Otis Acquired
Tings Newsletter #3
Every now and then, I’ll send out an email of random thoughts about random tings.
Who am I? I started Otis (acquired by Public), Skillshare, and Turing Capital. I like a variety of things. I don’t like being pigeonholed into one thing.
1. So this happened! Otis got acquired by Public.
2. So what will I be doing next? More of the same. I am excited to lead Alternative Assets at Public and continue to democratize access to investing.
3. Anddddd I'm still thinking about starting a podcast/Youtube channel. Currently in the research/inspiration phase. If you have listened or watched anything different (outside of the status quo) please send a link with a note about what you liked about that format.
4. This No Jumper podcast/interview with Mikki was pretty good. He is known for getting banned by all Vegas casinos for being too good.
5. Khe Hy wrote something that resonated: "it becomes harder to buy experiences with age". YOLO.
6. An area I've been working on is shifting my mindset from scarcity to one of abundance. This year I set a minimum fun budget. So far, I sat front row at a Ronnie Chieng comedy show, upgraded our hotel on our NYC trip, and booked fun experiences with our family (golfing at Pinehurst, fishing in eastern NC, and gem mining near Asheville). One small little tweak changed everything.
7. We are doing it! We are building a custom home on 10+ acres. We have never done this before so if you have any tips or referrals for architects, designers, or builders in the RDU area, please send them along.
8. I am inspired by anyone that lives their lives against the three F's: fun, freedom, and fulfillment. I really enjoyed reading this 2021 Review from Nathan Barry.
9. This is a great Twitter thread from Sam Altman on US college education collapsing. One interesting stat: "It seems very clear that elite colleges discriminate against Asian-American students, and that the Supreme Court is going to find this. (One expert said no discrimination would result in around 65% Asian-American admits.)"
10. This tweet I wrote struck a nerve: Most companies could have 50%+ less people and still have the same output.
11. Anyone else out there use TickTick? It's the task app preferred by MKBHD.
12. If you're looking for a dead-simple analog way to plan out your day, try time-blocking with an index card. Or, you can go fancy with Ugmonk.
13. One of my favorite productivity hacks: create a separate family phone number. I signed up for OpenPhone and use this phone number for everything. We have the app on our phones and anyone can respond to the text messages. Will probably setup a family email address next.
14. We've been decluttering a lot, which includes not buying any new items, donating/selling old items, and organizing our spaces. I saw this post from Nick Gray on working with a professional organizer. Going to try this out.
15. One of my personal projects is upgrading my home office. Recent purchases include CalDigit TS4, Logitech MX Master 3, and Opal C1 Camera. Up next, I'm going to re-design my workspace and throw a couch for meetings.
16. Workspaces has been a good inspiration for... workspaces. Very envious/inspired by the outdoor space of Aaron Poe.
17. We plan on being in the New York area more frequently. As we started to plan an upstate NY trip, we found The Dutchess, which describes itself as a 'secret hotel'. Also came across Innes which has a sick looking golf course.
18. It's been fascinating to watch digital NFT artists outpace sales of IRL art world sales. XCOPY sold over $23M from one open edition and Pak sold $91M. Transparency + Community > Opaque + Exclusion.
19. The new Kanye documentary "Jeen-Yuhs" is amazing. You don't have to be a Kanye fan to enjoy this one. Highly highly highly recommended.
20. I've started to meet a lot of interesting people that are moving to the Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill area. If you're moving into this area, give me a shout as I plan on organizing a monthly/quarterly happy hour.