For every successful business I’ve started, or investment I’ve made, there have been multiple failures: businesses that never took off, investments that went to zero, and times when I was super gung-ho about something, only to have it end up in my Bad Idea Hall of Fame. Want to know more? Let’s take an honest trip down memory lane.
The Kickoff
The first one that comes to mind takes me back to my college years, when I was about 20. I was still in school at the time, and really into kickboxing, which was just becoming popular, with studios popping up everywhere. One day, I had a lightbulb moment for how I could monetize the kickboxing trend.
I bought the domain name Kickboxing.net with the plan of building an online directory of kickboxing studios. To fill out the front end of the site, I put up a bunch of content around the sport, but that was the easy part. The more labor-intensive work was creating the software that would pull information from a database about different locations. During my limited free time, I programmed the whole thing, spending probably about four months on it.
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What I Am Reading:
Deviate: The Science of Seeing Differently
Perception is the foundation of human experience, but few of us understand why we see what we do, much less how. By revealing the startling truths about the brain and its perceptions, Beau Lotto shows that the next big innovation is not a new technology: it is a new way of seeing.
In his first major book, Lotto draws on over two decades of pioneering research to explain that our brain didn't evolve to see the world accurately. It can't! Visually stunning, with entertaining illustrations and optical illusions throughout, and with clear and comprehensive explanations of the science behind how our perceptions operate, Deviate will revolutionize the way you see yourself, others and the world.
With this new understanding of how the brain functions, Deviate is not just an illuminating account of the neuroscience of thought, behavior, and creativity: it is a call to action, enlisting readers in their own journey of self-discovery.
Building JoonBug was a fascinating, engrossing experience, and there were all kinds of moving parts, from the tech side, to the finance side, to the social and entertainment aspects of working in nightlife. And peppered throughout those experiences were, of course, celebrity encounters! My team and I met and mingled with some of the true glitterati of that time, many of whom are still famous today. It was almost always a transient, happenstance kind of thing, a fun or exciting or just plain weird moment in time. These are just a few that stand out in my memory.
Biggest Fan
During my college years, but technically before JoonBug, I often went to a lounge called Spy Bar and tried to get in. It was the hotspot, the hardest place to get into, and the best place to be seen. I had a few hits, but mostly misses, trying to get past the velvet ropes. Spy Bar was a celebrity hotspot, so “ordinary” people had a tougher time getting in than they might have at a large mega club, where doormen were looking to pack the giant venue out with an eclectic crowd.
What I Am Reading:
The secret history of Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and OpenAI
After three years, Elon Musk was ready to give up on the artificial intelligence research firm he helped found, OpenAI.
The nonprofit had launched in 2015 to great fanfare with backing from billionaire tech luminaries like Musk and Reid Hoffman, who had as a group pledged $1 billion. It had lured some of the top minds in the field to leave big tech companies and academia.
But in early 2018, Musk told Sam Altman, another OpenAI founder, that he believed the venture had fallen fatally behind Google, people familiar with the matter said.
And Musk proposed a possible solution: He would take control of OpenAI and run it himself.
Altman and OpenAI’s other founders rejected Musk’s proposal. Musk, in turn, walked away from the company — and reneged on a massive planned donation. The fallout from that conflict, culminating in the announcement of Musk’s departure on Feb 20, 2018, would shape the industry that’s changing the world, and the company at the heart of it.
The story of the first (and only) time I ever smoked pot.
Designated Driver
All through my high school years, I had avoided ever doing drugs of any kind. Maybe I drank a little here or there, but never drugs—basically because my parents scared the crap out of me with horror stories of people who did drugs and became homeless, or got addicted, or went crazy, or just straight up died.
For better or for worse, this approach worked for me, and I never felt the desire to go out on a limb and smoke pot with my friends (that was about the hardest stuff any of them did). I was the reliable designated driver type: clean, sober, and happy to keep it that way.
What I Am Reading:
The Art of the Good Life: 52 Surprising Shortcuts to Happiness, Wealth, and Success
The Art of the Good Life is a toolkit designed for practical living. Here you'll find fifty-two happiness hacks -- from guilt-free shunning of technology to gleefully paying your parking tickets -- that are certain to optimize your happiness. These tips may not guarantee you a good life, but they'll give you a better chance (and that's all any of us can ask for).
Crazy Train
Semper Augustus Client Letter 2022
PROFITLESS PROSPERITY; INVESTING IN FLATION; AND – BERKSHIRE: GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME
The Munger Operating System: How to Live a Life That Really Works
It’s such a simple idea. It’s the golden rule so to speak: You want to deliver to the world what you would buy if you were on the other end. There is no ethos, in my opinion, that is better for any lawyer or any other person to have. By and large the people who have this ethos win in life and they don’t win just money, not just honors. They win the respect, the deserved trust of the people they deal with, and there is huge pleasure in life to be obtained from getting deserved trust.
What I Am Reading:
First Ever Recording of Dying Brain May Shed Light on Our Final Moments
“Scientists gain an accidental glimpse into an age-old question about what happens to the human brain as we die.”
After The Fact
“Everything has a price, and prices aren’t always clear. The price of exercise isn’t just the workout; it’s avoiding the post-workout urge to eat a ton of food. Same in finance. The price of building wealth isn’t just the trouble of earning money or dealing; it’s avoiding the post-income urge to spend what you’ve accumulated.”
hat I Am Reading:
Planning Ahead Is the Key to Living With More Spontaneity
“It may seem counterintuitive, but spontaneity often can’t happen without a bit of advanced planning”
23 semi-controversial predictions for 2023
The Munger Operating System: How to Live a Life That Really Works
“To get what you want, deserve what you want. Trust, success, and admiration are earned.”
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A lot of people ask me why I wrote my first business book, NightLife Lessons. The answer is simple: it was mostly a bucket list item for me, and not about making money. Sure, I wanted to help myself by looking back and writing down what I’ve learned over the years, in the hopes of helping other startup entrepreneurs on their journeys. But for the most part, I just wanted to see if I could write a book…and then hold it in my hands. Below, I'll share a bit about the process of writing my book and what it was like for me.
Telling Stories
I’ve been funding and advising startup founders and entrepreneurs for almost a decade now. As part of that role, I often find myself telling stories from my own experiences building startups, to help founders not only deal with their current struggles, but also avoid pitfalls that might lie ahead of them.
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What I Am Reading:
Bear Market Investing Strategies
“Harry Schultz has been identifying bear market warning signals and teaching people how to prepare a profitable survival portfolio in light of these signals for over thirty-five years through his highly acclaimed newsletter, The International Harry Schultz Letter, which reaches subscribers in over ninety countries. The 1960s' classic book Bear Markets has been fully updated and revised to reflect the unprecedented changes taking place in today's volatile economic environment-making it extremely relevant to the current financial market. This book provides the necessary tools for investors to construct a portfolio that will allow them to protect and grow their money under the most severe bear market conditions through technical analysis and models of numerous bear market variables. Bear Market Investing Strategies offers practical and approachable strategies that every investor needs today.”
How scientists want to make you young again
“Research labs are pursuing technology to “reprogram” aging bodies back to youth.”
Old Frugal Habits Die Hard: Why I Force Myself to Spend More
“Why enjoying your money is so damned hard!”
What I Am Reading:
Scientists are using AI to dream up revolutionary new proteins
“Huge advances in artificial intelligence mean researchers can design completely original molecules in seconds instead of months.”
The Crypto Story
“What follows is his brilliant explanation of what this maddening, often absurd, and always fascinating technology means, and where it might go.”
How to complete an impossible challenge
“There’s no need to hide under the bed covers – with the GOD principle you’ll be able to achieve your goals, big or small”
What I Am Reading:
You weren’t supposed to see that
“Widespread prosperity, it turns out, is incompatible with the American Dream. The only way our economy works is when there are winners and losers. If everyone’s a winner, the whole thing fails. That’s what we learned at the conclusion of our experiment. You weren’t supposed to see that. Now the genie is out of the bottle. For one brief shining moment, everyone had enough money to pay their bills and the financial freedom to choose their own way of life.
And it broke the fucking economy in half.”
We now know the big bang theory is (probably) not how the universe began
“The Big Bang still happened a very long time ago, but it wasn’t the beginning we once supposed it to be.”
Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective
“Why does modern life revolve around objectives? From how science is funded, to improving how children are educated -- and nearly everything in-between -- our society has become obsessed with a seductive illusion: that greatness results from doggedly measuring improvement in the relentless pursuit of an ambitious goal. In Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned, Stanley and Lehman begin with a surprising scientific discovery in artificial intelligence that leads ultimately to the conclusion that the objective obsession has gone too far. They make the case that great achievement can't be bottled up into mechanical metrics; that innovation is not driven by narrowly focused heroic effort; and that we would be wiser (and the outcomes better) if instead we whole-heartedly embraced serendipitous discovery and playful creativity.
Controversial at its heart, yet refreshingly provocative, this book challenges readers to consider life without a destination and discovery without a compass.”
What I Am Reading:
Five Things I Know about Investing
In this essay, Dartmouth finance professor Kenneth R. French explains five investment principles that he uses as the foundation for a holistic approach to portfolio design.
The Key to Behavior Change is Identity Change
Use the psychology of self-image to transform your habits for good.
How Unboxing Elaborate Packages Became an American Pastime
American consumers can’t resist the lure of a well-designed container.
What I am Watching:
Who made these circles in the Sahara?Deep in the Sahara, far from any towns, roads, or other signs of life, is a row of markings in the sand. There are dozens of them stretching for miles in a straight line in central Algeria, each consisting of a central point surrounded by a circle of 12 nodes, like numbers on a clock. And when we started making this video, no one seemed to know what they were.
What I Am Reading:
How to Understand Things“what we call 'intelligence' is as much about virtues such as honesty, integrity, and bravery, as it is about 'raw intellect”
The Benefits of Optimism Are Real“Having a positive outlook is the most important predictor of resilience.”
Why Talking to Strangers Is the Best Thing You Can Do for Your Mental Health
“If we can only break through the awkwardness barrier, striking up conversations at random is the cheapest form of therapy there is.”
Fecal Transplants Reverse Key Signs of Aging
“Scientists from England’s Quadram Institute and the University of East Anglia have found that transplanting fecal microbiota from young mammals into older ones may help reverse key signs of aging in the gut, brain, and eyes.”
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A question I’m often asked is, "How do I minimize the tax due on my estate?" While there are many possible answers to that kind of question, Family Limited Partnerships are one of the most popular ways available for moving assets and money, with minimal tax consequences. And while Family Limited Partnerships are complicated and not without drawbacks, the potential advantages are worth understanding.
There are two main benefits to establishing Family Limited Partnerships: asset protection, and estate planning.
What I Am Reading:
When life was literally full of crap
“If you want a single, vivid, and frankly disgusting example to hold in mind to remember how much our lives have improved over the last ~150 years… Consider shit.”
The high-return activity of raising others’ aspirations
“This is in fact one of the most valuable things you can do with your time and with your life.”
The Dark Side of Smart
“We have evolution to thank for shielding us from complete self-knowledge.”
What I am Watching:
How insects become airborne, slowed down to a speed the human eye can appreciate
“Whether you have an abiding interest in insect biology, or simply enjoy watching events that happen very, very quickly played back very, very slowly (and who doesn’t?), this short video from the Evolutionary Biology and Behavior Research Lab at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University is a dazzlingly wild ride. Guided by the biologist Adrian Smith, who heads the lab, the film captures a series of 11 different winged insects – including a praying mantis, beetles and weevils – as they propel into flight at a riveting 3,200 frames per second, and are slowed down roughly 200 times for your viewing pleasure.”
What I Am Reading:
Low Expectations
“The first rule of a happy life is low expectations. If you have unrealistic expectations you’re going to be miserable your whole life. You want to have reasonable expectations and take life’s results good and bad as they happen with a certain amount of stoicism.”
A Brief History of the Calorie
The measure of thermal energy expended by exercise was adapted from the study of explosives and engines.
The Future of Money
If you’re looking to understand how money moves across banks with SWIFT or how money moves across borders from Omaha to Ouagadougou through correspondent banks or how changes to these systems impact geopolitics, the Future of Money is your ticket.
What I Am Reading
Investing in Web3 Credentialing
Credential networks and on-chain digital identities are a core component of the Web3 stack.
The History and Origin of Meditation
“You may already have a meditation practice that works for you, or you may be new to the concept and looking to build your knowledge and understanding of how meditation can bring value to your daily life. Either way, the history of meditation is fascinating and well worth exploring.”
We’ve Been Thinking About Pain All Wrong
The main purpose of pain is not to alert you of physical harm, but to motivate you to get out of a harmful situation and into a safe one.
What I Am Reading
I can only promise you that it's going to get weirder
“Technology is always changing the nature of human life.”
Keanu Reeves Knows the Secrets of the Universe
“Guy’s always working—sixty-eight movies in thirty-five years. Playing killing machines, doofuses, romantics, messiahs, and devils. But always Keanu. Which always means something more.”
How to Remember You’re Alive
“One way to appreciate virtually any moment of your life is to pretend that the whole thing is already over.”
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Playing to Win in the Game of Love
At the age of thirty, I was starting over in the dating world, and looking for the total package: someone smart, pretty, easy to be around, and definitely someone with whom I would have great chemistry. That’s a tall order, even under the best circumstances. But when you’re running two companies, and have next to no free time? Practically impossible! So I decided it was time to use my aptitude for innovation on a totally new subject: myself.
A Year of Insanity
By the time I hit my early 30’s, I had been living in New York City for my entire life. The years had been full of highs and lows, both personal and in business. There was my father’s passing, when I was only a kid. My mom’s struggle with chronic health conditions and building a business to support us. The typical ups and downs of middle school and high school. Falling in love with nightlife at the very young age of 14, and staying in love with it through high school, college, and beyond. Working like crazy to get into med school, only to realize that it wasn’t for me, and dropping out to join the dot com boom (and bust). And of course, the all-consuming task of building Joonbug into a juggernaut that effectively brought the nightlife industry into the digital age.
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