These are all at least a little bit dated, but the usefulness has hardly been diminished. They’re all worth reading at least once a year (the last one is worth reading at least every month…)
The days are long, but the decades are short. (By Sam Altman, 2015)
Commencement address to Cal Tech (Richard Feynman, 1974)
The day you became a better writer (Scott Adams, 2007)
Happy New Year! Some of my favorites from 2015:
The Day You Became A Better Writer
Brene Brown on the Tim Ferriss Show
The sunset in Batu Ferringhi. A pic can’t do it justice, but here it is anyways. 
Yeah, I know I’m a bit behind putting a movie from 2014 and blog post from 2007 on my 2015 best of list.
A personal aside here — wanted to gather a few pictures from Game 6 of the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals. Chicago Blackhawks 2, Tampa Bay Lightning 0.
Here’s a video from our seats of the final few seconds:
And a summary of the night’s events:
I’m excited today to announce the official launch of Poseidon Financial, a company I’m co-founding along with Jimmy Atkinson and Andy Hagans.
Poseidon Financial will run a network of five targeted sites in the investing vertical: FundReference.com, DividendReference.com, AllEmergingMarkets.com, ETFReference.com, and FixedIncomeDatabase.com.
Our goal is simple: on each of these properties we will produce data, tools, analysis, and commentary that makes it easier to be a smart and informed investor. We’re launching today with just a few pieces of content on each site, but are hard at work on a number of products that will roll out over the coming months.
I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by really great teams everywhere I’ve worked, but I’m especially excited to be working with Andy and Jimmy again. We’ve all learned a lot since we launched ETFdb.com six years ago (and a few less successful ventures in the years between), and we’re all determined to make Poseidon Financial into something that makes a difference — however small it may be — in the lives of our users.
We’re doing things a bit differently this time around. Instead of rushing to get products out the door, we’re taking the time to discern what is essential, set aside whatever isn’t, and thoughtfully execute on what is. The clean site designs — complete with some beautiful logos — are the first fruit this approach has yielded.
I’ve always loved the Abraham Lincoln quote “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Now I’m trying to live it. We’re confident that this approach will lead to better products, better sites, and a better user experience.
The rest of the Poseidon Financial team includes a talented developer, and a couple of extremely smart advisors and investors. The dream team has been assembled, and now we’re getting to work.
Part of starting a new venture is getting back to basics, so I’ve been doing a lot more writing than I have in the past few years. Here’s the part where I shamelessly plug some of what we’ve been working on:
If you have any thoughts, ideas, or complaints, I’d love to hear them. Thanks for reading, and for your interest in what we’re building.
These are three that I love…and try to live:
When a problem came up at the mills, his first concern was to discover what error he had made; he did not search for anyone’s fault but his own: it was of himself that he demanded perfection.
~From Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (said of Hank Rearden)
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
~Abraham Lincoln
Do less, but better.
~From Essentialism by Greg McKeown
I’ve been riding an unbelievable reading hot streak lately. It seems like every book I’ve picked up has been insightful, entertaining, or interesting. So I thought I’d share a few of my favorite reads from the last year or so.
Other recommended books (novels, for those who just can’t get in to non-fiction):
You can own all of these for about $70 through Amazon (!!!).
Two random notes:
Some comments from Mark Cuban about the size of the current tech bubble made some waves this week (likely thanks to a few sensationalized headlines). His thought is basically that this time around, much smaller investors have major skin in the game (relatively major at least; a $25,000 investment in a family member’s startup is nothing to a VC, but may represent a major portion of net worth for a middle class family).
There’s probably a lot of truth to this. But in the spirit of staying positive as I get back into the process of firing up a business, I am also encouraged by all tools now out there that weren’t around five years ago when I was going this for the first time. So many great tools that help entrepreneurs stay organized and focused have popped up. They’re obviously too many to note, but here are a few that I’d never heard of but have loved at least tinkering with:
I’m sure everyone working in the startup world can immediately think of tools that make their lives much easier. That wasn’t really the case five years ago…which is exciting.
On a personal note, my oldest nephew turned 18 this week. Watching him grow into a talented, smart, kind, and friendly young man has been such a joy to me as an uncle–I can’t imagine how proud his parents (my brother and sister-in-law) must be. Happy birthday Danny!
