The day of the Facebook IPO I was asked to go on BBC Breakfast TV and comment. I declined - I thought what do I really know about it that people would want to hear . I tweeted this fact. A friend replied to me that I was being hard on myself.
Am I?
I know I quite like putting myself down and parodying myself however what do I really know. (in fact I have definitive proof of me being a fraud which is coming soon in another blog)
But the bigger question is whether anyone actually knows anything - about anything.
I am constantly reading articles and blogs about my pet subjects - the economy, the stock market, the tech scene, the angel and VC scene, and football. And the conclusion I have come to is that everyone knows nothing.
What really pisses me off even more is when reading peoples bios they describe themselves as "Visionaries" or even "Evangelists" - WTF! What have these people actually done. I've twice been called a legend recently but please - I got lucky with some website over a decade ago and done nothing since. Surely they meant a Leg End (or knob end as I usually am called)
The world seems to be full of people touting themselves as experts in all kinds of fields. I just wish someone on radio or TV when asked a question some time would just answer "What the fuck do I know"
So back to my pet subjects in the news -
Global recession - economists everywhere are predicting this that and the other - its basically all bollocks as the governments don't even know what to do. Economies are fucked - live with it.
Stock Markets - bouncing all over the place. The standard blurb I get out of my portfolio managers is just full of the same old same old. Basically they can't predict a thing.
The tech scene - are we in a bubble or the start of something great. If the Facebook hype and then slag off is anything to go by then no one knows again. People really seem to have forgotten the boom and bust of 1999/2000 in the tech world.
And the tech start up scene. I suppose I am sort of part of it having done something ages ago and now as an investor. However, I usually start of all the pitch meetings with the fact that I don't know anything and won't bring value. But there are just too many cooks at the moment who are not technical or ever done a startup and are driving up valuations. I have many stories (blog coming on that one soon too)
And finally football. Lets not even begin to think that the good old FA know what they are doing......
(spankyhurst - visionary, coming to your TV soon)
Nice to hear a bit of honesty.
ReplyDeleteI'll file this with the other 2 pieces of advice I listen to
1) 'Ignore everybody'
2) 'Do the opposite of what everyone else is doing'.
@ballzy
You do make me laugh Mr P but I am not easily fooled, I have seen that glint in your eye when talking about ideas and as my Grandmother would say, 'if they burned you as a fool they would have wise ashes'. Nough said...
ReplyDeleteOnce there was a legendary order of monks, who it was said held the secrets of the universe. A young penniless warrior heard of this order and decided to go on a quest imagining the riches he would accrue once he had gained this knowledge.
ReplyDeleteThe journey was long and arduous. He crossed boiling deserts and vast oceans, climbing magnificent mountains, killing monsters and rescuing beautiful princesses.
After many years the warrior(who wasn't so young anymore) hauled himself up the last steps of a huge stone staircase. At the top sat an old, wizened monk sitting on a simple wooden stool. He gazed serenely at the haggard soldier lying before him.
The warrior hauled himself to his knees and spoke in hushed tones to the monk. "Wise and reverend monk, I have travelled huge distances and undergone many hardships in order to find you. I implore you to tell me the secrets of the universe"
The monk smiled down at the warrior and said "My son, you have gained the secrets of the universe through your journey itself, I have nothing more to give you"
The moral of this story is that I really shouldn't try and write fake Chinese proverbs. The other point is that people want to hear from you not because they think you have some secret recipe of success but because you've completed the journey most of us were too timid to even set out on.