I stumbled across a talk for a high schoolers by Paul Graham from 2005. He never actually gave it, because the school authorities vetoed the plan to invite him. Whoops!
Don't know who Paul is? In 2005 he and Jessica Livingston, Robert Morris, and Trevor Blackwell started Y Combinator, the first of a new type of startup incubator. Since 2005 Y Combinator has funded over 1000 startups, including Dropbox, Airbnb, Stripe, and Reddit. 💥💥💥
What stuck out for me? His idea that passion is a bad word for curiosity. As in 'following your passion' advice for high schoolers. They don't know what that is. Hell, many adults don't know either.
Paul was referring to developing an aptitude, a consuming interest in some question. This is often referred to as passion. But finding out what you're curious about isn't passion. He says: "If you want to do good work, what you need is a great curiosity about a promising question."
Ok, so its not passion, or discipline or the classic cheesy answers: "People who do great things look at the same world everyone else does, but notice some odd detail that's compellingly mysterious." Their success is due more to the fact that they're not more passionate but more curious than others!
Other gems:
- "Kid curiosity is broad and shallow; they ask why at random about everything. In most adults this curiosity dries up entirely."
- "Instead of working back from a goal, work forward from promising situations"
- " if you're not worrying that something you're making will come out badly, or that you won't be able to understand something you're studying, then it isn't hard enough. There has to be suspense."
Share it with all the college freshmen you know!
As always, thank you for reading!
Cycling
Cyclist Raincoat, your urban lifestyle essential
We're helping senscommon get the word out that they're raising funds for Cyclist Raincoat on Kickstarter!
A minimal, unisex raincoat ideal for cycling. Lightweight, breathable protection. Maximum coverage integrating smart safety features. Back the campaign here.
This is what happens when you try to ride mountain bike trails on a BMX
My bmx is my favorite bike to ride recently.
Be warned: this video will make you want a BMX more than you already do. ; )
HOY Vulpine goes modular for the coming winter
“We thought about, discussed, tested and re-tested this to worrying levels of obsession.” - Nick of Vulpine
Nice to see My Wild Love make another cameo is a Vulpine shoot!
Startups
Riding around Amsterdam with startups visiting VCs: Capital Tour XXL
Tuesday was Capital Tour XXL. It is a uniquely Amsterdam concept: 150 people from the startup scene (mostly pre-seed or Series A companies) split up into small groups lead by leaders in the tech ecosystem across Holland and visited various venture capital offices around the city by bicycle. Awesome!
I borrowed a pre-WII tandem from our officemates My Wild Love & rode to the start with a spare spot on the back thinking I'd meet a stoker to join me. I was right.
Right before we rode off, I met Hiro from kotobaax.com. He recently moved to The Hague from the UK and his loaner bike wasn't a good fit! His company offers a number of language services from public speaking training to English and Japanese for specific purposes. Here are a few snaps and the route on Komoot!
How to measure content marketing
- Build trust
- Boost awareness for Crew
- Provide extreme value
Notice anything here? There’s absolutely nothing about metrics or numbers. The crew.co crew is always on point.
Here Are All Of The Emails We Send At Drift
Content emails, onboarding emails, abandonment emails and NPS emails. 🕵 Here are all of the emails they send at Drift. Relevant for next article:
Sales
How To Design Lead Nurturing, Lead Scoring, and Drip Email Campaigns
"an attempt to describe how SaaS/enterprise companies design lead nurturing campaigns and how lead scoring can help prioritize leads and improve conversions, as well as how lead nurturing strategy affects the creation of drip email campaigns."
💥 Boom💥
Maybe one of the most valuable & thorough posts on Medium that I've seen.
9 Psychology Tips to Get Prospects to Trust You Faster
If you don't care about your prospects and their problems, you're in the wrong profession. The best salespeople are concerned with helping their buyers above all else, and their genuine interest and empathy is repaid with the buyer's trust.
Dear vendor, here's why I won't call you back.
here are some things NOT to do as part of your cold outreach process.
Radness
ROND de BAJES – A cyclocross crit & time trial in Amsterdam
Bajes is a Dutch slang term for prison. The Bijlmerbajes is a jail near downtown Amsterdam and the real estate is up for sale. And the neighborhood is around it already super eclectic. What better location to throw a cross race than around a prison? On Saturday, October 1st, the second edition of ROND de BAJES!
The challenging course this year has a number of climbs, fast pieces of asphalt, sharp turns, and other obstacles on the beloved cobbles. Your #balleur show bike is best left at home. ; )
Check out their wild promo video here & follow them in insta & FB.
Near Amsterdam? Register here: ronddebajes.nl
