Do More Faster India, 2nd Edition

Chapter 20Be Open to Randomness

David Cohen

David is the cofounder and Managing Partner of Techstars.

Take a moment and think back to all the good things that have happened to you so far in your life. If you’re like me and you contemplate that list, you’ll realize that many of those good things came about in very random ways. Perhaps it’s the way that you met your significant other, or how you decided on the college you’d go to. Maybe it’s how you got that great job offer, or how you found out on your last business trip that your favorite band was playing down the street. Or maybe it’s just who you happen to be sitting next to on the airplane. There’s a lot that happens in life that’s random.

I think it’s important to be open to randomness in your life. Many of the most successful people I know are very deliberate about randomness—they seek it, plan for it, and embrace it. Brad Feld is a great example. For many years, Brad held “random days.” On those days he’ll meet anyone to talk about anything for 15 minutes. He does this back to back for an entire day once in a while. Brad has no expectation about meetings on his random day. They’re meetings that he normally wouldn’t take or at least that he has no specific reason to take. But he figures he’ll meet a few interesting people, and maybe something good will come out of it once in a while.

Now, guess how I met Brad Feld? It was on one of his random days. And on that random day, guess what we talked about? Techstars! I had never ...