- For The Better
- Posts
- From the Desk of Eric Ries May 2018
From the Desk of Eric Ries May 2018
From the Desk of Eric Ries May 2018
From the Desk of Eric Ries
May 2018
"No matter what size startup you’re running or working for now, this type of scenario is right around the corner: You want to set up a booth at a trade show with a prototype of your product. You’ve put it all together when you receive a ping from your finance person: “You’ve exceeded your allotted marketing budget for the quarter.†Next, you hear from legal: “Are you planning to have everyone who interacts with the demo sign an NDA?†Before you know it, every move you want to make feels like this — bogged down."
For more on how to solve this problem using methods more commonly associated with corporate functions like product development and marketing, take a look at this interview I did with First Round Review on how to make gatekeeper functions sources of power and speed.And speaking of interviews, I’ll be speaking at Tech Crunch Disrupt in September. I’m looking forward to it and hope you’ll come by.
Here are few other recent conversations I’ve had about my own work, and some other pieces I found really thought-provoking over the last month.
I hope something here catches your attention, too. And let me know if there are things you think I should be reading--you can send them to: [email protected]
[Conversations]
[Readings]
How adventure climber Alex Honnold prepared for his free solo climb of Yosemite’s 3000-foot El Capitan wall--which he was the first person to ever complete--and how “his cognitive training provides a hint about a major transformation that might soon upend the world of knowledge work.â€
“A particularly dangerous traffic intersection...community journalism and how to translate data into experience†are just a few of the projects innovation and local government are tackling together in Mexico City.
James Fallows writes in this wide-ranging piece on his and his wife’s travels through the country, “Americans don’t realize how fast the country is moving toward becoming a better version of itself.â€
A new model for corporate innovation from Dave Binetti.
“The idea that our era is somehow seeing the emergence of an intelligence in silicon that rivals our own entertains all of us — enthralling us and frightening us in equal measure. And, unfortunately, it distracts us.†On the history, present, and future of AI, Intelligence Augmentation, and Intelligent Infrastructure.
Using evidence of lead pollution found in “the enormous, miles-thick plate of ice†surrounding Greenland, “A team of archaeologists, historians, and climate scientists have...reconstructed year-by-year economic data documenting the rise and fall of the Roman Republic and Empire.â€