Links from Ned and Mike

Hello -

This is Mike and Ned. You probably know one or both of us. We’re partners at Enjoy the Work. Throughout the week we find and are sent interesting links about self-improvement and building and operating startups.

What we read/saw this week

• The Typical Startup Saw a 24% Increase in Sales Cycle in 2023 (by @ttunguz)

• AI and the American Smile

• The Give-to-Get Model for AI Startups (D Sacks)

• Is Y Combinator worth the money (equity)? Brutally honest review of W22 batch experience

• 9 Signs It Is Time For You To Step Down As CEO (Js Magazine)

• Clouded Judgement 3.31.23

Quote for the week: 

As CEO, you should have an opinion on absolutely everything. You should have an opinion on every forecast, every product plan, every presentation, and even every comment. Let people know what you think. If you like someone’s comment, get her that feedback. If you disagree, give her the feedback. Say what you think. Express yourself.
- Ben Horowitz, Partner a16z

Good Tweets

Romeen Sheth @RomeenSheth

There are 3 types of trust: - Intent: Heart is in the right place - Competence: Head is in the right place - Judgement: Heart and head work together In the tenth essay of my new series The Compass (with my friends at @Compound), I unpacked the 3 types of trust and why the… https://t.co/PA9AapcYMG

Teddy Mitrosilis @TMitrosilis

Derek Jeter’s first contract was worth $0. It was a contract with his parents. He signed it every year as a kid. Before each school year, his parents would outline their expectations. They’d put them in a contract with clauses such as: • No drugs • No alcohol • No arguing… https://t.co/fssKF8PYM2

Science Is Strategic @scienceisstrat1

Cost of sequencing a human genome: • 2001 - $95 million • 2021 - $450 • 2023 - $200 with new Illumina machine Cc: @fdesouza @Noahpinion @erikbryn @amcafee @rtnarch

Tim Urban @waitbutwhy

Whenever I get to know someone who seems perfect, I end up disappointed. Whenever I get to know someone who I think is the worst of the worst, I'm pleasantly surprised. Angels and demons aren't real.

Dr. Julie Gurner @drgurner

I advise that most people spend very little time looking backwards at the past. It's not useful. Grab what you can, learn a few things, and move forward. Leave the past (truly) behind you, Keep your eyes ahead.

Tiger 🏴‍☠️ @THEBROTHERTIGER

Life Tip: If you want someone to help you, 1. show that you've done *some* of the work already 2. Formulate an actual question "thoughts??? is not a question" - @AJA_Cortes

Ed Latimore @EdLatimore

The best conversations seal time in a vacuum and mute the self-critical voice in your head. You forget that anything outside the subject exists. Even the other person becomes trivial.

Paul Kedrosky @pkedrosky

That this is not a joke and is probably a good idea, and it's only late March, makes me worry about, you know, early April.

near @nearcyan

it may be useful to establish a "proof of humanity" word, which your trusted contacts can ask you for, in case they get a strange and urgent voice or video call from you this can help assure them they are actually speaking with you, and not a deepfaked/deepcloned version of you

Jackie DiMonte @jaydimonte

Most founders that built industrial unicorns had industry-specific experience Just under half had tech-company experience Good indicator that vertical-saas founders' backgrounds "look different" than consumer or horizantal-saas

Dare Obasanjo @Carnage4Life

ChatGPT has been a force multiplier for me when ramping up on technical topics. I ask it to “Explain <topic> and cite your sources” which allows me to learn the concepts then dig into the details. This is way better than having to reverse engineer concepts from technical docs.

Massimo @Rainmaker1973

This slow motion video depicts what happens to the brain during an impact event. Concussions are the most common form of traumatic brain injury [University of California: buff.ly/3mJouPh] [more: ow.ly/MnvP30nOnGV] https://t.co/iMviKpA8i9