How much frugality do you need to build a million-dollar business today? — It was a fantastic summer day in our corporate lawyer’s office. I had just signed an investment deal securing millions of dollars for my start-up. A heavy thousand-dollar Montblanc ballpen was still lingering in my hand. “You can keep it,” said one of the investors, waving his palm at the…

How I escaped burnout’s unhealthy cycle of doom — Last year I was restructuring my company and eventually selling it. I obsessed about doing the best possible work I could. I scheduled every minute of my day for anything that seemed useful — anything that would make me feel worthy and help me avoid any shame for being lazy. …

Unleash One Hour of Genius Per Day — One day, I watched a sparrow from my office window. The bird would pick bread crumbs from the ground while anxiously hopping around and watching out for predators. Doing several things at the same time was its strategy to survive. Birds do it; bees do it: they multitask. But we…

Alcohol and blackouts: how can we prevent the consequences? — The scariest part about drinking is blacking out: not remembering a damn thing about what happened the night before. Maybe a few fragments. You remember first going to a friend’s place to warm up with a few drinks, then going to a bar, meeting a guy there, a kiss, a…

My most effective leadership tool in over ten years of being a CEO — I learned one of the most powerful and easy-to-learn leadership techniques from the billionaire entrepreneur Ray Dalio. Ray writes that many teams fail because they celebrate their wins, but they sweep their failures under the rug. Yet, effective leaders always focus on their problems first. …

Your rich friend isn’t smarter than you — but she understands how to attract money. — Most of the wealthy people on this planet never went to Stanford or MIT. Many of them haven’t even finished school. Money doesn’t care if you are well educated. Ordinary Joes and Janes succeeded to get wealthy because they followed unique principles that attract money like a magnet. Award-winning author…

Neuroscientists agree: alcohol isn’t a truth serum nor is it a business lubricant. — Your hard workday is finally over. You send your last email, close your laptop, and rush downstairs to meet your teammates at an office party. A glass of fizz helps you decompress after your long working hours. A welcome drink at a networking event helps you socialize with all the…

After ten years of building my startup, I wish someone had shown me these lessons earlier — “War is a nightmare. War is awful, indifferent, devastating, and evil.” These were the first words of the retired Navy Seal commander Jocko Willink during his TEDx talk. Willink fought through the hell of Iraq. He lost his brothers-in-arms and experienced the humbling lessons of modern warfare. But war is…

Anyone can learn the skills to connect with absolute strangers at business events — Most business networking books will preach you to be open, talkative, and self-assertive when meeting new people. The problem? These books are written by extroverts, but they are bought by introverts. I bought and read dozens of them. As an introverted founder and CEO of a tech company for over…