Sometimes some things are so common place we gloss over them and it takes a book or someone famous to point things out even when they're staring us in the face. Zero to one did a great job of this.
What value I got from it? How I applied it in my day to day?
Probably close to zero than one.
It did give me a perspective on the importance of going from zero to one and I think that is often lost on people where I usually can detect and point out now.
The ?onopoly stuff was quite interesting but wasnt quite relatable for me.
Perhaps others in other positions got more from it than I.
This fleece vest is something that's come across from trading floors.
It started at SAC capital management (now Point 72). SAC was famous for very carefully creating an environment for peak efficiency. Noise was bad for concentration, so the SAC trading floor was really quiet. Even the phone ringers were off. You had to pick up the phone when the light blinked. They found that people tended to perform best when the thermostat was set to quite cold, so that's what they did. Then they found that you didn't have to completely freeze but but being just a little cold put your brain in the right state so vests became popular. You were't uncomfortable but your arms were cold so you got the performance benefit for the least amount of discomfort.
Making a trading floor really cold is actually quite a convenient thing to do because other than a data center there aren't a lot of places with a higher density of heat generating computing equipment than a trading floor and also because traditionally people wore suits so a little cold was fine.
The Jeans, shirt and fleece is not or at least post the initial spread from SAC was not a Wall Street thing in general. It was quite specifically a trader's "uniform". You didn't want to wear your suit jacket all day long because the mesh on your office chair (usually an aeron) would rub against it and make holes in the back of your jacket. So you took off your suit jacket, took your vest off the hangar in your office, hung your jacket and put on the vest if it was cold.
This kit is absolutely genius. It's uncannily accurate. As a VC, I own, use, and love almost every single item in the first and second kit.
I use Superhuman, wear Atoms, own a Patagonia fleece vest, occasionally read The Information, have read Sapiens and Zero to One… I don't know whether to be embarrassed or amused.
25 comments
[ 2.4 ms ] story [ 61.7 ms ] threadOr maybe it hasn’t crossed the chasm quite yet.
Most of us read HN to inform ourselves, learn new stuff but also because of entertainment.
We do have a very simple mechanism to vote/downvote what we decide to consume as ways to flag/hide content. I highly recommend you to use those tools.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Of course they didn't say anything about Twitter, so you do have that.
mumble cringe
^ doesn't down play the book in any way.
Sometimes some things are so common place we gloss over them and it takes a book or someone famous to point things out even when they're staring us in the face. Zero to one did a great job of this.
What value I got from it? How I applied it in my day to day?
Probably close to zero than one.
It did give me a perspective on the importance of going from zero to one and I think that is often lost on people where I usually can detect and point out now.
The ?onopoly stuff was quite interesting but wasnt quite relatable for me.
Perhaps others in other positions got more from it than I.
It started at SAC capital management (now Point 72). SAC was famous for very carefully creating an environment for peak efficiency. Noise was bad for concentration, so the SAC trading floor was really quiet. Even the phone ringers were off. You had to pick up the phone when the light blinked. They found that people tended to perform best when the thermostat was set to quite cold, so that's what they did. Then they found that you didn't have to completely freeze but but being just a little cold put your brain in the right state so vests became popular. You were't uncomfortable but your arms were cold so you got the performance benefit for the least amount of discomfort.
Making a trading floor really cold is actually quite a convenient thing to do because other than a data center there aren't a lot of places with a higher density of heat generating computing equipment than a trading floor and also because traditionally people wore suits so a little cold was fine.
The Jeans, shirt and fleece is not or at least post the initial spread from SAC was not a Wall Street thing in general. It was quite specifically a trader's "uniform". You didn't want to wear your suit jacket all day long because the mesh on your office chair (usually an aeron) would rub against it and make holes in the back of your jacket. So you took off your suit jacket, took your vest off the hangar in your office, hung your jacket and put on the vest if it was cold.
I use Superhuman, wear Atoms, own a Patagonia fleece vest, occasionally read The Information, have read Sapiens and Zero to One… I don't know whether to be embarrassed or amused.
Bravo