Think Like a Startup, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 12 Upskilling

You’ve probably got a rich friend who bought an early large flat-screen TV for $20 000 or so. While it’s valuable to learn about technology early, it pays to be a laggard when it comes to buying technology. As we know, TVs that were once restricted to the luxury market can now be bought for a few hundred dollars. But it turns out that while TVs don’t cost much to buy, they’ve never been so expensive to watch. The opportunity cost of passively letting someone else steal our most valuable resource (time) is crazy high. It’s higher now than ever, because until now you couldn’t just go and reinvent yourself without seeking permission or paying a dollar price. That’s all changed, and the people who invest in themselves now will own the future. It doesn’t matter who went to a better school or has a better degree; the new game is adapting quickly by having a crack at making stuff happen. The new barrier to entry is not getting sucked into the reality TV vortex, where you outsource your reality to someone else’s, living someone else’s life vicariously. I know you’re too smart to fall for that trick. Certainly TV can be rad, the best learning tool of all, but just make sure you’re the program director.

Make the market (people) love you

When you reinvent yourself, the market — which is just people — gains a new kind of esteem for you. There’s something about the person who has made an effort to upgrade themselves and be more that we all respect. The person who ...