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Elon Musk is CEO of Neuralink, SpaceX, Tesla, xAI, and CTO of X. DJ Seo is COO & President of Neuralink. Matthew MacDougall is Head Neurosurgeon at Neuralink. Bliss Chapman is Brain Interface Software Lead at Neuralink. Noland Arbaugh is the first human to have a Neuralink device implanted in his brain.

Transcript: https://lexfridman.com/elon-musk-and-neuralink-team-transcript

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• “Extraordinary careers, when you are junior in venture, do not get built sitting behind a desk in an office behind a laptop. You have to be willing to go meet with founders in person, figure out how to understand their business and how to convince them to even spend time with you when you are not one of the big general partners.” – Delian Asparouhov 
• Startups must have a strong vision for the future of the world, and then build towards making that vision the reality 
• Young venture capitalists do not focus enough on differentiation; many young VCs spread themselves too thin by focusing on a multitude of sectors 
• In venture, you have no moat other than your brand; “US dollars” is the product that you deliver – a product that anybody else can deliver
• The number one thing that Delian has learned from Peter Thiel:  There is always a way to structure your argument so that you are on the winning side no matter what 
• “People love software because the marginal distribution costs are zero, but perhaps what people need to realize is also that the marginal returns are zero as well because there is no moat.” – Delian Asparouhov 
• The only rule of the Founders Fund is that there are no rules 
• Over the next 100-200 years, our biggest geopolitical and moral crisis is humanity speciating by way of artificial selection pressures (such as embryonic scoring and CRISPR DNA changing) and natural selection pressures (such as humans existing on new frontiers, perhaps in space)
• Say what you think; it doesn’t really matter how society chooses to react to it 

Delian Asparouhov is a Partner at Founders Fund and Co-Founder and President of Varda Space Industries, which is building the world's first space factories. At Founders Fund Delian has led deals in the likes of Ramp ($7BN) and Sword Health ($3BN) among others. Before joining Founders Fund, he was a Principal at Khosla Ventures, Head of Growth at Teespring, and Founder of a healthcare company called Nightingale.

1. Venture Capital: Winners, Losers and Everyone Else:

• Who are the Top 3 venture firms in the world today according to Delian?
• Why does Delian believe that Benchmark are not the firm they were?
• Who will be the winners in venture in the next 10 years?
• Who will be the losers in venture in the next 10 years?

2. Inside Founders Fund: What No One Sees:

• What are the most important and impactful elements of Founders Fund that no one knows about?
• What does Delian believe that the Founders Fund partnership will strongly disagree with him on?
• Why does Founders Fund believe the path of most resistance is the best way to make decisions?
• What single topic has Delian publicly disagreed with Peter Thiel on most? How did it go?

3. What Every Young VC Needs to Know:

• What are Delian's single biggest tips to young VCs looking to scale the VC ladder today?
• What are the five core pillars of venture according to Delian? What should young VCs focus on?
• Why does Delian disagree with Founders Fund partners that "the best founders do not need the help of their VCs?"
• Does Delian agree with Vinod Khosla that "90% of VCs do detract value?"
• What are the biggest ways that Delian believes VCs can and do detract value?

4. Europe Will Be Third World, Parenting and Marriage:

• Why does Delian believe that Western Europe will become like the third world?
• What are Delian's single biggest tips on finding a life partner?
• What have been the biggest changes to Delian since becoming a father?
• What question does no one ask Delian that someone should ask him?

• “It is not totally irrational to worry about society suddenly becoming fundamentally hostile to Jews, even in the West.” – Sam Harris 
• In America, every year after September 11th, Jews have been a greater target of hate crime than any other group in American society, including Muslims and African Americans 
• Islam expects conquest – this makes it fundamentally different than most other religions 
• The central message of the Quran is not about love or compassion; instead, its message is that you should fear going to hell 
• Islam is not a race; it is a set of ideas
• The power of bad ideas is much more consequential than the power of bad people 
• If the Palestinians laid down their arms, there would be peace in the Middle East; if the Jews laid down their arms, there would be genocide  
• The fate of open societies is at stake today; it is not “just” the rise of Jew hatred 
• The basis for hope: We are talking about ideas here, and people can change their minds 

Neuroscientist and author Sam Harris of the podcast Making Sense talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about rising Jew-hatred in the West and what Harris sees as the dangers of radical Islam and Jihadism.

• Check out the Rational VC website

Learn from history's Greatest Minds — and find Timeless ideas you can apply to business and life. Every episode we explore a Lindy book: We strive to become polymaths like our investing and business icons, pulling the Big Ideas from a wide range of disciplines to help us become better investors and operators. For the curious-minded seeking Worldly Wisdom. Join 3,000+ others by subscribing @ rationalvc.com to get free access to essays and exclusive content.

For the video version of this episode click here.

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro

(08:16) Core Concepts

(12:10) Important Prologue One

(29:10) Important Prologue Two

(45:04) Prologue Three

(49:42) A First Look at Agency

(1:05:00) Ethics Problems in Scaling

(1:09:00) The Minority Rule

(1:29:40) Employment & FU Money, Freedom

(1:47:26) Status, Manners & Competence

(1:49:55) On Taking Risks

(1:55:35) The Intellectual Yet Idiot

(2:04:17) The Lindy Effect Recap

(2:09:10) Deeper Into Agency

(2:11:58) The Illusion of Business Plans

(2:15:00) Charlie Munger, Show Rather Than Be

(2:17:15) Financial Minimalism, Mimesis

(2:24:22) Virtues & Advice for Young People

(2:26:37) The Interventionistas

(2:28:36) Religion, Belief, & SITG

(2:31:10) Most Important, Book 8: Risk & Rationality

(2:51:05) Epilogue

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Our website (all essays and podcasts): rationalvc.com
Our investment fund: rational.fund
Cyrus' Twitter: x.com/CyrusYari
Iman's Twitter: x.com/iman_olya

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Referenced Material:

Cyrus on "Financial Minimalism", Viral Essay:
https://www.rationalvc.com/articles/minimalism

Also listen to the prior three podcast episodes - each covered the other books of Taleb's Incerto Series.

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Disclaimer: The materials provided are solely for informational or entertainment purposes and do not constitute investment or legal advice. All opinions expressed by hosts and guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of their employer(s).

#Timeless #wisdom #knowledge #books #polymaths

• “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan 
• The greats do not cower when they are slighted; instead, their determination only grows further 
• “I never asked any of my teammates to do something that I wasn’t willing to do myself. If you don’t want to play that way, don’t play that way. I’m not going to do it for you.” – Michael Jordan 
• Learning is a gift, even when pain is your teacher
• It obvious when a person wants to win more than the competition; the world has a way of elevating these people who simply want it more than everyone else 
• After Michael Jordan’s legendary performance in Game 2 of the 1986 Eastern Conference First Round, where he scored 63 points against the Boston Celtics, Larry Bird famously said: “I think he’s God disguised as Michael Jordan.”
• “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” – Michael Jordan 

"I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something, but I can't accept not trying. I can't accept it." Michael Jordan is one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He's also a great entrepreneur, business owner, and Olympian. In this episode, we cover his remarkable story and talk about the strategies, tactics, and work habits that made him so effective.

Writing, production, and sound editing by Ben Wilson with support from Michael Lackner.

• Check out the episode page

Rory Sutherland is widely regarded as one of the most influential (and most entertaining) thinkers in marketing and behavioral science. He’s the vice chairman of Ogilvy UK, the author of Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life, and the founder of Nudgestock, the world’s biggest festival of behavioral science and creativity. He champions thinking from first principles and using human psychology—what he calls “thinking psycho-logically”—over mere logic. In our conversation, we cover:

• Why good products don’t always succeed, and bad ones don’t necessarily fail

• Why less functionality can sometimes be more valuable

• The importance of fame in building successful brands

• The importance of timing in product success

• The concept of “most advanced, yet acceptable”

• Why metrics-driven workplaces can be demotivating

• Lots of real-world case studies

• Much more

Note: We encountered some technical difficulties that led to less than ideal video quality for this episode, but the lessons from this conversation made it impossible for me to not publish it anyway. Thanks for your understanding and for bearing with the less-than-ideal video quality. 

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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/what-most-people-miss-about-marketing

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Where to find Rory Sutherland:

• X: https://x.com/rorysutherland

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rorysutherland

• Book: Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life: https://www.amazon.com/Alchemy-Curious-Science-Creating-Business/dp/006238841X

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Rory’s background

(02:37) The success and failure of products

(04:08) Why the urge to appear serious can be a disaster in marketing

(08:05) The role of distinctiveness in product design

(12:29) The MAYA principle

(15:50) How thinking irrationally can be advantageous

(17:40) The fault of multiple-choice tests

(21:31) Companies that have successfully implemented out-of-the-box thinking

(30:31) “Psycho-logical” thinking

(31:45) The hare and the dog metaphor

(38:51) Marketing’s crucial role in product adoption

(49:21) The quirks of Google Glass

(55:44) Survivorship bias

(56:09) Balancing rational ideas with irrational ideas

(01:06:19) The rise and fall of tech innovations

(01:09:54) Consistency, distinctiveness, and clarity

(01:21:12) Considering psychological, technological, and economic factors in parallel

(01:23:35) Where to find Rory

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Referenced:

• Google Glass: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Glass

• Meta Portal TV: https://www.meta.com/portal/products/portal-tv/

• Rory’s quote in a LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/brad-jackson-04766642_the-urge-to-appear-serious-is-a-disaster-activity-7093497742710210560-1LYN/

• The MAYA Principle: Design for the Future, but Balance It with Your Users’ Present: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/design-for-the-future-but-balance-it-with-your-users-present

• Ogilvy: https://www.ogilvy.com/

• MCI: https://www.mci.world/

• Veuve Clicquot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veuve_Clicquot

• Why do the French call the British ‘the roast beefs’?: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2913151.stm

• The Killing on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/the-killing-f5da5c2d-4626-4ba9-bcf3-ff5f891771fb

• Original The Killing on BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017h7m1

• The Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong: https://www.mandarinoriental.com/en/hong-kong/victoria-harbour

• SAT: https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/sat

• The Widening Racial Scoring Gap on the SAT College Admissions Test: https://www.jbhe.com/features/49_college_admissions-test.html

• What is the age of the captain?: https://www.icopilots.com/what-is-the-age-of-the-captain/

• Octopus Energy: https://octopus.energy/

• Kraken: https://octopusenergy.group/kraken-technologies

• Toby Shannan: https://theorg.com/org/shopify/org-chart/toby-shannan

• Dunbar’s number: Why we can only maintain 150 relationships: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191001-dunbars-number-why-we-can-only-maintain-150-relationships

• AO: https://ao.com/

• Zappos: https://www.zappos.com/

• Joe Cano on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeycano/

• John Ralston Saul’s website: https://www.johnralstonsaul.com/

• Voltaire’s Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West: https://www.amazon.com/Voltaires-Bastards-Dictatorship-Reason-West/dp/0679748199

• Psycho-Logic: Why Too Much Logic Deters Magic: https://coffeeandjunk.com/psycho-logic/

• Herbert Simon’s Decision-Making Approach: https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/4995/1/Fulltext.pdf

• Robert Trivers’s website: https://roberttrivers.com/Welcome.html

• Crazy Ivan: https://jollycontrarian.com/index.php?title=Crazy_Ivan

• The Joys of Being a Late Tech Adopter: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/technology/personaltech/joys-late-tech-adopter.html

• Jean-Claude Van Damme: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Van_Damme

• Tim Berners-Lee: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee

• Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1200696/

• The real story behind penicillin: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/the-real-story-behind-the-worlds-first-antibiotic

• What Are Japanese Toilets?: https://www.bigbathroomshop.co.uk/info/blog/japanese-toilets/

• reMarkable: https://remarkable.com/

• Chumby: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chumby

• Survivorship bias: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias

• Jony Ive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jony_Ive

• Marc Newson’s website: https://marc-newson.com/

• Designing Men: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/business/2013/11/jony-ive-marc-newson-design-auction

• Qantas A330: https://marc-newson.com/qantas-a330/

• Herodotus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodotus

• Big Decision? Consider It Both Drunk and Sober: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2016/03/22/wine-and-sleep-make-for-better-decisions/?sh=5c97fdc524b1

• How Henry Ford and Thomas Edison killed the electric car: https://www.speakev.com/threads/how-henry-ford-and-thomas-edison-killed-the-electric-car.4270/

• Watch Jay Leno get nostalgic and swoon over this 1909 EV: https://thenextweb.com/news/jay-leno-talk-about-electric-car-1909-baker

• Jay Leno’s Garage: https://www.youtube.com/@jaylenosgarage

• Nudgestock: https://nudgestock.com/

• Akio Morita: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akio_Morita

• Don Norman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnorman/

• What Makes Tesla’s Business Model Different: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/072115/what-makes-teslas-business-model-different.asp

• Monica Lewinsky on X: https://x.com/MonicaLewinsky

• Blindsight: The (Mostly) Hidden Ways Marketing Reshapes Our Brains: azon.com/Blindsight-Mostly-Hidden-Marketing-Reshapes-ebook/dp/B07ZKZ5DWF

• Branding That Means Business: https://www.amazon.com/Branding-that-Means-Business-Economist-ebook/dp/B09QBCCH9N

• PwC: https://www.pwc.com

• Ryanair: https://www.ryanair.com

• British Airways: https://www.britishairways.com/

• Wrigley’s began as a soap business: know when to pivot: https://theamericangenius.com/entrepreneur/wrigleys-began-as-soap-know-when-to-pivot/

• Transport for Humans: https://www.amazon.com/Transport-Humans-Perspectives-Pete-Dyson/dp/1913019357

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

What I learned from reading What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir by Haruki Murakami. 

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(3:01) No matter how mundane some action might appear, keep at it long enough and it becomes a contemplative, even meditative act.

(4:00) Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.

(4:00) The hurt part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand anymore is up to the runner himself.

(10:00) You can't fake passion — someone else, that really loves the job, will out run you. Somebody else sitting in some other MBA program has a deep passion for whatever career path you're going down, and they are going to smoke you if you don't have it yourself.  — Runnin' Down a Dream: How to Succeed and Thrive in a Career You Love 

(12:00) What’s crucial is whether your writing attains the standards you’ve set for yourself. Failure to reach that bar is not something you can easily explain away.

(14:00) Big ideas come from the unconscious. This is true in art, in science and in advertising. But your unconscious has to be well informed, or your idea will be irrelevant. Stuff your conscious mind with information, then unhook your rational thought process. You can help this process by going for a long walk, or taking a hot bath, or drinking half a pint of claret. Suddenly, if the telephone line from your unconscious is open, a big idea wells up within you.  — David Ogilvy

(16:00) If you absolutely can't tolerate critics, then don't do anything new or interesting. — Jeff Bezos

(16:00) So the fact that I’m me and no one else is one of my greatest assets.

(19:00) Failure was not an option. I had to give it everything I had.

(19:00) My only strength has always been the fact that I work hard and can take a lot physically. I’m more a workhorse than a racehorse.

(22:00) I was more interested in having finished it than in whether or not it would ever see the light of day.

(26:00) I’m the kind of person who has to totally commit to whatever I do.

(29:00) The entrenched professional is always going to resist far longer than the private consumer. — James Dyson

(34:00) You really need to prioritize in life, figuring out in what order you should divide up your time and energy. If you don’t get that sort of system set by a certain age, you’ll lack focus and your life will be out of balance. I placed the highest priority on the sort of life that lets me focus on writing,

(37:00) You can’t please everybody. If one out of ten enjoyed the place and said he’d come again, that was enough. If one out of ten was a repeat customer, then the business would survive. To put it the other way, it didn’t matter if nine out of ten didn’t like my bar. This realization lifted a weight off my shoulders. Still, I had to make sure that the one person who did like the place really liked it. In order to make sure he did, I had to make my philosophy and stance clear-cut, and patiently maintain that stance no matter what. This is what I learned through running a business.

(40:00) The reason we're surprised is that we underestimate the cumulative effect of work. Writing a page a day doesn't sound like much, but if you do it every day you'll write a book a year. That's the key: consistency. People who do great things don't get a lot done every day. They get something done, rather than nothing. — How To Do Great Work by Paul Graham. (Founders #314)

(41:00) When you follow what you are intensely interested in this strange convergence happens where you're working all the time and it feels like you're never working. — How To Do Great Work by Paul Graham. (Founders #314)

(43:00) No matter how strong a will a person has, no matter how much he may hate to lose, if it’s an activity he doesn’t really care for, he won’t keep it up for long.

(44:00) Nobody ever recommended or even desired that I be a novelist—in fact, some tried to stop me. I had the idea to be one, and that’s what I did.

(45:00) I decided who I want to be, and that is who I am. — Coco Chanel

(46:00) Once, I interviewed an Olympic runner.  I asked him, “Does a runner at your level ever feel like you’d rather not run today, like you don’t want to run and would rather just sleep in?” He stared at me and then, in a voice that made it abundantly clear how stupid he thought the question was, replied, “Of course. All the time!”

(47:00) I pity the poor fellow who is so soft and flabby that he must always have "an atmosphere of good feeling" around him before he can do his work. There are such men. And in the end, unless they obtain enough mental and moral hardiness to lift them out of their soft reliance on "feeling," they are failures. Not only are they business failures; they are character failures also; it is as if their bones never attained a sufficient degree of hardness to enable them to stand on their own feet. There is altogether too much reliance on good feeling in our business organizations. —  Henry Ford’s Autobiography

(50:00) If I used being busy as an excuse not to run, I’d never run again.

(51:00) Focus and endurance can be acquired and sharpened through training.

(54:00) Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that’s the essence of running, and a metaphor for life.

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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth

Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

• Check out the episode page

Ben Patrick, known as the “Knees Over Toes Guy,” is the founder, president, and CEO of Athletic Truth Group (ATG) Online Coaching. Though a longtime basketball player in his youth, Patrick’s three knee surgeries by the age of 18 stopped his athletic career short. After struggling with pain medication addiction and depression, Patrick soon became devoted to physical fitness and rehabilitation, now boasting an NBA-like 42-inch vertical jump. He developed ATG Online Coaching, working to restore the quality of life in individuals struggling with knee injuries and bringing out their full physical potential. In addition to building his training system, Patrick has authored three books, Knee Ability Zero, Back Ability Zero, and ATG for Life, and he has gained a massive social media presence with over 2.5 million followers. 

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• The emotion that we do not want to feel is often the emotion that we invite in the exact way that we try to avoid it 
• The spiritual path for so many is just another way to say, ‘I am not good enough yet
• You are not going to get to where you want to go by being a really sh*tty boss to yourself
• Enjoyment is a state of mind
• Letting go doesn’t happen by telling yourself to let go; letting go happens when it is ready
• The desire to be special can only exist if you don’t know who you are
• We make decisions on an emotional basis and we use logic to figure out how we will feel based on a decision 
• If you can’t say no, then you can’t find your “yes”
• People don’t want you to be perfect; what they want is to feel connected with you 
• We know ourselves by comparative contrast; but when we feel joy, the contrast goes away 
• The “inner voice” is not necessarily bad; oftentimes though, it is irrational and incompetent
• The key to self-improvement is understanding who you are  
• Instead of considering what is wrong in your life and how to fix it, consider what is right and how you can grow it 

Joe Hudson is a coach, entrepreneur and a podcast host.

What I learned from reading The Nolan Variations: The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan by Tom Shone.

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(7:00) The only way I know how to work is to sort of burrow in on one project very obsessively.

(7:25) People will say to me, "There are people online who are obsessed with Inception or obsessed with Memento.”

They're asking me to comment on that, as if I thought it were weird or something, and I'm like, Well, I was obsessed with it for years. Genuinely obsessed with it. So it doesn't strike me as weird. . . I feel like I have managed to wrap them the up in it way I try to wrap myself up.

(8:30) The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron by Rebecca Keegan and The Return of James Cameron, Box Office King by Zach Baron. (Founders #311)

(11:00) I don’t think of myself as an artist. I’m a craftsman. I don’t make a work of art; I make a movie. — George Lucas: A Life by Brian Jay Jones. 

(15:30) Steven Spielberg: A Biography by Joseph McBride. (Founders #209)

(22:45) Nolan is relentlessly resourceful. He wants to spend as as little money as possible so he can maintain as much control over the project as possible.

(23:30) He makes his first movie on the weekends while he working a full-time job!

(29:30) The efficiency of filmmaking is for me a way of keeping control. The pressure of time, the pressure of money. Even though they feel like restrictions at the time, and you chafe against them, they're helping you make decisions. They really are. If I know that deadline is there, then my creative process ramps up exponentially.

(34:00) The result of making a billion dollar blockbuster: Suddenly his position at Warner Brothers went from solid to unassailable.

(37:00) Stories can add to your own thinking but you need your own foundation to add them to first.

(38:00) I know it's more fun when we're all together and we can do the thing together. That's why we keep it as a family business.

(39:00) Rolls-Royce: The Magic of a Name: The First Forty Years of Britain s Most Prestigious Company by Peter Pugh. (Founders #287)

(43:30) Every time a new feature or product was proposed, he decreed that the narrative should take the shape of a mock press release. The goal was to get employees to distill a pitch into its purest essence, to start from something the customer might see—the public announcement—and work backward. Bezos didn’t believe anyone could make a good decision about a feature or a product without knowing precisely how it would be communicated to the world. — The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone. (Founders #179)

(45:30) Once your children are born, you can never look at yourself through your own eyes anymore; you always look at yourself through their eyes.

(49:30) I often have terrible luck with the weather, but my philosophy is to shoot no matter what the weather is, always shooting no matter what weather, just keeping going, keeping going. Letting everybody on the crew and cast know we're really serious about doing that, no matter what the conditions are, so they're not looking out the window first thing and going, Oh, we will or won't shoot today.

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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested, so my poor wallet suffers.” — Gareth

Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast