As MindValley grows in new people and new ventures - how can we maximize happiness and profit?

Let's tap the brain of a guy who funded 80 startups with a total of about 200 founders, with a pretty good hit rate (conception to acquisition / profitability).

Yes, it's Paul Graham. One of my favorite brains to tap.

Read his essay "You weren't meant to have a boss" as he talks about

• Optimal group size for work
• The way humans naturally work in groups
• Struggles in designing a structure to avoid becoming a "big company"
• Lions hunting in the wild

In the article, he ponders the same problems we are trying to solve....

"A large organization could only avoid slowing down if they avoided tree structure. And since human nature limits the size of group that can work together, the only way I can imagine  for larger groups to avoid tree structure would be to have no structure: to have each group actually be independent, and to work together the way components of a market economy do.

That might be worth exploring. I suspect there are already some highly partitionable businesses that lean this way. But I don't know any technology companies that have done it." ~ Paul Graham, from "You weren't meant to have a boss"

Personally, I want to solve this problem. Not theoretically, but I want it to work in action. It's a great problem to solve, as the solution (perhaps lessons other organizations and startups can use) will unlock a world of talent, innovation, and happiness at work.

Solving this might take some fancy experiments with organizational structure, radical thinking, consistent hard work, a bit of patience, and a group of people who dare... which is why I'm grateful to solve this with MindValley.

We're doing some crazy stuff right now, but I'll only talk about it when we have RESULTS. Till then, do share your workplace experiments and thoughts, if any.

I was digging through old photos when I chanced upon this unflattering picture of me.

That's me in early 2006, a week or two after I joined MindValley.

Here are some things you NEED to know about that picture

• It was taken in a super old and moldy office we used to camp in, when MindValley first arrived in Malaysia, all those years ago.
• The old second hand couch in the picture was soon re-upholstered (is that the word?) with new funky cloth. It has since found a new home the "sexy area" of our current office.
• The photo does not accurately represent the actual width of my thighs.

When I think about it... two years is a LONG time (especially in internet time). To my surprise, I still feel "fresh" - so many new skills to master, so much room to grow, and new adventures ahead.

It seems MindValley speeds up with age.

In the past few weeks alone, we've picked up so much pace, I'm still trying to hang on for dear life. I'm not exaggerating. It's still too early to talk about it, but let's just say we've been awfully quiet on the blog recently for very good reasons...

I think Mike or Vishen will blog about it soon enough.

For now, it's 1am and I'm dreaming about what the following months will be like. It's as though all the different pieces I've been working over the past two years is coming together... and it feels like a brand new day...

I am currently studying "Get Altitude" and one of the key lessons that Eban emphasized was:

1) STOP Multi-tasking 

I could not agree more.  This is a disease!  For whatever reason people are obsessed with multi-tasking (think email, IM, Skype, Twitter, etc.) and accept constant interruption. Being a great multi-tasker is not something to be proud of! 

You must be able to get into FLOW at which point your productivity and also creativity and enjoyment of what you are doing reach a max.  Getting into FLOW while multi-tasking is impossible.  So, always try to chunk your time.  Spend 1-2 hours on a task, then take a break but whatever you do, try to stop multi-tasking. 

It's always good to take a step back once in a while and be reminded of what is important.  Eban also stresses the importance of having intense experiences both at and outside of work.  If you don't, then you just get tired and burn yourself out.