Business

What Blackstone Stephen Schwarzman looks for in interviewees

(Extracted from Whatever It Takes by Stephen Schwarzman) Here are my rules for how to have a successful interview: 1. Be on time. Punctuality is the first indicator of how much thought and preparation you have put...

November 10, 2019| People Read More

The airport test

(Extracted from Whatever It Takes by Stephen Schwarzman) When I interview people for Blackstone, I’m looking to understand whether an individual will fit our culture. At a minimum, this includes the airport test:...

November 10, 2019| People Read More

The gap between your dreams and reality, and the path to take

(Extracted from Whatever It Takes by Stephen Schwarzman) Every entrepreneur knows the feeling: that moment of despair when the only thing you are aware of is the giant gap between where you find yourself and the life...

November 9, 2019| Execution, Path Dependence Read More

How to figure out what to do in life and business?

(Extracted from Atomic Habits by James Clear) At some point, you need to make sure you’re playing the right game for your skillset. How do you figure that out? The most common approach is trial and error. Of...

October 27, 2019| Life, Strategy Read More

Targeted marketing, don’t bombard

(Extracted from Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday) They try to go everywhere and end up going nowhere. What’s the point? Most of those people never become your customers. Growth hackers resist this...

October 21, 2019| Marketing Read More

Growth hacking starts from product market fit

(Extracted from Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday) You know what the single worst marketing decision you can make is? Starting with a product nobody wants or nobody needs. … products—even whole businesses...

October 21, 2019| Marketing Read More

Purpose, not passion

(Extracted from Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday) Passion is seen in those who can tell you in great detail who they intend to become and what their success will be like—they might even be able to tell you...

October 19, 2019| Execution, Life Read More

Listen to your customers but not too much

(Extracted from David Perell’s Monday Musings (9/30/19) During a recent interview with Derek Thompson, Spiegel talked about how he invented the Stories format. Here’s how Spiegel told the story: ...

October 15, 2019| Execution Read More

Co-founders’ relationship can change

(Extracted from Venture Deals) The relationship between the founders at the beginning of the life of a company is almost always good. If it’s not, the term sheet and corresponding financing are probably the least...

October 10, 2019| People Read More

Your business can’t please everyone

(Phil Knight at Stanford Business School lecture 2019) It doesn’t matter how many people hate your brand as long as enough people love it. Phil Knight...

October 8, 2019| Marketing Read More

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