After seeing hundreds of pitches of very young companies and the cursory scruitiny that is given to them by investors in the span of a few minutes of analysis, I can't  help but chuckle now when investors say something to the effect of "you're in a very crowded space" or "you're in a very tough space".

They say it as if there is a space out there in the universe that isn't crowded or tough, and being in that market will pay off  massive easy dividends to the startup founder and her investors. 

Pro tip: an uncrowded, easy space DOESN'T EXIST.

Because if it does exist, it only lasts about a minute before everyone and their brother figures out it’s easy money.

The business world is pure brutality.
Here is an example of a situation where one minute you have a billion dollar company.
​And the next minute you don’t:
Powa Technologies

If I ever have the privilege of being an angel investor I vow to say something like this spiel to young startup founders:
"The business world is absolutely totally fucking brutal.  I admire your ambition and drive and vision.  But I won't invest in you because I prefer not to get my ass handed back to me in fourteen chewed up little pieces in a space I know nothing about.  I prefer to get my ass chewed up in a space I do know something about.  Thank you."

#CTFO Parenting.

I must promise myself to practice as much CTFO Parenting as possible.
There is too much out there in the world now to worry about.  I want to focus on the must-have fundamentals until my son is old enough to take care of himself.  And in the end, hopefully, he won't turn into a douchebag.  That message is partly what my old friend since the 6th grade told me.  He's got a child who is a few years old now, and he said "children are great, because they simplify your life.  Yes, some parts are more complicated, but in whole, they simplify your purpose in life."  And I believe I am seeing the light.

Care about what truly matters.  I think the title of that post is sensationalistically misleading.  At the core, the message is about caring about what really, truly matters.  It's an entertaining enough of a read.

Today was my dad's birthday.  He's 76 and still going strong.  It's hard to express the love I have for him and what he and my mother sacrificed for me and my sister.  The magnitude and weight of his influence on my life to make himself a first generation American immigrant is staggering and worth at least 1,000,000,000x what I am writing today.

Looking back now, I think my parents were forced to practice CTFO parenting.  And so  I will do everything I can to practice it until he's capable of making mostly good choices on his own.

Happy Birthday, dad, I love you very much!