An Ode to Awe

New years resolutions are fun.

To some extent, they're necessary. 

Or at least the thought process of reflection, and taking deliberate steps within our control to choose the life we want.

Cut out the carbs, eat less chocolate, drink less, go to gym more etc etc. We can pretty much all agree to these, even though we know we'll stick to them for approximately 8 days (or if you have a painful and rehab-esque addiction to basque cheesecake and almond croissants like me, maybe 2.75 days).

Over the last 5 years, I've taken Tim Ferriss' approach of doing a 'review of the year'. Reviewing the experiences that brought the most joy, and the things that brought anxiety or frustration. 

The goal is to tweak the next year by proactively planning more things similar to the ones that brought joy, and consciously rejecting the ones that brought anxiety (you know that feeling when someone cancels a plan and you get so excited that you could kiss a small grandma or run around pants-less with excitement. Yeah? Do less of those plans next year).

Every year I find that the experiences that bring me most joy involve quality time with my family and my close friends (usually over incredibly indulgent meals), and moments that give me that feeling of awe; the childlike buzz associated with discovery. 

That's why I think so many of us love travel - it gives the feeling of awe, of novelty, of short term discomfort that quickly transitions to euphoria, and the consequent series of dopamine hits that come with "achieving" mini discoveries of amazing places, views, restaurants, cultural experiences in new environments. 

Learning a new skill that unlocks a series of new experiences can bring that same feeling - like learning to ski can unlock ski holidays in the beautiful snowy mountains of the most picturesque places on the planet. Scuba diving can unlock discovery of a whole new subterranean world - opening up island holidays as an opportunity for both ends of the spectrum of relaxation and exploration.

Surfing. Hiking. Photography. Rock climbing. Languages. Golf. Dance. Cycling. Yoga. 
The list is almost infinite - skills that open worlds of cultural connection and new lenses to experience the world. 

I still can't ski or scuba dive in my 30s (amongst several other of the aforementioned skills that I probably shouldn't admit to)... But damn, I can't wait to learn. And I'm so excited for the infinite possibilities of adventure that will be opened through these mini worlds.

Anticipation, awe, unlocking a skill that opens new worlds. 

That's what I want to optimise for in 2025. And beyond. 

'Fitting as much life into life as possible'.

Here's to a 2025 of awe and full of life.

The most boring things in the world.

As I was heading to Abu Dhabi airport a few weeks ago, I noticed a bunch of apartment buildings. Many many many apartment buildings. That got me thinking.

Could tall buildings exist if people didn’t have a way to get to the 30th floor? Would they exist if the only way to access floors was stairs? What did people do before elevators? Are elevators key to the existence of apartment buildings, and to tall office buildings?

Don’t get me wrong, talking about elevators on a first date would ensure you never get a second date. Could be top 3 most boring topics in the world.

But they’re key to our world.

Before elevators just 6 generations ago, cities had to grow outward. They have led to enhanced urban density, and catalysed economic growth by improving economic viability of high-rises, and fitting more tenants and businesses per square foot - transforming real estate.

So, at risk of scaring everyone away that this is going to be a 100 000 word post on elevators, I just want to draw a few quick learnings for us.

There’s beauty in the mundane. And it’s the mundane things that have catalyzed modern society.

That got me thinking. What other absurdly boring things (the topics that would get you exiled from a dinner party for mentioning) are actually key to our society?

Then I thought of toothpaste.

Just 5 generations ago, people cleaned their teeth with clay or twigs or cloth, or not at all. Dental hygiene was a frequent cause of death. That's pretty crazy isn't it? Now if you don't brush twice a day and floss you're considered a madman.. 100 years ago, the idea of toothpaste was absurd. Our grandparents may not have brushed their teeth. Madness.

Barcodes.

Just 3 generations ago, every item had to be manually priced and inventory was tracked by hand. Checkout was slow, error-prone, and inventory management was a nightmare. Today there are over 6 billion barcode scans daily. Global commerce efficiency has been transformed forever.

Have you ever had a sexy bar code discussion? I thought not. 

Even something like zippers that we use on our bags and luggage. Only been around for 5 generations, but imagine international travel without securely locking luggage? Not really possible.

All of these things are so intertwined with everyday life and painfully mundane, but have only been around for a few generations and we take them for granted.

What is the next generation version of elevators that will catalyze residential and commercial growth?

What is the next generation version of toothpaste that will transform hygiene, and even personal health?

What is the next generation version of barcodes that will accelerate retail growth?

What is the next generation version of zippers that will transform how we transport objects from one place to another?

It’s just a reminder that there is still opportunity in everything.

That’s what excites me about the world of angel investing. There are so many incredibly intelligent people out there working on daily problems building their version of elevators, toothpastes, bar codes, zippers - that in 2050 will be seen as disgustingly boring because they’re so intertwined with everyday life.

But they will be multi-billion dollar industries.

Solving a problem for the world doesn’t necessarily have to be something that sounds extraordinary in the moment in order to change the world forever.

A Case for Ignorance

(Narrated by Eleven Labs' Text to Speech AI)

In his book 'Psychology of Money', Morgan Housel described how his daughter has a few dozen mental models of the world, and she'll always have a crystal clear explanation of any experience by fitting it directly into that mental model: "dad isn't playing with me, I wanted him to play with me, I'm now sad."

She doesn't ponder the why or the how, she tells herself a coherent story based on what she does know, and that's enough.

That got me thinking (terrible idea, I know).

As we get older, we refine the narrative. It becomes complex, as it should, as we gather more information to inform the narrative. Our analysis of the how and why of each experience informs our thoughts, decisions, actions.

We all form our perceptions of reality based on our mental models. On patterns. Reference points. Wanting to replicate or avoid the emotions resulting from lived experiences.

We get wiser, as the spiderweb of our pattern recognition becomes more complex and mature.

We learn to appreciate nuance. That is beautiful. We need to evolve our views based on new information. Strong beliefs loosely held. If we didn't, we'd all be insufferable stubborn closed minded bigots.

But there's a case for being the naive 4 year old.

It would be foolish to start a business if you consider the >90% chance of failure.
It would be foolish to go on a date if you consider all the reasons why there may not be a connection.
It would be foolish to invest in a startup if you consider the chances of that being the one that changes the world forever.
It would be foolish to make a cold call if you consider how much the person on the other end disdains being cold called.

But, every now and then, we need to be foolish, to be naive, to be mesmerized by the opportunity in front of us.

The world moves forward from these bold moves underlined by a beautiful blissful ignorance.

Credit to all the founders in my network who have been, are being, and will be "foolish", and seek to improve the world.

The big bet

(Narrated by Eleven Labs' Text to Speech AI)

Choose a distinct path.

Make yourself undeniable.
Follow with conviction.

He's not a household name, but he's the man that led the round in the single best investment in history.

He's been a catalyst in one of the biggest companies on the planet - the third biggest gaming company in the world, a company that owns a platform with 1.3 billion users.

I'm talking about David Wallerstein. 

In 2000, he identified a trend in internet cafe behaviour in Zhengzhou China - People would spend 4 hours+ per day using a web chat platform (QQ). He would see the same faces, different faces, trance-like behaviour - absolute total immersion.

He could see a movement forming. He built enough conviction to fight for an opportunity to invest in the company who owned it - Tencent.

As an American who went to high school in Japan, who taught himself Mandarin, with an intense interest in Chinese culture and belief that China could be a global superpower, he was uniquely positioned to act on his conviction.

He positioned himself in a way that he had to be listened to.

He made himself undeniable.

He couldn't invest on a grand scale with his own money, so he consulted for Naspers, convinced them to invest in Tencent off the back of this (for a 46.5% stake), and convinced Tencent to accept the investment.

The year was 2001.

This is now known semi-unanimously as the single best investment of all time.

Ofcourse the story here is Tencent, and there's a million things to be said about their fascinating business model, Pony Ma, and how they are central to not only Chinese culture but a growing global superpower. That's a discussion for another time.

As a South African, what really grips me here is the role of a south African business in this. That a South African business bought a 46.5% stake in this Chinese company. How random that appears, and how David Wallerstein was the catalyst behind it. Wallerstein went on to join Tencent directly after the Naspers investment, and was key to their growth in building a "spiderweb" of products that facilitate human connection in the digital world. I guess you could say it worked out.

If Wallerstein didn't convince Naspers to invest in Tencent, would they have grown to what they are today? As the third biggest gaming company in the world, would gaming be as big as it is today? With WeChat as a platform for so many other Chinese companies, would the Chinese economy be as big as it is today?

Bold decisions and investments like this can shape our culture. Shape our world.

Nasper invested $32 million in 2001.
That investment is worth approximately $115Bn in 2024.
Approximately 3500x increase in value.

Perhaps the best investment in history.

Besides an obscene amount of luck, there's something we can try extract from this.

David Wallerstein is an example of -
Choose a distinct path.
Make yourself undeniable.
Follow with conviction.

Mistakes

(Narrated by Eleven Labs' Text to Speech AI)


I’ve been thinking a lot about mistakes.

I make a few of them. More than I would like, if I’m being completely honest.

In my first visit to Helsinki, on my first night, approximately 53 minutes into my trip, I put my Airbnb key in the wrong door.

Not a big deal right? Honest mistake. I tried to enter the wrong building (two metres away from the correct building) as I wasn’t really concentrating and I thought it was the right building. Didn’t feel like it would be an issue as I realized I made the mistake. However, the key got stuck in the door. Turns out Finland is known for having some of the most intricate locks in the world. Fast forward 6 hours - 3 (!) locksmiths had to come and try remove the key. One after the other, they failed. Apparently this was the toughest lock in all of Finland, arguably in all of Europe, possibly in all of planet Earth. They ended up having to remove the entire lock from this apartment building’s entrance and replace it. I replaced the lock of that building, and inadvertently invested in the infrastructure of Finland.

6 hours. 400 Euros. An expensive mistake.

A younger version of myself would have ‘beaten myself up’ about it. I would have started to overthink why I did something so silly. It would have affected my mood. I would have struggled to be fully present afterwards.

Over time, I’ve realized that doing ridiculous things is completely normal.

Making mistakes is completely normal.

In sport, messing up a serve, losing a point, conceding a goal - completely normal.

But…

The next serve? The next point? The next goal? The next door in Finland? That’s the one we have to get right. The mentality directly after. That’s the test.

In Roger Federer’s Dartmouth College address, he noted that he has won a staggering 80% of games in his career. That is absolutely incredible. However, the really jarring statistic he shared is that he only won 54% of the contested points within games. That means he lost nearly half of all points he played in his career - he made mistakes of some sort in nearly one in every 2 points he ever played - yet he still won roughly 80% of his matches.

As Federer says, “You want to become a master at overcoming the hard moments” .

Kevin Kelly’s line on this resonates:
“Pros make as many mistakes as amateurs;
They’ve just learned how to gracefully recover from their mistakes”

I absolutely love that.

How liberating is it to know that mistakes are normal?

If we don’t close that deal? Absolutely fine. Recover gracefully. Close the next one.
If we don’t win that point? Absolutely fine. Recover gracefully. Win the next one.
If we don’t know that answer in the exam? Absolutely fine. Recover gracefully. Answer the next one

If we put that key in the wrong hole. Absolutely fine. Recover gracefully.

Get it in the right hole next time.

Tribalism

Tribalism

In modern society, it has a place.

I am a Liverpool fan. It’s a zero sum game. No other team can exist in my emotional stratosphere. I am entirely immature in that 90 minutes watching that specific football match. 

By virtue of being a Liverpool fan, I “hate” other football teams. They are the enemy, and Liverpool must win.

This is a sports ideology. Your fandom is your identity. There’s something fun about the tribalism of it. We realize it’s ridiculous and non-sports-fans struggle to understand it. But we do it because it makes us part of a community - a tribe. We connect within seconds when we meet someone who is part of that same tribe. If I meet another Liverpool fan, I have hours (if not months) of content I can speak with them about. I know we will agree on most things and compound each other’s views. By virtue of being Liverpool fans, we are “the same”.

In sports, tribalism is fun. It’s an escape.

However - It’s dangerous to apply this tribalism to other parts of life.

Politics should not be tribal. 

Building views about what’s best for our country or the biggest societal issues of our times should not be tribal. It should not be a zero sum game.

I don’t believe our identity should be aligned with a political party. I don’t believe it’s in any society’s best interests to view politics as an “us” vs “them” battle.

Elections should be about values and approaches to solving key societal problems; who we believe will make decisions that will benefit the population as a whole. Each party will always have extremely complex challenges to deal with. Opportunity cost of every dollar. For every dollar they spend on one issue, that’s a dollar not spent on a different issue. We have to make our choices based on the issues we value the most at the time - the problems that need to be solved in our society. Acknowledging that things will change, and we’ll have more information over time to make our next decision.

I will be a Liverpool fan even if we lose 300 games in a row, get relegated, and only sign players I dislike. It’s a marriage. I made it through the “Roy Hodgson years” - I can make it through anything. Nobody can change my mind about being a Liverpool fan.

But if we apply the same ideology to societal issues, we will not learn from each other. We will not allow ourselves to have healthy debates and consider the various sides of the biggest problems facing our country and the planet. We need to appreciate that our current views are largely influenced by our upbringing, our friendship groups, social media, the news, and possible biases. 

We need to challenge ourselves and allow ourselves to be challenged. 

I should allow myself to change my mind on how I vote based on topics at hand, and which party will be for the greater good of the country. I should be open minded as I consider issues, and as I hear counter-arguments to my views.


Be tribal in sports. Be considered in every other part of life.

Think like a Scientist

I spent the weekend reading 'Think Again' by Adam Grant. Organizational psychology has always fascinated me, and I always find books that analyze social behaviours probably more intriguing than I should - both from a perspective of reviewing the way I approach situations personally, and how I can use any learnings in a professional capacity. A few key themes stood out from this:

One line that resonated with me was “being wrong is the only way I feel sure I’ve learned anything”. There’s real value in admitting to being wrong. Whether that’s finding Product Market Fit in a startup, learning that the problem you’re solving is not the original problem you were seeking to solve (and adapting extremely quickly), or in a personal context where disagreements can either strengthen a relationship or damage it depending on the approach taken by both parties.

Jeff Bezos said “People who are right a lot listen a lot, and they change their mind a lot - if you don’t change your mind frequently, you’re going to be wrong a lot”. This is a very challenging concept, as in the professional world we all have a layer of imposter syndrome and ego. Admitting to being wrong feels like it comes with a risk of exposure to the fragility that lies beneath the ego. In the context of sales and finding PMF, the difference between going out of business and achieving that tipping point of scale is listening to customers’ demands, changing your mind where appropriate, and admitting to being wrong based on ever-changing hypotheses. In fact, any professional leadership role has a variety of decision-making crossroads which require questioning options, making judgment calls, reviewing the judgment calls, and hoping for learnings and greater wisdom over time to make more effective judgment calls. It’s non-linear, and there will never be a point where listening and being open to changing your mind based on information at hand isn’t necessary.

Reading this book reminded me of the value of “thinking like a scientist” in all contexts of everyday life. The value of being humble in the face of new information and when reviewing progress, and always looking at what can be improved. Listen, admit you might be wrong and see if adaptation is needed. In the art of B2B sales, and in building a startup - Truly listen to the real problems that prospects have, and refine the proposition and approach accordingly.

Think like a scientist.