Founders

What I learned from reading Screw It, Let's Do It: Lessons in Life by Richard Branson. --- Subscribe to listen to Founders Premium — Subscribers can listen to Ask Me Anything (AMA) episodes and every bonus episode.  --- — “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 Garet

What I learned from reading Finding My Virginity: The New Autobiography by Richard Branson.   ---- 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

What I learned from reading Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Wayby Richard Branson ---- Business is a fluid, changing substance. A mutating, indefinable thing [0:45] I just pick up the phone and get on with it [7:50] smart ways to get initial traction [9:51] to understand the entrepreneur, study the juvenile delinquent [14:19] Richard Branson's early business philosophy [14:49] the beginning of Virgin [19:00] what he learned from going to jail [23:01] the scope of Richard's ambition at 21 [24:44] a model of compatible businesses [27:00] how Richard Branson made his first fortune [29:00] how Richard Branson gets Necker Island and the idea for Virgin Airways [34:45] protecting the downside risk [38:40] Richard Branson's view on public companies [46:12] taking Virgin private, funding secured [52:00] questioning the direction of his life at 40 years old [59:54] ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest e

What I learned from reading I Love Capitalism: An American Story by Ken Langone.  --- His early life: there was never much money (3:30) Ken's first jobs (5:35) [At school] I didn't apply myself at all . I did the absolute minimum . I was too busy having fun and working at all my various jobs (12:05)  further adventures in entrepreneurship (13:24) Looking for work / finding excitement (17:00) stepping out into the void / getting creative to get a job (23:50) how he starts growing a business within the firm (26:33) his first big break (28:50) You treat a customer right and you never have to worry (32:00) A lesson about human nature and developing trust (34:45) Getting rich is one skill. Staying rich is a different skill altogether(43:10) moral of the story: who wants it the most? (48:25) Hubris and Redemption: Starting over (50:25) how he started his own business (54:00) learning about the opportunity for home depot from other founders and some early tactics to get traction for their stores (59:00)  leave more

What I learned from reading Built From Scratch: How A Couple of Regular Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank.  --- The creation of The Home Depot began with two words: "You're fired!" [0:01] Blinders on focus on the customer [5:45] Learning how not to manage people from Ming the Merciless [8:37] Meeting Ken Langone / the prehistory of Home Depot [11:00] 81% private / 19% public partnerships [18:40] Ken sells to Ming. Predicts Ming will fire Bernie [28:30] Getting fired was the best thing that ever happened [35:00] Bernie Marcus at 49 years old: little cash and a ruined reputation [38:15] How Bernie Marcus walks away from Ross Perot [38:50] The importance of equity [49:19] Do not work with people who don't know how to care about other people [51:00] How they got the money to open The Home Depot [55:30] The critical importance of selling at the right price [58:32] Knowing the right way to do something by seeing it done the wrong way [1:08:54] Mistakes can teach

What I learned from reading Idea Man: A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft by Paul Allen  --- I was 21 years old and at loose ends (0:01) how Paul Allen works (4:09) coming up with the idea for Microsoft (4:48) admiring Bill Gates' bravado (7:56) advice from his father: do something you love (12:30) "Paul is an 'enthusiast' and when in the grip of an enthusiasm is almost totally irresponsible in other areas. How can one help such a student to see the error of his ways ? I don't know. He could even be more right than we, who knows ?" (18:30) Going deep on subjects that interested him (20:56) Paul's first jobs (24:14) Paul Allen and Bill Gates first business (26:44) New Mexico and the start of Microsoft (31:37) We were certain that the tech establishment was wrong and we were right (34:40) Unequal cofounders (37:29) Starting to grow Microsoft (39:00) Unequal cofounders part two (41:00) Early Microsoft culture: When I talk about the early days at Microsoft, it's hard to explain to people how much fun it was.(

What I learned from reading Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio --- Whatever success I've had in life has had more to do with my knowing how to deal with my not knowing than anything I know [0:01] Ray's first principle and why [5:35] Ray's key to success [8:07] The similarities between investors and entrepreneurs [9:27] Shift your mindset from I know I am right to How do I know I am right? [13:05] Systemize your decision making [14:09] Ray on his life story [17:30] the quality of your decisions determine the quality of your life [19:50] Like a lot of Founders, Ray was bad at school [21:45] More about his personality: stubborn and determined + his first jobs [22:45] Hungry for knowledge he could actually use [24:28] Terrible is better than mediocre [25:03] What we think to be true that is not: The future is a slightly modified version of the present [25:30] Steve Jobs [26:30] A pivotal lesson for Ray: The same things happen over and over again [28:02] the founding of Bridgewater [32:33] the humble beginning

What I learned from reading One From Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization by Dee Hock  --- Walking away at the pinnacle of success was the hardest thing I have ever done (0:01) Through the years, I have greatly feared and sought to keep at bay the four beasts that inevitably devour their keeper – Ego, Envy, Avarice, and Ambition. In 1984, I severed all connections with business for a life of isolation and anonymity, convinced I was making a great bargain by trading money for time, position for liberty, and ego for contentment – that the beasts were securely caged. –Dee Hock (4:14) Visa was little more than a set of unorthodox convictions about organization slowly growing in the mind of a young corporate rebel (9:03) Dee's first jobs (21:44) Learning how mechanistic, Industrial Age organizations really function (28:17) Useful questions to ask in your organization (34:30) A failure at 36 years old (38:33) The environment from which Visa emerged (46:41) Healthy vs Unhealthy Organizations (55:19) Focu

What I learned from reading The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz. --- There's no recipe for complicated, dynamic situations [0:01] Meeting Marc Andreessen [8:30] The co-founder relationship between Marc and Ben [11:00] How they came up with the idea for Loudcloud (Opsware) / A business is just an idea that will make someone's life better. —Richard Branson [13:45] Ben finds value by asking the question: What would I do if we went bankrupt? [21:05] Sell the wrong product to find the right one [22:30] Saving a $20 million a year customer by buying a $10 million company [23:16] Do not play the odds [27:27] Discount praise. Focus on what can be fixed [28:32] Why training is so important (compounding effect) [31:20] Difference between large company executives and founders [32:00] Why it is a good idea to collect good ideas [34:00] Determination is more important than intelligence [35:30] Your culture should be unique / Using shock to create behavioral

What I learned from reading Insisting On The Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land and Instant: The Story of Polaroid --- If you dream of something worth doing and then simply go to work on it, and don’t think anything of personalities, or emotional conflicts, or of money, or of family distractions; if you just think of, detail by detail, what you have to do next, it is a wonderful dream. [0:01]  Edwin Land was a pioneer whose inventions were dismissed, and yet he created a great company by dint of pure stubbornness. [2:33]  He [Steve Jobs] didn't yet have the skills to build a great company, but he admired those who had pulled it off and he would go to great lengths to meet them and learn from them. [3:03]  Steve admired many things about Land: his obsessive commitment to creating products of style, practicality, and great consumer appeal. His reliance on gut instinct rather than consumer research and the restless obsession and invention he brought to the company he founded. [4:07]  Recounting his life is a med

What I learned from reading Walt Disney: An American Original by Bob Thomas --- He seemed eager to sum up the lessons he had learned and tell people how he applied them in his life. [0:01] He worked long hours over drawings in his room. Never revealing a project until he completed it. [5:32] Walt Disney's first business: Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists [9:34] Walt Disney's second business: Laugh-O-Gram Films [13:30] Walt Disney's third business: The Walt Disney Company [17:03] "Should the idea or name be exploited in any other way, such as toys or merchandise we shall share equally." / Jeff Bezos on the importance of sleep [21:08] Committees throttle creativity [25:31] It is normal to doubt yourself when you are creating something. Walt Disney doubted the quality of Steamboat Willie. What would go on to be one of the most famous cartoons ever created. [33:28] People don't know what is good until the public tells them/Or how to get film distributors to come to you [37:10] The power of licensing Disney charact

What I learned from reading The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport.  --- [0:54] Musk and Bezos were the leaders of this resurrection of the American space program, a pair of billionaires with vastly different styles and temperaments. Always audacious, Musk had plowed far ahead, his triumphs and failures commanding center stage. Bezos remained quiet and clandestine, his mysterious rocket venture kept hidden behind the curtain. [1:36] Musk, the brash hare, was blazing a trail for others to follow, while Bezos, the secretive and slow tortoise, who was content to take it step by step in a race that was only just beginning. [13:46] “How is the situation in the year 2000 different from 1960? What has changed?” he said. “The engines can be somewhat better, but they’re still chemical rocket engines. What’s different is computer sensors, cameras, software. Being able to land vertically is the kind of problem that can be addressed by those technologies that

What I learned from reading The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King by Rich Cohen. --- When he arrived in America in 1891 at age fourteen, Zemurray was tall, gangly, and penniless. When he died in the grandest house in New Orleans sixty-nine years later, he was among the richest, most powerful men in the world. In between he worked as a fruit peddler, a banana hauler, a dockside hustler, and the owner of plantations on the Central American isthmus. He batted and conquered United Fruit, which was one of the first truly global corporations. [0:01] Zemurray’s life is a parable of the American dream. It told me that the life of the nation was not written only by speech-making grandees in funny hats but also by street-corner boys, immigrant strivers, crazed and driven, some with one good idea, some with thousands, willing to go to the ends of the earth to make their vision real. [0:31] How Sam Zemurray started: He’d arrived on the docks at the start of the last century with nothing

What I learned from reading Finding The Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Keep, and Nurture Talent by Nolan Bushnell.  --- A pong is a piece of advice designed to help enhance creativity. It applies to only where the advice is helpful. Unlike a rule which thinks itself applicable to every situation. (4:36) Cherish the pink-haired. (16:53) Hire the obnoxious: Steve Jobs believed he was always right and was willing to push harder and longer than other people who might have had equally good ideas but caved under pressure. (19:07) Expect to be criticized. Everyone said Atari was nuts. When I explained Chuck E Cheese they laughed. "The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty - a fad." President of Michigan Savings Bank, advising Henry Ford’s lawyer not to invest in Ford Motor Company, 1903 (20:23) One of the best ways to find creative people is to ask a simple question: What books do you like? (24:15) When your company establishes that anyone can and should contribute, you will end up hearing some

What I learned from reading George Lucas: A Life by Brian Jay Jones.  --- Lucas unapologetically invested in what he believed in the most: himself.“What we’re striving for is total freedom, where we can finance our pictures, make them our way, release them where we want them released, and be completely free to express ourselves,” explained Lucas. “That’s very hard to do in the world of business. In this country, the only thing that speaks is money and you have to have the money in order to have the power to be free.”George looked at it like a businessman, saying, ‘Wait a minute. The studios borrowed money, took a 35 percent distribution fee off the top. This is crazy. Why don’t we borrow the money ourselves?' Some of the bravest and/or most reckless acts were not aesthetic, but financial.My thing about art is that I don’t like the word art because it means pretension and bullshit, and I equate those two directly. I don’t think of myself as an artist, and I don’t think I ever will. I’m a craftsman. I don’t mak

What I learned from reading Creativity Inc: Overcoming The Unseen Forces That Stand In The Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull.  --- Lead with a light touch (18:59) Anchor yourself with your why (23:35) Bet on yourself (39:54) Decentralize problem-solving (52:56) People are more important than ideas (1:00:45) Analyze ways to improve your process after a project is complete (1:24:10) Keep a startup mentality (1:26:36) ---- 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

What I learned from reading Levi Strauss: The Man Who Gave Blue Jeans to the World by Lynn Downey --- [0:01] Levi was one of the men who set that firm foundation [17:35] I do not have at this time a specific occupation...I will share the fate that has been assigned to me [22:29] Enduring hardship for the ultimate goal [29:24] A hole in the market [42:00] Levi starts his business cold [54:18] The dangers of shipping by sea [1:04:42] Inventing Jeans by accident [1:10:00] Overnight success 20 years in the making [1:17:40] How Levi was able to serve customers who were illiterate or spoke another language ---- 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 becau

What I learned from reading Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built by Duncan Clark.  --- Crazy Jack (0:01) The internet is filling the void created by state planning (6:59) Jack has made a career out of being underestimated: “I am a very simple guy. I am not smart. I might have a smart face but I’ve got very stupid brains.” (20:35) Jack’s early life / Discipline and Curiosity (24:43) Jack Magic: “ Nobody saw the opportunity in this business. We didn’t make much money at first, but Jack persevered…I respect him tremendously for he has a a great ability to motivate people and he can invest things that seem hopeless with exciting possibility. He can make those around him get excited about life.” (40:00) Jack’s first time on the Internet (47:06) Another lucky break: Meeting Yahoo Founder Jerry Yang (55:45) Making money from shrimp (57:02) The worst deal he ever made (1:00:43) Masayoshi Son: Founder of Softbank (1:04:45) Be the last man standing (1:10:16) Ebay vs Alibaba: A case study in what not to do (1:13:32) Ya

What I learned from reading Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue and Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future --- Culture Eats Strategy [1:45] Conspiracy as a metaphor for a company [3:56] It is a story of poetic justice on a grand scale plotted silently for nearly a decade [6:02] Something in these pages planted itself deep into Thiel's mind when he first read it long ago [15:25] It was ruthless efficiency and hyper-competence. [21:40] You were driven to entrepreneurship because it was a safe space from consensus and from convention. [34:36] What if I do something about this? What might happen? What might happen if I do nothing? Which is riskier, to act or to ignore? [38:52] Sometimes these books teach us what not to do. [59:06] Unknown unknowns > known knowns [1:11:10] How you do one thing is how you do all things. [1:25:47] He had always been aggressive. He wouldn't have gotten where he was in life if he wasn't. [1:30:35] Companies routinely focus on si

What I learned from reading Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance.  --- I don't want to be the person who ever has to compete with Elon (0:47) Musk expects you to keep up (2:45) Short of building an actual money-crushing machine, Musk could not have picked a faster way to destroy his fortune. He became a one-man, ultra-risk-taking venture capital shop (4:41) Revisit old ideas (5:22) It was not unusual for him to read ten hours a day (7:49) His approach to dating mirrors his approach to work (9:32) Humans are deeply mimetic (10:59) Thinking from first principles (14:37) What it is like to work with Elon Musk (17:40) He would place this urgency that he expected the revenue in ten years to be ten million dollars a day and that every day we were slower to achieve our goals was a day of missing out on that money (19:28) What he went through in 2008 would have broken anyone else. He didn't just survive. He kept working and stayed focused (23:29)  A tenet of Elon's companies: