There's Still Alpha in Writing Online
I work at a think tank now, becoming a meme, keep writing, looking for my next full-time role, and free Bitcoin!
Hi Friends,
I am honored to announce that I have joined the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP) as a visiting [part-time] scholar. My research and publications will be focused on nuclear energy and associated policy.
“What!? Grant, you didn’t move to Washington, D.C. You moved to Austin, Texas! I didn’t even know you were looking for jobs in public policy.”
Thank you for asking! Yes.
As long-time Seeking Tribe readers know, I have been regularly reading and posting about nuclear energy. Most of the articles I’ve shared here on the topic have been written or curated by my friend, Emmet Penney, who is now working full-time in the nuclear energy advocacy space. I have been increasingly interested in nuclear energy since 2015 but its importance for reducing systemic risks from emissions and securing our future prosperity has been emphasized over the past two years.
During my first week in Austin, Emmet reached out to me to see if I’d be willing to organize a pro-nuclear meet up in partnership with Stand Up For Nuclear. Their leadership wanted to ensure representation in Texas, and the city of Austin actually own 16% of the South Texas Nuclear Project. They asked me, “We know you just arrived in Austin. Do you know anyone else who might be interested in attending or helping to organize this event?” I initially thought of one friend who told me about Richard Nixon’s Project Independence, which would have [optimistically, but unrealistically] built 1,000 nuclear plants over 27 years. But then I remembered that I could easily befriend 100s of people in Austin who understand the importance of cheap, low-emissions, abundant, reliable energy: Bitcoiners.
As I shared in Freak Gasoline Fight Accident in the Harbor of Optionality, as soon as I got to Austin I began to reach out to Austin Bitcoiners. I attended Unchained Capital’s Bit Devs meet up. I met my new friend Matt over drinks and tacos. We discussed Bitcoin and complex systems for hours and hours. It seemed obvious that I should work to organize a meet up focused at the intersection of nuclear energy and Bitcoin to help Stand Up For Nuclear.
I created a group on Telegram and organized information about nuclear energy and how preserving and expanding the US’ nuclear fleet could be a boon to the accelerating Bitcoin industry (and Austin in particular). Dozens of people joined my Telegram group in the coming weeks. We met up at Lazarus Brewery to share our questions and learn from one another. I secured a venue for a larger meet up and launched NuclearBitcoin.substack.com.
Since I had been writing Seeking Tribe, I thought using a Substack domain to collect people’s emails would be helpful for organizing. Everyone who subscribed received an invite to a Google calendar event. Leading up to the event, I took calls with Bitcoin miners to better understand their interest in nuclear energy and their incentives, learned more about nuclear energy and the complexities of the power grid, and continued to network in the world of nuclear energy and Bitcoin mining. My friend Mark created introductions between Bitcoin miners and his friends who are nuclear plant operators. Leading up to the event, I sent out this email, Nuclear Bitcoin Fixes This, briefly outlining the opportunities presented by expanding nuclear powered Bitcoin mining in Austin.
The event itself was a great time. I connected with Bitcoin miners who were looking to connect with hundreds of average megawatts of cheap, low-emissions energy. My friend Brenton created this adorable sign [that I’m holding below] and memes were made. The next meetup will be bigger (although we did have more people there than pictured here).
Following the event, I received an DM from Avik Roy, President of FREOPP, we briefly exchanged a few texts and then he invited me to lunch. Avik told me that he appreciates my enthusiasm for nuclear energy and Bitcoin, as well as the quality of my writing. He has recently published Bitcoin and the U.S. Fiscal Reckoning in National Affairs and High Drug Prices Don’t Accelerate Innovation—Lower R&D Costs Do. At lunch, he invited me to join FREOPP as a part-time research scholar.
None of this would have happened if I didn’t befriend Emmet Penney through IndieThinkers’ work sessions.
None of this would have happened if I wasn’t willing to organize events and write about my interests for $0.
None of this would have happened if I didn’t feel comfortable conducting cold outreach and experiencing rejection.
And it certainly would not have happened if I didn’t take the leap to move to Austin, Texas. As I wrote before, this is a blessed and serendipitous moment and I hope to make it last as long as I possibly can.
There are a few other life updates that I want to mention in this post:
I am mostly going to be contributing to Indie Thinkers as an active member and helping with the occasional project, event, etc. The community is wonderful and I could not be more excited about our future potential, but my opportunity costs seem too high to continue working on this venture full-time. Excited for our next mansion party!
I am currently looking for and interviewing for my next full-time job. My search is focused on sales/marketing/community for seed or series A companies working on Bitcoin or other technologies that empower users’ autonomy, privacy, ownership over their data, etc.
That being said, I love to work with friends and have a variety of interests—beyond the other criteria I’m mostly looking to have a remote-flexible job that will give me health insurance and enable me to rebuild my barely existent savings. If you know of a role that I would excel at, please let me know. I will not be relocating from Austin for any role—although I’m happy to travel.
I will continue to publish Seeking Tribe but will no longer be committed to attempting a weekly post. My Sundays will continue to be spent reading and writing but more of my energy (ba dum sh) and attention will now be focused on nuclear energy. Energy is a complex topic and I have a lot to learn. My work for FREOPP is going to pay my rent and has the potential to continue to open doors for me. It is going to be my priority side-gig—not that I won’t continue some of my other projects.
What changes for you?
I’m not going to apologize for not making posts on any given week—you can just enjoy this one big pre-emptive sorry.
SORRY
And enjoy and share them when they come into your inbox, or not!
As my story shows, there’s still alpha in writing about your niche interests online.
Your own personal biases might lead you to believe that your topic of interest is saturated and there’s nothing more that needs to be said or written. The intersection of nuclear energy and Bitcoin feels saturated to me because I follow most of the couple dozen people in the world who are actively writing about it. My perspective is warped.
A majority of people in the world likely don’t know anything about nuclear energy beyond the bad memes perpetuated through plot lines of the Simpsons. They know even less about Bitcoin from the headlines they’ve seen float across their feeds. I’m accepting that many Austin Bitcoiners are saying, “you’re the nuclear Bitcoin guy, right?” when they see meet me for the opportunity that it is.
Thank you to everyone who has been actively supporting me on this adventure and others. I am truly so happy right now and attempting to savor every moment of it.
Once I have rebuilt my savings, I plan to do much more to pay it all forward. In the mean time, don’t hesitate to reach out and I’ll do what I can!
Your Friend,
Grant
A new experiment (FREE BITCOIN):
If you do not own any Bitcoin and/or have never used CashApp (app by Square for iPhone and Andorid), I will help you to get your first $20 worth of Bitcoin for free!
Here’s what you’d have to do: send me your phone number (via email or DM) and I’ll invite you to download CashApp. You will then send $5 to $grantadever and I will receive a $30 referral bonus. I will then send you $20 worth of Bitcoin back (I will net $15 in this transaction and you’ll get $20 for your labor and readership). It should take ~3 minutes total.
[Edge-case: If the referral doesn’t work for some reason (maybe you forgot you’ve already downloaded CashApp), I will send your $5 back immediately, of course.]
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