Björn Jeffery

The fear about [kids] safety is the least rational. Despite the impression you get from watching crime dramas, children in rich countries are mind-bogglingly safe, so long as they look both ways before crossing the road. Kids in the 1950s—that golden era so often evoked by conservative politicians—were in fact five times likelier to die before the age of five. Yet their parents thought nothing of letting them roam free. In those days, most American children walked or biked to school; now barely 10% do, prevented by jittery parents. Children learn how to handle risks by taking a few, such as climbing trees or taking the train, even if that means scraped knees and seeing the occasional weirdo. Freedom is exhilarating. It also fosters self-reliance.

They easy way out is to look to the greener grass and aspire to run on it. New hires, new money and new partners can be very enticing. Sometimes, in fact dare I say most times, they may even be the best option. However, all too often (myself included), this option is taken too soon or too easily. What if your current employees, your current partners, your current investors and your current co-founders can become the best option you could ever hope for? You’ll never know unless you spend the time and energy “watering the grass” as it where.

’As Long As You Love Me’ says Big Sean and The Biebs (who has a great entrepreneurial story in his own right). They are right. Business is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately kind of affair. Since the results of the day are often the focus, entrepreneurs can fall in love with a key hire, a new set of investors or a talented marketing executive. They aren’t the answer. There are no silver bullets. Having the right team is everything, but stop to think for a minute — in fact much longer — about what you’ve been thru with who you have. When the going gets tough, the easy way out is to come up with justifiable reasons to move ahead without them. I’m challenging you to think about this long and hard though. The team you have may eventually be the one that provides optimal results for the company.

Don’t be too quick to change them out in the name of greener grass.

Brandy is back.

Reputation is the magnet that brings opportunities to you time and time again. I have found that being nice builds your reputation.

Cover story! But not about my cooking (chef is the Swedish word for boss 😉
(via Toca Bocas Björn Jeffery: På jakt efter ny världssuccé « Chef.se)

My advice to entrepreneurs beyond the obvious (be in the right macro, hire great people, operate with purpose) is to –

1) Optimize for building institutional knowledge – get as many iterations as you can to give you insight into how to win long term

2) Pivot ahead of when you need to – pivoting early is leadership, pivoting late is desperation

3) Fully commit – you won’t / can’t win if you’re hedging. You only have finite emotional energy, deploying it in too many places will reduce the likelihood of success

A fantastic TEDx Talk from my colleague Jens Peter de Pedro, about why we must go beyond pink and blue.

(via Jens Peter de Pedro)

“Obviously you don’t make money if you are wrong, but most people don’t realize you don’t make money if you are right and consensus because the opportunity is too obvious and all the returns get arbitraged away. The only way to generate outstanding returns is to be right and non-consensus. That’s hard to do because you only know you’re non-consensus when you make the investment. You don’t know if you’re right.”

(via Demystifying Venture Capital Economics – Wealthfront Knowledge Center)

“Obviously you don’t make money if you are wrong, but most people don’t realize you don’t make money if you are right and consensus because the opportunity is too obvious and all the returns get arbitraged away. The only way to generate outstanding returns is to be right and non-consensus. That’s hard to do because you only know you’re non-consensus when you make the investment. You don’t know if you’re right.”

(via Demystifying Venture Capital Economics – Wealthfront Knowledge Center)

Cat sushi. Genius.

(via ネコずしポートレイトＡ3　マーゴ – ネコずし SHOP)