Jess Lee@jesskah
Just uploaded my brain to Delphi’s Library of Minds. 🧠
I recorded a pod with @withdelphi founder @daraladje. That conversation—along with all my past interviews, articles, blog posts, and talks—is now live inside my Delphi digital mind. You can now chat with all my past content and ask me questions: delphi.ai/jesslee
Delphi captures not just your knowledge and stories, but the way you think. In the podcast, I shared several powerful mental frameworks I've collected over the years:
1) The EQ/IQ/PQ/JQ framework, h/t to my partner @shaunmmaguire
😀 Emotional Quotient: One-on-one people skills
👫 Political Quotient: System-level people skills
🤓 Intellectual Quotient: Raw intellectual smarts
🎯Judgment Quotient: Good judgment
Some brilliant people (high IQ) make terrible decisions (low JQ). PQ is a force multiplier because leading teams requires navigating group dynamics. Very few people excel at all four dimensions.
2) Moving 3 points on a 10 point scale, via Cheryl Dalrymple, CFO of AdMob, Confluent, and my startup Polyvore:
💪 Hard work typically moves you just 3 points on a 10-point scale.
🎯 It’s far better to push from 7→10 in your strengths than struggle from 2→5 in your weaknesses.
⚡ Since your energy is finite, invest it where you naturally excel.
🤝 Hire exceptional people who thrive where you don’t.
🚫 A common startup mistake: seeking perfectly well-rounded people who score 7+ across every dimension—they’re rare and expensive.
🦔 Instead, hire “spiky” talent—people who are 10s in one dimension, even if they’re 1s elsewhere.
🧩 Build teams where collective strengths cover all critical areas.
3) Startups are turn based games and why velocity matters, h/t @mvernal:
🎮 Startups are like turn-based games.
🂡 You’ll flip a lot of cards and make a lot of moves.
🔁 Most moves won’t be perfect—but what matters is how quickly you turn the next card and learn the next lesson.
🏆 Winning requires a mix of playing the right card and playing quickly.
⚡ It’s easier to be faster than it is to be right-er. So play fast.
🚀 Speed compounds.
If you want to go deeper into lessons from my time at Google, the truth of my founder journey at Polyvore, or my hot takes on the future of consumer AI, watch below or have a conversation with my Delphi.
00:00 Intro
1:00 Who is Jess Lee
02:50 The EQ / IQ / PQ / JQ framework
03:44 What early Google taught her
05:35 How ambition is a double-edged sword
07:34 Customer discovery vs visionary intuition
09:31 Polyvore: from user → CEO
12:37 Imposter syndrome & finding authentic leadership
15:20 Picking the wrong market
18:24 Firing fast & setting high performance bars
20:12 Building cult-like community and emotional loyalty
22:13 Velocity vs delight in product
24:32 What she looks for in founders (turn-based velocity)
25:59 The business model wake-up call
27:27 Storytelling as a founding superpower
28:26 Hot take: consumer isn’t dead, it’s being reborn
31:50 AI-generated media, fanfic, and the next YouTube
Check out the full library minds at libraryofminds.com
Or create your own Delphi at delphi.ai!