The Best Thing I Did Was Choose The Right Heroes

Welcome to?The?Art?of?The?Impossible, a weekly newsletter where I unearth five pieces?of?content which I hope will both inspire?and?embolden you.

PODCAST

This week’s guest is JZ (Jiaona Zhang), currently Chief Product Officer at Linktree and Stanford Lecturer, she previously held the position of SVP of Product at Webflow. And before that, she led product teams at Airbnb, WeWork, Dropbox and gaming startup Pocket Gems.

In this episode, we discuss JZ’s life growing up – how frequent moves to different cities and countries built her up resilience and adaptability, how she got into product management despite being an Economics Major, how her father’s brain haemorrhage changed her life and the lessons she learned from working at some of the world’s top companies from Airbnb to WeWork, Dropbox and more.

I learned a lot from talking to JZ about how build out a roadmap for your product, when it’s the right time to launch and how to build something which people not only use, but love too.

I think you will learn a lot too so here is my conversation with the wonderful JZ.

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts from.

QUOTE

The best thing I did was to choose the right heroes.

Warren Buffett

INTERVIEW

One of the things that continuously impresses me about the Collison brothers is their intellect. And with that comes a calm confidence that is evident in all their interviews, regardless of interviewer.

Here is John Collison is co-founder and President of one of the most valuable private companies in the world, Stripe - sitting down with David Rubenstein who pushes him a bit on why Stripe hasn’t IPO’ed and asks if he feels depressed that the valuation of Stipe went from a $100 billion valuation to $60 billion.

John doesn’t do as many interviews as Patrick, so it is nice to see his take on the company, investors (earliest investors were Paul Graham, Sam Altman and Peter Thiel) and what his ambitions are for the future.

Watch the full interview here.

BOOK

The Universe in Verse: 15 Portals to Wonder Through Science and Poetry by Maria Popova

Christmas sorted! This beautiful-looking book from Maria Popova of The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings) - The Universe in Verse is an ode to wonder and an exploration of the human search for truth and meaning. Poetry and science, as Popova writes in her introduction, "are instruments for knowing the world more intimately and loving it more deeply." In 15 short essays on subjects ranging from the mystery of dark matter and the infinity of pi to the resilience of trees and the intelligence of octopuses, Popova tells the stories of scientific searching and discovery.

These stories are interwoven with details from the very real and human lives of scientists-many of them women, many underrecognized-and poets inspired by the same questions and the beauty they reveal. Each essay is paired with a poem reflecting its subject by poets ranging from Emily Dickinson, W. H. Auden, and Edna St. Vincent Millay to Maya Angelou, Diane Ackerman, and Tracy K. Smith, and is stunningly illustrated by celebrated artist Ofra Amit.

Together, they wake us to a "reality aglow with wonder."

Pre-order the book here.

WATCH

Stanford’s Last Lecture Series: How to Live your Life at Full Power — Graham Weaver

I enjoyed this - Graham Weaver, Lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Founder of Alpine Investors, shares the three most important principles for living a full life as part of the GSB 2024 Last Lecture Series.

Watch the talk here.

EVENTS

LEVEL UP SERIES: The Growth Game Plan

Are you a female founder looking to increase revenue? Join business strategist Lara Sheldrake & business coach Nicola Charlotte for their "Growth Game Plan Workshop" at the beautiful The Hearth, in NW London on 10th October 6-9pm. And here is an exclusive discount just for you - use code VIP30 for ￡30 off. Find out more here. Use code VIP30 for ￡30 off.

9Others Dinner, Kindred

My friends at 9others host regular dinners for founders and the next London one is on Wednesday 30th October, and will be held at the beautiful Kindred in Hammersmith, London.

For more info and to secure your spot, head here.

Thank you so much for reading?the?newsletter?and?for listening to?the?podcast, and?if you enjoy them, please do share with your network - my goal is to have these stories reach as many as possible so that others can be inspired too. And if you have two minutes, please do leave a review for the podcast - it would mean the world to me and helps others to find it too.

Danielle