Review: 99% Invisible Podcast
This is probably my favorite podcast right now.
It’s well produced, even aesthetically pleasing (rare for a radio show), and covers a great variety of design (and therefore, social) issues, quickly (~10 min max).
Start with this episode about the first patent troll (and how he was murdered). Really interesting stuff.
The 1:1 Model Can Do 1:5 – and Should
The model was pioneered by Toms, then Warby Parker. Buy a hip and sexy product, and they’ll ship off another to someone needs it.
Shoes. Glasses. And now, thanks to Porteur, bikes. Buy a $1200 fixed gear bike (comes with a pack) and they’ll send another to someone in Africa who needs it. Like the others, 1:1.
When I asked them if they send exactly what I buy to the needy – that is, the $1200 bike – they said no. Which, I’m perfectly fine with. There’s no need for a colorful hipster bike to be used as a cargo/commuter on a dirt.
But that’s where they lose the plot. If you’re not sending the exact same shoe/glasses/bikes, but a (much) cheaper variant, send more.
Send five instead of one. Profit margin drops by maybe 10%, but you’re making a 500% greater impact.
Further, if you really want to enhance community you’re marketing as helping, use the cash you would use to build and ship those 5 products to instead produce those goods locally. You’ll do a billion times more good and still make plenty of money.
And, if you really want to be a great business, pool a percentage of equity (1%?) or better, revenue, to help boot up new businesses that commit to the 1:5 rule.
Review – Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam
Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam
The author would have you takeaway: Westmoreland was a decent enough officer who just happened to be in the wrong slot at the wrong time in the wrong place and was dwarfed by his responsibilities. Westmoreland flailed under the pressure. Westmoreland failed under the pressure. The war failed.
Simply, the book decimates Westmoreland. But I kind of like that. There’s value on just ripping apart a creature that was responsible when everything went to hell. Not so much from a historical perspective, but from an leadership lessons perspective. Obviously, there’s more value if you can juxtapose it with a more flattering text.
Growing up I read the biographies of all the generals and admirals I could get my hands on: Patton, Nimitz, Rommel etc. MacArthur always struck a chord with me for various underdog reasons. But the first book I found about him didn’t like him (I think it was Old Soldier’s Never Die), much like this book Westmoreland. So I went on and read American Caesar (great), MacArthur’s own Reminiscences (still one of my favorite books). Never got around to D. Clayton James’ four volumes on MacArthur’s life, but the set is on the bucket list. If this book can spark the same for you, then it’s done something great.
Anyway. If you’re reading several books on Vietnam (or have), add this one to the stack. Especially if you’re just looking for command lessons.
Review: The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau follows in (order) the footsteps of the Ultralight Startup (review coming), The 4 hour Workweek, and to a lesser extent, the Lean Startup.
First: The $100 Startup is an odd title. Unless your time and computer are worth zero, write the name off to marketing fluff. It costs money and time to get going.
Chris has an enjoyable set of narratives from entrepreneurs who have done what he calls ‘freedom businesses.’ You make money doing what you like and have time for the rest of what life has to offer. That fills up the first part.
Then there’s basically business 101 with an emphasis on virtual products – build-once for low cost, sell a million times for profit, etc. He doesn’t subscribe the Lean Startup terminology, but the ideology is baked in. Nothing earth shatteringly original, but all in all, this is good stuff to know and quick to consume.
Nice to see a section on health insurance. It was only 2 pages long and rather lame. The 39 step product launch checklist was great, and five pages. He has 1 footnote nod to Ferris. Would have been nice to see a section on taxes.
All-in, it’s a decent intro to the world of the DIY careerist.
But there’s a larger point to be made. This approach has been done. We get it, we can live fantastic lives anywhere we want by building stuff online and making $50k a year. We don’t need anymore convincing.
What we do need:
- Tax/family/health/love/children/education strategies for the anywhere/4 hour/$100/ultralight entrepreneur.
- Chris covered the $50k+ successful crowd here. But what about a systematic study of the entrepreneurs who cratered, or worse, shat debt all over themselves?
In terms of an entrepreneurial system, the advantage these low capital intense endeavors have is that they don’t rely on Spanish queens or VCs for funding. The environment has to be amiable – you need to make enough to start, or get that money from somewhere.
So a deeper analysis of what that environment would be exceedingly useful.
For example I want to see my requests above, but not from successful middle-class to upper-class men, but from extracting lessons from slum dwellers where entrepreneurship is standard and everyone you know participates.
In the same vein: What is systematically holding these companies back? How can we build a capital infrastructure that addresses those points? What about new coding technology that makes it dead-simple to launch interesting products (and not spam)?
The list goes on.
Which brings it back to the point of these books. Maybe these are areas I need to explore, solve, and write about, to get my $50k and life in luxury.
Announcing: Omne – Energy from Everything
Omnivorous energy is one of the more important tenets of resiliency:
“A truly resilient strategy for the local production of energy (both heat and power) should be able to consumer nearly any type of fuel. In essence, our energy consumption strategy needs to be omnivorous — it can eat anything.”
Been working with Matt Heath on a proof of concept that is designed to do just this.
Omne uses a variety of inputs and proven steam technology to generate electricity, heat, and even purify water. It’s pretty cool and pretty cheap.
You can, and should, sign up for the updates, including an exclusive early look at the video of the system in motion, here.