Playing With Networking (Weekly Recap 8/23/2025)

Let's connect some dots from this week's notes...

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The Terror and Joy of Building in Public: Morgan Ranstrom JUST PRESS RECORD Pt. 2

Morgan Ranstrom returned to Just Press Record with wisdom that cuts straight through creative paralysis. His conversation explored how the feeling of being "late" to any creative pursuit is nearly universal - and why that's exactly why you should start anyway. Morgan shared how he's used my creative flywheel concept to break through perfectionism, realizing he didn't need perfect themes or structure to begin putting work into the world. The most profound insight: using discomfort as a litmus test for authentic creation. When something feels raw and vulnerable - when you don't feel like the expert yet - that's often exactly what makes it worth sharing.

Quote from the Personal Archive - Morgan on the universality of feeling behind

"I still feel late. I don't think you ever stop feeling late. Unless you were actually early... for the rest of us, I don't think we get to ever feel like we're not late. You just go anyways."

How Anderson .Paak Flyer-Hacked His Way to the Super Bowl

When Anderson .Paak saw the announcement for Dr. Dre's Super Bowl halftime show without his name on it, he could have sulked. Instead, he got creative. He made his own flyer with himself on it and sent it to Dre with a simple "Yo, what's good?" Dre laughed, and that's how .Paak ended up on drums for one of the most iconic halftime performances in Super Bowl history. The deeper lesson isn't about celebrity connections - it's about the power of making things easy for others rather than making them important to you. .Paak put himself on the flyer and made it turnkey for Dre to visualize having him on the gig. The decision became easy.

Quote from the Personal Archive - making it turnkey

"Making something easy for someone else is more powerful than making it important to you."

Sunday Music: "Unassisted" by Rasco

A Lawrence Yeo conversation about Flying Lotus and Gaslamp Killer sent me down a west coast hip-hop rabbit hole that landed on Rasco's "Unassisted" - a track I put on countless mix CDs in the early 2000s. Built on samples from Joe Farrell's 1974 "Upon this Rock," the song demonstrates something profound about creativity: it's not about making something from nothing, but about recognizing patterns others miss and having the audacity to act on them. The samples are the assist across time, but what Rasco does with them is pure pattern recognition happening in real time. This connects to everything from Jordan's basketball genius to sampling culture - bespoke pattern matching becomes every creator's fingerprint.

Quote from the Personal Archive - on the nature of creative pattern recognition

"Patterns are just repeating variables you happen to notice. Finding one nobody else has found before can be worth a lot. Harnessing one - whether for profit or for fun, can change lives."

Art As A Spiritual Pursuit, Not Just A Technical Pursuit

Scott Bradlee's MusicX lecture series inspired a reflection on the balance between technical skill and spiritual connection in creative work. Through my own guitar journey - from that first twangy, skill-free moment at age 5 to earning a college scholarship - I explored how the masters like Hendrix, Miles, and Dylan didn't choose between technique and soul. They used technique as a bridge to transcendence. The memory of being "full of spirit, fresh out of skill" reminds us that pure technique without soul is sterile, but pure passion without skill is limited. The magic happens when you combine even modest amounts of both.

Quote from the Personal Archive - Scott Bradlee on the mystical nature of art

"Art is more of a spiritual pursuit than it is a technical pursuit. There's nothing mystical about building this toolkit, but there is something mystical about creating art."

Grow Your Network: Devin Anderson Is A Risk Management Virtuoso

Devin Anderson's journey from internet startup bankruptcy to Deutsche Bank derivatives mastery reads like a financial thriller with lessons earned the hardest way possible. His three key insights cut deep: be the first to default, not the last (sometimes strategic decisions trump honorable ones); value comes from cash flow, not stories (he keeps a worthless stock certificate on his desk as a reminder); and responsibility scales with team size (entrepreneurs are too casual about what hiring people really means). Devin embodies the rare combination of deep technical expertise with hard-earned wisdom about where value truly comes from.

Quote from the Personal Archive - Devin on the reality of business responsibility

"When you start hiring people, I think entrepreneurs are a little too casual with what that means... You have a responsibility to the people that work for you."

HOW GREAT IS “PITTSBURGH GUYS PAY DEBTS” SERIOUSLY. Sorry for the all-caps. I just love that quote too much. Respect.

Grow Your Network: Morgan Ranstrom Is Back (And Better Than Ever)

Morgan's return visit dove deeper into the revolutionary concept of building in public despite perpetual imposter syndrome. His insights about embracing uncertainty and randomness - comparing it to being in a band versus being a solo artist - capture something essential about meaningful creative work. The most powerful creative and professional experiences come from surrendering control and accepting that your ideas will evolve through interaction with others. This humility, admitting you don't know where your work will lead, is actually what allows for extraordinary outcomes.

Quote from the Personal Archive - Morgan on surrendering to the process

"You give yourself up to uncertainty and a little bit of randomness... And it's beautiful. And I think about that like being a solo artist versus being in a band."

Where Else I Showed Up This Week

Had a blast talking with Nick Maggiulli about his new book "The Wealth Ladder" on Excess Returns - always enjoy diving into practical wealth-building strategies with someone who actually walks the walk.

And, as if it couldn’t get better, the other highlight this week had to be getting Aswath Damodaran back on Excess Returns for a special "show us your portfolio" episode where he walks through exactly how he plans, invests, and thinks about his family's money. No surprise this one hit over 80k views in the first week - when the dean of valuation gets personal about his own investment approach, people listen.

Personal Archive Prompts

What patterns are you noticing that others might be missing?

HOW MIGHT YOUR CREATIVE WORK CHANGE if you used discomfort as a compass instead of avoiding it?

Where are you choosing the "honorable" path when the strategic path might serve everyone better?

What stories are you telling yourself about value that might be disconnected from actual fundamentals?

WHO COULD YOU MAKE THINGS EASIER FOR this week, and what would that look like practically?

What project are you not starting because you feel "too late" to the game?

How might embracing more uncertainty and collaboration compound your life's work differently?

As always, I did my part, now it's your turn to write some reflections in your own Personal Archive.

(then, be sure to let me know where you're keeping it, I'm in search of the others too)

ps. Claude helped me organize and synthesize these thoughts from the week's posts. If you are curious how I use AI, read this post: Did AI Do That: Personal Rules