Founders

What I learned from reading Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller by Ron Chernow. [0:01] Rockefeller was a unique hybrid in American business, both the instinctive first-generation entrepreneur who founded the company and the analytical second-generation manager who extends and develops it. [0:30] Having created an empire of unfathomable complexity, he was smart enough to see that he had to submerge his identity in the organization. [0:43] Don’t say that I out to do this or that. We ought to do it. Never forget that we are partners. Whatever is done for the general good is done for the good of us all. —John D. Rockefeller. [0:55] He preferred outspoken colleagues to weak-kneed sycophants. [1:14] That he created one of the first multinational corporations, selling kerosene around the world and setting a business pattern for the next century, was arguable his greatest feat. [2:48] The spot chosen for the new refinery tells much about Rockefeller’s approach to business. . . Able to ship by water or over land, R

What I learned from reading Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson. 

What I learned from reading The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal by Ben Mezrich. Microsoft had offered Mark between $1 million and $2 million to go work for them. Amazingly, Mark had turned them down (1:25)Maybe he knew he was about to cross a line. But he had never been very good at staying in the lines. From Mark's history, it was obvious that he didn't like the sandbox. He seemed the type of kid that wanted to kick out all the sand. (8:01)He didn't care what time it was. To guys like Mark time was another weapon of the establishment. The great engineers and hackers didn't function under the same time constraints as everyone else. (11:23)Mark wondered: If people want to go online and check out their friends couldn't they build a website that did just that? (14:36) Mark. Founder. Master and Commander. Enemy of the State. (21:19)Instead of attacking Baylor head on they made a list of schools within 100 miles of it and dropped Facebook in those schoo

What I learned from reading The Elon Musk Blog Series: Wait But Why by Tim Urban.In the most recent 1% of our species short existence, we have become the first life on earth to know about the situation (4:38)The total market for satellite manufacturing, the launches that carry them to space, and related equipment and services has ballooned from $60 billion in 2004 to over $200 billion in 2015 (8:41)Here is what SpaceX does: it takes things to space for people for money. Here is what SpaceX really does: it is an innovation machine trying to solve one big problem. The astronomical cost of space travel (9:13)For 1% we can buy life insurance (20:35)Up until 25 years ago there had never been such a thing as a global brain of god like information access and connectivity on this planet (23:26)Musk has said he doesn't care that much about your degree. Just raw talent, personality, and passion for the SpaceX mission (31:21)For domestic launches the ULA charges the government and the US taxpayer $380 million per launch

What I learned by reading How Tesla Will Change The World by Tim UrbanKindle version: The Elon Musk Blog Series: Wait But Why.

What I learned from reading The Elon Musk Blog Series: Wait But Why by Tim UrbanRead The Cook & The Chef: Elon Musk's Secret Sauce on WaitButWhy. Quotes from this episode: Which leaves only two options: create or copy Conventional wisdom: If something is both a good idea and possible, it's already been done.I'm fascinated by those rare people in history who managed to dramatically change the world during their short time here, and I've always liked to study those people and read their biographies. Those people know something the rest of us don't and we can learn something valuable from them. Musk calls this reasoning from first principles. One of the most important parts of this podcast. Conventional wisdom screamed at the top of its lungs for him to stop. Your entire life runs on the software in your head. Why wouldn't you obsess over optimizing it?We mistake the chef's originality for brilliant ingenuity. The reason these outrageously smart people are so humble about what they know is that they are awar

What I learned from reading Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight.The best teacher I ever had, one of the finest men I ever knew, spoke of the Oregon Trail often. It’s our birthright, he’d growl. Our character, our fate—our DNA. “The cowards never started, the weak died along the way—that leaves us.” [0:35]Some outsized sense of possibility mixed with a diminished capacity for pessimism. [1:03]I found it difficult to say what or who exactly I was, or might become. Like all my friends I wanted to be successful. I didn’t know what that meant. [2:11]Deep down I was searching for something else, something more. I had an aching sense that our time is short, shorter than we ever know. And I wanted mine to be meaningful. And purposeful. And creative. And important. Above all . . .different. [2:35]I asked myself: What if there were a way, without being an athlete, to feel what athletes feel? To play all the time, instead of working? Or to enjoy work so much that it becomes essentially the same thin

What I learned from reading I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford by Richard Snow.

What I learned from reading The Intel Trinity: How Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove Built the World's Most Important Company by Michael Malone.

What I learned from reading Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's by Ray Kroc.

What I learned from reading Sam Walton: Made In America by Sam Walton.

What I learned from reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

What I learned from reading The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy by David Nasaw

What I learned from reading The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented The Modern World by Randall StrossEdison starts his first business at 12 years old (11:00)Edison's discipline (20:00)Edison's rivalry with Alexander Graham Bell (38:00)Edison's friendship with Henry Ford (1:00:00)Edison's stoic nature (1:15:00) The death of Thomas Edison (1:21:00)A list of all the books featured on Founders Podcast.

What I learned from reading Walt Disney based on the book Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler. 

What I learned from reading Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee VanceThe conventional wisdom of the time said to take a deep breath and wait for the next big thing to arrive in due course. Musk rejected that logic by throwing $100 million into SpaceX, $70 million into Tesla, and $10 million into SolarCity. 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 and doubled down on making super-complex physical goods in two of the most expensive places in the world, Los Angeles and Silicon Valley. [2:13]What Musk has developed that so many of the entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley lack is a meaningful worldview. He’s the possessed genius on the grandest quest anyone has ever concocted. He’s less a CEO chasing riches than a general marshaling troops to secure victory. [9:17]The life that Musk has created to manage all of these endeavors is preposterous. [9:53]H