The Competitive Edge

It can be quite frustrating to be experiencing something unfamiliar that our medical system doesn’t have an answer for. Unfortunately, I know from experience as documented here! This is very common with many “spiritual”, “mystical”, “energetic”, etc. experiences and effects, that are often referred to as emergent phenomena. A few months ago, I was delighted to discover the The Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium. The EPRC is a group of 180+ researchers, scientists, medical, therapy and spiritual professionals that are trying to tackle the hard problem of gathering data and research on the large catalogue of emergent phenomena experiences that humans may face and the efficacy of different protocols for handling them. Daniel Ingram is one of the co-founders of the organization and also the author of one my favorite books on Buddhism Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha. The EPRC’s aim is to give health care systems, mental health providers, and those who are helping to teach and promote various pra

Today’s guest is someone I have followed since 2016 when I participated in a startup growth program called Reforge where he was a guest lecturer. Simply put, Andy Johns is one of the most prolific startup growth executives in the modern era. He has been an leader or key player at 8 consecutive billion dollar startups including Facebook, Twitter, Wealthfront, Quora, and others.  In this conversation, Andy shares his personal experience of working on his mental health and consciousness through the context of being an ambitious person in the world of high growth startups. For full show notes visit: https://scottbritton.substack.com/s/evolutionfm-podcast

This week’s episode is with my good friend Zach Poitra who I have worked with in a Shamanic capacity for 3 separate ayahuasca retreats. Zach’s story is amazing. After working for an investment bank for 10 years, he moved down to Peru to live in the jungle and work on himself. What he thought would be a temporary stint transpired into him meeting and training with his shamanic teacher for 4.5 years before becoming a full-time shaman himself. Now after many years helping others with their own inward work, he has felt a calling to re-enter the world of finance which was something he would have never anticipated.  He provides an inside look at what the life of a Shaman is actually like demystifying a lot of common misconceptions I know I originally had. We also talk about his inner experience of being guided to return to finance which too many, seemed like a surprising move. Personally, I think its a fantastic example of surrendering to the universe and when we do this things often take different forms then what

My friend Robby Bent joins us to talk about his amazing online / offline company Othership. A lot of people are turned off by wellness and mindfulness in the current way it is packaged and introduced. Robbie and his team have incredible perspective to this dynamic and are taking a different approach with their physical Othership locations and amazing breathwork app which I love. By focusing on creating something that's cool and avoiding all the spiritual woo woo, they are casting a wider net to these powerful practices that ultimately drive transformation. Check out their site and app: https://www.othership.us/

Today my great friend Dylan Beynon, CEO of Mindbloom joins us on the show. Mindbloom is the market leader in providing ketamine assisted therapy in the US and our a trailblazer as these substances become more deeply integrated into our society and institutions. Dylan is one of the smartest and most thoughtful people I know making this an electric conversation. If you want to know more about the business side of pyschedelics and where the industry is heading, this is a must listen. 

This is the first episode of EvolutionFM, a new show exploring the evolution of consciousness in modern times. We cover what the show will be about as well as a bit of my experience in my own journey up to this point.

We brought back the podcast for a special episode with my buddy Ryan Denehy. Ryan is the Co-Founder of Swarm Mobile which was acquired by Groupon and one of the hardest working guys I know. In this episode, we chat about what it takes to be sucessful and how you can engineer your life to get the results you want for your life and business. If you're not there today, that's okay because this is a PROCESS, not an overnight switch. We chat about habits, routines, and attitude which made me super fired up about this episode!

Brothers Ilan and Guy Ferdman come on the show to share how they've relied upon being super intentional about what they choose to focus on to quickly go from starting a business to some of the most pre-eminent facebook marketers in their space. We'll talk about the even bigger vision they have and how they plan on getting there along the way. These guys are full of energy, wisdom, and enthusiam which makes for an awesome episode. 

Ben Greenfield drops some serious knowledge in this episode. We chat about everything from building muscle while burning fat, to wine and coffee intake. In terms of peak health and performance, Ben is an absolute machine which really shines through in this episode. He also is a great entrepreneur which we touch upon as well! 

Peter Shankman comes on the show to discuss his new book Zombie Loyalists and the power of providing an incredible experience for customers. Peter's been known as a marketing thought leader even before he founded HARO and that shines through in this episode. We talk about a host different marketing tactics especially how to really activate customers to spread WOM using great service. This was a fun episode!

Ryan Coisson comes on the show to talk about the biggest opportunity in ecommerce and how he's built a booming business abroad. In just a few short years, Ryan has launched over 40 ecommerce brands that do over 7 figures a month. Even more impressive, Ryan has built a team of over 40 employees abroad in the Philippines that run his business while he lives and travels around. We'll dive deep into the mindsets, tactics, and processes that make this possible! 

A few months ago I had this crazy idea for a workout that incorporated many of the habits that make me feel empowered and push me to heightened levels of motivation and achievement. I have continued to develop this concept which is now called Peak State and in this episode you'll get a full background on the story, workouts, and where this project is going. I think its pretty cool and have yet to see anything out there like it. Take a listen and let me know what you think!

Brian Smith the founder of popular shoe company UGG joins us on the show today to talk about his journey building a world class brand. You'll learn about how an optimistic aussie started his business from scratch in a foreign country after an idea hit him while reading a surfing magazine.    One of the most challenging things an entrepreneur faces is just the resiliency to hang in there in the face of adversity and uncertainty. Mastering this was a key part of Brian’s journey and something we’re going to dive deep into during this episode.

There has been a plethora of exciting startups who are innovating on painful buying experiences while championing what has been popularly known as the direct to consumer model. Today we're fortunate enough to have one of the most exciting companies in the space Casper. Casper Co-Founder Philip Krim comes on the show to talk about building the company as well as how we can be thinking about this new category of ecommerce. These guys did over a million in revenue in their first month and have only grown since then so there is definitely a thing or two to be learned from their journey so far.

Matt Ellsworth is our guest today. The guy is a total stud and in this interview we're going to start by talking about how using a combination of scraping, vritual assistants, and cold emails he built a massive lead generation machine at his last startup storefront. So much so that his outsourced team was sending out thousands of targeted, personalized emails a week while his interal sales team could focus on responding to warm leads. But this convo isn't just all about startups...despite seemingly being on top of the world as a preeminent Growth guy in Silicon Valley, Matt left his last company to pursue standup comedy and focus on some others. We'll talk about how he thought about pursuing a different type of dream when everyone around him expected him to do more startup stuff. Super inspiring stuff.

John Durant, author of the Paleo Manifesto and MY NEW ROOMMATE is our awesome guest today. John is one of the foremost thought leaders on ancestral health and paleolithic living. In this episode, he shares with us why one way to unlock new levels of peak health and performance is to revert to a lifestyle more similar to one humans have bee living for 10's of thousands of years. Many of the modern diets, exercise trends, and lifestyle habits that get lots of attention in pop culture are actually hurting our ability to thrive in many instances. We'll dive into this and more topics surrounding peak health in this jam packed episode.

Nir Eyal is the author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products and blogs about the psychology of products at NirAndFar.com. In this episode we chat about the science and psychology behind some of the most addictive internet products and apps. If you're like me and wonder why you constantly feel an urge to check Instagram or even email, this episode brilliantly lays out how these behaviors can be engineered. Awesome episode for anyone interested in startups and building the next big thing. 

This episode dives into the topic of achievement and how we can approach the art of “happily achieving”   Its funny - a lot of us are really quick to ask ourselves what we want without ever asking what we’re willing to give up for that which is a much greater predictor of whether will get those things and enjoy the process along the way.   This episode is a bit all over the place, but Mark shares some mindsets that have helped him in his own entrepreneurial journey in growing one of the largest self-development sites on the internet. Resiliency, values, and overcoming fear are just a few of the topics we’’ll go deep on. Consider this required listening for anyone who wants to be their best selves. Let’s hear from Mark Manson.

Have you ever had an idea for a food product or personal recipe you've wanted to take mainstream? Today I chat with my buddy Ryan Smith, one of the co-founders of Bitchin' Sauce which is my favorite garnish in the world. This stuff is so good that it's now on the shelves in groceries stores everywhere including Whole Foods. We'll talk about all the steps to take what was just a family creation to the shelves of major grocery stores and a whole lot more. Ryan is also hilarious which makes for a Bitchin' episode.