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How to strengthen your willpower
How to overcome temptation and distractions
The role of motivation in willpower
The amount of people in a startup is about the maximum number of people you can convince of a plan to build a different future.
The small size of a startup is what gives us space to think, it's what allows us to quickly entertain thoughts and not be bogged down by a slow-moving mass of people to talk to and convince.
124
1.46K reads
“Conventional beliefs only ever come to appear arbitrary and wrong in retrospect; whenever one collapses, we call the old belief a bubble.”
To put it simply, what may appear perfectly normal and rational and believed by many or most today may be downright ignorant or stupid by the people of tomorrow.
129
1.1K reads
The dot-com bubble taught people 4 lessons:
And yet, Thiel argues exactly the contrary, providing the opposite principles which he believes to probably be more correct:
133
945 reads
Why is Google worth more than every U.S. airline combined? Economists like to put the "blame" on two things:
The first manifests itself when producer supply meets consumer demand. In this scenario, no company makes an economic profit in the long run.
The second, however, stands opposite to the first, with the winner being so good compared to the rest that it distances itself and manages to control quantity and prices.
So, if you want to thrive, don't build an undifferentiated commodity business. Don't fail to escape competition.
119
748 reads
Non-monopolists define their market as the intersection of smaller markets.
Monopolists disguise their monopoly by defining it as the union of larger markets.
113
717 reads
122
691 reads
You can only reap network effects if the very first users of your product find it valuable, when the network can only be small.
To put it differently, it's hard to build a product whose main selling point revolves around having a huge network when in the beginning you don't have a huge network. Initially, it must provide value not through the size of its network.
125
587 reads
Every startup starts small
+ Every monopoly dominates it market
= Start with a small market and own it
It's better to own 90% of a small market than 10% of a large market. Dominate a niche and then scale to adjacent markets.
129
594 reads
Kaczynski claimed that an individual "needs to have goals whose attainment requires effort, and needs to succeed in at least attaining some of his goals".
Goals can be grouped into three:
125
536 reads
"To say that there are no secrets left today would mean that we live in a society with no hidden injustices."
If we know everything, then the majority of a democratic society practices only what is deemed to be just. If we admit we don't, we can explore, we can come up with change and admit that we are not doing things in the perfect way.
117
480 reads
The few who knew what might be learned,
Foolish enough to put their whole heart on show,
And reveal their feelings to the crowd below,
Mankind has always crucified and burned.
116
490 reads
This trio can lead to misalignment and big companies are prone to misalignment.
126
475 reads
Cash is more about the present. Equity is more about the future. Whereas big companies can compensate with fat checks, statups can pay in equity, promising a higher returned value later rather than now.
Wanting equity means believing in the company.
119
438 reads
The best company keeps an open mind towards invention. The founding a company stops when creation stops. Doing the founding right means setting the company on the path of creation and experimenting rather than that of stewardship of success.
116
420 reads
When hiring, you need to sell your mission. Not only that, but you need to convince others that your company is the only one who can get it done.
As for getting new additions to the team, if you can't explain to them why your company is the best match, they probably aren't the best match for you either.
115
375 reads
If you can get just one distribution channel to work, you have a great business. If you try for several but don’t nail one, you’re finished.
118
408 reads
140
383 reads
118
416 reads
You should strive to be the last mover in a particular market, being not necessarily the innovator, but the one who does it best.
Thinking long-term is key here: what would the world look like in 10, 20 years from now and how would your business fit in?
122
397 reads
“The lesson for founders is that individual prominence and adulation can never be enjoyed except on the condition that it may be exchanged for individual notoriety and demonization at any moment—so be careful."
A founder's importance lies not in the value of his or her work, but in the ability to bring out the best work from everyone in the company.
116
449 reads
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🔥 Building @deepstash 🧬 Interested in tech, science, philosophy, marketing, business, health. Lifelong learner.
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