Knowledge
Josh Wolfe
Josh is the founder of Lux Capital. A billion-dollar VC fund dedicated to pioneering technologies that look like they are from the future. Here are my favourite elements of his investment philosophy:
See in the dark. Look where others aren’t looking, or where they are unconsciously blind to. That’s where the best opportunities are waiting.
Storytelling + execution. The most successful people and teams blend the ability to tell a compelling story with the skills to execute their vision.
Sci-Fi is Sci-Fact. Science Fiction authors are incredibly adept at writing the future into existence. Fiction informs real-life innovation.
Avoid boring people. A powerful sentiment: avoid people who are boring, and avoid being a boring person yourself.
Wisdom
Creativity and Good Ideas
Great ideas are built within uncharted territory. They are formed through making connections others haven’t noticed. The rarity of true creativity is the ability to capture and confidently share those connections with others despite how unbelievable they may seem. As Issac Asimov says, “creation is embarrassing”. It is separating what is produced from the process that makes us assume creativity is easily found.
It is only afterward that a new idea seems reasonable. To begin with, it usually seems unreasonable. It seems the height of unreason to suppose the earth was round instead of flat, or that it moved instead of the sun, or that objects required a force to stop them when in motion, instead of a force to keep them moving, and so on.
Insight
Products as Iterations
Products are the sum of previous iterations. They are the embodiment of hundreds (if not thousands) of reworked versions of what you now see. Every bestseller starts with a first draft. Every software looks unimaginably different than the initial launch. Every successful company is a system of refined iterations (whether that be products or operational processes). As Web Smith writes:
The great creators in history were prolific in their work. We know the work that earned the spotlight, there were dozens of equally devoted efforts before that. Barry Jenkins filmed 10-15 short films — over eight years — before “Moonlight” was made. It won 'Best Picture.'
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This is a really great podcast.