everything is connected

the next time you receive a letter from me, i will be on the other side of the world in central america.

crazy stuff.

but hey, gotta do crazy stuff right? life’s too short not to.

this is week 32 of the unicorn founder, and over the last three weeks it’s been less about the startup and more about my actual life lol

which has started to make me think a lot about what this is all about.

which is why today, i want to chat a little about where my head, heart, and soul is at.

THE CHAT

i’m an artist. and that means that i am interested in everything.

some people will read that and immediately think: the mona lisa, marble sculptures, and probably some musicians they love

but if you look into the etymology of the word (the study of the origins of words + their evolving meanings), you see that an artist is a craftsperson.

wow. what an insanely beautiful definition.

we’re all craftspersons inherently — but only a few of us genuinely pursue our craft, our ingrained desire to create things, to build things, to discover.

and so the question i have been asking myself is:
what does it mean to just write about the weekly strivings into building a billion dollar company?

the answers that i have been coming across seem to suggest that there is more to it than that.

→ anything you do in your life is not isolated from the rest of the things in your life.

and so, in this process of “building a billion dollar company” i have found myself going down so many different rabbit holes, tangents, and just genuinely enjoyable experiences that were initiated by curiosity — and whilst those haven’t been strictly part of the billion dollar company, they have had an indirect impact on what i build, how i build, and the results i get.

so i find myself in an in-between of wanting to write solely about the process of building the company and wanting to write more about the whole journey.

to put it differently:
i don’t want to just talk about the calories i am burning, the mileage i am covering, and the changes in my heart-rate monitor as i walk along this mountain trail… i also want to tell you about the view, the flowers i am passing, the deer that jumped in front of me, or perhaps the grizzly bear that i had to fight off... those are some power-house additional details.

the point is: we learn lessons throughout every aspect of our existence.
this is what da vinci saw as the marvellous interconnectedness of our lives, the world around us, and our placement within it all.
and what a shame it would be to not divulge into those auxiliary parts, those details that bring so much more life into things.

so, where to now?

i want these weekly letters to be more of a documentation of my personal pursuit of maximising the potential in our lives.

how that unfolds into influencing the achievement of a billion dollar company +
well… that’s something i want to continually tie into the letters.

but i love the idea of being able to share the side-quests of learning coding/spanish as fast as possible, figuring out how to make a dent in san francisco, travelling around the world, personal reflections, and just ideas that develop and germinate in my mind, and everything else that is bundled up in these mad lives we get to live + drawing lessons from them.

and so that’s really where this is going:

a weekly introspection on what happened over the last 7 days, how that impacts today, and what effect that has on what occurs tomorrow — all whilst striving to figure out how to build a billion dollar company.

fun stuff? i know right.

so i’m keen.

THE TRIP

i say goodbye to south africa this saturday.

and hello to guatemala this sunday.

who knows what that next step will entail.

but one thing is for sure… i need to be fluent in spanish before arriving.

so that’s a big priority over the next 6 days.

hundred percent including pics in the next letter… get keeeeeennnn!

and thereafter we head over to sf.

crazy times crazy times.

→ there have been some positive updates around the residency (remember i applied early november — it’s the super exclusive house for founders for 6 months)

but, there are just a few things that need to be sorted out before completely confirmed, so i am holding off on that before sharing any news on that front — stay tuned folks.

in any case, the first podcast interview is happening tomorrow which is exciting, and that will be released this week onto spotify and apple podcasts.

pretty funnnn

NOTABLE EVENTS THIS WEEK

 🕺 alrighty, that’s that ladies and gentlemen, you go have yourselves a fantastic week.

check out LinkedIn, X, IG, TikTok for daily updates/thoughts/ideas… and even YouTube for some longer form content I am putting out

connect with me there, or reply here.

Peace and Wholeness : )
ethan