Uber-idle University

Case of listening to a VC-team, YouTube-podcast audio when I am Uber-driving

My idea entitled “Uber-idle University” is nothing new: It’s having a pen drive ready with nice talks, in a given subject field. It simply helps me to reuse the idle time with learning.

I had to put this in place because I am an entrepreneur and wanted to compensate the “robotic” condition that I became when I turned into a part-time Uber driver.

Yes, I am a part-time Uber driver, about 1/5 of the week, and during that time I have lots of time in idle mode: Some people just don’t talk and of course Uber driving requires a number of waiting times.

Going straight to the example case, here is my last collection that is going into the pen-drive session #30:

Uber-idle-university session 30, a collection of 5 talks from Greylock partners (5–10 hours active in Uber)

2016 GSV Pioneer Summit: Investing Legends of Silicon Valley.mp3

Responding in Uncertain Times with Jacquelline Fuller and James Slavet.mp3

Aneel Bhusri, Vice Chairman, Greylock.mp3

Greylock’s David Sze Shares Detailed Lessons From His Career ‘In the Studio’.mp3

Women@Work | The Star Chamber: Women in the Inner Sanctums of Finance.mp3

So far some observations:

No distractions

While listening sessions can break — such as the condition when there is a call, or a customer inside the car; yet this is more like a pause. It’s not a distraction that calls my mind into another focus area. As quick as I solved the valid “Uber” interruption, I am back on track.

Listening is harder — and incredibly powerful

The above case collection will probably ride with me for 3 rounds x 3–4 hours, at least. So indeed it takes more time comparing with watching the YouTube video on the computer.

But I do not see this as a problem and in fact I see as an opportunity. What is happening is that I am re-watching (re-listening) again and again. I also send lots of e-mail notes or messages to myself.

The phenomenon of play-pause is also very common. It turns out I have to reflect a lot. This have helped me to understand more about my learning style because play-pause was something I was not doing when watching through the plain Youtube experience.

Back into the other parts of life

The result? It turns out I found myself helping startups more and more. One of these start-ups is my own. But such effect really came out of the whole project, not out of isolated sessions. To give you an overview of the past sessions see the following dump.

Overview of past sessions

Some of them I lost but you will get an idea from here:

Sessions #3

• 01_Andy Grove Co-founder of Intel 1999 Interview.mp3
• 02_Andy Grove’s speech at Plug-In 2008.mp3
• 03_Ben Horowitz on the Lessons He Learned From Intel’s Andy Grove.mp3
• 04_Ev Williams- How Medium is changing the publishing world — Fortune.mp3
• 05_Jeff Bezos- The electricity metaphor.mp3

Sessions #4

• Blitzscaling 11- Patrick Collison on Hiring at Stripe and the Role of a Product-Focused CEO (1).mp3
• Founders Build Roads, Not Cars — Patrick Collison (Stripe) & Derek Andersen @ Startup Grind Global (1).mp3

Sessions #5

• Create Your Future the Peter Drucker Way.mp3
• Lecture 3 — Before the Startup (Paul Graham).mp3
• Michael Dearing-Finding People with the Right Passion.mp3

Sessions #7

• Greg McAdoo, Partner at Sequoia Capital, at Startup School 08.mp3
• Naval Ravikant (Angel List) at Startup Grind 2013.mp3
• Naval Ravikant Talks Entrepreneurship.mp3
• Startup Grind feat Naval Ravikant.mp3

Sessions #8

• 01_Adam Nash (Wealthfront) at Startup Grind Silicon Valley.mp3
• 02_Keynote- Pivotal & Allianz Fireside Chat — Rob Mee, CEO, Pivotal & Dr. Andreas Nolte, CIO, Allianz.mp3
• 03_The Current Investment Landscape with Mike Goguen (Sequoia Capital).mp3

Sessions #9

• 10_Marc Andreessen — Startup School 2011.mp3
• 20_Ben Horowitz Of Andreessen Horowitz On What He Looks For In A Pitch.mp3

Sessions #10

• Lecture 9 — How to Raise Money (Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, Parker Conrad).mp3

Sessions #11

• Scaling Culture with Jason Kilar — The Scaleup Offsite 2017.mp3

Sessions #12

• From Startup to Scaleup with Reid Hoffman and Sam Altman — The Scaleup Offsite 2017.mp3

Sessions #13

• Ben Silbermann at Startup School SV 2016.mp3

Sessions #14

• Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann Fireside with Sarah Tavel — #ProductSF 2016.mp3

Sessions #15

• 00_HandCrafted12.mp3
• 30_Imperfect Is Perfect 10.2.mp3
• 10_The_oney_Episode_13.mp3
• 40_LearnLearnAgainMIX10.mp3
• 20_BeautyofaBadIdea11.mp3

Sessions #17

• Designing for Trust with Airbnb’s Joe Gebbia and Reid Hoffman — The Scaleup Offsite 2017.mp3
• Hiring Executives with Greylock Talent Partner Jeff Markowitz — The Scaleup Offsite 2017.mp3
• James Currier on Unlearning What You Have Learned — #ProductSF 2016.mp3

Sessions #18

• 010_james_currier_unlocking_the_secrets_of_growth.mp3
• 020_james_currier_fireside_chat_dave_mcclure.mp3
• 030_ben_horowitz_start_a_cultural_revolution.mp3
• 040_computer_history_museum_putting_your_finger_on_it.mp3

Sessions #19

• Start Up to Invent the Future You Want — Vinod Khosla (Khosla Ventures) @ Startup Grind Global.mp3

Sessions #20

• Startup with Heart — Hamdi Ulukaya (Chobani) & Steve Clemons (The Atlantic) @ Startup Grind Global.mp3
• WhatsApp’s Road to 1 Billion Users & $19 Billion Exit — Jan Koum (WhatsApp) @ Startup Grind Global.mp3

Sessions #21

• -Sometimes it’s nice to be hated by the wrong people — Vinod Khosla at Hack the North.mp3
• How to Build a Team, Raise Capital, and Make an Impact — Startup Q&A with Justin Kan (Twitch, YC).mp3
• The Most Important Skill for Any Entrepreneur — Daphne Koller (Coursera) @ Startup Grind Global 2017.mp3

Sessions #22

• Founderati — Fireside Chat with Keith Rabois.mp3
• Keith Rabois (Khosla Ventures, Opendoor) gives his #1 advice to entrepreneurs.mp3
• Lecture 14 — How to Operate (Keith Rabois).mp3

Sessions #23

• Kuh Distinguished Lecture- Andy Grove, Intel.mp3
• Peter Thiel on the Foolishness of the Education System.mp3

Sessions #24

• Sunday Conversation #9- Keith Rabois, Khosla Ventures (1 of 6).mp3
• Sunday Conversation #9- Keith Rabois, Khosla Ventures (2 of 6).mp3
• Sunday Conversation #9- Keith Rabois, Khosla Ventures (3 of 6).mp3
• Sunday Conversation #9- Keith Rabois, Khosla Ventures (4 of 6).mp3
• Sunday Conversation #9- Keith Rabois, Khosla Ventures (5 of 6).mp3
• Sunday Conversation #9- Keith Rabois, Khosla Ventures (6 of 6).mp3

Sessions #25

• Competition Is For Losers — Says Billionaire Peter Thiel.mp3
• Peter Thiel — Signs to look for in a Successful Start-Up.mp3
• Peter Thiel- Is Artificial Intelligence(AI) Over-Hyped- Did Globalization Failed-.mp3
• Peter Thiel- Is Higher Education a Scam-.mp3
• Peter Thiel- What is Multiculturalism Really About-.mp3

Sessions #26

• Lecture 1 — How to Start a Startup (Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz).mp3
• Lecture 2 — Team and Execution (Sam Altman).mp3

Sessions #27

• Al Ramadan- How to Be a Category King [Entire Talk] (1).mp3
• Intuit CEO Conversations with Brad Smith and Bill Campbell (1).mp3
• Jim Collins Drucker Day Keynote (1).mp3

Sessions #28

• Adam Grant- Success and Originality.mp3
• Greyscale- Reid Hoffman and John Lilly on Blitzscaling.mp3
• Reid Hoffman discusses the company of the future.mp3

Sessions #30

• 2016 GSV Pioneer Summit_ Investing Legends of Silicon Valley.mp3
• Aneel Bhusri, Vice Chairman, Greylock.mp3
• Greylock’s David Sze Shares Detailed Lessons From His Career ‘In the Studio’.mp3
• Responding in Uncertain Times with Jacquelline Fuller and James Slavet.mp3
• Women@Work _ The Star Chamber_ Women in the Inner Sanctums of Finance.mp3