• AI is not thinking-as-a-service but collaboration-as-a-service: The wrong way to approach AI is to sit back and see what it comes up with; the right way is to tinker with it and poke it in different ways so that novel patterns emerge
• Banning AI in schools is like stopping humans from using fire because they might burn themselves
  • After discovering how to use fire, we created fire departments, firemen, and fire exits; the same thing will happen with AI
  • “AI is a mirror, not a mold.” – Jim O’Shaughnessy 
• Creation is fundamentally about choices: The choices reflect what the creator considers; the creation is the result of what the creator decides
• The best writers use the best prompts – the same skills that make them great writers help them get the best from AI
• “A lot of things that are revolutionary in the history of technology have taken something that was encoded into the substrate and then made it an abstraction.” – Nathan Baschez 
• AI in 2025 is roughly where the internet was in 1995: So even if there is an AI ‘crash’, value creation will take place post-crash just as it did with internet companies following the Dot Com Bubble
• Understanding cumulative cultural evolution: Recognizing cultural shifts before others do gives you a competitive edge in both life and business 
• The thinking that you should let the world pull companies out of your creative projects may be wrong; the vast majorities of successful businesses were started by people who wanted to create a successful business  
• Do not fall victim to the “Disney Princess Co-Founder” Fallacy: Instead of waiting to start because you have not found the perfect co-founder, just start on your idea!
• A common misconception about writing is that it is not only a way to communicate our thoughts, but also a way to formulate our thoughts 
• Learn more by doing: Set aside preconceived expectations and follow your curiosity

Nathan Baschez is the cofounder and CEO of Lex, an AI word-processor. He also cofounded Every, was the first employee at Substack AND co-created Product Hunt.

Suffice to say, Nathan knows a thing or two about building on the internet.

He joins the show to discuss how AI is changing writing, why it's time to rethink the article, the rise of solo founders and MUCH more.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other goodies designed to make you go, "Hmm, that's interesting!", check out our Substack.

Important Links:

• Lex
• Twitter
• Substack
• LinkedIn

Show Notes:

• Lex: Your Spotter In the Writing Gym
• Letting People Into Your Creative Process
• Collaboration-as-a-Service
• Creation Is Fundamentally About Choices
• What Will Become of the AI Holdouts?
• AI Is Like the Internet In 1995
• Can AI Unfuck the Government?
• Blindspots While Working In Organizations
• Rethinking The 'Article' As A Medium
• Memes Are Dense Information Packets
• It's Time for Solo Founders
• Why Learning About Cumulative Cultural Evolution Is Vital
• What's Next for Lex?
• Writing As A Way To Design Thoughts
• Nathan As World Emperor

Books Mentioned:

• A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life; by George Saunders
• The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous; by Joseph Henrich
• The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter; by Joseph Henrich

• Embracing the Founder Persona in America: The founder persona is a unique legacy of America that we should celebrate and embrace 
• Rethinking the Software-Industrial Complex: If software is so great, why does nothing seem to work? Perhaps we need to reevaluate whether the software-industrial complex is genuinely serving society, or merely claiming to 
• Data is not the “new oil”; data is the new snake oil: There is nothing inherently valuable about data – it is only valuable if you can use it to make a decision  

Shyam Sankar is the Chief Technology Officer at Palantir Technologies. A builder at heart, he’s spent over 20 years designing and deploying cutting-edge software and AI for both government and private sector partners. As Palantir’s 13th hire, Shyam helped take the company from scrappy startup to S&P 500 powerhouse.

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• Necessity is the mother of innovation: “We are putting enough friction into the system that it does theoretically give America an advantage at the cost of creating tremendous incentives for China to develop their semiconductor ecosystem.” – Gavin Baker 
  • Prohibiting China’s access to Nvidia GPUs encourages China to create its own Nvidia, though it may take a decade for it to do so 
• If progress in the AI agent space continues, the only rate-limiting factor to its widespread adoption will be compute power; the days of AI agents competing in all of our daily tasks is a long time away because this will require so much computing, and the capacity does not exist yet 
• Most everybody agrees that deregulation is good: Every time the admin says the word “tariff” it should say “deregulation” three times after
  • The best way to encourage the reshoring of key industries is just making it easier to do business in America
  • The US must figure out the difference between manufacturing and IP so that we can trap the real value of these industries back in America
• The admin is focused on making life better for normal, working-class Americans 
  • The goal of the tariffs is to restore the industries that can be restored into the US; but implementing them may create externalities, such as inflation and retaliatory tariffs 
  • The globalized “free trade” model of the last twenty years has benefitted US knowledge workers, but it has left the everyday American behind 
• On DOGE: While Democrats and Republicans may disagree on where the government spends its money, both sides should want the spending to be efficient 
• Using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the Trump admin has deported 238 alleged gang members to El Salvador’s high-security CECOT prison

• The last use of this act was during World War II under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who ordered the deportation of thousands of Germans, Italians, and Japanese
• Since 2015, El Salvador has slashed its murder rate by 99% through widespread arrests of suspected gang members without due process  

(0:00) The Besties welcome Gavin Baker back on the show!

(1:20) Nvidia balance sheet questions, CoreWeave IPO, M&A/IPO bounce back

(16:22) US vs China in AI: Manus, China building its own Nvidia, and more

(28:37) The Administration's endgame for tariffs

(53:05) Signalgate: context and fallout

(1:09:42) El Salvador deportations

Follow Gavin:

https://x.com/GavinSBaker

Follow the besties:

https://x.com/chamath

https://x.com/Jason

https://x.com/DavidSacks

https://x.com/friedberg

Follow on X:

https://x.com/theallinpod

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Intro Music Credit:

https://rb.gy/tppkzl

https://x.com/yung_spielburg

Intro Video Credit:

https://x.com/TheZachEffect

Referenced in the show:

https://www.reuters.com/technology/coreweave-planning-cut-us-ipo-size-price-below-range-source-says-2025-03-27

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-adds-dozens-entities-export-restriction-list-2025-03-25

https://modelcontextprotocol.io/introduction

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/openai-plots-charging-20-000-a-month-for-phd-level-agents?rc=pxkrxo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8wJc7vHcTs

https://x.com/JohnArnoldFndtn/status/1905296181208416744

https://x.com/chamath/status/1904547884877701610

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/invocation-of-the-alien-enemies-act-regarding-the-invasion-of-the-united-states-by-tren-de-aragua

https://www.statista.com/statistics/696152/homicide-rate-in-el-salvador

https://x.com/Sec_Noem/status/1905034256826408982

• “Do one thing and do it better than anyone else.” – Todd Graves 
• A winning idea can work for decades: Don’t think that you need to have a new idea every six months to be successful
• Combine extreme patience with an extreme intolerance for slowness 
• If you love what you are doing, then you will never stop doing it – and therefore, you will never interrupt the compounding effects of your efforts 
• Make mistakes fast, but fix them even faster 
• Make your people feel appreciated; constantly communicate your appreciation for them 
• Corporate America makes financial decisions, not personal ones; this creates an opportunity for founder-led businesses that have more skin in the game 
• You should be in a rush to get to your last business: “I’m not really interested in your first business. I’m interested in your last business.” – David Senra 
• Lock in with a singular focus and do that thing better than anybody else; if you try to be all things for all people, then you are not anything to anybody 
• Do not listen to “experts”; listen to your gut and intuition 
• Limit the amount of details to perfect, then make every detail perfect 
• “Never ever give up, and be fanatical. You’ve got to be fanatical. Nothing ever happens unless someone pursues a vision fanatically.” – Todd Graves  

Todd Graves is one of my favorite living entrepreneurs. He's a great example of Charlie Munger's maxim: Find a simple idea and take it seriously. Todd wanted to create a quick service restaurant that only focused on quality chicken finger meals and nothing else. Everyone told him that couldn't possibly work. The college paper that described the idea that would turn into Raising Canes got the lowest grade in the class. Banks wouldn't loan him any money —but nothing could stop Todd from living out his "chicken finger dream." He worked 95 hour weeks as a boilermaker, risked his life on a commercial fishing boat off the coast of Alaska, and scrounged up startup money from his bookie and a guy named Wild Bill. Todd made every mistake in the book, over leveraged himself, almost lost everything and yet he refused to give up or sell out. Today he has over 800 locations, 50,000 employees, and owns 90% of a business that's worth at least $10 billion. Todd's maxim is "Do one thing and do it better than anyone else." 

Sources: 

Trading Secrets: Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves reveals his path to building the wildly popular restaurant

Theo Von: Raising Cane’s Founder Todd Graves

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Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here. 

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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

• The best investors get excited during periods of extreme change 
• Key traits for being a successful investor: Be (1) wildly competitive and (2) incredibly curious
• Collaboration is key: Once an investment research team grows beyond 20 people, silos form and collaboration decreases  
• Design your organization in a way that encourages dialogue, debate, information sharing, and people to push one another 
• Traits of a Perfect Business
  • 1. Incredible leadership 
  • 2. Really strong unit economics 
  • 3. A solid moat around the business 
  • 4. Excellent value proposition to the customer 
  • 5. The ability to grow organically without investing meaningful capital 
  • 6. A huge runway for growth that can last for many years without being disrupted 
• The optimal portfolio should consist of several things that you are excited about and that have idiosyncratic drivers 
• Certain market backdrops are conducive for different investing styles: Certain investors play a different game from everyone else and there are certain investors who play the popular game best
• Hire self-aware and curious people who love to learn
  • Bonus points if they competed in sports at a high level; these people understand hard work, failure, disappointment, and achievement   
• Do not fall victim to paralysis by analysis: Recognize that there is always the opportunity to learn more, but know when you have enough information to make a decision 
• Investing is a pattern-matching business and the gap between winners and losers is widening 
• How to live a rewarding life: Figure out who in your life matters to you, figure out what matters to them, and then show up for them in all the ways that matter to them  

My guest today is Kelly Granat. Kelly is the Co-Chief Investment Officer and Managing Director at Lone Pine Capital, one of the most storied and successful hedge fund and investment firms of the last several decades. We explore how investing has evolved since Kelly joined the industry and she shares insights into Lone Pine maintaining its edge through deep fundamental research and a collaborative culture. We discuss what makes great businesses and great investments, how leadership can transform companies, and Kelly’s perspective on evaluating management teams and identifying opportunities around corporate change that the market often misprices. Please enjoy my conversation with Kelly Granat.

Subscribe to Colossus Review.

• Best Michael Ovitz quotes: 
  • “Insecurity and ambition make a powerful cocktail.” 
  • “I didn’t want to be standard in any way.”
  • “I would have been much happier if I hadn’t been so determined to appear all-knowing and invulnerable.”
  • “Everyone stopped. I didn’t stop.” 
• Lew Wasserman’s five rules that created his Hollywood empire 
  • 1. Tend to the client 
  • 2. Dress appropriately 
  • 3. Never divulge information about the firm 
  • 4. Do your homework 
  • 5. Never leave the office without returning every single phone call 
• Michael Ovitz’s founding principle for CAA
  • 1. All founding members get even equity 
  • 2. Get big fast 
  • 3. Share all clients and serve them as a group; no turf wars and no silos 
  • 4. Tell the truth 
  • 5. Create opportunities instead of waiting around for them 
• Belief comes before ability: “I believe that nobody wants to be treated just as they are. People want to feel encouraged to become more than what they are, to become the best versions of themselves.” 
• CAA poached talent by assumption: The firm behaved as if the talent was already their client, then made their dreams happen before ever even signing them

• Do the job before you are hired

At the core of Michael Ovitz's success is his relentless work ethic and commitment to mastering his craft. 50 years ago he founded Creative Artists Agency. CAA starts out as just five young guys in a run down office and eventually becomes the most powerful agency in the world. Ovitz's autobiography explains how that happened. As the Wall Street Journal wrote: When the history of Hollywood is written, few people will have played a larger role than Michael Ovitz. 

This episode is what I learned from reading (for the 2nd time!) Who Is Michael Ovitz?: The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Most Powerful Man in Hollywood by Michael Ovitz. 

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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

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Vesto: All of your company's financial accounts in one view. Connect and control all of your business bank accounts from one dashboard. Go to Vesto and schedule a demo with the founder Ben. Tell him David sent you. 

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Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here. 

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Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here. 

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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

• Identify and invest in outliers: The best venture capital investors recognize outlier potential when they see it and have a curiosity to discover what makes the outlier tick and WHY they tick that way 
• On being a VC or a founder: Inherent builders should be in the field – they should be building companies, not coaching other builders 
• Debug problems as far upstream as possible; take the rocks out of the river so the water can flow as fast as possible  
• Black magic is reserved for founders; every other area of the company-building process is mere mortal stuff 
• Stewardship over ownership: The goal is to leave your creation in a better place for the next generation 
• It is okay to choose the parallel tracked path of banking or consulting, and it is okay to take risks, but it is not okay to do one and spend your life thinking you did the other 
• The most common mistake that investors make is doing something contrary to the best interests of the founder 
• Traits of the best investment memos:
  • (1) Clearly state the one or two strongest reasons to invest
  • (2) Two to three pages max
  • (3) Present clear data from the opposing side
  • (4) argue why the investment should happen despite the opposing data
• Success starts at the foundational layer: Great culture is downstream of getting the foundation right and fostering internal belief, which is all a firm needs to be successful 
• Performance is the cultural component that matters most

Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are my favorite episodes from the past 10 years published once a month. These are N of one conversations with N of one people. There's nobody I've met quite like Doug Leone.

Subscribe to Colossus Review.

Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. 

Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.

Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus

Show Notes

• Advice for Young Innovators: Work on the things that you are genuinely interested in and do not rely on other people to tell you what you should be working on 
• The term “conspiracy theorist” was invented by the CIA and used to discredit anyone who questioned the original results of the JFK assassination investigation

• “It’s pretty extraordinary that “conspiracy theory” and “conspiracy theorists” are themselves literally born of a government conspiracy.” – Palmer 

Palmer Luckey is an entrepreneur and innovator best known for founding Oculus VR and Anduril Industries. In 2012, he launched Oculus VR and developed the Oculus Rift, a groundbreaking virtual reality headset that redefined a wide array of industries. The company was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion, where Luckey subsequently worked until 2017.

Following his departure, he founded Anduril Industries - a defense technology company specializing in autonomous systems including drones, surveillance towers, and aircraft. Anduril has secured major contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and international allies. The company has raised significant funding, including $1.5 billion in 2022, valuing it at $8.5 billion.

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• “My appetite for finding the best person in the world to do the thing instead of me doing it is almost infinite.” – Graham Duncan 
• Desire wants what it wants; get in tune with your desire 
• Leverage your comparative advantage: Most investing strategies are downstream of the simple goal of (1) making money and (2) not losing too much

• In investing, the goal is to make money – not be right or feed the go 

• Be opportunistic and flexible so that you can flow with emergent market dynamics instead of getting stuck in them 

My guest today is Graham Duncan. This conversation will make you think about your life in new ways. This is a two-hour segment of a 4.5-hour interview I did with Graham last year. It stands alone as remarkable, but those who subscribe to Colossus Review will gain access to the full conversation. This will be true in future issues, too.

In 2006, in his early 30s, Graham convinced Stuart Miller, CEO of home construction company Lennar, to let him manage $50 million of his family's wealth. A year later, Miller gave him the rest of his capital outside of Lennar. That investment turned into East Rock, where Graham built an incredible investing track record managing billions for a select group of families by focusing on people.

Our conversation explores a wide range of topics—from what makes a great investment partnership to the power of positive feedback loops to starting a restaurant.

I’m thankful to Graham for showing me the way so many times and for being willing to be so incredibly open in this conversation. Please enjoy this discussion with Graham Duncan. 

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For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).

Show Notes:

• Greatness does not come from intelligence; it comes from character, which can only be earned from overcoming adversities and developing perseverance 
• Strategy is not words; strategy is action 
• The Mission is the Boss: Nvidia exists to serve a mission and not for the sake of perpetuating its existence 
• Refuse to be outworked and be unapologetically extreme in your dedication; working long hours is a necessary prerequisite for excellence 
• Do what is natural and organic to you so that you enjoy it and can do it for a long period 
• The Speed of Light Framework for project execution: Instead of judging performance based on past performance or against the competition, judge yourself against the theoretical maximum of what can be achieved in the minimum amount of time; the law of physics should be your only constraint 
• Jensen tortures people into greatness: “The work” is the most important thing, not people’s feelings 
• Hone the sword by seeking conflict: Opportunity handled well leads to more opportunity 
• Innovation is a necessity, not an option
• Nvidia has a flat organizational structure that (1) Enables employees to act with more independence and (2) Filters out low-performing employees who are unaccustomed to thinking for themselves 
• Ship the Whole Cow: Nvidia found ways to package and sell hardware that it previously would have discarded; this helped it mitigate low-end market competition and insulate itself from the innovator’s dilemma 
• Complacency kills: The enemy is not the competition, but the company falling victim to complacency –  both real and imagined  

What I learned from reading The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant by Tae Kim.

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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

----

Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here. 

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Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book

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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

----

Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here. 

----

“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