It’s been an incredible 6 months, that the Buffer team could spend here in Hong Kong. I first wrote about our startup journey to Hong Kong a few months ago. That’s why I wanted to do an update, as sure enough, we are seeking new shores. Within the next two weeks we are heading to … Read more
Recently, I attended a lecture of a buddhist nun at the SF Zen Center and there was one line that stood out to me more than anything else when she recalled a discussion. She said that oftentimes, people complain about various situations in their lives or the Zen Center itself and how many things could be … Read more
Recently, my slight obsession with Lord of the Rings got a tiny bit worse and I dove into reading all the books from start to finish. Right now, I’ve made my way through The Hobbit and half way through the first part of The Lord of the Rings “The Fellowship of the Ring”. Out of … Read more
There’s something special about Ghandi’s quote “Be the change you want to see in the world.” and it makes me happy every time I read it on Social Media or elsewhere. What it implies for me, is that if you change yourself, and only yourself, you have the best chance of changing things around you … Read more
On the topic of death, there are 2 things that I find fascinating. The first is that from what I’ve heard, the vast majority of us humans (myself included) are scared of death and dying. The second thing is that I’ve learnt an important way to overcome our fear is to face and acknowledge it, in … Read more
There was a conversation with Appsumo founder Noah Kagan I had very early on when getting started with Buffer. Noah mentioned something along the lines of this: ”I love giving advice and helping out others, I love it even more, if they actually use my advice and then show me results.” Over the past few … Read more
The other day I was the gym with Joel and since we had just arrived in Sydney we were looking at various different fitness centers to see which one would suit us the best. One gym, close to our hotel had a 7 day free membership. Pretty much from the get-go, it was clear to me, that … Read more
While we’re on the topic of letting go, there was another angle that I was recently inspired to think through, after listening to this amazing Ted talk by Ricardo Semler, where he said: I taught MBAs at MIT for a time and I ended up, one day, at the Mount Auburn Cemetery. It is a … Read more
“Scratching your own itch” as 37Signals founders and other entrepreneurs are calling it is a widespread way of thinking for building your startup nowadays. And rightly so. The need for continually building something that eventually will make your own life easier is a powerful motivator. More importantly still. It can become the main contributor for … Read more
The other Saturday I took a short trip to Montara State Beach, about 30 minutes south of San Francisco. It’s one of my favorite beaches, very quiet and you can only access it through a mini-hike on foot, there’re no cars down there. I like to go there to lie down on the sand and … Read more
On the plane going from Austria, where I grew up, back to San Francisco, where I currently live, I was lucky to see a documentary about Ghandi, from 1982, that I completely immersed myself in. There was one scene that made a particular impact on me. A man, his name is Nahari, had killed a … Read more
Two new friends were kind enough to grab lunch with me the other day and amongst many fascinating things, we talked about a recent article on Growth I’d written. What we reflected on was that in today’s startup world, many companies are oriented on the growth aspect, which means revenue growth, user growth, you name … Read more
On occasion, I like to think of myself as a doer, someone who can make things happen by himself, who neglects the role that help from others has played and overestimates the things he’s achieved himself. Often, when I catch myself thinking like that, I’m a bit disappointed and I wish I was instead more … Read more
The more I meditate, the more I enjoy eating my lunch. The more I meditate, the more I enjoy my hours of work. The more I meditate, the more I enjoy brushing my teeth. The more I meditate, the more I enjoy a conversation with a friend. The more I meditate, the more I enjoy … Read more
Last night I watched a VICE documentary about North Korea from 2008. There was a line from Shane Smith about what North Korea is trying to do that really stuck with me. He said “This country is trying to create the most homogeneous people in the world.” In communism, that seems to be the goal. … Read more
In a forest, there is absolutely no waste. Every single element is reused in a continuous cycle. A tree produces leaves. The leaves fall to the ground and become compost. And the forest uses every last ounce of the compost to put it back into its ecosystem. We have the exact same idea for buffer’s … Read more
There was a wonderful conversation with someone I had recently. They mentioned something alongside the lines of: “Leo, but how are you different from a child then. They do it exactly the same. They don’t think, they don’t reflect, they just do, fall down, get up again, and do it over and over again. They … Read more
Matthieu Ricard – Happiest man in the world You have been there too, in a similar situation, I am sure. For me, there is this startup I am running called Buffer. And we are having troubles ever so often. Server issues, investors who said no to investing, annoyed users, who want to cancel. What used … Read more
English is not my native language. So every so often, there are words I come across, that really fascinate me. One of those words is “to pounce”. The word alone, when you pronounce it, is extremely powerful. Just try speaking it out loud now: “to pounce”. And what’s even more powerful is the mindset it … Read more
For the past 6 weeks I have tried lots of different things to start learning to code. At first I started with Codeacademy to get a basic understanding of html and css. That’s a great way to start out with I believe. At the same time, if you are trying to create a true habit … Read more