Its no secret I’ve long felt resumes do an incredibly poor job providing meaningful signal to a potential employer, client, colleague, partner or really anyone to showcase what you are all about. The CV seems to be one of those relics of yesteryear we continue to carry into modernity without really questioning how good of a job it actually does in providing meaningful signal around a professional engagement of any kind (especially outside of medicine or the military). Company building requires a lot more than just a fancy degree, an understanding of financial modeling and being able to follow instructions.
With this in mind, and a healthy dose of feeling misunderstood, I decided it’d be worthwhile to try and write down the important stuff you won’t find on my resume that might be a bigger indicator as to if I’m someone you’d like to work (or invest in). This will be a part of a series of blog posts I’ll do over the coming months in the case anyone cares to do a deeper dive into who I am. Ironically, if you’ve made it this far on my blog and reading my writing you are probably far enough off script this sort of thing will be unsurprising to you, but I digress; making this sort of thing more commonplace is a whole other battle.
Few pieces of housekeeping before I continue. First, a lot of this information will signal just as much what I’m not cut-out to do as much as it will tell a reader what I am cut out to do. Second, I expect the reader to be anyone looking to work with me in any professional capacity; from a contract based engagement to interim C-Suite work to starting a company and looking for a co-founder. All apply. This is one more lens on Jeff you otherwise might miss. Finally, I wasn’t sure the best way to actually get some of the more interesting parts about me on paper so I decided to do something kind of cringe, kind of useful, and evoke the robot-ghost of Graham Weaver, Bill Gurley, Joe Lonsdale and Peter Theil to fire some questions in the “intangibles” vein. If this seems fun to you, pick 4 people you look up to and ask an LLM to kick out some questions to highlight the lesser known but important parts of you, too. Its fun. I could see backstopping this with an audio file and a video, too. Without further adieu, here are a few more things to know about Jeff…
8 Questions to Really Learn About Jeff
- What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done that no one saw?
- Managing a bad concussion when I was 22 and had just graduated college. I developed classic post concussive syndrome (PCS) that would not wane. To add, western medicine was just beginning to learn the gravity of this kind of injury but treatments were sparse and the injury is invisible making it a very lonely path. The combination of fear, helplessness, awful symptoms and uncertainty made for a multi-year journey I wouldn’t wish upon anyone. Turns out, showing up to a new career when you are dizzy, anxious, nauseated and easily fatigued makes for a tough time, especially if this goes on for years. I came out of this grittier, with more gratitude, a stronger appreciation for the small things and renewed conviction to never-ever-ever give up.
- What core value would you never compromise on—even if it cost you money, success, or status?
- We don’t have a word for this value, but its that thing that exists at the intersection of honesty, integrity and staying true to one’s self. I made the decision a long time ago that money, success and status are important, but other things are more important. At times my high conviction around values of all kinds can make me a liability (I’ll go against the crowd or what is popular if I feel its right), but this is also my special super power in a way, too.
- What is something hard you do by choice and why?
- A lot of who I am has been built in the mountains, testing my physical ability and mental fortitude through what we call “type 2 fun” (fun that is only fun to most in retrospect; “hard” fun). As an example, I still compete at a high level (pro) as a mountain bike racer in addition to hard enduro dirt biker, mountain snowmobile rider, and backcountry skier. These sports require a significant amount of discipline and dedication to risk management, self sufficiency and physical conditioning. They remind you how tough you really can be, which is usually far tougher than we think we can be. If these are the types of things a person does for fun, any other kind of challenging work situation can seem a little more manageable (you aren’t risking physical harm) when you have tested the edge of your physical ability so often. I’m constantly reminded we all have more in the tank than we think (and it often gets the most fun when you push past the easy part…)
- What is an attribute few people know about you that feels a bit like a secret weapon?
- Everyone knows I like to do hard things for fun, so that’s out. What few people really see in me unless you really get to know me is just how curious I am, how fast I am at learning something and just how obsessed I can become to figure something out if the curiosity is high enough. If there is one thing I hope to never lose in my life, its this combination. It lets me explore things super fast and even if I’m unable to quickly “master” something, I’m able to get in the arena and understand what matters, what doesn’t and how to go forward. This more than anything has unlocked more freedom and more mental stimulation than any other one thing in life. I have no idea how someone is bored in 2025 (tired, yes. bored, no).
- What framework helps guide you through life?
- I’m not scared to step back and look at life for what it is and reconsider our actions against the landscape that is not that was. So many people go through life marching to a script that isn’t even their own. Applying the lens of radical honesty and really examining one’s decisions through radical honesty and my values. This can make you go “is this really the best path for me? Just because everyone else is doing ____ is that what I should do?” I feel strongly many people live a life without even first discovering who they are as a person. In such a case, its pure luck if they have a highly satisfying or fulfilling life. One first must know what makes him/her tick, then you can begin to align your path to that person. Its something that has to be constantly updated and examined but leads to a lot more peace, satisfaction and frankly, output. Its hard. In a lot of ways this is what has led me
- What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
- That we aren’t even close to replacing ICE with EVs. This is based on simple math and rate of change. Its really hard to wrap one’s head around just how good gasoline or any fossil fuel is when it comes to both energy density and transportability. Turns out both matter with respect to a high percentage of kinetic (moving people) activities. I love EVs, drive one, but the idea that we’ll somehow leave ICE in the rear-views anytime soon is a complete non-starter. The proof is in the pudd…err..math and how quickly batteries are actually improving in storage quality, density and charge capacity.
- What asymmetric bets have you made in your life or career—and what did you learn?
- Taking the leap and going outside the “normal” corporate grind into the startup world. While I recognize failure is likely to happen as part of this path, it suits me (baseball background). Moreover, I know with 100% certainty that if I just get enough at-bats or the opportunities, am methodical, work my ass off, and apply every bit of me that I’ve proven elsewhere, I know I can hit (at least) one home run. Here is the asymmetry – In baseball, a home run can be worth at most four runs. In company building, executing well (proverbial home-run) can be worth 10,000 (or more) runs. This is the asymmetry I’m betting on. Yes, it is riskier, and it is harder, but the risk and difficulty are far smaller than the prospective payoff, especially if you are wired for it, which I feel I am.
- Where have you applied brute force and won—when others would’ve tried to ‘optimize’ their way out?
- The last VC backed company I was running product for had to go through an entire engineering and design regime change pre-product launch and in the midst of way-too-high-of-burn (over hired too fast). There was no cute way to do this change, an no way to “analyze” our way out of it. We had to bring in brawling badass workers who would go to the end of the earth to get a project done, and we had to do so fast. I know it sounds goofy and cringe, but this was the culture and I set it. It was one of those times that I had two modes: work or sleep. Nothing else outside of maybe an hour workout just to keep sane. While I don’t feel you can sustain this level of intensity always, its good to have it in the bag for those times its really needed.
I’ll let ya’ll figure out which of these was from which “robot ghost”, but I think you’ll all agree its pretty obvious. I hope this hopes you learn a little bit about me and jog your own imagination of more fun ways to present yourself to any future colleague, boss, partner or investor. If anyone wants to dig in more, you can find my CV on this page or a list of projects/apps I’m currently working on via this page. As always, if you ever want to meet me digitally or in person, fire me an email. Jeff.Brines@gmail.com
Cheers