Bringing the Blog Back

My last blog post was an inexcusable 5 months ago, but don’t worry loyal readers, I’m bringing THE BLOG BACK TO LIFE! So let’s get to it. I posted 106 times in 2022 (note: this is your friendly reminder that you voluntarily subscribe to this spam factory). I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading most of my posts from the past year, but in case you have neither the time nor the will to suffer through my writings, I will begin this post by summarizing the happenings of 2022 according to Noah. We are all terminal cases (IYKYK).

The story begins way back on Dec 10, 2021, the day that I ran a spontaneous half marathon in NYC. Fortunately I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and avoided injury. As I moved into year end 2021 and the beginning of 2022, I was firmly focused on trying to start a company, but sadly found myself embroiled in a torrent of startup errors.

On Jan 5, 2022 I took stock of my life in what may be one of the longest rambles on the internet, where I stated that my singular goal for 2022 was to start a company (spoiler alert: FAIL). Two days later on Jan 7, 2022, I published my updated investing perspectives where I smartly wrote, “I would be surprised if financial markets allow the fed to make it to 1.5% on the fed funds rate”. Fail #2. Re-reading this quote reminds me of a common refrain from my time spent on a trading desk: sometimes you gotta laugh so you don’t cry.

A quick aside: I published 3 investing posts in 2022 on Jan 7, Feb 3, and Jun 22 and proved much more prescient in the latter two. If I had managed my PA exactly as I wrote that I should have, I would probably possess meaningfully more money today 😭. Self-reminder to act decisively when my views change!

Health dominated my headspace in Jan 2022. I woke up early, ate dinner early, researched the dangers of consuming seed oils, tried to eat at super healthy restaurants, and had a wacky idea to sell Brazil Nuts to young men (it was really cool to revisit this post and see the literal origin of Manly Nuts, RIP).

As my January enthusiasm wore off, dreary February sunk its teeth into me. I published multiple posts about startup pain and I broke up with my then current co-founders (and ex-girlfriend shortly before). In hindsight I was probably dealing with minor depression for the first time in my life (fortunately). Thankfully I spent the latter half of Feb skiing in Jackson Hole with family and friends (@hosts JK and TK).

I don’t want this post to ramble on, so I’ll transition to the sparknotes recap from here.

March through August were eventful months. I spent time thinking about environment, process and frameworks. I decided to apply to business school, took the GMAT, and was accepted to to Sloan shortly after my brother walked across the stage to receive his college diploma…very dramatic. I built Recipeeper with DD – we caught some traffic and eventually surpassed 250 registered users. I tried to thoughtfully reflect on my life values (a useful exercise before starting Sloan). My 2022 blog career concluded with four posts detailing my month of solo backpacking around Europe this past summer.

The blog went dark post-Eurotrip. I just so happened to begin school at that time. I’ll save my Sloan first semester reflection for another post, but will briefly summarize my experience here: hyper social, great people, great community, and great startup resources. I’m just happy to be at Sloan.

Looking forward to 2023, my life aspirations have not changed. It turns out I’m a very simple man. I seek:

• Deep relationships – familial, personal, business, and romantic (I’m back in the market if you know someone…)
• Superb health – including sleep, nutrition, and fitness as well as doing all of the outdoor activities that I love
• To build a startup – this time I’m doing it the correct way: working with co-founders, focused on a market where I have domain expertise, and selling a product to businesses, not consumers
• Continued learning – Both in the classroom as well as from books, podcasts, youtube, new people, events, etc. Also via practicing new skills (writing, programming, etc)

So that’s it. That’s the post.

Wishing everyone a great start to the new year! Hopefully you’ll enjoy stumbling upon my posts in your inbox as much as I enjoy sending them there.

-Noah