shansense

Empor.top - https://empor.top the stories of top companies. Highly engaging and readable long form stories (AI generated). Primarily, I made it for myself but in the last 30 days I got >10k hits so I'm contemplating making it a full blown project.

I've been an individual contributor and a manager as well. here's my simple guide to make the most of 1:1

1. Talk about getting a promotion (even if you don't want one) - this will help you get better regardless 2. Talk about 'taking over' some of your manager's work - perhaps temporarily while he/she is on vacation. (This indicates leadership) 3. Talk about doing something that makes you a 'world class X' (well at least you need to become the best at X in your company. If your manager can't help you get there at least he/she should reduce obstacles) 4. Talk about how you can be less of a burden for the manager (from the manager perspective, the best reportee is the one you do not need to manage)

My list:

1. The mom test (already mentioned) - idea validation 2. Zero to one by Thiel - contrarian original thinking 3. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz - Operating lessons 4. Paul Grahams essays and pretty much all content put out by YC

Beyond this it’s all about the nature of the founder and where /how you see value

Programming Pearls by Jon Bentley comes to mind. Loved it when I read it and opened my mind to a new level of programming

That the Amazon soil is actually very poor in nutrients and the dust from the Sahara desert is actually what keeps the Amazon rainforest alive.

Long ago the South American and African continents were one. To think of it, there is still a major connection!

Absolutely! Let me also put other things in perspective: 1. Any “investment” is basically putting your resources in the hands of others (planners, CEOs of other companies etc) in the hopes that they can manage the money better than you. This is a conclusion only if you don’t believe you can manage the resources. Are you sure of this? 2. Why not invest in yourself? Depending on your life situation- getting into a good school, a good network/club, a good society might actually be a better payoff! 3. Building a startup might give you a much better reward if you are so inclined. The opportunity cost is very real (again depends on your life situation) 4. If you know where you’ll live for a foreseeable future AND if you tend to be shaken by market events, buying a house might be better (people don’t generally sell off their house so they tend to let their investment compound inadvertently!). 5. Investing in new experiences like doing an internship (no regard for pay) in fields you are interested in might open up new avenues.

I firmly believe that only when you are clear on your goal and having invested in oneself and having thought of everything else should you get to the problem of whether a particular etf is better or whatever.

David Wheeler: "All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection" (the "fundamental theorem of software engineering").

Second this. Taleb's Black Swan and Spitznagel's Dao of Capital especially were extremely thought provoking and have changed the course of my life. I read them every year at least.