Always Invert — Beginning With the End In Mind

Always Invert is our home for sharing insights as we explore investing, building, community, and how to collaborate in competitive environments.

We share our newsletter articles, which are published weekly, and the notes that enable us to reboot and explore informationally dense topics.

Follow along on our journey as we share the tips, tools, and integrated workflows that we spent hundreds of hours learning and demonstrating.

Always Invert was built with you in mind. Please feel free to jump right in — there are many ways to join the discussions if not the projects themselves.

Highlights

We love to share our favorite quotes, posts, links, and articles:

"Very few large companies can compound their growth over 20 years of 15% from current record earnings. The implications involved in some valuations is astonishing, particularly if you are demanding 15% returns." In twenty-one years, some things never change.

Read The Article Now

"Peak" by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool

People Who Will Challenge You

One of the best ways to create and sustain social motivation is to surround yourself with people who will encourage and support and challenge you in your endeavors.

—

Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool

Gender Queer

A note to my parents: Though I have struggled with being your daughter, I am so, so glad that I am your child.

—

Maia Kobabe

Setting People Straight

When someone says, “I need to be surrounded by positive people,” I just laugh. You know what that really means? I want people who will lie to my face and make me feel better. You didn’t hire me to tell happy, shiny lies, my job is to set people straight, no matter what the consequence.

—

Tim Grover

"How To Write Groundhog Day" by Danny Rubin

Habit Formation & Time Loops

The absolutely worst day of Phil’s life took place under the exact same conditions as the absolutely best day of Phil’s life.

—

Danny Rubin

Incorporating breathwork into your routine

Even if you meditate on a regular basis, incorporating breathwork into your routine can have extraordinary benefits for your mental and physical health. I discuss this in detail in a recent article...

—

Ben Greenfield

50-50 Ball

Sometimes you’re just drifting in the right direction, other times you’re going all out for a 50-50 ball.

—

Paul Graham

Long Beach Port Logistics Snarl

Yesterday I rented a boat and took the leader of one of Flexport's partners in Long Beach on a 3 hour of the port complex. Here's a thread about what I learned.

—

Ryan Petersen

Total value of YC companies calculation

Someone asked what the total value of YC companies was, so I tried calculating it. The current value of the top 30 is about $575 billion. When we started YC, I would have been astounded if you'd told me it would one day be $5.75 billion.

—

Paul Graham

A quick thread on VIC

When I joined the endowment world 17 years ago, I quickly realized many fund managers we interviewed were active participants on Value Investors Club (VIC). A quick thread on VIC, including 10 of my favorite historical ideas.

—

Campbell Wilson

No Programmer in Founding Team

Talked to a guy who'd had several genuinely good startup ideas. None had worked. Why? Because he was neither a programmer nor had a cofounder who was. So he had to hire them...

—

Paul Graham

Podcast cover image for "The Tim Ferriss Show" by Tim Ferriss

Josh Waitzkin — How to Cram 2 Months of Learning into 1 Day

You’re going 25, 30 miles an hour. The wing is all that’s touching the surface and it’s a crazy, intense feeling.

—

Tim Ferriss

Podcast cover image for "Huberman Lab Podcast" by Andrew Huberman

Master Your Breathing with Dr. Jack Feldman

This conversation serves as a sort of “masterclass” on the science of breathing and breathing-related tools for health and performance.

—

Andrew Huberman

Using Play to Rewire & Improve Your Brain

In this episode, I discuss the transformative nature of play—how it changes our feelings, thoughts and actions and indeed, how it can rewire our brain to function better in all contexts.

—

Andrew Huberman

The Science of Making & Breaking Habits

The Huberman Lab podcast begins the year with a discussion of two new systems for habit formation. The first of these relates to "our ability to perform certain tasks at different phases of the 24-hour day". The second focuses on "habit formation and consolidation." So basically what this involves is you set out to perform 6 new habits per day across the course of 21 days...

—

Andrew Huberman

How to Build a Membership Site with Webflow, MemberStack, Airtable & Zapier

How to build a full membership site, without code, using Webflow, MemberStack, Airtable & Zapier.

—

MacKenzie Child

Podcast cover image for "Endurance Planet" by Tawnee Prazak Gibson

Endurance Planet podcast

"A lot of the guys would take the daily distance but they were still training with their training partners, and they still wanted to be champions of the daily workout. They were ignoring the training zones... It does take discipline and patience, but in the end, it is so worth it." —Mark Allen

—

Tawnee Prazak Gibson

Tim Ferriss Interviews Arnold Schwarzenegger on Psychological Warfare (And Much More)

Then I would go to Franco and we would start arguing in German. ...and he was screaming back at me in Italian. Then all of a sudden he would calm down and I would go to the guy and say, “Okay, here it is. I could get him as low as $3,800. Can you go with that?”

—

Tim Ferriss

Unlocking the Power of Gratitude

Mixtapes and Music Playlists

Learning to Breathe

Trolling Buffett

Groundhog Day and New Beginnings

My Conversation with Steve Jobs

Kunduz - On Path to 10x An Early Stage Business

Building in Public

What I Learned From 100 One On Ones With Other Writers

My Old School

The No Code Revolution

Working with the Best

All Articles

The Art of Communication

Highlights

People Who Will Challenge You

Gender Queer

Setting People Straight

Habit Formation & Time Loops

Incorporating breathwork into your routine

50-50 Ball

Long Beach Port Logistics Snarl

Total value of YC companies calculation

A quick thread on VIC

No Programmer in Founding Team

Josh Waitzkin — How to Cram 2 Months of Learning into 1 Day

Master Your Breathing with Dr. Jack Feldman

Using Play to Rewire & Improve Your Brain

The Science of Making & Breaking Habits

How to Build a Membership Site with Webflow, MemberStack, Airtable & Zapier

Endurance Planet podcast

Tim Ferriss Interviews Arnold Schwarzenegger on Psychological Warfare (And Much More)

SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMES FOR FUN, INSPIRATION & PROSPERITY

All Articles

Article: The Art of Communication

Article: The No Code Revolution

Quote of the Day: Setting People Straight

Passion Project: Foiling & Surfing

Meet The Community