This edition is brought to you by Guidde

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: Jack Ma

Jack Ma, the co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group, has become a global icon for entrepreneurship and leadership. Born in 1964 in Hangzhou, China, Ma's early struggles with learning English and repeated job rejections shaped his resilient and determined character. In 1999, he founded Alibaba with a group of friends, growing it into one of the world's largest e-commerce companies and transforming the landscape of business in China.

Key Lessons from Jack Ma:

• On opportunity: "Today is cruel. Tomorrow is crueler. And the day after tomorrow is beautiful."

• On authenticity: "An important attribute of success is to be yourself. Never hide what makes you, you."

• On philanthropy: "When you have one million dollars, that's your money. When you have 20 million dollars, you start to have a problem. When you have one billion dollars, that's not your money, that's the trust society gave you. They believe you can manage the money better than the government and others."

• On legacy: "I want to change history, do something important in my life, and influence individuals like we have with millions of small businesses on Alibaba. Then they love and respect you because you made their life important."

Read more.

Company: Campaign Monitor

In 2004, Australian web designers Ben Richardson and Dave Greiner founded Campaign Monitor in a Sydney garage. Frustrated with existing email marketing tools, they set out to create a simple, elegant solution for businesses to send beautiful emails. Self-funded and profitable from day one, Campaign Monitor grew rapidly through word-of-mouth referrals. By 2006, over 15,000 designers in 65 countries had signed up. In 2014, the company shocked the tech world by raising a massive $250 million from US investors, valuing the business at $600 million. Today, Campaign Monitor powers email marketing for leading brands like Apple, Facebook, and Coca-Cola.

Key Lessons from Campaign Monitor:

• On profitability: "This is a company that's been profitable since day one," says CEO Alex Bard. "We absolutely didn't have the ambition to build a big software company from day one," Greiner says. Campaign Monitor self-funded for a decade before taking outside investment.

• On product focus: Investors were drawn to Campaign Monitor because "These guys were super product-driven founders," says Deven Parekh of Insight Partners. "When we were doing product demos, they would be doing the demo."

• On customer acquisition: For years, Campaign Monitor grew rapidly with no sales team - just strong word-of-mouth from its passionate designer user base.

Read More.

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Accelerants

High-performance tool

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Productive Paranoia

Productive Paranoia - a framework developed by Jim Collins to help leaders and organizations thrive in uncertain times. As Collins puts it, "Fear should guide you, but it should be latent. I consider failure on a regular basis."

The essence? Anticipate potential risks and prepare accordingly - with cash reserves, contingency plans, avoiding unnecessary gambles. Don't be blindly optimistic. Amundsen succeeded in the Antarctic by carrying three tons of supplies for five men, while his ill-fated rival Scott brought just one ton for seventeen.

Productive paranoia drives you to build buffers for uncertain times.

Microsoft's leaders exemplified this mindset - Ballmer reveled in describing catastrophic scenarios during the IPO process. Gates hung photos reminding him of potential disruption. They channeled fear into systematic preparation - the only way to handle disruptions from a position of strength.

A trend I’m watching

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The future of transportation is becoming increasingly connected, with IoT sensors, 5G networks, and smart city technologies enabling vehicles, roads, traffic systems and more to communicate in real-time. Companies like Azion are building cloud platforms to power fast, reliable apps for this connected mobility ecosystem.

This intelligent infrastructure opens up exciting opportunities:

• Autonomous vehicle fleets that dynamically optimize routes based on real-time road conditions, passenger demand, etc. Startups could build the AI-powered fleet management systems.

• "Mobility-as-a-Service" apps that seamlessly integrate planning, booking, and payments across multiple transit modes - from rideshares to scooters to public transport. Think "super apps" for getting around town.

• Smart tolling and congestion pricing systems that adjust prices based on traffic, incentivizing off-peak travel. Opportunities for dynamic pricing algorithms and technologies.

• Connected infrastructure to support EVs, like smart charging stations that balance grid loads. Startups could build the software and payment platforms to enable this.

Here are some promising mobility startups leveraging connected infrastructure and IoT technologies:

• Cavnue (USA) - Developing intelligent roadways with embedded sensors, 5G connectivity, and AI to enable autonomous and connected vehicles to communicate with the infrastructure. Their smart roads will optimize traffic flow and improve safety.

• Derq (UAE) - Using AI and V2X communication to predict and prevent collisions between vehicles, pedestrians, and infrastructure. Their system enables real-time safety alerts and proactive traffic management.

• NoTraffic (Israel) - Offers an autonomous traffic management platform that optimizes traffic signals based on real-time data from sensors and connected vehicles. Helps reduce congestion and emissions while prioritizing emergency vehicles and public transit.

• Humanising Autonomy (UK) - Developing an AI-powered platform that predicts the behavior of pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users to improve safety of autonomous vehicles and driver assistance systems. Uses visual sensors and machine learning.

• Blyncsy (USA) - Provides a connected vehicle data platform that collects anonymized data from vehicles, infrastructure and IoT devices to generate insights on traffic patterns, road conditions, etc. Helps cities and DOTs improve transportation planning and operations.

• Savari (USA) - Offers V2X safety communication solutions that connect vehicles, smartphones, and infrastructure. Enables safety alerts and autonomous vehicle operation in urban environments.

If you’re interested in more trends and business ideas, check out Capital Ideas—Faster Than Normal’s paid sister publication (Subscribe with one click).

Tactical reads

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> When you need to attract and assess talent
How to Become a Magnet for Talent and Assess Talent (Read it here)

> When evaluating market sentiment
How To Read Market Sentiment (Read it here)

> When you need to make better decisions
Making Good Decisions as a Product Manager (Read it here)

> When understanding sports
The landscape of sports (Read it here)

> When understanding the ladders of wealth creation
The ladders of wealth creation: a step-by-step roadmap to building wealth (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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If you’re interested in more trends and business ideas, check out Capital Ideas—Faster Than Normal’s paid sister publication (Subscribe with one click).

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