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Iterations and the passage of time
Without appropriate human iteration and intervention, we risk creating a knowledge ecosystem that is highly transactional and built on potentially fragile foundations.
4 days ago6 min read


The value of an empty morning
When you think of time in countable units, everything suddenly seems finite and few. It makes you also think about how much of your daily life can easily be consumed by simply doing stuff that you don’t like to do, or doing things that disagree with your core values.
Jun 224 min read


Low value human capital
Instead of just sacking the lift attendants, we have gone all out to proclaim that the world no longer needs a whole bunch of people sitting in the corners of lifts to operate them.
May 252 min read


Look, no hands!
Given the complexities and unpredictability of traffic on the roads, driverless taxis in China are actually quite impressive.
Apr 284 min read


Corporate finance in five minutes
Despite what we think we know about valuation and how stocks behave, the real world often does not follow the same logic. Markets tend to be irrational and what takes place are mostly driven by the actions and responses of humans.
Jan 98 min read


A short note to close the year.
"Nobody checks on a man to see if he’s okay, they check to see if he is still useful."
Dec 31, 20253 min read


Not all of us wants to outrun a ghost
When you have been brought up most of your life learning how to game the system, the metric for success becomes defined as beating someone rather than curating the life you actually want.
Nov 21, 20254 min read


How the good stuff gets killed
"Don’t use a typewriter. The noise will destroy your sense of rhythm, which still needs years of training."
- CS Lewis
Aug 4, 20254 min read


Some things that kinda make sense
Anyone telling you to follow your passion is already rich. No one grows up thinking: "I'm passionate about tax law", but the best tax lawyers fly private jets and have a much broader selection of mates than they deserve.
May 30, 20256 min read


Finding the escape velocity
According to aero-propulsion engineering, most of a plane's fuel is burned when it is taxi-ing and taking off, not when cruising in mid air. Any new venture needs to overcome an initial resistance in order to achieve a breakthrough.
May 17, 20252 min read


Shortfalls of conventional wisdom
Education teaches us to be compliant, older people tend to bring up unheathy comparisons, and learning to stay humble.
May 1, 20253 min read


A good day to take a walk
“The good news is that the Italians make the pasta and the Swiss make the watches. But if we stop world trade, and the Swiss have to their own pasta, and the Italians have to make their own watches, then people in both countries, arguably, will be a little worse off.”
- Howard Marks
Apr 6, 20253 min read


The importance of being 'pigs'
The importance of being "pigs", the most common recipe of an average life, cutting the noise to get things done, wisdom from Pooh bear and Michael Caine.
Mar 15, 20253 min read


Reality and limitations
“Sorry, no more executive roles after your fifties.”
Feb 20, 20255 min read


Random thoughts on the current state of affairs
Observations on the competitive rivalry in the VC world, recession and tech jobs in China, and how to legitimately lose money…
Sep 11, 20246 min read


Value sits with the beholder of cash
Deriving an accurate discount rate is a fool's errand. Value sits with the beholder of cash, who are you to say otherwise?
Sep 5, 20248 min read


Be it ever so humble...
When I arrived in Hong Kong in May 2021, I spent over two years of living out of a suitcase in a serviced hotel...
Aug 23, 20245 min read


Doing the things that you don't like to do
If you are not careful in protecting your dreams, someone else will show up and make you build their dreams for them.
Aug 16, 20246 min read
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