10/ Indeed. Years spent on failed ideas are often forgotten when success comes along.

e.g. Ever heard of Reid Hoffman’s "SocialNet"? Nope, because LinkedIn, Greylock.

e.g. Ever heard of Marc Andreessen’s “Ning”? Nope, because Netscape, a16z.

11/ I think the biggest career mistake young people make is they’re afraid to look dumb, so they follow safe paths that cap their downside, not realizing that they also cap their upside. 

And said paths are often tournament-style competitions, + perhaps not as safe as they think

Erik Torenberg

/ted | exploring the onchain frontier | surfing @ venice, ca | eating @ gjusta / gjelina

Two related posts I think about a lot:
https://x.com/eriktorenberg/status/1044093515863486464
https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/the-moat-of-low-status-68a

Embrace the cringe this year

via ash_lamb.twitter

I really resonate with the term "moat of low status" and it's how I've operated to my advantage. If I want to go for something, I don't care if the work is "lower status" or how others view me (e.g. joined Coinbase in a junior role unrelated to my work experience to get foot in the door, did grunt work on a documentary to learn the film world, etc)

https://usefulfictions.substack.com/p/how-to-be-more-agentic

I love this and the term "moat of low status" I recently learned

I love this and the term "moat of low status" I recently learned https://warpcast.com/linda/0xcb45cefb

the real unlock is not playing status games

Some call it ‘embrace the cringe’ 

giving up status is the best exercise to stop caring what other people think and learn to trust yourself fully 

As someone who cared too much what others were thinking, this has been a great lesson

Used to be the creative type she’s describing and failed miserably (had to pivot because the uncertainty and the lack of appreciation at the time were killing me - not to mention I had to pay bills) 

She’s totally right -  you have to have a certain personality to win this game of tolerating the lack of status.  Not everyone can do it, and that’s ok

Which is why I'm glad I'm at a point in my life I don't NEED money to survive...

I love being here with so many like-minded visionaries

nice piece - trust the process/ trust YOUR process

Hard agree. I think these are network growth phases. When you get out of your comfort zone and try new things. It’s hard and murky, but you might come out stronger on the other side.