#GrowWithAJ

there’s always a little truth behind every “just kidding,”

…a little knowledge behind every “I don’t know,”

…a little emotion behind every “I don’t care,”

and a little pain behind every “I’m okay!”

Always lead with empathy—be compassionate when people share their feelings with you.

#GrowWithAJ

Don’t start a company unless you’re ready to experience pain

Don’t start a company unless you’re ready to experience pain.

Three months ago, I quit my job at Coinbase to start a new company—Astronaut.

Since then, we’ve launched our product, served awesome customers, and raised venture capital from incredible investors—surpassing my wildest dreams.

Here

Learning to lead without authority is crucial.

The workplace of the future is self-organizing, collaborative, and has flatter management structures.

To succeed as a leader, you must learn to inspire others to cooperate and engage willingly. Giving orders is unlikely to get anything meaningful done.

Authentic leadership comes from influence and not fro

Compassion is a crucial leadership skill!

While empathy is the tendency to feel others’ emotions as your own, compassion is the intent to contribute to the happiness and well-being of others. 

Compassion isn’t just about being kind in the workplace; being Compassionate is more proactive.

It’s a conscious effort to nurture others to thei

Being a startup CEO is a sales job

When starting Astronaut, I pictured building cool products, working with incredible people, and redefining how brands engage with their customers.

But there's one aspect I was unprepared for—the sheer amount of selling involved!

Selling isn’t just part of my job—it IS my job.

As CEO, I spend most of my time selling cu

Create more than you consume.

Successful people who live fulfilling lives create more than they consume.

Someone created the last movie you watched, and you enjoyed it.

Someone created Sublime, and here you are—consuming!

Someone created this post, and you get to learn from it.

I encourage you to plant two trees for every one you cut down.

What will you

Excellence is not an act; it’s a habit.

It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past—you are what you do consistently.

Your long list of past accomplishments becomes irrelevant if you start making bad decisions today.

Let me explain.

If I start smoking cigarettes today, I am officially a smoker. Right?

In contrast, imagine I had been a smoker for seve

Adversity does not equal failure!

Everyone faces adversity.

It is rare to find vision, ambition, and ultimately, success without adversity.

To find the success that lies beyond hard times, you must view adversity as a hole to climb out of instead of a grave to lie down in.

Successful people embrace adversity because they understand its value.

Don’t quit

Real networking doesn’t happen at networking events!

Real networking happens in backyards, exclusive dinners, private meet-ups, and at happy hour.

Real networking happens when a friend introduces you to a friend.

And then that friend introduces you to a new group of people.

And then in that new group of people, you make a new friend.

And on and on and o

I’m not in a rush to give a TED Talk.

I’m not in a rush to be on the cover of your favorite business journal.

I know so much, but I also know my much is little.

The more I learn, the more I realize I must learn.

I’ll share what I know now, but I’m not in a rush to sell you a book.

I’m still learning, and you should be too.