Legend says that when Vikings first landed on enemy territory, the first thing they did was burn their boats so the only way to go back home was to win the battle. This move is completely irrational and illogical. Why not think about “just in case” scenarios? Why waste time and resource on this non-combat … Continue reading Burning the Boat
From Berkshire report (via Yahoo Finance): “Berkshire Hathaway saw a 19.8% compounded annual gain from 1965 to 2022, compared to 9.9% for the S&P 500 Index. In terms of overall gain, Berkshire saw a 3,787,464% rise during that time period while the S&P rose 24,708%.” If someone invested $10k through Berkshire Hathaway in 1965, that … Continue reading Compounding
I caught up with my friend who’s a veteran recruiter. Our conversation led to (what else!) implications of AI for the recruiting industry. She was quite optimistic about it. She said, when LinkedIn first came out and became prevalent, many people in her field worried recruiters would lose their jobs and be replaced by LinkedIn. … Continue reading AI and the Job Market
One productivity hack that has worked well for me in the past is monthly personal workshop, aka “archive day”. The idea is simple – every month, take a day off from work to review and tidy up your work itself, so you can work better and more efficiently. It’s like working on the work itself, … Continue reading Archive Day
It pains me to watch this company A. They have 40+ employees and are losing money every month, like clockwork. They have some revenue, but the revenue isn’t growing as fast and their business has low margins. They should do something ASAP – either downsize the team significantly or sell off part of their business. … Continue reading Be more decisive
People say Google should have taken more chances, and yet instead let OpenAI take the center stage and advance them in some ways. But Google can’t take chances. Just as one example, Chrome browser’s MAU is 2.7 billion. That’s pretty much half the world. When half the world is using your service, honestly how easy … Continue reading Even Google can’t avoid the Innovator’s Dilemma
I see a lot of anxiety among the founders circle with the recent AI developments. It seems everyone thinks they need to start something now, or else they will hopelessly fall behind. AI developments are truly astonishing – quite terrifying. 3 months in AI development means a completely different generation. Things are happening in both … Continue reading Humans can’t evolve that fast
How do we reduce generation gap? (This is particularly relevant to the tech industry, as tacit (or not even tacit) agism is rampant and much more pronounced than in other industries.) It probably won’t get achieved by one generation trying to “become” the other generation, because they can’t. For example – a boomer picking up … Continue reading How to reduce generation gap
I recently learned my friend’s former company got acquired at a nine figure amount, after 17 years in existence, doing one thing. The world is moving at a breakneck speed, making it difficult for anyone to maintain more than two seconds of attention span. But for those who are on a singular mission, taking small … Continue reading The world always gives them a chance
It took less than 48 hours for LUNA and FTX to go from their prime to total wipeout in value. SVB, a much larger and traditional institution, saw their massive bank run and the eventual shutdown within roughly 48 hours. In this hyper networked world, anything of any scale can happen in 48 hours; seems … Continue reading Downhill is much faster