Avidan

head barista @rootvc (seed deep-tech/AI/Devtools) hobbies -- ☕️🍕🤖🚜🛠🔪🍸🔥

[Avidan @avidan]

We have a new coffee grinder (and $190M fund). I rebuilt the electronics to add grind-by-weight and Wifi/BLE.

The firmware is also running a server to announce our new fund: https://t.co/J7fiXQ10ZS

☕️🚀🤑

[Avidan @avidan]

@BillyDraper Thank you. I have a feeling you know a few guests I should have on the show

[Avidan @avidan]

I guess now’s as good a time as any to announce that my new hobby is…chronicling the hobbies of legendary operators. We’re launching the podcast in January. Here are some of the folks we have in pipeline, 5 of which are filming in the coming weeks.

[Sheel Mohnot @pitdesi]

Famous hobbies outside work:

Mark Zuckerberg: Brazilian jiu-jitsu, MMA, surfing, hydrofoiling
Bill Gates: Bridge, tennis, pickleball, reading
Steve Jobs: Zen meditation, music, long walks, Japanese art and design
Sergey Brin: trapeze, gymnastics, diving, burning man
Jeff Bezos: Sailing, flying helicopters, ocean exploration
Jensen Huang: Cooking, eating adventurously, was a nationally ranked table tennis player!
Morris Chang: Bridge, classical music, Shakespeare
Warren Buffett: Bridge, ukulele, reading
Elon Musk: Video games, spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to influence elections

Obsession with your company is great! But the idea that the best founders have no interests outside work is bullshit hustle-porn.

Having hobbies isn’t the opposite of being obsessed with building something great.

[Avidan @avidan]

@HelgebyMagnus @cyantist I fully agree. We will avoid hobbies that are simply “I can buy this cool stuff”. Gonna avoid most collectors for this reason — unless their collection becomes an obsession to the point where they become authorities on the matter to professionals in the field.

[Avidan @avidan]

@lisamxu @iankar_ Perfect timing

[Avidan @avidan]

@pravijn @martin_casado wanna save me the AI agent tokens? whats Martin's hobby?

[Avidan @avidan]

@heskelbalas omg. i did not have him on the list...but i do now. that strawberry farm is amazingly sci-fi.

[Avidan @avidan]

@heskelbalas @andrewmccalip adding andrew now

[Avidan @avidan]

@joshu screenshot for the full list was larger than my screen 😂

[Avidan @avidan]

@heskelbalas @joshu josh is the one of the first people i called for this!

[Avidan @avidan]

@heskelbalas @CJHandmer hell yeah. Adding Casey to the list.

[Avidan @avidan]

@heskelbalas @jimbelosic this is EXACTLY the content we will cover. Adding Jim to the list

[Avidan @avidan]

@creebeauvoir He’s top of the list for a reason. Can’t wait to have him on the pod.

[Avidan @avidan]

@nabeel Thanks. You know you are on my target list. Get ready ;)

[Avidan @avidan]

the list of s-tier founders with s-tier hobbies is amazing. im starting a podcast just to interview them about it. #normalizehobbies

[Matt Grimm @mttgrmm]

GFY

Propaganda bullshit. Expected, I suppose, from a Nashi propagandist.

I have 3 miniature humans that aren't my hobby - they're my entire raison d'être. To say nothing of my delightful wife that I greatly enjoy spending as much time with as possible.

Every single late night at the office, business dinner, investor event/retreat, trip to a supplier, visit to a customer, etc is a direct trade-off against my being an involved and present father (and husband). It's a difficult balance! And yet I've done it.

The real talk side of the "hustle culture" bullshit that nobody talks about is how your work output falls off a cliff around ~60 hours. Maybe a bit more if you're super young, but I doubt it. In most cases, that 80th hour at your desk is performative - it's theater.

Balanced lives (whether it's raising kids, sailing, tinkering on hobby cars, fitness, whatever) directly lead to balanced thinking and a FAR more sustainable lifestyle than "all work no play."

And, more importantly, it models for your employees that balance is actually good for output, morale, retention, etc.

Building big, impactful companies is a marathon. An ultra marathon. 10 years of marathons back to back. Your mind (and body) do need to actually rest and restore, or else you burn out. Fact of life.

Nonsense claims like this are propaganda from the (typically) VC crowd who want to see MOAR HOURS as if that makes PMF happen, under the misguided belief that hours in linearly equals company value out.

Have hobbies. Have kids. Take a vacation with your partner. And also work hard to build your company. The balance is difficult to find, but very doable.

[Avidan @avidan]

@prateekj @marvinliao fully agree. my pipeline of founders with epic hobbies is awe inspiring

[Avidan @avidan]

That’s it. My new mission is to profile founders and their epic hobbies.

[martin_casado @martin_casado]

@IamHansHenning It’s seriously not a thing. I’ve never met a founder with zero hobbies.

[Avidan @avidan]

@ben_mathes @CJHandmer this is awesome. adding to the list

[Avidan @avidan]

@amy I’m actually gonna bring on @dschol, @tonsing or @royr for the coffee episode.

[Avidan @avidan]

@stephenthoma @ledwards Absolutely. Five star only

[Avidan @avidan]

@davegoldblatt I promise this has been in the works for months

[Avidan @avidan]

@SoniaBaschez Thank you. Excited to create

[Avidan @avidan]

@sbyrnes You are a legend in the making

[Avidan @avidan]

@naywilliams Thank you. I wish I had a link to pander for the “subscribe”