Pete's January 2022 update
A Book, A Door, a Blood-soaked Floor
Wow, January just flew on by. I guess that’s a good sign — I’ve been in flow a lot this month. But also, oh my goodness it’s Februalready?
We were out for a morning walk last week and a family waved us over. One of the kids came running over to tell us there was a sealion wandering across the paddock. We went to look, and as expected it had moved on. Tried the bridge over the river but no luck. So we headed back towards the mouth of the estuary with the kids scouting ahead. They shouted out “he’s heading this way!” He came lumbering through the shallows, stopped right in front of us, shook water from his mane, and posed.
How’s the start of your year?
Highlights and insights
Startups/founders supported: 5. A very broad mix of conversations, from ‘what makes a good entrepreneur’ to ‘advice on negotiating a contract’ to raising capital.
Also had a nice conversation with a former medical student who wants to work in venture capital — a random connection via LunchClub, which facilitates exactly that: random matches. (Thanks to Julie Trell for the invitation.)Book progress: Good! I got a first draft finished at the beginning of January, and have since been working on printable templates and frameworks (the list in orange text in the image below). A great back-and-forth with Ben Wirtz about how the readers would actually use it led to me reframing it as more of a reference guide. Less wordy, more useful.
I’m aiming to get it up for sale next week. 🏃♂️I finished up at BlueChilli. This was unplanned but not entirely unexpected, startups being what they are. After reflecting on what made it such an enjoyable place to work I’m keeping three criteria in mind for my next role: my current lifestyle (live in Dunedin, work remotely); the team and culture (enjoy rocking up to work every day); and the impact I make on the world (environment, humanity etc).
I’ve had seven conversations/interviews already and have more lined up over the next few weeks.Renovations have recommenced! This is a good thing; it just doesn’t feel like it while it’s happening. (Type 2 fun?)
I’m building a door for the old chook shed in our garden. The shed is in a lovely spot under an heirloom apple tree, and the first place to get sunlight in Winter, and opening the door will help create a bit of privacy and seclusion. (Which Lucy pointed out many months ago when she first suggested building a door…) It is very satisfying to create things in the garden, versus doing maintenance and rectification.
I take weekly trips to the tip, carry heavy things, chop things down, and occasionally build something. Meanwhile Lucy is out doing planting, harvesting, weeding, painting, staining, etc every single day.The two rabbits have become three, occasionally four. The third was tiny when it first appeared. We have named it Hazel, because someone ate all the leaves off our hazelnut sapling.
Coming up
More job applications and conversations. Spread the word and send people my way!
Pete’s linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petelead/
Pete’s highlights site: https://metalmonkeyinfinity.com/Publish (and name/brand) the Startup Guide.
Booster!
Read / watch / listen
[Watch: 2 minutes] Hugh Laurie on working with a lion.
[Read: 3 minutes] ‘I’m not Amy Shark’: Alex Lahey on the day thousands accidentally came to her gig. Delightful story from a musician who played to a massive crowd that was there to see someone else.
[Look and read: 2 minutes] This artwork in which a robot mops up its own fluid in order to keep functioning. Click on the Tweet thread below to keep reading. (According to some comments this interpretation is not what the artists intended according to their description: Sun Yuan and Peng Yu: Can’t Help Myself.)
[Tweet thread: 2 minutes] A wholesome thread of simple advice.
[Long read: 7 minutes] Why Tokyo Works. Explanation of why Tokyo’s collection of small villages approach makes for a more accessible city than the single-CBD model.
"Tokyo is decentralized. Kengo Kuma, one of Japan’s leading architects, describes the city as a “collection of small villages, rather than one big city,” and it certainly feels that way. As opposed to urban sprawls like New York or Paris, Tokyo is very literally without a center. Most Western city centers feature a square, a church, a bank or another powerful institution; places people are invited to frequent and are epicenters of activity and crossings. In contrast, the center of Tokyo is, as French philosopher Roland Barhtes described it, a void. Instead of being a space where people gather and businesses operate, it’s the Imperial Palace: a giant inaccessible green space surrounded by a moat."[Long read: 10 minutes] Tracking down Suzy Thunder; groupie, phone phreaker, expert deceiver.
"All she wanted, at the end of the day, was a little control. She wanted to know that if anyone ever fucked with her again, she could do something about it. If an asshole cut her off on the freeway, or worse, she could tamper with his DMV records, or worse. She didn’t even have to go through with it — just knowing that she could, often, was enough."
“Some of you are going to spend the whole rest of your life in culture shock, and what I’m saying today is that I think all of you should.” — Joan Didion, from a ‘lost’ 1975 commencement address