Peter Simones

My life is one long story of relentlessly optimizing for learning and challenge.

I build companies and world-class teams. I also write, play piano, and jump at most anything that stokes my curiosity.

professional bio & resume »

In second grade, I was given my first-ever writing assignment: Pen two pages about absolutely anything. I wrote "I want to go home" 100 times. And so it began...

I Write, Therefore I Am
2016
The first post in what had long been my life's most overdue thing — a personal blog. It explores why I write, and how my writing defines me.
The time I gave The Governator a tour of USC
2013
This story wasn't supposed to be about Arnold Schwarzenegger. That changed the moment he shook my hand and said, "So, tell meh 'bout YuuEssSeee."
Gun control is dead, or "how to make progress in a deeply divided America"
2016
I wrote this after the Orlando nightclub shooting. It rings truer than ever today.
Changing gears when you only know one speed
2016
Six weeks into a new life phase, I reflected on how to handle unstructured free time when you've never experienced it.
How we broke Thanksgiving, and how to fix it
2013
Myriad long-time YouFood members came to the app via this post, which illustrates why our warped holiday food narrative needs serious repair.
Why I'll be a Trojan and not an alumnus
2009
My final Daily Trojan column (lower right). USC is America's most academically ascendant university, but I — we — still chose USC because of sports.

I'm a piano player, lover of many music genres, and former middle school CD burning empire kingpin.

My current jam

I curate a ton of playlists. Check them out here.

My current piano project

I've played piano since I was 7. I've recorded some impressively amateur videos that you can watch here.

"Winning is not a sometimes thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while... you don't do the right things once in a while... you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit, and unfortunately, so is losing."

— Legendary Green Bay Packers Coach, Vince Lombardi

This is my favorite quote, not for its literal meaning, but for what it implies about showing up in life. My high school speech coach, Joe Wycoff, always said, "The single most important thing in life is your name." When you commit, when you make promises, when you compete, when you offer an ear, when you tell someone you can help... you should always aim to win (deliver, follow through, etc.). And when people hear or think about my name, I want them to associate me with winning, no matter the context.

Some of the places that make me particularly happy: