High Agency, Solo Founders and Wearables
your Saturday roundup
Professionally, I focus on creating social benefit startups. In my Saturday morning emails I share what I’m learning and thinking. Topics range from better living and parenting to business and philosophy.
High Agency. At my first startup, we adopted the motto: “There is a Way.” This reminded us that every problem has a solution, even if we hadn’t yet found it, pushing us to act despite uncertainty or resistance. Given my own drive to get things done, I was excited to discover a website dedicated to the idea of “High Agency.” It’s worth your attention—it might inspire you. Key concepts include clear thinking, bias toward action, and disagreeability. I’d love more clarity on disagreeability; my assumption is that it refers to willingness to break with convention rather than permission to be unkind. The site also provides a simple, effective framework for tackling problems:
Clearly articulate the issue
Ask how you’d worsen it, then invert your answer
Imagine having 10x your current agency
Identify immediate actions to take
Strangely, even though I’m energized by this approach, I sometimes question if we have free will. Life’s paradoxes are endlessly fascinating.
Solo Founders. Solo startup founders are out of fashion in startup land. At Purpose Built, we’ve specialized in working with solo founders. We see a lot of upside and know that solo founders can build great companies. It’s great to see others like OnDeck (where I’m an investor) embracing solo founders. It’s time to end the stigma. Who else champions solo founders?
Wearable: Insight or Motivation? I notice more people embracing the quantified self. They track movement and sleep with wearable devices, monitor glucose continuously, measure heart rhythms, and conduct frequent blood tests. The idea of improved health and prevention excites me. After personally testing many of these technologies, I question the insights they genuinely provide. Everyone knows better health means eating healthy, sleeping well, moving more, and limiting alcohol. Trackers rarely seem to reveal more than this, unless uncovering silent issues like nutrient deficiencies from blood tests. What wearables effectively provide, in my experience, is accountability and motivation. Have you gained genuine insight from a tracker? I’d love to hear your story.
Until next time,
Miles
Really loved the link to the post about high agency thinkers…there’s a lot of inspiring perspective and solid advice to chew on there. Thanks for sharing it!