May 2012
Gut
Nobody sees the world the way you do.
When making a decision you should use all the information available to you.
That includes all the different signals your brain is processing some of which you may not understand.
When you let other people make decisions on your behalf you are doing yourself a disservice.
When you make the wrong decision it’s easier to blame someone else. This...
Girly Feeds
I noticed today that a girl on the train had bright orange nail polish that I thought was rad.
It was the first time that I recall ‘noticing’ such a thing.
I attribute this new attention to my lady friends who post on instagram, pinterest, tumblr, etc.
Like my guy friends they share the way they view their world.
However, some of the content they share is stuff that...
Just Keep Swimming
Once you start something the key is to always be in motion.
You see this often with street runners who reach a red light & end up jogging in place in order to continue their flow or momentum.
If you stop and a bunch of time has passed it ends up feeling like its too hard to start up again.Its helpful to not to feel the need to run right away; start with a little jog.
[title reference]
Alpha
As soon as you have a product ready that people can use, let them.
Even if its gross looking, you end up learning more than you’d expect.
The problem that arises with this approach is that people often judge a book by its cover.
It’s ok if they dont understand your alpha product or dont like the way it looks.
Dont take it personally.
It’s actually valuable feedback.
...
What are you struggling with?
Usually when I ask people how their startup is doing they respond with:
Awesome! Great! Crushing It!
I usually congratulate them but then follow up with another question:
What are you struggling with?
Whatever their answer ends up being, I usually try to see if I can be of help.
Being aware of what you are struggling with and finding a solution as quickly as you can is one of the most...
One Thing
Jason Goldberg, CEO of Fab.com, has been building and growing his company at an impressive rate.
When asked what is the most important thing a startup should focus on to achieve success his response is to have one thing to focus on.
His one thing is, for fab.com to be synonymous with design, all around the world.
Every decision that the company makes need to be viewed through this lens.
This...
BRYCE DOT VC: Suffering As a Competitive Advantage →
brycedotvc:
Starting companies is hard.
Building them into sustainable businesses over time is even harder.
Much has been postulated about why one founder flounders and the others emerge as the next Mark Zuckerberg. Some will attribute the difference to smarts, connections, or capital, but a new research report has me thinking it may be something that doesn’t fit into any of those...
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Other Peoples To Do List
Your inbox is other people’s to do list.
I was first introduced to this framework by Chris Sacca.
Thanks to sanebox I can partially view email as a stream.
Twitter inherently is a stream which if I dont catch something on twitter I dont mind; if its important it will find its way to me.
My automatically sorted folders labeled @sanelater are from people that I dont know along with...
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Lined & Unlined: Discussing entrepreneurship →
Advice by Rob Giampietro to designers getting ready to start their own studio but can be applied to others as well:
An untended garden quickly becomes a field: plant what you want to grow.
Have partners, but don’t do the same things: make sure you both do something you enjoy.
Hire people for what they can teach you, not for what you can teach them.
Everyone should be able to take criticism:...
“What are the consequences to trying? I could f up really bad and lose my savings...”
– KAWS (via brycedotvc) this is very much my current frame of mind.
Planning
Theres always something going on in NYC but you usually have to plan in advance.
I guess this is normal for people to plan in advance.
I don’t know if its because I don’t want to let people down if i have to cancel on them or if i dont like planning activities and then canceling because I’m not in the mood day of the event.
Whatever the reason may be I’ve come to...
Firing
Its never easy firing someone.
Even when it’s clear as day that they are not a good fit for your team.
As soon as you realize that this is the case, you need to let the person know; it’s a waste of your time and theirs.
The advice you hear most often is:
Hire Slow, Fire Fast!
My favorite addendum to this line of thinking that is attributed to Neil Blumenthal, cofounder of Warby...
Hiring
The current state of the tech job market can be summed up in one sentence:
Everyone is hiring and nobody wants a job.
In the glorious times we are living in its fairly easy to get up and running with a service/product/app.
It’s still really hard and expensive to scale but nobody pays attention to that because they are too excited about starting.
It makes it even harder to hire talented...
What does your product do?
When someone asks you to explain what the product you are working on, dont reply with the why. Just answer their question with a succinct description your product. If you think the one liner is to broad it’s usually best to describe it in the context of something they are already familiar with; the X for Y.
Based on their reaction you can start to explain why your approach is different than...
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Louis CK's Nuggets of Wisdom →
Louis CK took to reddit again to promote his new stuff.
I’m a big believer that the greatest comedians are also the smartest individuals because they are able to see the world for what it really is and express that struggle to society in a way that makes them laugh instead of cry.
There were some real nuggets that Louis shared that I really enjoyed so I highlighted and contextualized for...
“Being wildly successful in tech is about anticipating change, and altering the...”
– Why Tech CEOs Seem Dumb http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/why-tech-ceos-seem-so-dumb
eight golden rules of interface design via... →
medriscoll:
As we dedicate an increasing fraction of our time interacting with software — from airport check-in terminals and parking meters, to desktop and mobile applications — digital interface design is becoming as important as physical architecture in improving our experience of the world.
Here are Professor Ben Schneiderman’s Eight Golden rules for optimally designing that experience...
Working Better Not Longer
When building something from nothing the the amount of time you spend shouldn’t be the focus, maximizing the quality of output should be.
Some people work better during the day other people work better at night. Some people work better being surrounded by people while others work better in solitude.
It’s very important you know when you are most productive otherwise you end up...
Facetime
I was chatting with one of my good friends and while we were going back and forth via text I felt that there was too much too discuss and writing out our thoughts was going to take too long so I switched the conversation to video.
He was on gtalk and I was using the messages app on my mac. When he tried initiating the video the machines wouldnt allow us to correspond since we were using different...
“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”
– Henry David Thoreau (via themadeshop)
Friends
We are living in the most connected time in history.
During these times the definition of these connections with other humans we once referred to as friends are blurred.
How I connect to you is not necessarily the same way you connect with me. I may like your witty tweets but loathe your animated gifs you reblog. You may like my photos on instagram but there is no way I’m going to give you...
“We’re releasing this uncomfortably early,” Ljung said. “We’re just not...”
– SoundCloud Hopes Its Slick Redesign Will ‘Unmute the Web’ | Underwire | Wired.com (via david-noel)
“we don’t think of it as Etsy becoming more like the rest of the world, rather...”
– Notes From Chad: Funding Etsy’s Future | Etsy News
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Look forward to living in this beautiful world
Motives
Earlier tonight my good buddy mentioned that he has been appreciating my writing of late but felt weird when he heard ‘the reason’ for my writing.
He heard the reason for my writing was for a bet and therefore joked that he stopped reading and unfollowed me. I was bothered by this sentiment because what he didnt hear was the reason for the bet in the first place.
Last month I...
“Tumblr likes to party! This network shows a drastically different pattern of...”
– bitly blog: Time Is On Your Side
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interesting data report published by the folks over at bitly. read full for breakdown of facebook and twitter
Knowing my surroundings
Yesterday I planned to have a productive day but I didnt account for the pollen count being a 10/12. As a result my sinuses were congested and pressed against my skull and was quite annoying. I become a different person when this occurs.
I have downloaded a couple pollen count apps and will begin taking into account this data in terms of my daily planning.
Today the count is a 9.8 which I knew...
paul.bz: Embracing risk →
Two things paul learned from his experience -
Praise well-calculated risk (not laziness), especially when it fails.
If someone knows they’ve screwed up, don’t remind them. Instead, spend the energy highlighting what was done right and help them troubleshoot what went wrong.
“An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail. Scientists made a...”
– Polaroid inventor Edwin Land on embracing failure, among other insights on what it takes to innovate.
Also see Land on the 5,000 steps to success. (via explore-blog)
Storytelling
Building a solid product is no longer good enough.
If you cant tell a good enough story to get people using your product they will get distracted with what they are currently used to.
Keep the story simple and tell it early and tell it often.
Two companies that I’ve admired their storytelling abilities of late have been Fab & Path.
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Warby Parker 2011 Annual Report is AWESOME →
ITS SOOO GOOD. BE SURE TO CLICK THROUGH
Here are the most popular keyword searches.
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BONUS: MAKING OF VIDEO TIMELAPSE
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Brand is so strong they make me want to wear glasses even though i dont need them, yet.
“The only reason you should be an entrepreneur is because that’s the only way the...”
– Dustin Moskovitz: Y Combinator’s “No Idea” Round Bad for Silicon Valley | PandoDaily (via davemorin)
Failure
The act of failing shouldnt be seen as a flaw in ones self but more of a flaw in hypothesis and approach.
The goal to some extent should be to fail as quick as possible so you can get closer to being on the right track.
Dont apologize for failures either.
Own your failures and create an action plan to make sure you dont make the same mistake again.
As the Facebook kids like to say:...
“You can buy Twitter followers (if you’re willing to spend money stupidly), but...”
– John Scalzi via http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/03/amanda-palmer-kickstarter-and-everything/
Patience & Persistence
If I didnt have commitment issues these words would be tattooed on my left and right wrists respectively. (may have to get some temporary ones made ;) In an always on world we are trained to want our Oompa Loompas NOW
When we dont get what we want right away there is a reason for it. Try to understand the cause of misalignment.
Stick to your goal and work with an alternative approach. You might...
Thank You
Being grateful and taking the time to say thanks is easy to do but often dismissed.
Im not sure why this is the case.
Could it be because people take things for granted? Is it because we interact with more ppl on a daily basis and are overwhelmed?
Another thing that people tend to do is deflect praise when a simple thank you would suffice. For example when they receive a compliment they...
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Relationships
Last fall my buddy Jordan, texted me the following:
I’m going to an awesome yoga teacher at 7:15 if you want in…new place, love the teacher though…
I took him up on the invitation and am sooo glad l did.
The yoga instructor, Danielle, was a great yoga instructor; the kind that recognizes your limits but helps you push yourself past them. [she currently teaches at yoga vida]
...
April 2012
“Build the company you want to work for.”
– Perry Chen
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Perry mentioned this to me awhile back and its been on repeat in my brain since.
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Morgan Missen: What I'm Reading - a Tech Talent... →
morgan missen rounds up some really good reads/writings be sure to click through for some gems.
Succinct Expression
Being able to express yourself coherently is an important skill to obtain. There are lots of ways to express your feelings & thoughts, however when they are not expressed clearly they are often misinterpreted. Making time to edit your words for your audience is imperative for their understanding as much as it is for your own. Ideas you feel really passionate about but can’t explain...
Test Your Assumptions
We make assumptions on a daily basis. It helps us navigate the world. In doing so we tend to live in the world that we created based on those assumptions.
It’s really important to recognize the decisions we make and what assumptions we are basing these decisions on.
It’s easier than ever to test these assumptions especially with access to services like Mechanical Turk &...