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

"It is easy to forget that, when he was a student, the man who brought us the Macintosh, iPhone and iPad (and, with his little finger, Pixar) collected bottle caps to make ends meet. The need to stretch every nickel informed the way Apple was run during the early days."

In 2015, Mike Moritz wrote an opinion piece for The Financial Times called "Imitators take note — Steve Jobs was more than a showman." It's a great reminder that the best businesses — including Apple — are the most capital efficient businesses. That what matters isn't how much you raise, but the business you build with what you raise. And that even Apple, started out life being incredibly cheap and capital efficient.

Being frugal and stretching every nickel ensures that your business is as durable as possible. While revenue will always ebb and flow, expenses are typically subject to inertia. Expenses tend to build up invisibly, almost imperceptibly, and can require heroic acts to shrink. While is why it's so important to build a culture of frugality from Day One — ensuring that as many dollars spent as possible go toward strategic expenses that sustain and grow your business.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aoDwtbLW71I

Show notes: https://www.outlieracademy.com/episode/173

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Learn more about Steve Jobs: https://www.danielscrivner.com/articles/who-was-steve-jobs-wisdom-from-the-man-who-built-apple-and-pixar

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"It is easy to forget that, when he was a student, the man who brought us the Macintosh, iPhone and iPad (and, with his little finger, Pixar) collected bottle caps to make ends meet. The need to stretch every nickel informed the way Apple was run during the early days."

In 2015, Mike Moritz wrote an opinion piece for The Financial Times called "Imitators take note — Steve Jobs was more than a showman." It's a great reminder that the best businesses — including Apple — are the most capital efficient businesses. That what matters isn't how much you raise, but the business you build with what you raise. And that even Apple, started out life being incredibly cheap and capital efficient.

Being frugal and stretching every nickel ensures that your business is as durable as possible. While revenue will always ebb and flow, expenses are typically subject to inertia. Expenses tend to build up invisibly, almost imperceptibly, and can require heroic acts to shrink. While is why it's so important to build a culture of frugality from Day One — ensuring that as many dollars spent as possible go toward strategic expenses that sustain and grow your business.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/aoDwtbLW71I

Show notes: https://www.outlieracademy.com/episode/173

Read the newsletter for this episode: https://newsletter.outlieracademy.com/p/essay-breakdown-imitators-take-note

Subscribe to newsletter: https://newsletter.outlieracademy.com

Subscribe to podcast: https://pod.link/outlieracademy

Learn more about Steve Jobs: https://www.danielscrivner.com/articles/who-was-steve-jobs-wisdom-from-the-man-who-built-apple-and-pixar

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

Steve Jobs made an incredible impact on the world by creating two of today's most important companies in Apple and Pixar. Both companies created world-changing products while Steve Jobs was alive in the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, and Oscar winning animated films such as Toy Story. More importantly, both companies developed the right team, vision, and culture to continue producing world-shaping products decades later — long after Steve's departure. As we learn in this book, Steve's values and ethos live on in both of these incredible companies.

Watch on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/gIhYf0BEM2s

Read the full book breakdown:

https://www.danielscrivner.com/best-books/i-steve-steve-jobs-in-his-own-words

Buy the book:

https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-His-Words-Their/dp/1932841660?&linkCode=ll1&tag=lv0d-20&linkId=0301698a38980a7199e5bca48944c001&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

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Steve Jobs made an incredible impact on the world by creating two of today's most important companies in Apple and Pixar. Both companies created world-changing products while Steve Jobs was alive in the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, and Oscar winning animated films such as Toy Story. More importantly, both companies developed the right team, vision, and culture to continue producing world-shaping products decades later — long after Steve's departure. As we learn in this book, Steve's values and ethos live on in both of these incredible companies.

Watch on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/gIhYf0BEM2s

Read the full book breakdown:

https://www.danielscrivner.com/best-books/i-steve-steve-jobs-in-his-own-words

Buy the book:

https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-His-Words-Their/dp/1932841660?&linkCode=ll1&tag=lv0d-20&linkId=0301698a38980a7199e5bca48944c001&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

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“The best product leaders coach people across the company, not just in their team, and help develop them into the future leaders of the company.” – Gokul Rajaram

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

https://www.outlieracademy.com/episode/102

CHAPTERS

This episode is our definitive guide to product management in small, speedy teams. In it we cover:

(00:00:00) – Introduction

(00:02:26) – Gokul’s background in product management

(00:06:58) – Applying a computer science background to product management

(00:10:26) – What great product vision looks like

(00:16:32) – The product analyst role

(00:23:11) – Focusing on controllable inputs

(00:26:07) – Experiment design

(00:34:54) – Editing vs. managing a product

(00:42:50) – S.P.A.D.E. decision making

(00:55:18) – Speed in product creation

ABOUT GOKUL RAJARAM

Gokul Rajaram is part of a new wave of solo capitalists, like Elad Gil and Lachy Groom, that play an outsized role in funding and helping many of the world's best startups. As Gokul says in this interview, his goal is for every founder he backs to say that he's the most helpful investor on the cap table. And if there is another thing that Gokul is known for, it's his expertise around product management and decision making, including the Spade framework he created at Square for making transparent decisions at the highest levels. Spade is now used by many of the world's best startups for large, important, and strategic decisions that need to be made transparently so the whole company understands why the decision was made.

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“The best product leaders coach people across the company, not just in their team, and help develop them into the future leaders of the company.” – Gokul Rajaram

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

https://www.outlieracademy.com/episode/102

ABOUT GOKUL RAJARAM

Gokul Rajaram is part of a new wave of solo capitalists, like Elad Gil and Lachy Groom, that play an outsized role in funding and helping many of the world's best startups. As Gokul says in this interview, his goal is for every founder he backs to say that he's the most helpful investor on the cap table. And if there is another thing that Gokul is known for, it's his expertise around product management and decision making, including the Spade framework he created at Square for making transparent decisions at the highest levels. Spade is now used by many of the world's best startups for large, important, and strategic decisions that need to be made transparently so the whole company understands why the decision was made.

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

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Extra Stuff

Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die →

Browse every book featured on Outliers →

Get in Touch

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

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Email: https://www.danielscrivner.com/contact

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The Essays of Warren Buffett by Lawrence Cunningham

For over 50 years, Warren Buffett has written an annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway's shareholders. Many people set it as a goal to read all of Warren’s shareholder letters chronologically. Which is certainly a fascinating way to see how Berkshire Hathaway evolved year after year.

This book is different. It breaks from this chronological order to instead group things Warren has said over the years by topic. So, for instance, you can see his ideas on the importance of culture or the power of incentives holistically — as a single body of work.

What I love about this book is the focus on Warren’s ideas. Warren Buffett has built one of the largest conglomerates in history — full I’d incredible companies from See’s Candies to GEICO — from a standing start in 1965. I would argue that if you only have time to study one entrepreneur and investor, that you should study Warren Buffett.

There’s no better way to do that than with this book. I know it’s one I’ll be rereading for the rest of my life.

YouTube & Substack

Watch this episode on YouTube or get new episodes in your inbox with Substack.

Notes & Transcript

Find my full notes and transcript for this episode at outlieracademy.com/warrens-essays.

Chapters

(0:00) Coming soon…

Join Outliers Club

Listen to episodes a week before they're released publicly. Remove all ads. And get access to exclusive Ask Me Anything sessions, hand-written transcripts, bonus articles, and more. All for just $149/year or $19/month. Join now →

Extra Stuff

Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die →

Browse every book featured on Outliers →

Get in Touch

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

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielscrivner/

Email: https://www.danielscrivner.com/contact

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The Essays of Warren Buffett by Lawrence Cunningham

For over 50 years, Warren Buffett has written an annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway's shareholders. Many people set it as a goal to read all of Warren’s shareholder letters chronologically. Which is certainly a fascinating way to see how Berkshire Hathaway evolved year after year.

This book is different. It breaks from this chronological order to instead group things Warren has said over the years by topic. So, for instance, you can see his ideas on the importance of culture or the power of incentives holistically — as a single body of work.

What I love about this book is the focus on Warren’s ideas. Warren Buffett has built one of the largest conglomerates in history — full I’d incredible companies from See’s Candies to GEICO — from a standing start in 1965. I would argue that if you only have time to study one entrepreneur and investor, that you should study Warren Buffett.

There’s no better way to do that than with this book. I know it’s one I’ll be rereading for the rest of my life.

Notes & Transcript

Find my full notes and transcript for this episode at outlieracademy.com/warrens-essays.

YouTube & Substack

Watch this episode on YouTube or get new episodes in your inbox with Substack.

Join Outliers Club

Listen to episodes a week before they're released publicly. Remove all ads. And get access to exclusive Ask Me Anything sessions, hand-written transcripts, bonus articles, and more. All for just $149/year or $19/month. Join now →

Extra Stuff

Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die →

Browse every book featured on Outliers →

Get in Touch

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

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielscrivner/

Email: https://www.danielscrivner.com/contact

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

The Essays of Warren Buffett by Lawrence Cunningham

For over 50 years, Warren Buffett has written an annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway's shareholders. Many people set it as a goal to read all of Warren’s shareholder letters chronologically. Which is certainly a fascinating way to see how Berkshire Hathaway evolved year after year.

This book is different. It breaks from this chronological order to instead group things Warren has said over the years by topic. So, for instance, you can see his ideas on the importance of culture or the power of incentives holistically — as a single body of work.

What I love about this book is the focus on Warren’s ideas. Warren Buffett has built one of the largest conglomerates in history — full I’d incredible companies from See’s Candies to GEICO — from a standing start in 1965. I would argue that if you only have time to study one entrepreneur and investor, that you should study Warren Buffett.

There’s no better way to do that than with this book. I know it’s one I’ll be rereading for the rest of my life.

YouTube & Substack

Watch this episode on YouTube or get new episodes in your inbox with Substack.

Notes & Transcript

Find my full notes and transcript for this episode at outlieracademy.com/warrens-essays.

Chapters

(0:00) Chapters coming…

Join Outliers Club

Listen to episodes a week before they're released publicly. Remove all ads. And get access to exclusive Ask Me Anything sessions, hand-written transcripts, bonus articles, and more. All for just $19/month or $149/year. Join now →

Get in Touch

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

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielscrivner/

Email: https://www.danielscrivner.com/contact

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