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How to Ask Good Questions, Succeeding as a First-Time Entrepreneur, The 'Great Regret', The Stocktwits Story, Legendary Investor Bill Gurley & More

Social Leverage Letter | Issue #76

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READING 

Learn the different types of questions that can be used to uncover the truth, including Story-eliciting Questions, Chunking Questions, and Calibrated Questions. Discover how each type of question can be used to elicit information, persuade, assess knowledge, or establish a relationship, and how the context and purpose of the conversation affects the effectiveness of the questions.

Despite the economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic, the number of new businesses being formed has increased drastically. To succeed as a first-time entrepreneur, you should embrace economic uncertainty, prepare to fail, lean into your strengths, create a strong support system, avoid perfection, solve a problem, know your audience, start with a narrow focus, be ready to adapt and pivot, and do something you truly love.

The 'Great Resignation' of 2021 saw a record number of people quitting their jobs in search of better pay and work-life balance, but analysis by Paychex revealed that 80% of those who left regretted the move. Gen Z and those who switched industries were particularly likely to miss their old roles, with many citing missing colleagues, salary, bonus scheme, and health insurance as reasons for wanting to return. 

LISTENING

Panic With Friends with ME (Howard).... The Stocktwits Story (EP.240)

Listen to this episode from Panic with Friends - Howard Lindzon on Spotify. As I mentioned when I covered how I built Wallstrip, I’m doing more origin stories over the next year. I’m covering my own projects as well as those of the ten or fifteen people from the companies I’ve loved and the products I’ve used in Web 2. There were mostly good exits, but there were also a few that we learned from.  In today’s episode I’m back in the hot seat covering the lessons learned from building Stocktwits in a Web 2 world. Knut and Riley join me as we talk about what worked back then, and what it will take to succeed building a company moving forward.  This is a very different era. Back then money was the game in a zero interest rate world. Today I think it’s more about the craft, and less about money. Do you know who your customer is? What are your margins? How are you going to make money, and how are you going to get your users? If founders and investors aren’t asking those questions today, they could be looking at massive losses down the road. I hope this helps and maybe gives you a peak at what might be coming around the corner as AI seems to be eating the world right now. Enjoy!  Guest - Howard Lindzon, General partner at Social Leverage and Host of Panic With Friends Podcast  Co-hosts - Knut Jensen and Riley Rosebee  howardlindzon.com, stocktwits.com, socialleverage.com  Twitter: @howardlindzon, @be_rosebee @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen  Rosebee.beehiiv.com linkedin.com/in/howardlindzon  linkedin.com/company/socialleverage  linkedin.com/in/knutejensen  #fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance  Show Notes: Introduction (00:22) Historic look at Web 2 (01:58) Starting Stocktwits (03:25) Why I didn’t wait (05:34) Creating Bloomberg on Twitter (06:54) Building the team (07:28) Coming up with the name (08:03) Raising money (09:24) The first version (12:04) Creating the branding (12:16) The cap table (15:57) Building around twitter (25:08) The cash tag (18:16) Building on our own (26:02) Early Web 2 lessons (29:56) Thoughts on AI (32:20) Valuing deals (33:56) Stocktwits culture (34:28) Predicting the future (37:57) Wrapping up (39:01) Closing thoughts (42:58)

#651: Legendary Investor Bill Gurley on Investing Rules, Finding Outliers, Insights from Jeff Bezos and Howard Marks, Must-Read Books, Creating True Competitive Advantages, Open-Source Strategies, Adapting Mental Models to New Realities, and More

Listen to this episode from The Tim Ferriss Show on Spotify. Brought to you by Protekt's REST sleep supplement, Athletic Greens's AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement, and Shopify global commerce platform providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business. Bill Gurley (@bgurley) has spent more than 20 years as a general partner at Benchmark. Before entering the venture capital business, Bill spent four years on Wall Street as a top-ranked research analyst, including three years at Credit Suisse First Boston.Bill also maintains a blog on the evolution and economics of high technology businesses called Above the Crowd.Over his venture career, he has worked with such companies as GrubHub, Nextdoor, OpenTable, Stitch Fix, Uber, and Zillow. Bill has a BS in computer science from the University of Florida and an MBA from the University of Texas. He is also a chartered financial analyst. Bill is a board trustee at the Santa Fe Institute, a research and education center focused on the study and understanding of complex adaptive systems.Please enjoy!*This episode is brought to you by Shopify! Shopify is one of my favorite platforms and one of my favorite companies. Shopify is designed for anyone to sell anywhere, giving entrepreneurs the resources once reserved for big business. In no time flat, you can have a great-looking online store that brings your ideas to life, and you can have the tools to manage your day-to-day and drive sales. No coding or design experience required.Go to shopify.com/tim to sign up for a one dollar per month trial period. It’s a great deal for a great service, so I encourage you to check it out. Take your business to the next level today by visiting shopify.com/tim.*This episode is also brought to you by Protekt’s REST supplement! Protekt's REST is a new take on getting deeper, more restorative sleep. Protekt's REST supplement helps provide consistent, restful sleep without any habit-forming ingredients or groggy side effects. Simply add it to your last glass of water before bed, and it goes to work.REST has no added sugars, artificial sweeteners, or artificial ingredients. Protekt is veteran-owned, and they make all of their products right here in the USA. Protekt is offering you 30% off both flavors of their REST formula! Visit Protekt.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and use code TIM at checkout.*This episode is also brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1 by Athletic Greens, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. I do my best with nutrient-dense meals, of course, but AG further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system. Right now, Athletic Greens is offering you their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and five free travel packs) with your first subscription purchase! That’s up to a one-year supply of Vitamin D as added value when you try their delicious and comprehensive all-in-one daily greens product.*For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsorsSign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissYouTube: youtube.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, Margaret Atwood, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Dr. Gabor Maté, Anne Lamott, Sarah Silverman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

WATCHING

Why is a car video in a newsletter for founders and investors? Because Doug DeMuro is a masterclass in persistence; a solo creator who started from nothing but a kindle book and a dream back in 2013. Today, he's driving his dream car; a Porsche Carrera GT worth north of $1.6 million.

ICYMI

Howard and friends are back with their second video! This week, they review the State of the Market, seasonality, habits of great investors, teaching your kids the language of markets, sports week in Phoenix, life-span vs. health-span, and more:

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Affiliate Disclosure: Social Leverage Group, LLC ("SLG"), Social Leverage Capital Fund I, LP ("SLC"), Social Leverage Capital Fund II, LP ("SLCII"), Social Leverage Capital Fund III, LP ("SLCIII") and Social Leverage Capital Fund IV, LP ("SLCIV") are all distinct entities from Social Leverage, LLC ("SL"). Social Leverage is not a registered investment advisor. SLC, SLCII, SLCIII, SLCIV, SLG and SL have used the logo and branding of Social Leverage with the permission of Social Leverage Group, LLC.