I think I might have some masochistic tendencies. Usually, when people are terrible at something, they find alternatives, or they stop entirely. I do that sometimes, but I’m also weirdly persistent when faced with an obvious lack of acumen for a skill or pursuit. In college, I was captain of the only flag football team…
Taking a week off of blogging
I’m heading to Ireland – Belfast & Dublin – for the next 9 days, so I’m going to take some time off blogging. It’s been a huge challenge writing every night again (haven’t done it in a few years), but it definitely takes a toll. Hopefully the week off will help.…
Interview Questions and Interview Strategy
It’s struck me of late that many smart companies with reputations for giving tough interviews are weirdly anti-strategic in their approach to interview questions. Chatting with folks from across our organization (and a few others) who’ve done their fair share of interviewing with Google, Amazon, Boeing, the US State Department, Twitter, Facebook, etc. I’m struck…
The Downside of Hedonic Adaptation at a Scaling Startup
The resiliency of the human mind is an absolutely astounding phenomenon. Evolution has given us the power to suffer massive, lifelong injuries, lose the things most precious to us in the world, have our hopes & dreams dashed, move from environments or geographies we say we love to others we find detestable and, over time,…
Two Psychological Triggers that Make Viral Content More Viral
I was particularly impressed last week with the political quiz website ISideWith. If you haven’t yet taken it for a spin, I recommend doing so, not because it’s likely to change your political affiliation (we might even have a genetic predisposition there that no evidence will be strong enough to overrule), but because it’s an…
It’s Not Just Technical Debt; Everything Gets Painful & Slow as You Scale
A tremendous amount gets written about technical debt (definition) in the startup ecosystem. As you scale your product and engineering, you inevitably make sacrifices for the sake of speed that lead to pain down the road. What startups (and people who interact with them) don’t often realize is that this same problem happens across nearly…
I Love You Geraldine. Happy Birthday.
Dear Geraldine, For the last 10 years and 9 months, you’ve been the best thing in my life. We’ve been through a bunch of tough times together and some amazingly good ones, too. And for the past 3 and a half years, you’ve been writing a love letter to me (that’s turned into much more…
I Hated My Blog Post From Last Night
This morning I woke up with a lot of regret. I really don’t like my blog post from last night. To use a common SEOmoz saying, it was “TA” but not “GFEE.” I shared my thoughts transparently and I authentically don’t like the “growth hacker” terminology, but why am I writing about that? It doesn’t…
Growth Hackers: The Ninja Rockstar Pirates of the Marketing World
I really enjoyed this article from Layered Thoughts: “Growth Hacking is BS. It’s All Just Marketing.” But, it did make me reflect on my adoption of other terminology over the years. In the early 2000s, I liked the term “Search Engine Optimization” (SEO) over “Search Engine Placement” (which some people still use) or “Search Engine…
The Help Me Help You Dinner
Try a quick thought exercise: Grab a piece of paper and a pen and jot down at least 3 or 4 ideas of the best possible way you could help your business and/or your career with $500. I want to compare those ideas against a process that costs me ~$500 and has, historically, produced incredible returns for…