Newsletter of Eric Friedman - Issue #5
So Dad, its good #5 - thanks for joining the ride. Switching things back to Revue after a long hiatus. I can list this on my Twitter profile and the editor is pretty great. I loved writing these way back and want to get back into doing them more often. No promised but this one was a blast to write and I didn't get bogged down with editing and formatting - it just works!
On my mind:
Crypto Fun
I somehow found myself awake early one morning and do what I usually do - jump on Twitter. I stumbled down a rabbit hole and been exploring ever since - its called https://wolf.game/ and its a on chain NFT game. Yes its ridiculous. Yes its fun. You mint (or buy) Sheep, they stake them for $WOOL. At the time of this writing I have some sheep doing their thing, and a Wolf who is also staked, taking 20% of all $WOOL when its unstaked. Its a brilliant set of game mechanics and if anyone is interested in reading the whitepaper (light paper?) read here https://wolf.game/whitepaper)
On Deck
Excited to announce two new amazing initiatives from On Deck - ODX, the On Deck Accelerator which invests $125K for 7% of startups. I have been standing up the back office, interviewing amazing companies, and deploying capital into folks that have already gotten in. More here: https://beondeck.com/x and here https://beondeck.com/x/flexport
The most amazing part? Anyone in the community (or who wants to be involved) can invest ALONGSIDE us at the same valuation. This is unprecedented and I don't think people realize how big of a deal this is. Imagine indexing into these 600+ companies over a year? Lots of fun (lots of work) lots of great people.
What I have been reading:
Richard Feynman and Charlie Munger: Expert Generalists — 25iq.com Richard Feynman was a scientist, professor, musician and raconteur. Bill Gates adds to that description Feynman: “In 1965, Feynman shared a Nobel Prize for work on particle physics. Feynman wasn’t famous just for being a great teacher and a world-class scientist; he was also quite a character.
Predicting who will start a company — also.roybahat.com Last year, we tried something new at Bloomberg Beta. We’re an early stage fund that invests in making business work better: one way we do this is by taking new techniques from technology companies, and applying them in our own work as investors. Founders are our customers.
Touring Trinity, the Birthplace of Nuclear Dread — www.nytimes.com A recent visit to the site of the first atomic bomb explosion offered desert vistas, (mildly) radioactive pebbles and troubling reflections.
What I have been writing:
The Psychology Of Money & Me – Eric Friedman — www.ericgfriedman.com
I read this book and took notes along the way and this is almost a "mini book report" that I wanted to share. So much of it positively influenced me and I wanted to share.
Coaching Corner:
As some folks know I have been working on my Executive Coaching certification and when I find an interesting article or video from my "homework" I share it here - this weeks is an incredible state of physics that not many even know about.
The secret of the synchronized pendulums – Physics World — physicsworld.com
The fact that pairs of moving pendulums can become synchronized was first observed by the great Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens back in the 17th century. But as Jonatan Pena Ramirez and Henk Nijmeijer explain, synchronized pendulums still have today’s researchers scratching their heads...
HBR Presents: Coaching Real Leaders — hbr.org Dear HBR: introduces a new podcast featuring senior managers working to overcome professional challenges.
From my archives:
Own your metric of success – Eric Friedman — www.ericgfriedman.com
I wrote this in May of 2019 and it was already delayed in my drafts. Its a good reminder when you are thinking about your "north star" metrics.
Thats all folks - reply here if you have any feedback or enjoyed this one!