Intellectual Software

With Bitcoin, it feels like a lot of the early adoption around that was as a counter to what was happening in the United States economically with the financial crash and fiat currency being used by the government to prop certain people up and not others. And I think when people are struck with a real sense of unfairness, they start to get motivated to take action --- Mike

SHOW NOTES

02:54 - Introduction and how the invisible hand of the market guided my IPO

06:02 - Bitcoin and the unfairness of capitalism 

08:03 - The chaos of the early internet brought people together

13:01 - Are we not going to teach people philosophy? 

17:05 - NFTs are certificates of authenticity for an idea

22:35 - DAOs are online Co-ops

27:00 - Growing up in a town of population 10 

30:16 - Experiencing community after a decade of isolation

33:00 - Deconstructing the military machine

37:31 - Oregon, counter-culture and small businesses vs Walmart

41:49 - Plato and sandwich

43:43 - Daily routine 

46:08 - Leveraging the wisdom of the crowds

49:38 - How to operate in the fringes of technology

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You can connect with Mike here (https://www.mike-merrill.com/)

My DMs are open for conversations (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)

What really makes me pause at this point is not that someone has that unique of a thought process, it's that they've been able to distill it in a really memorable way, like Dawkins memetics. Like the idea of being on your deathbed and having no regrets; that's a very basic concept. I feel like a lot of people throughout history have had that idea, but Jeff Bezos put it into The Regret Minimization Framework and that sticks. -- John Coogan

SHOW NOTES

03:32 - Introduction

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You can connect with John here (https://twitter.com/johncoogan)

Check out his Youtube here --> https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnCooganPlus

My DMs are open for conversations (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)

I've known Dave for a few months now and It was good to finally have him on the show. We talked about a bunch of stuff ( mentioned in the show notes ) from media in the past to where it's going and everything in between. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

SHOW NOTES

03:19 - Bleacher report became my lifeline when I was stuck in the drudgery of a full-time job

09:14 - Lessons from my failure at Inverse and building Audience Builders from first principles

12:40 - Building distribution networks in legacy media brands

17:47 - Deep work and blocking your calendar like Jerry Seinfeld

23:21 - People who shaped my worldview - Kubrick, Scorsese, Lucas, Jake Lodwick, Kevin Rose

29:00 - Taking advantage of platform growth mechanics while building an original voice 

30:55 - Sam Parr is successful because he is a student of history

34:18 - Building a media empire like Pomp 

37:31 - Self-censorship

41:02 - Great brands create an entire world to build deeper fan experiences

45:12 - The promise of the creator economy

49:30 - Creators will start to look more like media companies and media companies will become more like record labels

52:00 - Bringing novelty into interview podcasts 

You can connect with Dave here (https://twitter.com/davenemetz)

My DMs are open for conversations (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)

Steal My Marketing is back after a long break of self-reflection and doubt. This conversation with Jonathan was recorded a few months back and has everything that I love about podcasting. It allows this 26-year-old to talk to someone I've never met about things I'm deeply interested in. The world is a fascinating place. It feels good to be back :)

SHOW NOTES

01:30 - The accidental entrepreneur

04:30 - Why I bought a 1-way ticket to China right after college

10:00 - Entrepreneurship in China in 1994

13:19 - Business schools teach you working for companies, not entrepreneurship 

16:57 - How we rebuilt our business after the 2008 financial meltdown

23:10 - The markets are the same, the channels have shifted

25:20 - No country matches China's combination of infrastructure & efficiency

28:43 - The miracle of McDonald's is that fries taste the same in London or Beijing 

39:24 - Untangled Coaching

46:15 - Why American capitalism will always triumph over Chinese capitalism

You can connect with Jonathan here (https://untangled-coaching.com/about-jonathan/)

My DMs are open for conversations (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)

Sachit Gupta is THE best super-connector I know. He started with nothing almost 8 years back and has since worked with Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, and Andrew Warner. His show Conscious Creators reached #1 in entrepreneurship last year and he led the On Deck Podcasting Fellowship. I wanted to bring him on the show to learn his strategies of finding third doors to network with the biggest names in any industry. He shared how he started working with Andrew, told a beautiful story of writing a letter to Tim Ferriss and the exact email he's going to send to Chris Sacca. He's also hosted a ton of poker nights for these influencers and shared his tips on hosting your own poker nights or dinners to increase your network. I also asked him how one could do these on Zoom. And he told us what you should do to connect with someone like Tim or Andrew if they're speaking at a conference. In short, he shared a TON of secrets. 

Here are the show notes :)

05:08 - Cold emailing Mark Cuban, Chris Guillebeau, and Jonathan Fields

09:00 - How I’ll email Chris Sacca and lessons from 1000s of cold emails

14:18 - Standing out in the crowd of 100s of people trying to get attention from your heroes

19:34 - What I learned from Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss, and Andrew warner

22:12 - One starts to build an audience when one gives up the need to build an audience

23:55 - Conversations that are casual and intimate are functions of production, not editing.

27:27 - A cold outreach strategy that will change your life

32:10 - How to connect with your heroes hosting poker nights/dinners

36:44 - Writing a letter Tim Ferriss and a hack to connect with speakers in conferences

43:55 - How to reach out to big publications for collaborations

I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests as well as other stuff I find interesting in the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com)

You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)

Sachit on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sachitgupta)

Conscious Creators Show (http://www.creators.show/)

Danny Miranda is an inspiration and the host of the Danny Miranda podcast. He's gone from 0 to 55,000 downloads in the past 6 months, published 87 awesome conversations, and has shared countless stories of his hustle on Twitter. This conversation goes beyond what Danny has done with his podcast and captures his overall personality, his habits, and his worldview. He's done a lot in 6 months, but I cannot imagine the places he'll go in 6 years and beyond. Hope you can learn from him as much as I did. 

Here are the show notes :)

02:14 - Getting a reply from Mark Cuban

03:32 - Tyler Cowen and my heavy focus on research

06:39 - 75 hard and how I started thinking long term

08:38 - Making friends on the internet is a superpower

09:46 - The role of my parents in my success

10:30 - Gary vee, Kanye West, and Rick Ross

11:50 - Failing in public and Shooting your shots

13:12 - Spotting trends and people early

14:09 - Consistency and my relationship with my audience

15:02 - Setting internal goals

16:39 - Podcasts are you reviewing a person

18:11 - I studied Larry king and Tim Ferriss to learn the skill of interviewing

19:25 - The radical Shopify course I made

21:05 - Happiness comes from struggle

23:11 - I'd love someone to help me with video clips

23:48 - Meditation is letting thoughts go through me

24:32 - My first million YouTube game

25:22 - Having phone calls with my 8k followers

28:39 - Sharing your authentic journey online

31:15 - 3 guests I'd love to interview in stadiums

I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests as well as other stuff I find interesting in the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com)

You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)

Danny on Twitter (https://twitter.com/heydannymiranda)

The Danny Miranda Podcast (https://dannymiranda.com/podcast)

This conversation is led by Bleacher Report founder Dave Nemetz, featuring Polina Marinova (The Profile Dossier), Jonathan Hunt (Complex), and Brian Morrissey (Digiday Media). The lessons compressed in this conversation are wide-ranging and if there's anything you need to learn about content-led growth, this is it. It was originally held on Clubhouse for Dave's awesome show, The Audience Builders, and I reached out to him requesting to post this on Steal My Marketing 2 days back. And BOOM. Enjoy the conversation :)

And btw, I spent last night reading through some of the best essays I've read in a while on Dave's blog. Tons of material on the early days of Bleacher Report. Check it out - (https://davenemetz.com/essays)

Here are the show notes :)

02:17 - How I scaled The Profile Dossier to tens of thousands of subscribers

08:51 - Convincing Morning Brew newsletter with 2.5 million subscribers to collaborate with me

10:44 - Complex: the convergence of culture and how we built a business around it

16:15 - Going full time with your creative projects and the systematic bias toward strong networks

20:44 - Substack severely lacks creator tools and how to improve it

27:16 - Retaining talent in the media space after they become stars

29:18 - Paid podcasts marketplaces in China and funding creators like startups

36:12 - Every couple of years, someone proclaims that websites are dead. They’re not.

40:35 - Why publishing everything at midnight gives Digiday a leverage

44:17 - Creating evergreen content and the power of long-tail

47:07 - Evergreen Profiles by Polina: Elon Musk and Charlie Munger

I write a few awesome emails a month here (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com)

You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)

Dave Nemetz (https://twitter.com/davenemetz)

Polina Marinova (https://twitter.com/polina_marinova)

Jonathan Hunt (https://twitter.com/jonathan_h)

Brian Morrissey (https://twitter.com/bmorrissey)

Darius Mirshahzadeh is a serial entrepreneur and a bestselling author. He spent his childhood in Iran and the US and learned the core principles of business from watching his dad run gas stations. I loved the stories of him selling candy in school to starting a nightclub business in college. Although the nightclub failed, it taught him valuable lessons. We also talked about Tony Hsieh ( and Holacracy), Elon Musk ( and luck), wresting (and staying in the game), and the interesting story behind his book.  

Here are the show notes :)

02:20 - My Story

03:12 - Culture, Leadership and Navy Seals

06:07 - Tony Hsieh, Holacracy and why it failed 

9:28 - Iranians being the Italians of the middle east and childhood

11:22 - Lessons from my dad 

13:09 - Running a candy business in school and a failed nightclub business in college

16:47 - Why I'd never start a nightclub business

18:43 - A good market hides all the dead bodies

23:00 - Wrestling is a sport where you get your ass kicked until you're good 

25:08 - Elon Musk - luck and staying in the game long enough 

29:17 - A keynote that turned into a book and why books are a 5-year time investment

31:31 - The Greatness Machine and podcasting 

I write a few awesome emails a month here (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com)

You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)

Darius on Twitter (https://twitter.com/kingdarius)

Darius' Website (https://therealdarius.com)

Austen Allred is the founder of Lambda School and one of the smartest entrepreneurs trying to fix education. We talked about Austen's fascination with reading history in the context of business, his deep interest in shareholder letters and internal memos of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, Disney, and other great companies, and his thoughts on first principles thinking. He also shared how a Mormon mission he went to at age 19 in Eastern Ukraine has shaped Lambda, how he built his network in silicon valley, and putting 100% of his net worth in Tesla. He put out his bear and bull case for Clubhouse and why he thinks it's a $400 billion company. I thoroughly enjoyed discussing topics like Peloton replacing religion in America, the death of silicon valley, democratizing angel investing, and raising a $30 million fund without even intending to do so. It was a fun conversation.

Here are the show notes :)

02:42 - Why I love reading biographies of The Wright Brothers and John D Rockefeller

04:56 - Amazon's shareholder letters are the best business writing ever

05:41 - Thinking in first principles can be taught

07:10 - Spending 2 years in Eastern Ukraine at the age of 19 and how that has shaped Lambda School

09:16 - I'm used to a lot less dopamine than most people 

11:36 -  People are way more open to cold emails than most people assume

12:46 - How I built my network in silicon valley from scratch

15:01 - How the world will look like if Lambda school succeeds 

17:05 - Why I put 100% of my net worth in Tesla

18:38 - Clubhouse will be a $400 Billion company

21:06 - Twitter Spaces lacks the magical experience of Clubhouse and why it will fail

23:08 - Lambda school is priced low even though it feels high to a lot of people

25:25 - How I'd grow a podcast really, really fast

26:13 - If I wasn't doing Lambda School, I'd probably work for Roam Research

27:10 - Peloton is replacing religion in America

28:24 - CEO-COO relationship and the common thing among all great silicon valley companies

30:22 - Giving away free services for hyper-growth 

31:36 - Why startups are now taking less than $5000 angel investments

34:30 - Silicon valley is dying

37:17 - Raising a $30 million fund without intending to

I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests as well as other stuff I find interesting in the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com)

You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)

Austen on Twitter (https://twitter.com/austen)

Lambda School (https://lambdaschool.com/)