Podcast Notes Playlist: Latest Episodes

The outputs of labor and capital are limited to the people who control those resources. But the best outputs of product leverage reach global markets.

I really enjoyed sitting down with Kuval who lives in India and is spitting fire on Twitter about how to make money doing what you love. We get into that as well as first principles, and the transmission of morals in the time of globalization.

Over the past 20 years, my guest on today's show, Dr. Peter Martone, has been trying to recommend pillows for his patients that would put their head in the correct position so that they could get a great night's sleep and wake up rested. He could not find one, and he would have patients purchase soft down pillows and stuff them under their necks. The problem is that a pillow is for your head and you can not support your head to get a great night sleep.

https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/necknest

Wealth requires leverage. Labor and capital are older forms of leverage that everyone is fighting over.

Podcast Notes Key Takeaways

• Josh has an investment philosophy of 100-0-100 (it’s a mix of arrogance, humility and ambition):
  • Josh is 100% certain Lux Capital will be investing in the most cutting-edge tech imaginable over the next few years (arrogance)
  • He has no idea (0%) what those things will be (humility)
  • He knows with near certainty (100%) that the best investments will come from the edge of tech and as long as he stays curious and invests, he’ll be able to find the next breakthrough companies (ambition)
• Josh believes passion is the best predictor of success
  • If someone is psychotically passionate about something, they’ll have the fuel and energy to make it happen
• When no one is investing in a certain field, ask yourself: What sucks about that field?
  • Based on your answer, go create a company to solve it
• “Failure comes from a failure to imagine failure”
• The best advice Josh ever got – avoid boring people
  • Stay away from people that aren’t interesting, avoid boring people, and avoid boring people (don’t be boring to others)
• Experience is usually overrated for entrepreneurs – the most amazing entrepreneurs in history had almost no experience in the field they were entering

Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org

Long-time listeners will have heard me joke before that this podcast should really be called “this is who are you up against.” I’ve been waiting for the right episode to deploy the joke as a title, and this week we have it. 

The joke is meant to convey how incredibly impressive these people are who we get to hear from every week. My guest this week is Josh Wolfe, a founding and managing partner at Lux Capital in New York City. Lux is a venture capital firm, but a highly unique one. They’ve spent more time in hard sciences and interesting nooks and crannies of the market than the typical VC firm.

Some of investing is zero sum: my outperformance is someone else’s underperformance. Sometimes, though, investing is positive sum. The combination of capital, ideas, people, drive, and raw energy leads to amazing new things. 

I think the best investing and best investors of the future will be more collaborative than competitive. After finishing with Josh, I couldn’t stop thinking “god, do I want to be involved with whatever he’s doing, if only just to learn.” 

This conversation made me rethink my joke “this is who are you up against.” Now I won’t think of it as a zero-sum joke, but instead as a reminder: this is the kind of person who is out there. You better find your niche, and still be the absolute best you can within that niche.  

Please enjoy this killer conversation with Josh Wolfe. We cover just about everything. 

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.

Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.

Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

 

Links Referenced

Investing in Biofuels or Biofools?

Ali Hamed podcast

Alex Moazed podcast

Andy Rachleff podcast

Popplet

@wolfejosh

 

Books Referenced

Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy

 

World After Capital

 

Show Notes

2:35 – (First Question) – Lux Capital and the kind of investments they have made over the years 

5:42 – The formation of the investment philosophy for Lux 

8:17 – Why randomness and optionality are important cornerstones to the philosophy 

9:52 – Investment philosophy 100-0-100 (ambition, arrogance, intellectual humility) 

10:40 – How Josh manages his time and attention

            12:53 – Investing in Biofuels or Biofools? 

13:29 – Obsession with nuclear 

15:15 – Investment in metamaterials 

18:28 – Focus on autonomous vehicles 

21:02 – How all of these gambles are viewed by Josh’s investors 

22:56 – Tattoo technology

            24:20 – Ali Hamed podcast 

24:36 – How Josh evaluates people when considering early stage investments

            24:45 – Alex Moazed podcast

            24:49 – Modern Monopolies: What It Takes to Dominate the 21st Century Economy 

28:10 – Why the minority opinion tends to lead to the best outcomes 

29:50 – Memorable experience investing in a founder 

30:44 – The idea of thesis driven approach to private investment    

            30:56 – Andy Rachleff podcast   

32:38 – Crazy thesis – understanding the emotional needs of our pets 

34:59 – Crazy thesis – Turning genetic abnormalities into treatments and cures for common conditions

38:03 – Josh’s learning process through these theses

            38:34 – Popplet

39:56 – Understanding rebel scientists when it’s impossible to predict what is going to happen

44:35 – Can the charge forward mindset be cultivated, or does it have to come naturally

45:49 – Investors that Josh has learned the most from

47:37 – Josh’s comfort investing outside of his usual asset class

            49:03 – @wolfejosh

50:56 – What is the thinking with the short strategy at Lux

52:31 – SpaceX vs Tesla, good business vs bad business

53:42 – How Josh approaches the quality of a business

            54:15 – World After Capital

55:16 – How does Josh evaluate competitive advantage

56:45 – Where are we in the venture capital landscape

1:01:42 – How does his outlook on venture capital affect the way Lux is run

1:02:48 – thoughts on cryptocurrency

1:05:28 – An overview of Santa Fe Institute

1:07:22 – What is the most memorable conversation Josh has ever had

1:09:34 – What is Josh’s objective function in life

1:12:43 – Are there people that Josh disagrees with but deeply respects

1:13:32 – Kindest thing anyone has ever done for Josh  

Learn More

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub

Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag

Podcast Notes Key Takeaways

• Being under slept puts you on a path to being pre-diabetic
• Sleep deprivation distorts your genes and their activity 
  • Certain genes become down regulated (like those associated with the immune system)
  • And other genes tend to be up regulated (like those associated with tumor promotion, chronic inflammation, and stress)
• Sleeping only 6 hours per night for one week increase the likelihood you’ll consume more calories and choose to consume unhealthier foods
• Caffeine has a half life of 6 hours and a quarter life of 12 hours
  • So if you have a cup of coffee at midday, a quarter of that caffeine is still affecting you at midnight (this is the equivalent to drinking a quarter cup of coffee right before bed)
• Even a little bit of alcohol prior to bed will ruin sleep quality
• THC will decrease the amount of time it takes you to fall asleep
  • But like alcohol, it blocks REM sleep 
• CBD seems to reduce the amount of time it takes one to fall asleep
  • It also acts to decrease anxiety (which can improve sleep quality) 
• With one night of sleep deprivation, you can instigate a level of anxiety which would fall under the umbrella of a clinical anxiety order diagnosis

Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org

In the final part of this 3 part series, Matthew Walker, professor of neuroscience at UC Berkeley and expert on sleep, discusses the omnipresent effects of insufficient sleep on everything from metabolism, appetite, athletic performance, decision-making, productivity, leadership, mental health, genetics, memory, and more. We also discuss the impact of caffeine and alcohol on sleep quality, the efficacy of sleep aids such as THC and CBD, and much more.

We discuss:

• Sleep and insulin resistance [6:15];
• Epigenetic changes with insufficient sleep, and the reversibility of lost sleep [18:00];
• Sleep’s impact on exercise performance, appetite, and food choices [28:15];
• Decision making, workplace production, leadership qualities, physical attractiveness, and more [43:15];
• The broken water pipe analogy [49:30];
• The negative effect of caffeine, alcohol, and high carb meals on sleep quality [53:30];
• The efficacy of THC and CBD as sleep aids [1:05:30];
• Sleep and mental health: A two-way street [1:16:45];
• How sleep impacts memory, and Matthew’s current and upcoming projects [1:24:00];
• Sleep’s impact on athletes: Looking at Formula One drivers [1:32:45]
• Translating the science to clinical application [1:57:00]; and
• More.

Learn more at www.PeterAttiaMD.com
Connect with Peter on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Wealth requires leverage. Labor and capital are older forms of leverage that everyone is fighting over.

Podcast Notes Key Takeaways

• Some of the bad from a lack of sleep:
  • Cardiovascular disease is accelerated
  • The reproductive hormones get out of whack:
    • Men who are sleeping 5-6 hours/night will have a level of testosterone that of 10 years their senior
    • Women sleeping 5-6 hours/night show a 20% reduction in follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) – a critical hormone for getting pregnant
  • Our immune system’s function is severely inhibited
• “Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent reason”
• Sleep isn’t like the bank – you can’t accumulate a sleep debt during the week and sleep it off on the weekends
• Only 11% of 18-year-olds are getting sufficient sleep (most only get ~6-7 hours when they need 9-10)
• Using an iPad (or a phone) for an hour before bed causes a 50% drop in the melatonin that’s released AND that melatonin peak will be delayed by 3 hours
  • An hour of iPad use before bed also reduces the amount of REM sleep you’ll get
• Sleep is basically about balancing the following hormones: adenosine, cortisol, and melatonin
  • Adenosine accumulates throughout the day and makes you sleepy
    • (Caffeine acts to blunt adenosine build up)
    • When we sleep, adenosine is cleared away
  • Melatonin is the hormone that rises when it gets dark to signal to our body it’s time for bed
  • Cortisol levels typically rise when you wake up – this allows you to be awake/alert throughout the day
    • As night comes on, cortisol needs to drop in order for you to initiate sleep

Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org

In part 2 of this 3 part series, Matthew Walker, professor of neuroscience at UC Berkeley and expert on sleep, describes the preponderance of evidence linking poor sleep to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and sexual function. He also details the impact of cortisol on our nervous system contributing to sleep disturbances and insomnia as well as the efficacy and risks associated with the most common sleeping pills. Matthew also describes the sleep needs of teenagers and urgently lays the case that we should reconsider school start times. We also get into the effect of electronics at night, the efficacy of napping, the general impact of modern society on our sleep habits, and what changes we can make to course correct. 

We discuss:

• Sleep and cardiovascular disease [6:00];
• Fuel partitioning and dieting while sleep deprived [16:45];
• Sleep and the reproductive function: testosterone, sperm count, FSH, menstrual cycles, and fertility [19:45];
• The biological necessity of sleep, the lack of a “safety net”, sleep debt, and ways to course correct sleep problems [23:45];
• Fighting cancer and improving immune function with sleep [34:30];
• The medical profession: A culture that devalues sleep [47:30];
• The sleep needs of children, the travesty of early school start times, electronics at night, and advice for parents [1:04:45];
• How exposure to light affects sleep, and how modern society has changed our sleep habits  [1:26:15];
• Is napping helpful? [1:36:00];
• The effect of cortisol levels on sleep [1:41:15];
• Are sleeping pills doing more harm than good? [1:52:15]; and
• More.

Learn more at www.PeterAttiaMD.com
Connect with Peter on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Podcast Notes Key Takeaways

• There’s a shortage of positive feedback today, thus reducing the amount of people who explore their curiosities
• Self-experimentation is more important than the results
  • Find a diet/routine that works well for YOU – don’t copy someone else’s
• Find a group of individuals you can consider as your personal advisory board
  • “The people you are surrounded by will rewrite your brain whether you want them to or not”
• Luck plays a crucial role in the success of many individuals
• 10-20% of your time should be spent being “incredibly opportunistic”
  • “Focus on doing something that may not seem intuitive, that may not align with the metrics you’re collecting, and that may seem a little crazy, but has the potential of really changing your life”
• “The meta-problem to productivity is just to focus on sleep, that’s the largest needle mover”
• Fiction books are often more effective than nonfiction books at teaching life lessons
• “Happiness to me is flow”
  • To go further: flow + knowing you moved the needle of the planet —> a good day

Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org



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Daniel Gross, former Y Combinator partner and current founder of Pioneer, discusses how we can make our success less about luck, the powerful role we play in the lives of others, and the valuable lessons he learned about leadership.

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