P.S. You Should Know... | Issue #199

Compiling a list summary of my year is becoming a tradition for me (2018, 2019). It took me a couple extra weeks, but here’s my 2020!

▶ More time away from “home” than ever before: Wisconsin, Michigan & Texas

▶ Finished 11 books (6/11 takeaways written & published)

▶ 11,311 Average Daily Steps

▶ Meditated 65% of days and decreased my standard length back to 10 minutes

▶ Learned to draw & bought a pickup truck

▶ Incredibly grateful that all of my family remained healthy through 2020

▶ Life with two kids has been a treat! Petra turned 3 and Daphne turned 1 this year

▶ Unique quarantine living with cousins was a wonderful (and sometimes stressful) experience that I loved

▶ Working from home ➡ so much time spent together as a family

▶ P.S. You Should Know ended the year with 418 subscribers, 12% growth

▶ Partnered with Stock Mfg. to grow the awesome brand & business together

▶ Joined NutriSense operating team to create healthier happier humans

▶ Bought a small retail brand (FGHTR) and gained much experience (what you get when you don’t get what you want 😂). Another learning experience: Photos for Grandma

▶ Startup Investments: Brightland, Black Buffalo, Talyn, NutriSense, Quicklly & 2 Unannounced

▶ Startup Exits: Factor, Avail

2020 game. “Play through all the major events of 2020.” | learn more

Google year in search 2020. “Google releases an annual list of top search terms of the year. For this year, I visualized the top search terms to show the impact that the year’s events had on people.” | learn more

The pledge of allegiance started as a PR gimmick. “Francis Bellamy had no idea how famous, and controversial, his quick ditty would become.” | learn more

Drunk fish convince sober ones to follow them around. “Essentially, a drunk fish becomes the designated driver for the whole group.” | learn more

The chicken or the exit? An essay that covers whaling, startups, and bootstrapping a venture ecosystem in Africa. | learn more

Walmart’s doing fintech now. The folks in Seattle aren’t the only ones who can reach across industries to make moves! “Walmart said Monday that it will launch a fintech start-up with Ribbit Capital, one of the investment firms behind Robinhood.” | learn more

Crowd funding pays off. This is pretty cool to see! “Crowdfunded on Seedrs, investors in Senta to receive up to 120x return as company is acquired” | learn more

Amp it up! From Frank Slootman, former CEO of Data Domain and ServiceNow and now CEO of Snowflake. “There is room up in organizations to boost performance by amping up the pace and intensity. Considerable slack naturally exists in organizations to perform at much higher levels. The role of leadership is to convert that lingering potential into superlative results.” | learn more

Framework for avoiding mediocrity. “Most things by definition are created average. Here is a mental framework for creating exceptional products with examples from Apple.” | learn more

Avoiding the nirvana fallacy. “We know today much more than we knew one hundred years ago. It seems reasonable to expect that in another hundred years, today’s level of knowledge will seem low. If we look at all of the past beliefs that today seem wrong-headed, we should be hesitant to commit to what we believe now.” | learn more

Observational studies find link between vaping and cognitive impairments. “Two observational studies have found a link between e-cigarette use and cognitive complaints such as memory impairments and brain fog. The research doesn’t present evidence of a causal link but calls for further long-term study into the relationship.” | learn more

Marc Lore steps down as Walmart’s head of e-commerce. This began as the most expensive acquihire ($3.3 billion for Jet.com) I’ve ever seen and appears to have ended successfully. He’s leaving them in great shape as a credible competitor online. “Walmart CEO Doug McMillon credited Lore in a companywide email for the pace of the retailer’s e-commerce growth and its ability to keep up with online demand during the pandemic.” | learn more

Glucosamine may reduce overall death rates as effectively as regular exercise. Not an experimental study, so we won’t jump to conclusions. “Glucosamine supplements may reduce overall mortality about as well as regular exercise does, according to a new epidemiological study from West Virginia University.” | learn more

ShapeShift says goodbye to KYC. “Today, ShapeShift is announcing that it has integrated decentralized exchange protocols and is sunsetting its 6+ year business of trading with customers. Because of this fundamental change to our business model, ShapeShift’s users no longer need to provide personally identifying information to us.” | learn more

Playing the Bitcoin long game. “At Unchained Capital, we are building a platform for individuals and businesses storing long-term wealth in bitcoin that demand private key ownership. To us, private key ownership is not an ideology; it is a security principle.” | learn more

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