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Startups

2024

Growth vs. Grind

·4 mins

It’s worth discussing the difference between growth and grind mindsets. Growth is the process of learning, improving, and evolving–ideally in an upward trajectory. Conversely, grind is working hard, often to the point of exhaustion or burnout. The former is aspirational; the latter is…something else.

I think most people are taught to grind rather than grow. I’ve written about this before in another post, but framed differently. The grind mindset is ground into us when we enter the school system and are subjected to homework, tests, grades, and other forms of performance assessment. The grind mindset is further reinforced when we enter the workforce and are expected to work long hours, often for a fraction of the value we provide to the company’s bottom line (unless you’re lucky enough to wriggle your way into the executive suite).

2022

2020

Why Be An Entrepreneur?

·3 mins

I saw a discussion on Reddit about entrepreneurship recently that got me thinking. What’s the point of being an entrepreneur when the odds of success are incredibly low? This is especially true if you’re low on resources or clout.

For me, the reason I want to be an entrepreneur is simple: I have valuable skills and I want to work on things that I care about. I don’t care that much about getting rich, but I do want to earn enough to live comfortably and not have anxiety about paying the bills.

Startups Are a Beauty Contest

·2 mins

One of the hard truths in startups, especially VC funded startups, is that perception matters more than reality. Many people are able to raise vast amounts of money at high valuations on little more than excitement about the prospect of a viable business some time in the future.

Most VCs earn their living from fees, and they earn more in fees when valuations go up, followed by subsequent funding rounds, with larger amounts of capital invested. VCs don’t usually invest their own money, they typically invest other people’s money. Thus, they aren’t really incentivized to see their companies succeed, but rather they want to make their companies appear successful. That is to say, the perception of success matters more than actual success.

Being Honest With Yourself (when things aren't going well)

·3 mins

I really wanted to be a founder of a successful startup (where successful to me means the company can pay its own bills, and pay employees well). However the reality hasn’t matched my ambition and I’ve decided to find a job like a regular chump.

I assumed that with work ethic, skills, persistence, and plenty of trial and error I could eventually find success. That hasn’t happened, and I’m nowhere close to making that happen. Being good at computers and working hard doesn’t cut it.

2019

Dopamine

·5 mins

Dopamine is a chemical in our brains associated with good feels. Rather than explaining it myself, I’ll share a quote from the book “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion”, (pp. 102-103):

All animal brains are designed to create flashes of pleasure when the animal does something important for its survival, and small pulses of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the ventral striatum (and a few other places) are where these good feelings are manufactured. Heroin and cocaine are addictive because they artificially trigger this dopamine response. Rats who can press a button to deliver electrical stimulation to their reward centers will continue pressing until they collapse from starvation.

Skin in the Game Startups

·3 mins

I don’t like making predictions, but one prediction I do have is that many future big companies will be what I call “skin in the game startups” (you heard it here first).

Having skin in the game simply refers to sharing risk and rewards with a counterparty. In startupland, angel investors have skin in the game: they give money to founders to help them start a business in exchange for equity with the hope that the business will become more valuable in the future. The investor is sharing the risk of the company (by outlaying their money), and if the company does well the investor will eventually reap grand returns.