š Your version of being in space
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š Your version of being in space
ā ļø Paul Grahamās default alive
šÆ Being a heat seeking missile
The Overview Effect
My First Million,Ā Episode 293, Finding Profitable Business Ideas By Studying Trends, Hood Rat Stuff, and More
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As of 18 March, only 253 people have visited the International Space Station.Ā There are probably more S&P 500 CEOs named Michael or James than there are people who have the ISS in their passport. This small handful of men and women beat you to your dream job as a child and walked away with the added bonus of the overview effect.
Have you ever heard of the overview effect? Probably not.
The overview effect is a cognitive shift that affects some astronauts when they see the Earth from space.
When you take someone away from Earth in space they no longer identify with a particular nationality, a particular culture, a particular race, and they see they world as this fragile thing floating around.
Itās a different perspective where this idea of nationalities and borders are not really important, weāre all on this rock trying to figure shit out.
This one astronaut was like: my life changed after that, Iām not stressed out about certain stuff ā¦ I wish everyone would be able to experience this.
Sam Parr
We had that guy David Friedberg come on the pod.
The thing heās doing is instead of putting 20L of water to grow grapes, then crush grapes, turn it into wine, add sugar, add alcohol, pack it up, send it to a bottling factory, then send it to a warehouse, then put it on a shelf in a store, then drive it home, then put it on a shelf in your home, heās like why donāt you just manufacture it in your home using this little printer that will print a drink for you.
And oh yeah that cuts out like 90% of the energy, resources, time and effort that goes into being able to drink this drink.
That was my going into space moment, realising for every single product, every shirt, every pair of boxers, every sock that I own, how much goddam effort, labour, travel, resources go into it, and realising thatās not going to be the way forever.
Shaan Puri
Why it matters:Ā Itās important to get out of the weeds and to question why. But more often than not, you donāt. It usually takes a jolt of reality to realise whatās truly important in this world. Your health is the best example. You donāt appreciate your health until you become sick. So, how can you create your own overview-effect-moment, but without the sickness?
Between the lines:Ā Hopefully, simply reading this can become your overview-effect-moment. Either way, take a second to reflect on what youāve got lined up this week. Is there a meeting (most likely plural) that doesnāt have a purpose? Are you watching a Netflix show that's just āmehā? Try cancelling the deadwood in your week and do something that makes you truly smile instead.
Listen here:Ā https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/my-first-million/id1469759170?i=1000554876543
Markets are prioritising profits
ALL-IN,Ā Episode 73,Ā Late-stage VC markdowns and mistakes, market strategy, Ukraine/Russia update with Brad Gerstner
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Fragile and non-resilient business models are being found out.Ā Markets are rebalancing and unicorns are raising at down rounds (ahem, Instacart). Near the end of every bull cycle, investors become greedy, diligence becomes an afterthought, and profitability is a pipe dream. This is a friendly reminder to all of us that some things are usually too good to be true and that we should always do our homework!
Neobanks are another example.Ā The problem is all of these financial services companies are essentially an arbitrage on rates.
When rates are zero, they take that money at 0% and they can go and execute a business model and sell that money at 1% and take the difference.Ā But when their cost of capital is at 2, 2.5 and 3%, the whole business implodes on them.
Another example is all of the low end bottom-up SaaS companies and the reason is because they spend their time inside of Google and Facebook doing customer acquisition, managing this very intricate dance of LTV:CAC.Ā
When all of those input costs go up, their business implodes.
In all of this, what is the salvation in a moment like this? Itās healthy gross margins, healthy contribution margins and a realistic path to profitability, which means EBITA positive this year or in the next two years.
Chamath Palihapitiya
Why it matters:Ā Business models are important. One of the rarest skills I see when hiring is thoughtful questioning. IĀ wantĀ to see candidates ask about how the company makes money, what runway it has, and how much profit/loss it made last year. This shows good business acumen. Itās also important for them to do their diligence and join the right company (and most importantly avoid the wrong one).
Between the lines:Ā If youāre joining a company, do your diligence. If youāre investing in a startup, stock or crypto token, do your diligence. If youāre a business owner, quickly become more capital efficient, lengthen your runway and buckle your seatbelt because 2022 has only just started!
Listen here:Ā https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/all-in-with-chamath-jason-sacks-friedberg/id1502871393?i=1000555286386
Take it to Level 12
My First Million, Episode 294, Two Side Hustle Ideas, The Top Trait of Successful Entrepreneurs, Building a Compound with your Friends, and More
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The most successful entrepreneurs have a bias to action. Iām not just talking about the need to reach inbox zero or myopically releasing endorphins until they check off each of their reminders. Iām talking about running through walls to make shit happen now. Iām talking about doing what you and I would deem extremely unconventional in order to get what they want.Ā
Ari was like gotta hire Dan. Heatseeking missile. He takes it to level 12.Ā
He literally called every day for 5 months straight until finally [Dan] was like you gotta stop this, ok Iāll take the job.
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When we were going to make our own podcast studio. We were like, yeah cool idea and everybody kind of nods.Ā
Ok whatās one level better than that?
Ā
Somebody says Iāll take charge of it, theyāll come up with a plan and then that person usually goes around asking what the budget should be and they kind of push the ball forward, nudge it forward with their toe.Ā
And then somebody else comes along and says theyāre going to get it done it 2 weeks, which seems aggressive, right, to go from no studio to a fully function podcast studio.
[Sam] was like ok, what are you doing right now.Ā
I was like Iām on the phone with you.Ā
[Sam] was like cool, what are you gonna do like right after this, are you ready to go? Iāll pick you up.Ā
And I was like what? All of a sudden, an hour later, I was in the car with [Sam] driving to fucking IKEA and [Sam] walks in like hey, IKEA guy, we need an awesome studio couch, and he was like umm ok, and [Sam] was like hereās $500 in cash, where do I spend this to get the coach, and they were like WTF is going on.
Itās a different level of intensity. And sure enough, by the next day ā¦ the world bent to [Samās] will.
Shaan Puri
Why it matters: Weāre all different. For most of us, itās not sustainable to be go, go, go at a million miles an hour, 18 hours a day. We burnout and/or value our sanity. However, taking a bias to action and ramping it up to level 12 now and again can be a very good tool in our armoury to excel in our jobs.
Between the lines: Like all things, do them in moderation to live a healthy, balanced lifestyle. With that said, you can probably 10X your quality of output and time to achieve your upcoming goals if you drink the entrepreneurial Kool-Aid, do the extremely unconventional and take it to Level 12.
Listen here:Ā https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/my-first-million/id1469759170?i=1000555113281