Social Leverage Letter | Issue #38

Slack's Future Forum surveyed 10,000 knowledge workers and found (surprise) that workers want flexibility. Here's how to balance that desire with your business's needs.

Shackled with onerous noncompete agreements, quant traders are increasingly joining startups to work on iBuying, autonomous driving, and crypto.

The 2022 State of Crypto report is a16z crypto's first-ever data-driven overview and analysis of web3 and crypto.

Jack Ma and Michael Dell need no introduction. Their stories of resourcefulness border on legend. And these uncertain economic times will probably require a little more resourcefulness from all of us. Jack Ma was born into a very poor family. So poor in fact, they could only afford to eat one chic

Listen to this episode from Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy on Spotify. My guests today are Tyler Cowen and Daniel Gross. Tyler is an economics professor and creator of one of the most popular economics blogs on the internet. Daniel is the founder of start-up accelerator Pioneer, having previously been a director at Apple and a partner at Y Combinator. Both Daniel and Tyler are prolific talent spotters and that is the focus of our discussion and their new book, which is called Talent. Please enjoy this conversation with Tyler Cowen and Daniel Gross. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick. ----- This episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:02:38] - [First question] - Defining what talent is to them writ large [00:03:34] - The differences between means and ends in regards to talent [00:04:14] - What the Diet Coke idea is and why it’s relevant [00:06:32] - Types of energy that are valuable and the subtle differences between them [00:07:40] - Thoughts on using a moneyball-like approach to acquiring and evaluating talent [00:11:49] - The talent market and thinking about pricing talent specifically [00:13:14] - What is seemingly overpriced in today’s talent landscape [00:15:50] - Relationship between experience and/or age when it comes to talent [00:20:34] - Lessons about the utility of intelligence and where they’ve lead them wrong [00:23:35] - What’s beneath being an outsider and why it’s important [00:24:46] - Why what people do in their downtime is worth considering [00:28:27] - Whether or not references should be held in higher regard than interviews [00:31:41] - Things to try and get out of a reference call as an objective [00:32:40] - Disabilities and what lead them write that chapter specifically [00:35:01] - Whether or not talented people are happier [00:38:40] - Lack of contentment and it’s dynamic influence over individuals [00:41:01] - Where they think the other is most talented [00:43:33] - Thinking about the physical side of mental performance [00:45:49] - What was frustrating about writing the book [00:48:25] - How they evaluate talent most differently now after having finished the book [00:50:41] - What makes for a good bat signal and how to cast one well [00:53:27] - Personality inventories and what they would and wouldn’t recommend [00:54:15] - Geographical frictions and their role in high success rates [00:56:08] - Antonio Gracias; Existing supply constraints on talent development [01:00:01] - How they would redesign the current attractors of talent that we rely on today [01:01:18] - Assembly line development and how we can improve and scale talent filters [01:02:29] - The biggest open questions for talent today writ large [01:05:16] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for Tyler

Listen to this episode from Panic with Friends - Howard Lindzon on Spotify. In this episode my good friend Ryan Spoon makes his Panic debut. We’ve known each other forever on the internet and met in person about seven years ago when Greg Bettinelliintroduced us at the Upfront conference. Ryan is a great connector – a super connector; and a platinum Social Leverage investor in all of our funds. Ryan is an operator extraordinaire. He was a senior vice president of digital and social at ESPN for eight years. He’s seen growth, he knows sports, he knows mobile, he knows entertainment. And now he’s the COO of Sorare – the intersection of fantasy sports, blockchain, and community. You’ve heard me say it often: the world needs operators. Everybody can start a company, everybody has an idea, and until a few months ago, everybody could raise money; put all this together and no one knows what the hell they’re doing and what we need are operators. Guest - Ryan Spoon, COO at Sorare howardlindzon.com, sorare.com, sorare.com/blog, Twitter: @howardlindzon, @ryanspoon, @sorare, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen linkedin.com/in/ryanspoon linkedin.com/company/sorare/ #fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance Show Notes: Introduction and a guest appearance by former President Donald Trump (00:40) Welcome Ryan Spoon to Panic with Friends (06:16) Ryan explains what it means to be a great “operator” (07:01) Why Ryan was attracted to Sorare - the NFT based fantasy sports gaming company (08:42) How Ryan met the Sorare founders through Benchmark (12:03) What Ryan has had to learn about crypto and why there’s still much to learn (14:11) The role of NFTs within fantasy sports (15:44) How to get started and the onboarding experience (18:11) Leveraging soccers global reach (19:41) Why adding baseball is a no-brainer (25:14) How professional athletes increase fandom and engagement (28:55) Teaching your kids about investing (32:17) Gambling - everything is regulated but kids can YOLO their last $200 of food money over the weekend (34:26) What worries Ryan in 2022 coming out of COVID (38:03) What is it about the holy grail of data that keeps Ryan excited (40:48) Why Ryan is bonkers over Sleep 8 and getting a good night’s sleep (42:13) How Benchmark and Sorare found each other (47:00) Wrapping up and closing thoughts (47:57)

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Who We Are - MANSCAPED™ is a fast-growing consumer lifestyle brand specializing in men’s grooming and personal care products. On a mission to help men level up, MANSCAPED™ designs and distributes premium tools, formulations and accessories that introduce a whole new self-care routine for men. MANSCAPED™ operates as a truly global omni-channel company, currently available in 38 countries worldwide and counting. With growth like this, we are adding to almost every department at MANSCAPED™! We are a value-driven company with a keen interest in ensuring the success of every employee. Who We’re Looking For - We are looking for an innovative, knowledgeable Vice President, Engineering to join our executive leadership team at MANSCAPED™ to lead our IT, Security and Development teams. The right candidate brings a rich history of leading Software Engineering and Information Technology teams with a focus on fostering a continuous learning engineering culture. This role owns budget, staff expansion, and strategic roadmap for our technology and digital products. Keys to Success - As a member of the Executive Leadership team, success will be measured based on three key actions. 1) Doing your job; setting and meeting appropriate goals that ladder up to the long-term Company vision and the short-term Company targets. You are expected to align on these goals with your manager, and then deliver on them. 2) Doing Your Job, the Right Way; At MANSCAPED™ we strive to be ideal team players. That means striving to live up to the Humble, Hard Working & Smart framework. 3) Engaging (in both directions) with Radical Candor in a way that seeks to improve the performance of yourself and the team around you.Responsibilities:Lead team of rockstar software engineers, providing leadership, mentorship, and career development opportunities for a world-class global team (based in U.S. and Vietnam) Oversee architecture of our in-house e-commerce system with a focus on a platform that is secure, flexible, global, lightning fast and provides the best-in-class experience that our customers deserveMaintain and prioritize the technical roadmap, with focus on full development process: from scoping, to sprint planning, to project sizing, to development, QA, and release.Research new technologies that may potentially increase our company's competitive advantage and communicate accordingly to ensure our company's technology is being used effectively Manage Technology budget including investment of new tools, scope/level of newly added team members, and professional development expenses Ensure system infrastructure is functioning and working efficiently Maintain continuous focus on evolving best practices, staying current on compliance with regional regulations, and ensuring sensitive digital information is protectedPartner with key cross-functional partners across the business to ensure the digital experience supports the business as it evolves, both from an external customer and an internal client perspective Lead efforts on documentation: process, code, and engineering cultureCommunicate our technology strategy to our partners as well as investors Other duties as needed Qualifications:12+ years of experience in Software Engineering, 5+ of which are of executive leadership stature required Technical degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or similar concentration Recent experience leading eCommerce teams with an international presence Experienced leading onshore and offshore software engineering teams Proven success in planning and delivering product roadmap, managing budget, schedule and resources Ability to attract, develop and retain diverse teams of technical talent, creating a collaborative, inclusive and supportive environment Fostering an environment of continued improvement leading to higher quality of code, stable releases, and fewer bugs Effective, solutions focused, and innovative engineering style of leadership Manage multiple engineering vendor contracts and relationships and determine how and when to scale vendors versus internal staff to meet short and long-term company goals Previous experience in Google Cloud, NoSQL/MongoDB, and building overall platform architecture modern application stacks delivered with automation and high availability at top of mind Experience working for a public company a plus Recent experience supporting a digitally native brand in CPG industry a huge plus MANSCAPED™ Benefits: 20 Vacation Days 40 Hours Paid Sick Leave Paid Mental Health Days 9 Paid Holidays Life AD&D + LTD Coverage Medical, Dental, Vision, HSA + FSA Employee 401(K) Plan Monthly Utility Allowance Employee Discounts

We're now looking to add an Account Executive to our founding EMEA Sales team. Directly reporting to our EMEA Manager of Sales, you will have the chance to help us build our business and accelerate our growth in new markets. As the world and travel landscape shift around us, this is an exciting opportunity to join a growing organization and lead the charge in executing our growth strategy.

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