It's Not for Them, It's for You
Someone asked me if they should still bust their butt and go beyond the call of duty at their job. It was their last week and they were never going to work with these people or in this industry again. What's the point? I told them I thought they had it backwards. You don't go above and beyond to…
Don't Start a Movement, Move the World
I used to believe that making a big impact on the world required a movement. I thought you had to get a bunch of people to believe certain things, and get those people to get more people and so on. I don't like movements anymore. In fact, I like the opposite of movements. Think about the iPhone, or…
It's Good Because It's Hard
Well yesterday I couldn't resist writing a Steph Curry based post. Steph made me do it again today. He entered last night's game with a bashed up finger and an ultra thin bench. Everyone rose to the occasion. Except him. He went scoreless in the first half. This has never happened. Not in this era…
When Heroes Are Made
Forget the stat sheet. It can't reveal moments. And moments are all that matter. Steph Curry has struggled since dislocating his finger. He's put up decent points on terrible shooting percentages. That's what the stats show. Watching the games unfold shows something even more troubling. Lapses on…
Entering the Stream with a Paddle
Venkatesh Rao has been writing for some time against what he calls Waldenponding, a righteous disconnect from the stream of tech-enabled media and info. Everyone seems to agree that we're too keyed in to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, the news, or screens generally. And there's truth to……
Age and Eccentricity
When you're young and early in your career, the cost of eccentricity is high. You can't afford to be too weird in your habits and behaviors. You have to be willing to say yes to things others value more than you, and adapt to your environs if you want to achieve bigger goals. Later in life and…
What's in a Name?
A lot. Words are like magic. If properly wielded, they confer the ability to own a thing. I didn't put a lot of thought into company names, even after creating Praxis. The name Praxis came to me all of a piece with the idea for the company. It was a package deal in one of the handful of, weird,…
Preparing for the Brush Fire
The best stuff comes from unexpected bursts of inspiration. Lightning strikes. But what separates all the bursts that fizzle into those that set the world ablaze? The conditions of the environment when the lightning strikes. You've got to create the conditions for a brush fire. You've got to ready…
Just Getting Warmed Up
Just a kid from Kalamazoo. Never tell me what I can't do. Didn't really have a normal dad. Don't ever say I had it bad. Hard and good are synonyms to me. And easy is the antonym of free. Don't pick the other side if you bet. I haven't even started yet.
Personal Product-Market Fit
In startups, product-market fit (PMF) means you are in a good market with a product that can satisfy it. Early companies are mostly searching for PMF, adjusting both their product and the market they attempt to serve to find it. Once found, it's all about pouring on growth gasoline, but until you…