Watercooler Fridays: Marianne Osterlund & The Power of Information

“I think most people confuse consuming information with learning. Learning consists of reflection and feedback. In other words, you need to be mindful when learning. For me, I think my old school practice of writing things down by hand helps me a lot, and so does repetition. Whenever I read something, I try to make time to think about what I’ve just read.” — Marianne Osterlund, Learning Inspiration: Clind

I often look back on my life in the startup world these days, and the one thing that keeps surfacing is how it all began with a twofold desire: to connect and learn.

These two aspirations have a lot in common, and it was no accident that the best introduction I had to the Boston ecosystem was in places that encouraged open innovation, collaboration and education among as many people as possible.

The one thing I realized along the way was that there is indeed a difference between sheer consumption and something more sincere — deeper, meaningful, and most of all inclusive.

There’s nothing to learn from a cold salesy message that randomly pops in your inbox from someone you’ve never heard from for example — except perhaps how to avoid doing that ourselves.

There’s a lot more to learn however from people who have decided to embark on a mission toward expanding that field of open innovation to encompass even more, where doors are opened and windows as well to let in what’s free and refreshing.

These are the changemakers, the builders of new and brilliant things. What they do, they do authentically and with a certain sense of urgency. Today I’ll tell all of you a story about someone just like this…and why, because of a newsletter of all things, I’ve rediscovered the joy of learning and growing in the startup world.

How The Dots Connected

In the late winter of 2020, I’d begun to explore Twitter from an entirely different point of view. Newly minted at Prepare 4 VC, my mission was to learn, deepen my understanding and forge new relationships.

One thing I noticed that had changed in ways from when I’d used the social network in the past:

There were so many new bridges being built between startup communities and investors.

Knowledge sharing was taking the form of epic threads, and the conversations that were taking place indicated a new shift pointing toward progress in the way of communication and accessibility.

One day, I happened to notice a thread written by Marianne Österlund.

I’d seen her name mentioned before by the people I was starting to engage with on Twitter and now I saw something: “In The Money”.

What I’d stumbled upon was a newsletter quite unlike any other and, indeed, so much more.

“ITM” as it’s also referred to completely took me by surprise for three reasons:

1. In terms of style and aesthetic , Marianne’s ways of composing and arranging her content was easy to understand and entertaining in its flow.
2. What was going on underneath the hood was simply but strongly intentional. It was clear that Marianne wasn’t trying to advertise herself, pitch a program or solicit some kind of buy-in. It also wasn’t a mere project or hobby thing that may show unintentional carelessness.
3. This newsletter had sharp, objective information straight from the sources on a wide variety of subjects arcing out from the central business hub.

As I started reading even more diligently, issue after issue, the Why revealed itself very subtly…

This is about access. This is about enabling opportunity and inclusion.

Eventually Marianne and I met and this Why became solidified in her own words as well as in the way she’s leaned into helping drive awareness and provide an enriching resource for entrepreneurs.

I invite all my readers to check out In The Money today.

With its 30th issue premiering on Wednesday, there’s a great abundance of intelligent and thought-provoking content to dig into.

Have a great weekend, Happy Midsummer and we’ll see you in and around the Oasis.