Author Archives: amol

About amol

Founder, builder, philosopher.

The music room at ICA in Boston, Ragnar’s the Visitors

Worth a listen. Better in person I guess but odd that the 1 hour recording isn’t on iTunes etc.

The music room at ICA in Boston, Ragnar’s the Visitors

Worth a listen. Better in person I guess but odd that the 1 hour recording isn’t on iTunes etc.

A way to judge people

A HunterFarmer B Challenger/opinionated thought partner Relationshipper/friendProblem Solver/I will get the answersHard Worker/1,000 outbound per dayLone Wolf/don’t know how he does it C Money or Meaning D Run a machine or invent a machine E Top $ earner Or Top team

A way to judge people

A HunterFarmer B Challenger/opinionated thought partner Relationshipper/friendProblem Solver/I will get the answersHard Worker/1,000 outbound per dayLone Wolf/don’t know how he does it C Money or Meaning D Run a machine or invent a machine E Top $ earner Or Top team

Way far away from startups, the dials on the Venture Machine

Most folks in venture think the primary trends that drive innovation are technological and adoption matters, and they often publish theses around ideas that are ready to be huge. USV is thesis driven, and they invest (in version 3 of

Way far away from startups, the dials on the Venture Machine

Most folks in venture think the primary trends that drive innovation are technological and adoption matters, and they often publish theses around ideas that are ready to be huge. USV is thesis driven, and they invest (in version 3 of

Charming facts about Napoleon

Before a great battle he slept in a chair with one foot on a table He read Goethe, wrote love letters, short stories, and collected whole countries’ masterpieces into a museum he built to store them (now called the Louvre)

Charming facts about Napoleon

Before a great battle he slept in a chair with one foot on a table He read Goethe, wrote love letters, short stories, and collected whole countries’ masterpieces into a museum he built to store them (now called the Louvre)

Being wrong, hoping to be right

Over the last 2 years I started wearing a Grave Dancer sweatshirt and predicting the end of good times by September 2018. Wrong so far. The Dow hit a high last September, but it looks like it will hit the

Being wrong, hoping to be right

Over the last 2 years I started wearing a Grave Dancer sweatshirt and predicting the end of good times by September 2018. Wrong so far. The Dow hit a high last September, but it looks like it will hit the

Tl;dr: The Invention of Creativity

Creativity is a new idea. Hasn’t been around long. Maybe it’s a fad. Here’s the book by Reckwitz, that I am very surprised seems not to have been written before. A different book has been written before — the one

Tl;dr: The Invention of Creativity

Creativity is a new idea. Hasn’t been around long. Maybe it’s a fad. Here’s the book by Reckwitz, that I am very surprised seems not to have been written before. A different book has been written before — the one

Tl;dr: The Geography of Thought

The Geography of Thought is by Richard Nisbett. Nisbett is a legend of cognitive science and psychology. I think I cited him ten different ways in my dissertation back in the day.  A popular recent book he wrote is “What

Tl;dr: The Geography of Thought

The Geography of Thought is by Richard Nisbett. Nisbett is a legend of cognitive science and psychology. I think I cited him ten different ways in my dissertation back in the day.  A popular recent book he wrote is “What

Tl;dr: The Powers of Two by Shenk

I had a mentorish advisor once to whom I brought a tough problem. My cofounder was not going to make it to the next level — the company had to change a ton and this person was becoming an obstacle.

Tl;dr: The Powers of Two by Shenk

I had a mentorish advisor once to whom I brought a tough problem. My cofounder was not going to make it to the next level — the company had to change a ton and this person was becoming an obstacle.

Tl;dr: the Hypomanic Edge

Apparently founders resemble the hypomanic type. This is the textbook type:

Tl;dr: the Hypomanic Edge

Apparently founders resemble the hypomanic type. This is the textbook type:

Tl;dr: David Mamet’s “Writing in Restaurants”

The legendary playwright and dialogue master tells us about writing plays. Perhaps advice books is not his forte. I found one useful observation: the play is a quest for a solution. Many artists, writers, comedians, and of course scientists share

Tl;dr: David Mamet’s “Writing in Restaurants”

The legendary playwright and dialogue master tells us about writing plays. Perhaps advice books is not his forte. I found one useful observation: the play is a quest for a solution. Many artists, writers, comedians, and of course scientists share