michael's update #5
summer 2022
hello ☀️
the last few months have been one of transition + new experiences, especially in the pop-up, desert city known as burning man.
in this newsletter, there’s
4 second spotlight: production at burning man with 60+ workshops, talks, and sets
3 quick updates from me: back in startup life, new writing, and habits
2 ideas from founders: on the importance of team culture
1 photo to share: bio inspired dinner
if you want to help the next steps of my journey, i’m looking for intros to founders for 1-1 interviews as i build out support in their coaching experience. hit reply and i’ll send a forwardable note.
enjoy!
4 second spotlight: production at burning man with 60+ workshops, talks, and sets
at burning man, many people volunteer a lot of time and energy to make black rock city viable for 70,000+ people in the desert for a week. while this was my first time and i didn’t quite know what that meant, it was satya’s tenth year, meaning he throws down.
in the weeks leading up to the burn, i played a supporting role in helping him:
get a 150 page morning meditation book type set, designed, and rush printed with local suppliers to gift 600 copies
set up design for 5,000 flyers and for an art installation people could write thoughtful letters on
provide feedback and logistic help as he, a team of one, planned, designed and managed 24/7 events as his camp playalchemist, which makes a 100 ft pyramid
one highlight was the discussion with sam altman, open ai ceo, and android jones, an artist, discussing the future of art with the new dalle-2 model out.
while the week long experience was more than the above, one of my favorite parts was helping put everything together. even physically spending an 80hr week in 100 degree weather building parts of the city was exhilirating.
it felt nostalgic of architecture school with a creative culture actively experimenting. if you’re curious for more, then check out the blog below.
ps. ^ it’s worth it for the photos.
3 quick updates from me: startup life, new writing, + habits
1️⃣ practice highlights: back in an early stage startup
figuring out how to work together. one of my favorite relationships is that of a co-founder dynamic. i’m grateful that i get to figure out what that looks like with satya. we kicked that off with open discussions to better understand each other’s perspective, styles of working, and goals. this list of questions was a good balance of tactical and personal seeding meaningful conversations →
learning about all the things. most of the summer was focused on learning the ropes for what’s currently here, and starting larger projects for what the next iteration looks like. i’m heads down on the back end with systems + product builds.
meeting the coaches. i love founders. i love coaches. to meet coaches who were previous founders, is to meet a special breed of people. that’s been one thing i’ve really appreciated about the start so far, working with amazing humans.
2️⃣ new writing
one thing i’ve been intentional about with the new website up is writing more, ~1 blog a week. my intention is using writing as a way to clarify thinking and to practice creating > consuming.
this summer was an experiment in hitting publish, like experimenting with public notes (self knowledge) and trying to think new thoughts in weekly reflections (memorable service experiences).
my favorite piece is this letter to my younger self, as some tks alum transitioning into college asked for advice, and i enjoyed sharing some ideas i think a lot about (relevant beyond school):
1. play your own game by asking yourself each week if you’re doing what you want to or are you following what others have laid out for you.
2. build a portfolio of projects and send a quarterly email update to your network to increase serendipity and build connection.
3. test 1 year hypotheses by figuring out what your ideal summer is and work backwards intentionally.
you can read the full thing here advice to ambitious young people →
3️⃣ life highlight - back to basics for habits
my core focus has been updating parts of my personal operating system to make sure i set myself up for success jumping back into an early stage startup.
what that looked like this summer is:
focusing on habits around health (new workout routine and intentional morning practice)
financial health (managing expenses, this mental model was insightful)
new habits for product building replacing deep coaching habits (switching up what deep work looks like).
i’m still figuring out what a good new weekly rhythm is with the focus on living more in sf IRL as opposed to using it as a background while working here URL.
2 ideas from founders: on the importance of culture in company building
i.
yvon chouinard, founder, on patagonia’s product design philosophy “make the best product”
some people believe that quality is subjective, that excellence for one person may be mediocirty for another. but then, they may be thinking of taste, which means ‘individual preference.’
my design chief and i finally had to agree that quality is absolutely objective and definable; otherwise we would never even be able to establish our design criteria…. here are the main questions a patagonia designer musk ask about each product to see if it fits our standards:
is it functional?
is it multifunctional?
is it durable?
can we repair it?
does it fit our customers?
is it as simple as possible?
is the product line simple?
is it global design?
is it easy to care for or clean?
is it authentic and beautiful, or are we just chasing fashion?
are we designing for our core customer?
does it cause any unnecessary environmental harm?
source: let my people go surfing, the education of a reluctant businessman (book)
ii.
ben horowitz, partner at a16z, former founder, on moving quickly with priorities:
if you have a crisis situation and you need the team to execute, meet with them every day and even twice a day if necessary. that will show them this is a top priority. at the beginning of each meeting you say, “where’s my money?”….to change a culture, you can’t just give lip service to what you want. your people must feel the urgency of it.
source: what you do is who you are (book)
i enjoy books simultaneously to make a dialogue from each author’s monologue. these two books make a good pair in perspectives.
yvon has a strong coherent set of principles that worked for patagonia as it scaled, and ben brings a systematic view with historical insights and recent examples for what works acrosss multiple companies.
1 photo to share: bio dinner w/ breads + spreads
i’m starting to explore different ways to gather in sf, this was the first bio themed dinner, with awesome humans.
we ended talking about the plausibility of a sci-fi future with synthetically made direwolves, inspired beyond the work being done for wolly mammoths, including the news of a cloned arctic wolf a la beagle, and making frogs have 3x more muscle mass with gene knockout.
im curious for how to continue to create spaces for meaningful connections, especially with founders + builders. if you’re in sf and want to join for a dinner, hit me up.
what’s next for me
my goals is talk to 150 founders before year’s end to learn more about what they need and how to best support them alongside great coaching. if you can help with this, hit reply, and i’ll send a forwardable note.
i’m heads down figuring out the next product build. i’m excited to test different hypotheses in preparing for a larger 2023 pilot of a more full platform experience. stay tuned 👀
experimenting with drop in office hours with tks alum. the newsletter failed (great learnings), and so i’m switching from async to sync updates, exploring if office hours is one way to help give back to the community.
if you’re reading this far and are up for it, please send a 1-2 line update on what’s up with you: a personal highlight, see a favorite moment captured in photo, or hear what’s top of mind. i would love to hear it.
if there’s any way i can help let me know, happy to give feedback or make relevant introductions if i can.
forward onwards,
michael
🍍
ps. if you made it this far, here’s one of the best drinks ever made: tepache.
it’s a spiced and fermented pineapple drink, from the streets of mexico. it’s amazing.