
The 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...
From 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 ...
You 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 ...

The 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...
From 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 ...
You 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 ...
Share Dialog
Share Dialog
For the past two months, Frannie and I have been doing yoga. It’s a totally new thing for me. I was skeptical about it at first, but it’s been totally awesome and perspective changing. Even though I am completely inflexible and unaccustomed to all of the poses (and perhaps because of this), doing the practice and cracking open my body in new ways has really had a noticeable effect. I walk out of yoga feeling open, calm, confident, and clear.
There’s a lot I could talk about, but perhaps the idea that has stuck with me the most so far is the idea that we — generally speaking — walk around carrying an air of “subtle discontent”. This is the nagging feeling that there’s something wrong, somethin missing, something to get to (that’s not here), something more important to be focusing on, to be doing. If you think about it and try to notice it, you might be surprised how ever-present it is.
This tends to manifest itself physically in tension between the eyebrows. And a part of the yoga practice is noticing that feeling, releasing it, letting it melt away, and focusing on experiencing and enjoying the current moment.
For me at least — and I assume for lots of folks who are working hard and are generally under stress — this idea really hit home. I think there is also something related to this in being hyper connected and constantly checking our phones. Checking my phone, anxiously, habitually, for new emails, tweets, etc., is a certain form of this subtle discontent.
And I love the idea of noticing it, being aware of it, melting it away, and refocusing on the present.
For the past two months, Frannie and I have been doing yoga. It’s a totally new thing for me. I was skeptical about it at first, but it’s been totally awesome and perspective changing. Even though I am completely inflexible and unaccustomed to all of the poses (and perhaps because of this), doing the practice and cracking open my body in new ways has really had a noticeable effect. I walk out of yoga feeling open, calm, confident, and clear.
There’s a lot I could talk about, but perhaps the idea that has stuck with me the most so far is the idea that we — generally speaking — walk around carrying an air of “subtle discontent”. This is the nagging feeling that there’s something wrong, somethin missing, something to get to (that’s not here), something more important to be focusing on, to be doing. If you think about it and try to notice it, you might be surprised how ever-present it is.
This tends to manifest itself physically in tension between the eyebrows. And a part of the yoga practice is noticing that feeling, releasing it, letting it melt away, and focusing on experiencing and enjoying the current moment.
For me at least — and I assume for lots of folks who are working hard and are generally under stress — this idea really hit home. I think there is also something related to this in being hyper connected and constantly checking our phones. Checking my phone, anxiously, habitually, for new emails, tweets, etc., is a certain form of this subtle discontent.
And I love the idea of noticing it, being aware of it, melting it away, and refocusing on the present.
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