Hi, I’m Jacob Adler. I work on the Analytics team for Future after working for two other startups’ data teams. Before that, I was a data scientist at Caesars Entertainment (owner of Caesars Palace and dozens of other casinos) in Las Vegas.

I made it a whole three sentences before saying I went to Wharton, where I officially concentrated in Statistics and Operations, Information, and Decisions (OID) but really spent more time studying marketing, consumer behavior, and decision science.

That seems like enough credentials for now. If you’d like to see my SAT scores as well, fine. You can find them on my LinkedIn.

Before we dive more into what this blog is about, some notes about some previous writing of mine.

My Writing Background

I went into college thinking I might become a professional writer (specifically, a journalist). But it was probably early in my junior year where I had the realization that I was in the midst of some true writers – folks who had a mastery of storytelling and the English language built on top of incredible natural talent. And I was not one of those writers.

I could write, but I wasn’t A Writer. Being able to apply some heuristics and quickly churn out a bunch of words was good for a few things. One, I tended to get good grades on essays in school despite usually not reading the book. Two, I was able to write on topics that interested me (as you’ll see, all sports-centric) for a few cool places, including:

1. The Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn’s independent student newspaper where I covered mainly football and women’s basketball
2. JJ Zachariason’s numberFire
3. A site started by Zack Weiner (now the President of Overtime)
4. An SBNation blog

Most of the writing was for free, some paid. I wrote because I enjoyed it, and because it felt rewarding to write articles and publish them, especially when there’s readership and engagement. Like most writers, I imagine, I look back fondly at the act of writing and not as fondly on the actual content I produced. It’s a natural part of maturing, I think.

Even though I spent hundreds of hours writing in college and didn’t become a journalist, I don’t regret it. Writing is an incredibly valuable skill in life, and being a Guy Who Can Write has absolutely made me more effective in the work I ultimately pursued.

Why I’m Writing Now

Alright, so I just spent 200 words telling you why I’m not a writer. Why am I writing this blog then?

Well, the simplest reason is that I’ve missed writing. It’s been almost five years since I’ve written something not intended for work.

Second, you’ll hear from me quite often that I don’t like to speak up unless I feel I have something good to say. Within a day of deciding I was starting this blog, I wrote down over 100 post ideas I think might interest you.

”Aut tace aut loquere meliora silencio (only when the words outperform silence).” — Nassim Taleb

Third, in the past I’ve been shy about doing stuff publicly despite obvious advantages to doing so. So here’s an attempt to try it out on something that’s low-stakes and sandboxed.

What I’ll Be Writing About

Several people have suggested to me that I start a data blog posting thought leadership pieces. I don’t know, maybe I am capable of doing that. But of the 100+ post ideas mentioned before, only about 15-20 are about data.

So what am I writing about then? Well, I might as well borrow Josh Wills’ tweet.

This space will have more data posts than a tech, careers, sports, poker, personal finance, probability, and philosophy blog, but more tech, careers, sports, poker, personal finance, probability, and philosophy posts than a data blog.

So, no niche for now on the personal site. Maybe later on I’ll start a dedicated blog or a newsletter.

Authenticity

Most of the 100+ post ideas fall under the theme of things I’ve done, hopefully with some perspective that will make you think. Some include advice that I’ve given privately, and think some other folks could benefit from hearing. But you’re generally not going to find me touting things I haven’t or wouldn’t actually do myself without me disclosing that.

Feedback

Unless I stick the landing on the first try (which maybe that happens, because I’m great), I’ll be continuously iterating and adjusting the style and topics of this site. Want to see more or less of something? Drop a line, I’d love to hear from you.

Here it goes. Hope you enjoy.