Personal MBA

What the most ambitious people choose to do with their lives has a profound impact on society, the economy and culture.

In each case [Church and literacy, Military and command, Finance and Management], the institutions provide three things. One, a mechanism for acquiring the skills associated with the ‘technology of ambition’. Two, a social network

Talent and performance in humans are surprisingly tied to a sacred bond to a discipline or mission (a fact that the world's cynics / careerists / Roman Empires like to downplay, only to then find their lunch eaten by the ambitious interns / SpaceXes / Christianities of the world).

This breed of company will never spring from the mind of a committee; it would never have been permitted to endure in its current form, with thousands of employees organizing themselves around problems at hand, if we had submitted to the conventional managerial model in American corporate life.

“Most people, especially highly gifted people, do not really know where they belong until they are well past their mid-twenties. By that time, however, they should know the answers to the three questions: What are my strengths? How do I perform? and, What are my values? And then they can and should decide where they belong.

Successful careers are no

Here are 7 steps I would follow if I were starting my business from scratch tomorrow:

1. Understand one problem that one specific group of people have

2. Create a clear and concise roadmap to solving that problem

3. Figure out your product format

4. Decide on where to host it

5. Find some customers

6. Turn customers into testimonials

7. Create a system for repeatable selling

The typical large business 20 years hence will have fewer than half the levels of management of its counterpart today, and no more than a third the managers. In its structure, and in its management problems and concerns, it will bear little resemblance to the typical manufacturing company, circa 1950, which our textbooks still consider the norm… th

“There are only two things you have to know about business: build something users love, and make more than you spend.

As for building something users love, here are some general tips. Start by making something clean and simple that you would want to use yourself. Get a version 1.0 out fast, then continue to improve the software, listening closely t

During our first year in business we didn’t spend a dollar on acquisition. Rather than becoming overly dependent on paid acquisition to grow, we invested our time and effort into product led growth. (We also didn’t really have any money to spend).

It worked. We operated super lean and really optimized our funnels and user experience.

What’s the lesso

I’m convinced that storytelling, taste, and design will be the most differentiating business skill of the 21st century