How to Spark Creativity, Knowledge vs. Conviction, & More
The Friday Five: Episode XLIV
Welcome to the 928 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Wednesday. Join the 74,895 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.
Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Veridas!
Do you struggle with verifying the identity of your customers?
Gone are the days of needing to ask customers over the phone to verify 3 pieces of information to prove their identity, and wasting your support rep's time. Veridas’ voice biometric authentication will confirm a person's identity simply by hearing them speak. No language requirements, no special phrase, just 3 seconds of chatter. In fact, 100 companies around the world already trust Veridas thanks to its simplicity, accuracy (+99.9%), and speed (150 milliseconds).
Veridas is offering a special 15% discount for all Curiosity Chronicle subscribers that book a live demo in the next 30 days. Sign up at the link below to take advantage of the offer!
Today at a Glance:
Quote: On desire and having vs. wanting.
Tweet: The story of an $11 billion crypto giant.
Article: How to spark creativity.
Podcast: Airbnb vs. NYC.
Bonus: Scaling grown up mountain.
One Quote:
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” ― Epicurus
Never lose sight of the blessings of the present.
Contentment—happiness with present circumstance—is true wealth.
One Tweet:
Opportunity is slowly becoming more evenly distributed. Stories like this one—on the founding of the $11 billion crypto protocol—keep reminding me of that fact.
As a side note, we have Polygon Studios CEO Ryan Wyatt coming on for an episode of Where It Happens in a few weeks. I’m excited to dive deeper with him on this founding story and where the future is headed for the protocol.
One Article:
How just 20 minutes a day to yourself could transform your life
I’m a big believer that boredom is the key to mindfulness and creativity.
I started scheduling boredom into my day about 6 months ago. I go for daily walks without any technology, I sit and let my mind wander, I go for drives with no podcasts or music. It feels psychotic at first, but then the ideas start flowing and your stress magically melts away.
This was a great article with tactical steps to reclaim your humanity with just 20 minutes of boredom per day. I strongly endorse.
Pro Tip: Buy a pocket notebook to carry around so you can jot down random thoughts and ideas without needing to engage with technology during these “off” periods.
One Podcast:
Airbnb vs. NYC | No Reservations
I’m becoming a big fan of these storytelling series podcast formats. It’s a cool podcast format—sort of like a short audiobook broken up into chapters or episodes.
Business Wars does a great job with it, and their latest series—on Airbnb vs. NYC—is starting off hot. This has the makings of a television drama in the same vein as Super Pumped or The Dropout (albeit without the full crazy founder).
Highly recommend listening to the first episode to see if it grabs you!
Listen to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
One Bonus:
This is more of the usual brilliance from Tim Urban. I’m going to pin this to my desktop and pop it open from time to time when I’m learning about a new idea, topic, or investment opportunity.
The key is in being self-aware about where you are on the curve at any point in time.
Never get too high (on Child’s Hill) or too low (in Insecure Canyon). Stay the course to find balanced knowledge and conviction.
Where It Happens Podcast
Bootstrapping An Eight Figure Business with Michael Martocci
Watch it on YouTube and listen to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Want more? Join the 4,000+ in our unique community on Discord.
Special thanks to our sponsors for providing us with the support to bring this episode to life.
This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the fastest way for investors and M&A teams to learn everything they want to know about a company, all from an on-demand digital platform. Tegus is the most extensive source of instantly-available 1:1 conversations between investors and experts, covering companies from the seed stage to the public markets. Just log in for instant access to 25,000+ transcripts. They are offering you a free 2-week trial at tegus.co/room.
This episode is also brought to you by OpenPhone. OpenPhone is an all-in-one business phone system that can help your startup look more credible—and it works right from your existing smartphone or computer. Each phone number comes with its own inbox for managing calls, texts, and voicemails together—making it easy to keep track of every conversation. Sign up and start using your new business number in minutes. Visit OpenPhone.co/room to save 20% on your first six months.
Sahil’s Hiring Zone
Excited to announce the launch of my new talent collective!
Members of the collective will get exclusive access to opportunities at my favorite high-growth startups across the tech landscape.
Completely free for candidates. Use the link below to apply!