Focus and blogging
Four resolutions for 2018
Like everyone I know, I take a few days at the end of the year to reflect on how I can improve over the coming year and increase my effectiveness.
This year, I’ve drawn four main conclusions, two personal and two professional.
On the personal level, I’m going to (1) try to focus on being 100% present when I’m with my family and (2) try to invest more time on staying healthy. Together, these mean less laptop time when I’m at home, better clarity for myself on what is work time and what is family time, more gym time, and fewer cheeseburgers. (I’ve found that all of these things actually contribute to better work performance…but that’s not the main reason to do them. The main reason is that I have the world’s most amazing and understanding wife and world’s most adorable 8-month old girl…and I don’t want to miss a minute with either of them.)
On the professional side, my two conclusions are (1) focus and (2) blogging:
Focus. It’s been about 3 years since I started investing and operating independently, and attention can get pulled in many directions: meetings, conferences, panels, internet wormholes on fascinating topics that suddenly devour three hours, and endless stream of emails and notifications calling for my time, my help, my attention… My resolution for 2017 is to try to avoid spending time and mental energy on things that don’t increase my effectiveness. The trick, I think, is how you measure effectiveness. Answering every email within an hour of receipt may feel industrious, but it’s not necessary effective or productive over the long run. I’ve found that answering email less frequently contributes to an increase in overall productivity. Settling in for a long-read on masternodes written by a very thoughtful friend may not appear immediately or directly productive but probably makes me a better VC over the long run.
Blogging. For years, I’ve been greatly inspired by friends and influencers who blog frequently and effectively. Some of them, like Fred Wilson (godfather of VC blogging), Brad Feld, Mark Suster, Hunter Walk, Semil Shah, or Sam Altman are people I rarely if ever interact with directly but are brave thought leaders unafraid to take risks in their public postings. Others I am proud to call friends, such as Tomasz Tunguz (master of the data-driven blog post), Christoph Janz (global SaaS maven), Ciaran O’Leary (mayor of Berlin’s tech scene), Amit Karp (part of Bessemer’s Israel dream team), Michael Eisenberg, Ezra Galston (one of the smartest under-the-radar VC bloggers I know…), and many many others. On crypto, I’ve started paying a lot of attention to my friends Stefano Bernardi & Yanick Roux at Token Economy and Ouriel Ohayon. What unifies all these figures is that they blog frequently — which means they are part of the conversation and, often, shaping it.
I’ve found that the returns on blogging are amazing. I began blogging on a nearly defunct personal site which I no longer update. I then moved to tumblr because it was quick and easy. But it wasn’t well suited to blogging. And now I’ve thrown myself into the world of Medium — which is, for now, the only place I’ll post. But regardless of where I’ve posted, blogging has tremendously added to my work. Blog posts have formed a trail of thoughts that I can refer back to and reflect upon. They have formed a set of magnets that can attract like-minded (or contrarian) people and spark interesting discussions. And, most important, blogging has forced me to think more clearly and humbly about what I am doing: how I am investing and operating. For venture investors — who operate with no safety net and a very long feedback cycle — humility and clarity of thought are two of the best tools to navigate the chaos and noise of the startup eco-system…
So I’m going to try to blog more. What I’m not sure about is how to make this happen. Every morning, a long line of emails and meetings awaits me…and blogging tends to get pushed down the priority list. But I’m going to try to elevate blogging in the priority ranking. I’ve thought about setting targets for “X posts per week” or a post every Monday or something, but I’m not sure that’s going to work for me. I think, like most productivity issues, it will come down to how I structure my time. Mornings are super productive for me, and so I’ve been thinking I’ll try to blog first thing in the morning — not every day, but often enough to make a difference.
If you have thoughts or experience in encouraging a frequent blogging habit, please do let me know!
My AngelList syndicate to back the best in European & Israeli enterprise companies is now one of the largest syndicates based outside the US. We are now at well over $1.6M in backing per deal.
The syndicate has made six investments so far: all oversubscribed and all with quality co-investors. I’d be honored if you’d consider backing the syndicate — you’ll be in pretty good company and there are quite a few awesome companies in the pipeline…
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