When to stop “crushing it”
I’ve been “crushing it” for almost as long as I’ve been running a startup. That’s not to say that things have always been up-and-to-the-right. We’ve had more than our share of WFIO moments along the way. But to...
Ryan Vaughn: 100 Ideas Demo Day talk
100 Ideas is an awesome platform created by Startgarden to launch early stage businesses. In it they seed 100 different fledgling businesses with $1k, add water and sunshine, wait a tick, and then invest $20k in the ten that show the most...
Friday Sabbatical
Whatever you’re doing this Friday, I hereby invite you to take a mini-sabbatical from it. Check in with yourself. Feel your breath, the sensations of sitting, or standing, the contact between your body and the world. Notice what’s...
I see how you got there, Billy McFarland
I finally got around to watching the Fyre Festival documentaries, two distinct movies (Netflix and Hulu) each chronicling the rise and spectacular fall of what might have been the largest, most exclusive party in history, held by Ja Rule and a...
How to build a sandcastle (or anything)
1990 I woke up slowly to the sun shining through the sheets, and pulled my blanket up over my face to bring back the darkness. I was settling back into my dream when I remembered. I jolted awake. The sandcastle. My dad and I spent all day...
Focus on the road, not the wall
Running a venture-backed startup before profitability is like flying a plane you can’t steer toward a thick, steel wall. The only option is to throttle up faster and faster, accelerating to take off with enough distance to clear the wall...
The (not so) new leadership: Context > Control
Many leaders still see their job as directing the activity of the people working for them, setting up detailed systems designed to remove the variability from human behavior and achieve predictable outcomes. This approach to management stems all...
Do Less, Better
Inspiration sparks the best ideas, creative process crystalizes them, and perspiration makes them come to life. Three parts of the value creation chain. We startup founders are excellent at the perspiration part. We push and push, optimizing for...
The case for the startup psychologist
Cofounders are effectively married, so why do we not invest in couples therapy for startups? It works. There is no more fundamentally important relationship inside a company than between its cofounders, and no area in which things can get more...