Ben's 1x1x1 - Bad bets, great quotes, and other randomness - October 30, 2026 🚀
For those of you that are new here, every week I send what I call a 1x1x1.
One (or 2, 3, 4, or 8) thoughts from my week. One interesting find/tool from my week. One image from my life.
Let’s dive in 👇
4 quick thought(s) from the week
Ask yourself: What did you love as a child?
Seems like a silly question when you get this for the first time.
I mean, isn’t the obvious answer ice cream, recess and Rocket Power?
But if you can rewind the clock and reflect on the activities, toys, games, you obsessed over, often times there will be some interesting parallels to your adult life today.
I asked my mom what I loved recently and she instantly responded without hesitation “Legos”.
I would get a lego aircraft carrier, 2,000 pieces, and I would stay up all night building it until it was done.
I would even skip meals apparently.
This made me laugh to myself because I’m very much that way when I build businesses.
Not much has changed.
Meta is the king for ads
I’ve gone deep on a lot of different ad platforms this year.
I’ve spent many thousands of dollars on Google Ads, X ads, LinkedIn ads, but the channel that consistently outperforms all of them for me is Meta.
Meta’s attribution is second to none and its ability to reach highly targeted audiences is pretty impressive.
If you’re kicking off some ad campaigns, maybe try Meta first.
My Alphabet bet is paying off nicely
A few months ago, I wrote about how I made a big bet (for myself at least) on Alphabet.
After earnings Wednesday, the company had its biggest ever post-earnings decline.
We don’t need to get into the details, but the point is never listen to Ben when it comes to investment advice.
For those that are still believers, I did buy more yesterday.
At a 13% discount, it felt like I was buying a super sale on Häagen-Dazs bars at Costco!
Great quotes
The thing finds you. You just need to be building when it arrives.
Well I’ll tell you one thing… this quote sure as hell found me at the right time!
Elon was at a dinner during a time when Tesla was having trouble with the model 3, almost bankrupt, and Space X rockets only blew up.
A question was asked: “Elon, what would you do if both Tesla and Space X failed?”
Without hesitation, Elon responded:
“I would move into the cheapest apartment I could find. All I would need are the clothes on my back, an internet connection, and a laptop, and I would start building the next thing.”
Of course he was then asked “what would you build?” which Elon quickly responded:
“I have no idea. I would just start building something. Anything. It doesn’t matter. The thing finds you. You just need to be building when it arrives.”
This quote has stuck with me all week and is so true for most of the businesses I’ve started.
The thing you set out to build 9 times out of 10 isn’t the winner.
It evolves and changes over time.
What’s important is that you just keep building until the thing finds you.
P.S. this is not a direct quote and just what I’m recalling from memory, which can be iffy depending on a variety of factors including wine consumption the evening before.
Find from my week
Ok I know I’m a bit late to the party on this one.
I live under a rock so when I hear multiple people tell me about a must see movie I pay attention.
I bought a last minute ticket to a sold out theater for the 3 hour documentary You Can See Everything.
You Can See Everything (YouTube)
Mind blown.
This is one of the most unique films I’ve seen in my life.
10/10.
Stop what you’re doing and go buy a ticket before it leaves the theater.
Image from my life
We’re not minding the October snow at all!