Ellen Liu

Duke | Bain. prev. Manus AI, Neon, Coda, Notable Capital

[Ellen Liu @ellen_liu_ellen]

i turned my life into a map 🗺️

it was so fun to reflect on the 4 cities i've lived in and how they shaped who i am today

check it out https://t.co/rePgkbVmNA

[Paul Graham @paulg]

"I think a life properly lived is just learn, learn, learn all the time."

— Charlie Munger

[Ellen Liu @ellen_liu_ellen]

@NatalieNeptune1 congratssss

[Cory Sylvester 📦 @StorageDataDev]

I wanted to be an investment banker after college.

My grades weren’t good enough and I blew the interviews I did get.

I accepted a middle office role, supporting traders who liked to fling bottle caps at my head.

I pivoted to working as a credit analyst, underwriting loans for ultra-wealthy clients.

Not 10% as sexy as Investment Banking, but I learned a ton and worked for some of the best people I ever met in my career.

I applied to work for the CIO of asset management next.

I didn’t get the job.

The people that worked for him were mostly former investment banking analysts, or at least had killer resumes and intellect.

I had neither.

But I applied again, and in our 1x1 interview, I told him I would outwork anyone.

I got the job this time.

It was 2009, and he was responsible for guiding the ship for J.P. Morgan’s richest clients.

I worked 7 days a week, a slave to my blackberry, but I absolutely loved it.

The role lasted a few years, that's the most you can last at the pace he sustained.

I pivoted again.

This time I was picking technology stocks for a large fund inside J.P. Morgan.

I loved it, and I added value.

When I realized that your compensation isn’t really tied to the alpha you generate, I lost all steam.

I pivoted again.

Moved to a hedge fund.

The hedge fund blew up 3 months after I showed up.

I pivoted again.

I started advising hedge funds on big ideas.

Self Storage was the first one we found that had a big opportunity.

We were successful and made our clients a lot of money, but our business model wasn’t scalable.

So I pivoted again.

We found that no one had figured out where every storage facility was.

We built the tech and grinded for 2 years to solve that problem.

Today most people in the storage industry use our platform @radius_plus

When we found a new way to think about developing but our clients didn’t think it was worth what we did, I pivoted again.

I called one of my favorite clients and pitched the idea of starting a private equity real estate firm to build storage in a way that no one was.

@dxd_capital was created.

3 years in and we’ve raised $150MM in capital so far and built some beautiful buildings (see below).

Everything you’ve read to this point has taken 20 years.

I haven’t had any big liquidity events, still drive a shitty car and rent a 1,900 sq/ft home.

It takes a long time.

I failed & pivoted a lot.

I had to have blind faith that I would find success.

Most days I struggled to not think that I was a failure.

Your path will look different, but if you outwork everyone and continue to push your own ceiling, then you will find success.

I promise.

[Matt Ragland @mattragland]

A Brief Overview of Time Blocking

Since my Time Block Dad post went viral last weekend, I wanted to share a quick overview of how the principle works (at least for me).

Time blocking, time boxing, calendar blocking is a great way to make sure you're getting the right tasks done at the right time.

I first learned about time blocking from Cal Newport in his book Deep Work, but it's a widely used productivity principle that Founding Father Benjamin Franklin popularized hundreds of years ago.

You can time block for an entire day or for a single block to focus on something important. Again, here's my schedule for reference:

So as you plan the upcoming week, try time blocking your days in two ways.

The first is to give each day a set of pre-planned blocks to help keep you on track.

I promise the first week is going to feel a little messy, because if you’ve never done this before it’s easy to under or overestimate the time it takes to do something. But you should have a pretty good idea of what needs to happen and what’s already scheduled into the week.

The second way I want you to time block is to look at your schedule and define at least one block of time that’s just for you and something you want.

It could be a project you’re working on, like I am with the podcast, a health goal, a hobby, time to read - whatever. Define your time for it and block it off.

You should be able to block off that time with a clear mind and confidence, because everything else is blocked off too!

I’d love to hear from you on the results of time blocking, and if you think it helps at all. Thanks for reading!

[Jon Erlichman @JonErlichman]

A headline from 2007.

[Halogen Ventures @HalogenVC]

We’re excited to announce the start of our 4th Annual Fellowship in Venture Capital and welcome our 2023 Halogen Ventures Fellows 🎉

Learn more about this years cohort here: https://t.co/HM2z1Kzf9e

#venturecapital #fellows #halogenvc #entrepreneur

[Bloomberg @business]

TikTok CEO Shou Chew is about to testify at a House hearing as Congress weighs banning the Chinese-owned app in the US.

Follow our live blog here: https://t.co/BtKp8ZEFqP

[Olivia Moore @omooretweets]

🚨 The @a16z Marketplace 100 is here!

We evaluated more than 12,000 companies (using @ConsumerEdge credit card data) to find the top 100 fastest-growing private marketplaces by GMV.

This year saw some major moves - here's what @zachcohen25 and I found ⬇️

[The New York Times @nytimes]

Michelle Yeoh won the best actress for her role in “Everything, Everywhere All at Once.” The victory makes her the first Asian star to win best actress in the 95-year history of the Academy Awards. https://t.co/SwMyj076OQ

[Jessica Lessin @Jessicalessin]

For @wsj to say flat out that SVB could have failed because they added non-white men to their board shows how far behind the times (and certifiably stupid) this publication really is. It makes me so angry and very sad. WSJ readers and staff deserve better.

[Morning Brew ☕️ @MorningBrew]

A dozen eggs now costs more than a pound of beef.

🍳12 eggs: $4.82
🍔1lb ground chuck: $4.64

A global bird flu and high production costs have pushed egg prices to record highs in January, while the price of ground beef has fallen since its peak in August.

[Ellen Liu @ellen_liu_ellen]

Fantastic story!!!!

[Justin Gordon @justingordon212]

Melanie Perkins has one of the best startup stories

- Learned to kitesurf so she could build a relationship with @KiteVC
- 1 year to hire her tech team
- 3 years to raise $3M
- Experienced exponential growth

How @MelanieCanva grew @canva 👇

https://t.co/T0OKhFrrkN

[Erica Wenger @Erica_Wenger]

Interesting perspective! @roelofbotha at @sequoia talking about judging people based on 2nd convo not 1st convo

[Ellen Liu @ellen_liu_ellen]

@hpierrejacques @HalogenVC

[Ellen Liu @ellen_liu_ellen]

Atlanta!

[Olivia Moore @omooretweets]

Ever wondered what kids are really doing online?

@qustodio aggregated screen time data from 400k+ kids aged 4-18 - the results are fascinating.

Let’s start with the top apps by daily minutes per user 👇

[Microsoft @Microsoft]

Bing.

[Ellen Liu @ellen_liu_ellen]

It was amazing to attend @stevecolumbaro’s office hour yesterday at Duke Financial Economics Center!