On building of All Trades

Learning to thrive in a resilient culture is essential. Being indoctrinated into a rigid and fragile mindset is not.

Contrary to what most founders assume, having more resources doesn’t make things easier. Instead, it introduces the challenge of resource allocation — deciding where to invest time, money, and personnel for the best return. As your startup grows, and as you hire more employees, it means you’re going to have more mouths to feed and more people with... See more

The researchers, Todd Rose and Ogi Ogas, were interested in people who took a less conventional approach to life. They interviewed hundreds of high-achieving, wildly successful “dark horses”: people who swerved in and out of jobs—and often industries—to find a good fit. From symphony conductors to chess masters, Apple execs to dogsled mushers,... See more

Know what you want to stand out for, how you’re different, what you can do that no one else can that can’t be captured by an algorithm or simple market signals, at least not yet. 

There’s a market for almost everything. 

The most valuable things will always be the ones that are hardest to price.

People don't care what you can do, they care about what you can do for them.

I’m thinking about how the only way to get better at making things is to make things, and to let the thinking happen inside the work – where you can judge a thing based on how it feels – instead of outside the work.

Creators who last focus on the process, on the joy of creation, and on the impact they make along the way. Success is not measured solely by financial metrics or external validation, it’s measured by the lives they touch, the problems they solve, and the legacy they leave behind.

My entire philosophy of how I organize myself as a working painter can be summed up by something George Carlin said: “Just keep movin’ straight ahead. Every now and then you find yourself in a different place.”

You hear a lot in art school about how painters must continue to “grow” and “evolve”—but I think those are such bullshit words. There is... See more