A Letter For Scott Paul

A beacon of unfiltered light in my inbox everyday at 4:20

There are only a few newsletters I read everyday or every time it lands in my inbox, and ScottsPosts is one of them. I honestly don’t remember how I first saw that Scott was doing a substack, maybe someone posted it on LinkedIn, it doesn’t really matter, the moment I read it the first time, I was hooked.

I’ve only met Scott briefly a couple of times but his impact on my life has been somewhat profound. So much so that I feel compelled to express my gratitude to him here, in one of my first public letters as part of this project.

My first encounter with him was at a crypto conference called Cryptopia in South Jordan (Utah) back in May of 2022. At the time I didn’t know it, but he and his venture firm, Convoi Ventures, and a few other collaborators put this event on. He was impossible to miss, decked out in a cowboy hat, blonde wig, leather (pleather?) pants and lots of gaudy jewelry. My friend Nate Smith introduced us, and while I'm sure he met hundreds of people that day and doesn’t remember meeting me AT ALL, the moment stuck with me.

[My inner thoughts]: Who is this guy? Why is he wearing this stuff? He’s speaking on stage for the keynote? He’s telling the whole crowd they are idiots if they didn’t buy and hold 1 bitcoin at $23k (current price in May 2022) - pointing aggressively at the rainbow chart on the big screen.

Scott on the day I first met him

I'll admit, at first, I misjudged him. I thought his outlandish appearance was just outright peacocking for attention. In a lot of ways this outward appearance was the antithesis of myself - so I was put off, wary, uncomfortable. I was wrong, though. It's been a humbling lesson in not judging a book by its cover, because as I know now, Scott, is something special.

He has a willingness to be unapologetically himself - to say what he wants, wear what he wants, and just BE whatever he wants to be - which is truly inspiring. It's a quality I deeply admire and aspire to emulate. For much of my life I have fought against that way of living actively and that just wasn’t the right stance. In fact, I'm writing this while wearing a ridiculously opulent silk robe, channeling a bit of that Scott Paul energy.

But it's not just his public persona that's impressed me. I've heard from others in the Salt Lake tech/business scene about his behind-the-scenes generosity. These people say he’s "solid as a rock" and unfailingly gracious when asked for help. That reputation speaks volumes about his character, and it's the kind of legacy I hope to build for myself one day.

His daily 4:20 PM Substack newsletter has become a beacon of light for me. It first landed in my inbox at a time when I was struggling to reconcile the different versions of myself - the family man, the consultant, the competitive athlete. For much of my life I tried to segment those versions from each other, only now realizing what a bad strategy and way of living that is. Scott’s posts helped me recognize the need to unify these personas/versions and curate the one singular person I truly want to be and convey to the world.

A couple months ago, his newsletter about Massive Attack's "Teardrop" gave me a magical moment with my 4yo son. I had never heard the song before (I'm a bit embarrassed to admit), but experiencing it for the first time through Scott’s recommendation was pure joy.  My son had just woke up from a nap on a Friday afternoon.  It was just he and I at the house and at first I laid there snuggling him (he takes a bit to wake up), his head on my shoulder and just listened to the original track with my eyes closed.  It was a sound bath of the highest order.

Scott laid out his favorite versions, like 10 of them with links to YT, and I just cycled through all of them in a row. After a couple versions played my son woke up, smiled, and got into it.  We danced, we vibed, and it sparked an energy in me that carried through the rest of my day. I will never forget this moment.

Scott has an ability to consistently deliver these nuggets of inspiration, often in just a few short paragraphs. It’s remarkable. He’s shown me the power of putting oneself out there authentically, of sharing knowledge and perspective in order to create something greater. To be a positive input into the mechanism of humanity that drives us forward and adds to our collective intelligence.

I believe that it takes our collective, compounded knowledge and love to achieve something higher. To evolve and prosper as humans. His work embodies this principle, and I'm grateful to be on the receiving end of it. He’s posted daily for 423 straight days - I hope I can achieve that level of discipline and output.

Scott, please know that your words and your example are making a difference, at least for me. You're helping shape not just my perspective but the way I show up in the world.

Thank you. Keep doing what you're doing. There are people like me out here, absorbing it all, loving it, and growing because of it. I couldn't be doing what I'm doing now without you.

With love and deep appreciation,

Andrew