Means of Creation #8 — Visakan Veerasamy

​You know how sci-fi movies are always shot in Singapore because it feels like the future there? Well, this week’s guest on Means of Creation hails from Singapore, and I suspect it’s no coincidence that his writing and career feel like the future, too.

​Visakan Veerasamy (a.k.a. “Visa”) has become one of my intellectual heroes over the past few years. He uses Twitter as a sort of second brain, organizing his ideas in an ever-expanding corpus of interlinked threads. He’s written several books that he sells directly to his fans on Gumroad, and, this year, he’s focusing on growing his YouTube channel.

​So, we’re thrilled to talk to Visa about life as a creator in 2020, and get his perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of various platforms.

​But, also, the substance of Visa’s thinking is incredibly useful to creators in the passion economy and anyone who wants to be a better person on the internet. He’s created a tripartite framework of values that I love, which he calls “friendly ambitious nerds”

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​Here’s a roadmap for our conversation with Visa:

• ​His journey to being a creator

• ​How he conceptualized his target audience — the “friendly ambitious nerd”

• ​What software tools he uses

• ​How he monetizes, and why

​His take on:

• ​Substack

• ​Patreon

• ​Gumroad

• ​Youtube

• ​Ebooks vs Courses