Counting Effective Founders and Governments
Your weekly 5 things from the mind of Miles Lasater
Happy Saturday! Here are your 5 things from the mind of Miles for this week.
Super Founders. Imagine you took data about founders of all VC backed startups and compared it to data about founders of unicorns. What would you find out? In which ways are founders of highly-valued companies different than founders of other startups? Well, Ali Tamaseb did this exercise over years of manual data cleanings. I interviewed Ali for the Startups for Good podcast. He calls into question many common myths about startup founders. Listen in and/or read the book Super Founders.
Effective Government. I grew up in San Francisco. California has a lot going for it including natural beauty and world class high-tech, entertainment and ag/food industries. But the state faces challenges like little housing and too many wildfires. Could a more effective government help California solve these issues? I’m a member of a group that says the answer is yes. The Effective Government Club is growing and offers an exciting way forward. In its first year, it has become one of the biggest political donor networks in the state. Let me know if you want to talk about it.
Counting Your Life. The NYTimes has an updated version of one of the most important blog posts I’ve ever read. It’s a good reminder about the finitude of life. See what happens when you actually count and visualize the number of times you may have certain experiences or see certain people. Do you want more? What will you do about it?
Giving What We Can? I’m reading the Learn series from Giving What We Can. I recommend starting with myths about charity. Or if you don’t want to pick, sign up for their email list and you’ll get a well-crafted email series. And if you like numbers, and curious about where you stand, check out How Rich Am I?
Sharing Information. I wanted to thank loyal reader Jennifer for sending me a lot of reading on misinformation. MisinfoCon in particular looks like a good resource. The recent Lawfare episode was helpful, too.. One thing is clear: our commitment to free speech does not extend to allowing governments to defraud the public. If I cover a topic you are passionate about, I love it when you help educate me. Keep it coming!
Until next week,
Miles