Maybe you won’t agree with everything Marc Andreessen says, but you have to admire the way the man constructs an argument and organizes his thoughts. If you have to think or speak in public, an interview like this is a masterclass. The big thread running through the entire episode is how software ate half of … Continue reading Podcast Of The Week: Software Is (Still Working On) Eating The World
Steve Schlafman’s been successful as an operator, a venture investor, and as a coach. Schlafman’s got a gift for boiling down big concepts and sharing his sources (see the extremely handy resource he maintains, Founder Library). In this interview with Ari Lewis, they cover his career progression and how he chose what to do next, … Continue reading Podcast Of The Week: Personal Branding And Coaching With Steve Schlafman
Paul Desmarais III, Cofounder of Portag3 Ventures, says he looks for three qualities in the entrepreneurs his firm works with. Whether you’re picking a team to join, hiring for a team, or building one from scratch, these character traits are broadly applicable: They need to be able to attract talent (they have a sense of … Continue reading Attract Talent, Attract Capital, Be Mission Driven
We’re thinking and wondering what will and won’t be forever changed due to this quarantining. We’ll go back to work, school, and being social, but neither ourselves or our other activities will be exactly the same. Professionally, this means we have to be asking questions now about which new aspects will stick, which won’t, and … Continue reading Forced Experiments Now Create Applicable Skills Later
Coronavirus and negativity don’t have the patent on being infectious, positivity and good old-fashioned pragmatism can actually spread too. Two podcasts this week - one for the optimists or those in desperate need of one, and one for the pragmatists who want to hear how two great thinkers are processing all of this information and … Continue reading Podcast Of The Week: Optimistic And Realistic Coronavirus Conversations
Which do we want to believe - the statistics or the calculus? If we believe the statistics and our idea will probably fail, why even start? If we focus on the calculus, the trajectory and future potential of our idea, we’ll at least try to engineer a solution. Even if the odds are against us. … Continue reading Which Do We Believe: The Statistics Or The Calculus?
The world lost an intellectual giant in Clayton Christensen this week. He may not exactly be a household name, but we have him to thank for phrases like “disruption” and “jobs-to-be-done” that occupy the jargon of every industry these days. Like a poet exploring the complexities of love, Christensen described how businesses evolved over time. … Continue reading Remembering Clayton Christensen
Hearing Cowen talk to Hoffman is less of an interview and more of a study method. It's like he approaches him as a queryable database he can just search through. Religion (he's a "mystical atheist"), partnering referral questions (what's this person's greatest weakness and greatest challenge?), and games (the relationship between strategy, tactics, and uncovering … Continue reading Podcast Of The Week: Tyler Cowen Interviews Reid Hoffman
Union Square Ventures (USV) has a long and interesting (and successful) record of funding businesses. One thing they consistently talk about is being “thesis-driven investors” and how their thesis is ever-evolving. John Siracusa summed it up* as “clarity and discipline with an open mind.” This is a great first principle we can apply to our … Continue reading Clarity And Vision With An Open Mind: The Advantages Of Having A Thesis
Overheard somewhere nearby: There were so many things we had to do. It was already December and the end of the year was staring us in our faces. And still, we weren’t done. Not even close. But, we were better than we were this time last year. “The goal is to be better and not perfect,” … Continue reading Be Better, Not Perfect
