After a long hiatus, The Odysea is returning.
I originally started that blog when I was at Andreessen. I chose pseudonymity so I could have a place where I could publish freely, whenever inspiration arose. Without knowing it at the time, that blog ended up leading to a number of conversations that would go on to change my life. A number of people I deeply respect and admire ended up reaching out, and after some months a few of them asked me to join their teams. One of them in particular was highly convincing.
So in many ways I owe my new role at Cantos, and the past few years more broadly, to the writing on the Odysea.
So why return to sea?
One of the privileges of joining the Cantos team is I have the ability to continue to do this job the way I have always wanted. I get to practice maximum authenticity, and more importantly, pursue a personal deep interest of putting together The Hardware Playbook. My hope, as I share on that episode of Motion Blur, is that this will help founders as they build in these categories.
It’s a lofty and somewhat unattainable goal — there is no silver bullet for startup success, and past results do not guarantee future performance, but I believe the lessons and stories from existing and mature Dynamism companies improve your odds. And that is all you can ask for.
I now have a bunch of publications! Embers will continue to be home for many of my longer-form pieces, as well as all the important announcements I want to share. Motion Blur, my podcast with Hammad, is also not going anywhere.
The Odysea, which I am renaming to Ignition, will house more of my inchoate thoughts. It’s where I’m doing the most amount of active learning, and ideally the things I write here will inform what I discuss on Motion Blur, and vice-versa.
There is undoubtedly a better way to house all of this content under one roof, but for now I’m choosing to Just Set Sail. It’s less important, I’ll figure that part out later.
If you’re new to Ignition, I have two recommendations for you. My last piece I published was on The Starlink IPO, which I also discussed with Hammad on Motion Blur. And then there’s the canonical piece that kickstarted everything: Chicken Sexers. I talked about that when I joined Cantos, and it continues to ring true today. Funny enough, the idea for that post came from a conversation with Hammad (which is one of the many reasons why I courted him to create MB with me).
These posts are meant to be short and digestible. I’m excited to share more about what I’m reading and thinking about. And I’m equally excited to see what you send my way too.
– GG
