21 June 2021
This week's additions focus on mindset, finance, and strategy, with new digests from Bill Gallagher, The Daily Stoic, and Silicon Valley Girl. Highlights include Grew 59% the year she had a newborn and her partner left Why your morning phone habit is destroying your best work hours
Showing 15 digests for 21 June 2021.
Founder interviews
YouTube
Building an international skincare education business from clinic to consulting
Bill Gallagher
June 27, 2021
Founder interviews
9
Identity & self-belief
6
Grew 59% the year she had a newborn and her partner left
Waiting for permission to act was her costliest mistake
Why she bets on corneal therapy becoming mainstream skincare philosophy
Deep work & focus
Podcast
Seven stoic productivity strategies for focused, deep work
The Daily Stoic
June 27, 2021
Deep work & focus
10
Productivity & habits
9
Why your morning phone habit is destroying your best work hours
Perfectionism is paralysis — small daily wins beat chasing results
Saying no is a skill: every yes costs capacity on what matters most
How LinguaTrip went from St. Petersburg co-working space to Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley Girl
June 26, 2021
Origin stories
10
Bootstrapping
7
Business models
6
Cashflow-positive before fundraising made Silicon Valley investors take notice
No agency fees undercut every competitor and won the first clients
Online courses built before COVID prevented the company from shutting down
Crisis leadership
Podcast
How Marriott stayed on offense during the worst crisis in travel history
Masters of Scale
June 24, 2021
Crisis leadership
8
Long-term planning
7
Retention & loyalty
6
COVID dropped Marriott occupancy to single digits — dwarfing 9/11 and 2008
Marriott scaled home rentals from 2,000 to 30,000 properties mid-pandemic
Losing CEO Arnie Sorensen mid-crisis: how leadership held and moved forward
How three people retired in their 30s using different strategies
Noah Kagan
June 24, 2021
Case studies
10
Bootstrapping
7
Unit economics
5
Saving 70% of income on ordinary jobs can retire you in three years
A $30k crypto bet at the bottom turned into a $10M retirement plan
Turning a hobby into a business can fund early retirement by accident
Productivity & habits
Podcast
Returning to office: manage interruptions through informal productivity structures
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
June 24, 2021
Productivity & habits
9
Deep work & focus
7
In-office informal structures naturally reduce workplace interruptions better than remote.
Productivity requires thoughtful design across activity selection, organization, execution.
Time block planning gives every hour a job and trains discipline.
How to craft a vivid vision that aligns and focuses your company
Bill Gallagher
June 23, 2021
Vision & mission
10
Communication
6
A written three-year vision filters distractions better than any strategy.
Your team forgets 97% of what you said within a month.
Keep team members out of drafting — they kill ambitious thinking.
Formula One: the business model behind the world's most global sport
Business Breakdowns
June 23, 2021
Business models
9
Unit economics
7
Case studies
6
F1 earns $5 per fan; the NFL earns $150 — that gap is the opportunity
Budget caps ended the spending arms race and made teams investable businesses
Drive to Survive unlocked casual fans; real-time e-sport racing is next
Automation & tools
YouTube
15 business apps AppSumo uses to run an $85M/year company
Noah Kagan
June 23, 2021
Automation & tools
9
Growth hacking
8
Cash flow management
6
AppSumo's affiliate program pulled $608K in revenue in one week.
Giveaways alone account for eight figures of AppSumo's total revenue.
Start free and scrappy — add software only when the problem is clear.
Bootstrapping Models: Scaling, Hiring, and Enterprise Pricing
Startups For the Rest of Us
June 22, 2021
Bootstrapping
9
Hiring & recruitment
7
Pricing strategy
6
Full-time W2 employees build ownership; contractors suit performance-based roles with clear metrics.
Lifestyle businesses and ambitious growth require entirely different hiring and capital strategies.
Enterprise discounts (40%–80%) require research into competitors; differentiation gives pricing power.
Identity & self-belief
Podcast
Einstein: curiosity, nonconformity, and the cost of imprudence
Founders
June 22, 2021
Identity & self-belief
8
Deep work & focus
7
Resilience & grit
6
Being a brilliant rebel cost Einstein nine years of job rejections
His miracle year happened with no prior signs of a breakthrough coming
Curiosity and solitude, not raw intelligence, drove his greatest insights
Ho Nam of Altos Ventures: Berkshire-Style Investing in Early-Stage Tech
Acquired
June 21, 2021
Fundraising & VC
9
Long-term planning
7
Resilience & grit
5
How Altos turned an $85M fund into Roblox's largest IPO shareholder
Why founder control and capital efficiency beat growth-at-all-costs
Missing on selling becomes a feature, not a bug, when conviction is right
Productivity & habits
YouTube
13 daily habits that helped build a nine-figure company
Noah Kagan
June 21, 2021
Productivity & habits
10
Goal setting
8
Communication
5
The habit of following through when no one is watching is a superpower.
Tracking net worth monthly is what actually made the difference financially.
Scheduled silence — no podcasts, no music — unlocks creativity no book can.
Deep work & focus
Podcast
Staying Motivated on Long-Term Projects
Deep Questions with Cal Newport
June 21, 2021
Deep work & focus
9
Productivity & habits
8
Identity & self-belief
5
Progress accretes from planning, not motivation—structure beats feeling.
Deliberate practice means stretching past your comfortable ability repeatedly.
Work location matters more than time for avoiding distraction.
Founder interviews
Podcast
Ava DuVernay on building Array and changing who gets to make films
How I Built This with Guy Raz
June 21, 2021
Founder interviews
10
Business models
7
Identity & self-belief
6
Why winning Sundance still didn't open any studio doors
Self-distributing films hand-to-hand built the infrastructure for Array
Control over distribution matters more than studio approval