I'm a founder. I think rationality training has helped me in a few major ways:
I have internalized that "nothing works or fails by magic" -- I expect that there is a mechanism of action for pretty much any process, and I just have to understand it, and I've started building a toolkit for generating these understandings/models.
I have started to become more strategic. I still fail at this in many ways, but these days, I often think to: look at the bigger picture; look for alternate routes to achieve my goals; consciously consider whether my current goals are worth achieving, or whether they have become lost purposes.
Communication: Asking for examples from my cofounders has become an ingrained, extremely common habit when I'm not sure I understand them. I also often address the meta-level of communication, often asking "why are we having this discussion?" or observing "this meeting isn't going anywhere".
Not trusting myself: I set timers, I put things on schedules, I write things down, I block myself from websites. I know the ways in which my brain isn't as awesome as I wish it were, and so I take effective steps to patch these weaknesses.
(I'm going to go write a blog post about this now, because it seems valuable enough to keep.)
Please do add the link once you post.
I have been given the opportunity to prepare a workshop for the General Assembly team in London. General Assembly is geared towards education of entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs and have been very successful in New York, now expanding to London. The workshops are 90 minutes long, and usually gather anywhere from 15 to 35 people who have paid to attend.
While I considered doing something on concrete coding skills, I think by far the superior alternative (for myself and the audience) is to do a crash course on cognitive bias as it relates to startups, maybe throw in some other topics on rationality in a similar context. I am fairly confident that startups are an excellent testing ground for extreme rationality as they require exceptionally quick assimilation of new skills and knowledge, as well as demand rapid decisions with incomplete information.
So, as part of the brainstorming for this, here are my questions for you:
1.Do you think educating startup founders on cognitive bias/rationality will help them improve their outcomes?
2.Which biases would especially affect startups? Which of these can be mitigated (either by knowing about them or by utilising explicit strategies)?
3.What is a good way to use 90 minutes to get this information across?
4.What prior material exists to introduce rationality in a fast-paced manner? What prior material exists that relates startups to rationality?
5.Other relevant thoughts welcome
Should I go ahead with this, I will of course make the deck available for any others who may want to do similar presentations elsewhere.