Olson’s Observations

I have been thinking about the future of this blog for the past few months and I have decided to put it into indefinite hibernation.  When I started this blog I did it for myself.  I love to write and blogging was a way to pursue that passion. In fact, putting together a record of my thoughts has been very fulfilling. Over the years a number of people - more than I ever would have imagined - have read my posts and some have even engaged in dialog with me via comments and email.

As I began to see more and more readers checking out my posts the overall blogosphere exploded and is now, pretty much, mainstream.  A lot of top “blogs” are really professional news sites with comments in that they have many employees and publish frequently.  That is fantastic.  We have witnessed a media revolution that is still in its early days.  I was lucky enough to witness it not only as a blogger but also in my business development role at FeedBurner, which was one of the best learning experiences of my life.

There is now a lot of new content being published on the web each day from all corners of the globe.  The barriers to entry that used to exist to publishing on the web are now all but eliminated.  Video on the web is also starting become more pervasive and mobile devices provide a new frontier for the web and publishing.

What does all this have to do with Olson’s Observations?  Well, I am not sure how spending a significant amount of time writing my columns on my own site makes sense given that I write infrequently and readers don’t seem to like that.  I feel as if it would be better to contribute to larger sites once in a while in order to get my work out to a much wider audience, which would also allow me to get more feedback in the form of comments.

I am also giving the blog an indefinite vacation because I felt pressure to post, to get more content out to readers.  That caused writing to lose its fun for me and, if it isn’t fun, I don’t want to bother. Contributing to other sites will allow the pressure to be lifted since I can contribute when I feel the urge to write and only then.

Lastly, writing-wise I wanted to spend more time on the book (or books - or maybe screenplays) that I think I have in me (I could be very wrong though - I might not have one in me). I want to start in on some larger, more long-term, writing projects that I have outlined but never seem to get to.

Over the the last year I have been increasingly frustrated at the lack of time in the day.  There is so much I want to do, to read, to write, to build but there is just never enough time.  Lack of time was the enemy, or so I thought.

Last weekend I had an epiphany.  I realized that lack of time wasn’t the enemy.  Lack of time forces people to prioritize, to make decisions about how to spend their time.  In a sense it causes people to focus. Focus was something I had at FeedBurner and all my life up until we sold FeedBurner.  I lost my ability to focus after FeedBurner.  I wanted to do everything. Start/run a company, blog, build TECH cocktail, etc.  Focus, though, is what helps one be great at what they do and helps with creativity.

In my case I am working on being a great venture capitalist, building TECH cocktail into a top notch organization and excelling in graduate school.  While those are all related activities, focusing on those things will take a lot out of me and focusing is what I need to do to make those goals come to fruition.  With what time is left I want to focus on my fiance, on my band (the Button Pushers), on spending time with friends and family and on some select hobbies (writing a book, rocket building and other things without deadlines).

Keeping up a blog (writing regularly at least) falls outside of my main focus areas. For those who want to know my thoughts I will make sure to post on here any time I contribute a piece elsewhere with a link to that post.  If that’s not enough you can just ask me and I will tell you.

Thanks to everyone who has read and contributed to this blog in some way over the years.  It has been a fun ride (and one that may continue to the future).

Andrew Lahde, manager of Lahde Capital (a small hedge fund in California), announced he is shutting down his fund.  He broke on to the scene in a big way earlier this year after his fund, only one year old at this point, returned ~866% betting on the subprime collapse.

The returns are one thing to be amazed about but his goodbye letter is truly something that will give you a jolt.  While I do think he goes a little off the edge here and there I do think that there are some interesting ideas scattered throughout the short letter that are worth thinking about. At the very least this is a smart guy who now knows what he wants in life and has realigned his priorities and I say good for him.

Here is the letter in full (via FT Alphaville and Portfolio.com).  Lahde surely knows how to go out with a bang, that’s for sure! (via The Big Picture)

Dear Investor:

Today I write not to gloat. Given the pain that nearly everyone is experiencing, that would be entirely inappropriate. Nor am I writing to make further predictions, as most of my forecasts in previous letters have unfolded or are in the process of unfolding. Instead, I am writing to say goodbye.

Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, “What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it.” I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

There are far too many people for me to sincerely thank for my success. However, I do not want to sound like a Hollywood actor accepting an award. The money was reward enough. Furthermore, the endless list those deserving thanks know who they are.

I will no longer manage money for other people or institutions. I have enough of my own wealth to manage. Some people, who think they have arrived at a reasonable estimate of my net worth, might be surprised that I would call it quits with such a small war chest. That is fine; I am content with my rewards. Moreover, I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck. Appointments back to back, booked solid for the next three months, they look forward to their two week vacation in January during which they will likely be glued to their Blackberries or other such devices. What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer, Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.

So this is it. With all due respect, I am dropping out. Please do not expect any type of reply to emails or voicemails within normal time frames or at all. Andy Springer and his company will be handling the dissolution of the fund. And don’t worry about my employees, they were always employed by Mr. Springer’s company and only one (who has been well-rewarded) will lose his job.

I have no interest in any deals in which anyone would like me to participate. I truly do not have a strong opinion about any market right now, other than to say that things will continue to get worse for some time, probably years. I am content sitting on the sidelines and waiting. After all, sitting and waiting is how we made money from the subprime debacle. I now have time to repair my health, which was destroyed by the stress I layered onto myself over the past two years, as well as my entire life — where I had to compete for spaces in universities and graduate schools, jobs and assets under management — with those who had all the advantages (rich parents) that I did not. May meritocracy be part of a new form of government, which needs to be established.

On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal. First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have reigned in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government. Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man’s interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles. This forum could be similar to the one used to create the operating system, Linux, which competes with Microsoft’s near monopoly. I believe there is an answer, but for now the system is clearly broken.

Lastly, while I still have an audience, I would like to bring attention to an alternative food and energy source. You won’t see it included in BP’s, “Feel good. We are working on sustainable solutions,” television commercials, nor is it mentioned in ADM’s similar commercials. But hemp has been used for at least 5,000 years for cloth and food, as well as just about everything that is produced from petroleum products. Hemp is not marijuana and vice versa. Hemp is the male plant and it grows like a weed, hence the slang term. The original American flag was made of hemp fiber and our Constitution was printed on paper made of hemp. It was used as recently as World War II by the U.S. Government, and then promptly made illegal after the war was won. At a time when rhetoric is flying about becoming more self-sufficient in terms of energy, why is it illegal to grow this plant in this country? Ah, the female. The evil female plant — marijuana. It gets you high, it makes you laugh, it does not produce a hangover. Unlike alcohol, it does not result in bar fights or wife beating. So, why is this innocuous plant illegal? Is it a gateway drug? No, that would be alcohol, which is so heavily advertised in this country. My only conclusion as to why it is illegal, is that Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other additive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers. This policy is ludicrous. It has surely contributed to our dependency on foreign energy sources. Our policies have other countries literally laughing at our stupidity, most notably Canada, as well as several European nations (both Eastern and Western). You would not know this by paying attention to U.S. media sources though, as they tend not to elaborate on who is laughing at the United States this week. Please people, let’s stop the rhetoric and start thinking about how we can truly become self-sufficient.

With that I say good-bye and good luck.

All the best,

Andrew Lahde

The journey that started early this summer is finally over.  The GMATs are done.  My applications are in.  The acceptance letters were received.  I was fortunate enough to be accepted to both Kellogg and to the University of Chicago GSB (incredibly humbling I have to admit).  Both programs are top notch so the decision where to attend was very, very hard to make.

After much thought I decided the University of Chicago GSB was the right place for me.  I am looking forward to starting classes in January and to meeting all of my classmates (I will be part of the part time program so I can continue my work at DFJ Portage).  I am also very excited about getting more involved with the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship.

Now, I just hope my many friends and colleagues that are Kellogg grads and students won’t be too hard on me!  Actually, it has been just the opposite.  Everyone has been incredibly supportive.  Also, I should mention that I still plan on being involved with entrepreneurship and VC at Kellogg/Northwestern (in fact, I am going to be up there the next two Saturdays working with students, which will be a lot of fun).

Thank you to all who helped me and supported me along the way.  Special thanks to Matt McCall, Rick Klau and Kyle Blackburn for writing my recommedations, to my friends and family for their support and especially to my fiance, Laura, for putting up with my craziness over the past five months.  Onward!

After six great years together Laura and I are now officially engaged. She is the greatest woman in the world and I am very lucky to have her. I mean, let’s be honest, I am probably (definitely) not the easiest guy to live with considering my wacky company ideas and my myriad of interests and pursuits but she is able to do it and do it well. *cliche warning* She is definitely the yin to my yang. She balances me out and keeps me focused on what is important which is, well, important (man, should have headed over to thesaurus.com for that one).

If it wasn’t for Laura’s unwavering support I may never have taken the leap to move to Chicago and join FeedBurner which turned out to be the catalyst for many great things that have happened since including TECH cocktail, DFJ Portage and meeting all of my great friends here in Chicago. She packed up and moved here with me right away because she knew what a great opportunity FeedBurner was. Who could ask for better in a partner?

Babe, here’s to many, many more great years together. I am very much looking forward to continuing the adventure and to seeing where life takes us.

I remember when I first figured out that schools educated students to be workers rather than creative thinkers. It was a hard pill to swallow but it was the truth. In school, as in the workplace, we stigmatize mistakes. This causes fear amongst students and workers and this fear is the cause of their inability to take risks and strive for innovation. As Sir Ken says, “You can’t do anything new if you are afraid of being wrong.”

Another thing I began to realize at roughly the same time was that academic inflation has slowly been creeping up on us. Jobs that used to take a high school degree in the 50s took a undergraduate degree in the 70s and now take a masters or a PhD. The question is: do the jobs really require that much more education or have we simply let the education system get out of whack?

What always confused me in high school was the choice I was forced to make between music (the arts) and sports. I absolutely loved (and still love) playing the drums. It is one of my true passions and I will do it until the day I die. That said, I also like to stay in shape and I love baseball. So, naturally I played in the marching band (hahaha - get your laughs out now) and I also wanted to play baseball but the coach of the baseball team told me I couldn’t do both. I just remember wondering why that was the case.

Being a student of history the Greeks came to mind. The Greeks valued a healthy combination of the arts, athletics and academics and they were one of the greatest societies the world has ever seen. Why, then, do we only allow students to choose two of the three things that make education and learning complete?

On top of all that why do we also value math and science higher than the arts? Being a guy who loves both science and the arts I just don’t see the rational for making one better than the other or in forcing kids who are very good musically into the sciences or into business so “they can get a job.”

Just yesterday I was given some hope that things are changing though. Howard Tullman was nice enough to show me around Flashpoint Academy, his new digital arts and sciences school in downtown Chicago. This place was awesome and certainly a haven for the creative folks behind video games, movies, sound/music, etc. What stuck in my mind, though, was one of Howard’s comments to me which was basically:

These kids are not at all lazy. They just don’t fit the mold of the traditional education system. When they get here they work hard and excel and become the best at what they do.

It is good to know there are outlets for folks who don’t fit the traditional academic mold which, as Sir Ken describes it in his TED talk, is a system where we are all trained to be university professors and that profs should be held up as the highest form of intelligence. Sir Ken follows that by saying that profs should simply be looked at as another form a life not better or worse than anyone else.

Now that I have stood on my soapbox for a bit I will turn it over to Sir Ken Robinson. Please take twenty minutes to watch his talk. I think you’ll truly be inspired.

As you all know I recently moved to NYC and back out of NYC. What most of you may not know is that I moved into a 4th floor walk up apartment. I’ll tell you, lugging boxes up four flights of stairs while people are yelling at you on the street for partially blocking the road with your truck is not fun. That was the scene when Laura and I moved into and out of Boston and we weren’t up for it again.

That said Laura’s brother took to the internet while we were driving out to NYC back in October and found us the number of a moving company. We called the guys and booked them to come help move all of the stuff from the truck up to the apartment.

I wasn’t sure what to expect but these three guys were great. They had the whole 10′ truck done in about an hour and charged me a flat rate of $225 (not including gratuity) which I thought was dirt cheap considering other moving companies we called quotes me about that per guy and this was a group of three guys.

When it was time to move back to Chicago this past weekend I called the guys again. They had the truck packed in about 90 minutes and everything arrived in Chicago safe and sound including Laura’s grandmas table and my bikes which if I had packed the truck would have probably been damaged.

So, the moral of the story is if you are moving into or out of NYC you should call Flexible Moving and talk to Percy Sellers (347.206.8796). He’s a hard working entrepreneur and he deserves your business.

Disclaimer: By reading this article you agree not to hold me responsible for any damage done to any of your stuff or any other form of loss or suffering you incur by using/working with/hiring Flexible Moving/Percy Sellers. Man, the fact that I even feel the need to write that disclaimer tells you a lot about our overly litigious society.

Reading Time: 4 minutes 30 seconds

People have always given me a bit of a hard time for not being a great multitasker. In fact, my girlfriend makes fun of me here and there for not being able to carry on a conversation and read a book at the same time or about how I really zone into my work or my writing and don’t realize that she’s talking to me. (To be fair, she is super supportive and the multitasking thing is just one of the very few things she teases me about. I mean, I am honestly not sure how she puts up with me. She’s a saint.)

I used to think multitasking was something that I needed to work on but I always had this feeling that focusing on a task, one task, would result in a better end product and in me learning much more about what I was doing and how I could improve.

Well, it turns out that the scientists (Who are these people anyway? I just picture a huge lab full of guys in white lab coats with a bunch of “test subjects” sitting around with a bunch of machines and wires hooked to them. Too much sci-fi for me…) may have proven that my suspicion about multitasking not being very productive is actually a fact.

Thanks to my friend Jason I came across an article in the Atlantic that discusses the topic and has some very good insight into why multitasking is not good for us (and our brains).

Summary: our brain is, in fact, not a computer capable of doing many things at once (actually it can do many things at once but in the cases where the brain is in that mode it actually concentrates a lot on concentrating rather than the tasks it is trying to complete). It is, however, a highly advanced tool capable of solving large problems and focusing on one task at a time with complete clarity. Check out this excerpt from the Altantic article as I think it illustrates the point nicely.

Multitasking messes with the brain in several ways. At the most basic level, the mental balancing acts that it requires—the constant switching and pivoting—energize regions of the brain that specialize in visual processing and physical coordination and simultaneously appear to shortchange some of the higher areas related to memory and learning. We concentrate on the act of concentration at the expense of whatever it is that we’re supposed to be concentrating on.

What does this mean in practice? Consider a recent experiment at UCLA, where researchers asked a group of 20-somethings to sort index cards in two trials, once in silence and once while simultaneously listening for specific tones in a series of randomly presented sounds. The subjects’ brains coped with the additional task by shifting responsibility from the hippocampus—which stores and recalls information—to the striatum, which takes care of rote, repetitive activities. Thanks to this switch, the subjects managed to sort the cards just as well with the musical distraction—but they had a much harder time remembering what, exactly, they’d been sorting once the experiment was over.

Even worse, certain studies find that multitasking boosts the level of stress-related hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline and wears down our systems through biochemical friction, prematurely aging us. In the short term, the confusion, fatigue, and chaos merely hamper our ability to focus and analyze, but in the long term, they may cause it to atrophy.

Ouch! That is not good at all. What’s that you say? Not a fan of science? OK, let’s take a look at the monetary cost of multitasking. Atlantic article, show us the money!

Six hundred and fifty billion dollars [Eric's note: this is a per year figure.]. That’s what we might call our National Attention Deficit, according to Jonathan B. Spira, who’s the chief analyst at a business- research firm called Basex and has estimated the per annum cost to the economy of multitasking-induced disruptions. (He obtained the figure by surveying office workers across the country, who reported that some 28 percent of their time was wasted dealing with multitasking- related transitions and interruptions.)

Now do I have your attention? Right… you’re reading this while also trying to do yoga and e-mail people on your BlackBerry. My bad. I should have known.

With all that said I would like to note that you can in fact have a variety of activities and interests in your life and even different things to do at work (everyone that knows me well knows I do a lot of different things in and outside of work). The idea is not that you should only do one specific thing in life, the idea is that you should focus on one thing at a time.

Basically you just need to break up your day. While you are answering e-mail that is all you should be doing. While you are working on a big client proposal you shouldn’t be doing anything else (especially answering intermittent e-mails). While you are riding your bike you shouldn’t be listening to your iPod or reading e-mail on your BlackBerry (seems crazy but I have seen them both and in the latter case the guy was coming straight at me - don’t worry though, collision avoided due to my focus on the task at hand). While you are reading, just read. Don’t keep answering the e-mail that come in, don’t answer your phone (unless it may be an emergency), etc. You get the idea. It’s not about having one task or activity in life, it’s simply about focusing on one at a time.

Multitasking is really hurting the experience of life in the sense that the journey is lost in the rush to some end game. That’s truly unfortunate because the journey is what it’s all about. It’s where you learn things, grow as a person and really enjoy your life.

So, next time you are about to multitask remember that life’s all about the journey, oh, and that you don’t want to fry your brain early on in life. Frying your brain = bad.