There are perks to having a philosopher on your team. My co-founder Bill Jaworski is a philosopher. It’s fun to work with him because he’ll say something super insightful, off the cuff, and then I won’t be able to stop thinking about it. Last week, he drew this spellbinding analogy between writing a great book and building the Parthenon: “The Parthenon is supposed to look perfectly symmetrical, the same in all dimensions. But as you approach the Parthenon, the two outer columns are not framed...

An Uber driver with a New York accent who called himself an “Iranian Jew” picked me up from an airport this week. I rarely feel strong emotions when talking to Uber drivers. But this conversation was different. I wrote down what I could remember. “I used to own a deli. I owned it for 17 years and I loved it. Making bagels. Making chicken salad. And it was a great business, because I had a captive audience. My deli was in an office building, so we were the best option for breakfast and lunch...

I've never made a Bucket List before. It seemed too daunting. But this weekend, it occurred to me that I already have a Bucket List in my mind. It doesn't reach every possible corner of existence—but it does cover my big-picture hopes for Altamira Studio. I wanted to share this with you. If you make one for yourself, I'd love to see it. Here's my Bucket List -- goals within the realm of writing & publishing. 1) Achieve a level of product-market fit that's as good as the one in the Simon &...