Auren Hoffman Quotes

1900s: get leverage by hiring people
2000s: get leverage by hiring bots

Your data will be much more valuable if you enable it to be joined with other datasets (even if you make no money off the other datasets). This is the #1 thing that most people who work at data companies do not understand.

One of the big ways that data becomes useful is when it is tied to other data.

The reason for this is simple: data is only as useful as the questions it can help answer. Joining, linking, and graphing datasets together allows one to ask more and different kinds of questions.

Data businesses are generally misunderstood. DaaS has different metrics than SaaS.

While there has been a lot written about SaaS businesses (how they operate, what metrics to watch, etc.), there has been surprisingly little written about data businesses.

social proof is way more powerful when it’s leveraged correctly
instead of "1 million customers" you should tailor it: "500 new york-based customers" or "200 SaaS companies like yours"
we're most influenced by people like ourselves, not just "lots of people"

rule #2 to be happy: always assume that everyone you meet likes you unless that explicitly tell you otherwise

rule #1 to be happy: never assume someone is saying something critical of you unless they explicitly state it

optimism is a form of positive leverage

simple test to see of tech savvy someone is:
what how they use their machine. the more they use their mouse, the less tech savvy they are

Pivots are very hard when you are in-person.
Pivots are crazy hard when you are remote.

the best way to improve is show someone an example of someone just like them that is slightly better.

don't show me an example of Steph Curry. i'll never be able to shoot a basketball like him. show me an example of someone that is slightly better then me.

recommendations are ads.
but we like "recommendations" and hate "ads".
so henceforth, all "ads" will be renamed "recommendations". long recommendTech

most of success in life is just following up with people at least 20 times

“We are just too focused and too well aligned,” said no employee ever.

Advice for standing out as a hire:
(1) Manage your manager
(2) Push your manager to go faster
(3) Do what you say you are going to do
(4) Never let people wait for you

This will make you indispensable because 99% of people don’t do this