Following MJ

“Seek out the magicians, and find the magic.”

Many of the greats are described by their determination, force of will, or unrelenting competitive nature. Others their depth of knowledge or their command of the details.

But as I reflect on the thousands of hours I’ve spent with Mike Jr, the word that returned to my head again and again is magician.

And after nearly 2 years as his chief of staff, I am going to do my best to try to capture the magic.

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As with any great show, the magician begins by connecting with the people in the room.

Mike has an unmatched ability to do this. He will saunter into a pitch, team huddle or board meeting, maybe a little early, but more likely a little late, and has a way of settling any anxiety, almost without intending to do so. He’ll place his brief case on the table, pull out his pen and pad, and then begin listening.

As the show begins, he doesn’t choose to be the main character. He lets the entrepreneur take the stage, knowing the time for him to reveal his preparation and imagination will come.

And while most VCs drill the 5 whys or have an endless barrage of questions for the entrepreneur, Mike seemingly asks few questions at all. Instead he allows the founder to describe what they are working on and then he tries to take it to the next level. He shares what he imagines this idea could become if it reaches the best version of itself, often in further out futures than the entrepreneur could have imagined.

And this dance of predicting the future is what organically reveals the obsession that Mike is aiming to unveil. Some founders are sycophantic, agreeing without explaining, proving that maybe they hadn’t thought about this quite enough.

But when the co-conspirator approach goes right, it becomes immediately obvious when a founder has thought so deeply about something they are able to say “yes that is right because of…” or “No, no, no, you’re thinking about it wrong”. And that’s when the magic happens.

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In board meetings or check-ins, this might begin similarly but typically ends a little differently. Same pen and pad, still listening and noticing.

The conversation starts clean but startups are messy, the path forward is unclear, and the opinions of all those in the room can make a well ordered meeting feel directionless. And when this is the case, when things have gone awry, Mike begins to correct the sails, not by force but more often with a little misdirection.

“This may be a complete distraction, but have you ever thought of…” or “When I was listening to you describe this, it made me think…”

And then he’ll share an idea that induces a collective epiphany of the minds in the room. People’s eyes light up and suddenly the struggling startup has a heck of a lot of hope. They feel optimism for the first time in a while. The new found clarity leads to a cascade of the right experiments to run, the right way to describe their product, or how to change the future. The only reasonable response is “How’d he come up with that?” The effect is completely magical.

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And then sometimes Mike gets the act wrong. The “one shot” prompt falls short. It’s a good idea but doesn’t apply to the situation at hand. Or maybe it truly is just a flat out bad idea.

But the first attempt at solving a problem is only that. The first attempt. He views criticism as a gift and therefore is unattached to being right or wrong. He takes aim and allows the motion to update his beliefs and generate ideas. And when his ammunition is exhausted, he’ll look up and to his right, and then say something like “Try this on for size”. And that one might not be right either, but surely he’ll keep working on it in the background. And when he returns home, he is back at it again. And by working with him you become convinced that even if you won’t find the answer right now, it will come. And for a startup that is pre-PMF, I am convinced that this may be the most valuable asset of all.

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“Anything worth doing is worth over-doing.”

Beneath this seemingly unreachable magic, is something much less elegant. Years stacked upon years of curiosity, deep study, producing artifacts, throwing them out, making them better, and staying committed to exploration that others would deem unnecessary.

Because as Mike believes, discovering the undiscovered requires exploring the unexplored. And so there is more than a little time wasted. As others (including myself) are focused on getting to the end of the to-do list or optimizing their workflow, Mike is choosing persistent presence on the intellectual challenge at hand over productivity.

An example: Last year Mike remembered that for each minute of a presentation or keynote, Steve Jobs would prepare for an hour. That means for a 90-minute presentation, he’d spend 90 hours in preparation. Arguably one of the busiest people in the world. 90 hours.

And Mike’s natural response was, if I’m ever going to give a talk or make a presentation it should emulate that level of excellence. So he watched and re-watched Steve Jobs’ iPhone launch, screenshotting every slide of the 2007 iPhone debut to make sure he knew exactly what makes a generational presentation.

And then he made one of the best artifacts I’ve come across in venture. Ann Miura Ko called this deck some of the best work she’s seen him produce.

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So where do these thousands of hours leave me? What have I learned by virtue of following MJ?

I have devoured much of the fundamentals of startup capitalism. I have gotten to see the perils of growing before proving value and how one should escalate their commitments as they increase their certainty. I have witnessed how the best operators navigate the uncertainty of startups and have made it out the other side.

I am not only exposed to the frontiers of technology, but have the pleasure of working alongside some of the most inspiring people in the world. I get to experiment with tools of unbelievable empowerment, building things I could have only dreamed of.

And despite all that I have learned, the clearest lesson is that now is always the right time to question the concepts that we have held as true as gravity. Past lessons no longer guarantee future successes. We must start again.

Except for one.

There is one concept that I think will be enduring for a long time to come. The craft of a magician.

So what does a magician do? They move people. They capture people’s hearts and minds and give them a chance to believe in the impossible.

How do you get a human to risk their careers on a startup that is 80% likely to fail? How do you convince the skeptical to join you on your daring mission? How do you consistently activate belief and translate ideas into movements?

There is a mechanism to movement. Getting this right varies by medium: spoken or written word or presentations or community or identity. And while the mechanics vary, the unifying element is a whole lot of humanity.

There is no substitute to witnessing the very best do it over and over, internalizing the lessons and then practicing and practicing. You don’t become a great magician by memorizing the same tricks. You become one by finding the magic and making it your own.

Mike Sr. passed away just over a year ago and Mike Jr wrote the following:

He showed that it’s possible to be both powerful and kind, serious yet able to laugh at yourself. He was fiercely committed to success, but he pursued it in a way that honored the spirit of true greatness—winning not for the sake of winning at all costs, but for the sake of doing things the right way.

And as I transition into the next phase of my career, I’ve decided I want to do exactly, exactly that.

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Each day has a bit of magic in it, my job is to capture it.