4 ms·

Rationality for Entrepreneurs: Awesome workshop in the Bay Area

78 points by rms 14y ago

tlb 14y ago
I'll be there.
matthewfallshaw 14y ago
I went to their July "minicamp", which was an awesome experience.
bentoner 14y ago
I went to their earlier workshop in July. I think it was probably the most useful week of my life in terms of exposure to things I could be doing to be more productive. Since attending, I've been getting considerably more work done (my brother has noticed too). Anna Salamon's class on fungability prompted me to change the direction of one of our businesses. Plus, the CFAR people are just fun to be around!
- oz 14y ago
  Anna Salamon wrote an article on LessWrong, "Humans are not automatically strategic," which changed my life: http://lesswrong.com/lw/2p5/humans_are_not_automatically_strategic/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/2p5/humans_are_not_automatically_str... I wrote a bit about it 2 weeks ago here on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4702484 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4702484
moocow01 14y ago
Please correct the title - Entrepeurs is a pretty unflattering misspelling
brianchu 14y ago
Sadly, I don't have $3,900 to shell out. It would be wonderful if there was a similar workshop that was more openly accessible.
- rms 14y ago
  Ask about a scholarship
  - mquander 14y ago
    Do this, it will work. The price is fungible if it needs to be.
  - brianchu 14y ago
    Do you know how the scholarship is income-dependent? Because, obviously, my parents could afford it (I'm on a gap year(s) out of high school), but I personally could not (working at a startup).
    - juliagalef 14y ago
      Hi Brian, I'm the president of CFAR; we still have some scholarship money left so I'd encourage you to fill out the (short) application form today. If you're a great fit for the workshop, we can figure out a price that works.
arram 14y ago
I went to one of their minicamps and learned some amazing mental tools like fungibility, environment design, and Bayes law.
mquander 14y ago
I attended their May workshop. It was exceptional and it seems like they have improved on the format since. If you are the sort of person who is interested in such things it is probably worth your time and money. (Or you can just value it as a highly interesting and fun vacation.) If you're in the Bay Area you might want to beta test the quality of the instruction for free at their Berkeley headquarters; they often have workshops in the evenings there. The next is on Thursday. If you sign up for the newsletter on their site you'll get notified.
endtime 14y ago
I know Geoff Anders, who is teaching a few of the sessions, and he is awesome. I live in NY and don't have time to fly out for this, but would be very interested if I lived out there.
- matthewfallshaw 14y ago
  I second Geoff Anders being awesome. leverageresearch.org doesn't do Leverage Research (his org) justice, but there's plenty of interest there anyway.
doctorpangloss 14y ago
This reminds me of a quip in a New York Times article about Amazon's exclusive book, Timothy Ferriss’s “The 4-Hour Chef:" Those books about finding success without trying too hard were a particular hit with young men, who identified with their quasi-scientific entrepreneurial spirit. The schedule reads like a table of contents from a self-help book. That could be a good thing. I'm just surprised how much traction lifestyle instruction gets with an unlikely demographic: 18-24 year old men with access to unlimited concrete learning materials online.
SparrowOS 14y ago
Depression? My life is in a straight jacket... a prison -- everything is pointless. Highs and lows balance, though. My time is my own. What do you expect? God says... Moon tumults Bouverie weal excursive grammar wilfulness Bread Whereupon greedy included settling why_didn'_you_tell_me you're_in_big_trouble healthy causes My gainful bye are life- ideas ---- God says Line 64031 26:4 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, 26:5 To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; 26:6 Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. 26:7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. 26:8 Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. 26:9 Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD. ---- Obama, give me more social security. God says... 15:9 She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD. 15:10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me. 15:11 The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. 15:12 Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? 15:13 Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.
ckuehne 14y ago
Is there a way to read up on the things taught in the workshop in particular on the more applied/practical material?
theorique 14y ago
Is there going to be an east coast version in the future?

78 points by rms 14y ago

tlb 14y ago

I'll be there.

matthewfallshaw 14y ago

I went to their July "minicamp", which was an awesome experience.

bentoner 14y ago

I went to their earlier workshop in July. I think it was probably the most useful week of my life in terms of exposure to things I could be doing to be more productive. Since attending, I've been getting considerably more work done (my brother has noticed too). Anna Salamon's class on fungability prompted me to change the direction of one of our businesses. Plus, the CFAR people are just fun to be around!

oz 14y ago
Anna Salamon wrote an article on LessWrong, "Humans are not automatically strategic," which changed my life: http://lesswrong.com/lw/2p5/humans_are_not_automatically_strategic/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/2p5/humans_are_not_automatically_str... I wrote a bit about it 2 weeks ago here on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4702484 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4702484

moocow01 14y ago

Please correct the title - Entrepeurs is a pretty unflattering misspelling

brianchu 14y ago

Sadly, I don't have $3,900 to shell out. It would be wonderful if there was a similar workshop that was more openly accessible.

rms 14y ago
Ask about a scholarship
- mquander 14y ago
  Do this, it will work. The price is fungible if it needs to be.
- brianchu 14y ago
  Do you know how the scholarship is income-dependent? Because, obviously, my parents could afford it (I'm on a gap year(s) out of high school), but I personally could not (working at a startup).
  - juliagalef 14y ago
    Hi Brian, I'm the president of CFAR; we still have some scholarship money left so I'd encourage you to fill out the (short) application form today. If you're a great fit for the workshop, we can figure out a price that works.

arram 14y ago

I went to one of their minicamps and learned some amazing mental tools like fungibility, environment design, and Bayes law.

mquander 14y ago

I attended their May workshop. It was exceptional and it seems like they have improved on the format since. If you are the sort of person who is interested in such things it is probably worth your time and money. (Or you can just value it as a highly interesting and fun vacation.) If you're in the Bay Area you might want to beta test the quality of the instruction for free at their Berkeley headquarters; they often have workshops in the evenings there. The next is on Thursday. If you sign up for the newsletter on their site you'll get notified.

endtime 14y ago

I know Geoff Anders, who is teaching a few of the sessions, and he is awesome. I live in NY and don't have time to fly out for this, but would be very interested if I lived out there.

matthewfallshaw 14y ago
I second Geoff Anders being awesome. leverageresearch.org doesn't do Leverage Research (his org) justice, but there's plenty of interest there anyway.

doctorpangloss 14y ago

This reminds me of a quip in a New York Times article about Amazon's exclusive book, Timothy Ferriss’s “The 4-Hour Chef:" Those books about finding success without trying too hard were a particular hit with young men, who identified with their quasi-scientific entrepreneurial spirit. The schedule reads like a table of contents from a self-help book. That could be a good thing. I'm just surprised how much traction lifestyle instruction gets with an unlikely demographic: 18-24 year old men with access to unlimited concrete learning materials online.

SparrowOS 14y ago

Depression? My life is in a straight jacket... a prison -- everything is pointless. Highs and lows balance, though. My time is my own. What do you expect? God says... Moon tumults Bouverie weal excursive grammar wilfulness Bread Whereupon greedy included settling why_didn'_you_tell_me you're_in_big_trouble healthy causes My gainful bye are life- ideas ---- God says Line 64031 26:4 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, 26:5 To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; 26:6 Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. 26:7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. 26:8 Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. 26:9 Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD. ---- Obama, give me more social security. God says... 15:9 She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD. 15:10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me. 15:11 The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. 15:12 Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? 15:13 Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.

ckuehne 14y ago

Is there a way to read up on the things taught in the workshop in particular on the more applied/practical material?

theorique 14y ago

Is there going to be an east coast version in the future?