Welcome to Edition Nº 04 of Max’s Musings.

Each week I share my learnings building a $100 billion company in public. I have many crazy conversations, see a lot, read a lot, and learn a lot — I want to share that with you (in <2 minutes).

Today’s word count: 540

Read time: 1 min 36 sec.

Musings

Logic is often just fear

Often, we use logical reasons to justify not doing something. This logic is often invalid. What’s real happening is this: (1) our reptile brain feels fear, (2) our logical brain creates a bullshit reason for not doing the thing to avoid the fear.

When I find myself reasoning why something cannot be done, I interrogate whether this is really just fear. It often is.

Moving faster is not about just ‘moving faster’

At Superpower, we used to try to make things move faster by optimizing cycle time, speeding up, getting people hustle. But now I believe this is fundamentally flawed.

The real way to move faster is to do less. It’s to question requirements. Around 40% of ‘need to do’ items don’t have to be done. We can typically ship less, ship simpler, and delete half of the steps.

Self-reliance isn’t always a good thing

My whole life, I’ve been self-reliant. I’ve hardly ever asked for help. I used to pretend to myself this was a strength, but often it’s a weakness.

Self-reliant people don’t seek out mentors, don’t get much support, don't delegate well, and underrate the impact other people can have.

Steve Jobs realized just how reliant we are on others in this famous email to himself:

Health Protocol Update

When traveling, I’ve been using colloidal silver nasal spray. I find this minimizes congestion and allergic symptoms from mold or dust. It also boosts immunity.

For me, exposure to moldy or dusty environments causes partial loss of voice, nasal congestion, and disrupted sleep.

You can find my full immune stack at maxmarchione.com/immune 

And as always, my full health protocol is at maxmarchione.com/protocol

Top Finds

Brand of the Week

It’s rare that an enterprise software company has a distinctive brand. Aaru expertly blends distinctiveness with personality with trustworthiness.

The motif of moving dots creates the feeling of a ‘simulation’ which enforces the key idea of the business: simulate the world by generating thousands of AI people.

Space of the Week

Architecture influences psychology which influences action.

As we go about searching for our next office at Superpower, I think a lot about the emotion a space conveys, and how that impacts the way we feel and as a result the actions we take.

Imagine the feelings, creativity, sense of joy and empowerment, and ability to dream big you would have in the space below.

Article of the Week

Every month I revisit Joe Lonsdale’s famous article “Lessons from Peter Thiel”. I think I like this because of confirmation bias. And every month that goes by I continue to believe the points here are more true and more important. Some excerpts:

Other Top Finds

This is an AI image. Check out Reve. It blew my mind.

Quote of the Week

We create too many requirements in the way of action. Just leap.

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Until next time,

Max Marchione

(P.S. Reply to let me know what you think! I read all replies.)