If you read this blog, I mean really parse through it and find my stuff from 2017 and 2018, you'd be surprised to know that I'm eagerly, enthusiastically, passionately fundraising for my startup this time around. Yes, me, the guy who wrote Don't make a mountain of a Sand Hill (Road). I wrote that. I'm… Continue reading I’m fundraising this time — and here’s why
Climate tech is my next big thing
This has been a wild year. I guess I'll start from where I left off on that children's book I wrote about a year ago. Coming into 2022, I was doing really great. I sold MightySignal to Airnow and was enjoying the process of moving into our new and improved house. I'd spend my evenings… Continue reading Climate tech is my next big thing
Business evaluation: Shovels
TL;DR I'm now working on https://www.shovels.ai. I’m going to evaluate a business that I’ve already started working on. Perhaps I should have done this earlier, but for better or worse, this project has evolved far faster than expected! To back up a bit, I’ve been looking for a good idea for a while. I was… Continue reading Business evaluation: Shovels
The Descent of Blue
Everybody who met Blue said he was the best dog they'd ever met. Everybody was right, of course. In the years since his rocky ascent, which I wrote about five years ago, Blue became his own establishment, a pillar of our little neighborhood, as recognizable as any street sign. He was out all the time,… Continue reading The Descent of Blue
So this is 40
I'll try to briefly recap the last day of my thirties. I woke up a bit groggy, which is not at all unusual because my wife hops out of bed at 5:30 am every morning to work "East Coast hours" because her boss, the CEO, lives and works in Connecticut. She lets Blue Boy out… Continue reading So this is 40
Why it’s good to befriend your competitors
Here's a bit of contrarian advice: Be nice to your competitors. In fact, befriend them, because you just might make a pile of money as a result. I've always taken this road and it has never backfired. I'm going to describe a bunch of examples here and then generalize the approach for your own situation.… Continue reading Why it’s good to befriend your competitors
Business evaluation: Ahoy
Edit: Ahoy is now live so I've included links. I'm still working on the web3 project I previously wrote about. In November 2021 I wrote this description of a fundraising tool that I hoped could be used to influence votes on climate legislation. Rather than collecting signatures, this project would collect cash, real dollars, and… Continue reading Business evaluation: Ahoy
Business evaluation: Clime
I recently read this great short article about how to evaluate ideas by Jared Friedman, a partner at YC. In it he describes a recurring theme across the thousands and thousands of startup pitches they see. They call it SISP, or "a solution in search of a problem." It's an idea that has no practical… Continue reading Business evaluation: Clime
Exercising the writing muscle
Okay, here we go. I'll write as many mostly unedited words as I can before I give up and turn on Better Call Saul. These days I have a rule. I can watch my Netflix show if I've read a book for an hour during the day. This rule has led to a wonderful habit:… Continue reading Exercising the writing muscle
Hacking for climate sales
About a million years ago I wrote a blog post called "Hacking for Sales." I posted it on the Scripted blog and didn't think about it again until this guy Max Altschuler from Udemy contacted me about running a course on it. I demurred and ultimately declined, but he and I stayed in touch. Later,… Continue reading Hacking for climate sales