Outliers with Daniel Scrivner: Explore the Greatest Innovators, Founders, and Investors

“I realized that the main reason why people die of cancer is because they found it too late. And the main reason we still find cancer late for people is because there’s no easy way to screen for cancer in the body that’s fast, accurate, and affordable. And so, I decided to focus on that problem.” — Emi Gal

Learn how Ezra has brought down the cost of early cancer detection by 80% and the time required to get screened by 66%—all by harnessing the power of AI and Machine Learning to make MRIs an order of magnitude more efficient. As well as how they’ve built an asset light business in healthcare and what it takes to be a software-centric business within a heavily regulated industry.

Episode Guide with Books, Links, and Ways to Dive Deeper

https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/ezra-fast-affordable-cancer-screening-outlier-founders

Transcript

https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/ezra-fast-affordable-cancer-screening-outlier-founders-transcript

Chapters

(00:00:00) - Introduction

(00:01:21) - Origin Story of Ezra

(00:03:22) - How Ezra Tried 12 Different Ideas Around Cancer Screening

(00:08:22) - Screening for Cancer with Ezra vs Best Practices Today

(00:11:01) - MRI 101: A Simple Explanation of Magnetic Resonance Imaging

(00:14:45) - The Dawn of Proactive Healthcare and The Patient Will See You Now

(00:19:58) - The Hippocratic Oath, Doing No Harm, and Early Screening

(00:25:09) - How Often Should We All Be Screening for Cancer?

(00:28:54) - What It’s Like to Get an MRI Scan

(00:33:41) - Ezra’s Approach to AI and FDA Approval of AI Updates

(00:41:06) - Breaking Down Ezra’s Asset Light Business Model

(00:46:02) - Why the Future of Healthcare is Proactive and Holistic

(00:50:36) - The Highs and Lows of Building Ezra

(00:54:05) - Lessons Learned Building a Mission Centric Company

About Ezra

Ezra was founded in 2018 to build the world’s first fast, accurate, and affordable way to screen for cancer everywhere in the body. To do this, they’ve harnessed the power of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, often called an MRI, and dramatically improved the efficiency of imaging and analyses using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. To date, they’ve decreased the cost of getting a full body MRI scan by 80% and the time required to get scanned by 66%.

Every year, more than 20,000,000 Americans are diagnosed with cancer. Without a fast, accurate, and affordable way to proactively screen the entire body for cancer, many of these diagnoses come too late. For some types of cancer, including colon cancer, once it reaches Stage 4 your chances of survival are just 4%.

Ezra’s goal is to bring down the cost and time required to get screened for cancer by an order of magnitude—reducing both by 90%+. Ezra is an incredible example of using AI and ML to dramatically improve the effectiveness of an existing technology in order to bring down costs within a critical segment of healthcare.

You can save $150 off an Ezra screening by using promo code Outlier150 when checking out on Ezra.com.

Ezra | How it Works | Twitter

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Listen to one of our favorite moments from tomorrow’s Spotlight episode featuring Ezra with Emi Gal. Learn how Ezra has brought down the cost of early cancer detection by 80% and the time required to get screened by 66%—all by harnessing the power of AI and Machine Learning.

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Welcome to another edition of Cheat Sheet by Outlier Academy. Where each week we compress 6+ hours of research and interviews into 3 big ideas that you can read in 5 minutes. This week we profiled one of the internet’s most-read writers (100M+ views), Nicolas Cole, and his latest book Snow Leopard: How Legendary Writers Create a Category of One with co-authors Eddy Yoon and Christopher Lochhead.

Read the newsletter companion to this episode:

https://www.cheatsheetnewsletter.com/p/category-creation-and-avoiding-competition

Here are the 3 big ideas in this week's Cheat Sheet:

Competition is for losers, avoid it at all costs.

How Eight Sleep created the Sleep Fitness category.

How to find and create your own category of one.

Sign up for the Cheat Sheet newsletter:

https://www.cheatsheetnewsletter.com

Listen, watch, or explore more of this week’s Outlier Academy episodes:

Nicolas Cole, Co-Founder of Category Pirates and Ship 30 for 30 | Favorite Books and Writing Tools, Enduring Boring Things, and Why Great Writing Changes the Reader

Listen Now | Watch Now | Episode Guide | Transcript

Snow Leopard: How Legendary Writers Create a Category Of One | Nicolas Cole, Author and Co-Founder of Category Pirates

Listen Now | Watch Now | Episode Guide | Transcript

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We explore network effects and investing in network effect businesses. We’re joined by James Currier, co-founder and general partner of NfX. We cover virality vs. network effects, tweaking rules and systems to take advantage of network effects, and network effects as a business strategy.

“Every company is its own work of art, and the founder is the artist.” – James Currier

EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)

https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/james-currier1-outlier-academy-show-notes 

FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT

https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/james-currier-outlier-academy-transcript 

CHAPTERS

This episode is our definitive guide to network effects and investing in network effect businesses. In it we cover:

(00:00:00) – Introduction

(00:01:58) – James’ background and journey to NfX

(00:07:50) – Defining network effects and why they are so powerful

(00:11:20) – Virality vs. network effects

(00:14:46) – Examples of businesses with network effects

(00:24:57) – Tweaking rules and systems to take advantage of network effects

(00:31:07) – Networks effects as a business strategy

(00:33:58) – Investing in network effects businesses

(00:40:26) – Advice for founders

ABOUT NFX

The name NfX is actually short for Network Effects, and James with his founding partner, Pete Flint, founded NfX after seeing the power of network effects, partially by doing research that confirms that 70% of all unicorns are companies with proven network effects driving their businesses. While NFX has become one of the world's leading thinkers on network effects, having published incredibly salient posts from 13 different network effects and counting, where they've now identified 16 different types of network effects, to their very popular self-help article titled Your Life is Driven by Network Effects, and their strategy is clearly working.

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In this episode, we deconstruct James Currier's peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. James is General Partner of NfX. We cover working with ADD, bonding curves, and a Buddhist perspective of success.

“I think about it from a Buddhist perspective, which is that just being present and being in joy is success, and therefore it's available to anyone.” – James Currier

EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)

https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/james-currier2-outlier-academy-show-notes 

FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT

https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/james-currier-outlier-academy-transcript 

CHAPTERS

In this episode, we deconstruct James Currier's peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. In it we cover:

(00:00:00) – Introduction

(00:00:35) – Bonding curves and seeing the big picture

(00:03:14) – Working with ADD, avoiding alcohol and sugar, and finding the love of your life

(00:05:22) – Learning from Joseph Campbell and Niall Ferguson

(00:06:05) – Your Life on Network Effects

(00:09:04) – A Buddhist perspective of success

(00:10:13) – Choosing the right industry

ABOUT JAMES CURRIER

James Currier is General Partner of NFX, an early stage VC firm with a focus on startups with potential for network effects. Before founding NFX, James co-founded four successful companies: Tickle (acquired by Monster), Wonderhill (merged with Kabam), IronPearl (acquired by PayPal), and Jiff (merged with Castlight).

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Learn how Ezra has brought down the cost of early cancer detection by 80% and the time required to get screened by 66%—all by harnessing the power of AI and Machine Learning.

Emi Gal shares the lessons he’s learned building Ezra, why he tracks 150 different biomarkers, what he’s learned doing a Yearly Challenge for the last 14 years, and why he’s focused on achieving peak health by 40, and more. As well as the origin story behind his extreme discipline and his advice for others that want to become more disciplined.

“To make progress in anything, but especially your health, you just need to nudge behavior a little bit every day. I find that tracking 150 different biomarkers does that quite well for me.” — Emi Gal

EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)

https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/emi-gal-ezra-20-minute-playbook  

FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT

https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/emi-gal-ezra-20-minute-playbook-transcript   

CHAPTERS

(00:00:00) - Introduction

(00:01:27) - Why and How Emi Gal Tracks 150 Different Biomarkers

(00:05:50) - How Emi Gal is Reaching Peak Health by The Age of 40

(00:08:54) - The Relationship Between Bone Density and Exercise

(00:10:27) - Why Emi Gal Has Done a Yearly Challenge Every Year Since 2008

(00:18:16) - Lessons Learned Studying and Becoming Antifragile

(00:22:23) - Lessons Learned from Studying with a World Memory Champion

(00:26:56) - Lessons Learned from Interviewing Elderly Americans

(00:31:31) - Why People Would Be Surprised at Emi Gal’s Discipline

(00:34:06) - How to Become More Disciplined

(00:39:05) - Emi Gal’s Favorite Books: Antifragile and The Patient Will See You Now

(00:42:57) - Emi’s Advice for His Younger Self: Embrace Optionality Early On

ABOUT THE GUEST

Emi Gal started his first company, Brainient, when he was just 19. He spent 10 years building Brainient into one of the leading ad-tech companies in Europe before it was acquired by Teads—one of the largest advertising platforms in Europe, with 1.8-billion impressions per month.

After working with Hospices for Hope, a non-profit in Romania that builds and operates hospices for terminally ill cancer patients, Emi realized that one of the biggest problems with cancer is the lack of a fast, accurate, affordable way to screen for cancer everywhere in the body. He founded Ezra in 2018 to solve this problem using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Artificial Intelligence. To date, he’s reduced the cost of getting a full-body cancer screening by 80% and reduced the time required to get screened by 66%.

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ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMY

Learn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.

Website: https://www.outlieracademy.com

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademy

ABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNER

Outlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts.

Website: https://www.danielscrivner.com

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner

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Listen as we decode how Emi Gal tracks more than 150 different biomarkers, what he’s learned doing an Annual Challenge for the last 14 years, why he’s focused on achieving peak health by 40, how to become more disciplined, and more. Emi Gal is the Founder & CEO of Ezra, which is bringing fast and affordable cancer screening to everyone.

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This week we’re profiling Adrian Aoun, who founded Forward into 2017 to turn healthcare from a service into a product and reach 1B+ people globally. Before founding Forward, Adrian served as the Director of Special Projects for Google CEO Larry Page, founded Sidewalk Labs, and served as an advisor to the White House on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Here are the 3 big ideas in this week's Cheat Sheet:

Principle: Be problem obsessed, not solution obsessed.

Framework: How to predict the future from first principles.

Insight: Why healthcare should be a product—not a service.

Read the newsletter companion to this episode:

https://www.cheatsheetnewsletter.com/p/problem-obsessions-and-predicting-the-future

Listen, watch, or explore more of this week’s episodes:

Forward’s Adrian Aoun | My Favorite Books, Tools, Habits and More

Listen Now | Watch Now | Episode Guide | Transcript

Forward: Bringing Healthcare as a Product to a Billion People | Adrian Aoun, Founder & CEO

Listen Now | Watch Now | Episode Guide | Transcript

Get the Cheat Sheet newsletter in your inbox:

https://www.cheatsheetnewsletter.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we’re profiling Adrian Aoun, who founded Forward into 2017 to turn healthcare from a service into a product and reach 1B+ people globally. Before founding Forward, Adrian served as the Director of Special Projects for Google CEO Larry Page, founded Sidewalk Labs, and served as an advisor to the White House on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Here are the 3 big ideas in this week's Cheat Sheet:

Principle: Be problem obsessed, not solution obsessed.

Framework: How to predict the future from first principles.

Insight: Why healthcare should be a product—not a service.

Get the Cheat Sheet newsletter in your inbox:

https://www.cheatsheetnewsletter.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices