Fwd: [Mike’s Sordid Backstory] Bold Email Honesty Kicks Car Sales Hype

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Subject:	[Mike's Sordid Backstory] Bold Email Honesty Kicks Car Sales Hype
Date:	Mon, 24 Aug 2015 15:32:04 -0700
From:	Andy Jenkins & Mike Filsaime <training@marketinggenesis.com>
Reply-To:	training@marketinggenesis.com
To:	Steve <im1@bydf.com>

(Hey sorry I sent you this email 2x... the subject line "Deadline expires in hours. (See if there is still time.)" was from my last email Sunday that does not apply when I was starting my email campaign.) So I am sending the email again with the correct subject line you just opened. Thanks for understanding... Here is the correct email now...   Re: "Trust me, I'm an Internet marketer."   Hey Boss….   Today it's Mike here, and I have a quick warning about this e-mail and Wednesday's bold new training.   Don't dismiss it just because of my former profession.   Because what some see as my "supposedly unsavory" past actually had the OPPOSITE effect than you'd expect for my online career..   That said, you may or may not know this, but I was once in the auto sales business.   In fact, I was the General Sales Manager for one the most successful Toyota + Hyundai dealerships in the country. Well, you can imagine the jokes I've heard about car salesmen, used car salesmen, people hating buying cars, plaid jackets — and of course, getting the inevitable Hawaiian shirts as birthday presents over the years. (Still not funny.)   But here's the thing — the secret sauce that took us to the top...   It was telling the TRUTH... about the unseen scratches... the unnoticed nicks... and even the recalled fixes that were not required to be disclosed to the consumer.   Yes, after years of getting flack about HONESTY and the auto business, it made me hypersensitive to the topic of persuasion.   And I learned early on that deception, hype, and hyperbole are the absolute WORST things you can use for sales.   They ALWAYS backfire — either right in your face when people are disgusted by what you're doing...   ...Or, in the long run, when the realization and resentment of being swindled turn into a despicable reputation. People that use those tactics ALWAYS fail in the long run.   So reflecting back, that's what has me so pumped about this Wednesday's training we are inviting you to.   Really, if you like ETHICAL PERSUASION, this is the TRAINING OF THE YEAR for you.   Big promise? Yes! But we will deliver…   Because the training we are doing will show you how to work WITH your customers... not try to fleece them or slide one by when they're not looking.   Unfortunately, I see a some of this going on online. We you know persuasion it is easy to spot when used for good and unfortunately, by some, for bad.   We live by the GOOD and this is why I love Daniel Levis' EMAIL ALCHEMY approach.   With Email Alchemy, you openly EMBRACE the fact that you have something to sell (as if customers don't know it already!.. We are all customers. And many marketers don't give us, the customers, enough credit.)   And when you make the journey such a pleasure, they will LOVE going along for the ride.     Which brings me to the TRUTH ABOUT EMAIL, and that is...   ...When used correctly (which is rare) EMAIL is STILL the most powerful, most personal, most intimate, cheapest, fastest, easiest, and most profitable marketing medium — BAR NONE! Period. End. Period.   And... EMAIL is STILL the best, safest, fastest, most dependable and predictable way to make sales, build bigger lists, and keep clients and customers ENGAGED and BUYING...   ...For both immediate and long-term profits!   This sounding interesting?   Cool, then on Wednesday, Andy and I are delighted to bring you highly respected EMAIL specialist, Daniel Levis, with a special Marketing Genesis Edition of his famous EMAIL ALCHEMY training.   But here's another warning:   He'll be grinding 5 sacred marketing cows into hamburgers!   Myths will be exposed.   In fact what are known to be FACTS will be exposed. Like The world is not flat….   No… Here is a better example… because one of the most revered marketing analytics will end up as a Big Mac at McDonalds.   For instance, you may know someone who believes in this EMAIL MARKETING MYTH...   Myth - OPEN RATES are a Key Performance Indicator.   Nope - Not true. Open rates are not a KPI   Don't believe it.. that's why you need to make sure to attend LIVE, because Daniel will show you case studies where open rates FALL — as sales EXPLODE!   EVEN BETTER, he'll explain the deeper TRUTH behind why people lose massive profits from misinterpreting this unquestioned statistic.   >>> And what about the misguided use of click through rates?   >>> What about the latest research on long versus short copy in the internet age?   >>> What about mailing frequency and burning out your list?   >>> And what about giving free content versus going for the sale?   It's happening on Wednesday at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern as we dig deep into...   The EMAIL ALCHEMY "ELITE" Quick-Profit Clinic: How I 10X My Sales From Every Email Subscriber, Grow My List Fast, and Profit Now!   Andy and I have been ravenously studying everything Daniel has to say.   Because lately, we've found multiple experts with fabulous and timely trainings... who are only available for a short window of opportunity.   So we've gotta strike while the iron is hot and bring them to you FAST!   And EMAIL (when used correctly) is STILL hands down, the quick-strike media of choice... way better than Facebook, Twitter, SEO, or Instagram...   ...I mean, what's the bulk of what we've been sending you for the last few months?   EMAIL... the EMAIL ALCHEMY way!   So you'd better be there unless you've never had any of the following thoughts:   "Does anybody read email anymore?"  "I'm afraid to annoy my subscribers."  "What's the latest on using humor? "They take too long to write."  "Where do I put the links?" "Do metaphors and similes detract from the sale?"  "Can I use a little profanity?" "Isn't social media more powerful?"  "I can't spell and my grammar sucks!"  "What time of day should I send them?"  "Maybe SEO or Adwords will work better."  "Oh hell, I'll get a video course so I can just TALK!"    Daniel has the answers.   But even better, the hard statistics to back them up.   So you're not risking your marketing dollars on hearsay and unsubstantiated opinion.   ...Which is a relief for me personally.   Because Daniel's proven what I've suspected for years, but have never seen the numbers (until now) to back it up.   So join us on Wednesday, right here.   There's even an INSTANT FREE GIFT when you sign up. You get Daniel's amazing:   SUBJECT LINE MADNESS for EMAIL MARKETING MASTERY Swipe File — 437 Proven Subject Lines to Plunder, Pillage and PROFIT!    I'll email it to you as soon as you sign up... so your subconscious starts dismantling those profit-squelching myths... while you sleep!   See you Wednesday.   Mike Filsaime   ONE LAST WARNING:   P.S. - If you DON'T grab a ticket for this event, I highly recommend you DON'T send EMAILS very often.   And when you do, make them super short and give away a ton of free content.   Otherwise your customers will unsubscribe like rats deserting the ship.      P.P.S - This email was written from what I learned from Denis from his Email Alchemy that you will learn much of for FREE on Wednesday. Since you read this email, and you read down to here, it is only proof that long, engaging story based email, with good content are exactly what YOUR customers want from YOU.     Marketing Genesis LLC 7660 Fay Ave. #H184 La Jolla, CA 92037

You're receiving this newsletter because this email address was submitted to an opt-in form on one of our websites. When you no longer wish to hear from us, we'll be sad, but we'll always welcome you back when you're ready to work on your business again.  Just Click Here to Unsubscribe. ~Andy Jenkins & Mike Filsaime. Please read our Affiliate Disclaimer: From time to time, we will promote, endorse, or suggest products and/or services for sale that are not our own. Our recommendation is ALWAYS based on our personal belief that the product and it's author will provide excellent and valuable information or service. This may be based on a review of that product, our personal or professional relationship with that person or company, and/or a previous positive experience with the person or company who's product we are recommending. In most cases, we will be compensated via a commission if you decide to purchase that product based on our recommendation. In some cases, we will receive the product for free for review purposes, or just to use. In some cases, we have used that product to our personal satisfaction in our own businesses. IMPORTANT: Always Always ALWAYS do your OWN due-diligence before making any purchases, whether we recommend them or not. Never, EVER purchase anything that you cannot afford. Avoid purchasing products that do not have a clearly stated Guarantee, or that promise ridiculous results, like "Getting Rich Quick". Most people don't do anything with the products they buy, and most of the time, their results are zero - kind of like that Bowflex that I bought that is now serving as a clothing rack... No, there is no such thing as a "Free Lunch". Don't do drugs, stay in school, etc. Be safe out there!

 

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Marketing Genesis , 7660 Fay Ave Ste H184, La Jolla, CA 92037

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Fw: 10^9+ companies

From: Peter Diamandis <peter@diamandis.com> Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2015 10:10 AM To: STeve Reply To: peter@diamandis.com Subject: 10^9+ companies

"Want to become a billionaire? Then help a billion people."

"The world's biggest problems are the world's biggest business opportunities."

Both of these statements are the way I describe the premise of Singularity University's Graduate Studies Program (GSP) and the companies we create each year.

Earlier this week we graduated our seventh GSP class and unveiled our newest crop of 10^9+ companies.

This is a blog on the coolest companies coming out of the SU universe.

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What is a 10^9+ Company?

In 2008, Ray Kurzweil and I co-founded SU to enable brilliant graduate students to work on solving humanity's grand challenges using exponential technologies.

During the GSP, we ask our students to build a company that positively impacts the lives of 1 billion people within 10 years (we call these 10^9+ companies).

Historically, if you wanted to touch the lives of a billion people, you had to be Coca-Cola, GE or Siemens.

Today, you can be a guy or a gal in a garage with connectivity.

Over the years, we've given birth to some very cool companies. Here's an update, and a peek at the newest players.

10^9+ All Stars

1. Matternet: Matternet is building a network of autonomous drones (UAVs) to transport goods in cities as well as places with inefficient or nonexistent road infrastructure. In the developing world, Matternet drones can carry 2 kg packages such as medicine, documents, replacement parts or other critical goods for transportation. In cities, their cloud-based navigation system is revolutionizing transport logistics. Sound like Amazon Prime? Yes, but Matternet was founded two years earlier.
2. Modern Meadow: For millennia, many of the world's favorite products have been cultured -- including beer, wine, yogurt, cheese and bread. Modern Meadow uses these same principles to nurture and feed animal cells, creating high-quality products (think 'meat' and 'leather') without the animal sacrifice and environmental harms of factory farming. Such cultured meat massively reduces the amount of land (by 99 percent), water (by 96 percent) and energy (by 45 percent) needed in product, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 96 percent.
3. Fellow Robots: Fellow Robots is reimagining retail robotics to create a smarter retail environment. Their robot OSHbot communicates with shoppers to identify what they need and then autonomously navigates through the store to enable the easy, rapid selection of desired items. This creates smarter shoppers and a more efficient shopping experience.
4. BlueOak Resources: BlueOak extracts valuable metals (copper, silver, platinum, etc) from discarded electronics (e-waste). Using existing scaled-up mining industry technologies, they capture value from the 40 million tons of e-waste that is landfilled or incinerated annually around the world, containing $70 billion worth of precious and base metals. One ton of cell phones contains as much gold as 70 tons of gold ore. Every day, U.S. consumers dispose of enough cell phones to cover over 50 football fields.
5. Made In Space: This company just launched the first zero-g 3D printer to the International Space Station. Their hardware is able to manufacture materials and complex structures in weightlessness. Eventually, we'll be able to 3D print entire structures in space from metallic material mined from near-earth asteroids.
6. MirOculus: MirOculus is creating a simple blood test that can tell you, at the molecular level, the exact type of disease you have and its severity before it presents any symptoms, and then monitor the success of the treatment. They are also focused on cancer detection using microRNA biomarkers, leading to routine cancer screenings that will allow for early-stage detection and the prevention of millions of cancer deaths.
7. Organ Preservation Alliance: Transforming human organ availability through breakthroughs in cryo-preservation. The nonprofit is developing technology to dramatically improve long-term organ storage mechanisms.

A Few of This Year's 10^9+ Companies

This summer, the GSP students pitched over 25 new business concepts. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. ImpactVision: ImpactVision uses hyperspectral sensors to analyze spectral signatures that cannot be detected by the human eye. Focusing on the food industry, they're able to detect pollutants and bacteria on foods to reduce food waste, and even help a shopper determine freshness or ripeness.
2. Anticip8 Analytics: Anticip8's mission is accurate, micro weather prediction that can help renewable energy producers (solar, wind). Uncertainty about tomorrow's forecast (cloud cover, rain) reduces the ability of suppliers to commit their full capacity, especially for wind farms. This leads to less renewable energy in the grid, and higher prices. Anticip8 offers low-power, low-cost field sensors with novel computing architecture and high resolution spatial and temporal modeling to increase suppliers' confidence when committing loads to the grid. They'll build better, decentralized ground-up weather models that update every 10 minutes.
3. RedOlive: There are 700 million motorcyclists in the world. 1.2 million of them are killed in accidents each year, and 80% of those deaths occur in low-income countries. RedOlive's first product Oliver is an embedded system designed to provide the convenience and safety experienced by high-end automobile drivers to ordinary motorcycle riders. It uses an array of sensors and cameras to constantly monitor motorcyclists' surroundings and notifies them how to react appropriately. Think AR + motorcycle helmet + affordability.
4. AIME: AIME's platform provides critical information for disease prediction and outbreak management via machine learning and artificial intelligence. The goal is to geolocate the area of the next disease outbreak up to three months before an outbreak occurs. Currently, AIME works to end dengue outbreaks. In the future, AIME will tackle tuberculosis, the flu, HIV and malaria.
5. Aipoly: Aipoly is an intelligent assistant for the visually impaired that empowers them to explore and understand their surroundings through computer vision and audio-feedback. They use convolutional neural networks to identify the elements within a picture and neural image caption generation to feed back a semantic description of its content. The user takes a picture and it is automatically uploaded to Aipoly servers, where it is analyzed and tagged, and a description is sent back to the smartphone that took it and read out loud using text-to-speech.

SU Accelerator

We recently launched an accelerator at Singularity University.

You can find out more here, but here are the basics:

We provide $100,000 in seed funding to give early-stage startups runway throughout the program, a coworking space at NASA Research Park, a structured program offering (bootcamp and 4-week sprints), and the best Singularity University has to offer for 7-10% equity in your company.

For nonprofits/501(c)(3) organizations we provide $50,000 in unrestricted grants.

Our goal, as stated above, is to empower entrepreneurs to build products positively impacting humanity at scale.

Join Me

If you are an established entrepreneur or executive, then the next iteration of this conversation is about how to turn your into significance.

This is the sort of conversation we discuss at my 250-person executive mastermind group called Abundance 360. The program is highly selective and we're almost full, looking for a few last CEOs and entrepreneurs who want to change the world. You can apply here.

Share this email with your friends, especially if they are interested in any of the areas outlined above.

Best,
Peter

P.S. Every week I send out a "Tech Blog" like this one. If you want to sign up, go to PeterDiamandis.com and sign up for this and Abundance Insider.

P.P.S. I've just released a podcast with my dear friend Dan Sullivan called Exponential Wisdom. Our conversations focus on the exponential technologies creating abundance, the human-technology collaboration, and entrepreneurship. Head here to listen and subscribe: a360.com/podcast

If you wish to stop receiving our emails or change your subscription options, please Manage Your Subscription
PHD Ventures , 800 Corporate Pointe, Culver City, CA 90230

Fwd: communicating in exponential times

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Subject:	communicating in exponential times
Date:	Sun, 16 Aug 2015 10:45:26 -0700
From:	Peter Diamandis <peter@diamandis.com>
Reply-To:	peter@diamandis.com
To:	STeve <stevescott@techacq.com>

If you need to communicate something important to a friend, do you call? Visit? Email? Text? Skype? WhatsApp? Snap? Tweet? Message on Facebook, or LinkedIn?

How we communicate in exponential times is changing.

This blog is about the best practices, basic rules, and the emerging technologies in a rapidly changing (and increasingly fragmented) communication landscape.

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Communication 101

As more and more tools become available, we seem to have accepted the notion that communication is "contextual": LinkedIn is for work. Facebook is for friends. Snapchat is for close friends. Texting is for something immediate, if not urgent. Slack is for your team. Twitter is for public broadcast. Skype is for long distance. Phone calls are for intimacy or something really important.

And a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that email is well, good enough.

The reality is that email is probably the worst form of communication.

For me, I get hundreds of emails per day, and frankly:

• If the email is more than a few lines long, I don't read it.
• If I don't get the point in the first couple of lines, I stop reading.
• An email from a stranger asking me for something (without context or an introduction) gets deleted.
• If an email comes in at the wrong time (i.e. I'm hyper busy), it probably gets buried and doesn't get read.
• It is so easy to misread someone's intent or emotions in an email that it can lead to embarrassing situations.

As we invent more and more tools to communicate with each other, sometimes tech can become a crutch and a replacement for actual meaningful communications.

How Should We Communicate?

We are social animals, and we communicate A LOT through the intonations of our voice and our facial features.

Basic rules:

If there's something critical to communicate – close a deal, raise capital, tell someone you love them or want to break up – do it in person.

If you can't meet in person, then do it by Skype (or Beam, see below).

If you can't do it by Skype, then do it by phone.

Everything else (today) is basically inadequate for anything really important. That being said, if you have to email, see below.

Where Will Technology Help in the Future?

The good news is that technology under development leapfrogs the current technology in place, and will create a more meaningful and intimate level of communications.

In the decade ahead, there are three key areas that will drive meaning capabilities:

Telepresence/Beam: While Skype is okay, it's static and limiting. If you follow my work, you've heard me speak about Suitable Technologies and their Beam telepresence robot. Some call it Skype on Wheels, but it is much more. I have 15 Beams across all of my companies and one of them at home. Telepresence robots like the Beam (and its future derivatives) are the next best thing to being face to face. It really gives you the ability to move around and participate, as if you were there in the flesh. Even better, in the very near future this technology is going to give you superpowers. You will have the ability to pull up details on your screen about the person to whom you're speaking. But it could get even stranger. Imagine having the ability to use the sensors on your robot to measure the heart rate and pupillary reaction of the person you're speaking to during a negotiation. Technologies like the Beam will expand our sensory experience when we communicate.

Virtual Worlds: The next step in technology-enabled communication comes when we're able to skip meeting in person, and instead meet inside of a high-resolution virtual world. A world in which two individuals can have their near-perfect avatars have conversations and interactions not possible in the real world. In these virtual worlds, the avatar's facial features mirror your exact facial features using the same technology James Cameron pioneered in his moving Avatar. This is the direction companies like Philip Rosedale's High Fidelity is taking us.

Brain-Computer Interface: The ultimate form of communications will materialize in the following decade, as we develop Brain Computer Interface (BCI) -- the ability to connect mind-to-computer and computer-to-mind. This will enable the most intimate level of communication conceivable, whereby you have the ability to understand a person's most personal thoughts and feelings.

A Few Last Words About Email

Given that email is such a ubiquitous and prolific form of communication, and I get way too much of it, I'd like to share some email best practices. The truth is: sometimes it is the only way to reach somebody. Use these tips to email most effectively.

1. Subject Line: The subject line matters a lot -- much more than most people realize. Take the time to craft it a short, compelling subject line that is descriptive of the email that follows, or, at least evocative enough to get someone to open it.
2. Opening Line: The opening line of your email (or at least the first two lines) is critical. Tell the person why you are writing and what follows.
3. Brevity is King: A short email is one that gets read. Something that meanders on gets deleted or ignored.
4. Make a Simple Ask: An email should have a single action or ask. Make it easy for the person you are writing to answer. For example, if you asking for a meeting, you can say: "Can you please respond with the name of your Admin with whom I can set up a call?" or, "Let me know what day next week works for a call?"

If you do these things, you should be able to get your point across.

Join Me

This is the sort of conversation we discuss at my 250-person executive mastermind group called Abundance 360. The program is highly selective and we're almost full, looking for a few last CEOs and entrepreneurs who want to change the world. You can apply here.

Share this email with your friends, especially if they are interested in any of the areas outlined above.

Best,
Peter

P.S. Every week I send out a "Tech Blog" like this one. If you want to sign up, go to PeterDiamandis.com and sign up for this and Abundance Insider.

P.P.S. I've just released a podcast with my dear friend Dan Sullivan called Exponential Wisdom. Our conversations focus on the exponential technologies creating abundance, the human-technology collaboration, and entrepreneurship. Head here to listen and subscribe: a360.com/podcast

If you wish to stop receiving our emails or change your subscription options, please Manage Your Subscription
PHD Ventures , 800 Corporate Pointe, Culver City, CA 90230

Fwd: learning in exponential times

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Subject:	learning in exponential times
Date:	Sun, 9 Aug 2015 10:31:18 -0700
From:	Peter Diamandis <peter@diamandis.com>
Reply-To:	peter@diamandis.com
To:	STeve <stevescott@techacq.com>

How to learn is changing, and it's changing fast.

In the past, we used to learn by doing – we called them apprenticeships.

Then the model shifted, and we learned by going to school.

Now, it's going back to the apprenticeship again, but this time, you are both the apprentice and the master.

This blog is about how to learn during exponential times, when information is abundant and expertise is fleeting.

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Passion, Utility, Research & Focus

First, choosing what you want to learn and becoming great at it is tough.

As I wrote in my last blog, doing anything hard and doing it well takes grit.

Here are a few tips I've learned over the years to help choose what you want to learn:

1. Start with your passions: Focus on something you love, or learn a new skill in service of your passion. If you want to learn how to code because it will land you a high-paying job, you're not going to have the drive to spend countless, frustrating hours debugging your code. If you want to become a doctor because your parents want you to, you're not going to make it through med school. Focus on the things YOU love and do it because it's YOUR choice.
2. Make it useful: Time is the scarcest resource. While you can spend the time learning for the sake of learning, I think learning should be a means to an end. Without a target, you'll miss every time. Figure out what you want to do, and then identify the skills you need to acquire to accomplish that goal.
3. Read, watch and analyze: Read everything. Read all the time. Start with the experts. Read the material they write or blog. Watch their videos, their interviews. Do you agree with them? Why?
4. Talk to people: Once you're done reading, actually talk to real human beings that are doing what you want to do. Do whatever you can to reach them. Ask for their advice. You'll be shocked by what you can learn this way.
5. Focus on your strengths: Again, time is precious. You can't be a doctor, lawyer, coder, writer, rocket scientist, and rock star all at the same time… at least not right now. Focus on what you are good at and enjoy most and try to build on top of those skills. Many people, especially competitive people, tend to feel like they need to focus on improving the things they are worst at doing. This is a waste of time. Instead, focus on improving the things you are best at doing – you'll find this to be a much more rewarding and lucrative path.

Learn by Doing

There is no better way to learn than by doing.

I'm a fan of the "apprentice" model. Study the people who have done it well and then go work for them.

If they can't (or won't) pay you, work for free until you are good enough that they'll need to hire you.

Join a startup doing what you love – it's much cheaper than paying an expensive tuition, and a hell of a lot more useful.

I don't think school (or grad school) is necessarily the right answer anymore.

Here's one reason why:

This week I visited the Hyperloop Technologies headquarters in Los Angeles (full disclosure: I am on the board of the company).

The interim CEO and CTO Brogan Bambrogan showed me around the office, and we stopped at one particularly impressive-looking, massive machine (details confidential).

As it turns out, the team of Hyperloop engineers who had designed, manufactured, tested, redesigned, remanufactured, and operated this piece of equipment did so in 11 weeks, for pennies on the dollar.

At MIT, Stanford or CalTech, building this machine would have been someone's Ph.D. thesis…

Except that the Ph.D. candidate would have spent three years doing the same amount of work, and written a paper about it, rather than help to redesign the future of transportation.

Meanwhile, the Hyperloop engineers created this tech (and probably a half-dozen other devices) in a fraction of the time while creating value for a company that will one day be worth billions.

Full Immersion & First Principles

You have to be fully immersed if you want to really learn.

Connect the topic with everything you care about – teach your friends about it, only read things that are related to the topic, surround yourself with.

Make learning the most important thing you can possibly do and connect to it in a visceral fashion.

As part of your full immersion, dive into the very basic underlying principles governing the skill you want to acquire.

This is an idea Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla, SpaceX) constantly refers to: "The normal way we conduct our lives is we reason by analogy. We are doing this because it's like what other people are doing. [With first principles] you boil things down to the most fundamental truths … and then reason up from there."

You can't skip the fundamentals – invest the time to learn the basics before you get to the advanced stuff.

Experiment, Experiment, Experiment

Experiment, fail, experiment, fail, and experiment.

One of Google's Innovation principles and mantras is: "Never fail to fail."

Don't be afraid if you are really bad at the beginning: you learn most from your mistakes.

When Elon hires people, he asks them to describe a time they struggled with a hard problem. "When you struggle with a problem, that's when you understand it," he says, "Anyone who's struggled hard with a problem never forgets it."

Digital Tools

We used to have to go to school to read textbooks and gain access to expert teachers and professors.

Nowadays, literally all of these resources are available online for free.

There are hundreds of free education sites like Khan Academy, Udemy, or Udacity.

There are thousands of MOOCs (massive online open courses) from the brightest experts from top universities on almost every topic imaginable.

Want to learn a language? Download an app like Duolingo (or even better, pack up your things and move to that country).

Want to learn how to code? Sign up for a course on CodeAcademy or MIT Open Courseware.

The resources are there and available – you just have to have the focus and drive to find them and use them.

Finally… The Next Big Shift in Learning

In the future, the next big shift in learning will happen as we adopt virtual worlds and augmented reality.

It will be the next best thing to "doing" – we'll be able to simulate reality and experiment (perhaps beyond what we can experiment with now) in virtual and augmented environments.

Add that to the fact that we'll have an artificial intelligence tutor by our side, showing us the ropes and automatically customizing our learning experience.

If you like this conversation, join me.

This is the sort of conversation we discuss at my 250-person executive mastermind group called Abundance 360. The program is highly selective and we're almost full, looking for a few last CEOs and entrepreneurs who want to change the world. You can apply here.

Share this email with your friends, especially if they are interested in any of the areas outlined above.

Best,
Peter

P.S. Every week I send out a "Tech Blog" like this one. If you want to sign up, go to PeterDiamandis.com and sign up for this and Abundance Insider.

P.P.S. I've just released a podcast with my dear friend Dan Sullivan called Exponential Wisdom. Our conversations focus on the exponential technologies creating abundance, the human-technology collaboration, and entrepreneurship. Head here to listen and subscribe: a360.com/podcast

If you wish to stop receiving our emails or change your subscription options, please Manage Your Subscription
PHD Ventures , 800 Corporate Pointe, Culver City, CA 90230

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Fw: grit… so important!

From: Peter Diamandis <peter@diamandis.com> Sent: Sunday, August 2, 2015 10:16 AM To: STeve Reply To: peter@diamandis.com Subject: grit… so important!

An overnight success… after 10 years of hard work.

That's the story for my founding XPRIZE and co-founding Zero-G.

It's also the story of AirBnb, Instagram, Pinterest and a lot of other startups.

People often forget how difficult it is to start a company.

This blog is about "grit"… one of the most critical attributes of being a successful entrepreneur today.

What is grit? Grit is refusing to give up. It's persistence. It's making your own luck.

Entrepreneurial success is almost always harder than you think and almost always takes longer than you expect.

But that's also why its fun – it is a challenge that you have to throw your whole life into, and when you get it right, the rewards are well worth the effort.

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Entrepreneurship is non-linear – Grit is your key friend

Let's take a look at three infographics depicting the non-linear, sometimes crazy paths to success of a few well known, billion dollar startups: AirBnb, Instagram and Pinterest.

First, here's AirBnb:

A few of my favorite highlights:

• Two co-founders can't make rent and rent out their spare bedroom.
• They launched at SXSW in 2007 and only got TWO bookings.
• They had to sell Obama "O's" CEREAL at $40 a pop to keep the lights on, a service that wasn't even remotely related to their core business
• They were making $200 a week for months and NOT GROWING
• They pitched and were REJECTED by many VCs along the way.

Thanks goodness they stuck with it. Their little idea is now valued at $25 billion.

And here is Instagram:

A few of my favorite highlights:

• Kevin (co-founder) learns to code after work.
• Builds an app called Burbn that did everything from check-ins to photos.
• Didn't work, so he decided to just focus on photos and built a different app...
• It didn't work, so they went back to Burbn...
• Iterated again, scrapped everything, simplified, and renamed Instagram.

The photo sharing app was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion. And it's now worth an estimated $35 billion.

And finally, here's Pinterest:

A few of my favorite highlights:

• In 2008, Ben (co-founder) hates his job, quits, but doesn't know what he wants to build
• Built an app called Tote, and it flopped
• Decided to try a new idea, a site for collecting things…
• Rejected by lots of investors
• Makes 50 different versions of the site
• Launches site and gets 200 initial users
• Personally writes emails to first 7,000 users (whew!), and in doing so, finds his early adopters to be "moms"

Pinterest is now valued at $11 billion.

All of these companies started as little ideas. Then, through the combination of hard work, determination, experimentation, GRIT, timing, luck and a lot of drama, these companies stumbled their way to become billion-dollar powerhouses.

Personal Story: Zero G & XPRIZE

In my life, over the course of 17 companies, this story has been the norm. Two of the companies I've founded or cofounded have taken 10+ years to really get going.

Here are their stories (in brief):

Zero-G Story: In 1993 I wanted to fly on NASA's Zero-G plane… as much as I tried, they told me no. My response (as usual) was okay, scre -it, I'll start a zero-g company myself. So… I did, along with Byron Lichtenberg and Ray Cronise, and in May 1993 we had our first meeting with the FAA. Their response? "What? YOU WANT TO DO WHAT? Put 36 people in an airplane, take off their seat belts, put the plane into a dive and have them float around the cabin? What, are you crazy?"

It took us 11 years of constant pressure, hard work, and outlasting bureaucrats to become operational, finally in September of 2004.

Since then I'm proud to say that we've flown over 15,000 people ranging from age 7 to 93, including Professor Stephen Hawking and wheelchair-bound children into weightlessness.

XPRIZE Story: I read Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis book in 1994. The idea of the XPRIZE came to mind and I started the Foundation. In May of 1996, without the prize money in hand, we announced the $10M XPRIZE anyway. I thought for sure that someone would fund the purse. After all, you didn't pay the money until AFTER the prize was won. What occurred next was five years of "NO's"… I pitched 150+ sponsors, suffered through Sept 11th (how about raising money for a space prize when the world is falling apart) and the Columbia Shuttle disaster. Finally (long story) I met the Ansari family that funded the purse (we named it the Ansari XPRIZE in their honor), and a few years later on October 4th, 2004 the XPRIZE was won.

It took 10 years, from concept to Prize Award...

And today, as we are hitting our stride, the XPRIZE Foundation is now 21 years old!

Timing, Experimentation and Iteration

It's rare for a company to "get it right" on the very first try.

Most companies and entrepreneurs need experimentation and iteration to really find product-market fit and strike a chord with the business.

And as I outlined in an earlier blog reviewing Bill Gross's DLD and TED talks on the key attributes for entrepreneurial success, it's really mostly about timing.

Here is the key: If you can survive long enough, and you are constantly iterating, experimenting, and improving your business, then eventually the timing will be right!

It really is all about GRIT.

This was the case with all of the companies outlined above.

If you believe in your vision, don't give up. Keep trying, keep testing, keep iterating, and eventually you'll get it right.

Join Me

We often forget how hard it is to build businesses and, frankly, solve real problems.

This is the sort of conversation we discuss at my 250-person executive mastermind group called Abundance 360. The program is highly selective and we're almost full, looking for a few last CEOs and entrepreneurs who want to change the world. You can apply here.

Share this email with your friends, especially if they are interested in any of the areas outlined above.

Best,
Peter

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P.P.S. I've just released a podcast with my dear friend Dan Sullivan called Exponential Wisdom. Our conversations focus on the exponential technologies creating abundance, the human-technology collaboration, and entrepreneurship. Head here to listen and subscribe: a360.com/podcast

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