Founders

What I learned from reading Lighting Out for the Territory: How Samuel Clemens Headed West and Became Mark Twain by Roy Morris Jr. --- One of the best podcasts I've heard this year: Listen to Invest Like The Best #336 Jeremy Giffon Special Situations in Private Markets  --- Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book --- (7:20) A great way to think about power law people: Their absence leaves of void that no one else can fill. (8:00) His death would not have lengthened the life of the Confederacy or the Union, by a single day. It would, however, have reduced the literary inheritance of the United States by an incalculable amount. (11:20) Opportunity is a strange beast. It frequently appears after a loss. (13:00) In another life Mark Twain would be a cocaine dealer. (17:30) I knew more about retreating than the man that invented retreating. (21:15) The ad itself became legendary: “Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death d

What I learned from reading The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron by Rebecca Keegan and The Return of James Cameron, Box Office King by Zach Baron. (4:00) I watched Titanic at the Titanic. And he actually replied: Yeah, but I madeTitanic at the Titanic. (7:10) I like difficult. I’m attracted by difficult. Difficult is a fucking magnet for me. I go straight to difficult. And I think it probably goes back to this idea that there are lots of smart, really gifted, really talented filmmakers out there that just can’t do the difficult stuff. So that gives me a tactical edge to do something nobody else has ever seen, because the really gifted people don’t fucking want to do it. (7:20) At 68 years old, Cameron wakes up at 4:45 AM and often kick boxes in the morning. (7:45) Self doubt is not something Cameron has a lot of experience with. His confidence preceded his achievements. (9:00) I was going through this stuff, chapter and verse, and making my own notes and all that. I basically gave myself a colleg

What I learned from reading Creators: From Chaucer and Durer to Picasso and Disney by Paul Johnson.  --- (3:30) Disney made use of the new technologies throughout his creative life. (4:45) Lists of Paul Johnson books and episodes:  Churchill by Paul Johnson. (Founders #225)  Heroes: From Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to Churchill and de Gaulle by Paul Johnson.(Founders #226) Mozart: A Life by Paul Johnson. (Founders #240)  Socrates: A Man for Our Times by Paul Johnson. (Founders #252)  (5:55) Picasso was essentially self-taught, self-directed, self-promoted, emotionally educated in the teeming brothels of the city, a small but powerfully built monster of assured egoism. (7:30) Most good copywriters fall into two categories. Poets. And killers. Poets see an ad as an end. Killers as a means to an end. If you are both killer and poet, you get rich. — Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy. (Founders #306) (10:00) Whatever you do, you must do it with gusto, you must do it in volume. It is a cas

What I learned from reading Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby. --- (5:07) His competence was exceeded only by his confidence.(5:58) He worked at the game, and if he wasn't good at something, he had the motivation to be the best at it. (6:33) It seemed that he discovered the secret quite early in his competitive life: the more pressure he heaped on himself, the greater his ability to rise to the occasion. (14:06) At each step along his path, others would express amazement at how hard he competed. At every level, he was driven as if he were pursuing something that others couldn't see.(16:10) Whenever I was working out and got tired and figured I ought to stop, I'd close my eyes and see that list in the locker room without my name on it, and that got me going again. (19:29) Jordan could sense immediately that he had something the others didn't. (59:53) The Jordan Rules succeeded against the Bulls so well that they became textbook for guarding athletic scorers. The scheme helped Detroit win two NBA champ

What I learned from reading Arnold and Me: In the Shadow of the Austrian Oak by Barbara Outland Baker. --- Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book --- (6:30) He forced his sons to eat with silverware at perfect right angles. They had to keep their elbows to their waists. If the boys did not obey, the back of his hand was quick to strike their cheeks. (7:30) His life began to flourish through the art and science of bodybuilding. Arnold ate it, slept it, worked it, imagined it, thought it, believed it, and trusted it. Bodybuilding became his existence. (8:10) He had no time to waste on naysayers. He aligned only with those who shared his passion.  (8:15) He knew that to succeed according to his manic standards he needed to master an individual sport. (8:30) His intelligence did not show on his report cards yet he mastered his goals like a wizard. (If you do everything you will win) (8:50) His singular concentration provided a rock solid belief in his potential. (9:30) Not even

What I learned from reading Glock: The Rise of America's Gun by Paul Barrett.    Listen to Invest Like the Best #292 David Senra: Passion and Pain.  --- Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book --- (5:22) What struck me is how his inexperience was a great advantage. He didn't assume anything about how to design a handgun because he's never designed one before. Consequently he designed the best one ever. He didn't know what was out of bounds. (8:20) Gaston Glock himself put it in an interview: "That I knew nothing was my advantage.” (8:55) He began disassembling the guns, putting them back together, and noted the contrasting methods used to make them. (9:00) More on Glock’s initial research process: I started intensive studies in such a manner that I visited the Austrian patent offices for weeks examining generations of handgun in innovation. (9:10) Learning from history of a form of leverage. (10:25) Crucially, the gun should have no more than 40 parts. This is one of the most

What I learned from reading Dynasties: Fortunes and Misfortunes of the World's Great Family Businesses by David Landes. ---- Listen to Invest Like the Best #292 David Senra: Passion and Pain.  Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book ---- (4:25) Success causes failure. As the family develops power and prestige, the heirs find many interesting and amusing things to do rather than run their business. (6:00) Those on the margins often come to control the center. (9:00) Great industrial leaders are always fanatically committed to their jobs. They are not lazy, or amateurs. — Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy. (Founders #306) (9:50) For many of the great founders “Appetite comes with eating.” (11:00) Rothschild episodes: Founder: A Portrait of the First Rothschild by Amos Elon. (Founders #197) The House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets by Niall Ferguson. (Founders #198) JP Morgan episodes: The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Financ

What I learned from reading Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy.  ---- Listen to one of my favorite podcasts: Invest Like the Best ---- Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book ---- (4:15) When Fortune published an article about me and titled it: "Is David Ogilvy a Genius?," I asked my lawyer to sue the editor for the question mark. (4:45) The people who built the companies for which America is famous, all worked obsessively to create strong cultures within their organizations. Companies that have cultivated their individual identities by shaping values, making heroes, spelling out rites and rituals, and acknowledging the cultural network, have an edge (5:30) We prefer the discipline of knowledge to the anarchy of ignorance. We pursue knowledge the way a pig pursues truffles. A blind pig can sometimes find truffles, but it helps to know that they grow in oak forests. (5:48) We hire gentlemen with brains. (6:16) Only First Class business, and that in a First Class

What I learned from reading Working by Robert Caro.  ---- Listen to one of my favorite podcasts: Invest Like the Best: Sam Hinkie: Find Your People  ---- [3:40] You can't get very deep into Johnson's life without realizing that the central fact of his life was his relationship with his father. [8:00] It was the hill country and his father's failures that taught him how terrible could be the consequences of a single mistake. [8:45] Lyndon Johnson wouldn't understand. He would refuse to understand. He would threaten you, would cajole you, bribe you or charm you. He would do whatever he had to do, but he would get that vote. [9:00] What mattered to him was winning because he knew what losing could be. What its consequences could be. [9:50] Robert Caro books I've read:  The Power Broker  The Path to Power Means of Ascent Master of The Senate (currently reading)  [11:00] About what I wanted to do with my life and my books (which are my life) [11:40] I am a reflection of what I do. — Steve Jobs [23:20] There are ce

What I learned from reading Sol Price: Retail Revolutionary by Robert Price.  ---- [6:50] He believed in developing strong operating efficiencies, and he continually emphasized passing on savings to customers. [8:48] It's pretty incredible to think about that Sol's ideas have created trillions of dollars of value. [11:18] You can always understand the son by the story of his father. The story of the father is embedded in the son. —Francis Ford Coppola: A Filmmaker's Life by Michael Schumacher. (Founders #242) [14:00] Stephen King on the belief and support he received from his wife: “Having someone who believes in you makes a lot of difference”— Stephen King On Writing: A Memoir of the Craftby Stephen King. (Founders #210) [16:00] True education is gained through the discipline of life. —Henry Ford [19:45] Sol kept a small sign in his office: “Do it now.” [24:00] Sol finds an idea future generations of entrepreneurs will use: A membership retail store targeted to a specific niche. [24:45] When you have people

What I learned from reading The Women of Berkshire Hathaway: Lessons from Warren Buffett's Female CEOs and Directors by Karen Linder.  ---- Follow one of my favorite podcasts: Invest Like the Best and listen to episode 326 Alexis Rivas—A New Blueprint for Homebuilding  ---- Episode outline: Mr. Buffett, we're going to put our competitors through a meat grinder. — Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein. (Founders #182) There are several "Going Out of Business" advertisements from competitors' stores framed and hanging on the wall. As a general rule, bet on the quality of the business, not on the quality of the management-unless, of course, you've got a Mrs. B. in your hand. If that is the case, go all in. She was a business genius. —  The Tao of Charlie Munger (Founders #295) Retirement is fatal. — David Ogilvy (Founders #189) Business like raising a child, you want a good one. A child needs a mother and a business needs a boss. What is your favorite thing to do on a nice evening? Dr

What I learned from reading The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words edited by J. Christopher Herold.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- Follow one of my favorite podcasts Invest Like The Best and listen to episode 326 Alexis Rivas ---- (3:45) A man who combined energy of thought and energy of action to an exceptional degree. (4:45) He knows that men have always been the same, that nothing can change their nature. It is from the past that he will draw his lessons in order to shape the present. (5:15) Destiny must be fulfilled. That is my chief doctrine. (6:05) Napoleon: A Concise Biography by David Bell (Founders #294) (9:25) To aim at world empire seemed to Napoleon a most natural thing. (10:00) To have lived without glory, without leaving a trace of one's existence, is not to have lived at all. (10:55) The greatest improvisation of the human mind is that which gives existence to the nonexistent. (

What I learned from reading Tiger Woods by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian. ---- Follow one of my favorite podcasts Invest Like The Best and listen to episode 326 Alexis Rivas ---- [3:00] He was someone no one had ever seen or will ever see again. [5:20] You can always understand the son by the story of his father. The story of the father is embedded in the son. — Francis Ford Coppola: A Filmmaker's Life by Michael Schumacher. (Founders #242) [7:15] His output was enormous, much greater than that of nine tenths of other composers. He was a mature artist in most forms at the age of twelve. There was never a month, often scarcely a week, when he did not produce a substantial score. — Mozart: A Life by Paul Johnson. (Founders #240) [7:50] Tiger's opponents were never people; it was always history. [14:05] I've always been a practice player. I believe in it. — Michael Jordan: The Lifeby Roland Lazenby. (Founders #212) [17:00] Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's by Ray Kroc. (Founders #293) [18:30] Tiger wa

What I learned from reading Against the Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson for the 4th time. You can also find the book on Book Finder.  ---- Follow one of my favorite podcasts Invest Like The Best and listen to episode 293 David Senra: Passion and Pain  ---- Episode Outline:  [4:30] Invention: A Life by James Dyson (Founders #205) [2:41] I am a creator of products, a builder of things, and my name appears on them. That is how I make a living and they are what have made my name at least familiar in a million homes. [11:00] Isambard Kingdom Brunel: The Definitive Biography of The Engineer, Visionary, and Great Briton by L.T.C. Rolt. (Founders #201) [13:10] After the idea there is plenty of time to learn the technology. My first cyclonic vacuum cleaner was built out of cereal packets and masking tape long before I understood how it worked. [14:15] Difference for the sake of it. In everything. Because it must be better. From the moment the idea strikes, to the running of the business. Difference, and retentio

What I learned from reading Make Something Wonderful: Steve Jobs in his own words. ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes.com You can read, reread, and search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast.  You can also ask SAGE any question and SAGE will read all my notes, highlights, and every transcript from every episode for you.  A few questions I've asked SAGE recently:  What are the most important leadership lessons from history's greatest entrepreneurs? Can you give me a summary of Warren Buffett's best ideas? (Substitute any founder covered on the podcast and you'll get a comprehensive and easy to read summary of their ideas)  How did Edwin Land find new employees to hire? Any unusual sources to find talent? What are some strategies that Cornelius Vanderbilt used against his competitors? Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- Follow one of my favorite podcasts Invest Like The Best and listen to episode 293 David Senra: Passi

What I learned from having lunch with Sam Zell and reading Zeckendorf: The Autobiography of The man Who Played a Real-Life Game of Monopoly and Won the Largest Real Estate Empire in History by William Zeckendorf.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes.com You can read, reread, and search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast.  You can also ask SAGE any question and SAGE will read all my notes, highlights, and every transcript from every episode for you.  A few questions I've asked SAGE recently:  What are the most important leadership lessons from history's greatest entrepreneurs? Can you give me a summary of Warren Buffett's best ideas? (Substitute any founder covered on the podcast and you'll get a comprehensive and easy to read summary of their ideas)  How did Edwin Land find new employees to hire? Any unusual sources to find talent? What are some strategies that Cornelius Vanderbilt used against his competitors? Get access

What I learned from rereading Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman by Yvon Chouinard. ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes ---- Follow Founders Podcast on YouTube  ---- Follow one of my favorite podcasts Invest Like The Best ! ---- [3:45] One of my favorite sayings about entrepreneurship is: If you want to understand the entrepreneur, study the juvenile delinquent. The delinquent is saying with his actions, “This sucks. I’m going to do my own thing.” [4:32] The original intent for writing Let My People Go Surfing was for it to be a philosophical manual for the employees of Patagonia. We have always considered Patagonia an experiment in doing business in unconventional ways. [7:48] MeatEater Podcast #188 Yvon Chouinard on Belonging to Nature [7:55] The first part of our mission statement, “Make the best product,” is the cornerstone of our business philosophy. “Make the best” is a difficult goal. It doesn’t mean “among the best” or th

David Rosenthal and Ben Gilbert — of the Acquired podcast — invited me to San Francisco for a discussion on our mutual obsession: spending every waking hour studying the history of entrepreneurship and sharing those lessons on our podcasts.  ---- Follow Acquired in your podcast player here or at Acquired.fm  This episode is brought to you by: Tiny: Tiny is the easiest way to sell your business. Tiny provides quick and straightforward exits for Founders. Get in touch with Tiny by emailing hi@tiny.com.  [3:00] David’s time with Charlie Munger [5:30] Henry Flagler after Standard Oil [8:30] What makes a great biography, and how to capture all sides of complex characters? [11:00] Studying history is a form of leverage to achieve success [13:00] How do we figure out what the true story is for an episode we're doing? [20:30] Silicon Valley should focus more on durability than growth [21:30] How David got into reading biographies and podcasting [25:40] What were each of their influences before starting Acquired and F

What I learned from reading The Taste of Luxury: Bernard Arnault and the Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton Story by Nadege Forestier and Nazanine Ravai. ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes ---- Follow one of my favorite podcasts Invest Like The Best ! ---- [1:16] I am the boss. I shall be here on Monday morning and I shall be running the company in person. [4:30] The Taste of Luxury: Bernard Arnault and the Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton Story by Nadege Forestier and Nazanine Ravai [5:01] I highly recommend listening to Acquired’s episode on LVMH. It is excellent. [5:16] Business Breakdowns episode LVMH: The Wolf in Cashmere’s Conglomerate [6:16] Napoleon: A Concise Biography by David Bell. (Founders #294) [6:18] Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words by Napoleon and J. Christopher Herold. [7:20] I’m not so dominant that I can’t listen to creative ideas coming from other people. Successful people listen. Those who don’t listen, don’t survive long.

What I learned from having dinner with Charlie Munger and rereading The Tao of Charlie Munger. ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes ---- Follow Founders Podcast on YouTube  ---- Follow one of my favorite podcasts Invest Like The Best ! (5:45) The blueprint he gave me was simple: Forget what you know about buying fair businesses at wonderful prices; instead, buy wonderful businesses at fair prices. (8:48) He has never forgotten the importance of having friends in high places. (9:04) Most people systematically undervalue their time. — Peter Thiel (11:08) Franklin & Washington: The Founding Partnership by Edward Larson. Founders #251) (12:23) Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Changed America by Les Standiford. (Founders #284) (15:02) Charlie took the excess capital out of Blue Chip Stamp and invested it in profitable businesses. (16:56) Charlie started seeing the advantages of investing in better businesses that di