With respect to the greatest fencing-master of the late 1300s, Fiore Furlan dei Liberi da Premariacco, and his manual Fior di Battaglia (Flower of Battle). [1]

Jacob Aldridge: “As a young man I desired to learn authentic business, including the art of fighting for profit with sales, products, channels, brand and necessary infrastructure, on my own and in a team, culturally and commercially. In addition I wanted to study how business models were made, and the characteristics of each model for both volume and margin, particularly as they applied to mortal combat in startups.

I also desired to learn the wondrous secrets of this art known only by very few men in this world. And these secrets will give you mastery of assets and income, and make you invincible, for victory comes easily to a man who has the skill and mastery described above.

I learned these skills from many Australian and English masters and their senior students, in many provinces and many cities from Brisbane to London to Hong Kong and Fiji, and at great personal cost and investment.

And by the grace of Shirlaws I also acquired so much knowledge at the offices of founders, chairpersons, leaders, coaches, bloggers, CEOs and office administrators, that increasingly I was myself asked to teach. My services were requested many times by founders, executives and their coaches, who wanted me to teach them the art of armed combat both for fighting in a growing company and for startup’s mortal combat. And so I taught this art to many Australian and British businesses and other global leaders who were obliged to fight for growth, as well as to numerous corporate executives who did not actually compete.

It’s my opinion that in this art there are few men in the world who can really call themselves Masters, and it is my goal to be remembered as one of them. To that end I have created this blog all about this wonderful art and the things related to it, including asset growth, its cultural applications, and other quirky aspects too.”

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[1] Also inspired by Ed Weissman’s resume, Leonardo da Vinci style: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6295395