With two years of Prosper.com lending under my belt, I wanted to take a deeper dive into the 50+ loans that have defaulted on me during that time. Prosper does NOT make it easy to access or analyze this information on an aggregate level, so it turned into a pretty tedious data-entry project. (Which I … Read more
Whether consciously or subconsciously, we conduct experiments everyday in our lives. Taking a new route to work. Trying out a new recipe. Trying out a new business idea. “The Lens of Experimentation” The benefit of looking at decisions through this lens of “experimentation” lessens the perceived risk of failure. Why is that important? In general, … Read more
Behind the party-hard imagery and island escapism, there are some good nuggets of wisdom in the lyrics of Jimmy Buffett. Some selections: Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, 1977 If we couldn’t laugh we would go insane. Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, 1977 If we weren’t all crazy we would go insane. My Lovely Lady, 1973 … Read more
I’ve always enjoyed reading, and here are some of the most formative books I read after graduating from business school. If you’re looking for gift ideas for entrepreneurs, these might be worth a look! The 4-Hour Workweek The biggest takeaway from this book is the 80-20 rule: the principle that 80% of the work is done … Read more
College Works Painting was the best job ever. And also some of the most crazy stressful and rewarding and humbling work I’ve ever done. The Internship College Works runs a student summer “internship” program at colleges around country. They teach students the basics of running a residential exterior house painting company, where the kids are … Read more
For the past month I’ve been doing a little experiment. Each day I would do a set of push-ups until I couldn’t do any more. Push-ups to failure, I called it. On day 1, I only could muster up a mere 27 push ups. By day 30, I was up to 72, a 267% improvement! … Read more
CareerExcuse.com is a company that provides fake work histories and professional references for job hunters. If you are unemployed and haven’t yet resorted to lying on your resume, maybe you’re not trying hard enough. With plans starting at just $20/month, CareerExcuse.com will help you lie your way into a new job. It is a fascinating … Read more
I had a hypothesis that text messaging is a huge cash cow for mobile phone carriers; a high-value product with virtually no variable expense. So I did some homework and found out I was right, and it was even worse than I imagined. Text Message Pricing On Verizon, text message pricing is as follows: $0.20 … Read more
Satellite radio is an interesting business model. They have extremely high overhead (satellites definitely aren’t cheap), but the marginal cost of additional customers is basically zero. Their satellites are already up there beaming signals down to earth; if the signal hits one receiver or a million, it’s all the same to them. In December, mom … Read more
How Restaurant.com Works Restaurant.com sells gift certificates to local restaurants at deep discounts. Their normal price is $10 for a $25 gift certificate, but they often run promotions where you can buy the same $25 gift certificate for just $2 or $3. $25 worth of food for $2! What’s the catch? Each restaurant has their … Read more
