1. “Whenever there is any
doubt, there is no doubt.” The line is from the inimitable David Mamet, a quote
from Ronin, one of my all-time favorite movies. A laconic reminder to always be
decisive in battle and in business, and at a most basic level, to trust your
gut. In my line of work, this often enough translates to “fire early,” too.
When you aren’t sure about a key employee or a co-founder, odds are exceedingly
low your mind will be changed for the better. “The difference between winning
and losing is most often not quitting.” P 93
2. “If it hurts me, it must
hurt the other ones twice as much.” “Look for a partner you’ll try to impress
daily, and one who will try to impress you.” Over the last couple decades, I’ve
noticed that the best, most enduring partnerships in business (and in life) are
among people who are constantly growing together. If the person you choose to
depend on is constantly striving to learn and improve, you too will push
yourself to new levels of achievement, and neither of you will feel like you
have settled for someone you eventually outgrow. P 93-94
3. ~take risks, now. The
advantages that college students and new grads have are their youth, drive,
lack of significant responsibilities, and, importantly, lack of the creature
comforts one acquires with time. Nothing to lose, everything to gain. Barnacles
of the good life tend to slow you down, if you don’t get used to risk-taking
early in your career. P 95
4. If you are your sole
responsibility, this is the time to step outside of your comfort zone, to start
or join an exciting, risky project; to drop everything else at the chance to be
part of something really great. So what if it fails? You can always go back to
school, take that job at an investment bank or a consulting company, move into
a nicer apartment. P 95
5. The advice to ignore (in
certain situations) is to strive to become “well-rounded”—to move from company
to company, looking to pick up different types of experience every year or two,
when starting out. That’s useful in the abstract, but if you find that strength
of yours (as an individual contributor or a team leader) at a company whose
mission you are truly passionate about, take a risk—commit and double down, and
rise through the ranks. P 95
https://www.affirm.com/
MAX LEVCHIN is the co-founder and CEO of Affirm, which uses modern
technology to reimagine and rebuild core components of financial infrastructure
from the ground up. Previously, Max co-founded and was first chief technology
officer of PayPal (acquired by eBay for $ 1.5 billion). He then helped start
Yelp as its first investor and served as chairman for 11 years. Max also
founded and was CEO of Slide, which Google acquired for $ 182 million. MIT
Technology Review named him “Innovator of the Year” in 2002, when he was 26
years old.
Reference
Ferriss,
Timothy. Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World (P. 92).
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition.
I have a high respect towards this guy
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