Three Things: It's all fake! And yet we fall for it anyways - How to approach the Build or Buy list - Stars and confidence, how a star changed my life with one sentence

Three Things I Learned In Saas, Sports, Tech and Live Events 1) It's all fake! And it works. When we were growing, PR companies called us to "pump up our Glassdoor or Yelp reviews." Yet it is cited by all our new hires. Getting onto the NYT Bestseller list costs ~$250k. In a bet with a friend, I pumped views on a past three things by 1000 in ten minutes - for 4 dollars. As Kahneman points out in "Noise" - it doesn't matter. We like what others like, even when totally manipulated 2) If successful, your business will end up on a "build or buy" list. Every step we take from day one, in all departments, impacts the outcome. Work backwards from that day for clues to make it so valuable it ain't worth copying. We get those calls, and threats, almost weekly now. 3) After years on the bench, I finally made it into a big match in May 1997. I had to go all in. Shouting. Demanding the ball. Taking chances. I hadn't in a big match, ever, but this was my chance. I was uncomfortable but playing well. Out of timeout, an a-hole teammate commented to our all-world player behind my back chuckling "who is this guy." I froze in self doubt. Until he answered "I don’t care if he plays like this. I like him." I heard it. Validation. I didn't sit again. If you're a star, one sentence can change a life. What a terrific gift. I saw this story repeated on a much bigger stage in 2016 when Portugal megastar Cristiano Ronaldo encouraged a very nervous Joao Moutinho to participate in the penalty shootout. Fantastic theater and a glimpse at a winner's mindset out in the open.