The world’s eyes are fixated on Ukraine at the moment with the threat of a Russian invasion looming large. Meanwhile, the truckers’ protest in Canada is promising to turn ugly with Trudeau invoking emergency powers. It is quite tough these days to find truly neutral, comprehensive, and true analyses on complex, evolving situations. I have included an article in my list today (after including a few in my last issues) but I will advise everyone to exercise caution before forming judgments.
I have also been thinking about the theory and practice of building startups more methodically these days. The one thing that strikes me is the quality of resources freely available these days. From Daniel Gross’ Pioneer guide, Sam Altman’s Startup School to the many amazing articles from First Round, every single topic has been covered with playbooks, tactical guides, and relevant examples. It really is a golden age when it comes to knowledge on building and scaling startups.
Links of the Week
Cognition - I find that awareness about spaced repetition is quite low in general which is a bit mind-boggling to me. Spaced repetition done right is as close to a mental superpower as one can get. Using Anki has helped me build long-term memory muscle for things as varied as learning German, cramming world history, and remembering the character names in LoTR. Michael Nielsen does a great job in this article on de-mystifying spaced repetition. (Link)
Canada - An on-the-ground report on the situation in Canada. It appears that what started out as a genuine grievance-based protest has been co-opted by bad actors. Big surprise, I know.
Tech - A typically brilliant memo from Steve Jobs on why Apple isn’t big on Flash. This one is from the early 2010s and is a masterclass on how to think strategically. Also, a big shoutout to Sriram Krishnan’s amazing collection of memos. (Link)
Spyware - A tour-de-force investigative deep dive into the Pegasus spyware from the NY Times. When NYT does reports like this, you wonder what would have happened if they decided not to spend so many resources on the culture war. (Link)
Profile - Alfred Sloan Jr was the long-serving President, Chairman, and CEO of General Motors. He was also instrumental in setting up the Sloan School of Management at MIT and the Sloan Kettering Centre in New York. This is a riveting deep dive into what made the man tick. (Link)
Science - Fascinating Reuters explainer on how deep-sea underwater cables are repaired. (Link)
Startups - Paul Graham famously said, “do things that don’t scale”. This has become a quick and insightful way to capture the essence of finding product-market fit. This great talk from the Startup School series from Y Combinator provides quite a few relevant examples from Doordash’s early days. (Link)
Happy reading!
Thanks man! Loved all the content.