Since leaving Techstars in November, I've been rebuilding how I work from the ground up. Working for someone else meant using their tools, defaults, and opinions about how information should flow. Now I get to design my own again. Safari is where I spend a lot of my time. It's fast, lightweight, and clean. For programming, I've gone fr...

I’ve taught a lot of people how to snowboard over the years, and I never tell beginners to invest in fancy gear. A pro board has opinions: specific flex, length, width, camber, and much more. Every one of those choices assumes you already know how you like to ride. If you’re still falling on greens and barely linking turns, none of tha...

Years ago, I ran a coding workshop with high school students on the South Side of Chicago. Two young women came up with an idea: a navigation app that didn't just show you the fastest route, it showed you the safest one. They already knew which streets to avoid at certain times. They'd been doing this by instinct their whole lives - te...

Elections. Documentaries. Trials. The AI debate. Sports. Political rage. Social media wars. Each one demands you pick a side. Feel something. Post something. While you're distracted, the future is being built by people who aren't. You might read this and think you're above it. One of the enlightened who sees through the manipulation. O...

There's a film I come back to a lot. There Will Be Blood, by Paul Thomas Anderson. If you haven't seen it, I recommend checking it out. I won't spoil anything important. The first real dialogue doesn't come until fifteen minutes in. Before that, it's mostly Daniel Plainview alone - breaking rocks, crawling out of a mine shaft, burying ...