Michael Jordan on fear, ideas for things that don't scale, and Kobe Bryant's personal office

Welcome back to the Z Fellows newsletter! Every Monday we share 3 ideas - to help you build companies, ship products, and create your life's work.

1: Michael Jordan on fear

“Look me in the eye.

It’s okay if you’re scared. So am I.

But we are scared for different reasons. I am scared of what I won’t become. And you are scared of what I could become.

Look at me.

I won’t let myself end where I started. I won’t let myself finish where I began. I know what is within me, even if you can’t see it yet.

Look me in the eyes. I have something more important than courage.

I have patience. I will become what I know I am.“

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BirIEDYrw0Y

2: Ideas for things that don’t scale

• Recruit your earliest users - “You can't wait for users to come to you. You have to go out and get them.“

• Delight your users - “take extraordinary measures not just to acquire users, but also to make them happy. Your first users should feel that signing up with you was one of the best choices they ever made. And you in turn should be racking your brains to think of new ways to delight them.“

• Pay extreme attention to user experience - “It's not the product that should be insanely great, but the experience of being your user. The product is just one component of that.“

• Consult with one user - “pick a single user and act as if they were consultants building something just for that one user. The initial user serves as the form for your mold; keep tweaking till you fit their needs perfectly, and you'll usually find you've made something other users want too.“

Source: https://paulgraham.com/ds.html

3: Kobe Bryant’s personal office

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See you next Monday,

- The Z Fellows Team

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