Pete's March 2021 update
Failure, freelancing, fantasy books, and fighting robots.
This is my experimental monthly update on me as a “product” in development. Subscribe here or send it to someone who might be interested.
Bit of a long one this month! Enough links to fill a long weekend. :)
Highlights and Insights
Writing these monthly updates is super valuable for me, encouraging reflection and seeing what I can achieve in a month. I spend the month collecting cool things that I’m excited to share with you. Thanks for being part of it. :)
How we learn to learn is important: New research on the Lean Startup methodology finds that a business school background (i.e. MBA) can hinder a founder’s ability to adapt to new evidence in an early-stage lean startup context. I also had a chat this week with a fellow entrepreneurship lecturer (who is taking over the course I’ve been teaching) about how we have to explicitly train our students that failure is good and necessary and they don’t have to prove how clever they are by always being right. I wrote about both of these things here: New research on Lean Startup: hypotheses good; MBAs bad
Freelancing: Three proposals and a coaching session.
This foray into consulting work has been exciting, challenging and confidence-building. Exciting because I’m learning new things and I really enjoy talking to prospective clients and coming up with ideas for achieving their objectives. Creativity is energising! Challenging because it’s using skills I haven’t used in a long time or haven’t fulled developed yet. And going from throwing around ideas with a client to writing it up in a formal proposal is a new process, and one that is a bit of a slog. (More on that below.) Confidence-building because having to pitch myself is forcing me to articulate how I think (blog post) and revisit previous projects and -- actually, I know a lot and I’m pretty great at what I do!
After the first proposal I had a debrief with my consulting partner, Mike, about the process. I came at the proposal from a “good enough” mindset, getting down my ideas so we could continue the collaborative conversation I’d had with the client. He comes at it from a “perfection” mindset. And boy, it takes days to get a proposal to that state. But the insight I got from our debrief is that the proposal also acts as a marketing tool -- if the client / point of contact shares it with someone else, it has to stand on its own as a demonstration of our abilities. That makes a lot of sense and really helped me approach the next few proposals.
Out of the three proposals, we were second choice for one (innovation strategy development) up against some big-name global competition -- and we beat all but one of them so I take that as a strong endorsement. The other two proposals are for workshop design and facilitation and it looks like we’ll get both.
I was approached for some leadership coaching, too, and had an initial meet & greet last week which went well.
Marketing: As part of the marketing funnel for StartupU, I ran a workshop with Filipa and Hilary: “Starting your own business, side hustle or startup: Where do I start?And we just got our first paid annual subscription to StartupU! Slow but steady progress…
Big Audacious Goal: I’ve had the crazy idea to turn my startup course into a book, walking people through the very first steps of starting a business — including the common hurdles and missteps I’ve observed over 3 semesters / 48 startups. Not because the world really needs another startup how-to book, but because the content is solid and it would be useful to have “author of [book]” as part of my bio. Working title is The First Twelve Weeks: a practical guide to starting a business and making the most of your time, energy and resources. Catchy?
I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy books lately; a deviation from my usual sci-fi diet, inspired by various reviews and recommendations. And I’ve found some really interesting ideas and stories.
The Philosopher’s Flight creates a world where “philosophy” (magic) is a woman’s domain -- and explores how that affects its acceptance, its use in wartime, and what happens when a man wants to do a woman’s job. A very well-created world, and I flew through this book and the sequel.
Flex is a little bit “magic meets Breaking Bad” but what I love about this world is that magic has consequences -- an equal and opposite reaction. In Philosopher’s Flight the philosophers get tired and have migraines and might pass out and fall out of the sky. In The Magicians magic has a supply that can be regulated or used up (or made out of fairy bones). In Harry Potter, spells can be cast endlessly with no ill effects unless you say it wrong or use a naughty word and get caught. But in Flex, using magic builds up a debt that must be paid: buildings fall, loved ones die. I like that balance, the messiness, the weighing up of trade-offs. Magic shouldn’t be a silver bullet. (And vampires shouldn’t sparkle in sunlight!)
Piranesi, from the author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (which I also adored), was a crazy idea executed brilliantly. Written as journal entries by one of the two living people in the world, which is a labyrinth of halls filled with statues and tides and bones. The mystery unravels -- or ravels? -- from there. In the wrong hands this book would have been terrible but it really hooked me.
And if you just want a swashbuckling adventure: On Stranger Tides is a tale of a puppeteer-turned-pirate aboard a boat called Vociferous Carmichael (love it!). A fun world to visit.
Speaking of adventures! Finally celebrated my 2020 birthday with a long-postponed trip to Tasmania. Locally, went apple-picking and ate woodfired pizza in Bilpin. Saw a perfect fairytale toadstool around the corner from our house. Also, I took part in my first ever (?)(!) protest with the not-on-4th-of-March March 4 Justice.
Requests
Book stuff: I’ve not written a book before. I’ll take all the help I can get! Advice, techniques, contacts (editors, agents, publishers). Ideas for a better book title? (Puns optional)
Blog posts: As the ‘tubers say, “like and subscribe”. New research on Lean Startup: hypotheses good; MBAs bad | Articulating how I think
I-PUN merch: Available on shirts, greeting cards, bags, and mugs. (Puns not optional)
Coming up
Marking 60 essays about how/whether Rent the Runway applied the Effectuation Principles in their early days (case study using Jenn Hyman’s Masters of Scale podcast episode). The fun thing about having 60 students is that my brain automatically calculates it as “for each minute I spend on an essay that averages out to one hour… so if I spend 15 minutes per essay that’s... 2 days of solid marking.” Godspeed, future me!
Invited to an “Academic Show & Tell” session at USyd Business School to share how I used business games in class (Catembe “Breakeven game” discussed in last month’s update).
I may be in Sydney a few times in April for some face-to-face workshops (and a dentist check-up).
I only just celebrated my 2020 birthday, and now my 2021 birthday is right around the corner.
Book: I’m going to set myself a goal of having the chapter-level outline + one draft chapter by this time next month.
Read / watch / listen
Coffee has reached a new weird with Briping [watch]
Lana Weal’s reflection on the VC Catalyst program [read]: Why you need to develop superpowers before becoming an angel investor
A review of Bondi Beach, by Henry the Shark [read]. An old piece I wrote for a writing challenge. Warning: contains puns.
An adorable Japanese robot fight [watch — this short battle is different to the gifs below]. Real or choreographed? I’ll let you decide. I pulled on that loose thread and discovered that Japanese robot fighting is a thing, with some jaw-dropping wrestling moves.
Feelgood read: Remember the hubbub last month in the Reddit / Wall St / Gamestop tug-of-war? Mountain Gorillas are the unlikely beneficiaries of that redistribution of wealth. About half a million dollars has been donated to animal conservation charities, and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund is now selling merch aimed at the Wall St Bets community.
I spent so long making that Ros & Gil gif that I forgot why. It must mean something. Ah yes, “redistribution of wealth”.
I love Gary Oldman’s “…what?” face
Read: Immersive experiences. “If you’re trying to create an immersive world, what you don’t see is as important as what you do see. A really fun dynamic was people coming out and saying “Did you see this bit?” and then someone else going “Oh no, I didn’t see that, but I did see this”. It made the world feel bigger or more real because there was stuff going on that you didn’t know about. A big shift for us was that it’s not about making sure everyone has the same experience, it’s about making sure that everyone has an equal but unique experience.” Oliver Lansley, Theatre Director
A playlist of relaxing contemporary classical music from Piano and Coffee Records [listen on Spotify]
“If you keep climbing you’re bound to face something hard or difficult. When I face these challenges on the route I focus on enjoying climbing in order to finish the route.” — Jain Kim, world champion rock climber.