Supported by Greenhaven Road Capital, finding value off the beaten path. Andy Rachleff joined Jason Calacanis for a nice seventy-five minutes of startup, investment, and strategy talk. Much like his conversation with Aaron Watson, Rachleff reminds us to revisit Howard Marks. Here are my notes. … Luck Rachleff started venture investing in 1996, “Right when Netscape … Continue reading Andy Rachleff

Supported by Greenhaven Road Capital, finding value off the beaten path. This post is part of the TIL2017 Summary Series. Along with internal objectivity (know thyself) comes external objectivity. This is seeing the world as it is, not as you’d like it to be. This came up as ‘tailwinds.’ That is, understand what part of … Continue reading TIL2017 – External objectivity

Supported by Greenhaven Road Capital, finding value off the beaten path. This post was part of a week of posts about Rory Sutherland. I learned many things, but broadly Sutherland speaks about four big ideas; creative thinking is hard but worth it, rationality is the wrong model, framing and choice architecture change decisions, and butterfly … Continue reading Rory Week – Rory’s Reads

Supported by Greenhaven Road Capital, finding value off the beaten path. Dan Egan spoke with Ted Seides on Capital Allocators. I can’t get enough of these behavioral economics folks. From Richard Thaler to Rory Sutherland – if you have some favorites let me know. … There are lots red flags when evaluating people or businesses … Continue reading Dan Egan

  Supported by Greenhaven Road Capital, finding value off the beaten path. Know that Ken Burns effect on Apple computers? He trades his name for equipment that he then donates to non-profits. But a Mac with the Ken Burns Effect doesn’t make you Ken Burns. Burns is interesting because he’s looking for things that are … Continue reading Ken Burns

Supported by Greenhaven Road Capital, finding value off the beaten path. In his podcast with Patrick O’Shaugnessy, Brent Beshore explained how he’s amended his view on incentives and rationality. Beshore’s shifted to a more local approach. The view from ten thousand feet is that doing drugs is bad. The view from the street is different. The … Continue reading Incentives

Supported by Greenhaven Road Capital, finding value off the beaten path. Kara Swisher must be on the podcast tour because she ended up in my feed more than two times – and it was great. Someone on Twitter asked, “Who is someone you don’t agree with but appreciate?” I couldn’t think of an answer then, but … Continue reading Kara Swisher

Supported by Greenhaven Road Capital, finding value off the beaten path. This post isn’t the typical notes posts, feel free to skip. It’s three observations of Amazon. Ordering non-perishables is easy, cheap-enough, and relieves a pair of small burdens. The local and big box hardware stores will be killed by Amazon’s selection and YouTube’s ‘How-to’ videos. … Continue reading Amazon Observations

How to create a direct to consumer company (the Harry’s Razor template) The TWIST podcast between Jason Calacanis and Andy Katz-Mayfield was a wonderful hour about company creation. Katz-Mayfield told stories about starting Harry’s, and Calacanis asked thoughtful questions about the experience. As I listened I wondered, what if Katz-Mayfield’s experience isn’t just his own … Continue reading Harry’s