Derek Andersen

Co-Founder @StartupGrind/@bevyhq Labs, host @Divotdotorg. Posting about: tech, startups, AI, community, Silicon Valley, 4 kids, BYU, Believer. Still grinding.

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

After 50 episodes of Divot interviews from the top builders, authors, creators, and investors in the world, these are some of the top learnings and best clips.

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

@kelandren3 No, stayed at Dillon Beach for a few days and now back to the grind!

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

Golfed two very different courses this weekend with my boys 20-mins apart on the coast in Northern California. Beautiful place.

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

@kelandren3 Good guesses! Bodega Bay and Northwood in Monte Rio.

[Boring_Business @BoringBiz_]

I think about this pretty often. The most valuable company in 5 years is most likely not an AI company

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

@CatGodSandHive you're looking at it

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

@teddyferrin Also very good course knowledge from a single picture!

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

@teddyferrin Northwood is wild course!

[Hank Smith @hankrsmith]

“Posterity who are to reap the blessings, will scarcely be able to conceive the hardships and sufferings of their ancestors.”

- Abigail Adams, 1777

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

@Manhattva That is a king

[Cassandra Unchained @michaeljburry]

Staying married, a happy household, evidence of the parents working hard, childhood sports and watch all competitions, lots of hugs, reward merit, punish only egregious misbehavior, don't yell, restrict social media, monitor messages through 8th grade, the real expectation is college and academic excellence without pressure from parents, get children reading books early, no pacifiers, respond to needs not wants, babies sleep on their own through the night by 6 months, identify develop and support any talent or aptiude, one sport after age 10 is ok, communicate openly and easily with kids through grade 12, allow mistakes, and leave them alone in college. And then hope.

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

@weaverobotics Show us how Isaac puts on a fitted sheet.

[Startup Archive @StartupArchive_]

Ben Horowitz shares 4 principles for choosing a cofounder

The first and most important principle is to not let anxiety drive your decision. Ben recalls the feeling when you first start a startup:

“You’re like, ‘Oh my god, what if this doesn’t work?’… Your guts are boiling, you’re feeling very uneasy. And so there’s a tendency to grab the closest cofounder you can find to say, ‘Okay it’s not just me now. Whew!’ That’s a big mistake.”

Ben’s second principle for choosing a cofounder comes from John D. Rockefeller who said:

“A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship.”

Ben advises founders to be careful about going into business with your friends. Friendship is generally bad reason to choose someone as a cofounder.

The third principle Ben argues for is to work with people you’ve known for a while and truly respect. This is how The Beetles were formed, and they went on to be one of the greatest bands of all time. Ben juxtaposes with The Monkees who were put together by the record company:

“The Monkees were actually pretty successful for a little while but there was something just fundamentally inauthentic about them… You are generally better off being The Beatles than The Monkees. Work with people who you’ve known for a while, respect, and feel like you can be teammates with for a long, long time.”

The last point Ben makes is about equity splits:

“If you’re not willing to equally split the company from an equity standpoint with your founders, that’s probably a mistake.”

You also have to decide who is going to be CEO. Ben generally will not fund startups without a clear CEO:

“When you choose to share command, it’s because you can’t agree with your cofounder who should run the company. But everybody in the company is going to suffer because of that — you don’t have clear command and decisions have to get made twice.”

Source: @StartupGrind (Feb 2014)

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

@mattsuthe Yeah I agree, something about hitting 20 years of professional experience that changes how you think. Have to fight it.

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

Spoke to a lifelong friend in his mid-40s and was surprised how his failures overwhelmed his thoughts and bandwidth in spite of many big wins. I have at times had the same issue and when I do I just repeat over and over again:

Success matters.
Failure is inconsequential.

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

@AlexAlleman it's from Vinod Khosla

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

@ToddLlewellyn Great book. Had all my leadership team read it.

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

Life in prison for even suggesting this.

[William Coffin @CoffinItUp]

Just hear me out...

[Derek Andersen @DerekjAndersen]

@TeeplesCY my goodness!