Getting fucked over can pay off…

Hey everyone,

If you're new here, welcome to Never Enough, where I brain dump interesting stuff that has been on my mind over the last week.

When my business was barely scraping by, I spent almost $20,000 to attend the TED conference.

This sounds insanely irresponsible, but it was one of my best investments of all time.

I was a minnow. A nobody. I didn’t deserve to be there. But there I was.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but just being in that room would unlock my career.

After years of attending, when people needed an app or website designed, they went “Oh! What about Andrew, that guy from TED!”

I eventually landed a huge amount of work. Metalab even ended up building TED Connect, TED’s own app for conference attendees. Not by selling or schmoozing. Just by making friends—many of whom I’m still close with today.

I just got back from a week at my 15th TED event (since 2009) and I was reflecting on this.

I’ve found that surrounding yourself with successful people is one of the best ways to become successful yourself.

There’s a saying: “you are the sum of your 5 best friends.” Well, you’re also the sum of your network. If you connect with a lot of great people, odds are you will become great too.

A meeting that doesn’t result in action is a worthless meeting. A well run meeting should have an agenda, key takeaways, and action items. They hold people accountable and ensure that your company has a rhythm. They help you hold the bar.

The problem is, I hate writing agendas and notes. I rarely remember to take notes and I’m often context switching as I jump from meeting to meeting.

I often find myself thinking “wait, I swear X person said they would do that” but I have nothing to back it up except for a faint recollection.

That’s why I’m so excited about Limitless (walkthrough video here). It’s a little AI pin that records all your conversations and transcribes and analyzes them in an encrypted vault. It does all this automatically.

Imagine the possibilities when fighting with a significant other!

My friend Jonathan Becker said something funny to me the other day:

“Being successful in business is the art of being fucked over by other people, then getting back on the horse, over and over again, forever.”

If you’re a longtime entrepreneur, you'll laugh (or cry?) too.

Do you live in Vancouver? Spending money rarely brings me joy, but one thing that brings me a ton of satisfaction is spending money on a beautiful space. A few years ago, I hired my friend Kate Snyder from Studio Roslyn to redesign my Vancouver apartment and went all out.

She did an absolutely incredible job, and I’ve been enjoying until recently, when two things happened:

1. My girlfriend moved to Victoria, meaning I use it way less.

2. Bylaws changed and I can no longer rent it out on AirBnB.

So, I have this insanely gorgeous, perfectly designed penthouse sitting empty 27 nights a month.

This feels like a huge waste and I feel guilty. So I’m selling it or renting it out. If you’re looking for a perfect, turn-key home in the West End, then you should buy or rent it from me.

Here’s some photos of the interior details and the MLS listing, if you’re interested. I don’t necessarily need cash—I would accept equity in a wonderful cash flowing company as well ;-)

PS: Studio Roslyn, the firm that designed the apartment, is absolutely incredible and I’ve worked on a ton of projects with them. Highly recommend you go check them out.

I’m doing a Shark Tank style pitch event on April 24th with Ryan Holmes and Michelle Romanow. If you want to watch, join here.

-Andrew