Tiger Woods: Mental Toughness

17 06 2008

“The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.” - Juma Ikangas, winner 1989 NYC Marathon

Two of my favorite authors are Malcolm Gladwell and ESPN’s Bill Simmons; Gladwell for his ability to make ordinary things fascinating and Simmons for his hilarious take on the psyche of a sports fan. Coincidentally they had an email exchange that was posted here.

Cue Gladwell:

“This is actually a question I’m obsessed with: Why don’t people work hard when it’s in their best interest to do so?

“The (short) answer is that it’s really risky to work hard, because then if you fail you can no longer say that you failed because you didn’t work hard. It’s a form of self-protection… If you get drunk the night before an exam instead of studying and you fail, then the problem is that you got drunk. If you do study and you fail, the problem is that you’re stupid — and stupid, for a student, is a death sentence. The point is that it is far more psychologically dangerous and difficult to prepare for a task than not to prepare. People think that Tiger is tougher than Mickelson because he works harder. Wrong: Tiger is tougher than Mickelson and because of that he works harder.” (Emphasis added)

Like many other American information workers, I was mesmerized by today’s US Open. Tiger showed us what is so great about sports, and Rocco Mediate is due his respect for pushing Tiger to show his brilliance in order to win. If you didn’t catch it, Nike aired an ad that featured Earl Woods (Tiger’s late father) talking about Tiger’s incredible focus:

We can’t all be Tiger, but we can work like Tiger.


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Categories : Inspiration

It’s about execution

13 06 2008

and a bit of luck.

I’m tired of the accusations against Mark Zuckerberg. He didn’t “steal” anything. Like most great ideas, its time had come. It was in the air.

This isn’t just a Facebook thing, most great inventions emerge with a little bit of controversy. They can’t even say for sure if Alexander Graham Bell really invented the telephone. He may have been beaten by a few hours.

So get over it. From the Rolling Stone article, here’s the salient line:

Wherever the idea for Facebook came from, it was Zuckerberg’s version that went viral throughout college campuses that spring.

That’s it. Atta boy Mark.


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Categories : Business

Warren Buffett bets hedge funds can’t beat the market

10 06 2008

Fascinating news from money.cnn.com: Warren Buffett reaffirms his distaste for sophisticated investment vehicles, this time putting up some serious cash to back it up. Well, serious for me. Probably not for him.

The Sage has bet Protege Partners, a fund of hedge funds, $1 million (sort of - more on that in a minute) that, net of all fees, the Vanguard S&P 500 index fund will beat the average of 5 funds of hedge funds chosen by Protege over the next 10 years. Although it’s not disclosed, you can assume that Protege itself is one of those 5. The bet took effect on Jan. 1 of this year. Each party put up $320,000 to purchase a Treasury bond that will be worth $1 million at the end of the bet, at which time the money goes to the winner’s charity. This is apparently a standing offer that Buffett made in May 2006.

Seems to me that Buffett is just toying with these guys. “Sure, I’ll take your bet. Knock yourself out, kid.” As for Protege, they already got their money’s worth. Not everyone gets to make a bet with Warren Buffett, let alone a big one. However, if Buffett wins (60% likely according to Buffett, 15% likely according to Protege) I’m sure it won’t be reported. It’s no longer news when Buffett makes the right bet. Now if Protege wins, then they’ll make a big deal out of it. But this bet is all about the PR value right now, not financial performance 10 years from now. In that respect, Protege’s money was well spent.

As intriguing as hedge funds are, I’m an index fund guy - I subscribe to Mark Cuban’s theory that the best investment is made with an information advantage, which you and I don’t have in public companies. However, it’s simply not practical to invest your meager savings in startups where you can have an information advantage. That leaves index funds as the most reasonable investment. Fees, transaction costs, and management expenses drain most mutual funds and hedge funds of the really good returns. I’m with Warren on this one.


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My worst nightmare

3 06 2008

I love cycling. That’s why I probably take notice more often than your Average Joe of car-related cycling deaths, which happen all to frequently.

So when I saw this image on CNN, I literally gasped:

Be careful out there people. And please - PLEASE - watch out for cyclists.


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Categories : What the

New York Venture Fund: NYC Seed

3 06 2008

The NY Times is reporting that Mayor Bloomberg has launched a new seed stage fund for pre-revenue and pre-product technology startups in NYC. Called NYC Seed, the fund has a few interesting details:

  • First-time founders are encouraged
  • NYC Seed will make investments of up to $200,000
  • NYC Seed will provide guidance from VCs, entrepreneurs, and technologists - presumably from the NYC area
  • Companies must be located in NYC

So, will this work? If by ‘work’ you mean recreate Silicon Valley, then probably not. Silicon Valley has a mindset that is extremely accepting, both financially and socially, of the failure inherent in developing new technology companies. However, if the measure of NYC Seed’s success is adding fuel to the burgeoning startup community forming in New York as in other cities, then yes I think this is a good start. They are incorporating several key ingredients of an evolving technology venture model: young founders, small investment amounts, and an involved mentor community.

Best of luck to these new companies and their founders.


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Categories : Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital