The ONE Thing #9: Zone Of Genius, The Trouble With Optionality, History of Venture Capital & More
Happy Friday, everyone.
Today At A Glance:
đŞÂ Finding Your Zone Of Genius
đ¤Â A New Deal
đżÂ The Trouble With Optionality
đĄÂ Powerful Ideas
đ The History of Venture Capital
One Idea
Iâm about to embark on a new project, and I have been spending a lot of time, about what motivates me and how I want to spend my time.
I believe that self-awareness is the key to happiness and success. Therefore, Iâm sharing three tools that help me to figure out what I enjoy and what Iâm good at:
Energy Matrix
Ikagai
Zone of Genius
1/ Energy Matrix
Plot all your activities and responsibilities on a 2Ă2 matrix to see what gives and what drains your energy. Stop all unimportant and draining things, and find ways to do more of the things that give you energy.
2/ Ikagai (çăç˛ć)
A Japanese concept, meaning âa reason for beingâ. Simply put, itâs about finding the intersection of things that satisfy, excite, and fulfill you and what you can be paid for.
3/ Zone of Genius
Your Zone of Genius is where your interests, passions, and skills align. Well explained by Sahil Bloom in this thread:
One Deal
Crypto meltdown? No better time to share my most recent DeFi/Fintech investment: Kudona is bringing interest rates back by allowing easy and secure access to Decentralized Finance (DeFi) for the European mainstream consumers.
With Kudona, you can earn 3.8%+ annual interest, generated through DeFi lending. Itâs simple (just send or withdraw money any time), secure (bank-level security measures), and transparent (real-time tracking and no hidden fees).
Hereâs why Iâm excited to invest:
Big problem: In Germany alone, âŹ2 trillion in uninvested cash savings are eaten up by inflation and low-interest rates.
Timing:Â Consumers are desperately looking for solutions to âprotectâ their savings. DeFi offers annual yields well above current inflation rates. But DeFi is complicated and therefore inaccessible for the average consumer. The infrastructure that works seamlessly with the existing financial system doesnât exist yet. So Kudona is building it.
Product:Â Kudona starts with a simple and secure product that is attractive to mainstream consumers, offering the benefits of DeFi without having to be technical. Theyâve put security and mitigation of risk is at the core of their product to provide maximum security of assets (but there is still risk of course because âThere ain't no such thing as a free lunchâ).
Optionality:Â In the long run, Kudona can become the gateway to DeFi for mainstream consumers, and offer more products and services to its customers and expand into more markets. I assume hundreds of millions of people will interact with DeFi and Digital Assets in the coming years, many without even realizing it.
Team:Â A highly entrepreneurial team with high intensity and the ability to execute quickly and vigorously. Relevant experience, as the founders previously built products and technologies for leading European fintechs.
Kudona is currently being rolled out to all of Europe, and they are looking for beta testers. Sign up for the waiting list to become a beta tester and unlock an additional 0.5%Â interest rate.
One Article
This article is thought-provoking because it describes the flip side of trying to create optionality.
We often try to create optionality to achieve a certain dream outcome.
However, instead of enabling us to take risks and make choices, acquiring options becomes a habit.
These options become safety nets, and the dreams that these options were meant to enable slowly fade into the background.
But to achieve excess return ("alpha") you must be willing to take the required risks.
If your dreams are obvious to you, pursue them. Creating optionality or buying lottery tickets won't get you to your dreamy outcomes.
One Tweet

Three powerful ideas. Thatâs it. Thatâs the tweet.Â
One Book
I just finished The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future by Sebastian Mallaby. Iâve been a big fan of Mallabyâs writing, and this book is my new favorite.
The book is a deep dive into the history of Silicon Valley. From the first venture capitalists like Arthur Rock, Don Valentine (Sequoia), and Tom Perkins to the emergence of multi-billion dollar fund managers like Andreesen Horrowitz.
The book is full of interesting stories that shaped Venture Capital and Silicon Valley.
I especially liked the chapters about the early days when venture capital was considered liberation capital, i.e., investor money to allow great scientists to quit their jobs and turn their wild ideas into a company. While entrepreneurship is very common today, just 50 years ago it was highly unusual to start a company, not to mention a high-risk technology venture.Â
If youâre into startups, venture capital, technology or history, go read the book đ
Thatâs it for this issue of The One Thing.
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Until next time. Keep learning!