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Topic | Messari 2022 In-Depth Research Report on Encryption Industry

The original text is from Messari, the original title is "Crypto Theses for 2022", translator | W3.Hitchhiker

Chapter 10 Benefits: Tell me what I want to say

Benefits section: five thoughts

I'm going to say some real alpha and controversial opinions here.

(U.S.) cold war with China and the impending balkanization of the U.S. and the Western world; our crumbling military and cancel culture; my thoughts on all things God Cow; my campaign in 2024; a thorough take on mainstream streaming Take the necessary and utter destruction; and my most controversial point that you should work tirelessly hard, keep your mouth shut, participate in the building, and earn your place in this world.

I do have some final thoughts for anyone interested in how the scary monkey in my head works and deals with the world - cryptocurrencies and beyond.

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1. Why you must write

I've been asked, how can I write this annual report and still run a company? As I said in my intro, this is good marketing to attract corporate clients, partners, and new hires; it should drive good conversions of our professional product (ahem); and it also serves as my annual crypto depth Research and product ideation sessions. "What am I missing, where are we going?"

I want to turn the question around and ask you: How can you survive remote-first, globally distributed, hypergrowth without writing well? Reading helps me identify blind spots, but writing is what helps me focus and streamline my thoughts.

Whether it's code or short essays, you have to get better at writing.

Good code conveys your ideas elegantly to the computer and spits out a product that delights the user. Good writing can elegantly communicate your ideas to others, plant new ideas in their heads (via memos), and, if you do it right, bring missionaries to your cause. Nic Carter has one of the best articles I've read this year - On Writing which, probably not coincidentally, happens to be the title of the Stephen King book I recommend to all new professionals. Nic Carter is the best writer in the cryptocurrency industry. This annual report is my annual competition for the second place. Here I am quoting his chapter "On Writing" as a conclusion:

I hope these words are a little helpful and a little bit entertaining and self-indulgent.

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2. There is no sacred cow

I'm not going to set the purview for myself by going question by question, but when it comes to writers, as it happens, I think Bari Weiss and Glenn Greenwood are the last two good reporters left. (Thankfully there is substack.) Generally, I try to read anything on their banned list and find the strongest rebuttal. Sometimes the banned book is a wild conspiracy theory, other times it's the alpha we're looking for (early COVID coverage). However, it's important to remember that there are no sacred cows in learning about a subject, you have to keep an open mind, but once you've got the information you need, hold your own.

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3. My information flow

Here's what's been at the top of my mind as I read, internalize, and share over the past year: Build stuff. If you're always thinking, write it down; if you're not thinking enough, read it. Your boss is tired of being your manager (how can you manage yourself), don't follow your whims, seriously, don't follow your whims. Chances are your whim is more stupid and useless than anything else, your passion should be your hobby, not your job, do it in your spare time.

Learn the cadence of a SaaS startup, lessons in vertical software investing, and how to work backwards... peruse the crypto classics and learn to love Lord Vitalik (web3), King Arthur (marketplaces) and Nic Carter (bitcoin) all in cryptocurrencies top writers. By the way, Bankless is the king of cryptocurrencies, turn on push notifications from Balaji and Punk6529, it's that simple.

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4. Some Tips and Productivity Tips

The most important productivity I recommend is being together with people who are organized, good communicators, and able to manage themselves, without any direct reports. I've been lucky to find great, hard working people who align with my vision of the future and help me bring those perspectives to a clearer point every day while allowing for some things I just won't do no matter how hard I try better fact. That said, thanks to the Messari team (especially Ben, Diran, Emily, Eric, Florent, and Maartje) for contributing to my work during my largely absent weeks.

I was largely absent when writing this report. Here are some other habits I have (for better or worse) that I (try to) follow.

**Communication:** I have no superpowers, but I live off Gmail's snooze button and multiple inboxes. Be intentional about setting things up like using pinned Twitter lists, keeping open DMs, fanatical filtering, unsubscribing, reporting and blocking unsolicited or negative messages on Twitter and email. This year, I'm glad I've drastically limited my time on Telegram and Discord, Slack for the team, email for business, and twitter and signal for gaming. And that's all. (Update: I'm starting to re-use Discord now as it aligns with our new product (coming out next week)).

**Meetings:** I try to limit weekly internal meetings to 20% of the time when you sync the weekly leadership team with recruiting, bi-weekly all-hands meetings, and separate face-to-face meetings with direct employees Added up, it's really not that bad. There are monthly functional team meetings across eight different groups, quarterly all-hands meetings, and other miscellaneous issues such as strategy, product, and HR synchronization issues that arise during the normal course. Crypto has scaled up this year and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, I've never managed a company this big, but that's the problem.

My team is still small and I've learned a lot from Elad Gil's High Growth Playbook. (Thanks, Elard!).

**Mind, Body, Soul:** I've had Headspace on my phone's home screen for five years and have used it 11 times, get the applause 👏. I also learned that I can get a really good night's sleep when I read a book and turn off my phone before bed. I've even managed to do it three or four times, and I've read the first chapter or two of dozens of books. I know — I'm god among men, and I also play stuff a few times a week if you want to challenge me. No, seriously, you can challenge me here. (Thanks, Fight Camp).

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5. Life advice

This might be obvious, but I don't know what I'm doing and probably neither do you. But if you're lucky enough to get married, have kids, and move to the suburbs, when your day is marked by a five-year-old laughing one of his farts, a three-year-old telling you stories through three minutes, and a half-naked By the time your one-year-old is lifted off your lap on your last Zoom meeting call of the day, you won't care about a 5% move in the market.

If you're reading this, you're (hopefully) a time billionaire. But that doesn't change the fact that you're at the tail end of many relationships (I read this thread once a year), and it's always Day 1, where you're in control.