Founder's Journal

Episode 102: For today’s episode, I’m going to be reading 3 emails from Elon Musk. These emails were initially just for Tesla employees’ eyes, but were eventually made public. I think these emails not only give good insight into the way in which Elon operates as a person & operates his businesses, but I also think there are great lessons hidden within each of these emails regardless of what you think of Elon as a person.

Email 1: https://x.com/TechEmails/status/1511366496219402242?s=20 

Email 2: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/01/elon-musk-reportedly-tells-tesla-workers-to-be-in-office-full-time-or-resign.html 

Email 3: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/15/tesla-ceo-elon-musk-says-in-email-he-must-approve-all-hires.html 

Send us an email and let us know what you think of the idea! [email protected]

#FoundersJournal #Startups #Entrepreneur

Listen to Founder’s Journal here: https://link.chtbl.com/OV4W93_W

Watch Founder’s Journal here: https://www.youtube.com/@FoundersJournal/ 

Subscribe to Morning Brew!

Sign up for free today: https://bit.ly/morningbrewyt

Follow The Brew!

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/morningbrew/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/MorningBrew

Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@morningbrew

Follow Alex!

Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista)

Episode 101: I’m going to be reading quite possibly the most viral twitter thread in the world of business ever. In 2018, Naval Ravikant, wrote “How to Get Rich (Without Getting Lucky),” a 40-tweet thread that covers everything from what wealth is & what it isn’t to the power of leverage to finding your specific knowledge to the power of optimism. For those who don’t know him, Naval is the founder of AngelList as well as a prolific angel investor and writer. I’m going to read tweet by tweet, stop and analyze a select few that struck me as particularly interesting & then continue on with the thread.

Full thread: https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002103360646823936 

Send us an email and let us know what you think of the idea! [email protected]

#FoundersJournal #Startups #Entrepreneur

Listen to Founder’s Journal here: https://link.chtbl.com/OV4W93_W

Watch Founder’s Journal here: https://www.youtube.com/@FoundersJournal/ 

Subscribe to Morning Brew!

Sign up for free today: https://bit.ly/morningbrewyt

Follow The Brew!

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/morningbrew/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/MorningBrew

Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@morningbrew

Follow Alex!

Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista)

Episode 100: On this episode, I’ll be sharing the best moments from Lenny Rachitsky’s recent interview with Brian Chesky, the co-founder & CEO of Airbnb.

Airbnb is a $95bn company that under Brian’s leadership has grown into a community of 4 million hosts welcoming over 1.5 billion guests across 220 countries.

These moments range from how politics & bureaucracy are created in a company to surviving near-business death in 2020 to how Brian has grown as a CEO since day 1. 

Send us an email and let us know what you think of the idea! [email protected]

#FoundersJournal #Startups #Entrepreneur

Listen to Founder’s Journal  here: https://link.chtbl.com/OV4W93_W

Watch Founder’s Journal here: https://www.youtube.com/@FoundersJournal/ 

Subscribe to Morning Brew!

Sign up for free today:  https://bit.ly/morningbrewyt

Follow The Brew!

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/morningbrew/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/MorningBrew

Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@morningbrew

Follow Alex!

Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista)

Episode 99: I’m going to be reading & analyzing one of the most famous essays that has been published on the internet in the last 20 years: 1,000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly. Kevin Kelly is the founding Executive Editor of Wired magazine & he wrote 1,000 True Fans to illustrate the ability for creators on the internet to make a very meaningful living with a seemingly small number of consumers or customers.

While the essay was written in 2008, I believe it is as if not more relevant today in an age of technological and content abundance.

Link to the essay: https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/ 

Send us an email and let us know what you think of the idea! [email protected]

#FoundersJournal #Startups #Entrepreneur

Listen to Founder’s Journal here: https://link.chtbl.com/OV4W93_W

Watch Founder’s Journal here: https://www.youtube.com/@FoundersJournal/ 

Subscribe to Morning Brew!

Sign up for free today: https://bit.ly/morningbrewyt

Follow The Brew!

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/morningbrew/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/MorningBrew

Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@morningbrew

Follow Alex!

Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista)

Episode 98: I’m going to be breaking down a 45-minute video by one of the greatest startup minds of all-time, who quite possibly, you’ve never heard of. Bill Gross is the Founder of IdeaLab, considered by many to be the world’s first venture studio. Modeled after Thomas Edison’s Lab, a place where many ideas and inventions can be tested under one roof, IdeaLab went on to find 5,000 ideas, launch 150 companies, and successfully IPO or exit 50 businesses. The business hit its 25-year-mark in 2021 and Bill Gross shared an article titled “My 25 lessons learned from 25 years of creating companies,” which is a goldmine for any business builder. I’m going to walk you through all 25 lessons in a way that saves you from watching all 45 minutes, but you still have a sense of why they matter and how to apply them to your company.

Bill Gross Video: https://25-lessons.idealab.com/all-25-lessons-and-summary-by-bill-gross/ 

Zone of Genius Episode: https://foundersjournalpod.morningbrew.com/how-to-find-your-zone-of-genius/ 

Send us an email and let us know what you think of the idea! [email protected]

#FoundersJournal #Startups #Entrepreneur

Listen to Founder’s Journal here: https://link.chtbl.com/OV4W93_W

Watch Founder’s Journal here: https://www.youtube.com/@FoundersJournal/ 

Subscribe to Morning Brew!

Sign up for free today: https://bit.ly/morningbrewyt

Follow The Brew!

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/morningbrew/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/MorningBrew

Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@morningbrew

Follow Alex!

Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista)

Episode 97: On this episode, I talk with Sahil Lavingia about his 2019 essay titled “Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company.” Sahil is the founder & CEO of Gumroad, an e-commerce platform for creators. Gumroad does nearly $20m per year, is highly profitable, and has no full-time employees. In the essay, Sahil talks about leaving Pinterest as its second employee in 2011, to build his life’s work…a company called Gumroad that would be worth billions of dollars, IPO one day an employ hundreds of people. But that’s not what happened. In 2015, Sahil laid off 75% of Gumroad’s staff to keep the company alive. Of course firing some of his best friends was heart-wrenching. But possibly just as difficult for Sahil was the death of his dream to build a venture-backed unicorn. The heart of this article & much of what you’ll hear Sahil talk about during our conversation is the emotional journey post-layoffs & the decision to build a profitable “boring” lifestyle business.

Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company: https://sahillavingia.com/reflecting

Send us an email and let us know what you think of the idea! [email protected]

#FoundersJournal #Startups #Entrepreneur

Listen to Founder’s Journal here: https://link.chtbl.com/OV4W93_W

Watch Founder’s Journal here: https://www.youtube.com/@FoundersJournal/ 

Subscribe to Morning Brew!

Sign up for free today: https://bit.ly/morningbrewyt

Follow The Brew!

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/morningbrew/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/MorningBrew

Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@morningbrew

Follow Alex!

Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista)

Episode 96: Most startups and their founders don’t spend their money well, often using it as a crutch for a bad product or a misguided tool for growing their business too quickly. Today, I’m going to read essays from Elad Gil, a successful entrepreneur and arguably the greatest angel investor in the world, and Paul Graham, the founder of Y Combinator, on spending your money wisely. 

Elad Gil Essay: https://blog.eladgil.com/p/capital-efficient-businesses

Paul Graham Essay: https://www.paulgraham.com/aord.html

Send us an email and let us know what you think of the idea! [email protected]

#FoundersJournal #Startups #Entrepreneur

Listen to Founder’s Journal here: https://link.chtbl.com/OV4W93_W

Watch Founder’s Journal here: https://www.youtube.com/@FoundersJournal/ 

Subscribe to Morning Brew!

Sign up for free today: https://bit.ly/morningbrewyt

Follow The Brew!

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/morningbrew/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/MorningBrew

Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@morningbrew

Follow Alex!

Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista)

Episode 95: Today, I’m sharing one of the greatest pieces of business writing living on the internet today. It’s been hiding in plain sight since 1997 yet the fact every entrepreneur hasn’t read it is criminal. I’m talking about the very first Amazon shareholder letter written by Jeff Bezos the year that the company went public. It’s a 4 page, 1600-word letter, but it punches way above its word count. On this episode I’m going to summarize the letter for you & share a number of timeless business lessons that are as valuable today as they were in 1997.

1997 Shareholder Letter: https://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/97/97664/reports/Shareholderletter97.pdf

How to Calculate Product-Market Fit: https://foundersjournalpod.morningbrew.com/measuring-product-market-fit/

Send us an email and let us know what you think of the idea! [email protected]

#FoundersJournal #Startups #Entrepreneur

Listen to Founder’s Journal here: https://link.chtbl.com/OV4W93_W

Watch Founder’s Journal here: https://www.youtube.com/@FoundersJournal/ 

Subscribe to Morning Brew!

Sign up for free today: https://bit.ly/morningbrewyt

Follow The Brew!

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/morningbrew/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/MorningBrew

Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@morningbrew

Follow Alex!

Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista)

Episode 94: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) takes you through an exercise to recalibrate and focus on his zone of genius. The zone of genius is work that you do that brings out the best version of yourself. Follow this super easy, super quick 3-step process to find your own zone of genius.

Send us an email and let us know what you think of the idea! [email protected]

#FoundersJournal #Startups #Entrepreneur

Listen to Founder’s Journal here: https://link.chtbl.com/OV4W93_W

Watch Founder’s Journal here: https://www.youtube.com/@FoundersJournal/ 

Subscribe to Morning Brew!

Sign up for free today: https://bit.ly/morningbrewyt

Follow The Brew!

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/morningbrew/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/MorningBrew

Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@morningbrew

Follow Alex!

Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista)

Episode 93: Today, we’re talking about product market fit. Product market fit is one of those things that every startup founder obsesses over, but it’s always been this elusive thing that can’t be measured or quantified. Until now. Rahul Vohra, the founder & CEO of superhuman, which is the fastest email app ever, felt strongly that there had to be a better way to measure product market fit. A way to quantify it and use it as a proactive tool to dictate how you run your business and build your product. So in 2017 he wrote a seminal essay on a step by step process for testing, measuring, and achieving product market fit in your business, an essay that has now become the most read article ever on the popular startup blog First Round Review. In this episode Rahul breaks down his product market fit process, so you can learn how to apply it to your own business.

PMF Essay: https://review.firstround.com/how-superhuman-built-an-engine-to-find-product-market-fit 

Send us an email and let us know what you think of the idea! [email protected]

#FoundersJournal #Startups #Entrepreneur

Listen to Founder’s Journal here: https://link.chtbl.com/OV4W93_W

Watch Founder’s Journal here: https://www.youtube.com/@FoundersJournal/ 

Subscribe to Morning Brew!

Sign up for free today: https://bit.ly/morningbrewyt

Follow The Brew!

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/morningbrew/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/MorningBrew

Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@morningbrew

Follow Alex!

Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista)