Lulu
What improv has taught me
1. Bring something to the table. Me: “That’s a really nice dress you have on.” You: “Wow you must be blind. I’m clearly wearing a t-shirt and jeans.” [Scene dies, audience squirms] Take 2 Me: “That’s a really nice dress you have on.” You: “Thanks, it’s for my quinceañera tomorrow! I had to wrestle another [...]
Creating your own luck
It usually happens towards the end of a profile you’re reading about some extraordinarily successful individual – the almost obligatory nod to “luck” and the role it’s played in that person’s life. For us more ordinary folk, it’s a comforting thought. No responsibility for what I can’t control, right? The problem, of course, is that [...]
Notes from the Growth Hackers Conference
Principles of growth hacking First and foremost, you should only focus on scaling growth when you’re confident your product satisfies a true user need. Once you’ve achieved product-market fit, a simple framework can help guide your growth strategy: Acquisition What is the thing people are here to do? How do you get them in the [...]
What color energy are you?
I love walking into someone’s office at Microsoft for the first time and looking for these guys: Lego blocks! But not just any ol’ lego blocks. They can help you understand someone’s communication preferences, motivations, and decision-making style, all before the other person even opens their mouth. The idea, likely familiar to anyone who’s taken [...]
3 types of value
“Back in the 1900s there was no such thing as Facebook where people could upload pictures from their vacation to Europe for friends to admire. Instead, the equivalent was to linger on the grand staircase of the theater’s foyer so others could take note of your outfit and recognize fashions that had been brought back [...]
Sí, cariño
In the 8th grade I had my heart set on learning French. I imagined leisurely Sunday mornings at a café on the banks of the Seine, ordering croissants with perfectly accented abandon. It was with mild disappointment, then, that I flipped to the foreign language section of my school’s course catalog and saw one lonely [...]
To New York, with love
Oh, New York. Before you, I didn’t realize it was possible to be utterly seduced, swept off your feet by a city. I know I’m not the first to declare “I’m smitten!” and I certainly won’t be the last. But like everyone who falls under your spell, I can’t help but feel that our relationship [...]
Some half-formed thoughts on social search
So what is social search, exactly? Not quite googling with friends. Think about the last decision you made where you sought out the opinion of others. The process probably started with a determination of who and how many people to consult. After gathering all of the feedback you had to figure out which perspectives were [...]
On character
My parents never found a more effective babysitter for me growing up than Bill Watterson. I whiled away many a happy afternoon on the floor of random Barnes & Nobles aisles, back against the shelves, comfortably oblivious to passerby who might be interested in perusing whatever author I was in the way of. Calvin & [...]
