🌊 Brain-jitsu

I’m Ivan Landabaso, VC at JME.vc. Startup Riders is a weekly newsletter where I go down startup rabbit holes / trends & share actionable insights. I also love surfing and combat sports 🤙

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Summary

• 🥋 Brain-jitsu: principles from a combat sports legend.

• ⚡ Weekly Hack: Hormesis for humans.

• 💵 Recent Deals in Spain: Sherpa, Barkibu, Aquí tu reforma etc.

• 💭 Thinking or Reading: stupidity | genius.

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🥋 Brain-jitsu

I keep thinking about the (surprising?) amount of transferable principles between entrepreneurship and combat sports (BJJ in particular).

Here’s a good set of quick principles / ideas by Firas Zahabi - arguably one of the greatest Mixed Martial Arts coaches ever (who also studies philosophy):

• On the importance of hard, strong people: We are seeing a decline in valuing (as a society) physical strength, resilience and being hard / tough (particularly in the developed world). There is a reason why Plato (the philospher) used to say - “No philosophy until you are 30. Exercise and wrestling first”.

• On mental toughness: Self-imposed physical exercise can help you develop mental strength. Being mentally tough = someone who is able to see positive in the worst situations.

Winners see a bad situation as temporary.

• Living a principled life: If you live a principled centered life, your foundation is solid. You can lose it all, except your principles. Base your life around virtues instead: honesty, courage, empathy and so on. Corruption is the root of many evils in society.

• The da Vinci model = living your life according to a mixture of logic and art.

• On the importance of combat sports training. Everybody should do combat sports (up to a minimum level) - we’d all be better human beings. You want to have the choice to be courageous, and not be forced to patience (another virtue) in some life-threatening situations. Your life will be less fulfilled if you don’t develop combat sports skills.

• On finding flow: Willpower is a commodity, it is finite. If you can find flow in an activity, you won’t be relying on will power. 

• On raising children: The worst thing you can do to your kid is giving them stuff they haven’t earned. 

• On the power of leaning-in: Being proactive is one of the most powerful, understated things a human can do. You can program your mind to do anything. 

• Books he recommends:

  • Managing Oneself - Peter Drucker

  • 7 Habits of highly effective people - Stephen R Covey

  • Man’s Search For Meaning - Viktor Frankl

  • The Republic - Plato

Happiness cannot be pursued, it most ensue - Viktor Frankl 

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⚡ Weekly Hack: Hormesis

Within the hormetic zone, there is generally a favorable biological response to low exposures to toxins and other stressors.

A little over 100 years ago, a german guy found out the growth of yeast could be powerfully stimulated by small doses of poison - aka yeast started growing like crazy.

It turns out this is a very powerful concept that translates to humans in some way across a variety of disciplines.

Find out how to get inside your hormetic zone with your stressor of choice - sports, thinking, reading, developing in X - develop a consistent habit of doing so and you will reap the rewards.

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💵 Recent Deals in Spain

You love startups and want to enjoy a Spanish lifestyle? Come join the Spanish startup ecosystem. Here’s a list of recently funded startups:

• Sherpa.ai (AI) raised $8.5m

• Barkibu (pet health) raised $5.6m

• Aqui Tu Reforma (proptech) raised €3m

• Parlem Telecom (telephone networks) raised €3m

• Brickbro (proptech) raised €1m

• Rentchester (furniture renting) raised €750k

• Gazoom (gaming) raised €400k

• Bcome (sustainability) raised €350k

• Fazil (neobank) raised €186k

• Entrii (analytics) rasied €130k

• Corgee (Fintech) rasied 100k

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💭 Thinking or Reading

🥊 Shaq (2.16m, 150 kg) picked up for the first time ever

The guy picking up Shaq is Francis Ngannou, a guy who started out working in sand mines at age 10. His story is so mind-blowing they are making a movie out of it. You can also watch him fight for the heavyweight UFC title March 27 - preview here.

💡 Stupid & genius are pretty close

𒐪𒐪𒐪𒐪 @SHL0MS

🧠 How well do you understand X?

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If you find this interesting, please consider sharing with your friends. I’d also love to get your thoughts and feedback on Twitter. Until the next one! 😃