Darius Mirshahzadeh, Twitter threads, Writing and the Art of Conversation

Hi Friends.

In this edition, I want to talk about:

• Threads, Threads, Threads

• Darius Mirshahzadeh - Iran, gas stations, nightclubs, Tony Hsieh, Elon Musk, wrestling, and books

• Paid social media gigs :) And lessons from On Deck

Threads, Threads, Threads

In the last week of Feb, I really doubled down on Twitter threads, and here’s my analytics. Not too bad since I had 400 followers.

The additional benefit is, I’m writing more.

Here are 2 threads from the many I’ve recently shared

Abhishek Kumar @AbhishekLpd

"Talent is evenly distributed and opportunity is not. I wanted to fix that with financial education" @SahilBloom has gone from 500 followers to 147k within a year. He shared how he built his audience with @APompliano yesterday 👇👇

Here’s the full interview. Btw, here’s a cool story - he told his wife his first thread, Mr. Federico, was going viral. He made sure it did. Chamath shared it. He had 500 followers at the time.

And

Abhishek Kumar @AbhishekLpd

The All-In podcast anti-portfolio @friedberg - Square @DavidSacks - Twitter @chamath - Airbnb + Bitcoin @Jason - Bitcoin It's amazing we get to listen to these stories. 👇👇

The above tweet is from E23 of the All-in podcast. Toward the end, the besties take fan questions and that was my favorite part :D Also, I’m constantly amazed by the body of work produced by Jason Calacanis. The man is an entire library.

Darius Mirshahzadeh - Iran, gas stations, nightclubs, Tony Hsieh, Elon Musk, wrestling, and books

Darius Mirshahzadeh is a serial entrepreneur and a bestselling author. He spent his childhood in Iran and the US and learned the core principles of business from watching his dad run gas stations. I loved the stories of him selling candy in school to starting a nightclub business in college. Although the nightclub failed, it taught him valuable lessons. We also talked about Tony Hsieh ( and Holacracy), Elon Musk ( and luck), wresting (and staying in the game), and the interesting story behind his book.

The podcast is also available on Apple podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast, and all major podcasting platforms. Show notes available in description wherever you’re listening, Please 5 stars on Apple Podcast. It helps me reach more listeners :)

Paid social media gigs :) And lessons from On Deck

Yep, I just got 2 consulting gigs ;)

On Deck has been instrumental in teaching me some lessons I’ll carry for life. They weren't taught at On Deck, but the fireside chats have certainly paved a path for my curiosity:

• Writing is thinking (this piece by Steph Smith has been read 100k+ times)

• Networking is Giving (Shaan Puri has long been an inspiration. This article made me sign up for Every. I tweeted my favorite part from the piece)

  Abhishek Kumar @AbhishekLpd

  @ShaanVP is determined to be a giver. He was inspired by a friend named Ramone to change that. “Anytime I saw Ramone, he was giving me something,” Shaan said. “He’d be like, ‘Oh, you started a podcast?’, and then he bought me two books on podcasting and gave them to me.”  👇👇

• And, great conversations are a result of 100s of hours of research. Or as David Perell would say it, “The world rewards Wonkiness”.

Thanks for reading!

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Have an epic week!

Abhishek