Dec 31
Solve for the Harder Problem [Interview with Bilal Mahmood] —
How ClearBrain’s CEO Used These 7 Lessons to Create a New Product Category
Dec 14
What We Should Learn from the Away Scandal —
The spectacular fallout from a recent investigation into Away, which portrayed
the beloved luggage company as a toxic workplace, has revealed two schools of
thought on how to treat startup employees.
The first says that staff should be cherished, because harnessing the passion
and brilliance of “A players” is key
Dec 11
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World —
Why it's ok to be a jack of all trades
Aug 25
Community means friendship —
Working in tech, you hear the word “community” a lot. When I was starting my
career more than a decade ago, the concept of a community manager was starting
to go mainstream.
Today it forms the foundation of our industry’s latest IPO – WeWork. For years
they have been crowing
Jul 27
Techstars Alexa —
Midgame [http://www.midgame.gg/] was accepted into The Alexa Accelerator
[https://www.techstars.com/programs/alexa-program/], a program co-run by the
Techstars startup accelerator and the Alexa Fund, a $200M fund for Amazon to
invest in voice tech companies. We’re two weeks in and over the next few
Jul 03
Conflict Isn't Always Bad —
My natural tendency is to avoid conflict. The few times I fought in school, I
was caught and punished for it and it didn’t seem never was worth the trouble.
It’s also the case that needless conflict can be harmful to both parties,
because even if you “beat”
Jul 01
Lessons on Persistence from Dean Karnazes —
Photo by Alex Gorham
[https://unsplash.com/@alexcgorham?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText]
on Unsplash
[https://unsplash.com/search/photos/ultrarunner?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText]
In college, I came across a book about long-distance running called
Ultramarathon
Jun 17
My Op-Ed in Vox —
Read my piece: Why Always Be My Maybe’s Asian American underachiever is groundbreaking
Jun 14
33 —
I turned 33 a few weeks ago.
I remember when my gymnastics coach turned 33 and told me about it. I was 12. He
was not only my first serious gymnastics coach, he was one of the owners of the
gym. He was in charge and he seemed to know
Jun 06
Starting Over —
Due to an unfortunate combination of bad actors and my own neglect, I’ve had to
do a full reboot of my blog. I should be able to recover / republish many of the
posts over time, but backlinks may be an issue, perhaps indefinitely.
While this is of course frustrating,
Jun 02
Professional Athletes Don't Train 70 Hours a Week and Neither Should You —
Long hours are BS
Lots of people in tech are obsessed with putting in long hours. Elon Musk once
said
[https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-nobody-changed-world-40-hours-a-week-not-true-2018-11]
that “nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week” and suggested that the
correct number was between 80-100 hours. Freelance marketplace Fiverr, with
Jun 06
How to Facilitate —
Piper Anderson is no stranger to difficult conversations. As an educator and
cultural organizer [http://www.create-forward.com/], she’s spent over 17 years
facilitating discussions about some of the most hot-button issues facing U.S.
society. In 2016, for example, she gave a TED talk about Mass Story Lab
Jun 01
32 —
I turned 32 a month ago and long-time readers know I try to use birthdays as
opportunities to reflect and learn. The past couple years are here: 31
[https://www.jasonshen.com/2017/31/], 30
[http://www.jasonshen.com/2016/reflecting-on-30/], 29
[http://www.jasonshen.com/2015/three-short-lessons-for-the-last-year-of-my-twenties/]
, 28
[http:
Feb 24
Introducing Headlight —
Editor’s note: Headlight was acquired by Woven in March of 2019
[https://highalpha.com/developer-hiring-platform-woven-acquires-nyc-based-tech-screening-platform/]
.
In late 2017, I started a company called Headlight
[https://www.headlightlabs.com/] with my friend and former coworker Wayne
Gerard. We’re building a performance hiring platform that helps employers screen
candidates for
Jul 28
The Fuzzy and the Techie —
I just finished Scott Hartley’s new book The Fuzzy and the Techie: Why the
Liberal Arts Will Rule the Digital World
[https://www.amazon.com/Fuzzy-Techie-Liberal-Digital-World/dp/0544944771/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1501252541&sr=8-1&keywords=fuzzy+and+techie&linkCode=ll1&
Jul 26
Goodbye Etsy, Hello World —
💡tl;dr: I recently left Etsy and I’m working on some new projects: one around improving tech hiring, and another around personal excellence. I have some spare cycles to take on part-time consulting / contract work in product and marketing, so don’t hesitate to reach out.
I joined Etsy
Jun 07
31 —
It’s sort of a tradition at this point for me to do a post around my birthday
(see: 30 [http://www.jasonshen.com/2016/30], 29
[http://www.jasonshen.com/2015/29], 28 [http://www.jasonshen.com/2014/28], 27
[https://www.jasonshen.com/2013/27], 26 [http://www.
Jan 11
Ridejoy: Lessons Learned —
On April 24th, 2011, I sat down with my friends Kalvin and Randy for an intense
10 minute interview with Paul Graham, Sam Altman, Jessica Livingston and several
other partners at Y Combinator (YC). We were hoping to convince the world’s most
powerful startup accelerator to accept our Reloveit,
Sep 28
Remote: Office Not Required —
I just finished reading Remote: Office Not Required
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804137501/ref=as_li_ss_tl%3Fie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0804137501&linkCode=as2&tag=helpyour-20]
, by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, partners at 37Signals
[http://37signals.com/
Sep 24
The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future —
Today, we’re taking a look at the book The Inevitable: Understanding the 12
Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future by Kevin Kelly. I really enjoyed
this book and if you work in technology or even have a passing interest in how
technology will shape our world in the