*note – see why i’m writing without capitalization here. basically, this post is written off the cuff and quite unedited, so treat wisely. charlie munger once said something wise about incentives that’s definitely worth googling. something i think a lot about as i get within spitting distance of having kids is… why has society made having kids so hard?! if you live in one of…
An idea for a side hustle
I wanted to share the outline of an idea for an investment / side hustle I shared with a friend in January of this year. The opportunity has only gotten more attractive in a post-COVID world, given many people’s desire to get out of locked-down cities and into nature. 5 years ago it’s something I would have run at pretty hard. Now, I unfortunately have too much…
2020 Annual Review and 2021 Goals
It’s become somewhat fashionable lately to poo poo goals, say they’re stupid. Well, I think that’s stupid. When done right, goals are tools to make decisions and narrow down options. Today, most of my friends suffer from too many options, not too few. And for most of them, all those options are paralyzing. I’ve been doing an annual review exercise every year since 2012 and…
An Idea to Improve Science Funding
I’ve been thinking about how to solve the problem of “how do we accelerate progress” and wanted to share a potential way I’ve been thinking about it. I sort of see 2 main problem areas as far as research funding today: The funding model (90% of funding from the government, allocated via grant funding) is broken. Slow Rewards incremental research that’s legible to a grant…
An idea to improve governance
The era of massive American corporations reached its zenith in the 1950s. The dominant way of thinking at that time was simple: hierarchical, chain of command and working your way up were valued tremendously. As a worker in 1950s corporate America, you followed your boss’ instructions. You worked for GE, showed up from 9-5 every day and were loyal to a T. In return, GE…
Small ways you can improve the food system
Probably the largest shift I’ve made over the last decade health-wise is a shift towards prioritizing food quality over almost anything else. When I started going paleo, I’d go HAM on terrible quality stuff that fit my macros (hello low-grade store bought beef!). After all, it was Paleo – I’m being healthy! As I’ve understood more of the impact food has on our health, environment…
How to Decrease Geographic Inequality – an Idea
The below is a somewhat random write-up I had about an idea to enable more liquid labor markets and address geographic income inequality. I since have been made aware (and become friends with) the founder + CEO of Placement, which is doing incredible work that most closely addresses the problem I describe below. That said, I still think it’s a cool idea + wanted to…
technology and the future of health
the below snippet is from my 1x/mo newsletter, The Next Brand. if you enjoyed, sign up here for more – https://justinmares.substack.com/ the tech sector is fascinating. i used to live in Silicon Valley and still have a soft spot for all things tech. it’s inspiring to see great entrepreneurs building new things at the forefront of technology, literally inventing the future #props. health is the…
How I validated my idea for Kettle & Fire
Note – this is a republished from my Substack newsletter (The Next Brand) where I’m doing most of my writing these days. A few people have mentioned they want to know more about how exactly I started Kettle & Fire. How’d I get the idea, why did I think it’d work, what did I do in the early days, etc. Well, let me take you…
How I Fixed My Sleeping Issue
For the last 6 months I’ve had a terrible time sleeping 🛌. More nights than not, I’ve woken up after 5–6 hours completely unable to get back to sleep. Pretty typical night of sleep this past July. Though after comparing the Oura to the Dreem, I’ve noticed that my Oura ring will code REM sleep as “awake” — at least for me. After 6 months…