A best friend was in town recently. He had his lovely family in tow — his wife, wonderful, and two little girls who are nothing short of bundles ‘o joy. The oldest, we’ll call her Norah, I had met as a 1-year old. But now 15 months later, my goodness...what fun to see. These…these are the good times.
Norah is up for anything, provided it’s framed as an adventure. At first, this seemed like a fun quirk of being a child. Mom uses the right word, and voila! Kids on command! So when Norah said, “Go on adventure?” I simply figured my friends’ parenting brilliance was on display. Geniuses, these folks! We were going for a walk through a Chicago neighborhood, and they needed her to stick with us.
Quickly though, my opinion changed. A simple morning walk about Chicago was an adventure. There was so much to see, and so much we take for granted as adults. Each time! That bird flying towards us is novel. That car does have interesting lights. Waves of new experiences pouring into Norah’s brain. It wasn’t my friends directing her, it was them enabling her to find her own way. Not Norah following rules, but Norah following her intuition.
Geniuses in a different way, I suppose.
That walk about the city was my last one as a solo operator, the end of a small era. The next day, I flew to NJ for a short trip with Donna’s family, and days later, out to SF. Because a new adventure has begun for me, as well.
Let’s get the news out of the way.
I joined a (now) 5-person startup, Heyday 👋🏼.
We’re building a tool that gives every one of you a better memory in the moment. I say we, because it’s we now, but Samiur + Sam (+ Mark + Gwen) have built an amazing foundation already. I get to help them build the product and company out as their Chief of Staff.
Right now, Heyday is best for researchers, investors, founders — people who read a lot and need to make connections amidst all the noise. You install a plugin to your browser, link up your accounts (Google, Twitter, Notion, Slack, etc.), and next time you search for something, you see what you already know about it, right there in the browser. It’s ambiently helpful in a wonderful way, like Grammarly when you’re writing.
Take a ton of notes, like me? The Notion plugin showed me something Samiur wrote four months ago that saved me hours of time and gave me way more insight than if I’d talked to him about it blind. I just searched for ‘research on tab overload’ and wham…his notes were next to my Google search. Wild. How useful could this thing be?
I’m not the only one getting wild benefit either. People love it — in April, Heyday was #1 on Product Hunt — and their community is extremely engaged. From personal experience, I can assure you people have much to be excited about. We ship product from ideas super quickly, and the awareness aspect of, “How do we help people understand this?” is ever-present. That’s rare in any company, let alone startups who spend all their time building.
Now, how did this come about? Good question.
Post-release of Scaling Synthesis, I’ve been fortunate to have many great conversations. People gravitate towards the practical applications of our findings, and that’s made for a fun (+ very busy) few months 1.
One such conversation was with the aforementioned Samiur (Rahman), the CEO and one of the founders of Heyday. He reached out, shared his story, and we clearly vibed. Within a few days I was in SF, working with him and Sam (DeBrule, his co-founder), and two things were clear:
the product — and state of the company — was exactly what I was looking for, and
even better…the lovefest was real; these guys were my people.
🙌🏼
The idea of resurfacing information that’s important to you, in context, is the exact sort of thing I geek on beyond most people’s comprehension. It’s a quirk, an oddity, a puzzle I’m trying to decode. Probably because my memory continues to be called into question, and we still don’t have viable solutions for Alzheimer’s. For much of my life, I’ve longed for a worthy problem to take aim upon. I suppose this is it.
Sometimes…sometimes you get lucky.
So, on to a second bit of news…
Soon enough, Donna and I are packing up for the Bay Area.
Part of the Heyday deal is to move to San Francisco (or Oakland, or Berkeley). I’ll be in office a few days each week (something I wanted of any new project), and I spent the past two weeks getting the ball rolling there.
Starting a new thing is real, and so is being away from your cat for two weeks, but I write with an overflow of joy in my heart amidst the waves of holyshitwhatishappening. We’re doing it.
When is a touch unclear, but November seems likely. I still have some goodbyes to send to Chicago 2. We’re planning an event or two before then, but if we’ve spent important time here together, consider this a call to you. Chicago was home because of you. I hope we share the air before we go.
I’ve painted all of this as rosy, because, well, that’s how it feels to me. No matter the outcome.
I wanted to take the chance to build a product that could change the lives of many, grow a company of people I love and respect, and line our pockets in the process. I got that chance.
Sure, our 30+ months of runway may lead to nothing. Maybe we’ll fail spectacularly. Maybe I’ve been duped! This is all possible! And yet, this whole thing is the aim. It’s not the destination; it’s the journey. The dream is in the journey 3.
The point is, even if this goes off the rails, it won’t be for naught. Adventures are worth taking even if they fail. Change is the only constant, and I will learn a lifetime of lessons regardless. Norah knows. Here’s to embracing that.
tunes wise, we’re revisiting Rihanna’s discography, and boy has it been great. i’m particularly fond of her last (final?) album, ANTI. grown-up bangers galore over 50 minutes of flow. kind of hard to believe it’s been more than 6 years!
hip-hop, in general, gives me a sense of confidence that most music can’t provide. then you layer on a boss like Rihanna, and well…
Footnotes Exist!
Rob, the lead (PI) on our research, will be talking about this work on August 9th to an awesome group! We’ll all be in the Q&A, so stop by and pose a question. It is so very exciting to see your work take on a life of its own.
Nearing a dozen years here. A countless number of moments that shaped me. There will be a formal sendoff to you, Chicago.
On a day that one of the greatest champions in sporting history passed (RIP Bill Russell), I can’t help but think of another great we lost too soon. Bean, you’re always in my mind. I reference this speech at least once a week. Thank you for this, eternally.
Adventures — No.11