The Slow Hunch by Nick GrossmanThe Butter Thesis
At USV, we talk a lot about our investment thesis. The USV thesis is a set of ideas that has guided our investing over the years. It is a tool we u...
The Slow Hunch by Nick GrossmanFrom Crypto-Native to Crypto-Enabled
I’m not one to make big annual predictions, but one thing that seems likely to me is that 2024 will mark the emergence of mainstream apps powered by ...
The Slow Hunch by Nick GrossmanYou Never Know When You've Had a Good Day
Many years ago, when I had just started working at USV, I remember there was kind of a complicated situation that unfolded in a seemingly bad way, and I'll never forget what Brad said in response. He said:you never know when you've had a good dayI didn't really understand what that meant, so he told me a story that went something like: back around the year 2000 at the height of the dot-com boom, there was a guy who was a senior exec at a successful startup. That person had a falling out with ...
Subscribe to The Slow Hunch by Nick Grossman
>1.2K subscribers
The Slow Hunch by Nick GrossmanThe Butter Thesis
At USV, we talk a lot about our investment thesis. The USV thesis is a set of ideas that has guided our investing over the years. It is a tool we u...
The Slow Hunch by Nick GrossmanFrom Crypto-Native to Crypto-Enabled
I’m not one to make big annual predictions, but one thing that seems likely to me is that 2024 will mark the emergence of mainstream apps powered by ...
The Slow Hunch by Nick GrossmanYou Never Know When You've Had a Good Day
Many years ago, when I had just started working at USV, I remember there was kind of a complicated situation that unfolded in a seemingly bad way, and I'll never forget what Brad said in response. He said:you never know when you've had a good dayI didn't really understand what that meant, so he told me a story that went something like: back around the year 2000 at the height of the dot-com boom, there was a guy who was a senior exec at a successful startup. That person had a falling out with ...
Subscribe to The Slow Hunch by Nick Grossman
>1.2K subscribers
Share Dialog
Share Dialog
A few weeks ago, Brian asked Brittany and me:
"do you think it's better to build your career around skills or around ideas?".
Brittany immediately said "skills" and I immediately said "ideas". We argued about it for a few minutes, and ultimately we both agreed that skills and ideas are both important (duh) and that you can of course build both sides in parallel. But more interestingly was Brian's respnose -- he had previously asked the same question to Albert, who had a more interesting answer, which was:
"you should build your career around momentum"
In other words, you want one thing to flow into the next, accumulating a crescendo of importance, impact and reach, that builds its own center of gravity and energy. This really struck me, and has been on my mind since then. Now that I'm writing this, it strikes me as a very natural answer to get from an investor, as momentum is what startups hope to create -- traction, energy, network effects, "the flywheel". Separately, the word momentum has been on my mind a lot lately because of the really awesome and inspiring Momentum chrome extension that replaces your "new tab" screen with an inspirational photo and a simple prompt asking you what your goal for the day is. Mine looks like this today:
As simple as it is, the Momentum screen has really been great in the week or two I've been using it. The idea of identifying a single focal point and priority for the day is refreshingly simple and surprisingly calming. And really nailing your top priority, rather than getting spread thin and scattered across a million other things, is how you build momentum. So, momentum. Momentum. mmmmm.
A few weeks ago, Brian asked Brittany and me:
"do you think it's better to build your career around skills or around ideas?".
Brittany immediately said "skills" and I immediately said "ideas". We argued about it for a few minutes, and ultimately we both agreed that skills and ideas are both important (duh) and that you can of course build both sides in parallel. But more interestingly was Brian's respnose -- he had previously asked the same question to Albert, who had a more interesting answer, which was:
"you should build your career around momentum"
In other words, you want one thing to flow into the next, accumulating a crescendo of importance, impact and reach, that builds its own center of gravity and energy. This really struck me, and has been on my mind since then. Now that I'm writing this, it strikes me as a very natural answer to get from an investor, as momentum is what startups hope to create -- traction, energy, network effects, "the flywheel". Separately, the word momentum has been on my mind a lot lately because of the really awesome and inspiring Momentum chrome extension that replaces your "new tab" screen with an inspirational photo and a simple prompt asking you what your goal for the day is. Mine looks like this today:
As simple as it is, the Momentum screen has really been great in the week or two I've been using it. The idea of identifying a single focal point and priority for the day is refreshingly simple and surprisingly calming. And really nailing your top priority, rather than getting spread thin and scattered across a million other things, is how you build momentum. So, momentum. Momentum. mmmmm.
No comments yet