Follow more entrepreneurs

Over the past few months, I’ve started following more entrepreneurs and investors on twitter and listening to more podcasts by entrepreneurs. My favourite of the latter is easily My First Million. I’ll never miss an episode.

This is a bit of a change for me. I’ve followed entrepreneurs, particularly software entrepreneurs, very closely since I was very young, but almost as a secondary area of interest to economics, public policy, and that sort of thing. And I’ve found the change to be very energizing.

People who write about policy for a living, or debate it regularly for fun, are often angry. This is obvious to anybody who spends any time on twitter.

Entrepreneurs on the other hand, I’ve found, are much more happy and hopeful. They’re optimists. They’re also more helpful and eager to build communities of like-minded people rather than attack ideological opponents.

Entrepreneurship as a mood-affiliation (if I’m using that right) is very refreshing. It’s like a religion you can join where everybody wants to talk about smart ways to make money. And though it might sometimes veer into corniness (see LinkedIn inspirational posts for how it can go too far), I’d still much rather that than the cynicism of politics.