The best moment in 2013 was the safe, healthy arrival of my 2nd daughter

The biggest letdown in 2013 was Homeland, Season 3.

The best book I read in 2013 was “The Success Equation” by Michael Mauboussin. Helped change the way I think about my day-to-day job.

The biggest tech story in 2013 was the growing skepticism around hierarchies, authorities and governments - i.e., NSA/Snowden, healthcare.gov, decentralized money.

The second biggest tech story in 2013 was the emergence of crowdfunding and the future of money. About ten years ago, the story was about the changing way that people created, shared, consumed media (‘real-time’ or ‘social media’). A few years ago, the story was about one way that people were changing the way they consume stuff and...

Jack Dorsey recommended “The Score Takes Care of Itself” as one of his top business books. I think Keith Rabois referred it to him. Even if you don’t like sports, it’s a fascinating read into how Bill Walsh transformed a dormant loser into a durable franchise.

I’m from Boston and am an insufferable Boston sports fan. So I put Bill Belichick in the same category as Bill Walsh. The fact that the New England Patriots have always been one of the top 5 professional football teams over the past 10 years in a salary cap era that discouraged such longevity is a pretty incredible managerial feat. As a sports fan, studying long-term, durable franchises like the Patriots or 49ers is as interesting as studying Amazon or Google.

From ESPN today, here’s how Bill...

The last class I needed to take from graduate school was “Nonlinear Optics” taught by Nobel Prize winner Stephen Harris. I struggled. I was a decent scientist/engineer but not elite. And beyond that, nonlinear optics was really freaking hard. Not only was the math complex, but it was nearly impossible for me to picture the concepts in my mind. “Linear” or Physical Optics was much easier - you could picture everyday use cases like the laser and why the sky is blue. Nonlinear optics was much different. It was too abstract.

I won’t find the source but many smart thinkers like Nassim Taleb and Daniel Kahneman basically make the point that the nonlinear stuff is hard for humans to imagine. Humans like stories; we like cause-and-effect, we are told. That’s...

I wrote earlier about my impressionistic thoughts on bitcoin. I’m still learning as much as I can about bitcoin, currency systems, protocols and platforms. My brain hurts. I feel like Billy Ray Valentine.

In order to be a currency (i.e., money), bitcoin needs to serve three functions: store of value, medium of exchange, unit of account. (I’ve written before about why “bitcoin as a currency” may be a local maximum - a powerful application but only scratching the surface of its potential.) But if you look at this classic “money test”, bitcoin currently succeeds as a store of value but is less successful as a medium of exchange and even less so as a unit of account.

A “store of value” is something that has value, as Randolph Duke might...

When I was really sick with cancer in 1994, I was freaking out emotionally. My emotions were super volatile - some days I was upbeat and in a fighting spirit and some days I was scared shitless and paralyzed with fear. My doctors eventually told me that I needed to get on a more emotional keel. It was a long journey and I would burn out with these ups and downs, and this “burn out” could make my condition even worse.

I tried everything to “calm myself down.” My initial tactic was to watch as much television and movies as possible - I watched every episode of The Simpsons, Wings, and Seinfeld - all on VHS. I watched the OJ trial, the NBA finals, the car chase. I hoped that by tuning in, I could tune out.

None of that worked. So one day a nurse practitioner...

I’m relatively late to Bitcoin. I’m probably more current than 99.9% of the general population but less informed than the hackers, hobbyists and investors who have been studying this since its inception in early 2009.

I’m no payment systems or cryptography expert. So I went back to first principles and studied the Khan Academy lectures here during this past summer. If you’re interested, I’m happy to send you my notes.

With that as a backdrop, here are 10 things I think I think; the format is one I’ve used before and a hat tip to Peter King, whose Monday morning column I read religiously.

1. I think Bitcoin is just a bet that the world becomes more multipolar. In this world, there will be stages of heightened instability and chaos economically and...

Because Abu Nazir is playing the long game. This way no one expects a thing. -Carrie Mathison, Homeland

I missed the Season 3 premiere of Homeland last night. It’s one of my favorite shows in recent memory. For those that don’t watch it, the main plot is this: a POW returns home after 7-8 years from the Iraq War. One CIA agent (Carrie Mathison) suspects that the POW is actually a Manchurian Candidate-esque operative of Abu Nazir, a fictional Osama Bin Laden-like character. Mathison’s hypothesis is that Abu Nazir is an evil genius willing to do what the other guy isn’t. In short, he’s playing “the long game.” If you watch both Seasons 1 +2, Nazir proves that he is willing to do some Keyser Soze-like shit.

The term “building a long-term...

This post will give a small glimpse into how we evaluate opportunities. It’s more about process than substance (i.e., what we look for).

When we receive an email from a referral source introducing us to a founder, we typically ask the founder if they have an executive summary. This may sound tedious and old-school. But it is a quick and easy way for us to decide if a call or meeting is a good use of both parties' time as a next step. It’s also a decent way to evaluate the founder(s). The ability to communicate your idea concisely and articulately is essential. It not only shows a potential to persuade (i.e., sell) but also shows clarity of thought and priorities.

Below are some tips on how to create a good executive summary. There is no generic template or “one...