24 August 2020
This week's additions focus on founder stories, marketing, and mindset, with new digests from Deep Questions with Cal Newport, Founders, and Joanna Wiebe. Highlights include Time block planning forces you to confront how little deep work time exists Morgan's power came from others' financial weakness — strength was his kryptonite.
Showing 9 digests for 24 August 2020.
Deep work & focus
Podcast
Cal Newport answers productivity and deep life questions
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
August 30, 2020
Deep work & focus
10
Productivity & habits
7
Processes & SOPs
5
Time block planning forces you to confront how little deep work time exists
Rooted productivity: write your systems down in one place, review weekly
Early-career rule: say yes relentlessly until you've earned the right to say no
Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, and the battle over American capitalism
Founders
August 30, 2020
Case studies
8
Competitive analysis
6
Compliance & regulation
5
Morgan's power came from others' financial weakness — strength was his kryptonite.
Roosevelt sued Morgan's railroad trust without warning, breaking an unspoken rule of American power.
Two men who despised each other still cooperated when the stakes demanded it.
Deep work & focus
Podcast
Habit tune-up: deep work, email overload, and project sequencing
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
August 27, 2020
Deep work & focus
9
Productivity & habits
7
Communication
5
Leaving your house is the fastest fix for work-from-home focus loss.
Academia's email culture accidentally rewards unpleasant professors over caregivers.
Sequential vs parallel project scheduling matters less than working with your natural grain.
Conversion rate optimisation
YouTube
Headlines and buttons work best together, not in competition
Joanna Wiebe
August 27, 2020
Conversion rate optimisation
9
Copywriting
7
A generic button killed a winning headline's conversion potential.
Specific button copy alone drove a 123.9% lift at 100% confidence.
Optimising both headline and button outperformed button-only by 64%.
Keyword research for affiliate marketing: four types that drive revenue
Ahrefs
August 26, 2020
SEO
9
Content marketing
6
Search intent determines which keywords can actually generate affiliate clicks.
Specific-intent keywords like 'best car seat for small car' beat generic high-authority pages.
Informational content earns backlinks that lift your money pages in rankings.
Founder interviews
YouTube
Dan Chan: Bringing Magic to Virtual Meetings During the Pandemic
Bill Gallagher
August 26, 2020
Founder interviews
9
Pivoting
7
Prospecting & outreach
5
Corporate magician pivoted from 250 live shows to fully virtual after pandemic
LinkedIn press outreach and free demos drove CNBC and Hustle coverage
Virtual format unlocked global bookings — Kuwait, Bahrain, Europe, Asia from home
Identity & self-belief
YouTube
Eight habits for daily happiness from a naturally content person
Noah Kagan
August 26, 2020
Identity & self-belief
9
Productivity & habits
7
Most unhappiness is self-inflicted by consuming the wrong things
Name the cause of a bad feeling — it stops the spiral instantly
Blunt, immediate communication prevents small friction becoming resentment
Founder interviews
Podcast
Eventbrite: bootstrapping, IPO, and surviving COVID with Julia and Kevin Hartz
Acquired
August 25, 2020
Founder interviews
10
Bootstrapping
7
Fundraising & VC
6
Two years bootstrapping, 27 VC rejections — before Sequoia finally said yes.
Why big private funding rounds made the business harder, not easier.
Revenue went from record highs to negative in two weeks when COVID hit.
How Peloton turned skeptical investors and customers into fanatics
Masters of Scale
August 25, 2020
Fundraising & VC
9
Niche selection
8
Growth hacking
7
400 VC rejections — why wrong investors waste your time
Physical trials convert skeptics; words and videos rarely do
Never force a crow-eating moment when doubters come around