Zero Dogs, One Wife, Two Kids And a Million Spreadsheets.
I’ve had this blog longer than most of my companies. Over the years it’s been about video games, travel, Thailand, long-form internet ethics debates with myself, and whatever else I was hyperfixating on that month. The current flavor is dodgy crowdfunding, which is what most of the recent articles are about.
Method: Government filings or GTFO.
Previously: Worked for some companies, started some myself. Did okay.
Now: FIREd.
Things that happened along the way:
- Spent 3 days building a spreadsheet to find the perfect private health insurance for myself. Turned that spreadsheet into a company.
- Learned that “You won’t have to give a speech” means “You’ll have to give a speech”. In Thai.
- Harbored a secret dream of building “Instagram for Spreadsheets”.
- Got into a dispute with Ukrainian Airlines that went up all the way until the German Ministry of Justice got involved on my behalf.
- Favorite place I ever stayed: Grand Hyatt Tokyo. Least favorite place I ever stayed: A bus driver motel in an unnamed village in Uganda.
- Negotiated an investment promotion with the government of Thailand.
- Spent 6 months hand-tracking every single Baht I spent. Turned that into another company.
- Reluctant seeker of adrenaline. Like, really reluctant.
- Survived situations that could have ended differently: Shittily overtaking on the German Autobahn, walking across a railway bridge while a train was trying to go the other way, making a left turn in Seattle, being a curious 8 year old who pushed a nail into an electrical 240V outlet to figure out what an electric shock feels like, making another left turn in Seattle.
- Used to be less reluctant: Ran down a bicycle thief. On foot. At age 9. Downhill.
- Racked up more than $8,000 in denied boarding compensations.
- Built a solar powered crypto miner as part of one undergrad thesis. Calculated how much Lufthansa should be charging for business class upgrades for another.
- Got paid to play video games for a living. Also turned that into a company.
- Actually made money angel investing.
- Created a work log of 1123 time slots of 25 minutes, spanning 467 hours and 55 minutes, to figure out what I actually do all day.
If you’re burning more tokens than a shitty AI-wrapper-startup for a worthwhile cause, have an opinionated take on what makes a good spreadsheet or want to leak information about dodgy ongoings at your company or that of your competitors: Here are my contact details.