Letter From The Editor + Summer Updates

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since I've talked to all 134,000 of you.

For those of you who are new(ish) here, my name is Tyler and I founded Perfectly Imperfect with my long time pal @ALEX way back in 2020.

I've wanted to get back in the habit of sharing my recommendations, general thoughts, and updates with you guys - kinda like I did when this newsletter was just starting off nearly 5 years ago. Expect more like this coming up.

I'm going to be mostly offline in June - explained below. However, before I put the laptop down for a few weeks I wanted to pop in with some updates on Perfectly Imperfect and beyond.

1) I'm getting married!

Yup, that's right. @JENNIE and I are getting married on June 14th and we're taking off for our honeymoon right after. We've been dating for over a decade, and in that time we navigated our 20s together, shared countless memories, moved to New York City, shifted careers, had lots of fun with friends old and new, and most importantly, built a special bond with each other. Can't wait for the big day : - )

2) Reminder: Perfectly Imperfect isn't JUST a newsletter

I often hear from a lot of our subscribers that they had no idea Perfectly Imperfect has an app for sharing your recommendations.

If you enjoy the character portrait style of "recommendations" from our newsletter, I think you'll also love what we've built with PI.FYI. It's the same format, just non celebrity / artist / musician / etc focused.

Over 60,000 of you have signed up so far. It's my favorite place online, and it was birthed from a genuine place of love and a longing for the internet I grew up on.

Some people use it like a public gratitude journal - blogging about moments that made them happy - and others users are kind enough to share their amazing taste in music, art, film, clothes, and more, with strangers on the internet.

There's nothing else like it on the internet. It's sincere, inspiring, very funny, and overall a really amazing place to discover new recommendations and learn about other people.

You can try it out on the web by clicking here or download the app here. If you're reading this as a newsletter subscriber, you already have an "account" and just need to activate it.

3) We launched custom themes

You can pick background images, change all the colors, and more.

Remember when the internet felt like yours and it was exciting to carve out your little corner? We're trying to bring that feeling back.

Pictured here is Day's profile. Check out my brick theme.

4) Lorde recommended Perfectly Imperfect...on Perfectly Imperfect

One of us! One of us!

And to make it even better she shouted out recommendations from PI alumni @HONOR and @GABI-ABRAO.

I've been a fan since day 1 and this was a really cool moment.

You can read the full interview here.

5) We made PI.FYI fast, for real this time!

We've improved page load time by 300% and also made the mobile app much faster.

There was a gnarly bug hidden deep in the codebase that haunted us for a little over a year. I found it back in February and got rid of it for good.

I'm sincerely sorry to anyone who did give us a try in the early days, but dipped after waiting 10 seconds for a page to load. Give us another chance <3

6) We got an office

It's always been a dream of mine to have an office, and now it's real!

Pictured here is Lindsey (helps with newsletter booking), Raj (our new software engineer intern), and Vivi (our longtime newsletter editor). Not pictured here: Alex (cofounder and engineer), TJ (engineer and long time pal), Barr (brand partnerships and growth), Kate (product designer), Peggy (accounting), and Viktoriia (copywriting and brand partnerships).

I'm thankful every day that I get to work on PI as my full-time job. So sick.

Want to work here? Email [email protected] and tell us what you're good at.

7) You can now share multiple images per post

Coming soon...profile galleries and other image specific features. Build a profile mood board, share pics of your friends, log your fits, etc.

I'm trynna make a place for you to dump a bunch of photos from a party AND enrich your taste through thoughts & recommendations from others.

Pictured above - me sharing a link to Robin Williams' bike collection and including several pics of awesome bikes.

8) Badges

Now when people land on your page they'll know what kind of poster you are, right away.

Oh hell yeah, this guy shares a new music rec every day.

9) Events...coming soon

In a few weeks we'll be launching events on PI. Think of everything that made F*cebook Events great back in the day (simple + on a social site where your friends already are), combined with the features that've made Partiful the new default (easy sign up + nice UX).

Events have been in our DNA ever since we threw the party where the Girls live music video was shot...and this feature will let you get in on the fun too.

PI.FYI events are a perfect match for when you're throwing a DIY show in a basement, a little birthday party for your friend, a rave in Berlin, organizing a bowling tournament, or a birdwatching meet-up.

10) Communities...coming soon

I can't say much about this one yet, but it'll be the biggest change to the site since we launched it back in Jan 2024.

11) We're launching a few new columns

More on this soon, but we'll be kicking off the new Browser History column with an amazing essay from @BRAD-PHILLIPS.

12) Suggest guests for Perfectly Imperfect

On Raj's first day he went brain blast mode on this feature. As his boss I said to myself "i gotta let this guy cook" - and cook he did.

Raj's feature lets you search our huge (600+) archive of previous guests, and if you don't see your fave - recommend them as a guest.

You can check it out here.

BONUS - I'll leave you with (1) song recommendation.

Future editions of this "letters from the editor" column will include far more than one, but this post is getting long.

peace

-tyler

p.s. sorry if there are typos i wrote this all in an hour