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May 14, 2025
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Michael Bloomberg, Confusopoly and Developing Expertise
At a glance
This edition is brought to you by The Fundraising Blueprint
Good morning to all new and old readers! Here is your Wednesday edition of Faster Than Normal, exploring one short story about a person, a company, a high-performance tool, a trend I’m watching closely, and curated media to help you build businesses, wealth, and the most important asset of all: yourself.
If you enjoy this, feel free to forward it along to a friend or colleague who might too. First time reading? Sign up here.
Today’s edition:
> Stories: Michael Bloomberg & Chewy
> High-performance: Confusopoly
> Insights: Reversible and irreversible decisions
> Tactical: Developing expertise
> 1 Question: Intentional setting
Cheers,
Alex
P.S. Send me feedback on how we can improve. I respond to every email.
Stories of Excellence
Person: Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg, born in 1942, is a self-made billionaire, entrepreneur, and former mayor of New York City. He started his career at Salomon Brothers, rising to partner before being fired in 1981. This setback became an opportunity. Bloomberg used his $10 million severance to start Innovative Market Systems, which became Bloomberg L.P. The company's financial analytics services and computer terminals revolutionized Wall Street. By the 1990s, Bloomberg was a billionaire. He served as New York City mayor from 2002 to 2013, known for his data-driven approach. Today, he's a prominent philanthropist, having donated over $11 billion to various causes. Bloomberg's net worth is estimated at $94.5 billion, making him one of the wealthiest people in the world.
Key Lessons from Michael Bloomberg:
On resilience: "Life is too short to spend your time avoiding failure."
On risk-taking: "You don't make progress standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas."
On adaptability: "In business, the competition will bite you if you keep running; if you stand still, they will swallow you."
Company: Chewy
Chewy.com was founded in 2011 by Ryan Cohen and Michael Day. Cohen, a former e-commerce entrepreneur, saw an opportunity in the pet supply market after struggling to find premium food for his poodle. With $150,000 in startup capital, they launched the online pet store from a small office in Florida. The company's focus on customer service and personalized touches, like handwritten holiday cards, quickly gained traction. In 2017, PetSmart acquired Chewy for $3.35 billion, the largest e-commerce acquisition at the time. Chewy went public in 2019, raising $1 billion in its IPO. By 2023, the company had grown to over 20,000 employees and reported annual net sales of $10.1 billion.
Key Lessons from Chewy.com:
On customer obsession: You can't fake it. Chewy's fanatical approach to customer service wasn't just a marketing ploy. They actually cared. Deeply. They sent handwritten notes, flowers for deceased pets, and oil paintings of customers' animals. Weird? Maybe. Effective? Absolutely.
On timing: Sometimes, being late to the party is an advantage. Chewy entered the e-commerce game years after Amazon. But they used that time to learn from others' mistakes and build a better mousetrap. Or cat trap, in this case.
The playbook VCs don't want you to have
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Grab your copy of The Fundraising Blueprint now.
Accelerants
High-performance tool
⎯
Confusopoly
A confusopoly is an industry where price competition is eliminated by making products so confusing that customers can’t compare them—think insurance products or mobile phone services.
The world, in general, is becoming more of a confusopoly.
h/t @ScottAdamsSays
Insights
Jeff Bezos on reversible and irreversible decisions:
"Some decisions are consequential and irreversible or nearly irreversible – one-way doors – and these decisions must be made methodically, carefully, slowly, with great deliberation and consultation. If you walk through and don't like what you see on the other side, you can't get back to where you were before. We can call these Type 1 decisions. But most decisions aren't like that – they are changeable, reversible – they're two-way doors. If you've made a suboptimal Type 2 decision, you don't have to live with the consequences for that long. You can reopen the door and go back through. Type 2 decisions can and should be made quickly by high judgment individuals or small groups."—Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com
Tactical reads
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> When studying the development of expertise
The Making of an Expert (Read it here)
> When overcoming procrastination
Why You Procrastinate (It Has Nothing to Do With Self-Control) (Read it here)
1 question
How can I create an environment that will naturally bring about my desired change?
That’s all for today, folks. As always, please give me your feedback. Which section is your favourite? What do you want to see more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.
Have a wonderful rest of week, all.
Recommendation Zone
⎯
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Athyna is a service that quickly (<5 days!) finds remote employees across 150+ countries for you or your team. They cover roles from sales and marketing to creative and product, and have worked with companies like Facebook, Zoom, Uber, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Amazon.
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If you’re in the market for talent, visit their website to explore options and cover all your hiring needs.
Alex Brogan
Find me on X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok
Offshore Talent: Where to find the best offshore talent. Powered by Athyna.
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