Podcast Notes Playlist: Startup

My First Million Key Takeaways  Tesla as AI's Largest Play: Tesla represents the world's largest AI project, combining robotaxis ($8-10T opportunity, 50% platform capture) and humanoid robots ($26T opportunity in 7-15 years) Embodied AI (physical + digital) is severely underappreciated by marketsElon's recent FSD breakthrough, solving “the last mile” problem, positions Tesla to dominate autonomous mobilityWright's Law Investment Framework: Cost per unit falls by a constant percentage with every cumulative doubling of productionThis mathematical certainty drives exponential adoption in AI compute, EV batteries, robotics, and DNA sequencingEVs have unlimited doublings ahead; internal combustion engines have none—making legacy automotive “no shot” to compete long-termPortfolio Management Beyond Headlines: Selling Nvidia from early entry at $0.20 per share was not necessarily a mistake if proceeds were used to buy another stock that 10x'd in price Opportunity cost matters more than hindsight narrativesARK trades volatility thresholds around conviction holdings without thesis changesBull Market Discipline and Rebalancing: Top-performing stocks go crazy in bull runs; this requires active diversification and profit-taking End-point sensitivity in performance criticism ignores the fund timeframeHer future strategy: aggressive rebalancing guidance to counter fear/greed cycles inherent to retail investor behaviorRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgGet the free investing playbook to invest like Warren Buffet: https://clickhubspot.com/rme Episode 760: Shaan Puri ( ⁠https://x.com/ShaanVP⁠ ) talks to Cathie Wood ( https://x.com/CathieDWood )  about her fund's performance, her biggest bets on AI, and the most misunderstood stock on earth.  — Show Notes: (0:00) McDonald's to Managing Billions (8:54) A day in the life of Cathie Wood (17:29) ARK's Performance Review (30:00) Cathie's #1 stock pick — Links: • ARK - https://www.ark-funds.com/  • The MFM Newsletter Challenge - https://www.beehiiv.com/application/mfm — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com  • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam's List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

Founders ✓ Claim I've started a new show where I have conversations with the greatest living Founders. The show is called David Senra. It will be on a separate podcast feed from Founders.  So it is very important that you follow David Senra on ⁠Spotify⁠, ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠, ⁠YouTube⁠, or ⁠wherever you're listening to this so you don't miss future episodes⁠. Nothing is changing with Founders. I will never stop making Founders.

A16z Podcast Key Takeaways  In any domain of human effort in which there is a verifiable answer, AI will drive extremely rapid progress; it is about the concreteness of the problem, not the difficulty In fields with concrete true/false answers (math, coding, physics, genomics), AI will drive extremely rapid advancementThe difficulty matters less than the concreteness of the problemAI agents can now code autonomously for hoursUsing platforms like Replit, anyone can describe an app in plain English, and AI will build itAgents maintain coherence through verification loops that allow them to check their work and course-correct in real-timeThe definition of AI is always the next thing that the machine can't do; AI scientists are always being judged against the next thing, as opposed to all the things they have already accomplished We may be hitting diminishing returns with frontier modelsGPT-5 showed improvements in verifiable domains, but didn't advance much elsewhereTop models excel at synthesizing information but struggle with nuanced, abstract problems and original discovery“Functional AGI” may block true AGI: AI that's “good enough” to automate most economically useful tasks could reduce incentives to pursue actual general intelligenceThe real AGI benchmark should be efficient continual learning and generalized reasoning acquisitionRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgAmjad Masad, founder and CEO of Replit, joins a16z's Marc Andreessen and Erik Torenberg to discuss the new world of AI agents, the future of programming, and how software itself is beginning to build software.They trace the history of computing to the rise of AI agents that can now plan, reason, and code for hours without breaking, and explore how Replit is making it possible for anyone to create complex applications in natural language. Amjad explains how RL unlocked reasoning for modern models, why verification loops changed everything, whether LLMs are hitting diminishing returns — and if “good enough” AI might actually block progress toward true general intelligence. Resources:Follow Amjad on X: https://x.com/amasadFollow Marc on X: https://x.com/pmarcaFollow Erik on X: https://x.com/eriktorenberg Stay Updated: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends!Find a16z on X: https://x.com/a16zFind a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16zListen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYXListen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenbergPlease note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Stay Updated:Find a16z on XFind a16z on LinkedInListen to the a16z Podcast on SpotifyListen to the a16z Podcast on Apple PodcastsFollow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Invest Like the Best Key Takeaways Check out the episode pageRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMy guest today is Karim Atiyeh. Karim is the co-founder and CTO of Ramp, the fastest-growing finance automation platform in history, reaching over $1 billion in revenue in just over five years. Ramp is, of course, also our presenting sponsor, so I'm obviously very biased in how highly I think about Ramp and about Karim. But, this interview was not part of that sponsorship, I simply view Karim as one of the best operators active today. Ramp is building what Karim calls "self-driving finance"—using AI agents to automate everything from expense policy enforcement to invoice processing, eliminating the bureaucratic waste that plagues modern businesses. Karim shares his framework for moving from using AI as a productivity tool to programming AI as your actual product, with policy agents that understand context better than humans and improve continuously. Our discussion captures the relentless iteration speed and technical depth required to build generational companies in the age of AI. We explore his systematic approach to building consumer-grade experiences for business software, the psychology behind his "divinely discontent" management style, and why he believes technical founders will dominate this era because they can see possibilities others miss. Please enjoy my conversation with Karim Atiyeh. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ----- This episode is brought to you by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ramp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Ramp's mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ramp.com/invest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ridgeline⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ridgelineapps.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ AlphaSense⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Alpha-Sense.com/Invest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:09) The Competitive Landscape and AI Advancements (00:07:27) Building Self-Driving Finance with AI (00:08:28) Policy Agents and Automation (00:12:14) Ramp's User Experience and Design Philosophy (00:23:10) Kareem's Background and Entrepreneurial Journey (00:28:06) Founding Paribus and Lessons Learned (00:41:57) The Birth of Ramp and Early Challenges (00:54:30) Nurturing Investor Relationships (00:57:10) Challenges in Fundraising (00:58:23) Customer Adoption and Product Evolution (01:01:55) Transition to SaaS Revenue Model (01:06:37) Marketing Innovations and Experiments (01:24:16) Recruiting for Spikiness and Speed (01:31:29) Future of Payments and Business Models (01:39:06) The Kindest Thing

My First Million Key Takeaways  The Eric Ryan Entrepreneurial Playbook: Find categories drowning in a sea of sameness, spot the macro trend incumbents are missing, then build the solution in that gap.Relentlessly look for a cultural shift that a category has missed: The future is here, it is just not evenly distributed If a category appears to take itself too seriously, then it is probably hiding something, and likely an opportunity to take advantage of in that space The goal is to create an object of desire; take something that people have to buy and turn it into something that people want to buy The entrepreneurial sweet spot lives at the intersection of familiarity and novelty; finding these intersections is the art formThe Power of Consumer Auditions: When you sit down with buyers, instead of trying to prove yourself, try to improve yourself and invite their feedback into your creative process When building off a successful product, change one thing at a time – throw consumers one egg and they'll catch it; throw three and they'll drop them allThe Art of Simplification is the biggest hack in entrepreneurship: The best entrepreneurs take complex ideas and simplify them down; this makes it easy for the consumer to understand and for the team to execute against    If what you are working on is giving you energy back, then you are probably working on the right thing Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgWant the guide to spot $100M+ Product Ideas? Get it here: https://clickhubspot.com/hre Episode 754: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) brainstorm $100M ideas with Eric Ryan ( https://x.com/ericthomasryan ). — Show Notes: (0:00) My $1B product playbook (3:32) Look for a sea of sameness (9:31) Trend trips (15:27) Remix opposing ideas (22:46) Case Study: Olly (32:14) The State of Make (37:54) IDEA: A better Metamucil (44:34) IDEA: The SoulCycle of diners (55:57) IDEA: White label chicken (1:03:28) Holy Grail of Naming (1:06:23) IDEA: Gourmet Babybels (1:10:28) IDEA: fun shaped cheese (1:14:26) Commit and then figure ou — Links: • Method - https://methodhome.com/ • Olly - https://www.olly.com/ • Welly - https://www.getwelly.com/ — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: • Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com • Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents. • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies! Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam's List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

The Compound and Friends ✓ Claimed Key Takeaways  “Selling your winners and holding your losers is like cutting your flowers and watering the weeds.” “The real key to making money in stocks is to not get scared out of them.” Knowing what you own is the most important part of investing“Far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections, or trying to anticipate corrections, than has been lost in corrections themselves.” Economists have predicted 33 of the last 11 recessions “You get recessions, you get stock market declines. If you don't understand that that's going to happen, then you're not ready and you won't do well in markets.”There is no way to dance around the tumultuous times in the market; you have to learn how to live through them “If you spend more than thirteen minutes analyzing economic and market forecasts, you've wasted ten minutes.”“Behind every stock is a company. Find out what it's doing.”  Just because someone is a professional does not mean that they know more than you “In the long run, a portfolio of well-chosen stocks or mutual funds can outperform the most sophisticated investment strategy.”Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgOn episode 211 of The Compound and Friends, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Downtown Josh Brown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is joined by Peter Lynch, Vice Chairman of Fidelity Management and Research to discuss: Peter's legendary career, how individual investors can succeed in the market, the biggest investing mistakes, and much more! This episode is presented by Fidelity Investments and the all-new Fidelity Trader+, Fidelity's most powerful trading platform yet. Learn more at: https://Fidelity.com/TraderPlus Sign up for The Compound Newsletter and never miss out: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thecompoundnews.com/subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/thecompoundnews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠twitter.com/thecompoundnews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/company/the-compound-media/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tiktok.com/@thecompoundnews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Investing involves the risk of loss. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be or regarded as personalized investment advice or relied upon for investment decisions. Michael Batnick and Josh Brown are employees of Ritholtz Wealth Management and may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this video. All opinions expressed by them are solely their own opinion and do not reflect the opinion of Ritholtz Wealth Management. The Compound Media, Incorporated, an affiliate of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ritholtz Wealth Management⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, receives payment from various entities for advertisements in affiliated podcasts, blogs and emails. Inclusion of such advertisements does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof, or any affiliation therewith, by the Content Creator or by Ritholtz Wealth Management or any of its employees. For additional advertisement disclaimers see here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ritholtzwealth.com/advertising-disclaimers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Investments in securities involve the risk of loss. Any mention of a particular security and related performance data is not a recommendation to buy or sell that security. The information provided on this website (including any information that may be accessed through this website) is not directed at any investor or category of investors and is provided solely as general information. Obviously nothing on this channel should be considered as personalized financial advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any securities. See our disclosures here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ritholtzwealth.com/podcast-youtube-disclosures/⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Invest Like the Best Key Takeaways  Today, the challenge is not to make the model bigger; the problem is knowing how best to generate and create data in useful domains so that the model gets better at them    AIs do not have to get to digital god mode for AI to have an enormous impact on productivity and society: Even if AI does not become smarter than humans in the short term, the economic value creation boom will still be enormous“If we didn't have the AI boom, the US probably would be behind China and no longer the world hegemon by the end of the decade, if not sooner.” – Dylan Patel The US is doing what China has done historically: dumping tons of capital into something, and then the market becomes If there is a sustained lag in model improvement, the US economy will go into a recession; this is the case for Korea and Taiwan, too  On the AI talent wars: If these companies are willing to spend billions on training runs, it makes sense to spend a lot on talent to optimize those runs and potentially mitigate errors  We actually are not dedicating that much power to AI yet; only 3-4% of total power is going to data centers He is more optimistic on Anthropic than OpenAI; their revenue is accelerating much faster because of their focus on the $2 trillion software market, whereas OpenAI's focus is split between many thingsWhile Meta “has the cards to potentially own it all”, Google is better positioned to dominate the consumer and professional markets Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMy guest today is Dylan Patel. Dylan is the founder and CEO of SemiAnalysis. At SemiAnalysis Dylan tracks the semiconductor supply chain and AI infrastructure buildout with unmatched granularity—literally watching data centers get built through satellite imagery and mapping hundreds of billions in capital flows. Our conversation explores the massive industrial buildout powering AI, from the strategic chess game between OpenAI, Nvidia, and Oracle to why we're still in the first innings of post-training and reinforcement learning. Dylan explains infrastructure realities like electrician wages doubling and companies using diesel truck engines for emergency power, while making a sobering case about US-China competition and why America needs AI to succeed. We discuss his framework for where value will accrue in the stack, why traditional SaaS economics are breaking down under AI's high cost of goods sold, and which hardware bottlenecks matter most. This is one of the most comprehensive views of the physical reality underlying the AI revolution you'll hear anywhere. Please enjoy my conversation with Dylan Patel. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ----- This episode is brought to you by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ramp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Ramp's mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ramp.com/invest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ridgeline⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ridgelineapps.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ AlphaSense⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Alpha-Sense.com/Invest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:12) The AI Infrastructure Buildout (00:08:25) Scaling AI Models and Compute Needs (00:11:44) Reinforcement Learning and AI Training (00:14:07) The Future of AI and Compute (00:17:47) AI in Practical Applications (00:22:29) The Importance of Data and Environments in AI Training (00:29:45) Human Analogies in AI Development (00:40:34) The Challenge of Infinite Context in AI Models (00:44:08) The Bullish and Bearish Perspectives on AI (00:48:25) The Talent Wars in AI Research (00:56:54) The Power Dynamics in AI and Tech (01:13:29) The Future of AI and Its Economic Impact (01:18:55) The Gigawatt Data Center Boom (01:21:12) Supply Chain and Workforce Dynamics (01:24:23) US vs. China: AI and Power Dynamics (01:37:16) AI Startups and Innovations (01:52:44) The Changing Economics of Software (01:58:12) The Kindest Thing

A16z Podcast Key Takeaways  Be dispositionally optimistic on technology and refuse false nostalgia about the past The best investors have an extremely open mind and believe they will run into the next big thing at any given moment In VC, Type 2 errors are catastrophically expensive: “It's better to be in the game and wrong than not in the game at all.”Every new technology comes with a moral panic that it is going to ruin society The only comparison for AI is the creation of the computer itself  The state of inflation: If there is a hole in your drywall, it is cheaper to put a flat-screen TV over it than to replace the actual drywall The Subsidy Spiral: Western democracies are trapped in a 50-year cycle where rising costs (housing, education, healthcare) trigger government subsidies that inflate prices further, and no politician can win by telling voters to stop voting for more subsidies – making the doom loop politically inevitable  How to spot the next big trend: (1) What are nerds spending their time on during nights and weekends? (2) Pay attention to what ‘everyone' thinks is a bad idea and (3) Run towards new technologies that foster internet cults The Elon Method of Management: Bypass all middle management, talk only to engineers who know the truth, and spend each week parachuting into the company's single biggest bottleneck; stay up all night solving it with the team actually building things“I have found people willing to tolerate any level of chronic pain in order to avoid acute pain. People would much rather lose slowly over five years than have the conversation that involves a dramatic change to stop losing.” – Marc Andreessen Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgToday we're sharing a feed drop from Cheeky Pint, where Stripe cofounder and president John Collison chats with legends in technology over a pint of Guinness.In this episode, John is joined by a16z cofounder Marc Andreessen and tech investor Charlie Songhurst for a candid conversation about bubbles, downturns, and the psychology of markets. They discuss what makes Silicon Valley so hard to replace, the deep history of the Valley's ecosystem, and the future of media. From the lessons of the dot-com crash to the future of venture capital and startups, this is an inside look at how big cycles shape innovation and what it takes to build on the frontier. Timecodes: 0:00 Introduction 1:56 Marc Andreessen's early internet stories3:10 Silicon Valley, risk, and downturns8:30 Marc Andreessen's early internet days11:52 Investing across cycles16:30 Can you tell when you're in a bubble?19:10 Trust, high-status VCs & preferential attachment27:00 Venture capital, startups, and investment cycles33:34  East Coast vs. West Coast: risk and culture44:00 High trust culture in Silicon Valley50:00 Why Silicon Valley, not Boston or Europe?55:00  Company tragedies and missed opportunities1:00:00 The internet boom, bubbles, and AI parallels1:15:00 AI's impact: productivity, jobs, and society1:35:00 Crypto, stablecoins, and fintech1:50:00 Public vs. private markets & venture strategy2:00:00 Big companies, competition, and bureaucracy2:05:00 Boards, governance, and the Elon Musk method Resources: Watch more episodes from Cheeky Pint: https://www.youtube.com/@stripeListen to Cheeky Pint on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cheeky-pint/id1821055332Find John on X: https://x.com/collisionFind Charlie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlessonghurst/Follow Marc on X: https://x.com/pmarcaMarc's Substack: https://pmarca.substack.com/  Stay Updated: Find us on X: https://x.com/a16zFind us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16zThis information is for general educational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy, hold, or sell any investment or financial product. Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described in this podcast are not representative of all a16z investments and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by a16z is available at https://a16z.com/investment-list/. All investments involve risk, including the possible loss of capital.  Past performance is no guarantee of future results and the opinions presented cannot be viewed as an indicator of future performance. Before making decisions with legal, tax, or accounting effects, you should consult appropriate professionals. Information is from sources deemed reliable on the date of publication, but a16z does not guarantee its accuracy. Stay Updated:Find a16z on XFind a16z on LinkedInListen to the a16z Podcast on SpotifyListen to the a16z Podcast on Apple PodcastsFollow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Knowledge Project Key Takeaways  Ignorance can be a superpower; sometimes knowing too much kills action As an entrepreneur, the moment that you think you have it figured out, that is when your business starts to die The best insights often come not from getting what you want, but from watching closely when you don'tNever put yourself in a position to need the kindness of strangers The day you stop fearing competition is the day that competition stops fearing you Know who the decision-maker is; if you are in a big meeting and someone is sitting off in the corner in a suit, that's probably the person you have to convince The most profitable decision on a spreadsheet can be the worst decision for a business: when the data point and anecdote differ, the anecdote is often right  Every business that you see is the result of someone's irrational dedication The outliers know every detail of their company; they do not make decisions nor operate from the spreadsheet  Become someone people want to root for: Understand what you must do and how you approach life so that other people want you to succeed; having people rooting for your success is a powerful tailwind Most people explain away failure; the best dissect it like surgeons – the precision of your diagnosis proves the depth of your understanding What you get out of any effort is directly proportional to the effort that you put into it Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgEd Stack built Dick's Sporting Goods from a struggling family store into an empire of more than 800 stores and billions in sales. Along the way he nearly lost everything. Multiple times. This episode is the story of what he did, how he did it, and the lessons you can learn. ----- Chapters: (00:00) Introduction (02:48) Part 1: A Cookie Jar and a Cage (20:56) Part 2: Battle for Control (37:09) Part 3: The Race to Survive (46:39) Part 4: The Devil's Bargain (1:03:27) Part 5: Epilogue (1:06:10) Reflections + Lessons ----- Upgrade: Get a hand edited transcripts and ad free experiences along with my thoughts and reflections at the end of every conversation. Learn more @ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ----- Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it's completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ----- Follow Shane Parrish X @ShaneAParrish Insta ⁠@farnamstreet⁠ LinkedIn ⁠Shane Parrish ----- This episode is for informational purposes only. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg Key Takeaways  We should not think of AI as a destination, but as an escalation of intelligence that we become more aware of Main lesson learned from government side quest: “If AI and robots don't solve our national debt, we're toast.”“I think it is accurate to say that, if successful, Optimus will be the biggest product ever.” – Elon We need the revival of a coherent philosophy that people can get excited about; fostering a curiosity about the nature of the universe will achieve this“I think that we might have AI smarter than any single human at anything as soon as next year. And in 2030, AI will probably be smarter than the sum of all humans.” – Elon We need an increase in the scope and scale of consciousness to know what is truly going on in our universe; this will lead to a better understanding of who we are and allow us to create a better future“Unless people have a sense of optimism and purpose about the future, suicide might be just what happens. Having a child is an act of optimism about the future.” – Elon Musk Getting to Mars is way easier than making it self-sustainable for human life; for example, we not only need to create a chip fab on Mars, but we can make one there   Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org(0:00) Introducing Elon Musk, and reflecting on his DOGE experience (2:47) Optimus: Progress and potential, the “hands problem” (12:20) Tesla: AI5 chips, impact on FSD (16:50) SpaceX: Vision for Starlink-enabled smartphones, $17B spectrum deal, Starship update (26:16) xAI: Next-gen Grok models, Colossus 2, scaling laws, “Grokipedia” (31:29) Evolving alongside AI, implosion of the West, the religion vacuum (37:36) Understanding the universe, going to the Moon, what happens on Mars? Thanks to our partners for making this happen! Solana - Solana is the high performance network powering internet capital markets, payments, and crypto applications. Connect with investors, crypto founders, and entrepreneurs at Solana's global flagship event during Abu Dhabi Finance Week & F1: solana.com/breakpoint. https://solana.com/ OKX - The new way to build your crypto portfolio and use it in daily life. We call it the new money app. https://www.okx.com/ Google Cloud - The next generation of unicorns is building on Google Cloud's industry-leading, fully integrated AI stack: infrastructure, platform, models, agents, and data. https://cloud.google.com/ IREN - IREN AI Cloud, powered by NVIDIA GPUs, provides the scale, performance, and reliability to accelerate your AI journey. https://iren.com/ Oracle - Step into the future of enterprise productivity at Oracle AI Experience Live. https://www.oracle.com/ Circle - The America-based company behind USDC — a fully-reserved, enterprise-grade stablecoin at the core of the emerging internet financial system. https://www.circle.com/ BVNK - Building stablecoin-powered financial infrastructure that helps businesses send, store, and spend value instantly, anywhere in the world. https://www.bvnk.com/ Polymarket: https://www.polymarket.com/ Follow Elon: https://x.com/elonmusk Follow the besties: https://x.com/chamath https://x.com/Jason https://x.com/DavidSacks https://x.com/friedberg Follow on X: https://x.com/theallinpod Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theallinpod Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theallinpod Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allinpod Intro Music Credit: https://rb.gy/tppkzl https://x.com/yung_spielburg Intro Video Credit: https://x.com/TheZachEffect

Invest Like the Best Key Takeaways  Personalized, mastery-based learning (driven by AI) can enable students to learn 10x faster, mastering material in just two hours a day and freeing up time for real-world skills, entrepreneurship, and personal interestsMotivation is essential: Kids must love school for it to be effective. The greatest motivator is giving students time back in their day, achieved by efficient mastery learning.Time-based, lecture-driven models leave knowledge gaps: Most U.S. students plateau in middle school, as traditional education pushes content too fast, resulting in a fragile “swiss-cheese” learning foundationAI's transformational role: With generative AI, obsolete textbooks and one-size-fits-all instruction are replaced by continuous, adaptive, and personalized feedback, tailored to each learner's interests and needs.Feedback and growth mindset are superpowers: Receiving and seeking feedback in school builds resilience, accelerates learning, and prepares students to thrive beyond the classroomHigh standards + high support = success and happiness: Kids grow most when challenged and held to ambitious goals with strong mentoring, even if the process is uncomfortable.Gamification and engagement: Applying video game design and motivation mechanics to education can make learning irresistible, turning hard tasks into meaningful and fun challengesNo one-size-fits-all: Multiple school types, customized daily schedules, and teaching entrepreneurship, leadership, and teamwork ensure education aligns with each child's unique strengths and ambitions.“I think this is one of the coolest projects happening in America that people are just starting to learn about.” – Patrick O'Shaughnessy on Alpha School Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMy guest today is Joe Liemandt. Joe is the Principal at Alpha School and the founder of Triliogy Software and ESW Capital. He became the youngest member of the Forbes 400 in the 1990s before vanishing from public view for two decades—only to emerge with a $1 billion bet that he can make kids learn 10x faster using AI. Joe has built an AI tutoring system so effective that students at his Alpha School literally beg not to take summer breaks, achieving 2x learning outcomes in just 2 hours with standardized test results that compete with the best of them. We dive deep into why this could be the most valuable product he's ever built, his contrarian thesis that traditional SaaS is facing AI-driven obsolescence, and how his experience buying 100+ software companies prepared him for this moonshot in a trillion-dollar market that hasn't innovated in 200 years.  For investors, this is a masterclass in deploying patient capital to rebuild broken systems from first principles, with insights on everything from regulatory moats to the intersection of AI and human psychology. As your excited skeptic, I push hard on the technology readiness, parental adoption hurdles, and whether this audacious vision can actually scale to a billion kids. Additionally, in a Colossus Profile released last week, our editor-in-chief Jeremy Stern reported, for the first time, Joe as the product guy behind Alpha School in a can't miss piece of writing. And now please enjoy my conversation with Joe Liemandt.  Joe Liemandt's Colossus Profile by Jeremy Stern. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ----- This episode is brought to you by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ramp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Ramp's mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ramp.com/invest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ridgeline⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ridgelineapps.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ AlphaSense⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Alpha-Sense.com/Invest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best(00:06:08) How Alpha School Is Revolutionizing Learning(00:12:47) Personalized Tutoring with AI(00:19:59) Measuring the Impossible: 2x Learning Outcomes(00:25:39) All Educational Content Is Obsolete(00:35:51) Motivating Students: The Key to Success(00:42:06) Life Skills Workshops: Real-World Lessons(00:47:47) The Key to Happiness: High Standards(00:52:33) The Role of Guides and Coaches(00:58:22) Feedback Loops and AI in Education(01:04:20) The AI-Powered Classroom Experience(01:18:06) From Self-Doubt to Limitless Learning(01:28:20) Challenges in Public School Systems(01:41:56) Gamified Learning and Technology(01:49:46) From Trilogy to Trillion-Dollar Markets(01:55:05) Why Software Companies Fail(02:01:21) Trilogy University(02:10:39) Lessons from Mentors(02:17:25) Pushing Limits and Finding Passion(02:27:12) Joe's Kindest Thing

A16z Podcast Key Takeaways  Future historians will look back on this era and wonder why we needed a license to cut hair but not a license to own and operate a computer – the most powerful device ever created There is a power law for M&A just like there is a power law for startups: the best M&A can completely transform a company, but only about 10% of deals ever work out “The actual way of regulating big companies is with a thousand startup piranhas, not by regulation.” – Balaji A large acquisition signals the big company's inability to build the product in-house, while also fueling the startup ecosystem by attracting talent and investment to that market vertical and spurring competition.The ultimate form of American capitalism is exploiting the rules in a clever way Balaji's global pro-tech legislative playbook:Identify the optimal legal framework for each market and verticalDevelop standardized, modular policy templates for all 50 U.S. states and 190 sovereign nationsBuild a government-relations team to establish and scale relationships across jurisdictionsIdentify and engage pro-tech policymakers (with emphasis on small, builder-friendly states) and deploy capital into markets that implement the model legislationThe greatest risk to AI innovation is arbitrary regulation; allowing market dynamics to operate freely will accelerate progress and distribute benefits broadlyThe question we all should be asking is, how do we build competition against the monopoly that is the US government Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgThere's been a wave of M&A deals lately - Meta and Scale, Windsurf and Google - and a lot of it points to something bigger: how regulation, capital, and innovation are colliding in 2025.In this episode Erik Torenberg brings together Steven Sinofsky, former Microsoft Executive and Balaji Srinivasan, founder of the Network School, and author of the Network State to break it all down. From acquihires to “acquifires,” from FTC crackdowns to the deeper battle between the state and the network, this is a sharp conversation on the future of tech and power. ResourcesFind Balaji on X: https://x.com/balajisFind Steven on X: https://x.com/stevesiLearn more about The Network State: https://thenetworkstate.comLearn more about The Network School: https://ns.com Stay Updated: Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16zFind a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16zFind a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16zSubscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenbergPlease note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Shawn Ryan Show Intro  Advice for future innovators: Work on something that you would be proud to fail at“There's a whole generation or two that did not go into aviation because the door was closed to innovation.” – Blake Scholl  Great people do not want to work for bosses who do not know what they are doing: There is no substitute for actually knowing what you are talking about and doing the work The world does not need more of what it has already got; the world needs more of what you can uniquely bring The incentives of government regulation agencies create an asymmetric bias towards conservatism, a reality that ultimately stifles progress and innovation; this centralizes and monopolizes risk decisions into the hands of government regulators The smaller the team, the easier it is to keep the talent bar high; the number one thing great people want is to work with other great people Using AI to create a talent engine: Have the AI handle the boring and rudimentary tasks so that human talent can work on the most interesting problems; this creates a flywheel of talent retention and magnetismBe unafraid to deploy inexperienced, high-aptitude talent – but phone somebody who has some gray hair The Speed Dividend from supersonic: If the flight is twice as fast, then you need half the number of pilots, half as many airplanes, and can get twice as many flights from the same number of airplanes and crewWork on what you love because you will learn so much about: You will learn 99% new stuff along the way, so why not learn 99.5% new stuff while working on something you really love?Go work on the thing that your five-year-old self would have been dazzled by Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgBlake Scholl is the Founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, a company he started in 2014 to revive commercial supersonic flight with the Overture airliner, designed to fly at Mach 1.7 and carry 64–80 passengers.  A Carnegie Mellon University computer science graduate (BS, 2001), Scholl began his career as a software engineer at Amazon, later owning a $300 million P&L at age 24, and co-founded Kima Labs, acquired by Groupon in 2012.  Inspired by seeing Concorde in a museum, he self-taught aerospace engineering to launch Boom, which achieved the first privately developed supersonic flight with the XB-1 demonstrator in January 2025. With orders from United, American, and Japan Airlines, Scholl aims to make sustainable supersonic travel mainstream using 100% sustainable aviation fuel, targeting passenger flights by 2030. Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: https://americanfinancing.net/srs NMLS 182334, nmlsconsumeraccess.org https://tryarmra.com/srs https://betterhelp.com/srs This episode is sponsored. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/srs and get on your way to being your best self. https://meetfabric.com/shawn https://shawnlikesgold.com https://hexclad.com/srs https://hillsdale.edu/srs https://ketone.com/srs Visit https://ketone.com/srs for 30% OFF your subscription order https://ROKA.com – USE CODE SRS https://trueclassic.com/srs https://USCCA.com/srs https://blackbuffalo.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A16z Podcast Key Takeaways  Distribution was so scarce not too long ago: The Unabomber killed all those people so he could get an op-ed in the Washington Post; today, he could have published his manifesto on Substack Founders should go directly and build their distribution channel “The founding creator is as important as the founding engineer. The founding engineer is the implementation, but the founding creator is the distribution. The founding engineer is the ‘how' and the founding creator is the ‘why'.” – Balaji Srinivasan  For the media, the best thing they can do is put a man out of work (Watergate), and for tech, the best thing it can do is put a man on the moon (SpaceX) Red America imposing tariffs on China is like blue America imposing tariffs on AI – both are protectionist measures“Democracy is creating startup cities. Moving to Starbase was voting with feet. Building up Starbase was voting with a wallet. And incorporating Starbase was voting with a ballot. This is the future of democracy. Not a two-party system with the illusion of choice. Instead, a 1000-city system with the reality of choice.” – Balaji Tech is flanking legacy media with short-form tweets and long-form podcasts – two areas in which the media does not have establishment influenceWe must remove the barriers to exit so that everyone has a choice about which government rules them “With technology, we can have a new birth of media, science, democracy, and equality on the internet, because that's what the internet is: it's a peer-to-peer network, we are all equal on the internet. And truth is everybody's property; it is not Sulzberger's property – it's cryptography.” – Balaji    Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgWhat really caused the breakdown between tech and media—and what comes next?Erik Torenberg sits down with Balaji Srinivasan (entrepreneur, investor, and author of The Network State) to explore the long-building conflict between Silicon Valley and legacy journalism. Balaji explains how the collapse of traditional media business models gave rise to political capture, clickbait, and adversarial coverage of the tech industry.They discuss why “going direct” is no longer optional, how tech became the villain in establishment narratives, and what it would take to build a new truth infrastructure - from decentralized content creation to cryptographic verification.This episode covers power, distribution, and the future of media, with a signature mix of historical insight, social analysis, and Balaji's forward-looking frameworks.Timecodes: 0:00 Introduction 1:26 The Media vs. Tech Conflict2:11 The Collapse of Journalism Revenue2:39 Rise of Wokeness and Political Realignment6:50 State vs. Network: A New Framework9:00 The Power Structure of Media Institutions19:25 The Role of Distribution and the Internet29:20 The Social War: Red vs. Blue America30:05 X Day and the Shift in Social Media Power42:56 Strategies for Technologists: Go Direct48:36 The Importance of Individual Creators1:10:00 Decentralized Truth and the Ledger of Record1:36:00 The Future of Media, Democracy, and Equality1:37:08 Conclusion & Final ThoughtsResourcesFind Balaji on X: https://x.com/balajisStay Updated: Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16zFind a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16zFind a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16zSubscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenbergPlease note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Crazy Wisdom Key Takeaways  FarmBot is a robotic farmer for your garden, designed to take care of your garden by performing functions such as planting seeds, watering, weeding, and monitoringSimply being open source is not enough. For a project to be genuinely useful, it must also have extensive, clear documentation and use open, affordable file formatsToday, the vast majority of food that people eat is grown very far away and in ways that is not great for the food or environment We have very little control over the food production system, which is vital to our existence  Let us get back to the smaller scale, more diverse polycrop system of food production; many follow-on benefits will result Building a resilient alternative to industrial food systems (which often rely on single-crop farming) reduces single points of failure along vulnerable supply chains The more that we can distribute the food system and bring it closer to the end-eater, the more robust our overall food system becomes Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgOn this episode of Crazy Wisdom, Stewart Alsop speaks with Rory Aronson, CEO of FarmBot, about how his open-source hardware project is transforming home gardening into a more automated and accessible practice. Rory explains how FarmBot works—essentially as a CNC machine for your garden—covering its evolution from Arduino-based electronics to custom boards, the challenges of integrating hardware and software, and the role of closed-loop feedback systems to prevent errors. They explore solarpunk visions of distributed food systems, discuss the importance of “useful source” documentation in open-source hardware, and imagine a future where growing food is as easy as running a dishwasher. For more on Rory and FarmBot, check out farm.bot and the open-source resources at docs.farm.bot.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:00 Rory explains FarmBot as a CNC machine for gardens, using Arduino and Raspberry Pi, automating planting, watering, and weeding.05:00 Discussion on the hardware stack evolution, open-source electronics roots, and moving to custom boards for better integration.10:00 Stewart shares his Raspberry Pi experiments, Rory breaks down the software layers from cloud apps to firmware, emphasizing complexity.15:00 Conversation shifts to closed-loop feedback with rotary encoders, avoiding 3D printer-style “spaghetti” errors in outdoor environments.20:00 Rory explores open-source challenges, highlighting “useful source” documentation and hardware accessibility for modifications.25:00 Solarpunk vision emerges: distributed food systems, automation enabling home-grown fresh food without expert knowledge.30:00 Raised bed setup, energy efficiency, and FarmBot as a home appliance concept for urban and suburban gardens.35:00 Small-scale versus industrial farming, niche commercial uses like seedling automation, and user creativity with custom tools.40:00 AI potential with vision systems, LLMs for garden planning, and enhancing FarmBot intelligence for real-time adaptation.45:00 Sensors, soil monitoring, image analysis for plant health, and empowering users to integrate FarmBot into smart homes.50:00 Rory describes community innovations, auxiliary hardware, and open documentation supporting experimentation.55:00 Final reflections on solarpunk futures, automation as empowerment, and how to access FarmBot's resources online.Key InsightsRory Aronson shares how FarmBot began as a DIY project built on Arduino and Raspberry Pi, leveraging the open-source 3D printing ecosystem to prototype quickly. Over time, they transitioned to custom circuit boards to meet the specific demands of automating gardening tasks like seed planting, watering, and weeding, highlighting the tradeoffs between speed to market and long-term hardware optimization.The conversation unpacks the complexity of FarmBot's “stack,” which integrates cloud-based software, a web app, a message broker, a Raspberry Pi running a custom OS, and firmware on both Arduino and auxiliary chips for real-time feedback. This layered approach is crucial for precision in an unpredictable outdoor environment where mechanical errors could damage growing plants.Aronson emphasizes that being open source isn't enough; to be genuinely useful, projects must provide extensive, accessible documentation and export files in open, affordable formats. Without this, open source risks being a hollow promise for most users, especially in hardware where barriers to modification are higher.They explore the solarpunk potential of FarmBot, imagining a future where growing food at home is as effortless as using a washing machine. By turning gardening into an automated process, FarmBot enables people to produce fresh vegetables without needing expertise, offering resilience against industrial food systems reliant on monoculture and long supply chains.Aronson points out that while FarmBot isn't designed for industrial agriculture, its modularity allows it to support niche commercial use cases, like automating seedling production in cleanroom environments. This adaptability reflects the broader vision of empowering both individuals and small operations with accessible automation tools.The episode highlights user creativity enabled by FarmBot's open hardware, including custom tools like side-mounted mirrors for alternative camera angles and pneumatic grippers for harvesting. These community-driven innovations showcase the platform's flexibility and the value of encouraging experimentation.Finally, Aronson sees great potential for integrating AI, particularly vision systems and multimodal LLMs, to make FarmBot smarter—detecting pests, diagnosing plant health, and even planning gardens tailored to user goals like nutrient needs or event timelines, moving closer to a truly intelligent gardening companion.

Moonshots and Mindsets with Peter Diamandis ✓ Claim Key Takeaways  We will have artificial superintelligence by 2035: “Superintelligence” implies intelligence that is beyond the sum of what humans can do  As important as nuclear fusion and fission may be for the future, they will not arrive soon enough to meet the immediate surge in global power demand driven by AI and data infrastructureLearning machines accelerate to their natural limit, and the current limit of AI systems is electricityGreater energy infrastructure is essential to support the intellectual capacity required for a superintelligent abundanceWe will have specialized savants in every field, within five years; the real question is, once we have all these savants, do they unify? Do they ultimately become superhuman? The emergence of superintelligence comes with huge proliferation issues: Competitive issues, China vs. the US issues, electricity issues; we do not even have the language for the deterrence and proliferation aspects of these powerful models  The “Mutually Assured AI Malfunction” geopolitical competition framework: If one nation races ahead to develop superintelligent AI, rivals may sabotage their progress (through cyberattacks or strikes) to avoid destabilizing power imbalancesWhatever enables faster learning loops is the business moat of the future “The real risk is not Terminator, it's drift. AI won't destroy humans violently, but might slowly erode human values, autonomy, and judgment if left unregulated or misunderstood.”  – Eric Schmidt The tools change, but the structure of humanity will not When superintelligence emerges, every person will have the sum of Einstein and Leonardo da Vinci in their pocket; how humans choose to use their polymath is the question “We don't know what artificial general intelligence will deliver, and we don't know what artificial super intelligence will deliver, but we know it's coming.” – Eric Schmidt Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgGet access to metatrends 10+ years before anyone else - https://qr.diamandis.com/metatrends   Eric Schmidt is the former CEO of Google.  Dave Blundin is the founder of Link Ventures – Offers for my audience:  Test what's going on inside your body at https://qr.diamandis.com/fountainlifepodcast   Reverse the age of my skin using the same cream at https://qr.diamandis.com/oneskinpod     –- Connect with Eric:  X: https://x.com/ericschmidt  His latest book: https://a.co/d/fCxDy8P   Learn about Dave's fund: https://www.linkventures.com/xpv-fund   Connect with Peter: X Instagram Listen to MOONSHOTS: Apple YouTube – *Recorded on June 5th, 2025 *Views are my own thoughts; not Financial, Medical, or Legal Advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A16z Podcast Key Takeaways  The view of American businesses in the late 1990s was to get into China, outsource manufacturing, and reduce trade barriers between countries; this evolution was celebrated as the start of a new industrial era It has since turned into a national security issue for the United StatesChina's unique blend of socialism, totalitarianism, and entrepreneurship enabled this to materialize Doing business in China often comes with onerous conditions, such as surrendering intellectual property or allowing government ‘inspectors' access to operationsThe main risks to AI progress: (1) The government thinks that there is only one player, (2) One player thinks that it is the only player, and (3) The tech becomes geographically constrained It is very easy to pour money into China, but oftentimes, it does not come back out In the AI race, Microsoft's strength lies not in being the best, but in ensuring it is embedded in whatever platform ultimately prevailsApple is not a first-mover company; it is a first-integrator company Apple faces a critical decision on its AI strategy – whether that is a ‘strange bedfellows' partnership strategy (Microsoft and OpenAI), support anything that comes out (Amazon), or go its own way (Google, OpenAI, Anthropic) The silver lining for US manufacturing: Constraints fuel innovation; breakthroughs emerge when smart people focus on tough problems over timeCOVID exposed the fragility of the global supply chain system, revealing too many single points of failure to sustain a fracturing world order The role of IP in US-China competition is a litigation issue; we are in for years of market uncertainty as to how this dynamic will ultimately play out Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgWhat if the rise of Apple also built modern China?a16z's Erik Torenberg is joined by board partner and former Microsoft Windows chief Steven Sinofsky to unpack how Apple's pursuit of design excellence and supply chain scale catalyzed China's manufacturing superpower status - and why that partnership is now under intense scrutiny.Inspired by the book Apple in China (but not a book review), the episode dives deep into:The early days of Apple's shift to Chinese manufacturing What experts got wrong in 1999 about trade, globalization, and China's trajectoryHow Tim Cook's operational playbook reshaped the global tech industryBehind-the-scenes stories from Microsoft's own hardware battles and Surface launchWhy Apple's entanglement with China may now be a strategic liabilityWhat COVID revealed about fragile global dependencies — and where innovation goes nextHow national policy, intellectual property, and AI intersect in the new industrial eraThe episode opens with a few reactions to WWDC: Apple's new UI, the iPad's evolving role, and why Apple's AI story still feels unfinished - before zooming out into one of the most consequential tech and geopolitical stories of our time.TImecodes:00:00 Introduction00:37 Guest Introduction: Steven Sinofsky00:49 WWDC Reactions and Apple's AI Story02:27 WWDC Highlights: Liquid Glass and iPad Updates05:16 Apple's AI Strategy and Market Dynamics06:34 Meta's AI Moves and Market Implications13:30 Apple's Manufacturing Evolution: From Garage to Global20:50 The Rise of ODMs and Global Manufacturing26:32 Microsoft's Struggle with Piracy in China27:19 Apple's Revolutionary MacBook Air29:30 Challenges in PC Manufacturing31:05 The Rise of Chinese Manufacturing Skills32:07 The Point of No Return for Apple and China32:59 Global Trade and Intellectual Property Issues37:04 COVID-19's Impact on Global Manufacturing41:19 Future of Innovation and Manufacturing47:10 Navigating Intellectual Property in the AI Era48:55 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsResources:Find Steven on X: https://x.com/stevesiFind Erik on X: https://x.com/eriktorenbergStay Updated: Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16zFind a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16zFind a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16zSubscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenbergPlease note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Knowledge Project Key Takeaways Check out the episode pageRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMost people protect their identity. Andy Grove would rewrite his, again and again. He started as a refugee, became a chemist, turned himself into an engineer, then a manager, and finally the CEO who built Intel into a global powerhouse. He didn't cling to credentials or titles. When a challenge came up, he didn't delegate, he learned. This episode explores the radical adaptability that made Grove different. While his peers obsessed over innovation, he focused on something far more enduring: the systems, structures, and people needed to scale that innovation. Grove understood that as complexity rises, technical brilliance fades and coordination becomes king.  You'll learn how he redefined leadership, why he saw management as a creative act, and what most founders still get wrong about building great companies. If you're serious about getting better—at work, at thinking, at leading—this is the episode you'll be glad you didn't miss.  This episode is for informational purposes only and most of the research came from The Life and Times of an American by Richard S. Tedlow, Only the Paranoid Survive by Andy Grove, and Tom Wolfe's profile of Robert Noyce available here. Check out highlights from these books in our repository, and find key lessons from Grove here — ⁠⁠https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/outliers-andy-grove/⁠ (05:02 ) PART 1: Hungarian Beginnings(06:48) German Occupation(09:27) Soviet Liberation(11:01) End of the War(12:35) Leaving Hungary (14:10) PART 2: In America(16:50) Origin of Silicon Valley(20:04) Fairchild (22:54) PART 3: Building Intel(25:15) Becoming a Manager(29:39) Intel's Make-or-Break Moment(31:35) Quality Control Obsession(34:41) Orchestrating Brilliance(37:49) The Microprocessor Revolution and Intel's Growth(40:32) Intel's Growth and the Microma Lesson(30:51) The Grove Influence(47:00) The Birth of Intel Culture(49:42) ​​The Fruits of Transformation(50:43) The Test Ahead (53:07) PART 4: Inflection Points(55:23) The Valley of Death(58:26) The IBM Lesson(01:01:18) CASSANDRA's: The Value of Middle Management(01:04:09) Executing a Painful Pivot (01:08:25) Reflections, afterthoughts, and lessons Thanks to our sponsors for supporting this episode: MOMENTOUS: Head to ⁠⁠livemomentous.com⁠⁠ and use code KNOWLEDGEPROJECT for 35% off your first subscription.  NOTION MAIL: Get Notion Mail for free right now at ⁠notion.com/knowledgeproject Upgrade — If you want to hear my thoughts and reflections at the end of all episodes, join our membership: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get your own private feed. Newsletter — The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it's completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Founders ✓ Claim What I learned from reading The Red Bull Story by Wolfgang Fürweger and Red Bull's Billionaire Maniac by Duff McDonald. ----Get access to the World's Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----Come and build in-person relationships at the Founders Only conference----(1:30) "In literal financial terms, our sports teams are not yet profitable, but in value terms, they are," he says. "The total editorial media value plus the media assets created around the teams are superior to pure advertising expenditures."(2:30) "It is a must to believe in one's product. If this were just a marketing gimmick, it would never work."(5:00) He doesn't place a premium on collecting friends or socializing: "I don't believe in 50 friends. I believe in a smaller number. Nor do I care about society events. It's the most senseless use of time. When I do go out, from time to time, it's just to convince myself again that I'm not missing a lot."(7:30) The most dangerous thing for a branded product is low interest. (Edwin Land: The test of an invention is the power of an inventor to push it through in the face of the staunch-not opposition, but indifference-in society. (Indifference is your enemy)(9:00) Nike, Adidas and Vans episodes:Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight. (Founders #186)Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and The Family Feud That Forever Changed The Business of Sports by Barbara Smit. (Founders #109)Authentic: A Memoir by the Founder of Vans by Paul Van Doren. (Founders #216)(11:00) The lines between Red Bull, Red Bull athletes, and Red Bull events are blurry on purpose. To Mateschitz, it's just one big image campaign with many manifestations.(12:00) He has no plans to sell or take Red Bull public. "It's not a question of money. It's a question of fun. Can you imagine me in a shareholders' meeting?”(13:00) Red Bull's Billionaire Maniac https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-05-19/red-bulls-billionaire-maniac(16:00) He is universally described as a person with great charisma.(16:30) The Invisible Billionaire: Daniel Ludwig by Jerry Shields. (Founders 292)(17:00) He has a fierce desire for privacy. He buys a society magazine to make sure he never appears in it.(22:00) There is no market for Red Bull. We will create one.(24:00) Estée Lauder: A Success Story by Estée Lauder.  (Founders #217)(30:00) the NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger. (Founders #329)(31:00) Gossip and malicious rumors are worth more than the most expensive publicity campaign in the world.” — Dior by Dior: The Autobiography of Christian Dior (Founders #331)(36:00) Control your costs and maintain financial discipline even when making record profits.(38:00) Cult brands have their own laws, otherwise they would not be cultish.(38:00) Red Bull is Dietrich Mateschitz and Dietrich Mateschitz is Red Bull.(38:00) Many companies outsource their marketing and advertising activity. Red Bull consistently took the opposite route: It outsourced production and distribution and takes care of sales and advertising itself.(40:00) Charlie Munger and John Collison on Invest Like The Best #355 Rolex: Timeless Excellence on Invest Like The Best (41:00) If you are making a physical product make it look different from its competitors from the start.(43:00) Everything is marketing.(45:00) Never do anything that compromises your survival.(46:00) He keeps his empire constantly in motion(46:00) All corporate projects like Formula 1, football, Air Race, and media serve the core business: the sale of the energy drink.(47:00) This is a battle for attention.(49:00) Red Bull owns their events. They never relinquish media rights to any event. They invest in making the content and then they give their content to other media distributors for free. A very clever way to multiply their advertising and marketing spend.(52:00) The Bugatti Story by L'Ebe Bugatti. (Founders #316)The Dream of Solomeo: My Life and the Idea of Humanistic Capitalism by Brunello Cucinelli. (Founders #289)(54:00) Why he moved Red Bull's headquarters to a little village on a lake: The aim was to create a more pleasant working atmosphere.(54:00) On why fitness is so important to him: “Everything that gives me pleasure in life is connected with a certain physical fitness and physical well-being. I like going to the mountain, I like skiing, I like sailing, I like riding a motorbike, I like fooling around - and everything is connected with a minimum of physical agility, motor skills, dexterity, strength, stamina. In order to enjoy it outdoors, I need the indoor program.”----Get access to the World's Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----Come and build in-person relationships at the Founders Only conference----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested, so my poor wallet suffers.” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Invest Like the Best Key Takeaways  Time is the best filter: History's top entrepreneurs were completely focused over a long periodThe essential maxims from the episodeIt does not matter the pursuit; what matters is having a missionA great business takes time Find a simple idea and take it seriously – Charlie Munger Do one thing, and do it better than anyone else – Todd Graves Learning is not memorizing information; learning is changing your behavior The reward for great work is more work – Kevin Kelly  The hard way is the right way – Jerry Seinfeld  Be less interested in timely and more interested in timeless Overpay for talent because you really cannot overpay for talent Limit the amount of details, then make every detail perfect Pay attention to the nickels because the nickels turn into quarters Mediocrity is invisible until passion shows up and exposes it – Michael Ovitz The most successful businesses go ridiculously far in maximizing or minimizing one or a few variables Great entrepreneurs find opportunity in catastrophe Learning about history's most ambitious people stretches your imagination for what is possible in life “You think what you want is money, but what you really want is meaning.” – David SenraJust keep going; you will figure it out – have the self-belief and keep going Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMy guest today is David Senra. David is the host of Founders podcast and a dear friend. This is our third time doing Invest Like the Best together and we have conversations like this one all the time. In today's episode, David distills wisdom from 400 entrepreneur biographies into a single word: focus. He reveals why exceptional builders like Todd Graves and James Dyson create billion-dollar empires through obsessive dedication to simple ideas—whether perfecting chicken fingers or designing vacuum cleaners—while rejecting conventional growth timelines and investor pressure. David challenges us all to find the one thing we'd pursue even without recognition or reward, or what I like to call your life's work. We discuss the concept of “anti-business,” raising capital as a founder, and decades-long commitment. Please enjoy this discussion with David Senra.  For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp's mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. –  This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:43) The Essence of Focus in Entrepreneurship (00:09:20) The Value of Long-Term Commitment (00:17:41) The Importance of Simplicity and Mastery (00:37:11) The Miracle of Entrepreneurship (00:44:56) James Dyson's Journey to Success (00:47:03) The Importance of Passion in Business (00:49:12) Critique of Modern Consumerism (00:52:18) The Value of Craftsmanship (00:56:36) The Drive for Excellence (01:04:06) The Importance of Hiring Top Talent (01:09:54) Creative Financing Strategies (01:19:35) Defining a Founder

My First Million Key Takeaways  Everything is an issue of agency; agency is the most valuable skill for any founderWork from a creative mindset by actively applying your sense of agency: Write down the value, how you can display it, and then do the thing Getting Ted Lasso'd: When a Brit with twice the intelligence and knowledge gets outperformed by the American who has 10x the agency and confidencePay attention to your ideas that make you laugh; if they elicit this type of emotion in you, then you might be onto something If you wait for the news, you will be wrong or lateWhat is ignored by the media today that will be studied by future historians?  Leverage on high agency has never been higher, thanks to modern AI tools Some people let reality happen to them and then use words to describe it, while others use words to edit and shape their reality Language shapes the world around usMinimize “should” from your vocabulary and start doing!The best way to increase your agency is to hang around people with high agencyIdeas are avocados: they are perishable – there is no time like the present to work on your idea The high-agency approach to problem solving: Ask “Why, Why, Why?” and continue to drill down on the problem until you arrive at the fundamental issue upon which you can take action today Speed is negotiable: Mobilize your army, which is your ideas, your resources, and your intention, to achieve your goal in much less time than you perceive to be possible Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgEpisode 703: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to George Mack ( https://x.com/george__mack ) about high agency.  — Links: • Steal Sam's guide to turn ChatGPT into your Executive Coach: https://clickhubspot.com/wec • High Agency - https://www.highagency.com/  • Nick Mowbray episode - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pHcxoZ0j9A  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it's called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam's List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

Knowledge Project Key Takeaways Check out the episode pageRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMost accelerators fund ideas. Y Combinator funds founders—and transforms them. With a 1% acceptance rate and alumni behind 60% of the past decade's unicorns, YC knows what separates the founders who break through from those who burn out. It's not the flashiest résumé or the boldest pitch but something President Garry Tan says is far rarer: earnestness. In this conversation, Garry reveals why this is the key to success, and how it can make or break a startup. We also dive into how AI is reshaping the whole landscape of venture capital and what the future might look like when everyone has intelligence on tap.  If you care about innovation, agency, or the future of work, don't miss this episode.  Approximate timestamps: Subject to variation due to dynamically inserted ads. (00:02:39) The Success of Y Combinator (00:04:25) The Y Combinator Program (00:08:25) The Application Process (00:09:58) The Interview Process (00:16:16) The Challenge of Early Stage Investment (00:22:53) The Role of San Francisco in Innovation (00:28:32) The Ideal Founder (00:36:27) The Importance of Earnestness (00:42:17) The Changing Landscape of AI Companies (00:45:26) The Impact of Cloud Computing (00:50:11) Dysfunction with Silicon Valley (00:52:24) Forecast for the Tech Market (00:54:40) The Regulation of AI (00:55:56) The Need for Agency in Education (01:01:40) AI in Biotech and Manufacturing (01:07:24) The Issue of Data Access and The Legal Aspects of AI Outputs (01:13:34) The Role of Meta in AI Development (01:28:07) The Potential of AI in Decision Making (01:40:33) Defining AGI (01:42:03) The Use of AI and Prompting (01:47:09) AI Model Reasoning (01:49:48) The Competitive Advantage in AI (01:52:42) Investing in Big Tech Companies (01:55:47) The Role of Microsoft and Meta in AI (01:57:00) Learning from MrBeast: YouTube Channel Optimization (02:05:58) The Perception of Founders (02:08:23) The Reality of Startup Success Rates (02:09:34) The Impact of OpenAI (02:11:46) The Golden Age of Building Newsletter - The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it's completely free. Learn more and sign up at fs.blog/newsletter Upgrade — If you want to hear my thoughts and reflections at the end of the episode, join our membership: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership⁠⁠ and get your own private feed. Watch on YouTube: @tkppodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Infinite Loops Key Takeaways  AI is not thinking-as-a-service but collaboration-as-a-service: The wrong way to approach AI is to sit back and see what it comes up with; the right way is to tinker with it and poke it in different ways so that novel patterns emergeBanning AI in schools is like stopping humans from using fire because they might burn themselvesAfter discovering how to use fire, we created fire departments, firemen, and fire exits; the same thing will happen with AI“AI is a mirror, not a mold.” – Jim O'Shaughnessy Creation is fundamentally about choices: The choices reflect what the creator considers; the creation is the result of what the creator decidesThe best writers use the best prompts – the same skills that make them great writers help them get the best from AI“A lot of things that are revolutionary in the history of technology have taken something that was encoded into the substrate and then made it an abstraction.” – Nathan Baschez AI in 2025 is roughly where the internet was in 1995: So even if there is an AI ‘crash', value creation will take place post-crash just as it did with internet companies following the Dot Com BubbleUnderstanding cumulative cultural evolution: Recognizing cultural shifts before others do gives you a competitive edge in both life and business The thinking that you should let the world pull companies out of your creative projects may be wrong; the vast majorities of successful businesses were started by people who wanted to create a successful business  Do not fall victim to the “Disney Princess Co-Founder” Fallacy: Instead of waiting to start because you have not found the perfect co-founder, just start on your idea!A common misconception about writing is that it is not only a way to communicate our thoughts, but also a way to formulate our thoughts Learn more by doing: Set aside preconceived expectations and follow your curiosityRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgNathan Baschez is the cofounder and CEO of Lex, an AI word-processor. He also cofounded Every, was the first employee at Substack AND co-created Product Hunt. Suffice to say, Nathan knows a thing or two about building on the internet. He joins the show to discuss how AI is changing writing, why it's time to rethink the article, the rise of solo founders and MUCH more. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other goodies designed to make you go, “Hmm, that's interesting!”, check out our Substack. Important Links: Lex Twitter Substack LinkedIn Show Notes: Lex: Your Spotter In the Writing Gym Letting People Into Your Creative Process Collaboration-as-a-Service Creation Is Fundamentally About Choices What Will Become of the AI Holdouts? AI Is Like the Internet In 1995 Can AI Unfuck the Government? Blindspots While Working In Organizations Rethinking The ‘Article' As A Medium Memes Are Dense Information Packets It's Time for Solo Founders Why Learning About Cumulative Cultural Evolution Is Vital What's Next for Lex? Writing As A Way To Design Thoughts Nathan As World Emperor Books Mentioned: A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life; by George Saunders The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous; by Joseph Henrich The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter; by Joseph Henrich

Shawn Ryan Show Key Takeaways  Embracing the Founder Persona in America: The founder persona is a unique legacy of America that we should celebrate and embrace Rethinking the Software-Industrial Complex: If software is so great, why does nothing seem to work? Perhaps we need to reevaluate whether the software-industrial complex is genuinely serving society, or merely claiming to Data is not the “new oil”; data is the new snake oil: There is nothing inherently valuable about data – it is only valuable if you can use it to make a decision  Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgShyam Sankar is the Chief Technology Officer at Palantir Technologies. A builder at heart, he's spent over 20 years designing and deploying cutting-edge software and AI for both government and private sector partners. As Palantir's 13th hire, Shyam helped take the company from scrappy startup to S&P 500 powerhouse. A relentless opponent of inefficiency and red tape, Shyam has made it his mission to overhaul the institutions holding America back—starting with the government. His focus? The Defense Reformation: a bold effort to transform how the U.S. military buys, builds, and fights so we can win—and keep winning. Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: https://roka.com - use code SRS https://tryarmra.com/SRS https://BetterHelp.com/SRS https://Blackbuffalo.com https://boncharge.com/SRS https://MeetFabric.com/SHAWN https://ShawnLikesGold.com | 855-936-GOLD https://Helixsleep.com/SRS https://hexclad.com/SRS https://hillsdale.edu/SRS https://PatriotMobile.com/SRS | 972-PATRIOT https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/SRS Download the app today and use code SRS https://RocketMoney.com/SRS Shyam Sankar Links: X - https://x.com/ssankar Substack - https://www.shyamsankar.com LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shyamsankar On The Defense Reformation - https://18theses.com First Breakfast - https://www.firstbreakfast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All-In with Chamath, Jason, Sacks & Friedberg Intro  Necessity is the mother of innovation: “We are putting enough friction into the system that it does theoretically give America an advantage at the cost of creating tremendous incentives for China to develop their semiconductor ecosystem.” – Gavin Baker Prohibiting China's access to Nvidia GPUs encourages China to create its own Nvidia, though it may take a decade for it to do so If progress in the AI agent space continues, the only rate-limiting factor to its widespread adoption will be compute power; the days of AI agents competing in all of our daily tasks is a long time away because this will require so much computing, and the capacity does not exist yet Most everybody agrees that deregulation is good: Every time the admin says the word “tariff” it should say “deregulation” three times afterThe best way to encourage the reshoring of key industries is just making it easier to do business in AmericaThe US must figure out the difference between manufacturing and IP so that we can trap the real value of these industries back in AmericaThe admin is focused on making life better for normal, working-class Americans The goal of the tariffs is to restore the industries that can be restored into the US; but implementing them may create externalities, such as inflation and retaliatory tariffs The globalized “free trade” model of the last twenty years has benefitted US knowledge workers, but it has left the everyday American behind On DOGE: While Democrats and Republicans may disagree on where the government spends its money, both sides should want the spending to be efficient Using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the Trump admin has deported 238 alleged gang members to El Salvador's high-security CECOT prison The last use of this act was during World War II under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who ordered the deportation of thousands of Germans, Italians, and JapaneseSince 2015, El Salvador has slashed its murder rate by 99% through widespread arrests of suspected gang members without due process  “The one thing I learned: Everybody in America is always focused on making America better. Having been to eighty different places around the world, our only goal should be to not screw it up in America. Just don't make it worse, because America is so much better than everywhere else.”  – Gavin sharing a quote from a Navy SEALRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.org(0:00) The Besties welcome Gavin Baker back on the show! (1:20) Nvidia balance sheet questions, CoreWeave IPO, M&A/IPO bounce back (16:22) US vs China in AI: Manus, China building its own Nvidia, and more (28:37) The Administration's endgame for tariffs (53:05) Signalgate: context and fallout (1:09:42) El Salvador deportations Follow Gavin: https://x.com/GavinSBaker Follow the besties: https://x.com/chamath https://x.com/Jason https://x.com/DavidSacks https://x.com/friedberg Follow on X: https://x.com/theallinpod Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theallinpod Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theallinpod Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allinpod Intro Music Credit: https://rb.gy/tppkzl https://x.com/yung_spielburg Intro Video Credit: https://x.com/TheZachEffect Referenced in the show: https://www.reuters.com/technology/coreweave-planning-cut-us-ipo-size-price-below-range-source-says-2025-03-27 https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-adds-dozens-entities-export-restriction-list-2025-03-25 https://modelcontextprotocol.io/introduction https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openai-plots-charging-20-000-a-month-for-phd-level-agents?rc=pxkrxo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8wJc7vHcTs https://x.com/JohnArnoldFndtn/status/1905296181208416744 https://x.com/chamath/status/1904547884877701610 https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151 https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/invocation-of-the-alien-enemies-act-regarding-the-invasion-of-the-united-states-by-tren-de-aragua https://www.statista.com/statistics/696152/homicide-rate-in-el-salvador https://x.com/Sec_Noem/status/1905034256826408982

Founders ✓ Claim Key Takeaways  “Do one thing and do it better than anyone else.” – Todd Graves A winning idea can work for decades: Don't think that you need to have a new idea every six months to be successfulCombine extreme patience with an extreme intolerance for slowness If you love what you are doing, then you will never stop doing it – and therefore, you will never interrupt the compounding effects of your efforts Make mistakes fast, but fix them even faster Make your people feel appreciated; constantly communicate your appreciation for them Corporate America makes financial decisions, not personal ones; this creates an opportunity for founder-led businesses that have more skin in the game You should be in a rush to get to your last business: “I'm not really interested in your first business. I'm interested in your last business.” – David Senra Lock in with a singular focus and do that thing better than anybody else; if you try to be all things for all people, then you are not anything to anybody Do not listen to “experts”; listen to your gut and intuition Limit the amount of details to perfect, then make every detail perfect “Never ever give up, and be fanatical. You've got to be fanatical. Nothing ever happens unless someone pursues a vision fanatically.” – Todd Graves  Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgTodd Graves is one of my favorite living entrepreneurs. He's a great example of Charlie Munger's maxim: Find a simple idea and take it seriously. Todd wanted to create a quick service restaurant that only focused on quality chicken finger meals and nothing else. Everyone told him that couldn't possibly work. The college paper that described the idea that would turn into Raising Canes got the lowest grade in the class. Banks wouldn't loan him any money —but nothing could stop Todd from living out his "chicken finger dream." He worked 95 hour weeks as a boilermaker, risked his life on a commercial fishing boat off the coast of Alaska, and scrounged up startup money from his bookie and a guy named Wild Bill. Todd made every mistake in the book, over leveraged himself, almost lost everything and yet he refused to give up or sell out. Today he has over 800 locations, 50,000 employees, and owns 90% of a business that's worth at least $10 billion. Todd's maxim is "Do one thing and do it better than anyone else." Sources: Trading Secrets: Raising Cane's founder Todd Graves reveals his path to building the wildly popular restaurantTheo Von: Raising Cane's Founder Todd Graves----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Invest Like the Best Key Takeaways  The best investors get excited during periods of extreme change Key traits for being a successful investor: Be (1) wildly competitive and (2) incredibly curiousCollaboration is key: Once an investment research team grows beyond 20 people, silos form and collaboration decreases  Design your organization in a way that encourages dialogue, debate, information sharing, and people to push one another Traits of a Perfect Business1. Incredible leadership 2. Really strong unit economics 3. A solid moat around the business 4. Excellent value proposition to the customer 5. The ability to grow organically without investing meaningful capital 6. A huge runway for growth that can last for many years without being disrupted The optimal portfolio should consist of several things that you are excited about and that have idiosyncratic drivers Certain market backdrops are conducive for different investing styles: Certain investors play a different game from everyone else and there are certain investors who play the popular game bestHire self-aware and curious people who love to learnBonus points if they competed in sports at a high level; these people understand hard work, failure, disappointment, and achievement   Do not fall victim to paralysis by analysis: Recognize that there is always the opportunity to learn more, but know when you have enough information to make a decision Investing is a pattern-matching business and the gap between winners and losers is widening How to live a rewarding life: Figure out who in your life matters to you, figure out what matters to them, and then show up for them in all the ways that matter to them  Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMy guest today is Kelly Granat. Kelly is the Co-Chief Investment Officer and Managing Director at Lone Pine Capital, one of the most storied and successful hedge fund and investment firms of the last several decades. We explore how investing has evolved since Kelly joined the industry and she shares insights into Lone Pine maintaining its edge through deep fundamental research and a collaborative culture. We discuss what makes great businesses and great investments, how leadership can transform companies, and Kelly's perspective on evaluating management teams and identifying opportunities around corporate change that the market often misprices. Please enjoy my conversation with Kelly Granat. Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp's mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Learn About Ramp, Alphasense, & Ridgeline (00:06:09) Market Structure Evolution (00:08:39)The Impact of Passive Investing (00:10:21) Collaboration & Team Dynamics (00:13:48) Excitement in Periods of Extreme Change (00:14:21) The Role of Competition & Curiosity (00:22:00) Fundamental Research & Data Integration (00:27:34) Investment Philosophy (00:35:31) People-Centric Investing (00:42:24) Succession Planning (00:49:32) Facing the Pressure of Early Success (00:50:31) Burnout & Rediscovery (00:57:08) Learning from Industry Leaders (00:58:04) Evaluating Talent and Competition (01:11:29) Lessons in Investment (01:27:27) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Kelly 

Founders ✓ Claim Key Takeaways  Best Michael Ovitz quotes: “Insecurity and ambition make a powerful cocktail.” “I didn't want to be standard in any way.”“I would have been much happier if I hadn't been so determined to appear all-knowing and invulnerable.”“Everyone stopped. I didn't stop.” Lew Wasserman's five rules that created his Hollywood empire 1. Tend to the client 2. Dress appropriately 3. Never divulge information about the firm 4. Do your homework 5. Never leave the office without returning every single phone call Michael Ovitz's founding principle for CAA1. All founding members get even equity 2. Get big fast 3. Share all clients and serve them as a group; no turf wars and no silos 4. Tell the truth 5. Create opportunities instead of waiting around for them Belief comes before ability: “I believe that nobody wants to be treated just as they are. People want to feel encouraged to become more than what they are, to become the best versions of themselves.” CAA poached talent by assumption: The firm behaved as if the talent was already their client, then made their dreams happen before ever even signing them Do the job before you are hiredKnow your customer's problem and present yourself as the solutionRealize that your “good times” are now: Thirty years from now, you will probably regret how you spent your time  Channeling Charlie Munger: Your goal in life should be to build a seamless web of deserved trust; work with the people in this web, and do life with these people – it is all about the people Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgAt the core of Michael Ovitz's success is his relentless work ethic and commitment to mastering his craft. 50 years ago he founded Creative Artists Agency. CAA starts out as just five young guys in a run down office and eventually becomes the most powerful agency in the world. Ovitz's autobiography explains how that happened. As the Wall Street Journal wrote: When the history of Hollywood is written, few people will have played a larger role than Michael Ovitz. This episode is what I learned from reading (for the 2nd time!) Who Is Michael Ovitz?: The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Most Powerful Man in Hollywood by Michael Ovitz. ----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Vesto: All of your company's financial accounts in one view. Connect and control all of your business bank accounts from one dashboard. Go to Vesto and schedule a demo with the founder Ben. Tell him David sent you. ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Invest Like the Best Key Takeaways  Identify and invest in outliers: The best venture capital investors recognize outlier potential when they see it and have a curiosity to discover what makes the outlier tick and WHY they tick that way On being a VC or a founder: Inherent builders should be in the field – they should be building companies, not coaching other builders Debug problems as far upstream as possible; take the rocks out of the river so the water can flow as fast as possible  Black magic is reserved for founders; every other area of the company-building process is mere mortal stuff Stewardship over ownership: The goal is to leave your creation in a better place for the next generation It is okay to choose the parallel tracked path of banking or consulting, and it is okay to take risks, but it is not okay to do one and spend your life thinking you did the other The most common mistake that investors make is doing something contrary to the best interests of the founder Traits of the best investment memos:(1) Clearly state the one or two strongest reasons to invest(2) Two to three pages max(3) Present clear data from the opposing side(4) argue why the investment should happen despite the opposing dataSuccess starts at the foundational layer: Great culture is downstream of getting the foundation right and fostering internal belief, which is all a firm needs to be successful Performance is the cultural component that matters mostRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgWelcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 10 years published once a month. These are N of one conversations with N of one people. There's nobody I've met quite like Doug Leone. Doug led one of the world's most successful venture firms, Sequoia, for over 25 years after he was given responsibility for the firm by its founder, Don Valentine, in 1996. Alongside Mike Moritz, the pair managed its expansion from a single $150m early-stage fund into an $85 billion global powerhouse. It was a privilege to sit down with Doug and learn from him. We talk about his tough start at Sequoia, get into the technicalities of great go-to-market motions, and survey his advice for other investors in the industry. A key theme that will stick with me from this conversation is Doug's insistence on keeping things simple and clear. I listen to this at least once a year. I hope you enjoy it. Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Passthrough. Passthrough streamlines subscription documents, KYC, and AML compliance, so you can focus on running your fund, not managing paperwork. New SEC Update 31 CFR hits investment firms in under a year, and managers are getting ready for it now. If you think basic OFAC screening is enough, think again. You'll need continuous monitoring of your investors and all their beneficial owners across multiple watchlists, plus a comprehensive anti money laundering program. Passthrough has already processed 50,000 LPs and built the complete solution. Don't risk SEC deficiency letters, fines, or regulatory enforcement. Visit passthrough.com to get compliant now. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes [00:00:00] Welcome to Invest Like the Best [00:05:21] What Don Valentine's heart was like [00:08:30] The most productive and unproductive parts of Don's toughness  [00:12:55] Why it's so important to understand someone's core motivations [00:18:44] The most formative experiences he had prior to becoming an investor that impacted his investing the most  [00:22:37] What venture looks like to him today relative to his prior career [00:28:37] Whether or not he'd go into venture today if he was in his late 20s  [00:34:10] Helping companies circumnavigate mediocre positioning  [00:39:15] How interacting with companies early on has changed over the ears [00:43:12] Whether or not new entrants into venture should build firms with enterprise value  [00:48:14] Sussing out the killer gene in somebody  [00:51:04] How successful people can instill the lessons learned from hardship into their children  [00:54:30] Whether or not competitive advantage can be architected ahead of time when building a company   [00:57:21] The early 2000s clawback at Sequoia and what navigating that period was like  [01:01:06] What he's learned about picking the right LPs and partnering with them [01:04:18] Making sure that performance is on everyone's minds all the time  [01:09:59] The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Shawn Ryan Show Key Takeaways  Advice for Young Innovators: Work on the things that you are genuinely interested in and do not rely on other people to tell you what you should be working on The term “conspiracy theorist” was invented by the CIA and used to discredit anyone who questioned the original results of the JFK assassination investigation “It's pretty extraordinary that “conspiracy theory” and “conspiracy theorists” are themselves literally born of a government conspiracy.” – Palmer “I'm a big pronatalist. I definitely believe that you need to have kids. If you don't have 2.1 kids minimum, then you're a traitor to the nation and our ideals because you're basically outsourcing responsibility for the continued existence of our nation to other people – which seems like a super-elitist attitude.” – Palmer Luckey, father Preparing for a Chinese invasion of TaiwanIn simulated war games, in a hypothetical Chinese invasion of Taiwan, the United States runs outs of missiles in less than eight daysChina has 350x the ship-building capacity of the United States (!)Taiwan is not the end state for China: The Chinese believe that the Philippines, Korea, and most of Japan belong to them; this won't stop with Taiwan“Trump understand that if we don't manufacture in America, we're just everyone else's b*tch.” – Palmer “Trump instinctively understands this in a way that the globalist elites do not. They thought outsourcing everything was great. They're against tariffs – why would you produce in a less efficient economy when you can manufacture wherever it's cheapest according to global market dynamics? The problem is, they forgot that once you stop making things and your companies no longer produce anything, you lose all leverage – you've handed it away to everyone else.” – Palmer Luckey How to take advantage of Xi's mistake:The US should make the Big Tech companies so integrated with national security that they cannot change their minds about supporting our interests in the future Bring back Defector Visas: Offer special visas to high-value defectors from adversarial nations (like China or Russia), particularly scientists, engineers, or officials, to weaken rival governments while boosting U.S. innovation and security“My belief is that the United States should stop being the world police. We need to stop sending our people all over the world to fight everyone's wars for them, and we need to become the world's gun store. We need to just sell them the guns that they need to defend themselves and we need to make sure that we actually keep those shelves stocked.” – Palmer LuckeyRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgPalmer Luckey is an entrepreneur and innovator best known for founding Oculus VR and Anduril Industries. In 2012, he launched Oculus VR and developed the Oculus Rift, a groundbreaking virtual reality headset that redefined a wide array of industries. The company was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion, where Luckey subsequently worked until 2017. Following his departure, he founded Anduril Industries - a defense technology company specializing in autonomous systems including drones, surveillance towers, and aircraft. Anduril has secured major contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and international allies. The company has raised significant funding, including $1.5 billion in 2022, valuing it at $8.5 billion. Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: http://armra.com/srs http://helixsleep.com/srs http://patriotmobile.com/srs http://hexclad.com/srs http://ziprecruiter.com/srs https://ROKA.com | Use Code SRS Palmer Luckey Links: Anduril Industries - https://www.anduril.com/ ModRetro - http://modretro.com/ X - https://x.com/PalmerLuckey/ Please leave us a review on Apple & Spotify Podcasts. Vigilance Elite/Shawn Ryan Links: Website | Patreon | TikTok | Instagram | Download Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Invest Like the Best Key Takeaways  “My appetite for finding the best person in the world to do the thing instead of me doing it is almost infinite.” – Graham Duncan Desire wants what it wants; get in tune with your desire Leverage your comparative advantage: Most investing strategies are downstream of the simple goal of (1) making money and (2) not losing too much In investing, the goal is to make money – not be right or feed the go Navigating the Principal-Agent Dynamic: The principal should set the condition that tells the agent that it is okay to make mistakes; if the agent feels that he cannot make mistakes, then he probably won't take sufficient risks Peter Keonig on Source Dynamics: All organizational dysfunction can be traced back to disagreements about the Source; messing with the origin in any subtle way can affect the entire trajectory of the thing in ways that you wouldn't think  Mastery involves “becoming source” of your own style of investing – it involves coming into your own and not playing the game as others have played it, but truly playing it in your own idiosyncratic way Traits of the best investors: (1) Decisiveness (2) Open-mindedness with a point of view Be opportunistic and flexible so that you can flow with emergent market dynamics instead of getting stuck in them Be Like Toranaga: When everybody else is losing their minds, hold – just holdFollow Your Bliss: Trust the universe that if you get in touch with the thing that you are compulsive about and love, the world will come to you  Quiet Ego as a Superpower: The principal should focus on making money and be less concerned about making the idea their ownOn wandering during a wilderness period in your life: Have patience and don't overweight any one thing; don't over-index on “where you are in the system” or become too concerned with being “relevant” “My appetite for finding the best person in the world to do the thing instead of me doing it is almost infinite.” – Graham Duncan Focus on the intersection of what the world wants from you and what you actually want Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMy guest today is Graham Duncan. This conversation will make you think about your life in new ways. This is a two-hour segment of a 4.5-hour interview I did with Graham last year. It stands alone as remarkable, but those who subscribe to Colossus Review will gain access to the full conversation. This will be true in future issues, too. In 2006, in his early 30s, Graham convinced Stuart Miller, CEO of home construction company Lennar, to let him manage $50 million of his family's wealth. A year later, Miller gave him the rest of his capital outside of Lennar. That investment turned into East Rock, where Graham built an incredible investing track record managing billions for a select group of families by focusing on people. Our conversation explores a wide range of topics—from what makes a great investment partnership to the power of positive feedback loops to starting a restaurant. I'm thankful to Graham for showing me the way so many times and for being willing to be so incredibly open in this conversation. Please enjoy this discussion with Graham Duncan.  Subscribe to Colossus Review. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp's mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. – This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Learn about Ramp, Ridgeline, & Alphasense (00:09:40) Intro to Graham (00:10:24) Launching Colossus Review (00:12:25) The Principal-Agent Dynamic (00:15:17) Navigating Financial Crises (00:17:52) The Right Grip in Investing (00:22:02) Seeding and Investment Strategies (00:26:07) Defining 'Commercial' and Its Implications (00:31:01) The Role of Laziness and Prolific Output (00:32:50) Finding the Right People and Positive Feedback Loops (00:41:51) Navigating Career Transitions and Motivations (00:47:35) Understanding Source Dynamics (00:54:37) Key Criteria for a Great CIO (01:04:13) Structuring Relationships with CIOs (01:08:10) Managing Ambiguity and Protecting Mental Clarity (01:19:39) The Importance of Source in Business (01:22:19) Designing Physical Spaces for Success (01:27:18) Launching a Restaurant: A Casting Exercise (01:34:47) Taking Over and Transforming Existing Ventures (01:37:38) Macro Investing and Adaptability (01:40:36) Hierarchy of Investment Mastery (01:48:40) The Art of Referencing (01:56:38) Formative Experiences and Personal Growth (02:04:44) Building a Business and Taking Risks (02:12:16) The Origin of East Rock

Founders ✓ Claim Key Takeaways  Greatness does not come from intelligence; it comes from character, which can only be earned from overcoming adversities and developing perseverance Strategy is not words; strategy is action The Mission is the Boss: Nvidia exists to serve a mission and not for the sake of perpetuating its existence Refuse to be outworked and be unapologetically extreme in your dedication; working long hours is a necessary prerequisite for excellence Do what is natural and organic to you so that you enjoy it and can do it for a long period The Speed of Light Framework for project execution: Instead of judging performance based on past performance or against the competition, judge yourself against the theoretical maximum of what can be achieved in the minimum amount of time; the law of physics should be your only constraint Jensen tortures people into greatness: “The work” is the most important thing, not people's feelings Hone the sword by seeking conflict: Opportunity handled well leads to more opportunity Innovation is a necessity, not an optionNvidia has a flat organizational structure that (1) Enables employees to act with more independence and (2) Filters out low-performing employees who are unaccustomed to thinking for themselves Ship the Whole Cow: Nvidia found ways to package and sell hardware that it previously would have discarded; this helped it mitigate low-end market competition and insulate itself from the innovator's dilemma Complacency kills: The enemy is not the competition, but the company falling victim to complacency –  both real and imagined  Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgWhat I learned from reading The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant by Tae Kim.----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

The Lunar Society Key Takeaways  While the AIs will be smart and conscientious, they will still face human bottlenecks, such as bureaucracies and committees at universitiesWe may not notice AI productivity gains on shorter timeframes: Even if they only boost economic growth by 0.5% per year, that is a massive productivity gain over 30-40 years! “There are going to be bottlenecks all along the way. It's going to be a tough slug – like the printing press, like electricity. The people who study diffusion of new technologies never think there will be rapid takeoff.” – Tyler CowenOpposition to AI will only increase as the technology starts to change what the world looks like There is increasing variance in the human distribution: Young people at the top are doing much better and are more impressive than they were in earlier times. The very bottom of the distribution is also getting better. But the “thick middle” is getting worse.Since humans are an input “other than the AI”, then humans will rise in marginal value, even if we will have to learn to do different thingsOn Popularity and Progress: There is a danger that as a thing becomes more popular, at the margin it becomes much worseThe Tyler Cowen Investment Philosophy: Buy and hold, diversify, hold on tight, make sure you have some cheap hobbies and can cook Tech diffusion is universally pretty slow: While people in the Bay Area are the smartest, most dynamic, and most ambitious, they tend to overvalue intelligence On progress: War should always be the main concern during a period of rapid technological progress; throughout history, when new technologies emerge, they are turned into instruments of war – and terrible things can happen  Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgI interviewed Tyler Cowen at the Progress Conference 2024. As always, I had a blast. This is my fourth interview with him – and yet I'm always hearing new stuff.We talked about why he thinks AI won't drive explosive economic growth, the real bottlenecks on world progress, him now writing for AIs instead of humans, and the difficult relationship between being cultured and fostering growth – among many other things in the full episode.Thanks to the Roots of Progress Institute (with special thanks to Jason Crawford and Heike Larson) for such a wonderful conference, and to FreeThink for the videography.Watch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here.SponsorsI'm grateful to Tyler for volunteering to say a few words about Jane Street. It's the first time that a guest has participated in the sponsorship. I hope you can see why Tyler and I think so highly of Jane Street. To learn more about their open rules, go to janestreet.com/dwarkersh.Timestamps(00:00:00) Economic Growth and AI(00:14:57) Founder Mode and increasing variance(00:29:31) Effective Altruism and Progress Studies(00:33:05) What AI changes for Tyler(00:44:57) The slow diffusion of innovation(00:49:53) Stalin's library(00:52:19) DC vs SF vs EU Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkeshpatel.com/subscribe

Founders ✓ Claim Key Takeaways  Hetty Green's business maxims: 1. Seek out every piece of information on an investment before deciding on it2. Watch your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves 3. Generally, in business, do not close a bargain until you have reflected on it overnight4. Before making a deal, if anyone is foolish enough to offer you the full amount, take it!5. Buy when everyone wants to sell and sell when everyone wants to buy  A defining character trait of Hetty: She lived by her own rules and did not care what other people thought; by casting off the societal norms of her time, she freed herself to do as she pleased and to live a life on her terms   The secret to all successful businesses and a simple strategy for wealth generation: Buy when prices are low and nobody wants them, and keep them until they go up and people become crazy to get them Hetty was self-sovereign, very frugal, and very paranoid: She did not tell other people what she owned or how much she was making, and commonly bought property and stocks under fictitious namesGreed does not drive the world, envy does; cure yourself of envy because envy is a weakness Some things on Hetty Green's list of things to NOT do in business:1. Do not cheat in business or you will find yourself in an early grave2. Do not fail to be fair in all things and do not kick a man when he is down 3. Do not envy your neighbors 4. Do not forget to be charitable and never falsify When it comes to living your life, you will inevitably have to neglect some things; if you try to do too much, you will never get anywhere  Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgHetty Green bailed out New York City. Her decisions on what interest rates to charge moved markets and were reported in major newspapers. She was a one woman bank and the single biggest individual financier in the world. She took no partners and ran her own money. She built a financial empire of stocks, bonds, railroads, and real estate. She battled the great men of her day and kept a gun on her desk. She did all of this alone. Defiantly independent and ferociously intelligent she built a vast, liquid fortune at a time when women couldn't even vote. She used her intelligence to increase her wealth, her independence to live as she wished, and her strength to battle anyone who stood in her way.This episode is what I learned from reading Hetty: The Genius and Madness of America's First Female Tycoon by Charles Slack and The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age by Janet Wallach. ----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Vesto: All of your company's financial accounts in one view. Connect and control all of your business bank accounts from one dashboard. Go to Vesto and schedule a demo with the founder Ben. Tell him David sent you.  Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast ----Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Invest Like the Best Key Takeaways  Knowledge, money, and power are connecting in ways that we have not seen for the last 500 years “This moment is probably the most interesting moment of the last 100 years in terms of the opportunity set that is going to come from it.” – Micky Malka There is no winning and losing if you are playing an infinite game; once you are ahead, you have to change the rules of the game so that you will fall behindThe game is better played when you are trying to get ahead and not when you are ahead and trying to prevent people from passing you Every time money becomes better, people live better lives Burn the bridge that got you here; whatever got you here will not get you to the next phase Be more concentrated and have more conviction Life and business principles from Micky Malka:1. Never forget where you came from 2. Fewer decisions is best 3. Be genuine to yourself and those around you How to build a strong team: Instead of identifying a job title and then looking for a person to fill it, just look for amazing people that you want to work with, then hire them We will need streaming data and streaming money to enable automated services; people who understand both of these fields can build paradigm-shifting technologies Returns are an output metric; focus on the input and let the output take care of itself How to create magical outputs: (1) Create a team that is passionate about meeting others, engaging, and learning, and (2) Ensure that the inputs to the team's machine will make the world better Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMy guest today is Micky Malka. Micky is the founder of Ribbit Capital, a global venture capital firm that focuses exclusively on financial technology investments. He is a renowned investor for his adaptability and visionary approach and a believer in killing the thing that got you to where you are in pursuit of what's next. We discuss his perspective on fintech's evolution and why his firm boldly declares that “fintech is dead.” We dive into his theory of the "grid," which examines how knowledge, wealth, and power are being transformed by technological changes, particularly through the rise of AI, cryptocurrency, and network states. And we also explore Micky's deep interest in digital art and NFTs, which he sees as early indicators of broader cultural and technological shifts. You'll soon hear how he is truly taking a generative approach on all fronts. Please enjoy this in-depth conversation with Micky Malka.  My guests today For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. — This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp's mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest-growing FinTech company in history, and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. It's also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:37) The Rebel Spirit of Ribbit (00:07:36) Ribbit's Unique Structure and Philosophy (00:08:07) The First Fund and Institutional Partners (00:09:03) Founding Principles and No Labels Approach (00:13:44) Early Investments and the Crypto Angle (00:16:42) The FinTech Evolution and Market Dynamics (00:22:30) Navigating Challenges: The Robinhood Story (00:28:57) The Global Digital Grid Concept (00:36:09) The Future of Digital Identity and Tokenization (00:41:00) The Role of Stablecoins in the Modern Economy (00:50:16) The Challenge of Adaptability (00:53:05) The Role of Heart in Business (00:55:19) The Walmart Partnership Story (01:00:07) Lessons from NuBank (01:02:49) Building a Strong Team (01:09:28) The Importance of Brand (01:11:52) Art and Its Future (01:17:20) The Impact of Better Money (01:19:27) Reflections and Future Plans (01:28:03) Handling Crises and Embracing Movement (01:31:40) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Micky

BG2Pod with Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley Key Takeaways  The basics of business strategy: Recognize your structural position in the market, understand where you have permission in the market from your partners and customers who want you to win, and then do those obvious things first “I think the company of this generation has already been created, which is OpenAI.” – Satya Nadella To properly evaluate the AI arms race, you have to analyze it structurally by layer The year 2025 will be the year of infinite AI memory; the next 10x function of ChatGPT is its having a persistent memory combined with it being able to take action on our behalf Increasingly, Mag-7 capital expenditure resembles industrial companies more so than traditional software companies Continued advancements in the AI tier may collapse the traditional application categories How model capability will increase: Pre-training and test-time sampling create the tokens that can go back into pre-training, which creates even more powerful models that can then run on your inference How to be successful in life and business:Pattern-match periods in which you are successful and in which you are not, then do more of the behaviors that you did during your successful periods Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgOpen Source bi-weekly convo w/ Bill Gurley and Brad Gerstner on all things tech, markets, investing & capitalism. This week they are joined by Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, to discuss becoming Microsoft's CEO, Advice for CEO's, Microsoft's Investment in OpenAI, Legacy Search, Ten Blue Links, Consumer and Enterprise AI, The Future of AI Agents, Infinite Memory, CoPilot, Microsoft's Capital Expenditure, Open AI's future, AI safety & more. Enjoy another episode of BG2. Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:31) Becoming Microsoft CEO (06:42) Satya's Memo to CEO Committee  (10:42) Satya's Advantage as a CEO (11:34) Advice for CEOs (15:01) Microsoft's Investment in OpenAI (19:42) AI Arms Race (23:55) Legacy Search and Consumer AI (28:07) The Future of AI Agents (38:32) Near-Infinite Memory (39:47) Copilot Approach to AI Adoption (50:26) Leveraging AI within Microsoft (56:03) CapX (01:00:20) The Cost of Model Scaling and Inference (01:15:15) Open AI Conversion to Profit (01:18:05) Next Steps for OpenAI (01:19:43) Open vs. Closed and Safe AI Available on Apple, Spotify, www.bg2pod.com Follow: Brad Gerstner @altcap Bill Gurley @bgurley BG2 Pod @bg2pod #BillGurley #BradGerstner #Bg2Pod

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career ✓ Claim Key Takeaways  A brand is not a logo; it is a promise and what the customer expects from your product The goal is not to make the product perfect for you, it is to delight your customer The key to building a brand: Make a promise and keep it Do not sacrifice your agency over the four most crucial things that you should be choosing: your customers, competition, source of validation, and distributionOn the role of tension in strategy: The customer should consider what their life would be like if your product delivers on what it promises to do “If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.” – Seth Godin Better waves make better surfers: Much of your success is determined by choosing the wave and not the skills that you have  Professionals do their work in a non-narcissistic way: You can't paint a picture of where you want to go; instead, you should paint a picture of where theywant to goBe of service to others! “It is very difficult to change what people want, but it is helpful to offer people a chance to get where they always wanted to go in the first place.” – Seth Godin  Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgSeth Godin is a legend. He's a marketer, teacher, entrepreneur, and author of more than 20 books, including Purple Cow, Permission Marketing, and Linchpin. He also writes one of the most popular and longest-running blogs in the world (approaching publishing 10,000 in a row!) and continues to shape how we think about marketing, brand, product, and creating lasting change in the world. In our conversation, we discuss:• How to build remarkable products that spread• The four critical strategic choices that determine your future• How to develop good taste and high standards• The role of tension in great strategy• How Seth used Claude to write his newest book• Much more—Brought to you by:• DX—A platform for measuring and improving developer productivity• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security• Paragon—Ship every SaaS integration your customers want—Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/seth-godins-tactics-for-building-remarkable-products—Where to find Seth Godin:• Blog: http://seths.blog/• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethgodin• Website: https://www.sethgodin.com—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Seth's background(05:17) Understanding good taste and upholding high standards(08:09) Become the best at whatever you do(09:48) Seth's journey as a product manager(14:09) What people often get wrong when building products(16:00) Building a brand in the age of AI(19:04) Using AI to enhance writing(22:40) Four critical elements for an effective strategy(27:38) The role of tension in strategy(29:15) The concept of the purple cow(33:11) "Safe is risky"(34:56) The power of systems(37:07) Better waves make better surfers(38:10) Rebranding vs. re-logoing(43:07) Empathetic leadership(44:14) Conclusion and farewell—Referenced:• Seth Godin on the Tim Ferriss Show: https://tim.blog/2024/03/20/seth-godin-3/• Persuasive communication and managing up | Wes Kao (Maven, Seth Godin, Section4): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/persuasive-communication-wes-kao• Spinnaker: https://spinnaker.io• Ray Bradbury: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury• Arthur C. Clarke: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke• Isaac Asimov: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov• Roger Zelazny: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Zelazny• Herbie Hancock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbie_Hancock• Fahrenheit 451 (game): https://www.filfre.net/2013/09/fahrenheit-451-the-game/• RTFM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM#• Intercom: https://www.intercom.com• Claude: https://claude.ai• ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com• Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com• Steam: https://store.steampowered.com• P.F. Flyers: https://pfflyers.com• Steve Blank's website: https://steveblank.com• Marissa Mayer on X: https://x.com/marissamayer• Jaguar unveils new logo ahead of electric relaunch: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgr0pw00n7qo• IHOP Becomes IHOb, the International House of ... Burgers: https://www.npr.org/2018/06/11/618844977/ihop-becomes-ihob-the-international-house-of-burgers• Oreo's Super Bowl Power-Outage Tweet Was 18 Months in the Making: https://www.businessinsider.com/oreos-super-bowl-power-outage-tweet-was-18-months-in-the-making-2013-3• Tesla's New ‘Ludicrous Mode' Makes the Model S a Supercar: https://www.wired.com/2015/07/teslas-new-ludicrous-mode-makes-model-s-supercar—Recommended books:• This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans (Create a Strategy to Elevate Your Career, Community & Life): https://www.amazon.com/This-Strategy-Better-Elevate-Community/dp/B0D47T8S7N• Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable: https://www.amazon.com/Purple-Cow-New-Transform-Remarkable/dp/1591843170—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Invest Like the Best Key Takeaways  As of late 2024, the AI industry is shifting from a pre-training compute approach to test-time compute Understanding the difference between pre-training and test-time compute: Pre-training occurs before testing and involves more complex, resource-intensive computation, whereas test-time compute is typically faster and focuses only on making inferencesMoving from pre-training to inference-time is a powerful paradigm shift for the AI industry1. It better aligns revenue generation and expenditures; this is beneficial for the industry at-large  2. Having to re-architect the computing network creates new opportunities and considerations related to power generation and grid designTest-time compute better aligns the compute and expenditures of the model, relative to pre-training; this is better for the hyperscalers from an efficiency perspective The plateau in pre-training has enabled small teams to catch up to the state-of-the-art models; the proliferation of open source models, specifically what Meta has done with Llama, has been an extraordinary force for AI scaling  If the plateau in pre-training continues, small teams will be able to “jump to the frontier” of model training for a specific AI use case; this allows reduces competition amongst the hyperscalers It is likely for two of the Mag7 companies, such as Google and Meta, to give away an AI search product similar to ChatGPT for free OpenAI is “very serious about achieving AGI”; that is the company's mission, and everything else the company does is in service of that Stability at the model layer will enable optimization at the various layers above it; when the industry is in “land-grab” mode, there is not any time to optimize! Over the long-term, technology is deflationary because it is a matter of optimization When technology unlocks, distribution also unlocks; this means that startups can now acquire customers that were previously too expensive to get “I imagine that we'll be pretty close to or at AGI in 2025.” – Chetan Puttagunta Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMy guests today are Chetan Puttagunta and Modest Proposal. Chetan is a General Partner at venture firm Benchmark, while Modest Proposal is an anonymous guest who manages a large pool of capital in the public markets. Both are good friends and frequent guests on the show, but this is the first time they have appeared together. And the timing couldn't be better - we might be witnessing a pivotal shift in AI development as leading labs hit scaling limits and transition from pre-training to test-time compute. Together, we explore how this change could democratize AI development while reshaping the investment landscape across both public and private markets. Please enjoy this discussion with Chetan Puttagunta and Modest Proposal. My guests today For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Ramp's mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Ramp is the fastest growing FinTech company in history and it's backed by more of my favorite past guests (at least 16 of them!) than probably any other company I'm aware of. It's also notable that many best-in-class businesses use Ramp—companies like Airbnb, Anduril, and Shopify, as well as investors like Sequoia Capital and Vista Equity. They use Ramp to manage their spending, automate tedious financial processes, and reinvest saved dollars and hours into growth. At Colossus and Positive Sum, we use Ramp for exactly the same reason. Go to Ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. – This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:05:30) Introduction to LLM Scaling Challenges (00:07:25) Synthetic Data and Test Time Compute (00:08:53) Implications of Test Time Compute (00:11:19) Public Tech Companies and AI Investments (00:16:58) Small Teams and Open Source Models (00:29:02) Strategic Positioning of Major AI Players (00:35:49) AGI and Future Prospects (00:46:50) AI Application Layer and Investment Opportunities (00:54:18) The Paradigm Shift in AI Reasoning (00:55:34) Investing in AI-Powered Solutions (00:58:46) Economic Impacts of AI Advancements (01:00:19) The Future of AI and Model Stability (01:02:52) Private Market Valuations and Compute Costs (01:05:05) Infrastructure and Utilization in AI (01:12:50) The Role of Hyperscalers and GPUs (01:18:02) The Evolution of AI Applications (01:27:56) Philosophical Questions on AGI and ASI (01:34:31) The Importance of Innovation Hubs

My First Million Key Takeaways  Instead of focusing on how something might fail, consider how big the idea could be if everything worked out You don't always want to sit behind a defensive moat; sometimes, a high-velocity attack is the best way to win Mental models from one discipline are often applicable in another discipline; cross-pollinate ideas and concepts across disciplines and you may discover something novel The key to success is dumb competition; competing against knuckleheads increases your chances of successFocusing on making money will cause you to make less money; nobody wants to give money to people who are too focused on making money It is fine to want money, but wealth is a paradox; the more of it you want, the less of it you get It is better to focus on things that are upstream of making money, such as solving problems and developing skills that are valuable to other people The greatest returns in investing come from allowing the compounding machine to run; do not make decisions or engage in behavior that interrupts the compounding machine You have a massive arbitrage opportunity if you can avoid mimetic desire in venture capital investing In life and business, you can just do things! You don't always need permission Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgEpisode 648: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talks to Flexport founder Ryan Petersen ( https://x.com/typesfast ) about playing both games: bootstrapping a startup to millions and raising venture capital to build a multi-billion dollar company.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Import Genius (5:36) Paul Graham's superpower (9:34) Data-as-a-service framework (13:51) Charlie Munger's worldly wisdom (19:45) Prioritizing adventure (24:09) The paradox of wealth (28:51) Charlie Munger's student experiment (31:00) Negotiation masterclass (37:23) Inside Founders Fund (43:16) Being in a crowd v following a crowd (46:29) Highs and lows (48:52) "You can just do things" (50:16) Unseen arbitrages (53:00) $50M Phone booths — Links: • Flexport - https://www.flexport.com/  • Flexport on X - https://x.com/flexport • ImportGenius - https://www.importgenius.com/  • Schlep Blindness - https://paulgraham.com/schlep.html • Poor Charlie's Almanack - https://www.stripe.press/poor-charlies-almanack  • Founders Fund - https://foundersfund.com/  — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it's called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam's List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

Honestly with Bari Weiss ✓ Claim Key Takeaways  Prominent people are shifting to the right because they never signed up for the left's intellectual straight-jacketThe 2024 presidential election marked a collapse of liberalism and the Democratic Party; it is too narrow of thinking to blame it on a senile Biden or a goofy Kamala If the machine always wins, then you no longer have a democracy nor a democratic process: If Trump would have lost to the machine in 2024, who would have ever been able to defeat it?  If we are going to avoid World War III, we must learn the lessons of WWI and WWII; we cannot have excessive appeasement to dictators, but also, we cannot sleepwalk into armageddon On the elite Ivy League institutions: “Maybe they're good places for training conservatives. If you go to Yale Law School and you're one of five people in the class who are still conservative at the end, you'll be pretty good at understanding what's wrong with liberalism.” Populism and democracy may be a Russell conjugate: It is democracy when people vote the right way and it is populism when they vote the wrong wayBoth extreme dogmatism and extreme skepticism are incompatible with science If you make something into God, you make it into a scapegoat for all the problems too If you're addicted to the 140 characters on your shiny iPhone screen, you may not realize that the New York Subway and your decrepit apartment building are collapsing around you It matters what people do; there is room for human agency and human thought in the trajectory of the future Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgOn Tuesday night, president-elect Donald Trump announced that the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, along with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will head a new department in the Trump administration: the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE.” Aside from the very strange fact that internet meme culture has now landed in the White House—Dogecoin is a memecoin—more importantly, what the announcement solidifies is the triumph of the counter-elite. A bunch of oddball outsiders ran against an insular band of out-of-touch elites supported by every celebrity in Hollywood—and they won. And they are about to reshape not just the government but also the culture in ways we can't imagine. And there was one person I wanted to discuss it with. He is the vanguard of those antiestablishment counter-elites: Peter Thiel. People describe the billionaire venture capitalist in very colorful terms. He's been called the most successful tech investor in the world. A political kingmaker. The bogeyman of the left. The center of gravity in Silicon Valley. There's the “Thielverse,” “Thielbucks,” and “Thielists.” To say he has an obsessive cult following would be an understatement. If you listened to my last conversation with Thiel a year and a half ago on Honestly, you'll remember that Peter was the first guy in Silicon Valley to publicly embrace Trump in 2016. That year, he gave a memorable speech at the RNC, and many in his orbit thought it was simply a step too far. He lost business at Y Combinator, the start-up incubator where he was a partner. Many prominent tech leaders criticized him publicly, like VC and Twitter investor Chris Sacca, who called Thiel's endorsement of Trump “one of the most dangerous things” he had ever seen.  Well, a lot has changed since then. For one, Thiel has taken a step back from politics—at least publicly. He didn't donate to Trump's 2024 campaign. There was no big RNC speech this year. But the bigger change is a cultural one. He's no longer the pariah of Silicon Valley for supporting Trump. On the surface, Thiel is someone who seems full of contradictions. He is a libertarian who has found common cause with nationalists and populists. He likes investing in companies that have the ability to become monopolies, and yet Trump's White House wants to break up Big Tech. He is a gay American immigrant, but he hates identity politics and the culture wars. He pays people to drop out of college, but, in this conversation at least, still seems to venerate the way that the Ivy Leagues are an indicator of intelligence. But perhaps that's the secret to his success: He's beholden to no tribe but himself, no ideology but his own. And why wouldn't you be when you make so many winning bets? From co-founding the e-payment behemoth PayPal and the data analytics firm Palantir (which was used to find Osama bin Laden) to being the first outside investor in Facebook, Thiel's investments—in companies like LinkedIn, Palantir, and SpaceX, to name a few—have paid off big time. His most recent bet—helping his mentee J.D. Vance get elected as senator and then on the Trump ticket as vice president—seems also to have paid off. The next four years will determine just how high Thiel's profit margin will be. Today: Thiel explains why so many of his peers have finally come around to Trump; why he thinks Kamala—and liberalism more broadly—lost the election; and why the Trump 2.0 team will be better than last time, with antiestablishment figures who are willing to rethink the system. We talk about the border, trade deals, student debt, Israel and foreign policy, the rise of historical revisionism, the blurry line between skepticism and conspiracy, and his contrarian ideas about what we might face in a dreaded World War III. If you liked what you heard from Honestly, the best way to support us is to go to TheFP.com and become a Free Press subscriber today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learning Leader Show Key Takeaways Check out the episode pageRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgThe Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com My books: Welcome to Management - https://amzn.to/3XWyZAH  The Pursuit of Excellence - https://amzn.to/4eX9vtP  The Score That Matters - https://amzn.to/3zPub7Z  Seth Godin is the author of 21 international bestsellers that have changed the way people think about work and art. They have been translated into 38 languages. His breakthrough books include Purple Cow, Tribes, The Dip, Linchpin, and his latest book is called This is Strategy. He writes one of the most popular daily blogs in the world and has given 5 TED talks. He is the founder of the altMBA, and the former VP of Direct Marketing at Yahoo! Notes: "If you want word of mouth, you have to create something remarkable, and that means it's worthy of remark." The elegant path is the most useful way forward. “My neighbor is a barefoot runner. He glides without apparent effort.” Elegance is simplicity, efficiency, and effectiveness. Dorothy and Her Crew. How did Dorothy persuade the Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow to join her on the trip to see the Wizard? Did she make a case about how much she missed home? No. She created the conditions where the others could get what they wanted by joining her. Seeing Strategy Clearly. Strategy is a flexible plan that guides us as we seek to create a change. It helps us make decisions over time while working within a system. Low-Hanging Fruit Isn't. It's all been picked. The easy, direct, obvious paths are unlikely to get you the results you're working so hard to obtain. In fact, these paths are probably a trap. Seth, at one point, got 800 rejection letters. Have to keep going... "I wouldn't call Steve Ballmer a good leader." An example of Seth making a difference... He went to Kenya and talked with 60 people who started a book club based on his book Linchpin. "They decided to be leaders." Make decisions in the moment: Examine the issue Get feedback Look for patterns "Taste is knowing what the market wants before it knows it." Rick Rubin Reality distortion field Johnny Cash "What do you think?" "Objections are your friends." What are the commonalities among leaders with whom Seth has worked and who have sustained excellence? They are all different, but the one thing they have in common is they all have chosen to be leaders. And that means that they are here to make a change happen. Management doesn't just exist. It was invented. When you race to the bottom, You see people as resources, not as people. Questions That Lead To Strategies. 84 questions. They'll force you to think through your strategy. By answering them, you'll be better prepared to make a difference… And make a ruckus. Some of them: Who is this project for? What is my timeline? What systems would need to change for my project to succeed? Where will I cause tension? What resistance should I anticipate? Where is the empathy? What asset would transform my project? What can I learn from comparable projects? Is the change I'm making contagious? Can I make it easier for others to decide? How can I design for network effects? What are common objections I expect to encounter?

Founders ✓ Claim Key Takeaways  “If Steve Jobs studied Edwin Land, I think every other founder should as well.” – David Senra Optimize for breadth as well as depth; hire the chemist who does photography on the side! Something magical exists at the intersection of the humanities and the sciences “Missionaries make better products.” – Jeff Bezos Missionaries and mercenaries are the two types of people that will be attracted to a companyWhile the mercenaries are there for the perks, status, and money, the missionaries are there to make better products because they believe in what the company is doingLeverage the power of demonstration: No argument in the world can compare with one dramatic demonstrationA first-class product needs first-class packaging and marketing! The founder is the guardian of the company's soul If you are lucky enough to find your life's work, why would you quit? You should take yourself seriously, but don't make yourself miserable; none of us get out of this alive Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgWhat I learned from rereading Instant: The Story of Polaroid by Christopher Bonanos. ----Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ----Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book----Episode Outline: — The most obvious parallel is to Apple Computer. Both companies specialized in relentless, obsessive refinement of their technologies. Both were established close to great research universities to attract talent. Both fetishized superior, elegant, covetable product design. And both companies exploded in size and wealth under an in-house visionary-godhead-inventor-genius. At Apple, that man was Steve Jobs. At Polaroid, the genius was Edwin Land. Just as Apple stories almost all lead back to Jobs, Polaroid lore always seems to focus on Land.— Both men were college dropouts; both became as rich as anyone could ever wish to be; and both insisted that their inventions would change the fundamental nature of human interaction.— Jobs expressed his deep admiration for Edwin Land. He called him a national treasure.— Books on Edwin Land:Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg (Founders #263)A Triumph of Genius: Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War by Ronald Fierstein (Founders #134)Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg (Founders #133)The Instant Image: Edwin Land and the Polaroid Experience by Mark Olshaker (Founders #132)Insisting On The Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land and Instant: The Story of Polaroid(Founders #40)— Biography about Steve Jobs: Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli— Edwin Land of Polaroid talked about the intersection of the humanities and science. I like that intersection. There's something magical about that place. There are a lot of people innovating, and that's not the main distinction of my career. The reason Apple resonates with people is that there's a deep current of humanity in our innovation. I think great artists and great engineers are similar, in that they both have a  desire to express themselves. In fact some of the best people working on the original Mac were poets and musicians on the side. In the seventies computers became a way for people to express their creativity. Great artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were also great at science. Michelangelo knew a lot about how to quarry stone, not just how to be a sculptor. —  Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson (Founders #214)— Book on Henry Ford:I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford by Richard Snow (Founders #9)The Autobiography of Henry Ford by Henry Ford (Founders #26) Today and Tomorrow Henry Ford (Founders #80) My Forty Years With Ford by Charles Sorensen  (Founders #118)The Story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison's Ten Year Road Trip by Jeff Guinn (Founders #190) — Another parallel to Jobs: Land's control over his company was nearly absolute, and he exercised it to a degree that was compelling and sometimes exhausting.— When you read a biography of Edwin land you see an incredibly smart, gifted, driven, focused person endure decade after decade of struggle. And more importantly —finally work his way through.— Another parallel to Jobs: You may be noticing that none of this has anything to do with instant photography. Polarizers rather than pictures would define the first two decades of lands intellectual life and would establish his company. Instant photos were an idea that came later on, a secondary business around which his company was completely recreated.— “Missionaries make better products.” —Jeff Bezos— His letter to shareholders gradually became a particularly dramatic showcase for his language and his thinking. These letters-really more like personal mission statements-are thoughtful and compact, and just eccentric enough to be completely engaging. Instead of discussing earnings and growth they laid out Land's World inviting everyone to join.— Land gave him a four-word job description: "Keeper of the language.”— No argument in the world can ever compare with one dramatic demonstration. — My Life in Advertising by Claude Hopkins (Founders #170)— The leap to Polaroid was like replacing a messenger on horseback with your first telephone.— Hire a paid critic:Norio Ohga, who had been a vocal arts student at the Tokyo University of Arts when he saw our first audio tape recorder back in 1950. I had had my eye on him for all those years because of his bold criticism of our first machine.He was a great champion of the tape recorder, but he was severe with us because he didn't think our early machine was good enough. It had too much wow and flutter, he said. He was right, of course; our first machine was rather primitive. We invited him to be a paid critic even while he was still in school. His ideas were very challenging. He said then, "A ballet dancer needs a mirror to perfect her style, her technique.— Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony by Akio Morita.— Another parallel to Jobs: Don't kid yourself. Polaroid is a one man company.— He argued there was no reason that well-designed, wellmade computers couldn't command the same market share and margins as a luxury automobile.A BMW might get you to where you are going in the same way as a Chevy that costs half the price, but there will always be those who will pay for the better ride in the sexier car. Rather than competing with commodity PC makers like Dell, Compaq and Gateway, why not make only first-class products with high margins so that Apple could continue to develop even better first-class products?The company could make much bigger profits from selling a $3,000 machine rather than a $500 machine, even if they sold fewer of them.Why not, then, just concentrate on making the best $3,000 machines around? — Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products by Leander Kahney.— How To Turn Down A Billion Dollars: The Snapchat Story by Billy Gallagher — Books on Enzo FerrariGo Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans by A.J. Baime. (Founders #97) Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics, and The Making of an Automotive Empire by Luca Dal Monte (Founders #98) Enzo Ferrari: The Man and The Machine by Brock Yates (Founders #220) — Soul in the game. Listen to how Edwin Land describes his product:We would not have known and have only just learned that a new kind of relationship between people in groups is brought into being by SX-70 when the members of a group are photographing and being photographed and sharing the photographs: it turns out that buried within us—there is latent interest in each other; there is tenderness, curiosity, excitement, affection, companionability and humor; it turns out, in this cold world where man grows distant from man,and even lovers can reach each other only briefly, that we have a yen for and a primordial competence for a quiet good-humored delight in each other:we have a prehistoric tribal competence for a non-physical, non-emotional, non-sexual satisfaction in being partners in the lonely exploration of a once empty planet.—  “Over the very long term, history shows that the chances of any business surviving in a manner agreeable to a company's owners are slim at best.” —Charlie Munger----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast 

Rich Roll Podcast Key Takeaways Check out the episode pageRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgTom Holland is the star of Spider-Man, a nascent entrepreneur, and one of Hollywood's most grounded young actors. This conversation traverses the nexus of fame, personal growth, and Tom's journey toward sobriety, which catalyzed his foray into the non-alcoholic beverage industry. We explore his evolution from child actor to global superstar, his therapeutic relationship with golf, and how he's remained attuned to his authentic self amidst Hollywood's gilded chaos. Tom candidly reflects on navigating the intricacies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and his recent return to the verité of Shakespearean theatre. Tom's infectious enthusiasm is palpable. Enjoy! Show notes + MORE Watch on YouTube Newsletter Sign-Up Today's Sponsors:  Bon Charge: Use code RICHROLL to save 15% OFF

Invest Like the Best Key Takeaways  “The founder has to be accountable for the story. The founder holds this secret knowledge and vision that other people do not.” – Lulu Meservey Go Direct: If the founder's secret has to go through seven layers of filtering before it is shared with the world, then it will become something that is already familiar to people and that already existsThe Core Ingredients of Founder Communications:1. Have a willingness and eagerness to take on the company's comms 2. Have a clear vision of the company's goals 3. Know your audience4. Reach people where they intellectually hang out“Communication is a vector, not a scalar. It only matters if there is a direction attached to it.” – Lulu Meservey Know your audience; if you are talking to the wrong people, then you would be better off talking to nobody because you may be making new enemies or unwanted friends Do not worry about converting your haters into believers; doing so successfully is so rare that it is probably not worth your scare timeKnow where your target audience intellectually hangs out so that your message can reach them in that medium Do not worry about converting your haters into believers; doing so successfully is so rare that it is probably not worth your scare time Craft your hook and know the erogenous zone of your target audience, then present them with a “gateway drug” that bridges them into the new world that you are creatingRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgMy guest today is Lulu Meservey. Lulu is the Founder and CEO of Rostra, a company that partners with founders to level up their communications around all strategic initiatives, from hiring to fundraising. She is also on the board at Shopify. I have been recently fascinated by the challenge of founders telling their story and Lulu is an expert in comms and a believer in creative problem-solving through effective communication and compelling storytelling. We discuss the evolution of media and its pitfalls, innovative methods for managing crises, and the power of going direct with your communication. Please enjoy my conversation with Lulu Meservey. I'm excited to announce that we are hiring an Editor in Chief at Colossus. This will be a critical and central role in our growing media platform and in our quest to find and showcase the best people, businesses, and ideas in the world. This person will work on existing shows like Invest Like the Best and Founders, our soon-to-be-announced print publication, and more. We aim to be the dominant media company exploring business and investing frontiers, so this person needs to be obsessed with these topics and bring serious operational chops. I firmly believe this role can help define someone's career. Go to joincolossus.com/eic to apply. Subscribe to Glue Guys! For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Ridgeline. Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. I think this platform will become the standard for investment managers, and if you run an investing firm, I highly recommend you find time to speak with them. Head to ridgelineapps.com to learn more about the platform. — This episode is brought to you by Alphasense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Imagine completing your research five to ten times faster with search that delivers the most relevant results, helping you make high-conviction decisions with confidence. AlphaSense provides access to over 300 million premium documents, including company filings, earnings reports, press releases, and more from public and private companies. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegas help you make smarter decisions faster. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com). Show Notes: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best (00:06:48) The Evolution of Media and Communication (00:11:25) The Importance of Direct Communication for Founders (00:20:20) Choosing the Right Partners and Clients (00:25:20) The Art of Launching a Product (00:34:01) Fundraising Tips for Entrepreneurs and Investors (00:35:32) The Pitfalls of Inauthentic Fundraising (00:36:05) Crafting a Compelling Macro Narrative (00:37:54) Crisis Management Strategies for Founders (00:42:41) Lessons from Counterinsurgency (00:44:24) The Rugby Analogy for Founders (00:49:34) The Power of K-Pop Marketing (00:56:30) Vision and Future of Rostra (01:01:17) The Importance of Direct Communication (01:10:36) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Done For Lulu

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career ✓ Claim Key Takeaways  “Every tap on a mobile app is a miracle for you as a product developer.” – Nikita Bier Teens see each other everyday; this is one of the most important factors for why teen consumer apps have a higher probability of going viral If you are building a product with network effects and that is a communication tool, then you want to be positioned on that upward curve of adding connections to your social graph, because there is a higher urgency to connect Search for product ideas by using the concept “latent demand”: Identify the user's motivation, clear up what they are actually trying to do, and then crystalize the process for them; this leads to intense adoptionThe most important thing to increase your probability of success: Develop a reproducible testing process You will know when your product is working; if there is any uncertainty, then your product is not working People download apps to make or save money, find a mate, or unplug from reality How to take a product from Zero to One: Execute at 100% for the thing you are trying to validate at that specific stage of the product development cycleAlways do right by users; if you do wrong to users, the internet will eventually find a way to seek its revenge on you While discovering a new communication product is a once-in-a-decade black swan event, growing a product can be more of a science Your app must demonstrate value in the first three seconds or it is not going to work  “Consumer products live and die in the pixels.” – Nikita Bier Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgNikita Bier is one of the most in-demand consumer, social, and growth experts in the world. He's the co-founder of TBH (sold to Meta for more than $30 million) and Gas (sold to Discord for millions more) and has helped more consumer apps that have hit #1 in the app stores than any other person I've come across. He currently spends his time advising founders on growth, product, and design and is an investor and advisor to some of the best consumer tech companies, including Flo, Locket, Eight Sleep, Citizen, BeReal, Captions, and more. In our conversation, we discuss:• The inside story of how TBH and Gas achieved explosive growth• Strategies for building viral consumer apps• Why teens are such a great audience• Fighting the human trafficking hoax at Gas• The challenge of creating durable social products• His experience working as a PM at Facebook• Advice for founders on building consumer apps• Much more—Brought to you by:• Webflow—The web experience platform• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security• Explo—Embed customer-facing analytics in your product—Book Nikita for 1:1 consultation/mentoring: https://intro.co/NikitaBier—Find the transcript and show notes at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-consistently-go-viral-nikita-bier—Where to find Nikita Bier:• X: https://x.com/nikitabier • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@nikitabier• Website: https://intro.co/NikitaBier—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Nikita's background (06:08) Nikita's early ventures: Politify and Outline(08:42) Transition to consumer apps(13:45) The birth of TBH(16:43) Building for teens vs. adults(20:00) TBH's viral success(32:18) Leveraging live chat(34:08) Lasting lessons from TBH(37:00) Selling TBH to Facebook(42:19) Big-tech product management(48:46) Nikita on why “product management is not real”(51:49) The Tim Cook painting story(53:53) Leaving Facebook and starting a new venture(58:02) Rebuilding TBH and overcoming challenges(59:46) Addressing criticism(01:04:24) The human trafficking hoax(01:09:51) Selling to Discord and lessons learned(01:11:36) Lasting lessons from Gas(01:13:14) Building durable consumer apps(01:22:35) The VC route(01:23:27) Contact permissions in iOS 18(01:26:53) The success of Dupe(01:31:53) Advice for startup founders(01:34:14) Work with Nikita—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

My First Million Key Takeaways Check out the episode pageRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgEpisode 622: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Jesse Pujji ( https://x.com/jspujji  ) about bootstrapping Ampush and the four levers of digital marketing.  — Show Notes:  (0:00) Unique insight + unfair advantage (3:05) How Jesse bootstrapped Ampush using GLG (14:00) Digital marketing in masterclass in 3 minutes (20:30) How to sell to the ultra rich (27:38) Red Ventures' Playbook (32:40) The Four Big Levers (41:00) Calling Zuck's cell (46:30) Noah Kagan's $100M mistake at facebook (58:45) What's the thing you can't not do? (1:01:00) Nelly performs at Jesse's birthday party — Links: • Gateway X - https://www.gateway.xyz/ • Aux Insights - https://www.auxinsights.com/ • Accordion - https://www.accordion.com/ • GrowthAssistant - https://growthassistant.com/ • GLG Insights - https://glginsights.com/ • Triple Whale - https://www.triplewhale.com/ • Ampush Lead Gen Overview - https://tinyurl.com/mw3f7cbk — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam's List - http://samslist.co/ — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it's called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano