Second Brain AI
— Comments Off on How Corporate Venture Capital is Reshaping Innovation

How Corporate Venture Capital is Reshaping Innovation

The corporate venture capital landscape is undergoing a fundamental transformation, driven by evolving economic conditions, new organizational models, and the increasing convergence of internal R&D with external innovation partnerships.

As we navigate through 2025, the data tells a compelling story of how CVCs are not just adapting to change but actively reshaping the innovation ecosystem.

The Numbers Don’t Lie: CVC’s Growing Influence

The momentum behind corporate venture capital continues to accelerate. Global CVC-backed funding reached $65.9B, a 20% YoY increase in 2024. More telling is that CVCs made up 28% of all active investors in 2024, with a shift toward strategic early-stage investing rather than concentration in large late-stage rounds.

This shift represents more than just increased funding. It signals a strategic evolution in how corporations approach innovation.

New CVC Models Emerging in 2025

The Rise of Corporate Venture Studios

The traditional CVC model of pure investment is giving way to more hands-on approaches. Venture studios combine the entrepreneurial spirit of creating new ventures with the scale and resources of corporations. This hybrid model is particularly attractive to corporations seeking deeper control over innovation outcomes.

Corporations across industries are adopting venture studio models to create new businesses from scratch, while leveraging their existing capabilities and market positions.

Accelerator Programs with Strategic Focus

Corporate accelerator programs have evolved into strategic alliances that provide startups with frameworks for growth, product innovation, and market access, rather than just funding and mentorship.

These programs are becoming more sector-specific and deeply integrated with corporate strategic objectives. Companies are using accelerators not just to scout for external innovation, but to create systematic pathways for bringing that innovation into their core business operations.

Innovation Partnership Platforms

A new model emerging in 2025 involves corporations creating comprehensive innovation platforms that combine multiple touchpoints — venture capital, accelerators, partnership programs, and even acquisition vehicles — under unified strategic frameworks. This approach allows for more flexible engagement with startups at different stages of maturity and alignment. An example of this would be the Microsoft for Startups program, which includes a founder’s hub, investor network, regional accelerators, and strategic partnerships.

Economic Shifts Reshaping CVC Strategies

The macroeconomic environment has fundamentally altered how both VCs and CVCs operate right now, with more selective investments emphasizing strategic value, lean models, and clear pathways to profitability. Yet CVCs still maintain their more holistic strategic views of their investments.

Strategic Value Over Pure Returns

Unlike traditional VCs focused primarily on financial returns, CVCs are increasingly prioritizing strategic value creation. This shift has several implications:

  • Portfolio Construction: CVCs are building portfolios that complement and enhance their core business capabilities, rather than pursuing maximum financial diversification.
  • Investment Timelines: Corporate investors can afford longer development cycles when investments align with strategic objectives, providing crucial runway for deep-tech and complex innovation projects.
  • Market Validation: CVCs can offer startups immediate access to enterprise customers and market validation opportunities that traditional VCs cannot provide.

While traditional VCs face pressure for quick returns as markets recover, CVCs may be better positioned to take advantage of the strategic opportunities created by market dislocations.

The Blurring Lines: Internal R&D Meets External Innovation

The most significant transformation in corporate innovation is the dissolution of boundaries between internal R&D and external venture partnerships. This convergence is creating new models of collaborative innovation that leverage the best of both approaches.

Integrated Innovation Ecosystems

Modern corporations are creating innovation ecosystems where internal teams work directly with portfolio companies, sharing resources, expertise, and market access.

This integration goes far beyond traditional corporate-startup partnerships:

  • Shared Technology Platforms: Portfolio companies gain access to proprietary corporate platforms and APIs, while corporations benefit from rapid external innovation cycles.
  • Cross-Pollination of Talent: Employees move between corporate R&D teams and portfolio companies, creating knowledge transfer and cultural bridges.
  • Collaborative Product Development: Joint development projects between corporate teams and startups are becoming more common, leading to products that neither could create independently.

Toyota Open Labs is an open innovation platform that connects startups with various business units across the Toyota ecosystem to drive the future of mobility. The program focuses on key areas such as energy, circular economy, carbon neutrality, smart communities, and inclusive mobility.

From Venture Capital to Innovation Capital

This integration is leading to a new category that transcends traditional venture capital — innovation capital. This approach combines:

  • Financial investment with a strategic partnership
  • Technology licensing with joint development
  • Market access with co-innovation
  • Talent exchange with knowledge transfer

CVC-Driven Innovation Breakthroughs

AI and Machine Learning Revolution

Generative AI funding continues to grow rapidly, with funding in the first half of 2025 already surpassing the 2024 total. According to Bain & Company, Software and AI companies now account for around 45% of VC funding. Corporate venture arms have been particularly active in this space, not just as investors but as strategic partners providing data, compute resources, and enterprise distribution channels.

One notable example is the collaboration between corporate CVCs and AI startups. Examples of this include Salesforce investment in Anthropic, Microsoft’s investment in Databricks, and HP’s investment in EdgeRunner AI. These partnerships leverage corporate scale and customer access while benefiting from startup agility and innovation capabilities.

New Success Metrics

CVCs will increasingly measure success through strategic impact metrics rather than purely financial returns, tracking portfolio companies’ contributions to core business growth, new market creation, and competitive advantage.

The Innovation Imperative

Corporate venture capital is no longer just an investment strategy — it’s become a core component of corporate innovation infrastructure. The companies that succeed in leveraging CVC effectively will be those that view it not as a separate activity, but as an integral part of their innovation and growth strategies.

The data from 2024 and early 2025 clearly show that CVCs are not just surviving economic uncertainty, but thriving by offering startups something traditional VCs cannot: immediate access to enterprise customers, operational expertise, and strategic partnerships that can accelerate growth and market adoption.

For corporations, the message is clear: in an era of accelerating technological change, external innovation partnerships through CVC are essential for staying competitive and relevant. The question is not whether to engage in corporate venture capital, but how deeply to integrate it into your innovation strategy.

Blog Entrepreneurship
Second Brain AI
— Comments Off on Your Digital Brain Partner: How AI Will Transform How We Think and Work

Your Digital Brain Partner: How AI Will Transform How We Think and Work

Imagine having a co-worker who never forgets anything, can instantly recall every conversation you’ve ever had, and helps you connect ideas you never would have linked on your own. This is the reality of Second Brain AI, and it can fundamentally change how we work, learn, and think.
 
We’re moving beyond simple AI tools that answer questions or automate tasks. The next wave of artificial intelligence will act as genuine thinking partners, extending our cognitive abilities in ways that feel almost magical. These aren’t replacements for human intelligence. They’re amplifiers that make us dramatically more capable.
 
Tools are now emerging that demonstrate this power. Google’s NotebookLM, launched in 2024 and continuously updated through 2025, serves as an AI research assistant, transforming uploaded documents into interactive conversations and even podcast-style audio overviews. Meanwhile, platforms like Elict help researchers identify valuable research seeds and explore topics through conversational AI. Granola focuses on bringing your team’s conversations into one place and enhancing them with AI through summarizing, finding connections through scattered ideas, and surfacing relevant information.

From Information Overload to Intelligent Insight

We live in an age of information abundance that often feels more like information overwhelm. Every day, we’re bombarded with alerts, emails, articles, videos, podcasts, and conversations. Our natural response is to try to consume more, faster, but that’s a losing battle.
 
Second Brain AI takes a completely different approach. Instead of helping you process more information, it helps you understand the information you already have. It identifies patterns you may have missed, connects ideas across different contexts, and surfaces exactly what you need when you need it.
 
Think of it as having a personal librarian who has read everything you’ve ever encountered and can instantly provide the perfect piece of information for whatever you’re working on. However, unlike a human librarian, this one learns your thinking patterns and improves at helping you over time.
 
ClickUp Brain exemplifies this approach, automatically summarizing lengthy conversation threads, drafting documents, and transcribing voice clips directly within tasks — eliminating the need for teams to switch between multiple tools and contexts.

The End of Forgetting

How many great ideas have you lost because you forgot to write them down? How many important details from meetings have slipped through the cracks? How often do you find yourself thinking, “I know I read something about this, but I can’t remember where”?
 
Second Brain AI solves the fundamental human problem of forgetting. It creates a permanent, searchable record of your thoughts, experiences, and learning that grows more valuable over time. More importantly, it doesn’t just store this information — it actively helps you use it.
 
Your digital brain partner remembers the context around every piece of information. It knows not just what you learned, but when you learned it, what you were working on at the time, and how it connects to other ideas in your mental landscape.
 
Notion with AI integration and Obsidian’s interconnected note system are making this vision a reality. The Second Brain AI platform at thesecondbrain.io now allows users to chat with their saved notes from Notion, Evernote, and other platforms, while Elephas enables users to create topic-specific “brains” that can be shared via URLs for collaborative learning.

Predictive Thinking: Knowing What You Need Before You Ask

The most exciting aspect of Second Brain AI is its ability to anticipate your needs. By learning your patterns of thinking and working, it begins to suggest relevant information and insights before you even realize you need them.
 
Working on a presentation? Your AI partner might surface research from six months ago that perfectly supports your argument. Facing a difficult decision? It could remind you of a similar situation you handled successfully and suggest applying the same approach.
 
This predictive capability transforms how we approach complex problems. Instead of starting from scratch each time, you build on the accumulated wisdom of your past experiences, guided by an AI that sees patterns you might miss.

Everyone Becomes an Expert

One of the most democratizing aspects of Second Brain AI is how it levels the playing field between experts and beginners. Traditionally, expertise comes from years of accumulated knowledge and experience. But what if you could instantly access the insights and patterns that experts have developed over the course of decades?
 
Second Brain AI doesn’t replace the need for deep thinking or creativity, but it dramatically accelerates the learning curve. A junior employee can make decisions informed by organizational wisdom that previously took years to acquire. Students can engage with complex topics by building on the collective knowledge of their field.

The Creative Amplifier

Creativity often comes from combining existing ideas in new ways. Second Brain AI excels at this kind of creative synthesis. It can identify unexpected connections between concepts, suggest novel combinations of ideas, and help you explore creative directions you might never have considered.

This isn’t about AI generating creative work for you. It’s about AI helping you be more creative by expanding the pool of ideas and connections you can draw from. It’s like having a creative partner who has perfect recall of everything you’ve ever been interested in and can suggest fascinating combinations at just the right moment.
 
Tools like MyMind and Bear App are pioneering this creative synthesis, using AI to help users discover unexpected connections between saved content, images, and ideas across different projects and time periods.

Privacy and Control in the Age of AI

A common concern about AI thinking partners is the issue of privacy and control. The most effective Second Brain AI systems are designed to be personal and private, learning from your information without sharing it or using it to benefit others.
 
It’s like the difference between a personal diary and a public social media post. Your Second Brain AI is your private thinking space, designed to serve your goals and protect your information. You maintain complete control over what information it has access to and how it uses that information.
 
For example, HP AI PCs are designed to streamline tasks, speed up workflows with AI data analysis, copy editing, and image creation, all while ensuring the security of on-device AI.

The Learning Revolution

Traditional learning is linear. If you read a book, take a course, or attend a lecture, then you try to remember and apply what you learned. Second Brain AI enables dynamic, contextual learning that adapts to your needs in real-time.
 
Instead of trying to remember everything, you can focus on understanding concepts and making connections, knowing that your AI partner will help you recall specific details when needed. This shift from memorization to comprehension fundamentally changes how we approach learning and skill development.

Building Your Second Brain

 The transition to working with AI thinking partners isn’t about adopting new technology — it’s about developing a new relationship with information and learning. It requires shifting from trying to remember everything to trusting that the right information will be available when needed.
 
This transformation is already beginning. Early adopters are discovering that the most effective approach is gradual integration, starting with simple information capture and organization, then gradually expanding into more sophisticated AI-assisted thinking and decision-making.
 
The current landscape offers multiple entry points that offer increasingly sophisticated ways to build interconnected knowledge networks that grow more valuable over time.

The Future of Human Potential

We’re entering an era where the limiting factor in human achievement won’t be our ability to access information or remember details — it will be our creativity, judgment, and ability to ask the right questions. Second Brain AI handles information processing, allowing us to focus on the uniquely human aspects of thinking and problem-solving.
 
This partnership between human and artificial intelligence promises to unlock human potential in ways we’re only beginning to understand. We’ll be able to tackle more complex problems, make better decisions, and achieve goals that would have been impossible to work on alone.
 
Will you be among the early adopters who shape this transformation or among those who struggle to adapt later?

Blog Entrepreneurship Futurism & Technology Trends Innovation
business meeting with man with blue tie speaking
— Comments Off on Why startups are leaning into Corporate Venture Capital in 2025 [+ 8 TIPS FOR FOUNDERS]

Why startups are leaning into Corporate Venture Capital in 2025 [+ 8 TIPS FOR FOUNDERS]

What founders need to know:

  • CVCs are participating in one of every six startup funding rounds
  • They are backing startups of all sizes, with 65% of their deals now happening at early stages
  • Beyond capital, these relationships offer invaluable resources: distribution channels, technical expertise, and supply chain leverage that traditional VCs rarely provide

In the ever-evolving venture capital landscape of 2025, one trend has become impossible to ignore: startups are increasingly turning to Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) for funding, strategic partnerships, and competitive advantages. This shift isn’t just about money—it represents a fundamental change in how emerging companies view their path to success.

The surge of corporate investors in the VC ecosystem

The numbers tell a compelling story. The number of corporate investors has tripled in the last decade, and they now participate in one of every six startup funding rounds. This isn’t a temporary blip—it’s a sustained transformation of the venture capital landscape.

CVCs’ share of the venture pie continues to expand:

  • 28% of all venture deals in 2024 included at least one corporate investor—a level that has remained in the high 20s for nine consecutive years.
  • 35% of global deal value in Q4 2024 came from CVC-participating rounds, marking the highest quarterly share since 2019, as reported by Bain.
  • Corporate investors gravitate toward larger tickets, which means their share of dollars is trending higher than their share of deals, indicating growing influence over the biggest checks in the industry.

CVCs are dominating mega-rounds

When it comes to the crucial nine-figure funding rounds that can make or break scaling companies, corporate investors have become indispensable:

  • In 2024, over half of all CVC dollars went into rounds of $100 million or more. AI innovators like Perplexity and Lightmatter topped the league tables for the largest CVC-backed deals.
  • The median US deal size with CVC participation was three times larger than non-CVC deals in 2024.
  • Large corporations can fund capital-intensive bets in emerging fields like AI infrastructure, semiconductors, and climate tech, where many traditional VCs hesitate to commit significant capital independently.

Moving earlier in the funding funnel

Perhaps most surprisingly, corporate investors aren’t just waiting for startups to prove themselves before getting involved. Early-stage rounds comprised 65% of CVC deals in 2024, tying the highest share in a decade.

This early engagement signals a fundamental shift, with startups increasingly viewing corporates not merely as strategic late-stage partners but as first-check believers in their vision.

The survival advantage: CVC-backed startups fail less often

According to GCV’s 2024 “The World Of Corporate Venturing” report, the numbers tell a startling story: startups without CVC funding were more than twice as likely to go bankrupt compared to their CVC-backed counterparts. The advantages don’t stop at survival. CVC-backed companies are also twice as likely to advance to the next funding round, creating a compounding advantage throughout their growth journey.

This isn’t just correlation—there are concrete reasons why CVC backing provides a survival advantage.

Strategic advantages CVCs offer beyond capital

In-the-trenches advisors and mentors

CVC partners often provide specialized industry expertise that traditional VCs may lack, including seasoned advisors who have experience and have navigated similar challenges in the corporate world.

Credibility and market validation

A corporate investment serves as a powerful signal to the market, customers, and other potential investors that established industry players have vetted your solution.

Access to distribution networks

The right corporate partner can dramatically accelerate a startup’s go-to-market strategy:

  • Amazon’s backing of Rivian provided capital and a massive initial order for electric delivery vehicles.
  • HP uses its global scale and reach to help support the scaleup of our portfolio companies, whether that be connecting them with new customers to putting a marketing spotlight on their achievements.
  • Walmart’s partnership with vertical farming startup Plenty secured investment and nationwide distribution for its sustainably grown produce.

Supply chain leverage

Corporate backing can transform a startup’s position in the supply chain:

  • Tyson Foods’ investment in Beyond Meat gave the plant-based protein startup unprecedented access to meat distribution channels historically closed to alternative protein companies.

R&D synergy and advancement

The R&D resources of corporate partners can accelerate innovation:

  • Moderna gained access to AstraZeneca’s extensive R&D capabilities and clinical trial networks, accelerating its path to market.
  • OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft provided crucial access to Azure cloud computing resources, enabling the development of increasingly sophisticated AI models.
  • SoundHound integrated its AI-powered Houndify platform directly into Honda vehicles, gaining access to real-world testing environments that would have been impossible to access otherwise.

Channel access

Strategic CVC partnerships can unlock entire market channels:

  • ChargePoint’s investments from Siemens and Daimler opened doors to integrated EV charging solutions across the automotive and energy sectors.

Customer base access and brand credibility

A corporate partner’s customer relationships can be invaluable:

  • Google’s early investment in Uber helped the ridesharing company establish credibility and integration with Google Maps.
  • Salesforce’s backing of Snowflake provided enterprise validation that accelerated the data cloud company’s adoption among large organizations.

Tips for successful startup-CVC collaboration

For founders considering CVC partnerships in 2025, these strategic approaches can maximize success:

1.          Understand synergy and conflict points

Map out where your interests align with potential corporate investors—and where they might diverge. Be explicit about these in early discussions to avoid painful misalignments later.

2.        Define what success looks like

Is your primary goal additional funding, a proof-of-concept partnership, co-marketing opportunities, or something else? Clarifying expectations early helps both parties measure progress.

3.        Consider scale compatibility

Ensure your startup can reasonably meet the scale requirements of your corporate partner, especially if product integration is a goal.

4.        Qualify interest rigorously

Don’t let big companies waste your most precious resource—time. Look for concrete commitments rather than vague expressions of interest.

5.        Charge for proofs-of-concept and pilots

Getting paid for initial work serves as an excellent qualifier of serious interest. Free pilots often indicate low organizational commitment.

6.        Establish internal champions

Identify and cultivate relationships with specific executives who will advocate for your startup within the corporate structure. These champions are critical for helping you navigate complex organizational dynamics.

7.         Prepare for extended sales cycles

Corporate decision-making, approvals, contracts, and procurement processes typically move much slower than startup timelines. Build this reality into your planning and runway calculations.

8.       Research strategic priorities

Study your potential corporate investor’s latest earnings calls and investor relations materials. As one venture advisor noted, “Listen to the latest corporate investor relations call for insights into what’s on the CEO’s mind, and as context for potential synergies and partnership opportunities.”

Next steps

As we navigate 2025’s challenging funding environment, CVCs represent not just a capital source but potentially transformative partnerships that provide startups with strategic advantages beyond what traditional VCs typically offer.

The data is clear: corporate venture capital has evolved from an occasional player to a central force in the startup ecosystem, offering both enhanced survival rates and accelerated paths to market leadership.

For today’s founders, the question is increasingly not whether to consider corporate venture capital, but how to strategically leverage these partnerships to maximize short-term growth and long-term success.

Entrepreneurship Uncategorized
— Comments Off on How I manage my to-do list with email: Part 2

How I manage my to-do list with email: Part 2

Keeping track of all your to-dos is never easy, but implementing a process and system to manage them can really help you function at your optimal capacity.
 
 I recently shared a strategy outlining how to:

  • Archive all your email so you never have to worry about deleting an email again
  • Declutter your inbox
  • Process your inbox
  • Track everything you delegate and everything you are ‘waiting for’ via a Pending folder.

In this post, I’ll cover managing and tracking your next actions so you never have to worry about dropping the ball again.

As mentioned previously, efficiently processing your inbox involves doing one of four things with each email:

  • Read and delete. No action is needed.
  • Do. If I think it will take me less than 2 minutes to respond to an email, I will do it then and there and then delete it.
  • Delegate. Forward, ask someone to do something based on the email, and then delete it. Per my previous post on this topic, remember to copy yourself when you delegate over email so you can track everything you’re waiting on someone for in your Pending folder.
  • Queue up for the next action needed. These are the emails I need to spend more time on and that I haven’t been able to delete, delegate, or do within the 2-minute rule.


Let’s focus on that last point: how to queue up things for the next action needed.

Constructing contexts

One core tenet of “Getting Things Done” is to group all your next actions by context. In its simplest terms, this means defining a set of mutually exclusive categories that you can use to group and prioritize your subsequent actions.
 
Everyone will have different contexts they want to work across (see below for mine). The trick here is to define those contexts in a way that makes sense for you and is as simple as possible. It is also important to define them so that each next action only goes into one context. This keeps the overhead of managing your next actions to a minimum. 
 
Here are mine:

I implement this for my email by creating an email folder for each “context” and then moving each “next action” from my inbox to that folder.
 
Here are a few examples:

  • My friend emails me and wants to catch up. I drag the email from my inbox into my Call folder.
  • My wife emails me and asks if I can pick up paper towels. That goes in my Urgent/Important folder 😊
  • My colleague emails me and requests I review a presentation, but in no hurry. It goes into my Not Urgent/Important folder.
  • Someone sends me an interesting article on Vegemite. Into the Someday folder it goes.
  • My boss emails me and says he wants to discuss an upcoming site visit. This goes into the Agenda folder for when I meet with him next.
  • One of my team members told me they just finished a presentation to an important client. This goes into the Recognize folder.

Hopefully, you get the idea.
 
Later, when I get ready to go on a drive, I check my Calls folder and call my friend.
 
When I next meet with my boss, I go to my Agendas folder to remind myself of everything I need to discuss with him.
 
When I’m at my desk first thing in the morning, I hit my Urgent/Important folder for all the urgent and important things I need to do. 
 
When I finish those, I hit the Not Urgent/important folder and get a start on those.
 
Then, when I’m done with all my projects and have time to breathe, I check my Someday folder for new things to do.
 
Never drop the ball again.

Creating a code

The above works great when you receive and act on emails, but what if you want to create and manage the next actions for things not associated with an email you have received? 
 
For example, you might think of something urgent and essential you must do or someone you need to call. How do you get these follow-up actions into your email system?
 
Here’s what I do.
 
Let’s take an “urgent/important” next action as an example. If I want to remind myself to complete an important presentation by the end of the week, I email myself the Subject line “Complete presentation $ui.” I then have a rule set that looks for emails from myself with a “$ui” in the subject line, which automatically moves that email into my Urgent/Important folder. Voila! Next time I’m at my laptop, I will check my Urgent/Important folder, and see my next action to complete the presentation.
 
 To break this down further, for each context:

  • Come up with a code you can put in the Subject for any next action you want to automatically move to the folder for that context.
  • Create a rule for the context that will look for that code as part of the Subject and then do the move.

For the example above, the rule would look like this:


 Note: The examples in this post are from Microsoft Outlook, but most other email applications allow similar rules and settings

Below are the codes I use for all the contexts mentioned above. All you need to do now is create a rule for each code that is the same as the example above but with the corresponding code for each context.

With the above in place, you can also handle the following scenario:
 
Someone sends you an email to ask you for something, and when you respond to say, “I’m on it!” you tag the subject with “$ui”, so your next action is automatically put in your Urgent/Important folder for follow-up. This saves you from having to respond AND manually move the original email to the folder yourself. Yes, it’s only a few extra steps, but it all adds up over a day, a week, or a year. And these posts are all about being an email ninja, not an email grasshopper.

Final reminders

Two more things and we’re done, but these are very important to remember.
 
First, the ordering of your rules in your email system matters. It’s essential that the first rule is to move all received emails to your Received folder. This ensures you will continue to archive all emails you receive, as explained in my first post. Then come the rules to manage context-based next actions as explained above. Finally, the last rule should be to manage Pending emails, which you copy yourself on when you want to track or monitor that something gets done. Ordering your rules in this way ensures they are applied in the correct order so that the system works.
 
Second, you will need to update your Pending rule so as not to move all these next-action emails to your Pending folder as well. To do this, simply exclude all these emails from the Pending rule, as shown below.

That’s it! Now, you have a way to track your next actions by context. When you complete each next action, you can delete it from the context folder and move on to the next one!
 
 At this point, you now have a way to:

  • Archive all your emails so you never have to worry about deleting them again.
  • Declutter your inbox.
  • Process your inbox.
  • Track everything you delegate and everything you are ‘waiting for’ via a Pending folder.
  • Track your next actions by context.

Stay tuned for my next post on using this system to manage projects and deliverables that require many next actions to complete. It will also include a few additional advanced techniques that will move you into black belt territory.

Blog Entrepreneurship Leadership
— Comments Off on How to automate email management 

How to automate email management 

Automate your Inbox so you have time for more meaningful tasks

Who doesn’t want to be more productive? When the end of your day rolls around, are you looking at your to-do list, wishing you could cross off more items? In my experience, I’ve discovered the most productive people do things differently. They use their time more efficiently and often achieve better results.

If you’re struggling to find time for the more meaningful tasks in your day and want to spend less time tied to emails, I’m sharing these tips for you.

If you’re into personal productivity, then Getting Things Done is a must-read. The author, David Allen, is widely recognized as the world’s leading expert on personal and organizational productivity.

The book inspired me to create an email system that lets me spend less time on emails and more time on meaningful tasks. Here are my tips around email and how to make it work for you. In order to succeed at making the most of your email, you’re going to need two things:

  1. An email program (I use Outlook, so that is what I’ll be highlighting today)
  2. Time (Don’t worry, it won’t take much of your time once you get the system established!)

So, without further ado, here’s how I set up my email to maximize my time:

Create a reliable archive for everything you send and receive. Create a folder called “Received” to archive every email you receive so that you always have a copy on hand, no matter what happens. Create a rule to automatically make a copy of everything you receive, except emails that you send to yourself, as those will be automatically archived in your Sent folder (I’ll explain that in a minute).


In Outlook, this rule might look like this:


At this point, a copy of every email you send will be in Sent, and a copy of every email you receive will be in Received. You’ll never have to worry about deleting an email again. Just follow one rule — don’t touch either of these folders, and you’ll always have a copy saved.

Additional tip: There’s no need to create a similar archive for things you send, as most email programs take care of this for you via the Sent folder.

This provides a few benefits:

  1. You can now use your Inbox as a real Inbox and not as a way of archiving your emails. For example, you can now delete things from your Inbox without worrying about saving a copy.
  2. You don’t have to create some complicated folder structure to store and find emails. You can simply use your email’s Search function across both the Sent and Received folders to search and find any email you’ve ever sent or received. More on this later.

Next, in order to get all the useless emails out of your Inbox and focus on the important stuff, you can use a service like Sanebox. Sanebox does many things, but the best thing it does is learn what you consider important and interesting and move everything else out of your Inbox into a folder called SaneLater. This means that everything left in your Inbox is the things you find most important, and the rest you can process periodically at the end of the day.


If you’re using Outlook, another way to do this is to simply use Outlook’s “Focused Inbox” to automatically sort messages into Focused (important) and Other (not important).

With all the above in place, your Inbox will only contain emails of interest at this point. Now onto processing those emails. For every email remaining, I will take one of the following actions:

  1. Read and delete. No further action is needed.
  2. Do. If I think it will take me less than 2 minutes to respond to an email, I will do it then and there and then delete it.
  3. Delegate. Forward and ask someone to do something based on the email, and then delete it.
  4. Queue up. These are the emails I need to spend more time on and that I haven’t been able to delete, delegate, or do within the 2-minute rule mentioned above.

The really fun part (have I mentioned how much I love productivity tips?) is how to set up email to streamline how you manage all the things you’ve delegated and all the next actions you have on your plate.

Let’s start with how I use email to track everything I’ve delegated and everything I’m waiting for:

  1. Create a folder called “Pending” to store every email request you make that you want to track the result of, or monitor that it gets done.
  2. Create a rule that automatically moves any email you receive from yourself to the Pending folder created in the previous step.


Now, all you need to do is copy yourself on any email you send where you want to track or monitor progress. This will trigger the above rule and store all the emails in the Pending folder.

You can then periodically (daily, weekly, whenever) look at the Pending folder for every ‘waiting for’ action you are tracking. When something gets done, simply delete it from the Pending folder! Remember, no need to worry about saving emails anymore, every email you have ever sent and received is safely archived in Sent and Received.

And voila! You now have:

  • A way to archive all your email so you never have to worry about deleting an email again
  • A way to unclutter your Inbox
  • A way to process your Inbox
  • A way to track everything you delegate and everything you are ‘waiting for’

Stay tuned for the next blog post on how to manage and track all your next actions so you never have to worry about dropping the ball again. In future blog posts, I’ll also cover my approach to personal knowledge management and how I manage my “Second Brain” to stay productive and free my mind from worrying about all the things going on in my life.

Keeping track of all your to-dos is never easy, but it’s within your power to foster a process and system that helps you function at your optimal capacity.

This is what works for me. What works for you? What are your productivity tips for managing your to-do list?


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My top 5 leadership principles

Leadership is constantly evolving to meet the demands of the times. To thrive as leaders, we must understand the needs of our teams and adapt accordingly. There are, however, some leadership principles that I have found to be essential no matter the situation.

1. Be humble. Leaders who place too much focus on results and control rather than the people on their team can create trust issues. Employees may feel restricted in their abilities to explore new ideas or even fearful of disappointing their boss. When teams operate out of fear, there can be several consequences, from a lack of engagement to high turnover. One Gallup study even found that one in two U.S. adults have left a job to escape a bad manager.

Because of this, leaders must embrace humility in their approach. While it is essential to hit targets and goals, the leader’s role is to help their team learn, grow, and explore without fear of failure. Leaders can benefit from their team’s expertise, experience, and insight by serving their employees rather than controlling them.

Ask your team how you can help them do their jobs and encourage them to experiment with innovative approaches and ideas. Create a safe environment for them to take risks and chances. Recognize that, even though you might be leading a team or organization, you are still a member of a team, and the best results will come from working together to find solutions and stay productive.

As my Mum used to remind me, we all put our pants on the same way. As human beings, we are all equal, and just because I might be the leader of a team doesn’t make me any better or less equal than anyone else in the team, no matter what they do. For me being humble means treating everyone as an equal and doing everything I can to help everyone else realize that we are all in this together as equals.

“The leader’s role is to help their team learn, grow, and explore without fear of failure.”

2. Treat everyone with respect and dignity. It’s essential to treat every person in your team and your company with respect and dignity. Each employee plays a vital role in how your business functions from the top of your organizational hierarchy to the bottom. How you treat them matters.

This principle highlights the importance of prioritizing diversity and inclusion. For leaders to encourage their employees to bring their whole selves to work, they must create an environment where people from all backgrounds feel accepted and valued. The benefits of a diverse and inclusive workplace are clear. Diverse teams consistently outperform those with less diversity, and employees on inclusive teams are 5.4 times more likely to stay at their company.

Treating everyone with respect and dignity can create a company culture that ensures employees feel heard and valued. In turn, this can encourage loyalty, productivity, and motivation. But that’s not why this is important, it’s important because it’s the right thing to do, and the right way to treat the people around us.

3. The team is always more important than the individual. No matter how talented, educated, or skilled an individual may be, nothing compares to the success of teamwork. By building a team with complementary skills, a leader can create a well-rounded approach to innovation where the team can learn from each other.

When appropriately used, collaboration is a powerful tool that can significantly improve outcomes compared to individual work. In addition, a Deloitte study found that employees that engage in collaboration and use digital collaboration tools are 17% more satisfied at work. While individuals may get tasks done independently, there is an increased risk of burnout and lower-quality results.

Leaders need to encourage open communication to enable teams to work together. Clear expectations and structure can also be helpful, such as assigning responsibilities to specific team members and designating particular times and methods of collaboration.

I remember many times in my career when I had no idea how we were ever going to achieve a particularly challenging goal or objective. Something that at first glance appeared impossible or completely unreasonable. But then something happens. Someone has an idea that triggers another idea, that leads to a first step, that leads to a second step, that creates a momentum that starts to take on a life of its own. The mood starts to change to a “We can do this!” and a palpable sense of excitement starts to build. There is a point in this process where the team shifts from a group of individuals to a thriving, thrumming “We can do anything!” functional unit that elevates everyone in it to achieve things they never thought possible. Things that could never be achieved by an individual or even a group of individuals – things that only a true team can achieve. If you’ve ever experienced that feeling, you know what I’m talking about.  

“A team is more than a group of individuals; it is also the energy that is released when true teamwork happens that elevates everyone involved.”

4. Have fun! Boredom is not a corporate objective. If you’ve seen the movie Office Space, you know how soul-sucking a boring (albeit fictional) office job can be. While the cult film is a satirical, darkly comedic take on corporate life in the 90s, it can also be a cautionary tale against boredom and monotony at work.

For leaders, it is crucial to know when and how to have fun. Happy employees are healthier, more creative, and more productive overall. So, what can leaders do to create a more fun work environment?

One way to promote more fun is to create experiences that allow team members to get to know each other and interact outside of a work setting. These experiences can be as formal as a monthly virtual happy hour or dinner, or as informal as a weekly group lunch or virtual coffee chat to catch up on life outside of work. While planning events like these can be a great way to create structured fun, simpler methods include encouraging employees to share photos, stories about their vacations, work-appropriate memes, and pictures of their latest golf outings in group messages or recognizing team members for big and small achievements.

Another way to promote more fun is to just have more fun. I also like to say, “We’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time”. Life’s too short to take too seriously. Having fun at work doesn’t mean we’re not working hard; it just means we’re having more fun working hard.

5. Pay attention to the details – the small things matter. Leaders are often tasked with directing their team towards one final, all-encompassing goal. While this is important, it can sometimes lead to the dismissal of small but crucial details. Achieving one significant goal results from many small achievements that occur along the way, and each one is as important as the next.

For leaders, this puts them in the unique position of needing to keep both the big picture and the details top of mind. For this reason, it’s crucial to have solid organizational skills and a reliable team that you can delegate to as needed. Remain dedicated to the end goal while maintaining a broad understanding of what each team member is doing to succeed. Trust your team and avoid micromanaging but know when to step in as a leader to help push things forward.

These five leadership principles have helped me throughout my career as a leader, and I hope they serve you on your journey.

Have a leadership principle that you believe to be essential for leaders to know? Share it in the comments.

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Preparing for Gen Z as a Futurist

As a futurist, my job is to anticipate change and stay on top of current trends. There’s a new generation entering the workforce – Generation Z. Following Millennials, this generation includes those born between 1995 and 2010. While being defined as the most ethnically-diverse and largest generation in American history, Gen Z also grew up surrounded by technology, also making them the most tech-savvy generation.

I’ve previously provided some thoughts on thinking like a futurist and today, we’re diving deeper into the role Gen Z plays in the future. Here are my tips for how to collaborate with Gen Z:

1. Put yourself in their shoes

It’s important to acknowledge the obvious differences that divide each generation. For example, Gen Z grew up in a post-9/11 world with new technology and completely different childhood experiences than those of previous generations. With technology constantly at their fingertips, this generation of “digital natives” have had nearly lifelong access to boundless amounts of information at the drop of a hat. In fact, 97% of Gen Z have smart phones and spend more than 4 hours a day online.

And because they’ve never spent a day offline, they are acutely aware of the issues and challenges happening in the world around them. As a result, they are 54% more likely to say they want to have an impact on the world as compared to millennials. Also noteworthy is their attitude towards work and employers; almost half consider what the company does to make the world a better place as important as the salary.

By becoming familiar with Gen Z, and by understanding the different era and experiences they’ve grown up with, you’ll gain a better understanding of how to effectively collaborate with them. Whether it’s through asking questions, doing research, or understanding current trends, you won’t fully see eye-to-eye with this generation until you put yourself in their shoes.

2. Pay attention to what’s important

In the next decade, Gen Z is expected to cause an influx of roughly 60 million job seekers, effectively transforming the workplace. Concerning their careers, Gen Z-ers are very driven and competitive. Nothing motivates them more than achieving success and being rewarded for their good efforts. They value skill development and appreciate feedback, as they are always hoping to improve their performance. A controversial topic amongst Gen Z is the debate over work-life balance. It can be argued that this generation struggles the most with this – 24% say they feel guilty for taking time off work. On the other hand, 39% view work-life balance as a top priority when choosing an employer. Knowing these statistics as an employer can help foster a healthy work environment for future employees.

When choosing where to work, Gen Z will base their decision on the company’s values. This generation’s passion for sustainability, diversity, and inclusion reflects in their expectations for their future employers. Studies show that 77% of Gen Z believes a company’s level of diversity affects their decision to work there.

3. Stay up to date on trends

As any futurist knows, one of the most important ways to prepare for the future is to stay up to date with the latest trends. This applies to Gen Z trends as well. The more informed you are, the more prepared you will be to work with this generation.

Here are some resources for futurists to better understand Gen Z:

  1. After the Millennials
  2. Gen Guru
  3. Gen Z Insights
  4. Generational Differences in the Workplace Infographic
  5. Looking Ahead to Generation Z

We can all benefit from learning from one another. As this new generation enters the workforce, preparing through a lens like this will allow us to better understand and support them in their journey as they embark on this new chapter.

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Empathy’s Role in Leadership

When you picture an effective leader, what comes to mind?

A deep understanding of their industry, self-awareness, decision-making skills, integrity, transparency, and being empathetic are some of the things that come to my mind. Leaders with a high degree of emotional intelligence earn the trust of and inspire their team to reach their full potential.

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5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Prioritize Mental Health

In honor of World Mental Health Day on October 10th, I want to discuss the importance of taking care of yourself as an entrepreneur.

Oftentimes, as an entrepreneur, taking care of your own mental health can feel like the last thing on your list. In an environment where you’re focused on creating a successful business, it’s easy to put your well-being on the backburner. Some may even see this as a badge of honor.

The numbers are concerning. A report found that 72% of entrepreneurs experience some type of mental health issue and are “significantly more likely to report a lifetime history of depression (30%), ADHD (29%), substance-abuse conditions (12%), and bipolar diagnosis (11%).” Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs feel the need to hide these issues, for fear that it will affect their business and their personal lives.

Thankfully, the conversation around mental health is shifting. Healthcare professionals are moving away from a separation of mind and body to an integration, understanding that mental health is just as important as physical health. Companies are creating empathetic policies that encourage a more open and understanding workplace. Most importantly, people all over the world are working to erase the stigma behind mental health issues, including CEOs, grad students, Greek police officers, and Florida public schools. 

If you’re an entrepreneur or startup founder (or just want to concentrate more on your well-being), here are my top tips for balancing your mental health with your growing business and working through the “founder’s blues”:

1. Leave space to reflect.

Throughout your week, schedule time to simply hit the pause button. Take this time to breathe and reflect on your week. What have you accomplished? Where can you improve? Ask yourself these questions, but be sure to speak to yourself in a kind way. We are often our own worst critic, and it’s important to recognize that harsh self-talk is linked to depression, low self-esteem, and anxiety.

This time for self-reflection is essential for everyone, but especially if your schedule is jam-packed. In a start-up world that’s focused on external factors like funding, hiring, and planning, it’s easy to ignore internal factors. When the internal is ignored, recognizing and managing emotions can be difficult. It’s important to prioritize time and stick to your schedule.

2. Pay attention to burnout.

In the world of entrepreneurship, burnout is a real issue. The World Health Organization has recognized burnout as an official disorder. Oftentimes the symptoms are ignored or minimized, which can lead to more worrisome issues down the line.

If you notice symptoms such as feeling cynical about your job or emotionally drained by your work, don’t ignore them. They are an important sign that you need a break, and you should honor that by taking some time off to recalibrate, even if it’s just for a day or two. You will come back to your work refreshed.

3. Manage and delegate.

Entrepreneurs wear several hats, especially when they’re near the starting line. Over time, you may feel like your life is a constant juggling act, so it’s imperative to find balance. Manage your time and stick to a schedule to alleviate any stress, and delegate whenever possible.

If you find that certain tasks cause you more stress than others, find ways to change the tasks to be less demanding, or find someone on your team you can delegate them to. If that is not an option, consider outsourcing to an agency or contractor.

4. Be mindful of your physical health.

You don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to be an entrepreneur, but it’s important to treat your body well. Is your diet giving you the energy and nutrients you need throughout the day? Are you making time for moderate exercise? Unfortunately, running from meeting to meeting doesn’t count. Physical exercise is crucial to mental health. Any type of exercise will help promote improved mental health, however the social aspects of team sports have the strongest effect.

Don’t focus on perfection. Instead, do what you can to eat nutritious foods and stay active. If you’re able to hire a personal trainer and nutritionist, do so. If that isn’t possible for you at this time, there are a plethora of resources online that can help you get where you need to be, such as Lifesum for nutrition and Fitocracy for personal training. 

5. Find support.

You may feel alone in this, but that is far from the truth. As mentioned before, 72% of entrepreneurs have reported dealing with some mental health issue. Many of them have created communities and groups that deal with these problems together and support each other. If you feel comfortable, join one of these communities and learn from others who are dealing with similar issues. Search online or ask your network for these communities or use an online service like 7 Cups of Tea to find anonymous support.

On a related note, consider finding a therapist who works for you, online or in-person. There are mental health professionals who specialize in executive leadership, and they can help you through all the ups and downs that you may experience.  

Mental health does not discriminate; in fact, it affects one in four people globally. It isn’t always easy to talk about, but that’s rapidly changing due to increasing awareness and leaders who are open about their journey. By prioritizing your own health, you can inspire and encourage others on your team and in your community to do the same.

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