The Joseph Wells Podcast

Ryan is the founder of Naptown Scoop, a local newsletter covering the goings on in Annapolis, Maryland. Ryan started the newsletter about a year ago and has grown it to over 6,000 subscribers. While Annapolis is Ryan's current focus, he has big plans. His vision is to own hundreds of local newsletters covering the important events in cities all across the United States.

In this episode, Grant and I discussed his recent curation of Balaji Srinivasan's work. Grant taught me about the metaverse, which was a term I'd heard many times but wasn't sure what it meant. We talked about MyMBA—why Grant built it, how it works, and the outcomes his students are seeing. And we also discussed how Grant made his decision to transition from a stable career with a big four consulting firm to the uncertain path of entrepreneurship.

My guest today is Abe Maingi. Abe is a fellow self improvement junkie, avid reader, writer, and habit builder. He's also co-founder of a company called Inceptor Bio, a biotech company focused on advancing cell and gene therapies to cure cancer.

My guest today is Dr. David Grew. David is a radiation oncologist and the founder of an app called PRIMR. PRIMR is a web application where doctors can provide patients with digitally recorded, personalized explanations about their medical conditions and treatments. In this episode, David and I discussed making friends on Twitter. David explained the long and arduous process of becoming a doctor. We talked about David's app, PRIMR, and we discussed the challenges involved with building a SaaS product as a non-technical founder. David also shared his experience with On Deck Founder's Fellowship and Jack Butcher's course, Build Once, Sell Twice.

My guest today is Michael Ashcroft. Michael is a writer, thinker, YouTuber, and teacher of the Alexander Technique through his online course.  In this episode, Michael and I discussed why he left his corporate career to be an online teacher. Michael explained what the Alexander Technique is, who benefits most from it, and how to practice it. We also talked about building an email list, Write of Passage, and how to find your niche as a creator.

My guest today is Cole Schafer. Cole is a master copywriter, poet, author, and adman. He is best known for his newsletter, Sticky Notes, where he sends weekly emails about advertising, writing, creativity, and life. Cole has an exceptional ability to tell stories that grab you by the collar and slap you in the face with a life lesson. He's also known for his 10,000 word copywriting and marketing guide—which is guaranteed to help you sell your used couch on Craigslist—more on that later.  In this episode, Cole told me the story of his Uber driver who was a hitman. We discussed the importance of being a good speaker. Cole shared his journey from being the guy who rips out carpets to the guy who writes ads for Bowflex. We also talked about how to become a better writer and a more effective human. Like I mentioned earlier, Cole is a great story teller, and I think you're really going to enjoy this episode.

My guest today is Danny Miranda. Danny is best known as the host of The Danny Miranda Podcast. Danny started his podcast about seven months ago and has hosted nearly 100 guests. He's moving at blistering speed as a podcaster and improving tremendously along the way.

My guest today is Dr. Jason Hill. Dr. Hill is a professor of philosophy at DePaul University and the author of four books. He holds a P.h.D. in philosophy and has been a professional writer and book author for over 30 years. Dr. Hill has been interviewed on the Today Show, Fox News, and NPR, among other notable media outlets.   In this episode, Jason and I discussed his first days in the US as an immigrant from Jamaica. We talked about his perspective on racism in America. Jason shared his thoughts on the motivations behind recent racial and educational trends in the United States. We discussed our critiques of Ta-Nehisi Coates' book, Between the World and Me. And we briefly touched on the idea of reparations.

My guest today is Jeremy Anderberg. Jeremy is the Managing Editor and Podcast Producer at Art of Manliness. When not working, Jeremy is reading and writing his newsletter about what he's reading. Jeremy has read at least one biography of every single US president. In this episode, Jeremy and I discussed what it means to be a man, simple self improvement tips, growing a podcast to over 100 million downloads, and his thoughts on newsletters. Of course, we also spent a lot of time talking about books and US history. 

My guest today is Erik Rostad. Erik is the creator of the Books of Titans project. Inspired by Tim Ferriss' book, Tools of Titans, Erik has been reading 52 books per year since 2017. Not only does he read the books, but Erik posts written summaries on his beautifully designed website and audio summaries on his popular Books of Titans podcast.

Robbie is a trial lawyer and the founder of Performative Speaking, an online course that transforms ambitious professionals into powerful public speakers. Robbie's course was recently acquired by On Deck, where he is now the program director working toward launching the first cohort.

My guest today is Peter Kang. Peter is the co-founder of Barrel, a creative and digital marketing agency. He writes a personal blog where he meticulously documents his habits, his investments, and his thoughts on running a digital agency. In this conversation, Peter and I discussed habits, mental models, reading, investing, the origin story of Barrel, and much more.

My guest today is Tommy Collison. Tommy grew up in Ireland, attended college at NYU, and now works at Lambda School in communication strategy and business development. In this episode, we discussed Tommy's childhood in Ireland, the liberal arts, The Great Book Project, and much more.

My guest today is Joe Ferraro. Joe is the host of The One Percent Better Podcast where he interviews guests like James Clear, Chris Voss, and Annie Duke. He's fascinated with asking better questions and having damn good conversations.

My guest today is Alex Wieckowski. Alex has been running his popular book blog, Alex & Books, for more than four years. You may have seen him on Instagram where he has more than 70 thousand followers. Instagram is actually where Alex and I first met, and over the last couple years we've developed a friendship that transferred over to the real world - I love the connecting power of the internet.

My guest today is Jake Singer. Jake recently left a successful career at Amazon to pursue the serendipity of the internet. One of his first pursuits was starting a Substack titled The Flywheel. In it, Jake uses the concept of a flywheel as a framework to understand and analyze companies he finds interesting. In each article he explains how and why a company has gotten to where it is today, and what their flywheel suggests about its future. Jake has written pieces on companies like Zillow, Stitch Fix, and On Deck, among others. While he only started writing in August of this year, Jake already has about 2,000 subscribers. I'd say he's onto something. In this episode, Jake and I discuss serendipity on the internet. We talk about his decision to leave Amazon, his experience with On Deck, and some of the companies he's written about. After you listen, I highly recommend signing up for The Flywheel and following along on Jake's journey. I guarantee you'll be seeing more of him.

My guest today is Brad Dantonio, better known as Man Overseas. Brad is forty years old and has been retired for five years. He took a year off to travel at 35 and never returned to work. In normal times, you can find Brad and his wife traveling the world, living off passive income from rental properties and other investments in the US. In COVID times, Brad and his wife temporarily settled in New Orleans while they await the birth of their first child!

My guest today is Golden Harper, the founder and CEO of Altra Running, an athletic shoe company known for their excellent trail running shoes. Before starting Altra, Golden was an elite runner himself. We talked about his impressive race history, goal setting versus following a process, and Golden's unique education. We also went deep on the science behind Altra shoes and how nearly all of us are destroying our feet with modern surfaces and the shoes we wear.

My guest today is  Morgan Housel, a writer and public speaker with Collaborative Fund. He recently published his first book, The Psychology of Money. Morgan and I discussed how history alters our perspectives, Morgan's unconventional childhood, the beauty of serendipitous relationships, and some of our favorite books. We also touched on a number of personal finance topics.

My guest today is Stephen Storey, part time insurance adjuster and full time interesting dude. Our conversation was wide ranging. Stephen told stories about his days as a bail bondsman. We talked about injustice in the criminal justice system. Stephen shared the detailed reasons he thinks Donald Trump will win the election. And we finished with a discussion about how declining standards and cancel culture are destroying our country.

My guest today is Eric Jorgenson, the author of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant. Eric and I discussed his decision to drop out of college, how he thinks about credentials, and the differences between specialists and generalists. Of course, we also spent a lot of time talking about his book and many of Naval's ideas.

My guest today is Ramesh Nagarajah. Ramesh is a recent graduate of the US Naval Academy and a newly commissioned 2nd Lt in the United States Marine Corps. He is also the author of the recently viral article, Reflections From a Token Black Friend. In this episode, Ramesh and I discuss the importance of honest exposure to different cultures, how racism should be defined, virtue signaling, tangible actions people can take to make a difference, how to start a conversation on race, and much more. This was an eye opening conversation with a gracious, caring, patient, intelligent, and all around excellent human being.

My guest today is Jason Lacayo. Jason is an Emergency Services Unit officer with the White Plains Police Department. He started his career with the NYPD and has more than 15 years on the job. In this episode, Jason and I discuss the specifics of SWAT teams, police training, why people don't want police in their neighborhoods, interacting with police as a black person, the foolishness of defunding police, and much more. Regardless of your thoughts on policing and race in America, I think you'll learn something from this conversation. I know I did.

My guest today is Oshan Jarow. Oshan spent the last five years learning about economics, universal basic income, and consciousness. In his essay, Universal Basic Income and the Capitalist Production of Consciousness, he ties those topics together in an interesting and educational way. In this episode, Oshan and I discuss the underlying reasons for UBI, ways to pay for UBI, common critiques, and much more. Oshan is the most articulate, informed, thoughtful, and open minded person I've ever talked to about UBI. Even if you think it's a foolish idea, this conversation is worth a listen. It may not change your mind, but it will certainly open it. 

My guest today is Zuby, a rapper, podcaster, author, and deep thinker from the UK. Zuby was born in England, raised in Saudi Arabia, and is a graduate of Oxford University. His diverse experiences contribute to his unique and thoughtful perspective on life and politics. Zuby has been featured on the Joe Rogan Experience, BBC, Fox News, The Rubin Report, The Ben Shapiro Show, and many others. In this episode we discuss Zuby's long road to success as an artist, his controversial tweets, the thing he found most surprising about America, and much more. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

My guest today is Clayton Dorge. Clayton is a resident of Colombia, Missouri and an employee of Permanent Equity. He is also an avid outdoors man, an intellectual, and the author of a wonderful monthly newsletter called Side Notes. In this episode, Clayton and I discuss how to create memorable gatherings, his event The Good People Summit, the idea of scenius, the magic of Twitter, and much more. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

My guest today is Packy McCormick. Packy is a resident of Brooklyn, New York and my peer in the Write of Passage Fellowship. He is also the found of the Not Boring Club - a roaming social club for people who never stop learning. In this episode, Packy and I go behind the scenes on the Write of Passage fellowship, we discuss scenius - the topic of Packy's essay - the magic of Twitter, and much more. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

My guest today is Peter Boghossian (@peterboghossian). Peter is a professional philosopher and professor with more than 25 years of teaching experience. His primary research areas are moral reasoning and critical thinking. Peter is the author of several books, including his most recent, How to Have Impossible Conversations. He is also responsible for the infamous Grievance Studies Affair, which is the subject of a forthcoming documentary. Peter and I discussed how to expose ignorance, moral stereotypes, the inevitable decline of universities, and much more. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did. 

My guest today is Brendan O'Byrne. Brendan is a veteran of the United States Army. In 2007, he served a 15 month deployment in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan with the men of Second Platoon, Battle Company. This deployment was documented in Sebastian Junger's films, Restrepo and Korengal. Brendan was also featured in another documentary called The Last Patrol and in Junger's book, War. Brendan and I discuss good music, the worst parts of combat, the difficulty of coming home, and how war feels more human than modern American society. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

My guest today is Yancey Strickler (@ystrickler). Yancey is the co-founder and former CEO of Kickstarter. He's also the author of This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World. Strickler's book transformed my thinking. He helped me view decisions from a values perspective rather than solely a financial one. Yancey and I discussed the origins of Kickstarter, how benefit corporations operate, his values system called Bentoism, the 30 Year Theory of change, and much more. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did. 

My guest today is Rob Lawless (@robs10kfriends). Rob is a Penn State graduate and founder of Rob's 10k Friends, a project where he's seeking to spend one hour with 10,000 different people. He's more than four years in and nearly 1/3 of the way to his goal. Rob and I talked about stereotypes, fulfillment vs. financial maximization, how conversations highlight our similarities, how it's hard to hate up close, and much more. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did. 

My guest today is Matt Conroy. After graduating from Niagara University, Matt was commissioned as an Officer in the US Army, served four years in Alaska, and nine months as a military advisor to the Afghan National Army. He is currently a Captain in the US Army Reserve, and is pursuing his dream as a Country Songwriter, splitting his time between Charlotte, North Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee. Matt and I discuss ROTC, the power of shared suffering, our thoughts on compulsory national service, the benefits and drawbacks of the military, and much more. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did. 

My guest today is Ben Gagne-Maynard. After graduating from Boston University, Ben spent two years teaching in Hartford, Connecticut through Teach for America. After Teach for America, Ben continued his service in a different form. He currently works for the Tennessee Department of Education. Ben and I discuss his teaching experience through Teach for America, decreasing the stigma of a gap year, and how to build better systems that support teachers. Ben also shares some good ideas around incentivizing service rather than making it compulsory. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

My guest today is Kerri Murphy (@kerrimup), a current employee at Intel, and a former NYC public school teacher. After college, Kerri spent two years in the Peace Corps where she served as a teacher on a banana plantation in Costa Rica. Kerri and I discuss her time in the Peace Corps, the benefit of bringing real world experience to the classroom, the controversial nature of most important American institutions, and much more. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.   

My guest today is Jurvis Tan (@jurvistan), a Singapore native and current student at Santa Monica College in Los Angeles. Jurvis is the co-founder of Undertide Apps (@undertideco), a company that matches talented high school students to fulfilling and challenging technical projects. As a citizen of Singapore, Jurvis served conscription, or mandatory military service, in the Singapore Armed Forces. In our conversation, we discuss his time serving, his thoughts on the importance of sharing meals, the intersection of books with experience, and much more.

My guest today is Dipan Patel, a deep thinker who shares his unique perspectives on the importance of experiencing multiple cultures.