Episode Highlights:

• LinkedIn Networking Insights from Carey Ransom
• The Value of Loose Ties
• The Challenges in Community Banking
• Blockchain's Potential in Ownership and Payments
• Evolving Business Models and Founder Support
• Carey Ransom’s Insights on Leadership and Roles
• The Venture Studio Approach
• Orange County's Unique Business Landscape

Tweetable Quotes:

• “I think Orange County has a tremendous number of really talented, ambitious people that are spending most of their time doing and building.”  - Carey
• “Distribution of success is not going to happen equally. And that's ok. That's just the way the world is.” - Carey
• “I have strongly believed for a long time that it's difficult to be the leader of a lot of different things at the same time.”- Carey
• “A lot of the success that you have in business is timing and in some cases…luck.” - Carey
• “And if you want to attract the next generation of talent to your bank, you need to adopt systems that make them feel like they're doing the work that they want to do with the support systems to help them do that great.” - Carey
• “Whoever owns the lane owns the communication.” - Kurt
• “Complexity is finding the order that's hidden beneath.” - Kurt

Links Mentioned:

• Kurt’s Twitter
• Kurt’s Instagram
• Kurt’s LinkedIn
• Carey Ransom
• Brett Brewer
• Eric Sprink
• Kevin Kelly
• Kyle Kamrooz
• Scott Fox
• BankTech Ventures
• Bonus Homes
• Coastal Community Bank
• Fifth Wall
• Hunt Club
• Octane
• OC Fellows
• UCLA

Episode Highlights:

• How Did Brett Brewer's Early Real Estate Ventures Shape His Entrepreneurial Journey
• The difficulty of raising pre-seed financing, the role of accelerators and incubators, and the process of raising $300,000 for the business.
• The impact of the dotcom crash on e-commerce businesses and the shift to casual game development.
• The launch of Myspace, and the initial user engagement strategy.
• Brett's role in scaling Ad Knowledge, its rapid growth, and eventual sale to TPG and other private equity firms.
• The founding of CrossCut Ventures, and the evolution of its investment focus.
• The challenges of recruiting talent to LA, the evolution of the LA tech ecosystem, and CrossCut's role in connecting and supporting the community.
• The difficulties and challenges faced by venture capitalists.
• The significance of technology in education and the need to bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots in accessing educational resources.
• Brett Brewer's investment philosophy and insights into private versus public markets, influenced by Annie Duke's book "Thinking in Bets.”

Tweetable Quotes:

• “Be the straw that serves to drink.” — Kurt
• “So that starts to become a self-fulfilling prophecy when you have that many smart people controlling that much capital living in the actual market.” —Brett
• “Understanding the best use of your time and how to be productive is a real challenge and ends up being the downfall of some VCs.” —Brett
• “Politics and infighting is the death of a startup.”—Brett
• “If you're gonna have an environment where people don't trust each other- where they can't give each other candid feedback, they will fail.”—Brett
• “And I think there's something really magical about being honest.—”Kurt
• “Culture isn't just values, it's the actual way ideas get put into practice. It's the behavior.”—Kurt
• “So it's more important than ever that as a society, we realize that we do have a moral imperative to invest in and believe in and educate all kids and give them a chance.” —Brett
• “Every individual and every company has a certain set of advantages. You have to take full advantage of them to greatly increase your chances of being successful.” —Brett
• “It's comforting when you realize there are just lots of things out of your control and the less time you spend worrying about them, the better off you'll be.”—Brett
• “You have to do something extraordinary and the only way you're gonna do something extraordinary is by actually doing some action.”—Brett

Links Mentioned:

• Kurt’s Twitter
• Kurt’s Instagram
• Kurt’s LinkedIn
• Brett Brewer
• Crosscut Ventures
• Aber Whitcomb
• Adam Goldenberg
• Brian Garrett
• Josh Berman
• Peter Tomasulo
• Ross Levinsohn
• Scott Nolan
• Thomas Anderson
• Alliance
• Amazon
• EdVoice
• Fabletics
• Fedex
• Foundersfund
• IGN
• LAtech
• Microsoft
• MySpace
• News Corp
• NVIDIA
• Real World Asset Group
• SoftBank
• SpaceX
• Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America
• The Wall Street Journal
• TPG

Episode Highlights:

• The evolution of technology
• The Importance of Understanding History in Law and Tech
• The Role of History in Technology and Design
• The concept of calm technology, its principles, and the need for historical context in product design.
• The importance of long-term tech design and changing the narrative on what's considered cool.
• Amber's journey in founding Geoloqi, the challenges faced, and the early development of location-based technology.
• The importance of understanding the history of technology and innovation, and its impact on product development.
• Geoloqi's mascot and privacy-first approach
• The significance of long-term thinking, learning from history, and the impact of small problems in business.
• Amber's personal journey, early experiences in entrepreneurship, and the impact of economic constraints on decision-making.
• Discussion on trusting oneself and persevering in the tech industry amidst challenges.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “It's really hard to build something when everyday life doesn't look like the thing you're building yet.” - Amber
• “It's OK if it takes a while and it's OK if these things are informed by something in the past.” - Amber
• “Everybody should be able to make their own thing instead of just assuming that just one culture makes something.” - Amber
• “I think things are going so much faster and we seem to have linear time instead of slow time is that we keep thinking that we're moving forward and that we're modernizing in some way. But I think we're more like Victorian 2.0 times.” - Amber
• “But the more stuff we look at online, do we remember at the end of the day, what we actually looked at?” - Amber
• “Abstraction is actually causing us a lot of pain.” - Amber
• “Humans are social creatures and we’re always comparing status.” - Kurt
• “Hospitality does not necessarily feel like what a shiny ad for technology looks like.” - Amber
• “Every company and every start-up, everything is hard or it can be really fun.” - Amber
• “People overestimate what can be done in a year or two, but they radically underestimate what can get done in five or 10.”- Kurt
• “A lot of people don't live their lives with enough slack to handle the turbulence when it comes up, they're, they're on the margin because they don't leave any moment unpacked and it's not really a huge risk..” - Amber

Links Mentioned:

• Kurt’s Twitter
• Kurt’s Instagram
• Kurt’s LinkedIn
• Amber Case
• Case Organic
• Calm Tech Institute
• Jeff Bezos
• Paul Ollinger
• Robin Jones
• Roger McNamee
• Scott Morehouse
• Vanessa Camones
• Ableton
• Esri
• Geoloqi
• Seventh Generation
• Teenage Engineering
• University of Oregon
• Zappos

Episode Highlights:

• Paul Ollinger's transition from an executive at Facebook to pursuing stand-up comedy.
• Discuss the focus of Paul Ollinger's podcast, "Crazy Money," and its exploration of living a fulfilling life beyond financial pursuits.
• How comedy has shaped Paul Ollinger's communication skills, emphasizing the importance of authenticity and handling unexpected situations on stage.
• Insights into the dynamics of the comedy industry, including the significance of connecting with fellow comedians and the audience.
• The gift of comedy is pursuing personal truths and presenting a unique perspective on the world.
• Paul Ollinger's reflections on enoughness, living without regret, and managing passion like a business.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “I think the gift of comedy is the pursuit of truth.”  - Paul Ollinger
• “I don't think being an authentic person means saying every single thing that's on your mind.”- Paul Ollinger
• “Rich isn't about how much money you have. It's the ratio between your resources and your needs.” - Paul Ollinger
• “We're never going to stop wanting unless we control our desires. That takes a lot of awareness and a lot of self-control and a lot of reminding yourself of enoughness.”- Paul
• “Self-actualization is something to be pursued not to be achieved.”- Paul Ollinger
• “The richest people we know of in our society are people who aren't thinking about the money because they would have sold out decades ago.”- Paul Ollinger
• “The desire to have money makes us do crazy things, and money doesn't solve our problems the way we think it will before we have it.” - Paul Ollinger
• “There are tricks, there are shortcuts, there are things that you know what to do when something happens in the room. There are ways to react to that: you learn after repetition and by watching other people.” - Paul Ollinger
• “Not every battle’s worth fighting.”- Paul Ollinger
• “Living your dream doesn’t always mean perfect.” - Paul Ollinger
• “It’s not a value unless it costs you something.” - Kurty D.
• “I think time has a wonderful way of redeeming things.”- Kurty D.
• “If you want something, you have to sort of. Be willing to give it away or say no or do the opposite. If you want love, you have to give love. If you want money, you gotta give money.”- Kurty D.

Links Mentioned:

• Kurt’s Twitter
• Kurt’s Instagram
• Kurt’s LinkedIn
• Paul Ollinger
• Aaron Ross
• Dave Atell
• Emo Philips
• Facebook
• Jack Dangermond
• Judy Carter
• Kim Scott
• Matt Rife
• Nicole Aimée Schreiber
• Vince Thompson
• BBDO
• Esri
• Improv
• Lime
• Tuck School of Business
• Yahoo

Episode Highlights:

• Small is Better: How small, autonomous teams can spearhead targeted missions.
• The Paradox of Failure and Success
• Breaking the Fear of Failure: A New Mindset for Organizations
• How to be adaptable and nimble in taking risks
• The need to change mindsets within organizations
• Taking risks in many different places in the organization

Tweetable Quotes:

• “Time is linear. Knowledge is exponential. And a book is a great way to memorialize that knowledge and make it accessible.” — Brady Brim-DeForest
• “Vulnerability is such a powerful medicine.” — Brady Brim-DeForest
• “Failure is a necessary ingredient for success.” — Brady Brim-DeForest
• “I think the nest real value in cross-functional is that you have unbounded thinking, and it encourages first principle reasoning too. ” — Brady Brim-DeForest
• “The closer you are to the higher density information, the more efficient your decision will be.” — Brady Brim-DeForest
• “Large organizations tend to concentrate on resources, human resources, and capital, but they are also the breeding ground for innovation.” — Brady Brim-DeForest
• “Autonomy doesn’t just mean at the edge; it is a way of efficiency and decision making.” — Brady Brim-DeForest
• “None of us can accurately predict the outcomes of any hypotheses we’re testing. So, the only way to proceed is to take the risk.” — Brady Brim-DeForest
• “Risk comes along with failure.” — Brady Brim-DeForest
• “Increasing the speed at which you fail is the critical path and requirement to succeed.” — Brady Brim-DeForest
• “We see failure as a negative thing and must change our mindset and the organization we work to embrace failure. ” — Brady Brim-DeForest
• “You will never reach the upside if you don’t stumble along the way.” — Brady Brim-DeForest
• “Waste is the byproduct of experimentation.” — Brady Brim-DeForest
• “People have the freedom to fail because that’s where sort of improvisation in the ensemble happens.” — Kurt Daradics
• “We all could be looking at the exact same information and come to totally different conclusions, but that only happens if we are looking at the same set of data.” — Brady Brim-DeForest

Links Mentioned:

• Kurt’s Twitter
• Kurt’s Instagram
• Kurt’s LinkedIn
• Brady Brim-DeForest Website
• Smaller is Better Book Website
• Aaron Ross
• Duke Stump
• Jack Dangermond
• Katie Decker
• Ken Burns
• Myles Sutherland
• Talia Jacqueline
• Esri
• Formulamonk
• Lime

Episode Highlights:

• The smile box analogy and the Fluxus art movement
• Self-actualization and enlightenment
• The dysfunctional nature of living in the past and the need to focus on the present.
• Exploration of the common presence of trauma in high performers and how it can drive their actions.
• The impact of taking things personally and the importance of humility in relationships and communication.
• The correlation between personal work, culture, and business growth.
• The influence of neuro-linguistic programming and the learning process through mentorship and practical application.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “Having a golden handcuff is really challenging, and I think it's it's not a value unless it costs you something.” — Kurt
• “Values are meaningless in words; it's lived out.” — Kurt
• “Everything that we do in business is all relationships, and we all know that.” — Talia
• “There's so much psychology behind how relationships are built, how the report is built and broken and what you contribute to that based on what your own experiences are in life.” — Talia
• “For as long as you're growing, you need a coach.”— Talia
• “Every word has its own connotation and energy.”— Talia
• “When we go through things in life, we really have two choices: we can numb, or we can kneel, and a lot of us as a society were so accustomed to numbing.”— Talia
• “A lot of those high performers are using the fuel of their past and the pain itself to drive, and sometimes they get so afraid of letting that go cause it's their fuel for so long.”— Talia

Links Mentioned:

• Kurt’s Twitter
• Kurt’s Instagram
• Kurt’s LinkedIn
• Talia Jacqueline
• Talia Jacqueline
• Visceral
• Brain Koppelman
• Christopher Daradics
• Derrick B. Grüner
• Gabor Mate
• Justin Mitchell
• Michael Nitti
• Stacey McKinnon
• Staci Gray
• Tony Robbins
• Morton Wealth
• Organize to Scale
• Real World Asset

Episode Highlights:

• Background and experience in data science, content creation, and storytelling
• Applying storytelling principles to content creation
• Challenges of pivoting content focus on YouTube
• Importance of storytelling in content creation
• Application of data science in careers
• Experiences in corporate America and improving presentation skills
• Transitioning to own YouTube channel to focus on data science
• Maintaining creativity on YouTube
• Creating online courses
• Insights and experiences in the field of data science and content creation

Tweetable Quotes:

• Life is all about depth, and that's where the joy comes from. So, whenever I do anything, I try to go to the depths of it. - Ben Sullins
• I really like startups; they're so fun because you can really get stuff done and make a difference. - Ben Sullins
• “The bigger the company is, the less fun it is.” — Ben
• “Knowing the difference between an absolute difference and a relative difference can really make a big difference in how you understand what message that's coming across.”— Ben
• YouTube is a very interesting place. It's such an amazing thing for people to share what they know, to entertain and educate. For me, it's just an ever-evolving journey. - Ben Sullins
• See, feel, change. When we see something, it creates an emotion that gives us some conviction to go and make a choice. That's really the insight and the power of data visualization. - Kurt Daradics

Links Mentioned:

• Kurt’s Twitter
• Kurt’s Instagram
• Kurt’s LinkedIn
• Ben Sullins
• Ben Sullins YT
• Free the Data Academy
• Elon Musk
• Jack Dangermond
• Nancy Duarte
• Naval Ravikant
• Quentin Tarantino
• Satya Nadella
• Adobe Premiere
• AngelList
• Atrix
• Bard
• ChatGPT
• Descript
• ElevenLabs
• Energy Sage
• Esri
• Figma
• Hollywood Bowl
• Microsoft
• Microsoft Copilot
• Mozilla
• NFL
• Pluralsight
• Power bi
• Python
• SquadCast
• Tableau
• Tesla

Episode Highlights:

• Insights into the Broken Marketing Ecosystem and the genesis of Hawke Media
• Publishing of Erik's book, "The Hawke Method."
• Brand building and energy management
• Shared roots in Ventura County and experiences growing up
• Significance of the “Red Hawk” with the brand and emotional aspect of marketing
• Importance of managing energy and balancing business responsibilities with personal pursuits
• Impact of AI on the future of work and the economy
• Challenges of entrepreneurship and the importance of maintaining mental and physical health

Tweetable Quotes:

• “I'm a firm believer that the brand is what you make of it.” — Erik Huberman
• “People use logic to justify emotions, but we're emotional creatures.” — Erik Huberman
• “I think the logo needs to be a symbol that people can rally around. But the symbol needs to be meant more internally than externally.” — Erik Huberman
• “Businesses fail for two reasons only; one: they get underwater on debt or capital and they can't get above water and two: the leaders give up.” — Erik Huberman
• “The consistency of what you do is what becomes your brand.” — Erik Huberman
• “When you’re part of an early company that turns into a powerhouse, that’s really rewarding.” — Erik Huberman
• “If you want to keep something long-term and sustainable, fight for that!” — Erik Huberman
• “If you're gonna jump into something, you should have some proprietary knowledge or some connections to build a business.” — Erik Huberman
• “It is really easy to find the energy when you feel like your time is gaining momentum and you're on the upswing and everything is going well — that energy comes easily.” — Erik Huberman

Links Mentioned:

• Kurt’s Twitter
• Kurt’s Instagram
• Kurt’s LinkedIn
• Erik Huberman
• Hawke Media
• Alex Jacobson
• Andrew Stewart Leahy
• Christian Garrett
• Clark Landry
• David Connors
• Duke Stump
• Janine O'Neill
• Julian Steinberg
• Paige Craig
• Robert Leshner
• Simon Sinek
• Tony Delmercado
• 137 Ventures
• a16Z
• Barstool Sports
• Fly kitt
• Getty Museums
• Hunt Club
• Lime
• Lululemon
• Martech
• Nike
• Oak Grove School
• Sequoia Capital

Episode Highlights:

• Kurt and Doug reminisce about the Mindshare LA event and its impact on their lives and careers.
• Doug shares his experience and background, from his education in the UK to his diverse experiences and travels across the US
• Doug’s exploration of generative AI for nonfiction writing, detailing the creative process and the successful launch of his book
• The impact of AI on creativity and the empowerment of individuals to be more creative.
• The process and challenges in creating the Rube Goldberg machine, including the team effort and the number of takes.
• Doug’s transition from personal adventures to consulting on incorporating AI into business workflows.
• The importance of leveraging technology to improve efficiency and creativity, and Doug's approach to helping others achieve this.
• The benefits of leveraging technology to streamline tasks and reduce stress in day-to-day operations.
• The societal impact of the money game and the challenges associated with consumerism and debt.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “AI revolution is not just about automation or replacing humans. It's a wonderful chance for people to become even more creative.” — Douglas Campbell
• “While there is a lot of upset and talk about how AI is ruining industries, a lot of people are actually spending time focusing on how to use this as a new tool.” — Douglas Campbell
• “If you wanna see what addiction looks like, you can see it in the eyes of the 10-year-old who hasn't gotten their full-screen time today.” — Douglas Campbell
• “If really your joy is painting, figure out a way to work with the AI so that you can live a life as a painter.” — Douglas Campbell
• AIs are giving us more spaciousness to play and to be creative.” — Douglas Campbell
• "To first step to get started with AI is mindfulness; the first step is looking at your flows." — Douglas Campbell
• “The reality is every day, terrible things are happening with human drivers.” — Douglas Campbell
• “No matter how many people said” that was amazing”, you're not gonna fill that hole until you actually figure out how to make yourself feel whole from within.” — Douglas Campbell
• “I feel like people are saying to me, “you're so valuable”, and I'm feeling it more than I ever had in the past.” — Douglas Campbell
• “AI is a quantum leap. It’s a sea change.” — Kurty D.
• “Money is one easy way to measure value.” — Kurty D.
• “I think the thing that's wild about the human experience is that we're not truth-seeking creatures, we're social creatures.” — Kurty D.
• “People are getting in debt buying things they don’t need to impress people they don’t know.” — Kurty D.

Links Mentioned:

• Kurt’s Twitter
• Kurt’s Instagram
• Kurt’s LinkedIn
• Douglas Campbell
• The Intelligents AI Podcast
• ProjectFresh
• Andrew Huberman
• Brent Bushnell
• Christopher Daradics
• Efren Toscano
• Eric Gradman
• Jim Young
• Nolan Bushnell
• Tim Ferris
• Aehr
• AMD
• Bard
• Chuck E. Cheese
• ElevenLabs
• Esri
• Harrow
• IO Fund
• Marvell Technology
• Micron Technology
• Mindshare
• NVIDIA
• OK Go
• Real World Asset Group
• RISD
• Skirball Cultural Center
• Super Micro Computer
• Task Us
• TechZulu
• Two Bit Circus
• UCLA

Key Takeaways:

• Christopher’s journey and experiences around the world
• Fulbright grants and Christopher’s participation in the organization
• The concept of cultural production and definition of art
• Cultural Production and Language Learning
• Soft Power vs. Hard Power
• Descartes and Computational Theory of Mind
• Extended Mind and Ecological Validity
• The dawn of AI
• Art and Philosophy
• Fluxus and its influence on art, its disruption of traditional art forms and relationships.
• Embracing Complexity

Tweetable Quotes:

• “I think that God is something like the middle voice, and it's something like sunsets.”— Christopher
• “Cognition is not something that's constrained. This is, from the ecological perspective, from the extended theory of mind perspective, cognition is a distributed process.” - Christopher
• “The environment is too complex to control.”  — Christopher
• “So, are we fundamentally irrational? I think that there are parts of us that are profoundly irrational and that the rational parts of us have an incredibly difficult time wrapping our rational minds around. But I think that we're also rational.” — Christopher
• “My personal belief is that Descartes was not as dualistic and sort of Cartesian as history has painted him to be.” — Christopher
• “The hardest part about taking a very long trip around the world is leaving; the hardest part is just clearing your calendar enough to get away.” — Christopher
• “Complexity is simple rules playing out at scale. The simplicity and the fullness, and that it's really beautiful to embrace complexity.” - Christopher
• "To engineer something is hard power. Soft power is like cultural influence."— Christopher
• “Mind is not present in the object; it is only present in the subject.” — Christopher
• “Games are an amazing site for practicing, for using language. And then there's fan fiction and all of this stuff. So here's where we're starting to get into this sort of territory of cultural production.” – Christopher
• “So the world is getting more complex, it's getting more dynamic, and the questions emerging are like… It's incredibly non-linear, life is non-linear, and the rightness and wrongness of things has a lot to do with cultural preference like we described before.” - Christopher
• “We have this incredible capacity to process information, and we do it in ways that we absolutely cannot understand.” — Christopher

Links Mentioned:

• Kurt’s Twitter
• Kurt’s Instagram
• Kurt’s LinkedIn
• Christopher Daradics
• Andrew Huberman
• Dan Siegel
• Descartes
• Duke Stump
• Jack Dangermond
• Jane Bennett
• John Cage
• John Lennon
• Julie Sykes
• Yoko Ono
• Center for Applied Second Language Studies (CASLS)
• Esri
• Institute of International Education
• Pocket Guide to Revolution
• St. John's College
• University of Oregon