Writing
Essays and notes from the work.
Longer-form thinking that doesn’t fit on the homepage. AI that ships, family-business operations, the operators I want to back.
A note: This site went live in 2026, but I’m in the process of uploading essays and notes from across my career. They will appear here gradually as I work through the archive, so the list will keep growing over the coming weeks and months.
May 15, 2026
Backing Operators Here, Now
Why I'm putting capital to work from Kuala Lumpur instead of Singapore or San Francisco. And the three things I look for in the operators I back.
ReadApril 22, 2026
What the Next Generation Inherits
When AI sits on top of operations, the family inherits a slightly cheaper version of the same business. When AI sits inside operations, they inherit a different business. Most are choosing the second by accident.
ReadMarch 18, 2026
Training and Capital Don't Mix
On the discipline that keeps the two legs of Pertama from sharing a commercial sales motion — and what actually happens when training clients become investment conversations later.
ReadFebruary 12, 2026
Demo to Habit
A board AI demo is a magic trick. A team that actually uses AI is a habit. Notes on what closes the gap, from inside the engagements that work and the ones that don't.
ReadJanuary 30, 2021
The Middle
Five years of nearly perfectly linear growth — and what's underneath it. The start of any venture is romantic. The end is scripted. The interesting part is the middle.
ReadApril 1, 2020
Which Problems?
Career advice usually splits between 'follow your passion' and 'build unique skills.' I think there's a better question hiding between those two.
ReadMarch 1, 2020
The House Project
Third grade. A shoebox. A lie I told Mrs. Zanni. A lesson I'm still learning twenty years later — and the marketing article we asked to have deleted.
ReadJanuary 1, 2020
Things Take Time
We overestimate the changes that can occur in the short term but underestimate the changes that result in the long term. Notes on why building the right business slowly often beats building the wrong one quickly.
ReadDecember 15, 2019
Give. Give. Get.
A horrible painting I made for my mother in second grade. A bookshelf full of small gifts. And a mindset that has shaped how I do business ever since.
ReadSeptember 30, 2019
Decisions Have Long Shelf Lives
A single clause in a contract from years ago can decide a CEO's fate today. On the WeWork debacle, Masa Son's vetoed bet, and the decisions you make now that come back to find you.
ReadAugust 15, 2019
The Importance of Live
I let GPT-2 write the opening three paragraphs of this essay. Most readers couldn't tell. Here's what that means for how we evaluate people — and which skills will matter most in the years ahead.
ReadMay 15, 2019
Why Before What
FDR read the dictionary in second grade and remembered none of it. Without context, nothing sticks. On why the 'what' is now commoditized and the 'why' is where leadership actually lives.
ReadMay 1, 2019
Even Successful CEOs Get It Wrong All the Time
Jobs, Kalanick, Mayer, Watson. The best founders miss too. The lesson isn't humility — it's that the next great idea is unlikely to come from between the ears of the founder.
ReadMarch 15, 2019
Take the Stairs
The value of something is what we're willing to sacrifice to get it. On the speed-vs-quality trade-off most of us never consciously make.
ReadJanuary 15, 2019
Ancora Imparo
Half a day at The Met, a rooftop in Nairobi, and what Michelangelo and an old friend taught me about being an explorer.
ReadOctober 1, 2018
A Smile, a Handshake, and a Hello
A wedding in Montreal, a memory from thirteen years earlier, and what hospitality actually costs.
ReadAugust 15, 2018
Shackleton
On Antarctica, 497 days adrift, and an unsung biologist named Clark who quietly poured his ration of milk into a teammate's empty cup.
ReadJune 15, 2018
Graduation Address: Three Formulas for Growth
A speech delivered at a small school's graduation. Pain plus reflection equals growth. Stress plus rest equals growth. Your community equals growth.
ReadMay 15, 2018
Be the Candle or the Mirror
Edith Wharton on two ways of spreading light. On the days you lead and the days you reflect.
Read