Arjun Mahadevan (Mr. LLC 🇺🇸)
@ArjunMahadevan
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CEO @doolaHQ (YC S20) a Business-in-a-Box™ for LLCs | Talent is everywhere but opportunity is not; on a mission to help 1B people start their dream biz
New York City
Joined May 2018
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How do you make it to the top 1% of content creators?
Just post.
The cardinal rule of content is: 90% consume → 9% curate → 1% create
My top 31 posts of 2023 (55M+ views)
1. Asymmetric Opportunity
A concept I learned at 28 I wish I learned at 18.
Asymmetric Opportunity:
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A concept I learned at 28 I wish I learned at 18.
Asymmetric Opportunity:
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A 26-year-old programmer built a $1 billion app in two years after following his girlfriend's advice.
This is the story of how a failed passion project turned into one of the most iconic apps of our time:
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She started a dating app called Bumble in 2014 that let women make the first move and became the youngest self-made billionaire in the world.
Nearly 9 years and countless Bumble weddings and babies later, she's celebrated over 1.5 billion first moves.
Here are 4 pieces of
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Melanie Perkins was rejected by over 100 VCs.
Now, she's a tech billionaire, and her $26B startup, Canva, is ready to take on Microsoft and Google.
Here are 5 motivational quotes from Melanie for any aspiring or current entrepreneur:
1) "Solve customer problems and make sure
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The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.
The second best time to plant a tree is today.
The best time to start your dream business was yesterday.
The second best time is today.
It doesn't matter how old you are.
Don't believe me?
• Eric Yuan started Zoom at 41
•
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Back in 2005, three guys on Valentine's day had nothing to do.
So they built an app.
This is the story behind how one of the biggest social media networks in the world started as a dating site:
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Ellen Latham suffered a major career setback at 40 when she was suddenly fired from her dream job as an exercise physiologist at a high-end spa in Miami.
She was devastated.
But she didn’t give up.
Fourteen years later, at the age of 54, she founded Orangetheory Fitness, a
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What if I told you there is a billionaire who controls your medical records.
She started Epic Systems in a Wisconsin basement in 1979.
And now she's the richest woman you've never heard of.
10 matter-of-fact messages from the Midwest billionaire, Judy Faulkner:
1. “If you see
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Back in 2005 on Valentine's Day, three (single) guys had nothing to do.
So they decided to build an app.
This is the wild story of how one of the biggest social media networks in the world started as a dating site:
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Most life hacks suck.
So I crowdsourced the best from 22.1 million people on Reddit.
Here are 11 life pro tips.
1. Airplane mode to get off annoying calls:
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Why don't people work hard when it's in their best interest to do so?
The answer can be found by observing Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson:
The (short) answer is that it's really risky to work hard, because then if you fail you can no longer say that you failed because you
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A 26-year-old software engineer built a $1 billion app in two years after following his girlfriend's advice.
This is the story of how a failed passion project turned into one of the most iconic apps of our time:
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Have you ever read something that split your life in half?
And after you read it, life just wasn't the same...
Naval did this for me and I read his post yearly.
This is How to Get Rich (without getting lucky):
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Why don't people work hard when it's in their best interest to do so?
The answer can be found by observing Tiger Woods vs. Phil Mickelson:
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Why did we ever force doctors to learn their profession in such an exhausting, sleepless way?
The answer originates with the esteemed physician William Stewart Halsted, MD.
This is the story of how cocaine created the residency programs of today:
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Most life hacks suck.
So I crowdsourced the best from 21.9 million people on Reddit.
Here are 20 life tips you wish you knew when you were 20:
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A mental model everyone should know:
The Regret Minimization Framework.
This is how Jeff Bezos used this model to decide to start Amazon...
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For any elite athlete, the key to victory is creating the right routines.
Michael Phelps has a secret ritual that helped him become the mentally toughest swimmer in the world and win 23 gold medals 🥇
It's called "get the videotape ready":
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My favorite examples of shooting your shot:
1. Elon Musk cold-calling rocket expert Jim Cantrell to convince him to help him colonize Mars in 65 words (the pitch worked).
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The company today has millions of customers worldwide, surpassed a $1 billion revenue run rate, and employs 3,300 team members.
It stops billions of cyberattacks a day for millions across the globe.
And it was started by Silicon Valley outsiders.
Meet the co-founder,
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Anne Wojcicki worked as a Wall Street analyst for more than a decade, and became convinced that the U.S. healthcare system didn't help people stay healthy.
So she started a company to help consumers take ownership of their health that raised over $1B: 23andMe
5 pieces of
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She's one of the most successful hedge fund founders in the U.S.
Her Boston-based firm, Bracebridge, manages $12B in net assets pensions, high-net-worth individuals, and endowments.
Meet Nancy Zimmerman, the investor behind the secretive hedge fund that's generating huge
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Learning lesson:
Often times the first thing you build won't work.
But if you focus on what your users find valuable, laser focus on that (and listen to your girlfriend 😀) you can strike gold.
A valuable learning for anyone building their own business, LLC or C-Corp.
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She's the founder and CEO of Bumble and the youngest self-made billionaire in the world.
Meet the queen of dating, Whitney Wolfe Herd:
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6 words I wish I had learned 6 years ago.
Don't be afraid of the circus:
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From making a "sexting app" at Stanford to marrying a model.
And turning down a $3B acquisition offer from Mark Zuckerberg along the way...
Sit tight as we dive into the story of the man behind ephemeral photos and filters that changed social media forever, Evan Spiegel:
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Within weeks, Burbn was stripped of all features except photo sharing.
The gutted version was downloaded 25,000 times on day one.
What do you call an app that sends instant camera shots at the speed of a telegram?
That’s right. Instagram.
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After failing the LSAT twice, she sold fax machines door-to-door for seven years.
Now, she’s known as the founder of Spanx, a billion-dollar company that sells undergarments, leggings, and swimwear
Here are 4 facts about Sara Blakely:
1. She's a self-made billionaire. In 2012,
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I just finished reading Elon Musk’s biography by Walter Isaacson.
The most interesting take away?
Hard work is not the (only) reason for Elon’s success.
There’s no doubt hard work has played a major role in him building 3 multibillion dollar companies in different industries,
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5. Badly > Not at all
Getting the job done badly is usually better than not doing it at all
• Brushing your teeth for 10 seconds is better than not brushing.
• Exercising for 5 minutes is better than not exercising.
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8. Brevity
Learn Brevity.
In professional settings, learn how to talk with clarity and conciseness.
Discuss one topic at a time.
Break between topics, make sure everyone is ready to move on to another one.
Pause often to allow others to speak.
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Imagine having a business with $0 of revenue in the US but you end up paying *over $100M in taxes* to the US Government 😱
Here's the story of how choosing the wrong biz structure (LLC vs. C-Corp) can cost you millions 👇🏽🧵
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She rose from the faceless assembly line of a Beijing factory to become a property magnate richer than Donald Trump ($3B+ net worth).
Her company, SOHO China, literally changed the landscape of China over the past two decades.
Meet the woman who built Beijing, Zhang Xin:
1. "I
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3. Before you buy...
Before buying something, ask yourself two questions
1. “Where will I store this thing?”
2. “How difficult will it be to clean this thing?”
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Do you geek out on morning routines?
One of the best parts of the latest epic Jeff Bezos x
@lexfridman
podcast is Bezos describing his insanely productive morning routine.
Puttering. Coffee. Gym. Work.
1. Get up early naturally
2. Putter (slowly move around, read phone, read
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1. Airplane mode to get off annoying calls:
If you’re stuck on an annoying call, put your phone on airplane mode instead of just hanging up. The other person will see “call failed” instead of “call ended.” And to make it less obvious, disconnect while you're the one talking.
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You're not imagining it.
CEOs who immigrated to the United States from India indeed are everywhere and they dominate American tech's top ranks.
Indian CEOs of major US companies:
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4. Life Pro Tip:
When you don't have all the facts, try to give people the most generous reason you can for their behavior.
Annoyingly slow driver? Maybe it's a mom with a birthday cake in the back.
This mindset will gradually make you less reactive and more compassionate.
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2. Life Pro Tip:
When you sign up for anything online, put the website’s name as your middle name.
That way when you receive spam/advert emails, you will know who sold your info.
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How Elon Musk schedules meetings vs how Bill Gates schedules meetings
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2.
Type “” or “” into your browser to automatically bring up a new blank google doc or spreadsheet.
Also works with "", "" and "".
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2. Investing in startups
Investing in a startup can lead to massive returns.
Many think you need millions to invest, but the truth is, you can start with a $1000 check.
To get started with angel investing, check out
@hustelfundVC
's program: angel squad
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4. House cleaning
Professional house cleaning is cheaper than you think and can relieve stress in your relationship.
Twice a month may be enough to keep your living space clean enough.
This can offload chore burden as well as the resentment burden in many relationships.
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She ditched her role as associate director of digital strategy and BD at Warner Music Group and abandoned plans to go to business school to start a dance company.
A month later, that gamble gave her the confidence to take another risk to start (what became) a $1B company:
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9. Memory lane
Got a few hours to kill on the airplane?
Delete pictures from your phone.
This frees up space from your phone for new pictures and gives you a trip down memory lane.
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How your friends can shape your future.
The five chimps theory:
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5. Life Pro Tip:
Do not try to be the man your father would want you to be.
Be the man you would like your son to be.
It more clearly defines your own convictions, desires, goals, and motivates you to be your best.
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7. Move to a big city
Great cities attract ambitious people.
You can sense it when you walk around one.
In a hundred subtle ways, the city sends you a message: you could do more; you should try harder.
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This is the tool Steve Jobs used to help him make the big choices in life:
“𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨
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Kevin Systrom left Google frustrated.
Having spent almost three years as a product manager at the company, Kevin was eager to take on more responsibility and apply his nuclear drive to something tangible. Instead, he was offered by his boss to take up golf.
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6. Life Pro Tip:
When a friend is upset, ask them one simple question before saying anything else:
"Do you want to talk about it or do you want to be distracted from it?"
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10. Be patient and wait it out
Remember, for better or worse, the way life is now is not how it always will be.
If you're going through a rough period, sometimes the best thing to do is just be patient and wait it out.
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3. Start a company
Similar to investing, your company's growth will lead to your growth.
You can learn how to start a company, with help from the world's top startup accelerator
@ycombinator
via YC Startup School
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1/ Top 10 Resources for Product Managers
(Thread)
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To do this, Marian is utilizing three key tactics:
• 🎥 Physical Advertising
• 🤝 Influencer partnerships
• 🚀 Maintaining the hype
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6. Values earlier
Ask a person you are dating what their values are on dating/marriage, kids, religion, politics, and other non-negotiables of yours earlier.
Waiting for the “right time” leads to unnecessary heartbreak due to emotions being overly invested months down the road.
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Owning a small business is the best tax deal in America.
Why?
Because of tax write-offs.
Here are the 3 biggest tax write-offs to help you save $1000s:
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She started her career as a fashion copywriter.
She then began designing clothes in her kitchen.
Before long, she had celebrity endorsements and soaring sales figures making her a billionaire.
Here are 15 lessons from one of the most formidable CEOs in fashion, Tory Burch:
1.
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30 business ideas that you can start with just $10k:
1. Lawn care service - Start small and build a reputation for quality work. Word of mouth is powerful!
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With $50,000, you have several business opportunities that you can venture into.
I've compiled a list of the top 45 ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
1. Food truck: Start a mobile restaurant with a unique menu.
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Hailing from a small town in India that didn't even have a high school, she started her career serving food at a restaurant.
Now she's the CEO of a $25B company.
Here are 4 pieces of business advice from the CEO of Hubspot, Yamani Rangan:
1. Customer centricity is not an
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18. Life Pro Tip:
Instead of feeling that you've blown the day and thinking, "I'll get back on track tomorrow," think of each day as a set of four quarters:
• Morning
• Midday
• Afternoon
• Evening
If you blow one quarter, you get back on track for the next quarter.
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She started her company out of a rented shed.
And she grew it into India's largest biopharma firm in terms of revenue.
Meet one of the wealthiest self-made women in India, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw:
1. I believe in never giving up, no matter what the odds. My mantra is, 'Failure is
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Owning a small business is the best tax deal in America.
Why?
Because of tax write-offs.
Here are the 3 biggest tax write-offs to help you save $1000s:
1. Business Meals
A business meal can be an expense but in order to do so keep track of:
• The cost of the meal
• Where
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Kevin: 'She goes ‘oh, well, you should probably add filters.’ We came back from that walk, I went straight to the room, got on my laptop and I made the first filter, which was X-Pro II.”
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Hope you found this thread helpful and enjoyed it.
Follow me
@arjunmahadevan
for stories about how companies got off the ground and everything LLCs (formation, banking, taxes, and more).
And if you use Instagram yourself, retweet the first tweet below to share this story!
A 26-year-old programmer built a $1 billion app in two years after following his girlfriend's advice.
This is the story of how a failed passion project turned into one of the most iconic apps of our time:
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@SahilBloom
It's insane
I'd argue Zuck's acquisition of IG is one of the best acquisitions EVER
(the best???)
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11. QR code stonks
Print a QR code of your wifi information so guests can simply use their camera to join your wifi network.
Your device should be able to generate one for you. If not, there are countless QR sites and apps that can do it.
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Learning lesson:
Often times the first thing you build won't work.
But if you focus on what your users find valuable, laser focus on that (and listen to your girlfriend 😉) you can strike gold.
A valuable learning for anyone starting their own business.
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Silicon Valley Bank has lost $80B+ of value in 24 hours 🤯
But let's be real... do you actually understand what happened?
Don't sweat.
Here's an "explain like I'm 5" overview of how this went down 🎥
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1. Going on first dates
Asking someone out on a date has a huge asymmetric upside.
You might hit it off and end up in a relationship.
If not you'd just be a little embarrassed and maybe awkward with the person afterward.
Or you end up getting married.
In high school I was trying to flirt with a girl in the computer lab.
It was her birthday.
I extend my hand to give her a high five/hand hold hybrid deal.
She stares and goes, “Is that a high five?”
I say, “Um ya.”
She taps it and walks out.
That girl is now my wife.
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His next stop was NextStop, a location recommendation app startup.
With FourSquare leading the way, check-in apps were all the rage in the late 2000s, and a small team meant Kevin could get more responsibility and take initiative.
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3. Life Pro Tip:
Always tell a child who is wearing a helmet how cool you think their helmet is.
It will encourage them to always wear it in the future.
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You probably roll your eyes at most "life hack" lists because 9 times out of 10, they're trash.
But with some help from 22 million people on Reddit, I crowdsourced the best Life Pro Tips from March 2023:
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YouTube founders Chad, Steve, & Jawed are part of the PayPal Mafia a group of former PayPal employees and founders who have since founded and/or developed technology companies like:
• Tesla
• LinkedIn
• Palantir
• SpaceX
• Affirm
• Slide
• Kiva
• Yelp
• Yammer
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A hostel in Mexico seemed like the right place to pursue his terrible idea, so Kevin packed his flip-flops and bought two tickets out of California — one for himself, one for his girlfriend.
That second ticket would become the best investment Kevin Systrom ever made.
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She moved to LA in 1976 with a $900 loan from her mom.
Without even owning a fax machine, she started a business.
And she turned that $900 loan into a $1B company.
These are the 3 things Janice Bryant Howroyd leveraged to become the first black woman to build a $1B business:
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9. Life Pro Tip:
If you need to cancel a hotel reservation but are unable to because of a 24-hour policy, call the company and move your reservation to a later date.
Call back within a few days and cancel for no charge.
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1. Life Pro Tip:
If you’re stuck on an annoying call, put your phone on airplane mode instead of just hanging up.
The other person will see “call failed” instead of “call ended”.
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Marian Lee took over as Chief Marketing Officer just 1 year ago – and from the global success of Wednesday, to the enduring virality of Glass Onion, she has undoubtedly been creating some serious waves.
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By breaking this rule, the team uploaded its first official video in April 2005 onto the platform during its private beta.
The video was called: Me At The Zoo
(This is the actual video, below)
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Mark Zuckerberg (the guy who started Facebook) did a Murph workout in 39 min 58 sec:
• 1 mile run
• 100 pull-ups
• 200 push-ups
• 300 squats
• 1 mile run
... oh and he did it with a 20 lb vest on 😱
This is the history of the Murph (and my attempt to beat Zuck's time):
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1/ Startup communities for entrepreneurs
(Thread)
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8. Tweet
Send the text message.
Hit send on the email.
Tweet the Tweet.
Closed. Mouths. Don't. Get. Fed.
Reminder: Closed mouths don’t get fed.
If you want something—and you’ve done the work to deserve it—ask for it.
Worst case—you’re told no.
Best case—it’s yours.
Don't sit back and wait for good things to happen. A little push goes a long way.
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“You should probably add filters”
Burbn — Kevin’s first grown-up brainchild — sounded good on paper. Unlike other check-in apps, Burbn allowed users to post photos and videos along with their check-ins.
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Besides being the first Latina president of a U.S. television network she is a real estate magnate and an advocate for empowering women entrepreneurially.
Here are 4 tips for success from Nely Galan a self-made media mogul:
1. “Don’t buy shoes, buy buildings." A quote Nely uses
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This is how long it actually takes to form a new habit (backed by science):
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There are two types of Asymmetric Opportunities:
• Asymmetric upside is when the upside is much > than the downside.
• Asymmetric downside is when the downside is much > than the upside.
The goal is to do more things with "Big Reward" and "Small Risk"
Here are some examples:
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@SahilBloom
Reminds me of this banger from
@naval
:
The three big ones in life are wealth, health, and happiness. We pursue them in that order but their importance is in the reverse.
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A reporter once came up to Muhammad Ali after a workout and asked,
“How many push-ups can you do?”
Ali, a three-time heavyweight world champion, responded,
“About eight or nine.”
The reporter looked bewildered.
“What? Just eight or nine?”
Ali's response was epic:
“I
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4. Create a book, podcast, or video
Media is the original software business.
You create something once.
And you can easily duplicate it millions of times with no additional cost
Ask yourself:
"What works for you when you're done working?"
Media is the original software business.
Create once.
If good, duplicate millions of times with no additional cost.
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The original idea for Pfizer's famous little thrill pill has nothing to do with keeping it up.
It's time for the hard truth.
This is what Viagra was really intended for:
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Investors liked the idea, and Kevin received two checks — one from Baseline Ventures, and another from Andreessen Horowitz — totaling $500,000.
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He did. After a year of honing his coding skills at the startup, Kevin decided to create a check-in app of his own.
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8 years ago I became a U.S. Citizen 🇺🇸
To become a citizen I was asked 10 random questions out of a list of 100 possible questions.
The stakes were high: I had to get at least 6 correct.
Could you pass the test? Let's see:
1. What is the supreme law of the land?
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7. History function
Write papers and essays in something with a history function due to the increasing accusations of ChatGPT usage.
Google Docs, Microsoft Word, and many others have a history function built in.
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During their Mexico trip, Kevin asked his girlfriend why she didn’t post any pictures on Burbn. She said that her iPhone 4 photos didn’t look as good as some of Kevin’s friends. He explained that his friends were using photo filters.
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