Hey everyone,
There are over 17,500 people subscribed to this newsletter now. That’s kind of mind blowing. Thanks for reading.
- I owe everything I have to writing. I’m not exaggerating. I was a nobody when I started MetaLab and the only reason I was able to win projects with Fortune 500 companies was because I wrote blog posts that hooked people. Later, with Tiny, I invested a huge amount of time writing viral posts on Twitter and it led to many of our best acquisitions. Today, that same skill—writing compelling things that make people take notice—continues to pay huge dividends for me and many of my most successful friends. Communicating in an impactful way pays off. It’s hard to learn, but there’s a shortcut that will accelerate your writing abilities massively. My friend David Perell, whose writing I’ve admired for years, has created a course called Write of Passage* that will level up your writing skills in a 5 week bootcamp. I can’t think of a better way to do so.
- Think about the guts it would take to sign away the multi-billion-dollar fortune you’d spent decades building without telling a soul. In the early eighties, Chuck Feeney, the billionaire founder of Duty Free Shoppers, did just that. He secretly gave away 99.9% of his wealth to his philanthropic foundation, keeping only a million dollars for himself. For the rest of his life, he resided in a small San Francisco apartment, dedicating his time to giving the money away. There’s a great book about Chuck called The Billionaire Who Wasn’t. I just finished it and it’s incredibly inspiring. He died last year, giving away over $8 billion in his lifetime.
- “If you got poo on your arm, would you wipe it with a tissue and go ‘perfect, as good as new?’ Of course not! You’d wash it.” My friend Rajiv is fond of giving this example when he sells people on the need for a Japanese style bidet toilet. I am one of his many converts. It's one of those things that you might not think you want or need until you experience it—for most people, during a visit to Japan, where they are ubiquitous (even in public bathrooms in shopping malls). I never thought I needed a heated toilet seat with automated washing and drying until I tried it. Now I’d never go back. It’s a silly luxury—an Eight Sleep for your rear end—but I highly recommend getting yourself a Toto Washlet.
- Over the past few years I’ve gotten into weightlifting. I’ve spent a ton of time dialing in my supplements and nutrition, but the most heavily researched supplement, Creatine, is my achilles heel. No matter what, taking even a tiny amount of it turns my stomach almost instantly, slowing my progress at the gym. A few months ago, I was listening to The Random Show with Tim Ferriss and Kevin Rose, and they mentioned KreAlkalyn Creatine, a different formulation that is PH buffered and causes less stomach distress. Miraculously, it doesn’t affect my stomach at all, and I can take loads of the stuff. For my fellow creatine sensitive, it’s a great option. This one by EFX is what I use.
- One of our companies, KnoCommerce, just launched The DTC Index. It’s kind of like the S&P 500, but for direct-to-consumer e-commerce companies. It ranks them monthly based on a variety of metrics including estimated revenue and MoM growth.
That’s all for this week…but one more thing. If you’re enjoying this, can you do me a favor and forward it to a friend? Thanks.
-Andrew
