This is my one-hundred-eighty-third weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Atlanta conferences – Venture Atlanta and A3C are going on this week. Both events brought people to Atlanta to attend. It was great to catch up with people and get a finger on the pulse of what’s happening in other geographies from people on the front lines.
• Teaching – This week, I explained an investing concept to a college friend. He was able to grasp it in a quick phone call, and he said it was beneficial—it helped him think about things differently. It felt good to help someone understand a complex concept quickly. This was a reminder that truly understanding something means being able to teach it to others.‍
• More entrepreneurs – Last week, I wrote about conversations I had with people considering becoming solopreneurs. This week, I spoke with two highly accomplished people considering leaving great organizations to pursue entrepreneurship. They don’t want to be solopreneurs, but this is another anecdotal data point about people leaving stability to pursue entrepreneurship so they can control their own destiny.‍
• Fundraising season – This week was a reminder that fundraising activity is high right now. I chatted with founders and fund managers about their fundraises. Some are going well; others aren’t. I think it’s good to have regular conversations with someone you trust who’s unaffiliated with your company or fund. Sometimes they can help highlight things that down-in-the-weeds founders and fund managers miss.‍
• Q3 is complete – Today was the last business day of the quarter. We’re two-thirds through 2023. Before you know it, the year will be over. I’m optimistic about what’s in store for Q4. I’m also starting to think about 2024.

Week one hundred eighty-three was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

This is my one-hundred-eighty-second weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Valuation – I spent time enhancing my investing framework. Valuation is part of that framework. Traditional valuation approaches don’t make sense for some business models or companies. Digging into the data, using common sense, and applying a valuation approach tailored to the situation more accurately captures their value. In fact, doing so can uncover value that others are overlooking (or don’t understand).
• IPOs – Arm Holdings, Instacart, and Klaviyo have completed their public offerings. Time will tell how receptive public markets are to these companies. Recently, I dug deeper into a few IPOs and the liquidity they generated for the early-stage venture capital firms that backed them.
• Solopreneurs – I chatted with a few solopreneurs recently. Anecdotally, more people are wanting control of their professional trajectory and their time and are considering solopreneurship.

Week one hundred eighty-two was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

This is my one-hundred-eighty-first weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

•  Surveying B2C – I had a great chat with a few entrepreneurs who own businesses that sell to consumers (B2C). These conversations provided ground-level information in real time on what’s happening with consumer spending habits. Anecdotal, but still helpful.  
• IPOs and fundraising – Arm Holdings, a semiconductor company, went public this week. Next week or the one after that, Instacart and Klaviyo could go public. A few early-stage founders I know officially kicked off their fundraises this week. The next few weeks of IPOs and fundraising will likely have an impact on public and private market investor sentiment.
• Rational decision-making – I’ve been thinking about a conversation I had with a seasoned entrepreneur. I think I’m going to start asking myself and others, “Is this a rational decision?”

Week one hundred eighty-one was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

This is my one-hundred-eightieth weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Limited partners’ appetite – I had a long conversation with a good friend in private equity this week. He’s seeing that existing and prospective limited partners have a strong appetite for cash-flow-positive businesses and fund managers with operating experience who can improve portfolio company results by rolling up their sleeves.
• Impatient – This week was a reminder that I’m still impatient about certain things. Some projects take time to show results, which is frustrating. I’ve worked on being more patient over the years, but I still have my moments.
• Ground-level data – I was also reminded that in some instances, data collected at the ground level can help me get a better understanding of what’s happening—and much sooner—than aggregated high-level data in publications or from trade associations.

Week one hundred eighty was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

Over the years, I’ve learned that some of my insights and ideas come to me when I least expect them. Thinking back, the best ones usually come to me in the middle of the night. I wake up, and something I couldn’t figure out is suddenly crystal clear. I have a stream of related insights. It’s like all the puzzle pieces fit together and I can see the picture clearly.

These episodes can be fleeting. Just as suddenly as inspiration comes, it can go. I’ve had great insights in the middle of the night that I didn’t capture. Maybe I was too tired to get up or didn’t have the right tools. Whatever the reason, I’ve regretted not recording them when I couldn’t remember them the next morning. Knowing I had the insight and not being able to recall it was frustrating.

Knowing how rare and valuable these moments are and how quickly they dissipate, I’ve changed my approach. When I have an insight in the middle of the night, I get up and write it down in my journal. I don’t try to organize my thoughts. I simply write down as much of my stream of consciousness as possible. My brain is in the zone, and my goal is to capture as much of its output as possible. There’ll be time to organize it later. 

It happened last night. The solution to a problem I’ve been thinking about for months came to me. I recognized what was happening, got out of bed, and spent an hour writing down my thoughts. When I reviewed them this morning, I was glad I’d captured them. I think they’re the building blocks of something that could be big.

Great insights don’t happen every day. When I have them, I do whatever I can to capture them.

This is my one-hundred-seventy-eighth weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Determining value – I’ve noticed a trait common to successful entrepreneurs who happen to be investors—I call them “investor entrepreneurs.” They can confidently value what they’re investing in—often in a way that differs from the rest of the market. When buying anything, they make sure to pay significantly less than what they’ve determined it’s worth, regardless of what others are doing and regardless of the asset type (real estate, start-ups, public companies, etc.).
• IPOs – I noticed, this week and last, an uptick in the number of tech-related firms planning to go public. Instacart, Klaviyo, and Arm are a few examples. I’m curious to see how the market receives these companies. I’m also curious to review their IPO filings to find out if they’re generating or burning cash.
• Emulate what you admire – Habitually emulating the positive qualities you admire in others is a life hack that compounds. Everyone can do it, but most people won’t.

Week one hundred seventy-eight was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

This is my one-hundred-seventy-seventh weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Pricing – Determining the pricing model for the first version of your product is hard. I recently spent time with an early-stage founder on this. Pricing should give customers an incentive to use the solution more, not look for an alternative. It should also capture as much of the value you create for customers as possible. Finding the right approach requires balancing these two factors, as well as others, and is easier said than done.
• Better decisions – Making decisions that align with the long-term future you aspire to is difficult for some people. I underestimated just how difficult it is for some people. Suzy Welch’s 10-10-10 method is simple and has resonated with a few people I shared it with.  
• Independence – I’m not a fan of dependence. Needing to be in the driver’s seat of my own life led me to entrepreneurship, and it continues to be important to me. This week reinforced this feeling.  

Week one hundred seventy-seven was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend two unrelated social gatherings on the same day. They were hosted by great families who happened to be at opposite ends of the economic spectrum. The hosts’ cultural backgrounds were different from each other’s and from mine, and they lived in different parts of Atlanta.

Everyone I encountered at both events was great, and I’m appreciative of the invites. I learned things about a culture I’m not familiar with, tasted new foods (which were amazing), and met interesting people from cultures different than my own.

The weekend reconfirmed something I’ve known for some time. I get a lot out of my time around good people with experiences and backgrounds different from mine. I really enjoy it. It helps me understand other people’s perspectives, which doesn’t come naturally to me. It’s also a fun and interesting way for me to learn about new cultures, experience unfamiliar traditions, and acquire wisdom not available in my usual circles.

Living in a bubble isn’t for me. I enjoy meeting a variety of people and having new experiences.

I’ve been posting daily for about three-and-a-half years. At the end of each day, I stop to reflect and write a post.

Recently it was suggested that I consider writing a few posts ahead of time. It’s akin to completing posts and banking them. I wasn’t a huge fan of the idea initially. It’s challenging enough to come up with one post every day. Writing multiple posts in a single day sounded like a herculean task.

I thought about it and reached the following conclusions: If I tried to stack posts and failed, I could keep doing what I’d been doing, writing my post at the end of each day. If I succeeded, I wasn’t sure what the benefits would be, but I suspected they would outweigh the effort. In the end, I decided there was zero downside to trying and it would be fun to challenge myself. So, I gave it shot.

I’m happy to report that I’ve been able to write and bank multiple posts in a day. I don’t do this every day, but I’ve done it a few days now. As with anything, the first time I had to write multiple posts in a day it was hard. But it got easier.

It’s early, but I’ve noticed three benefits so far. First, I feel less pressure to write because I have one or two completed posts to fall back on, just in case. I still write at least one every day, but I feel less pressure to do so. Second, I’ve started to write posts as insights come to me instead of at the end of the day. I’ve written more posts in the morning or early afternoon, which was rare before. The third benefit is harder to explain, but I’ll try. Being under less pressure to write a daily post has allowed my mind to wander a bit more, which has led to some interesting insights that I don’t think I would have had otherwise.

I’m glad this challenge was suggested to me, and I’m hoping I can keep writing multiple daily posts when insights warrant.

This is my one-hundred-seventy-sixth weekly reflection. Here are my takeaways from this week:

• Founders’ mindsets are changing – More early-stage founders are thinking about customer revenue as a source of funding. This forces them to build something customers will pay for—not something they can pitch to VCs. Regardless of what happens in the fundraising environment, this is a good mental shift for founders.  
• Exposure gap – Some people haven’t been exposed to certain concepts or ways of thinking, which puts them at a disadvantage. To reach the same destination as people who’ve benefited from wide exposure, they must travel further. It isn’t fair, but it’s the way the world is. Acknowledging the gap and working hard to close it is often the best approach to minimizing its long-term impact on one’s trajectory in life.
• I don’t feel like it – This week was a reminder that the things I don’t “feel like” doing are exactly the things I “should” be doing.

Week one hundred seventy-six was another week of learning. Looking forward to next week!