#115: Must-Have Skills for 2026, Advice for Joining Startups as Generalist, Call for New Aesthetics

Hi All!

We are pleased to welcome you to this week's edition of Undiscovered, a newsletter with exclusive resources and insights expanding from the material found on our main site - becketu.com.

This week, we will take a look at some of the must-have skills for 2026, a guide to never quitting, an ambitious call for new aesthetics, and more.

Let's dive in:

Must-Have Skills Going Into 2026

It's been interesting to observe the broad trend towards articles on Twitter/X lately, and one of the best that has surfaced was from @defi_explora who listed out all of the "must-have skills going into 2026":

1. Becoming Influential
2. Clipping and Video Editing
3. Vibecoding

I agreed with the author mainly because I believe these aren't just useful for 2026, but will be evergreen for many years beyond. The way Defi broke down each one also went beyond the typical 'this is an important skill' rationale:

Be sure to read the whole article to see what he mentions about clipping and vibecoding. But the main theme with each of these skills is to learn where the highest points of leverage are and taking advantage of them.

Identifying the moment that matters, giving people a reason to follow you because of the value you provide, and learning how to build products and services that are able to be scaled with modern technology in a way that previously did not exist.

That is the direction of 2026 and beyond.

Guide To Never Quitting

​BowTiedBull is one of my favorite degen writer(s) in the crypto and tech space, and their latest write-up on New Year Skill Development: Internalizing Motivation is some of their best work.

On one hand, I believe most motivation is something you either have or you don't. Some people are simply born with "that dawg in 'em" and don't need to watch the Kobe and Arnold Schwarzenegger montage videos to start doing the thing they're convinced they should be doing. If you find yourself matching that description, I actually recommend reading this article from Twitter user @BreatheLesss.

But I digress. BowTiedBull's article is legit, and sometimes it's possible to lose our internal motivation by lacking the right systems. And the main takeaway from the article is to create a system that makes success inevitable.

The biggest challenge most people artificially create for themselves is to have accomplished X by Y date/age. This is not only demoralizing, but unrealistic due to countless variables and factors that go into a loosely defined 'success'. This article focuses more on professional goals and financial freedom as its definition of success, but you can read the article through whatever lens and definition you prefer. When you don't worry about time, the only question is 'when' not 'if'.

The rest of the article covers the tactical aspects of how to create your system including 'terrible day minimums', 'removing emotion and friction', how to make compounding work for you, and more.

Advice to Generalists Who Want to Join Startups

If I were looking to join a startup right now, these are the two main references I would use to guide my outreach. One is a simple three line recommendation from @thebeautyofsaas:

It might not be a 100% chance offer in the next 3 months, but it will be significantly higher in likelihood of securing a job over the traditional application process.

The other resource I would use is this article from @benln on Twitter. This goes a step beyond the 'cold email to hiring manager' method which will most likely become a saturated play for most desirable tech jobs.

In this article, Ben walks through a practical, step-by-step approach to how he would land a job at both large and small startups. He discusses how a "show don't tell" approach would work for each and how to truly stand out from the noise.

Content, Content, Content

2026 will be a fascinating year to analyze from a content perspective. On one hand, we are heading towards content and social platform armageddon. AI-generated pictures and videos will slowly start to take over the majority of posts, and we will crave authenticity, raw, "imperfect" posts like never before.

​Adam Mosseri from Instagram has even discussed how creators will matter more than ever before and how the default will be to look at everything with skepticism. Pairing his thoughts with the 2025 Social Signals review offers unfettered alpha into how to take advantage of this paradigm shift.

It is time for smart people on the sidelines to start sharing more of their thoughts. Start posting on Twitter in the way Nikita Bier recommends alongside longer articles the platform looks to be promoting. Boost your personal brand with a few of these tips from @wizofecom. There has never been a better time to share raw, authentic, valuable thoughts.

A Call for New Aesthetics

"If jazz didn't exist, could you prompt Suno to create it?" This was the most interesting question to me after reading Stripe CEO Patrick Collison's article, A Call for New Aesthetics. After being a quarter of the way through the century, what are its defining characteristics? Why is retrofuturism the only vision for 'futuristic aesthetics'?

After dwelling on these questions, Patrick and economist Tyler Cowen are starting a grant "seeking to fund artists, architects, and designers who are consciously working to define New Aesthetics". Additional stipulations:

• Our primary interest is in visual arts and architecture, but open to all mediums.
• AI presumably opens interesting new opportunities, though we haven't seen much great work that only uses AI... As such, we're neutral on the use of AI.
• We will not fund work that is already ubiquitous today.

Grant sizes range between $5k-$250k with applications open to March 31, 2026. For those with a vision of the future, this is an incredible opportunity.

P.S Can you please respond to this email and bring it into your 'primary' inbox? You can say 'Hi!', tell us the last book you read recently, or what your favorite resource was from above.
​
It would also help if you add us as a contact on your mailing list, with a visual tutorial below:

We appreciate any feedback you are able to provide here. What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Feel free to reach out to us on Instagram and give us a follow there, tag your friends on our posts, and please forward this newsletter along to anyone else who would enjoy it.

Disclaimer: Becket U is an Amazon Associate and purchases through Amazon links may earn a small affiliate commission, but the price is the same for you. We only recommend books we love and think you would love, too.

Always wishing you the best,

J.B.