Favorite Quotes from Medium Posts In 2015
On Personal Development, Hustling, Females in Tech, Startups, Growth Marketing, and Overall Learning
On Personal Development: 12 Stories
“People early in their career should learn from computer science: meander some in your walk (especially early on), randomly drop yourself into new parts of the terrain, and when you find the highest hill, don’t waste any more time on the current hill no matter how much better the next step up might appear.”
Climbing The Wrong Hill by Chris Dixon
“Don’t underestimate the moments where you feel at your weakest, those are the moments that will propel you into the person you want to be.”
Trust me, it will all work out by Amanda Pouchot
“Should is how others want us to show up in the world — how we’re supposed to think, what we ought to say, what we should or shouldn’t do…
Must is different — there aren’t options and we don’t have a choice.”
The Crossroads of Should and Must by Elle Luna
“Asking is hard, but so is weathering a thousand little paper-cuts of interpretation.”
The Imposter Syndrome: Mastering the Art of Pretending by Julie Zhuo
“Unfortunately, networks sometimes promote an unhealthy culture of validation. People associate the number of likes and recommends with how much they matter. The truth is, it only matters to you.”
Those who write have a voice; but if you publish and no one reads, do your thoughts matter? by Kim Pham
“A few people will change your life forever. Find them.”
Advice from 30 year old me to 20 year old me by Nic Haralambous
“People who make their bed in the morning are happier and more successful than those who don’t.”
“Ordinary people seek entertainment. Extraordinary people seek education and learning.”
50 Ways Happier, Healthier, And More Successful People Live On Their Own Terms by Benjamin Hardy
“If you worry too much about becoming successful, you risk doing things because you think that they’ll make you successful and not because you actually want to do them. And you’ll fail.”
“If you’re constantly trying to optimize the way you spend your time, you’re going to walk away from opportunities that seem too small. And of course some of the those are the ones that could have become the biggest.”
The only risk of ambition by Edward Lando
“Busy should be a confession, not a boast.”
The Cult of Busy by Dina Kaplan
“In order to make sure that the knowledge that you deem important is accessible when you need it, you’ll want to rethink how you approach learning.”
How to Study for a Life without Exams by Nick deWilde
“I’m someone who often wants things to happen all at once, right away, but it turns out time and time again that small, consistent, gradual change over a period time often has the most profound and lasting impact.”
Small changes, Big impact by Sara Mauskopf
Mindfulness Practices For Better Design: How yoga and meditation can make people better designers by Irene Au
On Hustling: 6 Stories
“I saw the CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick, sitting at the bar. I was three whiskeys deep at this point and I walked up to him and said, ‘I use Uber all the time and I absolutely hate the app. I think you should bring me in to fix it.’ … He said, ‘Be at the Uber office at 9am on Monday.’”
Most People Won’t by Bryce Roberts — about designer Elle Luna
“Early on at Uber, Ryan spent his New Year’s Eves staring at Godview and making sure everything was working correctly…Ryan’s New Year’s Eve starts at 11:00pm, December 30th in San Francisco (6:00pm, December 31st in Sydney, Australia). Ryan and his team don’t stop working until 5:00am, January 1st in San Francisco. It’s basically a 30-hour marathon.”
Uber’s Secret Weapon — What Future Founders Can Learn From Ryan Graves by Danny Minutillo and Gabriel Marcial
Read the 5 rejection emails Airbnb received when they were attempting to raise $150,000 at a $1.5M valuation.
“I wasn’t sure what my next steps were. So… I DM’d@DanielleMorrill. We’d kept in touch since 2012, so it wasn’t completely odd that I reached out. What surprised me, was that within 2 minutes, she responded with the idea that StartupList and I could have a home at Mattermark.”
A Journey from My Tent in Afghanistan to Silicon Valley: How I built a startup from my tent and landed at Mattermark, years later. by Nick Frost
“(Salar Kamangar, former CEO of YouTube) created an analysis of the competitive landscape in the budding search market and sent it to Sergey. He obsessively used Google’s search engine, reported bugs, and emailed detailed feedback to improve the site. After a few weeks of emailing Sergey and his team, he finally landed an interview. They hired him and the rest is history.”
How Do You Become the 9th Employee at Google? Interview with early Googler & former YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar by Jon Youshaei
“Just because someone connects with you on social media doesn’t mean they’re your friend. While online relationships can be broad and deep, they’re not quite like human relationships. Silicon Valley is relationship-driven and I wanted a group of people that I could consult with regularly for advice and feedback.”
Breaking Into Startups: From Cello to Investment Banking to AltSchool by Ruben Harris
On Females in Tech: 3 Stories
“Of the just over 1,900 contacts in my primary address book, 399 are women. Last year, people I followed on Twitter were 79.7% men; today my address book is 79.9% men…If the majority of leaders at most companies are men and if the majority of their networks are men (as mine are), then this is a self-perpetuating problem.”
My unconsciously biased address book by Rick Klau
“Women make up 31.2% of employees at some of the biggest tech companies. Only 6% of partners at VC firms in the US are women.”
Why aren’t there more women on stage?: How the 50/50 Pledge will amplify the voices of women in tech by Sandi MacPherson
On Startups: 8 Stories
“Hire ex-founders who failed spectacularly at their previous startup but who fought until the last day. Hire people who emailed you a dozen times before you had a chance to reply. Hire people who have pulled through unbelievable personal challenges to be here with us today.”
Kissing Goodbye to the O’Hare Test: Don’t hire for brains or personality alone in early-stage startups. Hire for resilience. by Anthemos Georgiades
“The rest of the world assumes secrets are valuable, while Silicon Valley assumes ideas are cheap and execution matters more.”
The cost of an introduction by Sam Gerstenzang
“Exactly four years and 363 days after I set my five-year goal, TechCrunch wrote about ReadMe and announced publicly that we’re in YC…My biggest two takeaways contradict themselves: I wish I had started sooner, but I’m so glad I waited.”
Five Years Time by Gregory Koberger
“By removing friction for the user to interact in a new way, each of these products unlocked massive value.”
Super Normal Innovation often starts with the ordinary. by Dave Morin
“Human perception is linear, technological progress is exponential.”
When Exponential Progress Becomes Reality by Niv Dror
“Learn great habits from great people at a special time.”
What People Who Worked At Google Know That You Probably Don’t by Hunter Walk
“As a sales person, it’s easy to be focused on a bottom line. But with a brand new product, you probably don’t have one — or at least you have the freedom to create your own. I chose to make ours very simple: Just give Branch a try. No commitments. No timeline. Just one try.”
What I say when I “sell” by Libby Brittain
“Even the billon-dollar unicorns started off as fragile little babies.”
Four Billion-Dollar Startups That Were Told Their Idea Was Stupid: Or, Checkout These Hilarious Comments on the TechCrunch Launch Articles of Twitter, Instagram, Uber, and Pinterest. by Benjamin Hoffman
On Growth Marketing: 9 Stories
“Writing long form (1000–1500 words) always pays off. Sharing learnings increases the share rates up to 45 percent, and even further when backed with data or weird science.”
How I Got 6.2 Million Pageviews and 144,920 Followers by Ali Mese
“The growth team manages the flow of users just as the finance team manages the flow of money.”
Build a Growth Machine Like Andy Johns by Lauren Bass
“At Yahoo, we have found three personality traits to be particularly important for members of the Growth Team: Open-minded…Thinks for herself…Quickly learns new things.”
How to Start a Growth Team: Lessons learned from starting the Yahoo Growth & Emerging Products Team by Josh Schwarzapel
2015: The Mobile Growth Stack Revised by Andy Carvell
“Choosing the right growth team model not only unlocks growth, but also strengthens culture.”
How Do You Choose the Best Growth Team Model? by Andrew McInnes and Daisuke Miyoshi
“Try many things. You only need one of them to pay off in order for your video to go viral.”
10 ways to make your video go viral by Karen X. Cheng
The right way to ask users to review your app: How Circa News got 90% 5-star ratings by Matt Galligan
The Secrets Behind a $5M+ Per Day Mobile Game (Clash of Clans) by Nate Desmond
“Our voices matter and our opinions matter. Age is just a number and everyone has to start somewhere. Why not start now?”
Overall Learning: 2 Posts
“In Silicon Valley, people don’t pitch their idea, because ideas are common and rarely original. Instead, they pitch their growth strategy; how they’re going to build not just a customer base, but an organisation employing tens of thousands of people.” [Paul Singh]
52 things I learned in 2015 by Tom Whitwell
“When an employee has more accountability than control, this is considered an “entrepreneurial gap.” It’s typically created via an incentive system that encourages the employee to go beyond their span of control.”
“What’s one thing you’ve learned at Harvard Business School that blew your mind?” by Ellen Chisa
4 Posts I Wrote in 2015:
Live #LikeAGirl: This Girl’s Response
“I’ve tried to meet as many new people as I can. You never know how people you meet can influence you.”
How I Hustled to Get the Perfect Job
“In a strange way, writing — beyond tweeting and Facebook status updates — allows you to connect with people on a deeper level.”
“Niches are the heart of a company’s growth.”
9 Ways Behavioral Economics Can Help Increase Conversion, Retention and ROI
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