reecepacheco

“The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell

The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which “people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices but their incompetence robs them of themetacognitive ability to realize it”.^[1] The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their own ability as above average, much higher than in actuality; by contrast the highly skilled underrate their abilities, suffering from illusory inferiority. This leads to a perverse result where less competent people will rate their own ability higher than more competent people. It also explains why actual competence may weaken self-confidence because competent individuals falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding. “Thus, the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others.”^[1]

^{…but once the intelligent get confident, it is a powerful mix.}

I am very fortunate to have grown up in the restaurant business, with a father who cares about eating well and a mother who grew fresh vegetables in our garden. Not everyone is that lucky, and it’s a shame that America is consequently in such bad shape (literally).

Oliver’s TED talk is brilliant and I hope his wish comes true.

brycedotvc:

One of the most powerful TED talks I’ve seen. This is part of the problem we’re hoping to attack via our investment in Local Dirt.

Brilliant. Competition FTW.

@bryce:

Dear Google,

Bright and early I logged into one of my favorite services and saw this news.

You’ve been catching a lot of heat lately. The echo chamber seems to think you want to be everything to everybody. As though dominating our search box wasn’t enough, now you want to control our friendships, our health records, what we carry in our pockets and the pipes into our homes.

I for one welcome out new overlord. Not because you will dominate in all of these categories or even do any of them all that well. Frankly, I think many of the powerful subtleties of these servies and devices will be lost on you.

No, I welcome you because each time you plant a stake in the ground it makes everyone uncomfortable. It makes them nervous. Because as much as we love to hate you, your engineers and your reach scare us.

You see, we need competition. It brings the best out of us. We can fall into the rut of seeing nice month over month growth and increasing market share that leads to high fives ‘round the board room tables for meeting our modest metrics. As true as this scenario is in start ups, its even more true in large companies who’ve been holding back innovation in the fields of mobile, media, telecom, energy, health and education.

Yes, you’ll make missteps and may never gain the kind of presence in any of these categories that you have in search, but I don’t think that’s your point. I think you see the same complacency we see in very large markets and want to rattle the cages to remind us we’re all still alive and we all need to compete every day to deliver the best possible experience for our customers.

Look, I’ll probably never own a Nexus One, but I think my iPhone will be better for having you put Apple’s feet to the fire. I may never switch from Comcast, but I bet they’ll up their service level and bandwidth speeds with you in the market. And I may never store my health records with you, but I bet we’ll get closer to a transparent health system with you in the mix.

So, thank you Google for a reminder that the aim of competition is to bring the best out of us all. Oh, and, Game On!

XOXO,

bryce.vc

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Something Good Can Work - Two Door Cinema Club

heavy rotation for me since I heard it on @WOXY recently. very catchy. enjoy.

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bijan:

Heaven’s On Fire - The Radio Dept

this band is trending on the Hype Machine right now. I can see why.

i love the muppets (and these are 3 of my favs). perfect afternoon pick-me-up for a long day.

The Muppets: Beaker’s Ballad (via MuppetsStudio) via @ptmaddiganesq

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Ambling Alp by Yeasayer

awesome tune. download here.

“Smaller up-front investments create a greater range of exit strategies where everyone wins. For example, if a business raises a small amount of initial capital, then exceeds its early milestones and decides to swing for the fences, it can then raise a larger sum at a higher price, while preserving ownership. If the business is not ready for rapid growth, it preserves the option for an exit at around $50 million, while still delivering a high return for investors. This dual-track model is less available to companies that raise large amounts of money early.”

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The Hottest VC No One Has Ever Heard Of - robgo.org

Good read for early stage entrepreneurs, you’ve got to walk before you can run and micro VC’s are an exciting trend to help. I’m happy to be talking with a few about HomeField.

“Gillespie appreciates the way sports culture has influenced American students. It discourages whining, and rewards self-discipline. It teaches self-control and its own form of justice, which has a more powerful effect than anything taught in the classroom.”

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Op-Ed Columnist - The Sporting Mind - NYTimes.com via @jpbrunelle

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’ve learned so many valuable lessons in my athletic career that help me in my career and personal life. I think everyone can benefit from the rigors of sport.

I love sports. Awesome video by Nike:Take It To The Next Level - Directors Cut (via @bryanbeshore)