Location, Location, Location? (Notes from Feb 18 - Feb 25, 2019)

As I sifted back through the notes I made from that week, a common theme appeared as location. I listened to a beer company COO, Principal at Bain, Jim Collins, and a managing director. Location was key for each of them, in some way. Whether it was funding by turning rocks over in the local area, expanding slowly to keep an authentic brand, focusing on location and presence, location was a motive for each of them.So I ask how location matters to each of us? For me, I've stayed in Northern California basically my whole life, primarily the bay area. It built me, but I felt like I was missing some aspect of evolving into a better self until I left the country - visited places for the primary purpose of finding what made others tick - ones I had minimal commonalities. What was different, what was the same, what's thought common that I don't consider common? I'd been to other parts the United States and the answers to these didn't click until leaving.After reflecting on these episodes, I'm torn between becoming so entrenched and specific to a great place like the Bay Area. However, being elsewhere has shown me that I think there's greatness lying outside of these bounds. So I'd lean toward focusing on those opportunities, personally. What do you think? Enjoy your community or go searching for new?

  • Yards Brewing, COO Trevor Pritchett (Work of Tomorrow, Wharton XM)
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  • Talked about some metrics for their capital intensive brewing Barrels per sq ft typically
  • 50k barrels all in the production house / taproom to be able to see the production and create experience
  • In 4-5 states currently, looking at $300+ revenue per bbl, 50% margin
  • Seeing so much acquisition of new brands and crafts - "purchase authenticity" rather than innovate Bigger companies are near 3mil barrels, so 60x
  • Weston Gaddy (@westongaddy), former Senior Principal at Bain Capital Ventures (20min VC 081)
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  • YC alum with Frog Metrics (handheld survey), cofounded in college from Founders Fund, YC, Alexis O Created software, low-friction, to gather info for small stores while customers were in store
  • Strategy consultant for consumer product tech with Bain, initially
  • Grew up outside ALBQ in NM, went to college on east coast - how things go together WisdomTree Funds - average investor to access the market
  • Start small, but work on a big focus (market) - small problems that tackle big issues
  • Thing he learned: asking the question "Why now?" - what has changed in the market/tech that created opp
  • Assuming everything else was bad in the past is a flawed framework
  • Investing-wise, he's in NY and focuses solely on geographically sticking to the east coast (personally) Time for valuations and investing has pushed early on the west coast
  • Product has the ability to win brand loyalty above all-else with technology and the media methods changing Both digital and physical products (no longer single jingle commercial, or incentives in the channel to sell)
  • Passion projects and interests in the environment - does think that it's important to specialize
  • His is enterprise technology as it pertains to selling to CMO - marketing tech Largest spenders in the corporation over the next 5-10 years
  • Sector expertise becomes more important as you get further in the company investing stage
  • Favorite book as The Sixth Extinction, Pulitzer prize - human-created mass extinction
  • Most recent investment was a second tie-on for Jet.com
  • Jim Collins as guest (@level5leaders) (Tim Ferriss Show #361)
  • Socratic advisor: asked what Tim did his PhD thesis on - language acquisition and ideograms of different approaches / pros/cons of each method
  • Had to pick a language, selected Japanese (though he did Chinese in college), and acquiring concepts and thinking of different culture Sounds, tonal language (Mandarin) vs writing and the etymology
  • How much of language constrains or enhances concepts we develop (whether math or otherwise, set the limits of our world)
  • Asked about Macphee (sp?) - been holding/carrying his notes from this class since 1999 Jim said he'd gone back to read one about fires
  • Example of choosing the right conceptual vessel
  • Started with Good to Great research - algebra with numerator and denominator canceling out
  • Only studying successes won't be comparative enough (think - all successful companies have buildings, does that indicate?)
  • Births of industry, explosion of new entrants - look at twin companies - why does 1 become Intel vs other?
  • Hierarchy of levels with leadership
  • Individual capability -> good team skills -> manage -> leader -> ambition with humility/will
  • Look at every speech / interview and count how many times they take credit for themselves vs others Vertical pronoun I vs others
  • Time management of old
  • As a 36-yr old teacher at Stanford, taught entrepreneurship - asked "Why don't you go do something on your own?"
  • Initially, nobody knew who he was so he could go into cave and work as he pleased - invisible to visible would scare him
  • Decaying quality of happiness: 50% new, intellectual work, 30% of time in teaching and 20% in have-to-do's
  • For each day, accounting the day - "got up early, creative hours, breakfast Joanne, workout, 5 hours creative, dinner"
  • Can't be below 1000 creative hours in any 365 day period, and looking at monthly numbers drop
  • Pattern in his spreadsheet - emotion columns, +2 to -2 and rates - simplicity had a lot of +2 Arduous days were also +2
  • Creative days sometimes not what he thought might've been creative
  • "you're a genius with 1000 helpers" - shell of a company
  • Even in writing with a friend, he'll write down 3 things he wants to chat about - even if he doesn't get to that
  • Asked to be a sleep student and reached out to a sleep center for himself - slept and had the electrodes on, as he figured out
  • 10 day cycle sleep - (El Capitan in a day - had to be up 36 hours in the day) - wanted 70 hours of sleep
  • Fun if you wake up to guess what time it is - 20min awake, need to get up
  • Gifted to be able to nap whenever, wherever
  • "Do the bug book" - on Jim, himself - how to deploy himself
  • What are you encoded for vs what you're good at? Fund your goals and objectives with the economic engine.
  • Started a book at request of Rachell Meyers - observing the bug called Jim
  • Wanted to dwarf 1-60 with 60-90, as Drucker discussed in Effective Executive (Jim did foreword)
  • Owing the respect to mentor times - prepare ahead and codify/reflect notes after
  • What was his fav book - "the next one" (and he went to write 10 more) Asked to know where Drucker was in writing at 65 - about 1/3 through what he did
  • Don't do 100 decisions if one can do - say, events - is there a teaching moment?
  • "You're asking the wrong question. How are you useful?"
  • Where does Flywheel start? Jim's: What is he curious about? Research correctly and he then can't help having ideas and concepts from that.
  • 8 mi run for his "I'm thinking of upping my mileage" - 3 mi uphill
  • Joanne was one of original "Just do it" athletes - had won Ironman in 1985
  • Got married about 6 months later
  • Importance of empirical validation (vs pure analysis) Fire bullets and it's off by 30 degree, then another at 10 before hitting - then extend cannonball on calibration
  • Erik Moore, Base Ventures MD (Launch Pad, Wharton XM)
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  • Why he chose Berkeley - 5 min from his house Likelihood to run into his mentor more in same building
  • Investing in Olly which was former founder of Method seeing opportunity in packaging branding of med DSC and similar with just quirky videos for brand
  • Different investment in Mayvenn - weave/hair extension distribution landing their funding: $23M from a16z
  • Changing dynamics of economics for hair stylists and making it better experience for customers
  • Good, Better, Best price discrimination tiers