I read “The Start-up of You” (スタートアップ的人生（キャリア）戦略) by Reid Hoffman, so here are the insights I gained from the book.

Background: Reid Hoffman's Book

I read this book because Reid Hoffman’s new book was released.

Below are quotes from impressive passages and my notes.

Introduction: Everyone is an Entrepreneur

Why We Write

Silicon Valley's "Permanent Beta" Mindset

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has been writing in his letters to shareholders since the company's first year in 1997 that for the Internet and Amazon, it's still "Day 1." "We think the outlook is bright, but we must maintain a sense of urgency without being complacent," he says. In other words, every day is "Day 1" for Amazon, and they never cross the finish line.

👍 The mindset that every day is Day 1

The "permanent beta" way of living essentially embodies the determination to continue relentless growth while living in response to "not yet." When you approach life with this in mind, you gain strength even when the world changes, competitors change, or you yourself change. Ultimately, jobs are born in the market. And markets are constantly moving toward new horizons. Every day is "Day 1."

👍 Permanent beta, every day is Day 1.

Chapter 1: Building Your Competitive Advantage

Three Gears

Should I Earn or Should I Learn?

So ask yourself honestly, "Which career choice will increase my soft assets the fastest?" Or more simply, "Which one seems to offer the most learning opportunities?"

👍 Choosing to increase soft assets and maximize learning opportunities

Create Your Own Niche

One clear way to gain competitive advantage is to improve your distinctive skills for differentiation. This is certainly a wise approach, but there's another equally effective method. Enter a market with less competition. This way, you can make your existing assets shine brighter than competitors without changing yourself.

👍 Enter markets with less competition, niche strategy

Instead of changing the content of your skills, change your environment. You can demonstrate superiority by entering markets where competition isn't as fierce.

👍 I’ve practiced this strategy, positioning myself to avoid being buried in the crowd.

Chapter 2: "Adapting to Change" Can Be Planned

Startups Pivot. So Do Careers

"I don't have a plan because having a plan ties me down to current options," she says.

👍 Having plans can tie you down to those options only.

Chapter 3: Strong Ties, Weak Ties

Individual Power, Team Power

Your individual qualities and hard work alone may not be enough for team success, but they are absolutely essential. It's wrong to choose between individual and team. Both are important. With team help, individual power grows dramatically. Thanks to teammates, your power multiplies. But without individual power, teams never work. Whether you can achieve success in life depends on both your own abilities and connections with others who can fully draw them out. The two are inseparable.

👍 Both individual and team are important.

Chapter 4: Strategically Creating Serendipity

Go Find Opportunities. Or Draw Them to You

As mentioned in Chapter 2, winning startups and life trajectories rarely draw straight lines. Contrary to the common preconception that "entrepreneurs and professionals make one plan and work tirelessly to realize it without looking elsewhere," in reality, successful entrepreneurs and professionals usually repeat adaptation and trial-and-error. They don't decide on a destination in advance and arrive there, but continue their journey endlessly.

👍 Behind success is repeated adaptation and trial-and-error.

Chapter 5: If You Don't Notice Risk, Risk Will Find You

Contrarian thinking—taking positions opposite to most people—is different from jumping on obviously high-risk, high-return opportunities that everyone else is chasing. Rather, it means pursuing opportunities that have lower risk than people think but offer significant returns. Work opportunities and situations that are often lower risk than expected include:

👍 I’ve lived by contrarian thinking and positioning.

● Jobs that offer little pay but provide tremendous learning opportunities. When considering work opportunities, people tend to focus on easily quantifiable hard assets like "how much is the pay" (see Chapter 1). Jobs that don't pay much but actually offer substantial learning and broad connections should have big returns, but they often go unnoticed because they seem risky, appearing to "waste time for little money."

👍 The reason I helped with a certain startup’s launch from the pre-founding stage (before incorporation) was exactly this.

In short, increase the number of times you say "yes." What would happen if you said "yes" to everything from morning to night? What if you continued this for a week? If you reply "I'll participate" to a conference invitation you wanted to skip, you might overhear opinions that could hint at new business, new research, or new relationships. Of course, there's also the risk of trouble, crisis, or wasting time. But neither is bad. You'll either encounter opportunities that lead to serendipity, or you'll build the strength to endure immediate misfortune.

👍 Increase the number of times you say yes. Take more risks to build risk tolerance.

That’s all from the Gemba - I want to create a startup-like life strategy.