Love this post, Sam. I think it bears mentioning that venture capital's personality preference aligns with their risk profile. They are continually looking for a founder who will shoot the moon - lay it all out there - go for the 10x. I'm like you. My negative self-talk it is often about how I move too slow. But I've done a good job of staying alive, of protecting downside, of persevering through pivots and taking the time to solve hard problems. Good for you, VC, if you find another Travis. Those people are a high-risk high-reward bet.
Sam, this is one of the most thoughtful and timely articles on entrepreneurship I've read in ages. After 25 years running a B2B marketing agency for venture-backed tech companies as a solopreneur, I spent the last week exploring a hypothesis: would I be more effective or productive in how I work and make decisions if I filtered it through my personality (INFJ-A).
It started on a personal level, I applied my INFJ-A personality to a list of my Top 10 movies in ChatGPT to see if it would provide more relevant movie recommendations than Netflix and Apple. Not only did it work better, almost immediately, combining my psychology with my movie taste and underlying story structure and genres, it made me curious if the same process would yield insights in my business life running Everclear.
Not only was it successful, but it helped me understand that I'm hard-wired for deep thought vs. quick action. I process a lot of information across competitive markets, distill it, synthesize it and crystalize it for my clients for their positioning, messaging and branding. I align the strengths of their company with the market needs of its customers against the weaknesses of its competitors to achieve higher throughput for their GTM efforts to compound faster.
But this also means I suffer from analysis paralysis. I get stuck processing instead of taking action on those thoughts. That's my psychology pattern. But the barrier was simplifying the cognitive load of my decision making. If I could figure out what I need to make decisions faster, assemble that data first and make decisions faster, I could work "with" my brain instead of "against" it and not feel guilty that my brain works the way it does.
That insight was perfectly aligned with your newsletter this morning on a subject that is relevant not only to my solopreneur business personally but also to the entrepreneurial clients I serve daily. Thank you for connecting the dots for me and providing me with even more validation and permission to work the way I'm wired, even if its not the way others are wired.
I read very few of the newsletters in my Inbox each week, but your's stopped me dead in my tracks. I've been a big fan of yours for years, but have never joined Pavilion yet, but I didn't realize this was your newsletter before I started reading. If this is the level of insight you provide, I will make this a must-read every week.
Scott, thanks so much for this incredibly thoughtful note.
First, we're somewhat kindred spirits and the way I've managed "cognitive load" is through restricting "input density" which is basically a way of saying trying to restrain how much anxious stimulus makes its way into my brain. So I completely hear you on your struggles and they are mine as well.
Second, yes, this format (a Sunday newsletter) is my preferred way of sharing my thoughts and is the closest thing to what I actually feel. LinkedIn is a game and I'm happy to play it occasionally but this is where I'm working out more complicated ideas on what it means to be alive in the age of AI.
Thanks for reading and for the thoughtful comment. Hope to see you around soon.
He also says introspection didn't exist 400 years ago, which is idiotic. This is what happens when people don't read widely. Read Montaigne. Hell, read Augustine. This guy is a moron, like every venture capitalist I've ever heard open his mouth.
Came across your post via LinkedIn. Really great take here. I was actually surprised by the lack of introspection for Founders and wonder whether how much of that is nurture vs nature. I’m not sure I ascribe it’s mutually exclusive. I do believe there are both deeply introspective yet excessively hard charging leaders/founders. I too know what it’s like to be the latter and can get into that flow. But I find I’m better when I can also recharge through introspection. YMMV seems to hold well here.
Great post Sam. The world is full of "conquerers" who never reflected on the purpose of their aim and ultimately created negative outcomes for society at large.
Thanks, John. And the world is also full of all kinds of other people (like you and me) that created great things without having the "choleric" temperament.
Love this post, Sam. I think it bears mentioning that venture capital's personality preference aligns with their risk profile. They are continually looking for a founder who will shoot the moon - lay it all out there - go for the 10x. I'm like you. My negative self-talk it is often about how I move too slow. But I've done a good job of staying alive, of protecting downside, of persevering through pivots and taking the time to solve hard problems. Good for you, VC, if you find another Travis. Those people are a high-risk high-reward bet.
Very true. And if you extend your time horizon there's a lot of ways to build wealth and have a huge impact on the world.
Sam, this is one of the most thoughtful and timely articles on entrepreneurship I've read in ages. After 25 years running a B2B marketing agency for venture-backed tech companies as a solopreneur, I spent the last week exploring a hypothesis: would I be more effective or productive in how I work and make decisions if I filtered it through my personality (INFJ-A).
It started on a personal level, I applied my INFJ-A personality to a list of my Top 10 movies in ChatGPT to see if it would provide more relevant movie recommendations than Netflix and Apple. Not only did it work better, almost immediately, combining my psychology with my movie taste and underlying story structure and genres, it made me curious if the same process would yield insights in my business life running Everclear.
Not only was it successful, but it helped me understand that I'm hard-wired for deep thought vs. quick action. I process a lot of information across competitive markets, distill it, synthesize it and crystalize it for my clients for their positioning, messaging and branding. I align the strengths of their company with the market needs of its customers against the weaknesses of its competitors to achieve higher throughput for their GTM efforts to compound faster.
But this also means I suffer from analysis paralysis. I get stuck processing instead of taking action on those thoughts. That's my psychology pattern. But the barrier was simplifying the cognitive load of my decision making. If I could figure out what I need to make decisions faster, assemble that data first and make decisions faster, I could work "with" my brain instead of "against" it and not feel guilty that my brain works the way it does.
That insight was perfectly aligned with your newsletter this morning on a subject that is relevant not only to my solopreneur business personally but also to the entrepreneurial clients I serve daily. Thank you for connecting the dots for me and providing me with even more validation and permission to work the way I'm wired, even if its not the way others are wired.
I read very few of the newsletters in my Inbox each week, but your's stopped me dead in my tracks. I've been a big fan of yours for years, but have never joined Pavilion yet, but I didn't realize this was your newsletter before I started reading. If this is the level of insight you provide, I will make this a must-read every week.
Scott, thanks so much for this incredibly thoughtful note.
First, we're somewhat kindred spirits and the way I've managed "cognitive load" is through restricting "input density" which is basically a way of saying trying to restrain how much anxious stimulus makes its way into my brain. So I completely hear you on your struggles and they are mine as well.
Second, yes, this format (a Sunday newsletter) is my preferred way of sharing my thoughts and is the closest thing to what I actually feel. LinkedIn is a game and I'm happy to play it occasionally but this is where I'm working out more complicated ideas on what it means to be alive in the age of AI.
Thanks for reading and for the thoughtful comment. Hope to see you around soon.
He also says introspection didn't exist 400 years ago, which is idiotic. This is what happens when people don't read widely. Read Montaigne. Hell, read Augustine. This guy is a moron, like every venture capitalist I've ever heard open his mouth.
Came across your post via LinkedIn. Really great take here. I was actually surprised by the lack of introspection for Founders and wonder whether how much of that is nurture vs nature. I’m not sure I ascribe it’s mutually exclusive. I do believe there are both deeply introspective yet excessively hard charging leaders/founders. I too know what it’s like to be the latter and can get into that flow. But I find I’m better when I can also recharge through introspection. YMMV seems to hold well here.
Love your writing! Thanks for being you, man.
I've tried being other people without a lot of success :)
Great post Sam. The world is full of "conquerers" who never reflected on the purpose of their aim and ultimately created negative outcomes for society at large.
Thanks, John. And the world is also full of all kinds of other people (like you and me) that created great things without having the "choleric" temperament.