The answer is your potential energy. The sum of all this potential energy is the world’s greatest untapped resource. In physics, potential energy is converted into kinetic energy by a force. However, if the friction is greater than the force, there will be no movement. We need to maximize our positive force and minimize theContinue reading “Upgrade Yourself”
Category Archives: Essays
The Good Future
Note: This is the introduction to my book The World’s Biggest Problems. The Bad Future, described in shows like Black Mirror, is the realistic to cynical take on where the world is going. The Good Future, presented in shows like Star Trek, is the realistic to optimistic take on where the world is going. It’sContinue reading “The Good Future”
Arsenal of Progress
We don’t have enough food. We don’t have enough medicine. We don’t have enough masks. We don’t have enough semiconductor chips. We must have enough before we can dream of more. Literal factories. Hundreds of them. These factories of abundance are our new Arsenal of Progress. Movement: Detroit vs. Shenzhen Accelerator: YC for Manufacturing Fund:Continue reading “Arsenal of Progress”
Studios vs. Startups
Startup = Growth. No company can grow forever with just one product. The best startups launch, buy, and grow many products. Xerox → PARC Google → X Amazon → Grand Challenge Google → Alphabet Facebook → Meta Keeping their startups in perpetual studio mode is key to staying relevant for another generation. Running an indieContinue reading “Studios vs. Startups”
Founders vs. VCs
If you’re really ambitious in startups, there’s only ever been two paths: founder vs. VC. Founders go deep on one company. VCs get to build a broad portfolio. So they’re incentivized to keep founders locked up in their original startups. They don’t want founders to diversify. VCs want a portfolio for themselves but not forContinue reading “Founders vs. VCs”
Disraeli Drawer
Do you have enemies? You know, those people, who when they cross your mind, set off hours of revenge fantasies? Here’s how I learned a powerful, non-violent way to deal with enemies, thanks to Charlie Munger and Benjamin Disraeli: Everyone has enemies: They say success is the best revenge, but it doesn’t feel that way.Continue reading “Disraeli Drawer”
Decentralized Failsafes
When someone steals your crypto, it’s gone forever. How can we build this feature into decentralized finance (DeFi)? We need a decentralized consensus mechanism to track and reverse theft of digital assets. One Coin = One Vote rules exposes blockchain protocols to the risk of 51% attacks. Example: The Beanstalk protocol was robbed of $182MContinue reading “Decentralized Failsafes”
Indie Startups
Now my goal is to 100% own many $1M+ startups. Startups can always raise money later. It’s near impossible to return money raised and get your equity back. In art, music, and gaming, indie means independent from the major producers. Many of these “indie” labels still have distribution deals with the big guys. In startups,Continue reading “Indie Startups”
Open Metaverse
There were only 130 websites in the world in June 1993. AOL reached 1+ million users in 1995 and 5+ million users in 1996. The whole internet only had 16 million users in 1995 and 36 million users in 1996. The creation layer is now decentralized. There are now over 1.9 billion websites in theContinue reading “Open Metaverse”
Micro M&A
Example: On midnight January 1, 2022, I officially closed on my first acquisition, a product line of technical workbenches called Electra-tec. I am now relaunching it as Pro Benches. I first found this product on BizBuySell in early September. Four months and five site visits later, Pro Benches is my business. Politicians left and rightContinue reading “Micro M&A”