Saying no to things is something I've always been bad at. I have always been (and to some extent, have prided myself on being) more of a "why not" guy than a "why" guy. This has many of advantages -- I'm open minded and I end up doing tons of interesting things w interesting people. But it also has some obvious disadvantages -- like feeling overwhelmed, getting behind on things, getting spread too thin, not doing a good enough job on any one thing. I remember reading that one of the cornerstones of Warren Buffet's approach to life is writing up a list of the 10 things you want to do, prioritizing them, then putting the bottom six on a "avoid at all costs" list. And I believe in my heart that the projects / apps / ideas that are tight, focused and well executed are better than the ones that are broadly ambitious and try to boil the ocean. One of my favorite lines, from one of my favorite books is "half, not half-assed". But still, it's hard to say no to things. Meetings, phone calls, projects, you name it. It's just hard. But every time I look at my long to do list, or my inbox, or my calendar, and think -- what can I do to be more efficient and effective at doing all of this? The obvious answer is to just do less. That's by far the most simple and most impactful approach. How do you save money? Spend less. How do you save time? Do less. Easier said than done, but no doubt important.
Last night at USV, we hosted the latest of several recent meetups on the “Peer Economy”. We are in the process of organizing a number of companies and organizations that represent a certain sector of the internet economy in NYC, with an eye towards building a more formal coalition (perhaps in the model of San Francisco’s BayShare) at some point in the future. As is to be expected, we spent the bulk of the discussion trying to figure out what it is, exactly, that ties us all together. I think there’s a pretty strong thread, but it’s not immediately clear how best to describe it. So I hereby invite you, the Internet, into the conversation. So, as a thought experiment, how might you describe the common approaches and values between:
The past three weeks have been really busy. First a trip to SF with the USV team, then to Austin for SXSW to put on We Heart Wifi, and finally to Iceland where we have been helping establish a new institute for internet policy at Reykjavik University. So as is typically the case, I have fallen behind on everything — email, blogging, seeing my kids… But I am psyched to be back home and to have a few weeks free and clear to recenter and get organized. The busier my life gets, the more I’m impressed with folks who are able to keep their heads above water despite ridiculous schedules and fractured time. It’s not something I’ve mastered yet, but I’m working on it. For the past two months Frannie and I have been taking yoga, and it’s been incredible. Totally changes my outlook on everything. We are lucky to have a really great studio and instructor very close to our house. Perhaps the thing that has stuck with me the most is the idea that the practice of yoga doesn’t end when the session is over. That, with practice, you can bring the yoga with you wherever you are, to whatever you’re doing. Sounds hokey, I know, but it’s pretty profound. Anyway, the point is: I think there is something in there — about how to keep calm and carry on and
Saying no to things is something I've always been bad at. I have always been (and to some extent, have prided myself on being) more of a "why not" guy than a "why" guy. This has many of advantages -- I'm open minded and I end up doing tons of interesting things w interesting people. But it also has some obvious disadvantages -- like feeling overwhelmed, getting behind on things, getting spread too thin, not doing a good enough job on any one thing. I remember reading that one of the cornerstones of Warren Buffet's approach to life is writing up a list of the 10 things you want to do, prioritizing them, then putting the bottom six on a "avoid at all costs" list. And I believe in my heart that the projects / apps / ideas that are tight, focused and well executed are better than the ones that are broadly ambitious and try to boil the ocean. One of my favorite lines, from one of my favorite books is "half, not half-assed". But still, it's hard to say no to things. Meetings, phone calls, projects, you name it. It's just hard. But every time I look at my long to do list, or my inbox, or my calendar, and think -- what can I do to be more efficient and effective at doing all of this? The obvious answer is to just do less. That's by far the most simple and most impactful approach. How do you save money? Spend less. How do you save time? Do less. Easier said than done, but no doubt important.
Last night at USV, we hosted the latest of several recent meetups on the “Peer Economy”. We are in the process of organizing a number of companies and organizations that represent a certain sector of the internet economy in NYC, with an eye towards building a more formal coalition (perhaps in the model of San Francisco’s BayShare) at some point in the future. As is to be expected, we spent the bulk of the discussion trying to figure out what it is, exactly, that ties us all together. I think there’s a pretty strong thread, but it’s not immediately clear how best to describe it. So I hereby invite you, the Internet, into the conversation. So, as a thought experiment, how might you describe the common approaches and values between:
The past three weeks have been really busy. First a trip to SF with the USV team, then to Austin for SXSW to put on We Heart Wifi, and finally to Iceland where we have been helping establish a new institute for internet policy at Reykjavik University. So as is typically the case, I have fallen behind on everything — email, blogging, seeing my kids… But I am psyched to be back home and to have a few weeks free and clear to recenter and get organized. The busier my life gets, the more I’m impressed with folks who are able to keep their heads above water despite ridiculous schedules and fractured time. It’s not something I’ve mastered yet, but I’m working on it. For the past two months Frannie and I have been taking yoga, and it’s been incredible. Totally changes my outlook on everything. We are lucky to have a really great studio and instructor very close to our house. Perhaps the thing that has stuck with me the most is the idea that the practice of yoga doesn’t end when the session is over. That, with practice, you can bring the yoga with you wherever you are, to whatever you’re doing. Sounds hokey, I know, but it’s pretty profound. Anyway, the point is: I think there is something in there — about how to keep calm and carry on and
The Slow Hunch by Nick Grossman
Investing @ USV. Student of cities and the internet.
The Slow Hunch by Nick Grossman
Investing @ USV. Student of cities and the internet.
At USV, we have a word for all of this, which is simply “networks”. That’s great and effective as an investment thesis, but it’s actually rather abstract as way of communicating the idea widely. In Steven Johnson’s recent book Future Perfect, he uses the term “peer network”, which is better but still somewhat problematic (as peer means “pier” to most people and “napster” to others). And our working description, as you can see, is “peer economy”. Anyway, rather than try to “draw a box” around all of this — we instead attempted to (at Matt Brimer’s suggestion) focus on the center — on the core opportunities, values, and methods that all of these communities believe in and operate around. The ones that stood out to me the most were:
increasing personal freedom through community support;
creating economic empowerment;
valuing authenticity and real human connection;
built on trust (as developed within each community);
and perhaps my favorite: Andrew Wagner’s “as New York as a slice of pizza”
In my world, I focus a lot on words like “innovation” and “networks” — but I think the thing that really stood out to me about last night’s conversation was the centrality of the human component. Empowering “real people” to do new and awesome things. To access new economic opportunities for themselves, while at the same time rediscovering community. The idea that stuck in my head last night is about the “Indie Web” — what’s so interesting about the web and the networks of people on it is that they are at the same time individual & independent AND hyper-connected. The fact that we’re connected lets us be independent. It’s almost a paradox. I like the idea that the web makes it possible to be an indie musician, dj or filmmaker, to be an indie craftsperson or manufacturer, an indie journalist, publisher, or even an indie scientist. And what makes most (if not all) of this possible is the ability to be an indie entrepreneur, whether that’s through an open source project, a meetup, a web app, or even a venture-backed company (which is, admittedly, a certain flavor of “indie”). The point is, that on an open web, we have the unfettered ability to make new things that enable people to do new things. Which is pretty awesome and exciting.
At USV, we have a word for all of this, which is simply “networks”. That’s great and effective as an investment thesis, but it’s actually rather abstract as way of communicating the idea widely. In Steven Johnson’s recent book Future Perfect, he uses the term “peer network”, which is better but still somewhat problematic (as peer means “pier” to most people and “napster” to others). And our working description, as you can see, is “peer economy”. Anyway, rather than try to “draw a box” around all of this — we instead attempted to (at Matt Brimer’s suggestion) focus on the center — on the core opportunities, values, and methods that all of these communities believe in and operate around. The ones that stood out to me the most were:
increasing personal freedom through community support;
creating economic empowerment;
valuing authenticity and real human connection;
built on trust (as developed within each community);
and perhaps my favorite: Andrew Wagner’s “as New York as a slice of pizza”
In my world, I focus a lot on words like “innovation” and “networks” — but I think the thing that really stood out to me about last night’s conversation was the centrality of the human component. Empowering “real people” to do new and awesome things. To access new economic opportunities for themselves, while at the same time rediscovering community. The idea that stuck in my head last night is about the “Indie Web” — what’s so interesting about the web and the networks of people on it is that they are at the same time individual & independent AND hyper-connected. The fact that we’re connected lets us be independent. It’s almost a paradox. I like the idea that the web makes it possible to be an indie musician, dj or filmmaker, to be an indie craftsperson or manufacturer, an indie journalist, publisher, or even an indie scientist. And what makes most (if not all) of this possible is the ability to be an indie entrepreneur, whether that’s through an open source project, a meetup, a web app, or even a venture-backed company (which is, admittedly, a certain flavor of “indie”). The point is, that on an open web, we have the unfettered ability to make new things that enable people to do new things. Which is pretty awesome and exciting.
