All posts tagged: Sawtooth

Posted on Nov 26, 2025 at 13:11 by scott truitt

It happens every week now. Something nudges this post from Andy Dunn about the four words behind his CEO job description to the forefront of my mind, and before I know it, I’m saying them out loud again: 1. Create hope. 2. Define reality. They are deceptively simple in isolation but uniquely challenging in tandem. Staying firmly grounded between these two extremes requires the ability to see the world as it clearly is today and project how it could be tomorrow with time, energy, and money. Th

Posted on Aug 11, 2025 at 13:10 by scott truitt

The dominant social and streaming services created a model in which only a handful of companies benefit from the creation and consumption of all music.

Posted on Aug 8, 2025 at 09:01 by scott truitt

Of all the things that make me happy about our new site, the one that tops them all is the Network effects visualisation.

Posted on Aug 6, 2025 at 08:49 by scott truitt

Thanks to all who responded with feedback yesterday, whether with issues or encouragement. It’s always gratifying to see the people I care about most notice our work, even when we fall short. Note to self: Always test again after deleting a domain configuration that seemed irrelevant before emailing and posting widely. That’s why the images weren’t loading and the links didn’t work. It should be good now. I wanted to mention something about the messaging on the new site, particularly on th

Posted on Aug 5, 2025 at 12:18 by scott truitt

If you’re reading this on foreplai.com (now sawtooth.ing after our name change), you’re seeing our new site and our refreshed blog now running on Ghost(Pro). And if you received this post via email, that’s because I migrated our email lists to Ghost. You may unsubscribe below. Until today, I posted almost exclusively on LinkedIn first. It never felt like the best place for it, but it was simply where most of my network was after I quit Twitter in 2022. I tried WordPress, which was what I ran in

Posted on Aug 4, 2025 at 09:08 by scott truitt

The idea that software is suddenly easy now because of AI is a fallacy at best or a ruse at worst. Especially when it comes to streaming music. And I say that as someone who is consistently in awe of what AI can do for software development. Presuming your product or service requires the legal rights to use music, which it absolutely should, the heavy lifting is all on securing complex agreements in multiple territories with an almost infinite number of parties or costly upfront payments for gl

Posted on Jul 14, 2025 at 23:00 by scott truitt

Of all the things I did and all the decisions I made over the past year of building FOREPLAI (now Sawtooth), nothing has been more controversial than our name. I’ve questioned my wisdom, or lack thereof, more than anyone else. I know it complicates intros and first discussions. However, I didn’t name it for myself, our team, partners, or investors. I named it for the distracted masses. Those who face the daily deluge of unimaginative marketing from thoroughly unremarkable companies. Each one

Posted on Jul 6, 2025 at 23:00 by scott truitt

In the early days of Sawtooth, we decided not to launch without securing the rights to the music we wanted to sell. That’s a lie. There was never any debate. It was always the only way. The original inspiration for Sawtooth came to me in the late ’90s and early 2000s. I wanted a way to share music with my friends that didn’t take away from the artist. I also wanted a way to show my gratitude and continued support by paying a small amount of money for every play. I would never even consider “t

Posted on Jun 28, 2025 at 08:23 by scott truitt

“We bring music to fans and fans to music.” That sentence came to me on an otherwise routine morning walk with the pup last weekend. Bear in mind that I have spent the better part of the last year writing about our purpose, product, and plans for the future at Sawtooth, as well as over 25 years thinking about the ideas behind it. I never, ever approached anything as elegant or straightforward as this one sentence. It says everything in nine words. And it reminds me of a favourite anecdote ab

Posted on Jun 26, 2025 at 07:30 by scott truitt

I waited in line by myself to buy the first Apple iPod in 2001. I arrived about 20 minutes before the Apple Store in my hometown of Columbus opened. It was the debut of Apple’s first handheld device at one of its first retail stores in the US. Two experiments at once. Less than six years later, I queued for hours with thousands to buy the first iPhone at the Apple Store in San Francisco. The line stretched down Stockton St and around O’Farrell St. People dressed in costume (never a surprise i

Posted on Jun 15, 2025 at 07:51 by scott truitt

“Start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. You can’t start with the technology and try to figure out where to sell it.” Yep, Steve Jobs. In 1997. Here we are in 2025, almost 30 years later, watching tech companies spend wildly to embed AI in the customer experience without regard to human needs. Indeed, human needs seem to be last on the list of their features and benefits. And they’re not even trying to sell AI, much less charge for it; most are forcing it on u

Posted on Jun 5, 2025 at 06:03 by scott truitt

“We pay a fortune for such a poor experience.” That was one of the first problem statements I wrote in the early days of Sawtooth last year. It referred to the enshitification of Spotify and other social and streaming services. It still resonates today for unexpected reasons. Now it’s the proliferation of mindless AI-generated art, music, and writing. Nothing prepared me for how quickly this slop would invade these human spaces, how willing so many would be to welcome it, and how much it wou