Conviction…The Entreprenuering and The Investing Life
Fred posted a really good speech on ‘conviction’ by Jeff Lawson the founder and CEO of Twilio ($TWLO). My favorite part is when Jeff talked about A/B testing and data. The data is important, but being really useful and having style will always matter.
I like the word conviction.
Jeff left other great opportunities behind to pursue an idea for which he had a passion and conviction.
I have conviction in the do it yourself investing industry. No matter how many algo’, robo’s and machines get into the mix, the behavior side of the business means people still matter. People will always want to beat the machines. People will zig when all the data says they should zag.
When I started Wallstrip I had conviction that CNBC would be disrupted by the YouTube revolution. Getting the big wave right helps overcome a lot of mistakes in timing, operations, hiring etc..
When I started Stocktwits I had conviction that the streams of user generated content were important and that the streams speed up learning. In the Stocktwits case I also believed that a community talking about stocks and markets all day would help others learn faster.
All these years later, my best advice is the quicker one can build domain experience, the better. The sooner you can focus on building domain experience around the ideas and passions you have, the better.
Having initiative and good instincts won’t hurt you either!
Originally published at Howard Lindzon.
