon Valley to Singapore, from Brighton to Barcelona; bright young minds are creating products that are having a bigger influence on global popular culture than The Sex Pistols or The Ramones ever did. This newsletter celebrates the product punks who are building our future, one chord at a time.