Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
I recently discovered a new AI-driven phenomenon: AI-driven YouTube channels that crank out summaries of bestselling books. Since I have a Google Alert set for “Blitzscaling,” I get notified when Google finds new Blitzscaling-related content. A couple of days ago, I received an alert about a new video: It’s trivial now to set up a … Continue reading Standing Out Is Harder (And More Important) Than Ever Before
Two people in Silicon Valley whom I admire greatly are Brian Chesky of Airbnb, and Paul Graham of YCombinator. Brian was one of the most popular and insightful guests who visited my Blitzscaling class, and Paul’s essays helped inspire my own style of writing and commentary. Recently, Brian and Paul together introduced a new term … Continue reading Founder Mode is Incredibly Powerful (and Dangerous)
I’m feeling nostalgic this week. Perhaps it was attending a dinner with old friends in the tech/VC industry, some of whom I’ve known since the 1990s. Perhaps it was sitting down for a biographical podcast. Regardless, I was already primed for nostalgia when I read about the end of AnandTech. For those who are younger, … Continue reading AnandTech and the passage of time
One of the characteristics that most of us find appealing is confidence. Confident people are seen as more charismatic, and are more likely to be chosen as leaders. Yet there is a paradox to confidence, and that paradox was even hidden in that prior sentence. We view confidence as a fundamental personality trait. But the … Continue reading The Confidence Paradox
David Barrett of Expensify is a smart entrepreneur and leader, which is why it is interesting that he recently declared, “The office is dead.” Unlike most public figures who have picked a side in the remote vs hybrid vs traditional office debate, David actually put his money where his mouth was, and conducted an experiment … Continue reading Attract People To The Office With People and Purpose, Not Perks
The answer, as always, is money. Former Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott bet on creating the Pac-12 cable network. That failed, which left the Pac-12 in a bad position when it came to TV rights. In addition, with the existing TV rights expiring after this season, there was no penalty to leaving the conference. Seeing the … Continue reading What The Hell Is Happening With The Pac-12?
The critical error that many supporters of capitalism make is to assume that unfettered capitalism produces the “best” results. Capitalism is an amazing tool for allocating capital and creating wealth, but a wildly imperfect tool for distributing that wealth. I’ll put it in terms that might resonate with ardent capitalists: Pure capitalism is like a … Continue reading “Pure” Capitalism is Bad for Business
Alisha and I took part in a special session of Chip Conley’s Modern Elder Academy for the members of the Silicon Guild and their spouses. Due to some unfortunate complications, several of the Silicon Guild members had to drop out in the weeks leading up to the session, which left us with 12 participants (plus … Continue reading Visiting the Modern Elder Academy
My mother Grace passed away yesterday. It is still difficult to grasp the reality of that statement. A month ago, I saw my mother when we picked up our daughter from her freshman year at USC. She seemed frailer than before, but no one in the family had any thought that she would pass away … Continue reading A Tribute To My Mother, Grace Yeh
When people talk about using AI to augment their own intelligence, they’re missing the real point. While it is certainly a positive move to augment one’s own intelligence, a far more powerful approach is to amplify your own efforts by increasing the number of intelligences working on your behalf. We often ascribe superhuman intelligence to … Continue reading The Power of AI Isn’t Augmentation, It’s Amplification