Podcast Notes Playlist: Startup

• Check out the episode page

Episode 622: Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Jesse Pujji ( https://x.com/jspujji  ) about bootstrapping Ampush and the four levers of digital marketing. 

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My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

Kaz Nejatian is Shopify’s VP of Product & Chief Operating Officer. Before Shopify, Kaz founded Kash, a payment technology company which was acquired in 2017 by one of the largest fintech companies in the U.S. Kaz then served as Product Lead for Payments and Billing at Facebook, reducing the barriers for businesses in cash-dependent markets to purchase digital ads without a credit card.

1. Learnings From the Greats:

• Mark Zuckerberg: What are Kaz's biggest lessons from working with Zuck? Why does Kaz believe Zuck is massively under-appreciated?
• Keith Rabois: What are Kaz's biggest lessons from working with Keith? How did it change how he operates on a day to day basis?
• Tobi Lütke: What have been Kaz's biggest lessons from working with Tobi? What has he changed most significantly since working with Tobi?

2. Shopify: Why We Build Our Own Tools:

• Why does Kaz believe it is crucial for Shopify to build their own tools?
• When did he doubt this strategy most? What caused him to question it?
• Why does Kaz believe the Stripe <> Shopify partnership is the most important in business?
• What is the role of a PM at Shopify?
• Why do Shopify focus on how not what product is built?

3. Eight Truths The Startup World Gets Wrong:

1. Why does Kaz believe "The Lean Startup" has done more damage than any other startup book?
2. Why does Kaz believe that 90% of companies do not know what they want when they hire?
3. Why does Kaz believe the way that companies pay their staff is totally wrong?
4. Why does Kaz believe that most companies pick fights they do not need to pick?
5. Why does Kaz believe that for 90% of companies remote work is a terrible idea?
6. Why does Kaz believe that everyone in sales and marketing should be able to code?
7. Why does Kaz believe that married people with kids are more, not less productive?
8. Why does Kaz believe that we totally misunderstand divorce rates?

• The nine non-obvious lessons that Shaan Puri has learned while building an audience: 
  • 1. Forget the numbers  
  • 2. Find your inner nerd 
  • 3. Build a magnet, not an audience 
  • 4. The First, Last, Best, Worst, Weirdest framework 
  • 5. Use the Five D’s
  • 6. Nothing is too long, only too boring 
  • 7. Don’t worry about style or production quality 
  • 8. Create a Binge Bank 
  • 9. Be so good that they cannot ignore you 

Episode 620: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) breaks down the 9 lessons he’s learned while building an audience. 

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Get our business idea database here https://clickhubspot.com/mfm

Check Out Shaan's Stuff:

My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

• The keys to creating a business culture of excellence:
  • Have a small number of people who are elite in their field 
  • Compensate them very well
  • Ensure that compensation and promotion are perfectly tied to performance 
  • Ruthlessly minimize bureaucracy
  • Celebrate people who do big things with the fewest number of people possible
• “Mathematical superintelligence” is a more specific way to refer to artificial general intelligence (AGI) 
• Mathematical superintelligence is an AI that solves math problems at a superior capability compared to the sum total of all humans on earth 
• It will be able to solve any problem, but especially those that have a quantitative element or that require quantitative reasoning
• The coming years and decades include a $100+ trillion wealth transfer from boomers to millennials; given the company’s customer base, Robinhood is well-positioned to benefit from this wealth transfer
• De-emphasize the significance of the “number of people” managed; the desire to manage a larger number of people warps incentives and attracts empire builders instead of problem-solvers 
• “Sometimes I just read the reviews of the Robinhood credit card app before bed.” – Vlad Tenev 
• Advice for entrepreneurs: Imagine if Frank Slootman took over your company… What are the ten things that he would do? 

My guest today is Vlad Tenev. Vlad is the CEO and co-founder of Robinhood. It was such a treat to sit down with him and discuss the behind-the-scenes of a revolutionary business we all know well. He details Robinhood’s journey to zero-cost trading and what it means to build a consumer-centric financial product. Vlad believes in finding the harmonies across mathematics and art and applies this lens to everything he builds. We discuss Robinhood’s new credit card and more products on the horizon, the company’s toughest moments, including the Gamestop episode, and the compelling future of AI in financial services. Please enjoy this conversation with Vlad Tenev.

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

This episode is brought to you by Tegus, where we're changing the game in investment research. Step away from outdated, inefficient methods and into the future with our platform, proudly hosting over 100,000 transcripts – with over 25,000 transcripts added just this year alone. Our platform grows eight times faster and adds twice as much monthly content as our competitors, putting us at the forefront of the industry. Plus, with 75% of private market transcripts available exclusively on Tegus, we offer insights you simply can't find elsewhere. See the difference a vast, quality-driven transcript library makes. Unlock your free trial at tegus.com/patrick.

Show Notes:

• Investing is a service-based business; focus on the karma! 
• “The four horsemen of the investment apocalypse are fear, greed, hope, and ignorance. And only ignorance is something that you can address.” –  Jim O’Shaughnessy
• Take actions that increase the surface area of your luck 
• Ironically, in a changing world, playing it safe is one of the riskiest things that you can do
• Learn how you are going to react to every phase of the market 
• You have to be selective, but you also have to be okay with rejection  
• Trust is a function of experience, and experience is a function of time
• You do not need to be right every time to dominate; the best traders in history are right just a little more than 50% of the time  
• How to add value early in your career: Find the 10% of a person’s life that they hate, and make that problem go away for them
• The investing industry is based on trust and reputation – it is wise to remember this

Let me introduce you to the four horsemen of the investment apocalypse:

Fear.

Greed.

Hope.

Ignorance.

Notice anything?

Three of four are emotions.

I’ve long argued that effective investing is far more about emotional control than technical know-how (although the latter certainly helps!) By hook or by crook, the best investors can find a way to tame their pesky emotional impulses and overcome that primal urge to respond impulsively to panic, passion, or pride.

My guest, the razor-sharp Ateet Ahluwalia, is a veteran trader and investor who has spent well over 15 years at the coalface, from trading at Goldman at the dawn of the financial crisis to his current role as founder and managing director of the venture capital firm Island Green Capital Management. As you’ll hear from our conversation, Ateet has built an insanely deep understanding of the emotional constitution required to succeed in finance and venture capital, which informs his approach to risk management, hiring, investing, due diligence, and everything in between.

I hope you enjoy our wide-ranging conversation, whose implications extend well beyond investing. For episode takeaways, a full transcript, and various other goodies, check out our Substack.

Important Links:

• The Thinker and The Prover; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
• Ateet’s LinkedIn
• Island Green Capital Management

Show Notes:

• Why Venture Capitalists Should Shun the Glory
• “In a changing world, playing it safe is one of the riskiest things you can do."
• Risk: Why Size Matters
• The Emotional Constraints of Investing
• How to Find Out What Someone Really Wants
• The Purifying Power of Mistakes
• Pick up the Phone!
• Being Humbled by the Market
• Public vs Private Investing
• Why Hit Rates Matter
• Assessing the Macro Position
• Bullshitting, Question-Dodging, and Other Red Flags
• The Many Bosses of the Venture Capitalist
• Be a Painkiller
• Ateet as Emperor of the World
• MORE!

Books Mentioned:

• The Enlightenment Trilogy; by Jed McKenna
• Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist; by Brad Feld & Jason Mendelson
• Financial Intelligence: A Manager’s Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean; by Karen Berman, Joe Knight & John Case
• Adventures of a Bystander; by Peter F. Drucker

• “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?

• 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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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

• Check out the episode page

Mike Maples, Jr. is a legendary early-stage startup investor and a co-founder and partner at Floodgate. He’s made early bets on transformative companies like Twitter, Lyft, Twitch, Okta, Rappi, and Applied Intuition and is one of the pioneers of seed-stage investing as a category. He’s been on the Forbes Midas List eight times and enjoys sharing the lessons he’s learned from his years studying iconic companies. In his new book, Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future, co-authored with Peter Ziebelman, he discusses what he’s found separates startups and founders that break through and change the world from those that don’t. After spending years reviewing the notes and decks from the thousands of startups he’s known over the past two decades, he’s uncovered three ways that breakthrough founders think and act differently. In our conversation, Mike talks about:

• The three elements of breakthrough startup ideas

• Why you need to both think and act differently

• How to avoid the “comparison trap” and “conformity trap”

• The importance of movements, storytelling, and healthy disagreeableness in startup success

• How to apply pattern-breaking principles within large companies

• Mike’s one piece of advice for founders

• Much more

Pre-order Mike’s book here and get a second signed copy for free. Limited copies are available, so order ASAP: patternbreakers.com/lenny.

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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-find-a-great-startup-idea-mike-maples-jr

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Where to find Mike Maples, Jr.:

• X: https://x.com/m2jr

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

• Substack: https://greatness.substack.com/

• Website: https://www.floodgate.com/

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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) Mike’s background

(03:10) The inspiration behind Pattern Breakers

(08:09) Uncovering startup insights

(11:37) A quick summary of Pattern Breakers

(13:52) Coming up with an idea

(15:30) Inflections

(17:09) Examples of inflections

(28:10) Insights

(36:58) The power of surprises

(47:36) Founder-future fit

(55:33) Advice for aspiring founders

(56:41) Living in the future: valid opinions

(55:34) Case study: Maddie Hall and Living Carbon

(58:40) Identifying lighthouse customers

(01:00:53) The importance of desperation in customer needs

(01:03:57) Creating movements and storytelling

(01:24:22) The role of disagreeableness in startups

(01:34:42) Applying these principles within a company

(01:40:43) Lightning round

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Referenced:

• Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future: https://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Breakers-Start-Ups-Change-Future/dp/1541704355

• Justin.tv: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin.tv

• Airbnb’s CEO says a $40 cereal box changed the course of the multibillion-dollar company: https://fortune.com/2023/04/19/airbnb-ceo-cereal-box-investors-changed-everything-billion-dollar-company/

• Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach

• The Unconventional Exit: How Justin Kan Sold His First Startup on eBay: https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/the-unconventional-exit-how-justin-kan-sold-his-first-startup-on-ebay-4d705afe1354

• Kyle Vogt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylevogt/

• The State of Telehealth Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9035352/

• The Craigslist Killers: https://www.gq.com/story/craigslist-killers

• The social radar: Y Combinator’s secret weapon | Jessica Livingston (co-founder of Y Combinator, author, podcast host): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-social-radar-jessica-livingston

• Michael Seibel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mwseibel/

• The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions ... and Created Plenty of Controversy: https://www.amazon.com/Airbnb-Story-Ordinary-Disrupted-Controversy/dp/0544952669

• Scott Cook: https://www.forbes.com/profile/scott-cook/

• Chegg: https://www.chegg.com/

• Aayush Phumbhra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aayush/

• Osman Rashid on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osmanrashid/

• Okta: https://www.okta.com/

• The Man Who Makes the Future: Wired Icon Marc Andreessen: https://www.wired.com/2012/04/ff-andreessen/

• Peter Ludwig on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterwludwig/

• Qasar Younis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/qasar/

• Paul Allen’s website: https://paulallen.com/

• Louis Pasteur quote: https://www.forbes.com/quotes/6145/

• What was Atrium and why did it fail? https://www.failory.com/cemetery/atrium

• Patrick Collison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickcollison/

• Drew Houston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewhouston/

• William Gibson’s quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/681-the-future-is-already-here-it-s-just-not-evenly

• Maddie Hall on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maddie-hall-76293135/

• Living Carbon: https://www.livingcarbon.com

• Zenefits (now Trinet): https://connect.trinet.com/

• Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama

• Steve Wozniak on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wozniaksteve/

• Horsley Bridge Partners: https://www.horsleybridge.com/

• David Swensen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_F._Swensen

• Judith Elsea on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judithelsea/

• 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy: https://www.amazon.com/7-Powers-Foundations-Business-Strategy/dp/0998116319

• Business strategy with Hamilton Helmer (author of 7 Powers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/business-strategy-with-hamilton-helmer

• Lyft’s Focus on Community and the Story Behind the Pink Mustache: https://techcrunch.com/2012/09/17/lyfts-focus-on-community-and-the-story-behind-the-pink-mustache/

• Logan Green on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/logangreen/

• John Zimmer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnzimmer11/

• Storytelling with Nancy Duarte: How to craft compelling presentations and tell a story that sticks: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/storytelling-with-nancy-duarte-how

• Steve Jobs Introducing the iPhone at MacWorld 2007: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7qPAY9JqE4

• Jonathan Livingston Seagull: https://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Livingston-Seagull-Richard-Bach/dp/0743278909

• The paths to power: How to grow your influence and advance your career | Jeffrey Pfeffer (author of 7 Rules of Power, professor at Stanford GSB): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-paths-to-power-jeffrey-pfeffer

• Robin Roberts on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-roberts-393a934b/

• Skunkworks: https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics/skunkworks.html

• Vision, conviction, and hype: How to build 0 to 1 inside a company | Mihika Kapoor (Product at Figma): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/vision-conviction-hype-mihika-kapoor

• Hard-won lessons building 0 to 1 inside Atlassian | Tanguy Crusson (Head of Jira Product Discovery): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-0-to-1-inside-atlassian-tanguy-crusson

• Figma: https://www.figma.com/

• Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/

• Vinod Khosla: https://www.khoslaventures.com/team/vinod-khosla/

• Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing: https://www.amazon.com/Top-Five-Regrets-Dying-Transformed-ebook/dp/B07KNRLY1L

• Chase, Chance, and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty: https://www.amazon.com/Chase-Chance-Creativity-Lucky-Novelty/dp/0262511355

• Clay Christensen’s books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Clayton-M.-Christensen/author/B000APPD3Y

• Resonate: Present Visual Stories That Transform: https://www.amazon.com/Resonate-Present-Stories-Transform-Audiences/dp/0470632011

• Ferrari on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-Adam-Driver/dp/B0CNDBN672

• Montblanc fountain pens: https://www.montblanc.com/en-us

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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.

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What I learned from reading How To Be Rich by J. Paul Getty. 

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(2:00) My father was a self-made man who had known extreme poverty in his youth and had a practically limitless capacity for hard work.

(6:00) I acted as my own geologist, legal advisor, drilling superintendent, explosives expert, roughneck and roustabout.

(8:00) Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby. (Founders #212) 

(12:00) Control as much of your business as possible. You don’t want to have to worry about what is going on in the other guy’s shop.

(20:00) Optimism is a moral duty. Pessimism aborts opportunity.

(21:00) I studied the lives of great men and women. And I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work.

(22:00) 98 percent of our attention was devoted to the task at hand. We are believers in Carlyle's Prescription, that the job a man is to do is the job at hand and not see what lies dimly in the distance. — Charlie Munger

(27:00) Entrepreneurs want to create their own security.

(34:00) Example is the best means to instruct or inspire others.

(37:00) Long orders, which require much time to prepare, to read and to understand are the enemies of speed. Napoleon could issue orders of few sentences which clearly expressed his intentions and required little time to issue and to understand.

(38:00) A Few Lessons for Investors and Managers From Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett and Peter Bevelin. (Founders #202) 

(41:00) Two principles he repeats:

Be where the work is happening.

Get rid of bureaucracy.

(43:00) Years ago, businessmen automatically kept administrative overhead to an absolute minimum. The present day trend is in exactly the opposite direction. The modern business mania is to build greater and ever greater paper shuffling empires.

(44:00) Les Schwab Pride In Performance: Keep It Going!by Les Schwab (Founders #330) 

(46:00) The primary function of management is to obtain results through people.

(50:00) the truly great leader views reverses, calmly and coolly. He is fully aware that they are bound to occur occasionally and he refuses to be unnerved by them.

(51:00) There is always something wrong everywhere.

(51:00) Don't interrupt the compounding. It’s all about the long term. You should keep a fortress of cash, reinvest in your business, and use debt sparingly. Doing so will help you survive to reap the long-term benefits of your business.

(54:00) You’ll go much farther if you stop trying to look and act and think like everyone else.

(55:00) The line that divides majority opinion from mass hysteria is often so fine as to be virtually invisible.

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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

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Show Notes:

(0:00) Audio issue

(0:51) Introduction

(3:40) Deals are long-term relationships

(6:02) Facebook-WhatsApp acquisition story

(12:04) The most important part of deal-making

(16:44) Don’t come off as desperate

(19:35) Maintaining momentum during a deal

(25:53) Know everything about the person you’re dealing with

(33:37) How we closed our London home

(37:54) Mistakes we often see

(44:40) Managing emotions while deal-making

(50:19) What to do if the deal falls through

Other episodes you might enjoy:

EP 76 - How To Fix Legal Immigration In America

EP 74 - How To Fix Google's WOKE AI Disaster

EP 63 - Lessons From Networking In Silicon Valley

EP 59 - Why We Moved to London, The Elon Musk Book, Should You Get An MBA

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