flâneur

Elton Lin

2 followers · 5 following · 896 views

on the atlas — 29

highlights — 184

  • Here’s what’s going on with your team at Explain Inc. Tasks
    Gusto
  • Defeat gives brilliant minds like Thucydides the two things they need to become great historians: time and motive.
    History is Written by the Losers – The Scholar's Stage
  • The judgments of the historian do not serve the margins. They do not even serve the masses. They are a weapon in the hand of defeated elites, the voices of men and women who could be in power, but are not.
    History is Written by the Losers – The Scholar's Stage
  • One way to reconnect with your values around a project is to reflect back on the early days, remembering what originally inspired you to pursue it. Often, the early days of a project are when we’re most closely connected to our inspiration. Remembering those beginnings in detail—where you were, who you were with, how you felt, and what was important to you—can be a pathway back to the life-giving aspects of your work.
    Why You Should Give Up On Your Dreams - No Small Plans - Every
  • In short, we get our information in many ways, when we are ready.
    Dealing with the Lack of Student Engagement in Lectures - MIT Faculty Newsletter
  • Ben Silbermann noticed that a lot of the earliest Pinterest users were interested in design, so he went to a conference of design bloggers to recruit users, and that worked well. [5]
    Do Things that Don't Scale
  • The big danger is that you'll dismiss your startup yourself.
    Do Things that Don't Scale
  • They unconsciously judge larval startups by the standards of established ones. They're like someone looking at a newborn baby and concluding "there's no way this tiny creature could ever accomplish anything."
    Do Things that Don't Scale
  • know-it-alls on forums
    Do Things that Don't Scale
  • In Airbnb's case, these consisted of going door to door in New York, recruiting new users and helping existing ones improve their listings.
    Do Things that Don't Scale
  • Marketplaces are so hard to get rolling that you should expect to take heroic measures at first.
    Do Things that Don't Scale
  • Actually startups take off because the founders make them take off. There may be a handful that just grew by themselves, but usually it takes some sort of push to get them going.
    Do Things that Don't Scale
  • You beat the competition when you create greater value than they do. Achieve this by giving your client the experience of what it is like to work with you—not by trying to destroy your competitor by speaking poorly of them.
    The One Right Way to Talk About Your Competitor
  • “They are a good company. We have friends there, and they do really good work. But we have wildly different ideas about how to go about generating those results, and for our clients, what we do seems to be the better choice for them. Can I share with you where and how we are different?”
    The One Right Way to Talk About Your Competitor
  • if you think you’re introverted, find better friends
    lifehacks - Alexey Guzey
  • let the world tell you no
    lifehacks - Alexey Guzey
  • if someone you respect gives you dumb advice, think about it instead of discarding it immediately.
    lifehacks - Alexey Guzey
  • if you feel bad, low energy, depressed, demotivated, there’s probably a reason & there’s probably a solution
    lifehacks - Alexey Guzey
  • f you’re not failing you’re not operating at the edge. if you’re not operating at the edge, you’re not learning as much as you can
    lifehacks - Alexey Guzey
  • if you’re not failing you’re not operating at the edge. if you’re not operating at the edge, you’re not learning as much as you can
    lifehacks - Alexey Guzey
  • feeling stupid now is better than feeling stupid in 10 years
    lifehacks - Alexey Guzey
  • cherish friends who tell you things that make you angry
    lifehacks - Alexey Guzey
  • Hire because there is no other way to do what you want to do.
    How to hire - Sam Altman
  • Have someone take the candidate out to lunch or dinner. Insist that everyone is on time and prepared for interviews/auditions.
    How to hire - Sam Altman
  • write up their thoughts.
    How to hire - Sam Altman
  • Put a little bit of rigor around the hiring process.
    How to hire - Sam Altman
  • For a company on a good but not absolute breakout trajectory, some rough numbers I’ve seen are about 1.5% for the first engineer and about 0.25% for the twentieth. But the variance is huge.
    How to hire - Sam Altman
  • Compensation for great people is an exception.
    How to hire - Sam Altman
  • avoid remote employees in the early days.
    How to hire - Sam Altman
  • As a founder, you’ll assume that everyone will be as excited about your company as you are. In reality, no one will. You need to spend a lot of time getting candidates excited about your mission.
    How to hire - Sam Altman
  • personal network hiring as possible, since that’s what seems to work.
    How to hire - Sam Altman
  • Most bad startups make excuses for not doing this.
    How to hire - Sam Altman
  • Even if you don’t think you can get these people, go after the best ones relentlessly. If it works out 5% of the time, it’s still well worth it.
    How to hire - Sam Altman
  • Have people audition for roles instead of interviewing for them.
    How to hire - Sam Altman
  • you should spend the time to learn a role before you hire for it.
    How to hire - Sam Altman
  • After you figure out your vision and get product-market fit, you should probably be spending between a third and a half of your time hiring.
    How to hire - Sam Altman
  • track record of getting things done.
    Startup Playbook
  • Do not hire chronically negative people.
    Startup Playbook
  • Everyone goes on to regret it
    Startup Playbook
  • Don’t compromise on the quality of people you hire.
    Startup Playbook
  • Be willing to go after people you don’t think you’ll be able to get.
    Startup Playbook
  • The best people have a lot of opportunities. They want to join rocketships. If you have nothing, it’s hard to hire them.
    Startup Playbook
  • My first piece of advice about hiring is don’t do it.
    Startup Playbook
  • If people don’t connect what they’re doing day-to-day with a higher purpose they care about, they will not do a great job.
    Startup Playbook
  • Just be direct, be willing to ask for what you want, and don’t be a jerk.
    Startup Playbook
  • one of the important accidental discoveries of YC was a way for founders to have peers.
    Startup Playbook
  • Don’t take your foot off the gas.
    Startup Playbook
  • I have never, not once, seen a slow-moving founder be really successful.
    Startup Playbook
  • The market doesn’t care how hard you work—it only cares if you do the right things.
    Startup Playbook
  • that this doesn’t mean doing everything intensely—that’s impossible.
    Startup Playbook