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note: I wrote this as if I could get an email read specifically and intently by Mike Clayville. I didn’t wait until I finished that I realized I have no credible/reliable delivery mechanism. I’m requesting help to get this to Mike. If you’re the right person, you can ask Mike to read this page, and he will.

2020-08-06 update: I’m slowly going to share this with more people who might be able to get it to Mike Clayville. I will take this page down as soon as I have reason to believe Mike has seen it.

2022 update: I’m no longer allocating a certain amount of funds for Mike to take advantage of this offer, but it would still make me very happy for him to see it.

Hi Mike,

tl;dr: The Fred Huchison Cancer Research Institute could change the face of cancer treatment and prevention if a small fraction of it’s budget is spent investigating cancer as a Mitochondrial Metabolic Disease, which stands in contrast to the Somatic Mutation Theory of Cancer (SMT).

These topics are extremely politically charged. The 10 hours you’ll spend reading Tripping Over the Truth: The Metabolic Theory of Cancer could be the most impactful thing you do this year, and the rest of this page will be spent explaining why I think you are uniquely positioned to encourage the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to put good-faith efforts into investigating cancer as a metabolic disease.

For evidence of skin in the game, and to drive a little interest and curiosity, I’ll spend $5000 getting people to read this book.

Something interesting just happened.

I just read this tweet:

Stripe Newsroom: Stripe hires Mike Clayville as Chief Revenue Officer

I read the linked press release. I’ve never heard of you until 10 minutes ago, but it looks like Stripe just make a great investment in convincing you to apply your problem-solving abilities to what they are trying to do in the world.

I skimmed the release, and a sentance jumped out at me. It may have seemed unimportant to most people:

Outside of work, Mike is passionate about cancer research and serves as a board member of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Outside of work, Mike is passionate about cancer research and serves as a board member of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

My wife and I have been personally affected by cancer.

I would guess that you have been personally affected by cancer, too. You must loathe it’s existance.

If Stripe just convinced you to join their team, you are likely to feel intellectual alignment with the company and founders.

Which means you would not find it unbelievable that an established institution might not welcome innovation, even though they state that they welcome innovation.

There is precedent of industry opposing (in creative ways) inputs if their revenue stability control of industry relationship with regulatory bodies broadly-defined “interests” might be negatively affected.

You are well-positioned, for a variety of reasons, to make a potentially enormous impact on the state of cancer research, cancer prevention, by virtue of being on the board at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The exact reasons you could have such an impact requires additional context, all of which is explained in this book: Tripping Over the Truth: The Metabolic Theory of Cancer

I’ve considered how I might convince you to invest the time of reading this book to explore if there might be even a fraction of a possibility that what I am right.

I’ll pay $5000 to an organization of your choice (including the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center) if you read this book. Half now, half when you’re done.1

I’m not asking that you take any specific action beyond reading the book.

You can find it here:

I’ve hopefully evidenced good intent and skin in the game. I am happy to discuss this more on a call, even if just an explanation of why you should spend ten or twenty hours reading the book.

–> Set up a call to discuss why I’m willing to donate $5000 to get you to read a book

This is my quickest possible solution. I had limited time today, this is the best I can put together. I hope to talk soon.

- Josh

PS: I’ll pay other people to read the book too. If you’re one step removed from Mike Clayville, I’ll make a $500 donation to an organization of your choice. Half when you start, half when you finish. Email me at joshthompson@hey.com or @josh_works (Twitter) to kick it off. If you’re more removed from Mike, I’ll still make a donation. $50 to an org of your choice, or I’ll pay you $50 directly. Your call.

PPS: I know this whole format is unconventional. Here’s why I captured this sentiment in this email-as-blog-post format:

write it now source: @sarahdoingthing

I’m extremely time-constrained, and put together the quickest/highest-impact strategy I could in about 90 minutes.

Footnotes #

1 As I first wrote this, I guessed (and still maintain) that you won’t actually want compensation. You are intrinsically motivated to reduce the role of cancer in the modern world. But the world is awash in causes that want your money. If it was a problem that could be solved with the simple application of money, we would have rallied and solved it a long time ago.

But then I realized that if I just asked you to read a book you might see me as saying “here’s a chance to educate yourself”, and that’s feels condescending, which is emphatically not my goal. You are uniquely situated, by virtue of your position on the board of a cancer research institution, to do something about this book, if you find it compelling.

Evidence of reading the book is easy. Email me a screenshot of the receipt or book or some evidence that you’re obtaining it. (joshthompson@hey.com). Then email me again when you’ve finished. I’ll make donations when I receive both emails.