From the Desk of Eric Ries

  February 2019

"The Right to Leave to Conduct a Business Operation Act is one of a series of rights afforded to Swedish employees...It's also one of the reasons the country's capital, Stockholm, has become Europe's start-up capital, second only to California's Silicon Valley for the number of unicorns (billion-dollar tech companies) that it produces per capita."

In Sweden, where employees can take a six-month unpaid sabbatical to start a new company, some pretty great organizations have bloomed. They include, as this article highlights, Spotify, Skype, and Mojang (the creators of Minecraft). Combined with the availability of free healthcare and education to everyone, funded by the tax system, this policy makes taking the leap into entrepreneurship a whole lot less risky no matter what stage of life you're in. The only restrictions are that your idea can't compete with your current company or cause it "any significant inconvenience."Below are a few other pieces that have caught my eye lately, and a few recent discussions of my work. I'm also sending a few more hiring listings your way this month, in case you or someone you know is curious about what's out there. I hope something here catches your attention. I’m always glad to get recommendations, so if there are things you think I should be reading, send them to: [email protected]

[Hiring]Village Global Venture Capital is looking for a Software Developer & Data Analyst LTSE is hiring a Principal Platform Engineer[Conversations]African Power & Energy Elites Personality: Logan MoodleyDriven by Wanderlust, This Boy Proved Traveling the World Isn't a Pricey AffairCan the concept of the Minimal Viable Product work for books?These Are the Next Six Books You Should Read if You're Serious About SuccessFive Steps for Maintaining Focus During Early-Stage Product Development17 Business and Leadership Books to Help MBA Students Succeed in Business[Readings]

So you want to be a wizard An engineer at Stripe talks about what it means when being good at your job means you constantly have to learn new things. Included are a list of "wizard skills" and a lot of great illustrations, too.

For Christina Tosi, Building a Dessert Empire Is Not All Milk and CookiesA story about literally sweet entrepreneurship and what it takes to grow a business based on quirky cookies and baked goods, Milk Bar. The 16th outpost recently opened, and founder and chef Tosi has more plans in the works.

From Classical Management to Behavioral TransformationAn excerpt from a new book, Leading Transformation: How to Take Charge of Your Company's Future, out from Harvard Business Review Press. It's all about how the old systems need to be replaced with new structures that allow for an encourage innovation.America's Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

A grim, if necessary, read about how the people we tend to think of as most successful early on aren't always the ones who find the most long-term fulfillment.

Principles of Experiment FlowThree simple principles to help manage the process of running experiments, beginning with discovery and visualization.Here's how this Finnish corporation is fueling the global societal vision of sustainable smart energy, marine ecosystem.A great interview with the CEO of Wärtsilä, a Finnish corporation which manufactures and services in technology driven marine and energy markets in more than 80 countries. It's making the transition towards a 100% renewable energyr future and transforming marine, oil & gas business using a three-stage lean startup-style process of experimentation and scaling.Spaghetti Graphs -- a better solution for measuring customer engagementAlex Taussig of Lightspeed walks you through using a different kind of measurement process using monthly net revenue divided up by customer cohorts and contribution margins, including a great example using sample data.The $15 Minimum Wage Doesn't Just Improve Lives. It Saves Them.The ripple effects of giving people a better living wage--including on health, psychological well-being, sleep, and even teen pregnancy rates.Algorithmic Justice Could Clear 250,000 Convictions in CaliforniaCode for America and the San Francisco District Attorneys Office joined forces in May of 2018 to determine eligibility for dismissing charges under Proposition 64: "So far they have reviewed 43 years of eligible convictions, proactively dismissing and sealing 3,038 marijuana misdemeanors and reviewing, and recalling and re-sentencing up to 4,940 other felony marijuana convictions."