This edition is brought to you by Athyna

Good morning to all new and old readers! Here is your Wednesday edition of Faster Than Normal, exploring one short story about a person, a company, a high-performance tool, a trend I’m watching closely, and curated media to help you build businesses, wealth, and the most important asset of all: yourself. 

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Today’s edition:

Cheers,
Alex

P.S. Send me feedback on how we can improve. I respond to every email.

Stories of Excellence

Person: Anastasia Soare

Anastasia Soare, the Romanian-born founder of Anastasia Beverly Hills, transformed the beauty industry with her focus on eyebrows. Arriving in the US with no English skills, she leveraged her art school background to pioneer the "Golden Ratio" eyebrow-shaping technique. "I came here to be relevant, to be significant," Soare recalls of her early days. Her determination paid off. Starting as an aesthetician, she built a beauty empire now worth over $3 billion. Soare's journey from immigrant to beauty mogul exemplifies the American dream. "I sacrificed so much when I left Romania, but I knew that I wanted to," she reflects. Today, at 66, Soare continues to innovate, embracing social media and expanding her product line while maintaining her passion for perfect brows.

Key Lessons from Anastasia Soare:

• On customer focus: "I listen to her. I pay attention to what she posts about—what she likes, what she doesn't like, what she would like to see."

• On resilience: "Romania gave me drive and endurance. It gave me a deep-rooted sense of heritage and the resilience to work through hardships."

• On vision: "I believed in my vision, and that is what kept me going."

Read More.

Company: Alibaba

Alibaba was founded in 1999 by Jack Ma, a former English teacher, and 17 co-founders in Ma's apartment in Hangzhou, China. With $60,000 in initial funding, they launched Alibaba.com, a B2B marketplace connecting Chinese manufacturers with overseas buyers. In 2000, the company raised $20 million from SoftBank and other investors. Alibaba expanded rapidly, launching Taobao (C2C) in 2003 and Alipay in 2004. By 2007, Alibaba.com went public in Hong Kong, raising $1.7 billion. The company continued to grow, introducing Tmall (B2C) in 2008 and cloud computing services in 2009. In 2014, Alibaba's NYSE IPO raised $25 billion, the largest in history at the time.

Key Lessons from Alibaba

• On customer acquisition. Start with a niche market. Alibaba began by connecting Chinese manufacturers with overseas buyers. This focused approach allowed them to build a strong foundation before expanding into other areas. Don't try to be everything to everyone from day one.

• On internal culture. Embrace "996" with caution. Alibaba's infamous 9am-9pm, 6 days a week work culture drove rapid growth but also faced criticism. It's a reminder that intense work cultures can be double-edged swords.

• On hiring. Look for cultural fit over experience. Jack Ma famously said, "We don't want geniuses. We want people who are streetwise." Alibaba prioritizes adaptability and alignment with company values over traditional qualifications.

Read More.

Hire remote employees with confidence

Two years ago, I hired an offshore assistant , and it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made. From marketing to customer support, it’s helped streamline work and boost productivity.

Athyna is a service that finds top remote employees in <5 days in Latam, Africa, and Sth East Asia. They cover roles in finance, creative, engineering, and product, sourcing top talent from companies like Google, AWS, Microsoft, and more.

If you’re in the market for talent, visit their website to explore options and cover all your hiring needs.

Accelerants

High-performance tool

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Framing

Framing is a concept from behavioral economics, popularized by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. It's about how the presentation of information influences decision-making. "Framing is the context, point of view, or perspective from which information is presented," Kahneman explains. It shows that how we say something is as important as what we say.

Framing is powerful because it can significantly alter perceptions and decisions. The same information, presented differently, can lead to vastly different outcomes. In business, effective framing can improve communication, negotiations, and marketing.

How are you framing your products or services? Could a different frame lead to better results?

Insights

Tactical reads

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> When evaluating leadership effectiveness in startups
How do you measure leadership by Y-Combinator (Read it here)

> When looking to improve public speaking skills
How to Speak by Professor Winston (Read it here)

1 question

That’s all for today, folks. As always, please give me your feedback. Which section is your favourite? What do you want to see more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.

Have a wonderful rest of week, all.

Recommendation Zone

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Hire remote employees with confidence

Two years ago, I hired an offshore assistant for the first time. Since then, I’ve recommended many people do the same. It’s been one of the highest leverage things I’ve done, helping with everything marketing and customer support (for The Intelligence Age) and personal matters and email management.

Athyna is a service that quickly (<5 days!) finds remote employees across 150+ countries for you or your team. They cover roles from sales and marketing to creative and product, and have worked with companies like Facebook, Zoom, Uber, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Amazon.

I’ve personally used Athyna and recommended them to my Brother, Will, who runs a fashion label, and several close friends running their own businesses. To date, they’ve all had very positive experiences.

If you’re in the market for talent, visit their website to explore options and cover all your hiring needs.

Why Faster Than Normal? Our mission is to be a friend to the ambitious, a mentor to the becoming, and a partner to the bold. We achieve this by sharing the stories, ideas, and frameworks of the world's most prolific people and companies—and how you can apply them to build businesses, wealth, and the most important asset of all: yourself.

Faster Than Normal is a ‘state' of being’ rather than an outcome. Outlier performance requires continuous, compounded improvement. We’re your partner on this journey.

Send us your feedback and help us continuously improve our content and achieve our mission. We want to hear from you and respond to everyone.

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