The Wisdom List: Leif Abraham, co-CEO of Public

Hello friends,

Welcome to the many new readers that joined us this week. It’s so great to have you here!

Over the past few months, I’ve pondered a question: how can The Generalist make it easier for the next generation of founders to succeed?

Fundamentally, I believe that human progress depends on innovation and entrepreneurship. Many of our great advancements, especially over the last fifty years, have emerged from small enterprises taking audacious swings. This publication exists to demystify how the greatest businesses, founders, and investors win – and to explore and highlight emerging opportunities for others to capitalize on.

In pursuit of this, our coverage often centers around deep dives of companies and funds. Today, we’re introducing a new experiment: The Wisdom List.

Rather than unpacking a specific business, The Wisdom List asks an elite founder to share the knowledge they wish they’d known when they were just starting out. What mistakes did they make? How do they hire exceptional talent? When is the right time to fundraise? How do they stay at the top of their game? In doing so, my hope is that we surface a wealth of wisdom to many, that has traditionally been locked in the brains of a few.

Of course, our coverage of companies, funds, and trends isn’t going anywhere. But I’d love to hear what you think of this experiment. If you all find it valuable, I think we could create something very special: effectively a massive archive and library of the best entrepreneurial wisdom on the planet.

To start, I’ve asked one of my favorite entrepreneurs to open up his playbook: Leif Abraham, co-CEO of Public. For a number of reasons, detailed in the piece, I think he’s the perfect first guest. To jump in, click on the link below. ​
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THE WISDOM LIST: LEIF ABRAHAM

Actionable insights

If you only have a couple of minutes to spare, here are the lessons investors, operators, and founders should know about building, according to Public co-CEO, Leif Abraham.

• Understand your audience. You must know who, precisely, you are building for. Understanding this early on in your company life cycle can be especially powerful, as it allows you to prioritize acquisition efforts. The hope is to build an early user base that will drive you toward your end goal.
• Create an emotional connection with users. Some companies have users, others have fans. The difference is emotional connection and mission alignment. Building a true fanbase helps acquisition, product development, competitive differentiation and retention.
• Prepare for anomalies. Building a startup requires extraordinary adaptability. What seems fixed one day may be fluid the next. To capitalize on volatility, it’s worth preparing a playbook for low-probability, high-impact events. When the next Black Swan hits, your business will be ready.
• Focus until it hurts. Simply avoiding opportunities you aren’t interested in anyway is not a sign of focus. True focus involves sacrifice. That means turning away from opportunities you believe could be highly impactful, for the sake of something bigger. Succeeding in doing so is a superpower.

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What does it take to build a great business?

Though much is written about the most successful businesses and entrepreneurs of our era, this question can remain frustratingly difficult to answer. So much valuable information remains concentrated in the heads of relatively few elite practitioners, the majority of whom may not have the inclination nor time to articulate that wisdom. And yet the tactics, mindsets, and techniques that have allowed these founders to scale businesses to a billion-dollar valuation and beyond could impact many other enterprises.

The Wisdom List is an attempt to solve this problem and bring tangible founder experience into the light. Some pieces of advice may be universal, while others might be specific to an industry or sector. All give a view into the habits of elite practitioners.

We’re kicking off this new series with an entrepreneur I know extremely well: Leif Abraham. Today, Abraham is the co-CEO of Public, an investing platform used by millions and valued at over $1.2 billion. The company has quickly risen to become one of the most popular financial applications in the United States by blending stock trading, crypto investing, and community discussions. The recent acquisition of Otis suggests the company will enable fractional investing in assets like cars, art, and NFTs in short order.

Before Abraham was co-CEO of Public, he was the founder of a business called AND CO, a SaaS platform for freelancers. For eighteen months, up until our acquisition by Fiverr, I served as his Chief of Staff, working by his side. That has given me an unusually detailed perspective on what makes him special. Not only did I have the chance to see his natural gifts, but I’ve watched as he’s further developed into an elite CEO, commanding a business with financial and cultural complexity. He is a tremendous operator and this is his hard-earned wisdom. ​
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IN A MEME
​​​​For the pictorially inclined, here's the whole piece — all 2,400 words of it — in a single meme.

PUZZLER
​​​All guesses are welcome and clues are given to anyone that would like one. Just respond to this email for a hint.

In a photo finish last week, Samuel R succeeded in answering first. Several others were just minutes behind in solving our previous puzzle with the list of winners including Attison B, Dan M, Jamie M, Tord N, Laura-Lea F, Ryan C, Tinusha S, Htimsinvest, Jennifer E, David P, and Dan J. Here’s the puzzler that set them racing:

The answer? Andrew. Or, as represented above “and drew.” A-ha!

See you soon,

Mario

PS – The Generalist community is for tech’s deepest thinkers—thinkers like you. Come join your peers and experience why The Generalist has been called “one of the highest quality communities on the internet.” This way, my friend.​

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