In part two, we explore how Elon Musk went from a crazy innovator to one of the richest people in history. After raising crucial funds for Tesla during its early days, Musk proceeded to double down on a new mass-market car, the Model 3. He leaned into vertical integration and a software-driven competitive advantage, ensuring that Tesla would stand out compared to its auto industry peers. Over at SpaceX, he continued to fear any sense of complacency, building mind-blowing new rockets such as the Falcon 9 and Starship. We'll dive into the powerful Algorithm framework that makes this all possible, highlighting how he questions every requirement and demands a maniacal sense of urgency from his team. Lastly, we'll close by discussing his recent Twitter acquisition and ask the thought-provoking question, should we envy Elon Musk?

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⁠Elon Musk⁠ - Walter Isaacson

SpaceX Falcon 9 2015 Launch

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Recommendation of the Week: James Cameron - Founders Podcast

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The Web of Ideas: ⁠Elon Musk (my notes on the book)⁠

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Show Notes:

2:29 - ALWAYS doubling down - the Falcon 9 & Model S

6:21 - Be like a cockroach - hard to kill

9:47 - Tesla's competitive advantage: the machine that builds the machine

13:58 - A modern-day Henry Ford - 5,000 Model 3's per week

22:16 - The Algorithm

29:18 - SpaceX's Starlink internet services & Starship rocket

34:40 - Musk's employees: "I'd rather be burned out than bored"

36:55 - Change is the only constant in technology

38:42 - Setting his eyes on Twitter

46:18 - Coming full circle on his X.com vision

49:57 - Advertising and free speech don't mix well

58:24 - Take risks and fail fast

1:01:32 - Should we envy Elon Musk?

In this two-part series, I'll dive into Walter Isaacson's brand new book on Elon Musk! Musk has an unbelievable story, overcoming his traumatic childhood in South Africa to create two of the greatest hard tech companies of our last century. In this first part, we'll discuss how his troubled relationship with his father led to an addiction to risk, unlike any other entrepreneur. You'll hear the founding stories of his first two internet startups, Zip2 & PayPal, and how those exits gave him the opportunity to start a new space company from scratch. We'll analyze how he differentiated against all the entrenched space incumbents, and constantly beat them on price as he built SpaceX's reputation. Lastly, we'll touch on the origin story of the Roadster and the many struggles it faced as Tesla had to scale up production. Enjoy this journey into the mind of a young Elon Musk!

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Elon Musk - Walter Isaacson

PayPal Episodes - The Founders & A Conversation with Jimmy Soni

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Recommendation of the Week: Project Hail Mary (sci-fi!)

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The Web of Ideas: Elon Musk (my notes on the book)

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Show Notes:

3:02 - Addicted to risk and shutting down fear

7:40 - Seeking an escape in books and programming

13:55 - A roof is a man-made thing

17:51 - Zip2: basically Google Maps before Google Maps

22:44 - X.com: A one-stop everything store for all financial needs

29:51 - My mission in life is to make mankind a multi-planetary civilization

35:34 - Differentiation is SURVIVAL

38:38 - Question everything mentality

45:14 - Trial by fire

53:12 - Changing the perception of EVs, one luxury Roadster at a time

1:00:00 - Musk needs total control

1:07:00 - I will never give up, and I mean never... as God is my bloody witness, I'm hell-bent on making it work

"Scientific Advertising", written 100 years ago, offers timeless wisdom on advertising at scale. Claude Hopkins teaches us how he was able to convince the entire nation to care about brushing teeth daily, through his famous Pepsodent ads, by appealing to our simple desire for beauty. He shares effective tactics for sparking action in customers, such as using the word FREE and offering samples to win over lifelong customers. You'll learn numerous advertising strategies that are still in use today, including the value of mail-order ads and how Apple employs his "describe the process" technique on its new product announcements. Whether you are trying to sell a product in your business or sell your story to a potential employer, we all use advertising in our daily lives. This book serves as a foundational tool for anyone looking to improve their advertising success.

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Scientific Advertising - Claude Hopkins

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Recommendation of the Week: BlackBerry - 2023 Movie

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Please share with a friend or rate 5 stars if you enjoyed this episode! | Find me at ReadnRepeat.com and on Twitter @ReadnRepeatPod

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The Web of Ideas: Scientific Advertising (my notes on the book)

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Show Notes:

2:58 - Advertising is Multiplied Salesmanship

7:20 - Pepsodent Toothpaste - a simple desire for beauty

11:57 - Customers respond to FREE like starving people at a buffet

16:46 - Find your ideal customers and offer service

22:44 - Describe the process - Schlitz Beer & Apple

30:00 - Perfected mail-order ads still win over new readers

36:33 - Grab the customer's attention quickly with your headline

38:29 - Work hard in the dark to shine in the light

40:17 - Position your product with a mental impression - SONY's pocketable radio & VCR

44:21 - The essence of Scientific Advertising: we let the thousands decide what the millions will do

48:42 - Small expenditures made on a guess will grow to big ones on a certainty

In this episode, we continue our INVERT focus with an all-time classic, "The Big Short". We'll dive into the misaligned incentives that encouraged banks to pursue growth at all costs and led to the Great Financial Crisis. We'll explore the value investing strategies of Michael Burry, the first big short investor, who spotted the trouble ahead and bet on it through credit default swaps. We'll say "these shitty loans" A LOT. Most of all, we'll walk away with a deep understanding of the catalysts behind the GFC, and the recurring mistakes made across crises. I hope you enjoy this eye-opening journey into Michael Lewis's "The Big Short"

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The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine - Michael Lewis

The Big Short - 2015 Movie

INVERT episodes: When Genius Failed, Liar's Poker, Bull! A History of the Dotcom Bust, A Short History of Financial Euphoria, Zeckendorf, The Liar's Ball

Recommendation of the Week: Costco - Acquired

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Please share with a friend or rate 5 stars if you enjoyed this episode! | Find me at ReadnRepeat.com and on Twitter @ReadnRepeatPod

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The Web of Ideas: The Big Short (my notes on the book)

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Show Notes:

3:40 - The growing subprime mortgage-backed bond market

6:43 - Michael Burry - spotting the ticking time bomb before anyone else

12:20 - "Ick" investing

18:43 - A level of preparation beyond any of his peers

24:33 - Collecting fees while ignoring fat tails

29:20 - Synthetic CDOs = unlimited exposure

35:34 - Targeting less-educated immigrants to grow volumes

44:05 - Eisman finds his fool

46:47 - Correlations go to one during a crisis

50:10 - "Be aware that information flows down a food chain, with those who get it first EAT and those who get it late BEING EATEN" - Ed Thorp

55:53 - The last buyer of subprime mortgage risk had stopped buying

1:01:00 - All it takes is a slight decline of assets to go bankrupt

1:05:42 - The transferring of risk from execs to shareholders

1:09:38 - NEVER be dependent on the kindness of strangers

Roger Lowenstein's book "When Genius Failed" is one of the best business failure case studies I've ever read. As we come up on the 25-year anniversary of Long-Term Capital Management's downfall, I thought it would be a great time to explore the lessons behind their fall from grace. LTCM started as a hot new hedge fund in the mid-90s, ready to deliver outstanding returns through their team of "genius" Ph.D. financial experts and unique bond arbitrage strategy. They posted incredible results over the first 4 years, multiplying their investor's capital by 4x, but then only 6 months later, nearly lost it all. The story of Long-Term contains many valuable insights on what NOT to do, such as ignoring fat tail risks, loading up on leverage, and letting hubris reach unbearable levels amongst the partners. I'm excited to share with you the illuminating rise and fall of Wall Street's greatest fund ever, or at least the one with the highest IQs, Long-Term Capital Management!

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When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management - Roger Lowenstein

How the Eggheads Cracked - Michael Lewis

INVERT episodes: Liar's Poker, Bull! A History of the Dotcom Bust, A Short History of Financial Euphoria, Zeckendorf, The Liar's Ball

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Please share with a friend or rate 5 stars if you enjoyed this episode! | Find me at ReadnRepeat.com and on Twitter @ReadnRepeatPod

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The Web of Ideas: When Genius Failed (my notes on the book)

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Show Notes:

4:30 - Salomon's trading scandal

9:38 - An edge of PhD "geniuses"

13:00 - Long-Term's core thesis: betting on convergence & efficient markets

18:06 - Leveraging their capital 20-30x

22:14 - Having little understanding of how Meriwether's gang actually operated

26:58 - 1994 the fund starts

28:19 - Buying the illiquid securities

34:03 - Nearly every trade it touched turned to gold

36:38 - The secret of bond arbitrage is out

37:46 - Trading equity for more leverage

41:30 - A fat tail event can be catastrophic

45:53 - A flight to quality within US Treasuries

51:12 - The Russian Ruble tail event they never expected

53:33 - Just because it's never happened before, doesn't mean it won't happen in the future...

55:09 - All the buyers have suddenly disappeared

57:21 - Long-Term is dependent on the kindness of strangers and is running out of friends

1:02:11 - The correlations had gone to one

1:07:34 - What NOT to do - playing Russian roulette with a highly leveraged portfolio

Michael Lewis's first book, Liar's Poker, is the ultimate case study of misaligned incentives. The book covers the rise of Salomon Brothers as the king of bond trading in the 80s, and the many perverse incentives that later lead to their downfall. Throughout this episode, we learn what NOT to do when running a business, and as Charlie Munger likes to say, invert always invert! We'll discuss how Salomon Brothers built a thriving monopoly in mortgage bonds only to lose it all within 5 years, how traders were always incentivized to screw over their customers first, and how the money game rewarded disloyalty within the firm. Get excited for the wild Wolf of Wall Street-esque debauchery in Liar's Poker!

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Liar's Poker - Michael Lewis

INVERT episodes: Bull! A History of the Dotcom Bust, A Short History of Financial Euphoria, Zeckendorf, The Liar's Ball

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The Web of Ideas: Liar's Poker (my notes on the book)

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Show Notes:

3:59 - Michael Lewis joins Salomon Brothers

8:38 - They have PhDs in man's ignorance

12:31 - Fraternal Wolf of Wall Street-esque culture

18:04 - Dog-eat-dog world of the trading floor

21:09 - Lewis Ranieri: The Father of the Mortgage-Backed Security

28:06 - From laughingstock to a thriving monopoly

35:38 - A stamp from the government quells all fears

39:15 - Feeling on top of the world but not getting paid like it!

43:05 - The disintegration of the Salomon mortgage department

48:54 - History never repeats but man always does

51:01 - Customers have short memories, they'll forget about it!

54:48 - Selling him something I probably wouldn't touch with a barge pole...

57:50 - Salomon turns to a friendly savior

1:04:44 - The money game rewarded disloyalty

Made in Japan is the incredible autobiography of Akio Morita, the cofounder of SONY. Akio Morita started SONY in the rubble of post-WW2 Japan, determined to make Japan known as a country of high quality products. Throughout SONY’s rise, he was always focused on leading the technological transition from real world senses to digital consumption, pioneering fundamental inventions such as the tape recorder, pocketable radio, slow-mo camera, VCR, color TV, and portable music player, the SONY Walkman. In many ways, Akio Morita was Steve Jobs before Steve Jobs, creating many of the genius marketing tactics that later would inspire Jobs to market Apple products. We'll dive into how a worldbuilder like Morita was able to shift the perception of ALL Japanese products and stay ahead of the constantly changing competitive landscape in technology - this is a fun one!

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Made in Japan: Akio Morita and SONY - Akio Morita

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The Web of Ideas: Made in Japan (my notes on the book)

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Show Notes:

4:40 - Obsessed with music phonographs as a kid

9:03 - Meeting his cofounder Masaru Ibuka

13:01 - The War was over

14:19 - Getting his father's blessing

18:13 - Experimenting with a tape recorder

23:03 - You need more than just a great product...

27:20 - Reinventing the transistor for radios

32:40 - The "Pocketable" radio and global ambitions

36:45 - Establishing a high-quality SONY brand

43:37 - Marketing through their own retail outlets

49:04 - With VCR, you can control your own schedule

53:41 - Charging a premium for premium products

57:33 - Conventional wisdom produces convention results - the SONY Walkman

1:04:53 - In the technology industry, the only thing we can be certain of is that the business will never stand still

1:07:39 - Innovate or Die

1:09:57 - Japan vs US cultural differences

1:14:12 - How Japan turned their weakness into an advantage

1:18:06 - The modern-day SONY

Danny Meyer's book Setting the Table is an instant favorite amongst entrepreneur memoirs, up there with the likes of Creativity Inc and Shoe Dog. Danny Meyer opened his first restaurant, Union Square Cafe, in 1985, and has been prolific since then, building and expanding premier restaurant concepts across NYC and other major markets. In addition to that, he founded and scaled Shake Shack into the nationwide burger chain that is it today, taking the company public in 2015. In this episode, we learn how his obsession to hospitality helped him overcome the high failure rates and bankruptcies in the restaurant industry, and explore many of the tools he used to distinguish himself. I'm thrilled to share the story and wide-ranging insights from Danny Meyer's career!

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Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business - Danny Meyer

Runnin' Down a Dream: How to Succeed & Thrive in a Career You Love - Bill Gurley

Welcome to Hillstone, America's Favorite Restaurant - Bon Appetit

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Please share with a friend or rate 5 stars if you enjoyed this episode! | Find me on Twitter @ReadnRepeatPod

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The Web of Ideas: Setting the Table (my notes on the book)

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5:42 - His father is both his hero and the ultimate warning of what NOT to do

11:40 - Experimenting and finding inspiration as a child

15:23 - Pursuing his dream as a restauranteur

18:23 - Bill Gurley's advice: seek out the experts in your field

21:33 - Professional research: be the MOST knowledgeable in your field!

26:18 - Selecting a location for Union Square Cafe

31:45 - Less is more

36:09 - There is no such thing as an "overnight success"

39:21 - Always be collecting dots

43:15 - Excellence is preparation

47:20 - Founding Shake Shack - be the consummate student AND master

56:21 - What makes ours different and special??

1:00:10 - It's the "whelming" candidate you must avoid at all costs...

1:04:59 - The more we give, the more we get back

1:08:52 - An OBSESSION to hospitality

Matthew McConaughey's book Greenlights gives us a valuable metaphor for life: the problems we face today eventually turn into blessings in the rearview mirror of life. I'll discuss how he was able to use visualization and eliminate limiting beliefs to catapult himself into the superstar league of Hollywood actors. McConaughey will also share with us the tough times he experienced along the way to stardom, and how those redlights only helped him come out of the other side even stronger. I really enjoyed reading this book, not only because McConaughey is a great storyteller, but also because many of his stories and poems pack a ton of wisdom. Get excited for an entertaining journey through the life of Matthew McConaughey!

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Greenlights - Matthew McConaughey

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Show Notes:

4:11 - A rambunctious and creative childhood

7:46 - The man in the car paradox

11:38 - Studying abroad in Australia

17:22 - Pursuing a storyteller's dream

21:41 - Visualizing "Who's my man?"

27:07 - A Roof is a man-made thing!

31:38 - Days of prosperity make us forget adversity

35:14 - His romantic comedy streak

37:31 - Process of elimination - less is more

40:24 - The worst of times lead to the best of times

47:10 - A redlight turned greenlight... the McConaissance!

52:09 - A Greenlights mentality means we have to sometimes go through pain, suffering, and darkness to make it out the other side even better

Living with a SEAL is a hilarious & motivating book that chronicles the month Jesse Itzler spent training with Navy SEAL legend David Goggins. Serial entrepreneur Jesse Itzler was looking for a new challenge in life, after starting a private jet pass company and growing the Zico Coconut Water brand. He happened to run into David Goggins at an ultra marathon race and immediately decided that this man could shake up his routine. Itzler convinced Goggins to spend a month living with him, his wife - the founder of Spanx Sara Blakely, and their young child, as they workout together. What emerged was a day-by-day account of the physical challenges they faced together, as Goggins showed Itzler what makes a resilient mind. We'll dive deeper into the strategies of David Goggins, from seeking out daily discomfort to testing your own limits, which can have a life-changing impact on all of us!

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Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet - Jesse Itzler

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Show Notes:

3:01 - Every day do something that makes you uncomfortable

5:35 - Giving Goggins the keys to his life

9:19 - Itzler's businesses: Marquis Jets & Zico Coconut Water

18:28 - Goggins' no excuses mentality and the 40% rule

23:53 - If it doesn't suck, we don't do it

29:55 - Conquering that internal voice

31:59 - Test your limits

35:07 - Unfathomable workouts to end on

37:19 - Visualization and self-belief