34: Triangle Man and the Merchants of Complexity

editors note: this was recorded a few weeks before rauchg's real drama with his Israel tweet... we might get to that (subscribe!)Hank and Gonto break down a week of developer-world drama, from DHH’s RailsWorld keynote and his “Merchants of Complexity” crusade to Vercel’s Twitter battles with Cloudflare and Levels.io. They unpack why DHH’s mix of authenticity, conviction, and controversy still works, and how Guillermo Rauch (aka Triangle Man) handled public attacks with precision and class.

They also talk about what founders can learn from these fights: why picking public battles strategically builds attention, how to join trending topics without being toxic, and why attention—not content or outbound—is the new currency of marketing.

Finally, Gonto shares how he gained 10% more followers (and a ratio from Elizabeth Holmes) by embracing the attention game, while Hank argues that thoughtful controversy is now table stakes for any devtool founder.