Suggestions
a f
AI Investor and author
Currently:
- investing in startups building ML-based products;
- advising governments & corporates on AI; and
- coaching partners at investment funds. Previously:
- managing partner of Zetta, the first venture capital firm focused on AI and backer of over 50 AI-First companies, managing $385MM;
- launched AngelList's fundraising platform that now manages over $15B; and
- started companies and invested in both private & public markets. Recently, author of the "The AI-First Company", the definitive playbook to putting AI first in every business conversation. The playbook is an executable guide for applying AI to business problems, made for real companies, with real budgets, that need strategies and tactics to effectively implement AI.
Highlights
What you can see from your desk affects how much you can concentrate, and your creativity. We have many, evolved processes that perceive and react to threats. These processes take up a lot of energy and brain 'power'. Clearly seeing the horizon - and that it's free of threats - allows your brain to temporarily relegate threat perception to a 'background process' and thus concentrate on other tasks. Conversely, looking at a wall, being in a dark environment or having a maze (e.g. of desks) in front of you means that your brain has to constantly perceive whether there are any threats and process those that it imagines. This is related to the ability to be more creative when you can see up and out (think about how creative you seem to be when sitting in a church or library with high ceilings). What can you change in your work space to allow you to see further up and out?
I continue to be amazed that so many people spend more time texting about calling, or emailing trying to find a time, rather than actually calling. When you send someone a text asking if it’s OK to call or if you could call them in X number of minutes, who does that serve? I would argue that it only serves you in optimizing your time, and just creates more messages (in a sea of messages) for the other person to handle. Do you really care about this person and their time, and what they have to say when you eventually call them? If you do, why don’t you just make it your priority to call them now?

