"As a founder, I am looking for risk-takers" #Noonies2021

Hey Hackers! I’m Marcio Galli, founder, and writer.

First of all, a huge thanks to the HackerNoon staff for nominating me for a 2021 Noonies award! I’ve been nominated in the following category, please do check out these award pages and vote:

HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - lean-startup: https://noonies.tech/award/2021-hackernoon-contributor-of-the-year-lean-startup

I work in the start-up industry as a writer, a developer, and a founder. I understand that most nominees are talking about the exciting technologies of our present.

Although I am a technologist in my heart, my goal here at HackerNoon is to consider how the human operating system coordinates entrepreneurial action. Consider, for example, how humans can shock-absorb their fast and intuitive mode of operation with reflective writing.

1. What do you do and why do you do it?

I am an entrepreneur, and like many of us, I am learning from execution. All entrepreneurs are learners, but the successful ones seem to be experts in learning while doing it.

Others are simply know-it-alls. On the right side, I like to celebrate Brian Chesky of Airbnb - an infinite learner, according to Reid Hoffman.

Why do I do what I do? Because I want to develop myself as a better entrepreneur.

The better self, the better entrepreneur, is the one that listens more, learns more, and collaborates more. The better entrepreneur creates a larger impact in the world.

2. Tell us more about the things you create / write / manage / build!

I am not a professional writer, and my entrepreneurial path is full of failures. My writings come from real experiences and problems that I am trying to solve.

To point an example from 2017, I came across a simulated pitch from Reid Hoffman (the founder of Linkedin) given to Adam Grant (the author of Originals).

It was such a precious moment hidden at minute 35 of a video. The result? A brief article entitled The VC pitch: What’s wrong with the world, what is being deployed, and how you do it differently.

3. How did you end up on your current career path? Do you like it?

Back in the 80s, I hacked my mother’s little TV radio frequency signal in the kitchen. I successfully overlapped the news programming from the computer with a sort of “urgent news” clip.

It didn’t take much time for her to start screaming after the news that the president was dead.

Fast forward to 1997, someone from Netscape once wrote, “Marcio, whatever you are smoking, please keep doing that.” I wasn’t smoking at that time but understood that the browser was a way to show my tricks to others.

I always loved to present and to reveal how the tricks are done. Fast-forward to 2000, I was a technology evangelist at Netscape, working in the Mozilla project.

All of this happened because, on the other end, people in the market gave me a chance. It’s usually the case that risk-takers hire me. As a founder, I am looking for risk-takers.

4. What tech are you most excited or passionate about right now and why?

I am excited that humans continue to use what is available to improve how they work and live.

Consider the use of the earth, assuming that the planet is a technology. If you have seen the movie Alpha, spoiler alert, consider how humans could flip the enemy to become a partner.

We don’t know for sure, but some people believe that all we see are elements in a complex life engine. If so, it’s all technology.

Instead of celebrating one or another awesome or scary new thing that comes to our ways, I want to celebrate Michael Dearing’s favorite chart that shows how the world’s wealth curve after the industrial revolution:

5. What tech are you most worried about right now and why?

I am scared that more and more people are captivated by networked systems (and their tricks) that push them to move faster but not to become better thinkers.

More and more, I see people flipping their fingers more quickly, scanning articles faster, or moving the mouse up and down. Yes, we are deciding faster, and that is quite scary [in some cases].

6. If we gave you 10 million dollars to invest in something today, what would you invest in and why?

A difficult question that reminds me of the million dollars challenge presented by Peter Gibbons in the movie Office Space - What would you do if you had a million dollars? Peter was sick of technology and wanted to do nothing.

If investing is a requirement, I would invest in companies supporting humans to be more productive by working less but better. I think that the road ahead looks like breaking the 5-day business week standard model.

I am especially looking for a start-up team that figures out how to make a great start-up that does not require a 60h work week of its employees.

7. What are you currently learning?

I am learning The Pyramid Principle, the work of Barbara Minto. It’s a remarkable work that is well known because Barbara broke the code of communication.

If you want to get an excellent overview of the importance of her work for founders, please check Harrison Metal’s Executive Communications talk. I am also revisiting prior learnings related to Customer Development and Jobs-To-Be-Done, especially now that Steve Blank mentioned Jobs-To-Be-Done Canvas on November 4th, 2021.

8. What’s the best advice you’ve ever given someone?

Never send a business model canvas to your investors.

9. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

I have 3 gifts from 3 geniuses. Brian Chesky has advised us to try to learn from the best source.

Michael Dearing and Barbara Minto have advised us to organize our communication with SCQA, especially if we want support from executives.

Andy Grove, in High Output Management, has advised us to focus on Objectives and Key Results.

About HackerNoon’s 2021 Noonie Awards

The annual Noonie Awards celebrate the best and brightest of the tech industry, bringing together all who are making the Internet and the world of tech what it is today. Please be sure to check out our award categories, nominate, and vote for the people and companies who you think are making the biggest impact on the tech industry today.

The 2021 Noonies are sponsored by: bybit, Dottech Domains, and Avast. Thank you so much to these sponsors who are helping us celebrate the accomplishments of all our nominees.