1/ HOW TO ASK FOR HELP AS AN ENTREPRENEUR -- Every week entrepreneurs reach out to me cold on LinkedIn, Twitter, and email asking for help. I love helping if I can!

Unfortunately most people are terrible at asking for help. Here is how to do it properly.

2/ OFFER CONTEXT on who you are first -- If we have any connections in common, highlight them. If we met somewhere, remind me. If we went to the same school, know people in common, are from the same place, anything. If you have done anything impressive, tell me.
3/ BE PRECISE in your request -- "can you mentor me?" is bad. "Can we get on a call?" is bad. "Do you know person X and could you forward the following blurb to them?" is great. "I am applying to YC. Does our application make it clear what we build?" is great.
4/ TELL ME WHY I CAN UNIQUELY HELP -- Do your research and don't ask me for help on things I can't help with. If you didn't articulate why and how I can uniquely help you, I assume you are spamming a bunch of people to ask for the same thing.
5/ DO NOT UNDERCUT YOUR OWN AUTHORITY -- Don't apologize for asking. Don't tell me a sob story. Stay factual. If you demonstrate you are not confident or irrational, I am less likely to want to help you.
6/ BE CONCISE -- Use three bullet points max. If you can't describe why who you are, why I should help, and how I should help in 3-5 sentences I will probably not read it anyway.
7/ PERSISTENCE IS ANNOYING -- If I don't respond after the 1st email, I'm probably not going to respond. Don't email me 6 times/week asking if I saw your email. That's only going to make me ignore you in the future. Email in a month with another request, and if I can I will help.
8/ BE GRACIOUS -- If I don't respond, it's probably because I have a deadline for my day job. If I can't help, I will let you know. If I say I can't help, say thanks and move on. If I can help, I will do my best to do it quickly.
9/ LET ME KNOW HOW IT WENT -- The only payback required is a thank you and a follow up. I've been emailed years later by entrepreneurs where I made an intro and it led to a critical outcome (e.g. a company being acquired). There's no better feeling than knowing you helped someone
10/ DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK -- Silicon Valley works because people pay it forward. You'll be surprised at how many people will help, do introductions, or give you quick feedback if you ask kindly, are precise in your request, and concise.

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https://t.co/6cRR2B3jBE
Viruses and other pathogens are often studied as stand-alone entities, despite that, in nature, they mostly live in multispecies associations called biofilms—both externally and within the host.

https://t.co/FBfXhUrH5d


Microorganisms in biofilms are enclosed by an extracellular matrix that confers protection and improves survival. Previous studies have shown that viruses can secondarily colonize preexisting biofilms, and viral biofilms have also been described.


...we raise the perspective that CoVs can persistently infect bats due to their association with biofilm structures. This phenomenon potentially provides an optimal environment for nonpathogenic & well-adapted viruses to interact with the host, as well as for viral recombination.


Biofilms can also enhance virion viability in extracellular environments, such as on fomites and in aquatic sediments, allowing viral persistence and dissemination.

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I’m torn on how to approach the idea of luck. I’m the first to admit that I am one of the luckiest people on the planet. To be born into a prosperous American family in 1960 with smart parents is to start life on third base. The odds against my very existence are astronomical.


I’ve always felt that the luckiest people I know had a talent for recognizing circumstances, not of their own making, that were conducive to a favorable outcome and their ability to quickly take advantage of them.

In other words, dumb luck was just that, it required no awareness on the person’s part, whereas “smart” luck involved awareness followed by action before the circumstances changed.

So, was I “lucky” to be born when I was—nothing I had any control over—and that I came of age just as huge databases and computers were advancing to the point where I could use those tools to write “What Works on Wall Street?” Absolutely.

Was I lucky to start my stock market investments near the peak of interest rates which allowed me to spend the majority of my adult life in a falling rate environment? Yup.