Self-discovery and problem solving

Sleeping 8 hours a night has been a revelation for mind stillness and personal productivity. I still face difficulties in getting my daily tasks done, due to the sheer volume of them and the many directions I get pulled on a given day, just like any entrepreneur starting his business.

You dance with what is important, you dance with what is urgent, but you should only go to bed with what is important AND urgent.

Like an Eisenhower matrix.

When solving problems or dealing with multiple daily requests often my mind will get busy, worried and distracted and I lose flow, overthinking about the number of things I have to get done and reacting to the overstimulation of modern life.

I continue to crave more offline time than ever.

I'm beginning to dislike my cell phone, seeing it as a device that is necessary, but also responsible for the many interruptions that happen on a daily basis.

This morning I decided to get back to my daily reading habit, despite the colossal amount of things I have to do. Fortunately, I received a precious message on problem-solving.

“The purpose of studying Buddhism is to study ourselves and to forget ourselves. When we forget ourselves, we actually are the true activity of the big existence, or reality itself. When we realize this fact, there is no problem whatsoever in this world, and we can enjoy our life without feeling any difficulties. The purpose
of our practice is to be aware of this fact.” — Shunruyu Suzuki on Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind

Self-reliance and Zen Buddhism

For the past 2-days, I have been reading excerpts of the excellent Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind book, from Shunryu Suzuki.

I tend to revisit it on a yearly basis.

This particular reading helped bring peace to my heart and calm to my mind.

I was thinking about absolute presence.

When nothing interrupts you, and you execute things with first-principles without anxiety or fear of judgment from others.

There is no procrastination only ruthless prioritization.

This is a big challenge, but a very doable one.

We should all aim to be present, leave no traces and, ultimately, burn like ash.

I randomly opened the book on this page:

“In order not to leave any traces, when you do something, 
you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should
be concentrated on what you do. You should do it com- 
pletely, like a good bonfire. You should not be a smoky
fire. You should burn yourself completely. If you do not
burn yourself completely, a trace of yourself will be left in
what you do. You will have something remaining which is
not completely burned out. Zen activity is activity which
is completely burned out, with nothing remaining but ashes. 
This is the goal of our practice. That is what Dogen meant
when he said, “Ashes do not come back to firewood.” Ash
is ash. Ash should be completely ash. The firewood should
be firewood. When this kind of activity takes place, one
activity covers everything.

So our practice is not a matter of one hour or two hours, 
or one day or one year. If you practice zazen with your whole
body and mind, even for a moment, that is zazen. So moment
after moment you should devote yourself to your practice.” — SHUNRYU SUZUKI -

Often times, when we do a task, perform a speech, go on a date or even cook a meal, we project a certain intention, we project an expectation of meaning that ultimately is only there to feed our ego and mess with our presence.

If you throw a wooden Buddha in the fire it will burn, if you throw a bronze Buddha in the water it will sink. Ultimately, Buddha is inside of us, when we are present we are Buddha. We are "boss".

We can be self-reliant, maters of our fate.

Ultimately, only you can help yourself.

Happiness lies within. Don't complain, don't victimize yourself.

If you do, you will suffer the consequences.

"if you understand the secret of our practice, 
wherever you go, you yourself are "boss." No matter what
the situation, you cannot neglect Buddha, because you your- 
self are Buddha. Only this Buddha will help you completely." — SHUNRYU SUZUKI

The wonders of Itupeva

As I drive back to São Paulo for a short 3-day week, I feel refreshed.

My parents have a house in the city of Itupeva-SP. It is a small town in which life is simple, tranquile and you hear birds sing all day long.

As a matter of fact, we spend part of the day feeding Papayas to them. I love going there.

This weekend I ran ~10K, went to the gym and slept 8+ hours everyday. Sunshine all along.

Ready to get things done and make moves as we continue to raise capital in Brazil.

Happy Monday!

Fear of Missing out in Venture Capital

This post was an email I sent to my other six partners at ONEVC a few weeks ago. The topic of conversation was how we should react & respond to cold emails in the workplace. I struggled with this in the first two years of my career as a VC.

Here it is:

I’m writing this response because it is worth in the “venture training” side of the house.

1 — NO FOMO

Wake up as if you have already lost the next Google, Uber, etc. It will happen to VCs. Always operate with no FOMO. For more on this, look at “BVPs Anti-Portfolio,” and you’ll know that even a VC firm with >100 IPOs often makes mistakes. It will happen to us, and we should never operate out of fear.

2 — You don’t have to be responsive to everyone

I used to think that I had to respond to every message and be responsive to everyone that wanted to get in touch.

At one point, I was accepting every LinkedIn request with a “how can I help you?” response, to test this premise to the fullest extension.

This strategy generated 0 deals. I did create mental anxiety and wasted my time. I wasn’t able to help anyone nor help our companies or our firm, due to the lack of intention.

3 — Be careful with cold emails

Never say no to cold emails. Read and treat them with careful attention. One of our companies (Rappi) wrote a cold email to Sequoia for their Series A and got the deal done.

I am saying no to shitty cold emails. Generally, they will not output anything good.

A lot of good things can come out randomness and cold messages in early-stage VC. I have had plenty of terrible meetings to understand when to respond to a cold note.

4 — Be memorable and of service

Anytime we interact with someone we are carrying the weight of our brand corporate and personal. All interactions must be remarkable. Venture Capital is hard.

On average, our funnel converts at 0.6% rate, which means that for the 99.4% that we DO INTERACT we have to be incredible.

After all, we’re saying no to their dream of building a new company.

When in doubt, add more value than what you can capture.

5 — Every response has a cost

It is expensive to spend a lot of time interacting with people in which there is no intention to do business with. Save your time and the firms by ignoring messages. It won’t impact your reputation negatively. Replying but not being incredible, hurts you and ONEVC.

Which means…

6 — We should only respond when there is **no FOMO** and a real intention of being resourceful.

Time management is crucial in early-stage venture.

Given how little research this founder did on ONEVC, it is clear that we are a part of a comprehensive blast. It is a waste of our time.

7 — Try it for yourself

I encourage you guys to respond to these emails and have some terrible meetings. It is proper training for the long-run. Meet some crappy founders, and you’ll see it for yourself.

8 — Trust your gut.

If you believe that this company is the next Google, by all means, respond to this email and interact with them.

Never forget:

Time and reputation are more important than capital.

Sleeping is the best productivity trick

I was hospitalized due to an overload of work.

Bad habits made it happen. Drinking >12 coffees a day with little sleep with bad eating habits helped. Furthermore, the stress of putting your life-savings in your new venture made me stressed.

I can’t remember the last time I took time off in my life.

I always used hide to take a few calls while on vacation. Or skip some group activity to do emails while consuming news and social media. Sad.

I’ve been sleep deprived for a long time.

Because of Eight Mattress, I now track my sleep activity. During most of 2017 I averaged 5–6 hours a night. Not sleeping enough killing me and my ability to get things done.

Instead of waking up at 4:30 AM, I’m back at waking up by 6:30–7 AM but sleeping 7–8 hours a night.

Major difference. I’m calmer, less anxious and now drink less coffee.

Our time on earth is short but you have to sleep. (duh)

Be wise with your choices and love yourself.

Sleep more and have less, but better waking hours.

I need to develop bed-time rituals and routines as well.

For most of the last 5 years, I’ve been passing out on my daytime clothes. Collapsing after reading or working until I can’t keep my eyes open, or not caring in case I have company. Who needs PJs after sex anyway?

No more! Organizing those 20 minutes pre-bed time is crucial.

Melatonin side-note: after increasing my daily sleeping hours, I stopped consuming melatonin. I was taking a 2.5mg dose on a semi-daily basis. Can’t remember the last time I took it.

Connecting to your dark side

Everyone that has built something meaningful must have gotten in touch with “the dark side.”

I woke up thinking about it and how it probably impulsed many to win. From business people to pro-athletes.

It is a combination of being present with the reassurance that you are on the right path of greatness. A mix between fear and courage, in which you smell the battlefield blood. The battlefield can be the gym, office or anything actually.

The journey of building a VC firm, when you are the only full-time partner is lonely in many ways.

I meditated for about 10 minutes, trying to get my mind a ease, given the size and variety of the to-do list I have to tackle this Monday.

I had moderate success.

We are born alone and we die alone. Nonetheless, the importance of enjoying the journey is paramount for tranquility and happiness.

It is never about the end goal. During a positive conversation with one of our partners, he told me about the importance of enjoying the journey and all the challenging moments we had and will have.

Like Freud said, we must subdue our impetuous desires and get things done, because well, it is another beautiful Monday.

I hustled my way to the ER in 2017

We need to stop with the demented hustle-culture we’ve put out there.

I'm part of the problem. DHH says it well in this post.

I’ve been in São Paulo for the past two weeks and due to health issues, had to visit three different doctors.

Furthermore, due to a severe gastritis attack, I had a surprise visit to the ER on Christmas evening.

I thought I was having a fatal heart-attack and rushed to the hospital with considerable chest pain. I was scared.

What a vital warning happened this week.

Since Christmas, I’ve slowed down my work pace, slept 10–12 hours every day and exercised daily.

Having six cans of sparkling water and eight daily espressos became the norm to become functional. No wonder I got sick. After this painful warning I have reduced my intake to a more normal level.

I’m drinking 2 to 3 coffees a day and having at most, two sparkling drinks of water.

I gained a decent amount of weight with the free food we used to have a FundersClub. That is my fault.

In 2017 I lost over 11 pounds, which is excellent.

I still have 20 or so to reach my ideal weight and am going to get there.

For the past two days, I have been off hustle mode, not doing much but reading, taking naps, going for runs and sleeping. I signed up for a 5K race with a childhood best-friend. That felt good.

Long-term change has to start small.

Tonight, I am re-building all my internal systems to optimize for the routine I know works well for me.

The best days are the ones in which I wake up early, usually between 4:30–5:30 AM and I get to do the following things:

• Read for one hour
• Write and think for one hour
• Exercise for one hour
• Shower, eat and get ready for the day in 45 minutes

When this is the case, I only start touching work at 9:30–10AM on days that I get to control my agenda. It requires discipline to go to bed early and not stay up for long-hours behind screens. I also have to know exactly what is the plan for the morning, so I execute with steady rhythm.

When I follow this approach, I am happier and get the feeling I'm in control of my agenda, which is important for me.

I prefer to only have meetings in the afternoon. I value having time to get hardest, most-important tasks out before lunch and find that PG’s maker and manager schedule very functional for startup life.

This is how I am going to operate from now on.

I also last longer, working until 8–9 PM at the office with peak performance.

Building ONEVC is a marathon, and I will win this race.

Just a brief pit-stop before 2018.

Legacy is built daily. The Bezos Family.

This weekend I watched this cool fireside chat between Jeff Bezos and his brother. Watch it in one sitting rather than in pieces.

Daily, before I leave my bedroom for the day I stare at this post-it note that says "legacy is built daily". It is a powerful reminder.

It goes well with "Bezos Day 1 policy", or the discipline that I see Sequoia Capital insert in their companies, with their anti-shortcuts approach, mixed with daily paranoia, Grove style.

It reminded be of the importance of family and world exploration.

It made me think that I need to venture out a bit more and not stare at my phone so much.

I doubt that Bezos would have quit his Wall Street job if he didn't have such stellar grandparents that thought him grit from a young age.

Nobody becomes this wealthy and powerful by accident.

Also, I love his approach to dating.

"I want a woman that can break me out of a third world prison".

Same.

The importance of tidying up your physical environment

I recently moved to a new place, and I’m excited about living in my new home with awesome roommates.

This holiday I took the opportunity to re-read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo.

I’m a methodical person with peculiar morning rituals.

For me, rituals are paramount.

The KondoMarie method is fabulous for personal productivity and mental fortitude. I love the simplicity of her writing and that ultimately, by giving life to what you own you understand if “they spark joy” or not.

I moved twice this 2017, always going to smaller places, in order to save money . Every time I moved, I got rid of about 30% of my possessions, and I still feel that I own too many things. Living the United States does that to you over time, I guess.

The ultimate social-status is no ownership, but full-time access to anything on your terms and conditions — More on this in a future post.

Real joy comes from within and by tidying up you always restore balance in your life. Letting go is more important than adding.

I’m content with my new space, and with the fact that it seems like the longer I live and the wealthier I get, the lesser material things I need.

Like Ray Dalio says, life is about meaningful work and meaningful relationships.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Marie’s book:

“The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life”.

“When we really delve into the reasons for why we can’t let something go, there only two: an attachment to the past or a fear for the future”.

Don't ask for introductions if the VC turns you down

It drives me crazy when founders don’t understand how the world works. Once a week, right after a formal turndown, I get a founder asking me if I can introduce them to other investors.

This is a weak and stupid ask.

As some of you know, I believe in long-term alignment of interests, "funeral style."

It is how the venture business works. It is how humans work. Everyone has an agenda, even if it is a subconscious one.

A big part of our work as investors is to make introductions to our portfolio companies, friends and partners.

In business, it is better to have full-stack support or no support at all because weak links will destroy you and your company over time.

At ONEVC, we write US$250–500K checks in US$2–3M seed rounds.

We end up being a relevant, sizable investor, while not being able to take care of your financing needs. Because of that, we are experts in syndicating your round and prefer to be the first or, at most, second check in your round.

We believe in making decisions out of conviction and independent thinking.

Because of that, it is key that when we send a double-opt-in for a deal to other investors, they know that we have our reputation and LP capital behind that intention.

This is true alignment of interests.

Anything outside of that scope is weak and speculative. Given the high level of imperfect information in the seed world, great investors can't afford to help people that they are not interested in investing right now.

A weak, non-aligned intro it will hurt your startup and your reputation. As soon as another investor tells me about a company, my first question will be: have you invested already? If the answer is anything but a yes, it shows weakness.

As a founder, if you can't understand this business principle you are too naive for the business world and I hope that this post helps you.

It is more important to grasp why you are being rejected — which is why at ONEVC we are always thoughtful without turndowns — rather than trying to get more introductions from people that are not interested in aligning with you right now.

If you are rejected, don't suffer. Try to understand why and move on.

Exception to the rule:

There are times in which an introduction to other investors is applicable.

For instance, if you are too early or too late for the stage we invest. Maybe I know angels, accelerators or growth firms that can be helpful — often we make these intros.

Another situation is when you are in a market that we don't make investments, but we happened to have met, such as energy or satellites.

Early progress with intermittent fasting

Starting to do intermittent fasting has been one of the most impactful habits of my life.

I have always been overweight. The negative impact of this situation has been constant for the past 15 years of my life. I’m not fat but have carried a little gut for the past 15 years or so.

Love handles, powered by 25% body fat.

To this day I’m embarrassed to take my shirt at the beach/pool and, sometimes, during sex. I’m tired of this feeling and am acting on changing bad habits, daily.

Being in optimal, strong shape is vital for success.

Fasting made me realized that my relationship with food has been wrong my entire life. I’ve been looking for emotional comfort in food since, well ever.

Measuring my weight for the past five years was helpful. It made me realize how much time I wasted not loving myself enough.

We can only improve what we measure.

For me, being overweight is an output of emotional stress. It’s rare to see fat billionaires, and there is an apparent reason for that.

"Mens Sana In Corpore Sano"

In the past ten years, I tried several diets. Nothing has been more enlightening and efficient than fasting.

I follow the 16:8 pattern. 
 
I slowly ramped it up, though. With daily increments of 30 minutes for the fasting window, in clear 1% better everyday fashion.

In a world of abundant, affordable food, if you can’t train yourself to fast for a few hours, how can you accomplish anything meaningful?

A fit body is a significant achievement. You can’t buy fitness.

Like any path in life, it is about your ability to endure pain while you push yourself to the limit.

Legacy is built daily, and it starts with your body.

Any definite improvement in life should always start with yourself.

We are born alone. We die alone.

Everyday my mind is getting stronger, but my body is healthier and fitter.

I’m ready to win, and fasting is a big part of that.

Cheers to 180 pounds by Xmas.

My Morning Rituals — Frigid water with fresh lime juice and black coffee

I plan to win.

Absolute victory is built daily.

Victory against yourself is, by far, the most important one.

I’ve created a set of daily habits and systems that keep me accountable. They allot the courage and determination I need to go beyond survival mode.

It is crucial to create protection against internal and external destructive forces. Becoming a morning person made me realize that.

I wake up between 4:30–5:30 AM. Most days without an alarm clock.

Here is how my morning flows:

1 — Bathroom. I wash my face, do the usual and look at myself in the mirror for 30 seconds. I stare at my “legacy is built daily” post-it it on the bathroom mirror.

2 — Kitchen. Cut a full lime, squeeze it on ice, fill the rest of the cup with cold water. Make coffee. Always black. No need for fancy coffee.

3 — Turn on classical music on my phone + Bose Q35’s. I listen to Claude Debussy, Chopin, Bach, Mozart — Vivaldi for days that I’m particularly excited

4 — Read a book for 40–60 minutes

5 — Restroom again (thanks, coffee)

What happens after this is step is the most telling part of how my day will go.

I’m working on improving that part of the routine.

Number “6” varies over time. It will usually be 6:30–7AM. At that time I’ll:

- Touch my phone and check messages / news / stocks / crypto (10 min)

- Meditate and/or pray (10 min)

- Exercise (either go to the gym or turn on youtube and do it in the living room) — 45–75 minutes

- Work the essential task of the day (variable)

- Write a blog post (25–35 min)

Drinking frigid water with lime has been one of the best habits I’ve picked up this year.

When you read for ~ 60 minutes every day, you learn faster, AND you start your day getting ready for deep work.

What remains a challenge

Dedicating one hour of each day to my body, to write and to read.

When I rank 3 hours for all these tasks — daily — I’m focused, rested and ready to crush it.

Stoicism and Venture Capital

You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. — Marcus Aurelius

Reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is about finding inner peace and moral certainty. Daily chaos aside, you have a choice on how you react when the world tries to obliterate you and your goals.

There is way too much distraction in our way today.

We can live our lives by our powers as long as we can focus on the present moment. Do not pay attention to mental afflictions.

Stoicism is about character improvement and discipline. You must be ready to forgive and move on. A rational reaction is the best way to find peace and supreme resilience.

Stoicism is helpful for startup founders and investors. In our lives, the sharpest of all elbows are around us with envy, competition, and hate.

Stoicism helped me find my dark side. It’s a reliable framework to develop independent thinking and spiritual tranquility.

Every startup founder should read the work of Marcus Aurelius and Seneca.

You should be ready to die on the field of battle for your company and customers. Endure temporary pain. Win.

“You must be ready to receive wealth and prosperity without arrogance, and be ready to let it go.” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Meditations only costs US$1,00 on $AMZN. Remarkable value.

Venture Capitalists are sales people and they only sell 3 products

As a Venture Capitalist, you must be able to do what I call the triple sell.

1 — Selling you and the firm

You and your firm are the ones capable of making a meaningful difference to the founders and their quest.

We invest in relentless founders that would get to their goals regardless.

All that VCs do is help amazing people get to the promise land faster.

2 — Selling the company

At ONEVC, we work hard to be the first check from Silicon Valley in your seed round. In Venture conviction is king.

If we decide to partner, I want you at my funeral. I want to promote your product, vision, and progress.

Confidence without attitude also helps you recruit the best talent to your portfolio companies.

A seed investor has two paramount responsibilities: help recruit high-end, affordable talent and assist in follow-on financing.

3 — Selling returns

We are a financial product. Limited Partners trust us with their capital so we can — at least — return 3x their capital in ~10 years.

At the end of the day, you are a financial product. Never forget that.

Do these 3 things right every day and you might win in Venture Capital.

On long term relationship building

The essence of who I am as a person and what I do for a living lies on relationship building.

Lately, I realized the enormous potential of playing the long game in relationships. There is a simple question I now ask for every new person I meet: would I want them at my funeral?

Thinking this way modified my behavior, and provided a straightforward, albeit robust framework for decision making when it comes to networking. Go deep with few people rather than connecting with plenty of folks with little sagacity.

"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them" — Ernest Hemingway

You don’t need formal training to be responsive, meet deadlines and to show up on time. Pick the right people you want to go deep with and offer them value without expecting anything in return.

Be relentless. Add so much value that they don’t have another choice but to want you in their lives.

Stop spending time on social media doing small interactions with thousands of people. Go deep. Win.

ps — thanks to Jess Lee for the funeral metaphor.