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Erik Torenberg Profile picture
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Dec 17, 2018 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
1/ Here's an on-going thread of threads on career stuff:

At a high level, I think one wants to build a Personal Moat, or a unique accumulating advantage.

2/ What’s a personal moat?

3/ Because a moat often involves doing things others aren’t doing, pursuing a moat can be risky.

Some thoughts on career risk:

4/ When thinking of personal moat building, it’s helpful to think of the context of loops — what can I work on that is durable and compounds over time?

TLDR: Rare & valuable skills/knowledge over network, brand, etc

5/ The way to build the strongest personal moat in tech is to start a successful company. Although it’s hard, it’s less risky than people think (caveats below):

6/ However, there are many others who’ve built unique comparative advantages without starting companies (or having specific skills/knowledge!)

7/ Some of this relates to pursuing a job in VC:

8/ Some thoughts on breaking into VC sooner:

9/ Always the (self-) reminder:

Feel free to add your own threads / thoughts / Q’s.

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More from @eriktorenberg

Erik Torenberg Profile picture
Dec 31, 2021
Here are the most interesting books and articles that changed my mind in 2021:
Lyn Alden presents the case for inflation, drawing partially from Ray Dalio’s "Big Debt Crisis"

Whenever sovereign debt to GDP has reached over 130%, 51 out of 52 times that debt was not paid back in real terms, meaning there was inflation.

lynalden.com
Scott Sumner believes that recent inflation is transitory (COVID supply shock) & inflation won't exceed 3% in 2020s

He believes Fed can stabilize inflation (2% last 40 yrs) & GDP/debt concerns are different this time b/c interest rates are naturally low

amazon.com/Money-Illusion…
Read 17 tweets
Erik Torenberg Profile picture
Nov 14, 2021
How do we get all the ambitious college grads going into consulting/wall street to go into tech instead?

It's perplexing they don't, given tech is often more creative, impactful, & it competes financially.

What should an initiative aiming to re-route all that talent look like?
What should On Deck build/launch in this space?
maybe this:
Read 4 tweets
Erik Torenberg Profile picture
Oct 21, 2021
Sharing some big news today:

- We’ve launched a $100M community-backed accelerator to fund people as early as pre-company

- We provide $25K advances for people to quit their job and explore whether they want to start a company

- Now Co-CEO at On Deck

ODX is built off the learnings from Village Global (where I remain a GP)'s accelerator, which is now partnering with On Deck to build ODX

ODX is the culmination of the goal we’ve all been focused for the last 5 years: Helping founders get off the ground.
Some think there are too many founders, too much capital. We disagree

More founders is how we get better & cheaper education, healthcare, among other needs

There’s no natural limit on the amount of successful startups, which is why we want more founders
Read 6 tweets
Erik Torenberg Profile picture
May 21, 2021
Twitter is a social network where people often post when they're angry, snarky, curious, or self-promoting, among other triggers

Imagine a social network where people listened to music that made them feel relaxed or connected—and that was somehow native to the posting experience
or other iterations of social networks that would bring about better versions of ourselves by altering the environment or incentives
Yes also think campfires, listening sessions, late night philosophical conversations (clubhouse gets at some of this, but there could be text version too)

Read 4 tweets
Erik Torenberg Profile picture
Apr 7, 2021
Some of the big challenges in higher ed👇

- Price is too high & rising
- Too much student debt
- Too many students dropping out
- Too many students underemployed
- Credential inflation
- Misaligned incentives on multiple levels
- Oligopolistic market dynamics prevent competition
TOO EXPENSIVE:

- Education costs have increased by 300% since 1980.

- Gov't spends 3% of GDP ($600B) subsidizing higher education.

- Incentives are misaligned such that the more gov't dispenses subsidies, the more expensive college gets.
TOO MUCH DEBT:

College debt is now ~$1.7 trillion (was $300B in 2000). Avg student is $40K in debt

Debt is now non-dischargeable in bankruptcy. If you don’t pay off loans by 65, gov't garners social security

Excessive debt leads ppl to delay having families and buying a house
Read 21 tweets
Erik Torenberg Profile picture
Feb 28, 2021
Hiring a Head of Special Projects to work w/ me at @beondeck

You’ll incubate:

- @Cosign
- “People Hunt” for ppl looking to do their next thing
- Wiki for start up-ideas & decks
- @beondeckdaily 2.0

and other ideas we conceive

Submit your plans for these to erik@beondeck.com
Re: startup ideas & decks:
Re: @cosign:

eriktorenberg.substack.com/p/the-promise-…
Read 7 tweets

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