Aaaand we’re back.

Welcome to Edition Nº 06 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: 587

Read time: 1 mins 29 sec.

Musings

Once in a lifetime opportunities come around twice per year

‘Rare’ is often more a reflection of our awareness than of actual scarcity. Exceptional opportunities — career inflections, partnerships, bold bets — are surprisingly common, but often hide as ordinary moments.

When we realize the frequency of opportunity, we start spotting opportunity. In other words, our subjective perception shapes our objective outcomes.

Meetings are for teaching

Delegating thinking always beats delegating tasks. If someone understands the thinking they can proactively solve tasks. So, meetings should be used to teach reasoning and thinking. Imo too many meetings focus on context sharing, and not enough on teaching.

Hire 20 year olds

Two of our best team members at Superpower are 22 and 26 years old (h/t Hannah & Manoj). They outperform folks twice their age and experience. And every month they are even better than before. I increasingly believe that people chronically underrate raw talent and overrate credentials. Talent is exponentially distributed and to get the best talent you need to bet on someone before others do.

Health Protocol Update

How I no longer get sick…

Two weeks ago, I was coming down with a sore throat. I was about to hop on an 18 hour flight to the Middle East. In the past, that would have been game over. But now, whenever I notice a sore throat, I inject myself with Thymosin Alpha 1 (’TA1’).

TA1 is an immune modulating peptide that ensures I no longer get sick. And I’ve seen this work for many friends too.

In the US, TA1 is not approved. In Italy and China, it’s been in use for 20 years, and there are papers documenting longitudinal safety and efficacy. I suspect peptides in the US will be legalized faster than we think.

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

Top Finds

Brand of the Week

I believe brand, at the most fundamental level, is a set of beliefs. The Enhanced Games is a great brand because it has a polarizing belief system.

If you’re not familiar, the Enhanced Games is an Olympic Games analog where performance enhancement is allowed. Behind the scenes, the Enhanced Games is really a Redbull-style marketing stunt as a front for a health company.

Beyond the belief system, the Enhanced Games is a masterclass in subversive marketing. They take something familiar (the Olympic Games), inject POV, and push it back. Reminds me of the Warhol/Duchamp idea of a cultural readymade.

Space of the Week

Korean cafes hit different!

I love how the plants feel organic and immersive, with both untamed low ferns and trees.

I also love the ceiling that gives the room a cozy low-height section as well as the expansive full-height section. That dichotomy adds far more character and emotion.

Article of the Week

The Intelligence Curse sure was stirring.

To quote:

You’ll lose your job. But it goes beyond that: [AI] will remove the need for regular people in our economy. Powerful actors – like states and companies – no longer have an incentive to care about regular people. We call this the intelligence curse.

Quote of the Week

In other words, magic probably exists and once in a lifetime opportunities are more common than you think.

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Until next time,

Max Marchione

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