Ben CasnochaVerified account

"Play Nice But Win" by @MichaelDell is a fun memoir about a historic entrepreneurial journey. Colorful stories + lessons from the founding of Dell all the way through the mega EMC deal. Tbh my favorite anecdote was about the quality of Carl Icahn's home cooked meatloaf...

In conversation the phrase "to be totally transparent..." (or the equivalent) is often not followed by actual, vulnerable candor. It's a filler phrase. A verbal tic. A darker view is it's a "hack" to win kudos for transparency (considered a virtue) w/o needing to follow through

Fred's post on venture math is making the rounds for good reason. But $100M post for a seed round is rare even in today's market. A more common difficult decision for seed managers is whether to flex from $10M post to, say, $25M post -- and justify by expecting larger outcomeshttps://twitter.com/semil/status/1460216983119564806 …

I personally need DAYS of continuous meditation practice on retreat before I arrive at anything resembling insight. To be clear, for day to day life in the real world w/ no spiritual expectations, 20 min sits are great for relaxation and centeredness (hat tip to convo w/ @jdh)

Transcendental Meditation is great. But 20 minute sits, the specific instruction of TM, is not long enough if you wish to do deep sea diving. You'll relax. You'll become more centered. But beginners are unlikely to arrive at deep *insight* in the technical meaning of that word

Flattery is reciprocal: If you tell me my company is worth 3x more than what others are telling me it's worth, I'm going to be inclined to think you're really smart.

A founder is deeply impressed by the quality of questions and process of the venture firm...that offered a term sheet 3x the price of others. It's like a guy who dates a Playboy model who talks about how he was drawn to her amazing personality and intellect. It's a lot simpler

"Alright, well, to be continued!" This is a phrase that's handy when you want to bring to a close a conversation that's reached its end point. "To be continued" implies a nice long term intention yet clearly signals time's up for now.

I know very wealthy couples who hesitate hiring full time nannies, weekend nannies, night nurses, etc. because they fear being judged as absentee parents. Whereas throughout much of Asia and LatAm, for example, live-in household staff is common and accepted. (And obv cheaper.)

Many of my friends w/ young kids have disappeared from adult social life. I observe their friends and hobbies have taken a backseat to kids and work. Among the upper class, I wonder how much of this is uniquely American: A parenting *culture* that doesn't embrace outsourcing.

Every CEO has a prepared answer to "What's a weakness of yours?" or "When's a time you've failed?" that they share in press interviews and employee all-hands. Something that's kind of vulnerable but isn't overly embarrassing. Full vulnerability to these Q's is rarely worth it

The question that distinguishes tactics from strategy, when you consider any move, is: “How does this end?” -- @JamesFallows