fitandfunction

For me, running helps a lot.

When I run I have a constant inner monologue of "don't stop, don't stop, don't stop" for 45 min.

It never seems to get easier, but I know that I ran successfully yesterday, and the day before, and the day before ... hence, I should be able to do it again today.

Then, there are also the physical / health benefits.

There are plenty of secure email applications, but Petraeus couldn't use any of them.

In other words, Petraeus could not be seen using those applications. Official secure email goes through official secure channels. Personal email went to through gmail / yahoo / etc.

If someone had found out Petraeus was using a different email app (and I'm sure they would have), it would have immediately raised suspicions as to why the Director of the CIA was using a secure email app that wasn't the gov's official secure email app.

I think the safest thing for Petraeus would have been to only send short coded messages via gmail (e.g. "talk at 10 pm" but replace that text with code words) and then to conduct most of the communication infrequently and in person.

But, clearly, Petraeus wasn't thinking clearly ...

Startup School was the best I've been to by far: a) free b) great speakers who were surprisingly candid c) high quality attendees including yc alums

Totally agree. Fundraising is a tactic, not a strategy.

It makes sense only if you're doing stuff you would have done anyway to build the company.

$1B in rev but $3 mm in losses without profitability in sight.

You can create a pretty "massive" company pretty quickly if you basically sell $10.00 for $9.97

Their size actually works against them. Lots of companies lose money in the early days, but are able to justify / demonstrate why and when they'll be profitable. If you already have $1 B in sales and are still operationally unprofitable ... how much more will it take?

Nice article, Jason.

With regards to this point:

The most common ... mistake people make ... is that they just don’t think about it.

... while that is true, I think the root problem is that people don't think about it for themselves.

In other words, people are apt to use analogies or proxies to simplify the decision process. This is useful short-hand for a lot of things in life (no need to think too much about uber), but leaves much to be desired for pivotal decisions. Silicon Valley is an echo chamber ... are you ideas really your own? or are you parroting someone else?

I think Elon Musk says it best in his interview with Kevin Rose: http://youtu.be/g92rP1Mi_oQ

His main point is to take time to think from first principals (e.g. the raw materials of rockets cost less than <1% of the finished product ... therefore, something is wrong!) and to try to come to your own conclusions.

Yup. I've done the math. I think this math is a large determinant of the property values in dense cities (SF, NYC, etc).

For a few years, I took the subway (BART) from Berkeley to SF. In theory, I could have used that 45 min commute to do something useful. In practice, I spent most of it standing, packed in like sardines.

At first, it was hard to justify the huge increase in living expense by moving from Berkeley to SF. But the move decreased my commute from 45 min on public transportation to a 10 min walk.

Totally worth it.

I like "4 Hour Workweek" and its ilk ... particularly the message about not delaying gratification forever (or at least until retirement).

But come on ... does anyone really think that Google or Facebook or SpaceX or etc could have been built without significant personal sacrifice by not only the founders but also the employees?

I'm not saying that you should be worked like a slave ... but if you go into it with the explicit goal of combining comfort AND entrepreneurship ... then you should prepare to be dissapointed.

I agree with the sentiment.

In general, I think there's a large value to "not asking anything of your customer" from time to time.

Note that Brian's blurb did not mention a coupon, or a promotion, or any insinuation of buying something right now. I think sales / marketing people often send promotions thinking they're doing a favor for the recipient ("Here's $5 off!"), but really, they're just creating pressure to buy stuff.

Obviously, not every marketing message can be like this. But, a certain portion of B2C messages should acknowledge / compliment / convey information, and ask nothing in return. After all, you don't constantly ask favors of your real-world friends ... no reason to think it's different in commerce.

An easier way to think about this is that life, like money, compounds.

Good decisions you make early in life compound and pay dividends for the rest of your life.

I've always thought that the "trough of sorrow" should really be re-cast as the "personal trough[s] of sorrow," i.e. every day, every decision is confronted by doubt, and you have to continually overcome the fear of failure.

This is exacerbated by the fact that you're constantly confronted with stories about other people / teams / companies that are "crushing it."

The good news is that it really does get easier with practice and repetition. Kind of like jumping into a freezing cold pool for swim practice. After the first couple of times you realize, "hey, I didn't drown," which makes the next few times easier. It never gets easy, just easier than when you started.

It helps to set expectations.

Getting into YC as two MIT undergrads who've been coding since kindergarten is very hard.

Getting in a solo business founder is much harder.

So, if you don't have a track record of doing incredible stuff, you should a) calibrate your expectations, and b) start doing incredible stuff (and apply later)

I suggest that getting into YC as a solo business founder should be called "pulling a Hamilton."

I hope to pull a Hamilton.

It's not merely the degrees and accolades that are impressive, it's also the fact that the decided he wanted to revive his family's printing business.

His results speak for themselves, and almost as importantly, his decisions show an independence streak and willingness to break with the herd and win in his own way. This is something every founder needs to get through the trough of sorrow.

+ be a banker in HK

Hamilton is a great guy and I think the thinking behind his acceptance to YC is pretty clear ... "Let's give him a chance. He's succeeded at everything else he's ever done in life."

Didn't mean to belittle, I was just trying to talk out loud as to why I haven't signed up for a poker class.

In some ways, I'm an ideal student (play casually 1/mo, visit Vegas / Reno 1/yr, know enough to know that I don't know enough, etc), yet, I've never taken a class. I have purchased a few books.

Part of it might be that for something like poker, at the point of decision, I'm thinking "I could spend this money on the class ... or I could take this money and go play poker." Tough business! Good luck

I think OP may be over-looking something obvious ... maybe people just aren't that interested in a Poker class?

A few arguments why this might be the case:

1. through WPT, ESPN, youtube etc, it's easy to get access to poker pros to hear their war stories ... i.e. it dilutes the draw of "experts"

2. good (not great) poker strategy is pretty simple ... play premium hands aggressively pre-flop from late position; following that advice would get most people to break-even, but, that strategy can be boring (lots of waiting around)

3. most people play poker for the social element (i.e. to get drunk and suck out on their buddies) ... improving this usually means finding ways to encourage your buddies to drink more

I definitely agree that marketing is hard ... but, when you've made a good-faith effort to get the word out, and nobody is biting, it may be time to "pivot" and find something else to sell.

As learned in CLRS ... when you're stuck, randomize. That turned out to be a great solution in way more problems than I had anticipated.

I think you could easily tack on "Read more advice rather than execute and try to apply advice." Anecdotally, just about every combination of characteristics has survived / succeeded at least once. This leads to a wide range of maxims being spouted about startups. But, none of it is "worth much" until applied and put into action.

Is this for real? On the other hand, pretty fun game

Great advice, but very difficult to follow when you're living paycheck to paycheck. For most people, I think the progression is 1) establish basic financial freedom (6 - 12 mo of basic living expenses in a liquid fund) and then 2) pick your moves purposefully. (1) is easier than most people think, and once you have it becomes a lot easier to clear your head and address (2).

The peer effect of seeing a lot of other people working hard around you. I definitely benefit from proximity to other hard-working people. Particularly when you're embarking down the vague, ill-defined path of launching an idea ... it can help a lot to know that you're not the only one.

To be clear, I think the price ($40 / night) is a decent. Cheap enough for most, particularly given the flexibility. Enough money for the landlord (my guess is they can easily pull in $5 - $8 k / mo) to provide decent services. I would like to see more competition ... e.g. include use of laundry, breakfast, etc.

Not bad, but surprised it's not cheaper. Airbnb shows numerous places with bedroom for let in the $40 - $60 / night range.