Marko Seppä @markoseppa

Tähän kuvaan tiivistyy paljon sitä, mitä Suomi on. Silloin, kun sodan kokeneet puhuvat, myös presidentti kuuntelee. Kuuntelutaito on myös tärkeä osa johtajuutta. Hieno mies ja presidentti, @alexstubb. #itsenäisyyspäivä #linnanjuhlat

@Camp4 I would only revise point 1 to be Family and Friends. As much as I love my family, particularly on a father’s day, to many friends are the family they wish they had. Here’s to all those friends!

Listen to me: I’m 54. I’ve been to the mountaintop, both literally and figuratively. I’ve run harder than most, for longer than most, and learned all the lessons (usually the hard way). Here are 7 things that really matter: 1) Family In a world gone crazy, it’s all we have. Find a good partner, get married, have kids—you’ll never know true love until you hold your own child. Burn the boats and go all in. Make family your top priority—not just in words, but with action. Want to change the world? Start at home. 2) Fitness Humans are made to move. Hard physical labor is the cure for most of society’s ills. Work up a good sweat every day—it doesn’t matter how—and watch your life improve in every way. Your body is your only vessel for life’s journey, so treat it accordingly. 3) Nature Humans have been around for 300,000 years, and only in the past century have we retreated indoors—living under artificial light, breathing recycled air. We evolved to live in harmony with nature—if you’re not spending time in nature and getting lots of fresh air and sunshine, you’re fighting biology (spoiler: you won’t win) and missing out on the best this world has to offer. 4) Helping It’s the only thing we can do that defies the laws of physics: when you give energy to others, you don’t lose it—you gain more. Helping others is the best way to help yourself. Conversely, negative energy—even if it’s just a snarky comment on X—drains both you and them. Over time, it manifests in a very real way—in your health, your relationships, and even the way you look. 5) Creation Consumption without creation is an empty existence. Each of us has an innate desire—and need—to make our own small dent in the universe. Art can take many forms—what’s yours? If you’re not creating beauty in the world, you won’t find lasting happiness. 6) Mastery There’s nothing more satisfying than finding a pursuit that brings you joy and pursuing mastery over a lifetime. It’s a journey, not a destination. Even the simplest of pursuits teach us profound lessons about life. And the best part is: when you find your pursuit, you’ll also find your tribe. 7) Spirituality Let’s start from first principles: the only thing we know for sure is that we know nothing of the mysteries of our universe. Literally… on a universal scale, the sum of all human knowledge rounds to zero. We’re sacks of meat, limited by five senses, inhabiting a speck of dust. The Bible is clear about this: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Christian or not, it seems obvious that there’s something greater out there—something beyond our comprehension. To believe otherwise is to suffer from an extreme lack of imagination. Think big thoughts. Seek truth. I’ll leave you with a sobering truth: Modern society pushes us away from these seven things. More than ever, people live isolated, sedentary, indoor, selfish, soulless, transactional lives. What are you doing to be different?

Great lessons and insights for aspiring company builders on what it takes to be a professional owner manager, i.e., to have a Business and not just a Job.

Codie Sanchez @Codie_Sanchez

a year ago

Harsh truth on scaling businesses: Your goal as CEO is to build a team that runs your entire company better than you. 5 other lessons I’ve learned the hard way from 15+ years of being an owner:

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Even if AI writes most of your business plan, you should still learn how to build a company. You’ll still be in the position of a company building manager. To be a good company building manager, you need to be a professional company builder yourself.

Paul Graham @paulg

a year ago

If you want to start a software startup, you should still learn to program. Even if AI writes most of your code, you'll still be in the position of an engineering manager, and to be a good engineering manager you have to be a programmer yourself.

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To get venture to a new level, we need an industry of professional entrepreneurs (owner managers) willing and able to build companies with innovators. We’d get much more done with far less financial capital.

Dan Gray @credistick

a year ago

The quote below, from @WillManidis, is worth the consideration of every venture investor, GP and LP. (It's also core to the mission of @equidam: making idiosyncratic ideas more legible for finance.) As a product of incentives, capital in VC has gravity. It is inclined to

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@adeoressi Fully aboard Adeo! I well remember our inspiring discussions in Helsinki and would be happy to learn and share more.

@henrikt @AllianceVC Hoping to see not just a strong pan-Nordic portfolio, but also strong pan-Nordic startups, to emerge!

@StephNass Building a data room is an integral part of building a great company. It’s figuring out what you need, getting it done, and keeping track of what you have.

AI can replace many salary-paying hired positions that gear around clear job descriptions and reporting to a boss. But complex business creation and company building will always require Human Intelligence. We’ll just get to build ever greater companies.

Jack Altman @jaltma

a year ago

"Almost certainly within the next five years, any economically valuable job humans can do, AI will be able to do 80% of it, with a few exceptions like heart surgery or brain surgery. But by and large, 80% of all jobs can be done by an AI."

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@auren Tell folks you seek founders who know what They Themselves need (to build a great company), rather that what You need (to write them a check)!

@Hadley So true, and that’s exactly why 90% of startups fail, either before or after they are funded.

DLA Piper has launched its first ever Nordic VC Report arcticstartup.com/dla-piper-has-… via @arcticstartup

I have a VC friend and a hedge fund friend who shadowed each other at their respective firms: attended IC meetings, diligence sessions, & team meetings. The VC left awed and impressed at how well run the hedge fund was. In his words, "these guys go to a level of detail & sophistication I didn't think was possible. They're way smarter & harder working than anyone in my firm". The hedge fund guy was appalled at the VC firm. In his words, "it's utter chaos there. They take random meetings all day with people they're randomly introduced to. They don't even take notes, don't follow up, don't do any research. They claim to know within 5 minutes if they want to invest or not based on what, the founder's body language? It's crazy". The funny thing is, they are both very successful investors.

Any VC that makes you pay for their lawyers is not founder-friendly. Founders barely affording rent should not be footing legal bills for VCs with private jets. And yet this is standard. a thread 🧵

@andrewjscott Developing a technology that works is easier than building a business that creates impact and profits. As long as folks can pool money to just invest in tech, investees seek quick PMFs and get sold short, not for max value. For Europe to gain growth, a shift of focus is needed.

@credistick The best founders are focused on building a great company, not just a great technology for a quick PMF. The best financiers invest in founders who know what they need to succeed, not those who know what investors need.

@IanRountree Tech is so much easier to assess than business, and building tech so much easier than building a company, that most investors focus on tech. Their investees get sold short, not for max business value, but they get more money to spend — and this goes on.

@credistick @stanboland @thulme @HarryStebbings A great recap, many thanks for sharing! In my experience, we have a shortage of company builders — professional entrepreneurs — rather than VCs, founders or professional managers.

@darrenmarble Hear, hear! Building a Great Company — one that solves a Big Problem and grows sustainably — requires entirely different capacities than building a management fee funded VC firm.