On building of All Trades
intentions are just as powerful as goals, if not more so. While a goal is a specific target, a clear destination on the horizon, an intention serves as a guiding light, softly illuminating our path as we move through time and space. Goals can sometimes make us feel like we're wearing blinders, zeroed in on a singular endpoint, which can lead to... See more
What Matters Most?
You walk down your high street. What do you prefer to see there? The economist will say: Walmart, Best Buy, the Gap. Scale economies — cheaper prices — better for “consumers”! But the human being will say: an independent cafe, a good bookshop, a boutique clothing store. Why? Because they offer many things that mega scale organizations don’t.
Sari Azout • 10 things worth sharing this week
Agreeableness is not the same as agreeing. In fact, they have little in common. Finding someone who’s only job is to agree with everything that is said is easy. On the other hand, agreeableness is the skill of having a contrary position and being pleasant about it. It’s the hard work of bringing professional work to people who expected something... See more
429 Too Many Requests
Beliefs are more about belonging than they are about truth.
100 Simple Truths
Given the pace we are working at, we look foremost for flexibility and initiative. The ability to build constructively in a limited-resource environment (potentially having to wear several hats) is the most important to us.
Lenny Rachitsky • How Perplexity builds product
Perplexity founder’s take on how they prioritize early hires
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.
There’s a market for almost everything.
The most valuable things will always be the ones that are hardest to price.
Superhuman
The internet and software is only accelerating this trend: as coordination costs get lower, it becomes easier and easier for companies to use outside services instead of building capabilities internally, concentrating knowledge in fewer and fewer organizations.
Ise Jingu and the Pyramid of Enabling Technologies
How do you preserve a source of truth when your team looks like teams of the future, connected with individuals who care but may be working in different systems and organizations to help you achieve your business goals? How can you assign an arbiter of truth?
Different backgrounds, different views, different experiences. The best teams are diverse. These are the ingredients that spark innovation.
Daniel Rizea • Top 5 Learnings After Mentoring 100 Startups
Diversity of backgrounds can also mean diversity of generalist vs. specialist skillsets. Generalists become multi-functional, bringing domain expertise from corners that you might least expect it.
ON SMALL TEAMS
Impressive things accomplished by small teams:
Impressive things accomplished by small teams:
- Instagram had 13 employees when they were acquired by Facebook for $1 billion. They had 30 millions users at the time.
- Mojang (the company behind Minecraft) had 37 employees when they were acquired by Microsoft for $2.5 billion. At that time, Mojang had revenue of about $290 million