Year: 2020

  • Stop causing unforced errors

    Stop causing unforced errors

    Growing up in Saudi Arabia, I played a lot of table tennis (not a lot of options). And I had one friend who always whooped us. And I mean it when I say whooped — for over half a decade, I can count the number of times he lost on my hands. Hell, I think my lifetime…

  • Own your mistakes publicly

    I’ve done a fair number of JTBD (jobs-to-be-done) customer interviews. It’s been super interesting seeing the patterns of what people say (and don’t say). Here’s a random one to share: a few months ago Kamal had the idea of (inspired by GiveWell) to publish an “Our Mistakes” page. When talking to customers, they LOVE bringing…

  • Experience is a fantastic filter

    I have an almost limitless supply of bad ideas. It’s experience that helps me filter them out more effectively.

  • Own up to your mistakes

    I posted earlier this week how I was 100% focused on Examine.com for the indeterminate future. Here’s something we just released today that I’m super proud of: Our Mistakes. Inspired by GiveWell, we are publicly disclosing the mistakes we’ve made, and our progress in fixing those mistakes. Check it out: https://examine.com/about/our-mistakes/

  • SJO.com is on Hiatus

    SJO.com is on Hiatus

    Life is all about prioritization. It’s hard to focus effectively on more than a few major tasks. I got re-involved in Examine.com around the end of 2018. By early 2019 I was fully in the swing of things. It was also a shite time for Examine.com. A few bad decisions, a few hiring mistakes, coupled…