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Just watched my 5-year-old son chat with ChatGPT advanced voice mode for over 45 minutes. It started with a question about how cars were made. It explained it in a way that he could understand. He started peppering it with questions. Then he told it about his teacher, and that he was learning to count. ChatGPT started quizzing him on counting, and egging him on, making it into a game. He was laughing and having a blast, and it (obviously) never lost patience with him. I think this is going to be revolutionary. The essentially free, infinitely patient, super genius teacher that calibrates itself perfectly to your kid's learning style and pace. Excited about the future.

Elon Musk fired 6,500 employees at Twitter. A little birdie told me it's down to: - 2 designers - 6 iOS developers - 20 web developers - Around 1,400 sales and operations people How is it possible that we are still using this website? Two words: Parkinson's Law. Have you ever wondered why seemingly simple tech companies have tens of thousands of employees? Sometimes, it's because they have huge sales forces or tech support/operations people. But often it's also due to Parkinson's Law. Parkinson's law is like lighter fluid for bureaucracy. It's a business tapeworm that slowly eats away at companies, making them less and less efficient and innovative over time. Parkinson's Law is the idea that the work will generally expand to the amount of time, budget, and number of people allocated to it, and no matter how many people you allocate to it, those people will feel busy. They'll feel busy because, due to the excess time/slack in the system, they'll start focusing on less and less important tasks. Here's how it manifests on an individual level: Let's say you have a report due in a week. The report might only take you around five hours to finish if you really focus and work efficiently. However, because you know you have a week to complete it, you might find yourself spending a lot more time on it than you need to. You'll be more prone to distractions, take longer breaks, or perhaps decide to add more details, tables, graphs, and so forth. Essentially, the task becomes more complex and time-consuming purely because you have more time in which to do it. And here's how it manifests across organizations: Imagine a big tech company. A social media company with various departments. Each department has tasks that it must complete to contribute to the overall productivity of the company. Now, suppose each department is given a budget and a set amount of time to complete its tasks for the year. According to Parkinson's Law, each department will use its entire budget and the entire allotted time, even if the tasks could have been completed more efficiently. This is because as resources and time increase, departments tend to become more complex and less efficient. For example, a department might add more steps to its procedures, requiring more approvals and creating more paperwork, which slows down the process. Or it might use the full budget on additional personnel or equipment that doesn't necessarily improve productivity. The department might also use the full budget to justify the same or larger budget for the next year, since budgets in many organizations are often determined based on the previous year's spending. This is a phenomenon known as "budget padding" or "spend it or lose it" mentality. Inefficiencies can also develop in staff allocation. If a department expands, it might add managerial positions that aren't strictly necessary. More employees are hired to manage, creating layers of bureaucracy that may not contribute to productivity and can even slow decision-making. I have seen this occur over and over again in my career. The larger the team, the larger the budget, the longer the timeline, the less gets accomplished. I'm very curious to see how many more tech companies come to this realization. So often, good times + revenue growth = Parkinson's Law.

This is a story about how I lost $10,000,000 by doing something stupid. Ten. Million. Dollars. Literally up in smoke. Money bonfire. That’s enough to retire with $250,000+ in annual income. Here’s what happened…

"Here's the number I used to win the lottery" –Entrepreneurs giving advice

"The days are long, but the years are short"

I just found out how much we pay for DocuSign and my jaw dropped. What's the best alternative? Is there something free or stupid cheap?

How to win at business: Hire smart people. Pay them well. Leave them alone.

I read a book that blew my mind a little and I can’t stop telling people about it. It explains why so many people dedicate their lives to achieving things that make them miserable. This might sound crazy, but an unseen force is pushing you towards empty and unfulfilling goals…

On Aug 1, I woke up and didn’t want to get out of bed. I felt…blank. Hollowed out. I’d felt this way for months. I couldn’t enjoy anything. I didn’t care about work. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I wasn’t necessarily depressed. Objectively life was amazing...

A friend said something crazy to me the other day: "You have 18 summers to enjoy with your kids. That's it." By the time your kids turn 18, you have spent 70%+ of the total time you will spend with them. After that, it's a wild card (they are busy, you are old).

Working 8 hrs a day in a normal company with $100k a year salary = $48/hr Working 16 hrs a day at Goldman/McKinsey with $200k a year salary = $48/hr

Most successful people are just a walking anxiety disorder harnessed for productivity.

Elon Musk fired 6,500 employees at Twitter. A little birdie told me it's down to: - 2 designers - 6 iOS developers - 20 web developers - Around 1,400 sales and operations people How is it possible that we are still using this website? Two words: Parkinson's Law. Have you ever wondered why seemingly simple tech companies have tens of thousands of employees? Sometimes, it's because they have huge sales forces or tech support/operations people. But often it's also due to Parkinson's Law. Parkinson's law is like lighter fluid for bureaucracy. It's a business tapeworm that slowly eats away at companies, making them less and less efficient and innovative over time. Parkinson's Law is the idea that the work will generally expand to the amount of time, budget, and number of people allocated to it, and no matter how many people you allocate to it, those people will feel busy. They'll feel busy because, due to the excess time/slack in the system, they'll start focusing on less and less important tasks. Here's how it manifests on an individual level: Let's say you have a report due in a week. The report might only take you around five hours to finish if you really focus and work efficiently. However, because you know you have a week to complete it, you might find yourself spending a lot more time on it than you need to. You'll be more prone to distractions, take longer breaks, or perhaps decide to add more details, tables, graphs, and so forth. Essentially, the task becomes more complex and time-consuming purely because you have more time in which to do it. And here's how it manifests across organizations: Imagine a big tech company. A social media company with various departments. Each department has tasks that it must complete to contribute to the overall productivity of the company. Now, suppose each department is given a budget and a set amount of time to complete its tasks for the year. According to Parkinson's Law, each department will use its entire budget and the entire allotted time, even if the tasks could have been completed more efficiently. This is because as resources and time increase, departments tend to become more complex and less efficient. For example, a department might add more steps to its procedures, requiring more approvals and creating more paperwork, which slows down the process. Or it might use the full budget on additional personnel or equipment that doesn't necessarily improve productivity. The department might also use the full budget to justify the same or larger budget for the next year, since budgets in many organizations are often determined based on the previous year's spending. This is a phenomenon known as "budget padding" or "spend it or lose it" mentality. Inefficiencies can also develop in staff allocation. If a department expands, it might add managerial positions that aren't strictly necessary. More employees are hired to manage, creating layers of bureaucracy that may not contribute to productivity and can even slow decision-making. I have seen this occur over and over again in my career. The larger the team, the larger the budget, the longer the timeline, the less gets accomplished. I'm very curious to see how many more tech companies come to this realization. So often, good times + revenue growth = Parkinson's Law.

Just watched my 5-year-old son chat with ChatGPT advanced voice mode for over 45 minutes. It started with a question about how cars were made. It explained it in a way that he could understand. He started peppering it with questions. Then he told it about his teacher, and that he was learning to count. ChatGPT started quizzing him on counting, and egging him on, making it into a game. He was laughing and having a blast, and it (obviously) never lost patience with him. I think this is going to be revolutionary. The essentially free, infinitely patient, super genius teacher that calibrates itself perfectly to your kid's learning style and pace. Excited about the future.

Things that don’t matter right now: - Clothes - Shoes - Watches - Jewelry - Cars What’s the new status symbol during a lockdown?

I just found out how much we pay for DocuSign and my jaw dropped. What's the best alternative? Is there something free or stupid cheap?

Can somebody summarize why it is logical to buy Bitcoin—other than speculation—in 1-3 sentences?

This is a story about how I lost $10,000,000 by doing something stupid. Ten. Million. Dollars. Literally up in smoke. Money bonfire. That’s enough to retire with $250,000+ in annual income. Here’s what happened…

I'm working on a fun little Gmail plug-in side project... It's an email firewall: 1. Filters out newsletters/noisy crap emails 2. Screens first time senders (similar to Hey) 3. Delivers emails a few times a day on a set schedule vs. 24/7 (like DnD) Who wants to beta test?

The year is 1996 and you own a newspaper. The internet just came out, but you don’t really get it. Which businesses are similar in 2023 with GPT3 + AI looming?

I recently hired a lawyer to give me an opinion on a personal corporate structure question. He took 3 weeks, wrote me a convoluted and confusing memo, and insisted on a hour long call. Then he charged me $5,000. I asked Claude the same question. Claude gave me a perfect response. It basically said the same thing, except instantly and easy to understand. RIP most legal work 💀🪦

I think OpenAI just killed TikTok. I’m already laughing my head off and hooked on my Sora feed. And now, the #1 barrier to posting (the ability to sing/dance/perform/edit) is gone. Just 100% imagination. RIP theater kids 🪦

How are those Bored Apes and Punks working out for everyone?

I turned 35 today 🎈 40-50 year olds of Twitter: What are the things you regret not doing more at my age? What are the things you cherish most in retrospect and are glad you did at my age?