The Super Upside Factor
Asymmetric Principles that Will 10X Your Life

1. Auflage März 2025
240 Seiten, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
A practical playbook to maximize luck in life and career
Venture capitalists manage to raise and invest trillions of dollars despite being wrong most of time through asymmetric bets - where a few big wins outsize losses by factors of 1,000x.
In The Super Upside Factor, Daniel Kang draws on his experience as a venture capitalist at Softbank Vision Fund and a Y Combinator-backed founder to adapt asymmetric principles for personal and professional life. He offers a clear framework for maximizing luck and generating outsized returns--what he calls Super Upsides. Through vivid, real-life experiments, Kang demonstrates how he put these principles into practice--from securing a book deal writing just 15 minutes a day; to recovering from a spiralling plane as a pilot; to raising millions by betting on pivotal career shift.
This book draws upon the author's firsthand experience going from no money, network, or looks to a highly successful career in entrepreneurship and venture capitalism. In this book, readers will find discussion on:
* Core concepts like the multiplier effect and black swans
* Probabilities, biases, and luck, and how to make them work for you, not against you
* Tools and first steps to create a "life portfolio" of uncapped upsides and unlimited opportunity
Backed by decision science research and personal experimentations, the book strikes a balance between theory and practical advice, guiding readers to identify and optimize skewed life bets. Beyond the tactical elements, Kang explores the human side of applying these principles, including discussions on mental health, emotional struggles, and even tactically quitting.
The Super Upside Factor will inspire readers--even the most risk averse--to realize they are only a few Super Upsides away from extraordinary success and provide precise asymmetric principles needed to stack the odds in their favor.
Chapter 1 The Few Right Things 3
Chapter 2 Defining Asymmetric Principles 11
Chapter 3 Dogfooding in Public 27
Chapter 4 Staying Alive 49
Part II the Practical Guide 63
Chapter 5 Choosing the Right Games to Play 65
Chapter 6 Everything Is a Hypothesis 79
Chapter 7 Scaling with Momentum and Leverage 107
Chapter 8 Thinking in Portfolios 129
Part III When Rubber Meets the Road 153
Chapter 9 Avoiding the Single Point of Failure 155
Chapter 10 How to Quit 169
Chapter 11 The Super Upside Hypothesis 187
Notes 197
Acknowledgments 213
About the Author 217
Index 219