Author: cahouser
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What to do when someone calls you a copycat
Amsterdam. April, 2011. I was having such a great day. Woke up to the sounds of birds chirping. Walked past bike racks and cute canal bridges to a eurocoffee and a europastry, enjoying the hell out of it in the way that only a walkable-city-starved American can. I was on my way to the venue […]
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You Already Have The Answer
The box-candle problem is not only a test of creativity but also an example of functional fixedness: our tendency to see objects as functioning only in their usual or customary way.
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Western Art in Denver
Lately I’ve been offering to tag along on people’s speaking gigs and work trips as a way to spark more serendipity in my life. Which is how I found myself in Denver last weekend. The top of the staircase led us to a gaggle of women in floor-length sequined dresses and cowboy hats. Big smiles shined […]
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How to shoot your shot with an important person
It’s 2009 at a party during the SXSW tech conference in Austin. Tim Ferriss, author and angel investor riding high off of the success of the Four Hour Work Week, is in conversation with a conference attendee in the middle of the venue. I am a bright-eyed first-time founder with puppy dog energy, desperate for capital and connections. Landing Tim as an investor would give my startup both. Despite my nerves, I know I should approach him.
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The first thing your customers see
I spent a week in Boston working with founders at Intel’s Ignite program, a corporate accelerator that helps deep tech startups find product/market fit and sell to enterprise. My role was to help these founders attract more customers and investors through video. I wrote this so people not in Intel’s program could benefit from what we covered.
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How I Go From Idea to Filming
A write up of my low effort, no scriptwriting, no memorization workflow for how I generate ideas and get them to where I’m ready to talk about them on camera.
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I Got Taken for a Ride in India
And it was totally worth it. I knew my trip to India was going to get weird when I got a stomach bug before I landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport. Frankly, it was a win to cross that distance without causing an international incident in the airplane lavatory.
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The Upside of Getting Screwed Over
I’m an advisor to a company that makes beef jerky. The founders are Bolivian and their product has done well down there…but the market is small. They relocated the business to Texas and I’ve been helping them get the business in motion. One of the founders shared a story that I can’t stop thinking about…