What I learned from reading The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant by Tae Kim.

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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations ?all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

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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. 

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?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

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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. 

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?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

Hetty Green bailed out New York City. Her decisions on what interest rates to charge moved markets and were reported in major newspapers. She was a one woman bank and the single biggest individual financier in the world. She took no partners and ran her own money. She built a financial empire of stocks, bonds, railroads, and real estate. She battled the great men of her day and kept a gun on her desk. She did all of this alone. Defiantly independent and ferociously intelligent she built a vast, liquid fortune at a time when women couldn't even vote. She used her intelligence to increase her wealth, her independence to live as she wished, and her strength to battle anyone who stood in her way.

This episode is what I learned from reading Hetty: The Genius and Madness of America?s First Female Tycoon by Charles Slack and The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age by Janet Wallach. 

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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations ?all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

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Vesto: All of your company's financial accounts in one view. Connect and control all of your business bank accounts from one dashboard. Go to Vesto and schedule a demo with the founder Ben. Tell him David sent you. 

 

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. 

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?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

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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

Chung Ju-yung grew up so poor he had to eat tree bark to survive. He founded Hyundai and became the richest person in Korea. When Chung was in his 80s, he wrote an autobiography that tells the devastating reality of growing up in dire poverty, how he escaped through manual labor, and how he founded and grew one of the world's largest conglomerates. Along the way he shares advice like why you should emulate bedbugs, the importance of going where the money is, and why people called him "The Bulldozer."

This episode is what I learned from reading Born of This Land: My Life Story by Chung Ju-yung.

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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations ?all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

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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. 

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?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

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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

Jeff Bezos on retirement being lame, AI, the electricity metaphor for AI, the good fortune of being alive during multiple golden ages, long term life long passions, refusing to underestimate opportunity, dancing with curiosity, inventing, wandering, crisp documents and messy meetings, willing to be misunderstood, and why he doesn't do many interviews. 

This episode is what I learned from reading and watching Jeff Bezos at DealBook Summit and Jeff Bezos: The Electricity Metaphor. 

Another excellent Jeff Bezos interview on Lex Fridman 

Listen to more Founders episodes on Jeff Bezos: #321 Working with Jeff Bezos and #282 Jeff Bezos?s Shareholder Letters

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?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

 

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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

Brad Jacobs is one of the most talented living entrepreneurs. Brad has started 8 different billion dollar or multi-billion dollar businesses. He has done over 500 acquisitions and has raised over $30 billion. He started his first company at 23, has over 40 years of experience as an entrepreneur, and is the most energetic person I have ever been around. Earlier this year he published his life story: How to Make a Few Billion Dollars. How to Make a Few Billion Dollars was one of my favorite books that I've read this year and the episode I made about the book was one of the most popular episodes of Founders.

This episode is what I learned from having breakfast with Brad Jacobs and reading his book How to Make a Few Billion Dollars 

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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations ?all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

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?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

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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

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Amancio Ortega is one of the wealthiest people in the world. Ortega is the founder of Inditex, a pioneer of fast fashion, an entrepreneur with over 60 years of experience, and has created a business model that is studied in universities that he could not access. His life story is inspiring, educational, and full of valuable ideas for future generations of founders. This episode is what I learned from reading This is Amancio Ortega: The Man Who Created Zara by Covadonga O'Shea. 

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Notes and highlights from the episode: 

I remembered a comment that Luis Miguel Dominguin made to me years ago, when he was at the peak of his glory and his son, still a child, played in the garden of his house. "This child will never be a bullfighter. To face a bull you have to go hungry.?
 The important thing is to set goals in life and put all your soul into fulfilling them.
 I have dreamed of growing the company since I was nobody.
 We gave it every day. My priority has always been the company, and I have committed myself to it, with full dedication, from day one.
 Ortega is a man of mission. He is so convinced of what he is and what he has to do.
 I was convinced that I had to dominate the customer.
 Ortega starts with the customer and work backwards: ?I am going to manufacture what the customer wants.?
 I met Ortega when Zara did not exist. He only had the factories. In those years when nobody thought about technology within our sector, in which there was almost no computer science or mobile phones, he wanted to have a good team in technology.
 He built a groundbreaking and avant-garde textile distribution company.
 Inditex's business is centered around one simple premise ? to be quick at responding to the market.
 Their main advantage: an astonishing ability to detect fashion trends, assimilate them, and make them a reality on the hanger at a bargain price, and all in less than 15 days.
 Ortega wanted to integrate design and manufacturing first, then complete the chain with distribution and sales in his own stores, turning the customer into his source of privileged information and not just the receiver of a commodity.
 I refuse to recognize that there are impossibilities. I cannot discover that any one knows enough about anything on this earth definitely to say what is and what is not possible. ? Henry Ford
 There are no mature sectors where everything is already discovered, but rather companies or managers with closed minds who resist innovation.
 Logistics is a fundamental part of the circle that completes Inditex?s vertical integration process. Inventory control in all locations around the world is as important as getting the design right and producing in a short time; that's why Inditex has invested time, effort, and a lot of money in establishing logistics centers with the latest technologies.
 Traditionally, the seller ensures high margins at the beginning of each season, but endures several months of discounts to get rid of stock; the customer knows, therefore, that in the long run they will get the same items at lower prices. Ortega's company renews its clothes in stores around the world every week and twice weekly in Europe. The buyer knows that they will always find new items, but probably won't be able to get what they tried on seven days ago. In this way, customers understand that if they see something they like, they have to buy it immediately, because in a few days it will no longer be in the store. It's about creating an atmosphere of scarcity and opportunity.
 Ortega has created a business model that is studied in universities to which he could not access.
 I consider myself a worker who is immensely fortunate to have done what he wanted in life and to continue doing it.
 It's the most beautiful company in the world.
 I want a company with a soul.
 Ortega stayed focused on his one great objective: To enable the entire world to dress well.
 Ortega refuses to settle halfway to excellence.
 He is a man with a lot of personal charm because he is not false. He does not have ulterior motives. He can be very tough, impulsive, very sure of himself, but very truthful.
 Ortega does not like to lead sitting in a chair.
 He has never liked praise. More than once I've told him: 'What a beautiful collection, how happy the customers are!', and he always interrupts me and asks me: 'Now tell me what's wrong.?
 When asked on his advice for future generations of entrepreneurs: ?The first thing is that you like what you are doing, that you are passionate about your work. I insist on this idea because it is very important. It has to be something that you would almost pay to do.?
 Simplicity is the heritage of geniuses.  

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?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

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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 rereading James J. Hill: Empire Builder by Michael P. Malone. 

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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations ?all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

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Notes and highlights from the episode: 

?He had unlimited energy, was stubborn, had a temper, was supremely arrogant and he did more to transform the northern frontier of the United States than any other single individual.

?One of the things he learned from history and biography: The power of one dynamic individual: Like so many other nineteenth-century youths, young Jim Hill fell under the spell of Napoleon. He came to believe in the strength of will, the power of one dynamic individual to change the world, the conquering hero. (He says that the railroad entrepreneurs conquered the distance between remote communities in the American west)

?He accustomed himself to handle a large workload.

?If you want to know whether you are destined to be a success or a failure in life, you can easily find out. The test is simple and it is infallible: Are you able to save money? If not, drop out. You will lose. You may think not, but you will lose as sure as you live. The seed of success is not in you. ?James J. Hill

?He held people?s attention as he engaged them in characteristic rapid-fire, highly animated conversation, gesturing expansively and driving home his point with jabbing motions of his hands?the embodiment of high energy.

?He worked incredibly hard, sometimes laboring late into the night, falling asleep at the desk, then getting up for a swim in the river and a cup of black coffee, then going back to work.

??Rebates existed in other industries. I just applied them to oil.? Rockefeller said. [Don?t copy the what, copy the how]  ?John D: The Founding Father of the Rockefellers by David Freeman Hawke. (Founders #254)

?"The very best employee at any job at any level of responsibility is the person who generally believes that this is their last job working for someone. The next thing they'll start will be their own. ? Max Levchin in The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley by Jimmy Soni. (Founders #233)

?Hill drank little, worked hard, and confined his socializing to respectable settings. As always, he read incessantly. He permitted himself few distractions in his relentless drive to achieve wealth and status.

?Inefficiency disturbs him greatly.

?James J. Hill loved eliminating steps.

?Genius has the fewest moving parts.

?Hill limited the number of details. Then he makes every detail perfect.

?Hill called vertical integration, rational integration.

?Hill always gets out quickly in front of the emerging trend.

?Hill had an entirely pragmatic business personality. When competition suited him in a market, he competed fiercely. But when competition became wasteful to him, he did not hesitate to end it, even if this meant joining with old enemies and creating a monopoly.

?Hill was making profits owning steamboats. Then a competitor from Canada starts running the same route and the rates and profits dwindle. Hill discovers a neglected maritime law that prohibited foreign ships from operating in American waters. Hill then persuades the US Treasury Department to enforce the law against his competitor. The competitor has to transfer ownership to an American. After that Hill then merges with that competitor and forges another monopoly.

?This railroad is my monument. ? James J Hill

?As man emerged into history, he became a road maker; the better the road, the more advanced his development. ? James J. Hill.

?By 1885 Railroads brought in twice the revenue than the federal government.
Railroads were the nations largest employer.
The railroaders were the largest private land holders in the country.
They owned more than 10% of land in the United States.

?Hill identified an opportunity hiding in plain sight: Unlike most who viewed the Saint Paul and Pacific as a near-worthless derelict, Hill viewed it as a miracle waiting to happen, a potentially wondrous enterprise simply lacking competent leadership. He studied the road constantly, reading every scrap of information he could find about it and boring anyone who would listen with endless detail as to what it could one day be.

?He possessed a priceless advantage compared with most other nineteenth-century rail titans. Rather than coming from the outside world of finance, as most of them did, he arose from the inside world of freighting and transportation, and he knew this world in all its complexities. He was about to demonstrate how certain well-established, regional capitalists on the frontier could challenge and even best larger eastern interests.

?Being obsessed is an edge. Hill was obsessed getting control of the bankrupt Saint Paul & Pacific rail line:  Hill, who knew the road better than anyone else, constantly argued to his friends, the potential prize defied description. He seemed completely fixated on the project. Many years later, his friend recalled that Jim had spoken of it to him ?probably several hundred times? during the mid-1870s.

?James J. Hill finds what he is best at in the world at, at 40 years old, in a field where he had no direct experience.

??It pays to be where the money is spent? ? James J Hill

?James J. Hill was very easy to interface with. He had an easy to understand organizing principle for his company. Hills credo: What we want is the best possible line, shortest distance, lowest grades, and least curvature that we can build.

?He had appreciation for those who had dirt underneath their fingernails.

?Many observers would later compare Hill with Villard. The comparison was inevitable. ?While Hill was building carefully and checking his costs minutely Villard built in ignorance of costs.? Like other transcontinental plungers, Villard did in fact build rapidly and poorly, much of his main line would later have to be torn up and rebuilt. He had rushed to get the massive land grants. Amid mounting deficits and acrimony, Villard was then forced to resign the presidency of the NP in 1884.

?Find what you are good at and pound away at it forever.

?He simply could not delegate authority and live with the outcome.

?Hill on how to build a railroad: Work, hard work, intelligent work, and then more work. ? James J Hill.

?They managed the finances of the railroad in a highly conservative and prudent manner.  Hill advocated and practiced a policy of plowing large percentages of profits directly back into the property, knowing that the best defense against invading railroads was a better-built system that could operate at lower rates.

?Give me Swedes, snuff and whiskey, and I'll build a railroad through hell. ? James J. Hill

?From the Hour of Fate: James J. Hill had built the Great Northern with deliberate thrift and brutal efficiency. His railroad would become among the most profitable in the Northwest. He didn't need JP Morgan the way other railroad executives did. (Financial strength was kryptonite to JP Morgan)

?He cared most about freight, never frills.

?The life of James J. Hill certainly demonstrates the impact one willful individual can have on the course of history.

?I?ve made my mark on the surface of the earth and they can?t wipe it out. ? James J Hill.

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?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

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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 Leading By Design: The Ikea Story by Ingvar Kamprad and Bertil Torekull and The Testament of a Furniture Dealer by Ingvar Kamprad.

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Notes and highlights from the episode: 

Ingvar works on IKEA from the time he is 17 until he dies at 91.

The Testament of a Furniture Dealer by Ingvar Kamprad (1976) is a sermon on the culture of IKEA  

IKEA?s common goal: We have decided once and for all to side with the many. IKEA will offer a wide range of well-designed furniture at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.

Billy Durant (founder of General Motors) describing Henry Ford?s one single idea: Durant noted that Ford ?was in favor of keeping prices down to the lowest possible point, giving to the multitude the benefit of cheap transportation.? ? Billy Durant: Creator of General Motors by Lawrence Gustin 

Something Ingvar repeats: We will do it a different way.

This will not be easy. We must demand much from ourselves.

IKEA must have low prices. Ingvar?s dedication to that idea is total. Without low costs we can never accomplish our purpose. The principle can never be compromised: Our policy of serving the many can never be changed.

If you are not enthusiastic about your job, one-third of your life goes to waste.

Wasting resources is a mortal sin at IKEA.

Expensive solutions to any kind of problem are usually the work of mediocrity.

Planning is often synonymous with bureaucracy. Exaggerated planning is the most common cause of corporate death.

Simple routines have a greater impact. Simplicity in our behavior gives us strength.

No reports. No committees. Just done. ? Elon in the early days of SpaceX Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger. (Founders #369) 

We dare to do things differently.

You had to remember he'd been picking up the best ideas from all around the country. ? Copy This!: How I turned Dyslexia, ADHD, and 100 square feet into a company called Kinkos by Paul Orfalea. (Founders #181) 

Concentration is important to our success. The general who divides his resources will invariably be defeated.

We can never do everything, everywhere, all at the same time.

We must concentrate for maximum impact, often with small means.

Concentration means that at certain vital stages we are forced to neglect otherwise important aspects.

Constant meetings and group discussions are often the result of unwillingness or inability on the part of the person in charge to make decisions.

Only those who are asleep make no mistakes. Making mistakes is the privilege of the active.

The fear of making mistakes is the root of bureaucracy and the enemy of development.

It is always the mediocre people who are negative, who spend their time proving that they were not wrong. The strong person is always positive and looks forward.

Happiness is not reaching your goal. Happiness is being on the way. It is our wonderful fate to be just at the beginning (He said this when he was already 33 years into running his company!)

Bear in mind that time is your most important resource. You can do so much in ten minutes. Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good. You can never get them back. Divide your life into ten-minute units and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activity.

Let us continue to be a group of positive fanatics who stubbornly and persistently refuse to accept the impossible.

Ingvar?s family had to rent out all the rooms in their house to strangers to make ends meet.

Selling things became an obsession. Trading was in my blood.

By 1997 IKEA had mailed out over 100 million catalogs.

Ingvar was the first person in the furniture industry to combine a mail order catalog and a furniture store.

Cost awareness was to be IKEA?s anthem.

Ingvar?s greatest regret was working so much that he missed out on seeing his 3 son?s grow up: Childhood does not allow itself to be reconquered.

I have not been able to avoid severe losses. Both fiascoes and triumphs have marked the history of the business.

Ingvar would rather his employees make mistakes than be idle.

The wave Ingvar rode: Sweden?s housing construction boom. More than 1 million new apartments were built after the war. All of them needed well designed, affordable furniture. 

The way IKEA was described by its competitors: A monster with seven heads: ?If you cut off one, another soon grows.?

A golden rule of IKEA: Regard every problem as a possibility. The boycott by the National Association of Furniture Dealers was the best thing that ever happened to IKEA. It forced IKEA down a path of product differentiation and helped them stumble upon the idea of flat packing and self assembled furniture.

The laws of IKEA since birth:  

-A good cash reserve must always be ensured.

-All property must be owned.

-All expansion is to be largely self-financed.

-There shall be no boasting.

We push cost awareness at all levels with almost manic frenzy.

Ingvar believes in the ability to wait out difficulties.

Ingvar believes in gathering unfiltered intel from the front lines. He makes unannounced store visits and spends time talking to the employees unloading furniture and helping customers.

The day he is free of IKEA life for him will no longer be worth living. He loves it, aways wants to lie as close as possible to it, and never tires of improving it.

A demon in me says I have so much to do. I am never satisfied. Something tells me what I?m doing at the moment has to be done better tomorrow.

Behind this multinational tycoon is a country boy with a fierce sense of being an underdog.

He has a peasants distrust of a favorable destiny that keeps his feet on the ground.

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?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

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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 rereading Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger. 

----

Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations ?all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

----

Founders Notes gives you the ability to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. 

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Episode Outline: 

?Numerous other entrepreneurs had tried playing at rocket science before, Musk well knew. He wanted to learn from their mistakes so as not to repeat them.

?Elon announces that he wants to start his own rocket company and I do remember a lot of chuckling, some laughter, people saying things like, ?Save your money kid, and go sit on the beach.?? The kid was not amused. If anything, the doubts expressed at this meeting, and by some of his confidants, energized him more.

?Musk was a siren, calling brilliant young minds to SpaceX with an irresistible song. He offered an intoxicating brew of vision, charisma, audacious goals, resources.

?When they needed something, he wrote the check. In meetings, he helped solve their most challenging technical problems. When the hour was late, he could often be found right there, beside them, working away.

?The iterative approach begins with a goal and almost immediately leaps into concept designs, bench tests, and prototypes. The mantra with this approach is build and test early, find failures, and adapt. This is what SpaceX engineers and technicians did.

?"Here was a man who was not interested in experts. He meets me, he thinks to himself, 'Here is a bright kid, let's employ him.' And he does. He risks little with the possibility of gaining much. It is *exactly* what I now do at Dyson

This attitude to employment extended to [Jeremy] Fry's thinking in everything, including engineering. He did not, when an idea came to him, sit down and process it through pages of calculations; *he didn't argue it through with anyone; he just went out and built it.* When I came to him to say, 'I've had an idea,' he would offer no more advice than to say, 'You know where the workshop is, go and do it.'  'But we'll need to weld this thing,' I would protest.

Well then, get a welder and weld it.' When I asked if we shouldn't talk to sure someone about, say, hydrodynamics, he would say, 'The lake is down there, the Land Rover is over there, take a plank of wood down to the lake, tow it behind a boat and look at what happens.' Now, this was not a modus operandi that I had encountered before. College had taught me to revere experts and expertise. Fry ridiculed all that; as far as he was concerned, *with enthusiasm and intelligence anything was possible.* It was mind-blowing. No research, no preliminary sketches. If it didn't work one way he would just try it another way, until it did. And as we proceeded I could see that we were getting on extremely quickly.  *The root principle was to do things your way.* It didn?t matter how other people did it. It didn?t matter if it could be done better.  As long as it works, and it is exciting, people will follow you."      ? Against the Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson by James Dyson (Founders #300)

?Elon personally interviewed the first 3,000 employees of SpaceX.

?His people had to be brilliant. They had to be hardworking. And there could be no nonsense.

?SpaceX operated at its own speed.

?Pony Express ad: ?Wanted: Young, skinny, wiry fellows not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.?

?I?ve never met a man so laser focused on his vision for what he wanted. He?s very intense, and he?s intimidating as hell.

?SpaceX had juice with the best students in space engineering. The freedom to innovate and resources to go fast summoned the best engineers in the land.

?Talent wins over experience and an entrepreneurial culture over heritage.

?He always made the most difficult decisions. He did not put off problems, but rather tackled the hardest ones first. And he had a vision for how aerospace could be done faster and for less money.

?He didn?t want to fail, but he wasn?t afraid of it.

?The speed SpaceX worked at relative to its peers could be jarring.

?No job is beneath us.

?No committees. No reports. Just done.

?Most of all he channeled an intense force to move things forward. Elon wants to get shit done.

?SpaceX likes to operate on its own terms and its own timeline.

?90% of the book is SpaceX failing.

?Elon spent much of the flight poring over books written about early rocket scientists and their efforts. He seemed intent to understand the mistakes they had made and learn from them.

?SpaceX is in this for the long haul and, come hell or high water, we are going to make this work.

?Who knows your customers? Find the person that knows your customers and then hire that person to sell your product to them.

?No work about work, just work. Shotwell wrote a plan of action for sales. Musk took one look at it and told her that he did not care about plans. Just get on with the job. ?I was like, oh, OK, this is refreshing. I don?t have to write up a damn plan,? Shotwell recalled. Here was her first real taste of Musk?s management style. Don?t talk about doing things, just do things.

?Within its first three years, SpaceX had sued three of its biggest rivals in the launch industry, gone against the Air Force with the proposed United Launch Alliance merger, and protested a NASA contract. Elon Musk was not walking on eggshells on the way to orbit. He was breaking a lot of eggs.

?A Pegasus launch cost between $ 26 and $ 28 million. SpaceX?s price was $6 million. Musk wanted it front and center on the company?s website. This sort of transparency was radical at the time.

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?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

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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. 

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?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 rereading Instant: The Story of Polaroid by Christopher Bonanos. 

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Episode Outline: 

? The most obvious parallel is to Apple Computer. Both companies specialized in relentless, obsessive refinement of their technologies. Both were established close to great research universities to attract talent. Both fetishized superior, elegant, covetable product design. And both companies exploded in size and wealth under an in-house visionary-godhead-inventor-genius. At Apple, that man was Steve Jobs. At Polaroid, the genius was Edwin Land. Just as Apple stories almost all lead back to Jobs, Polaroid lore always seems to focus on Land.

? Both men were college dropouts; both became as rich as anyone could ever wish to be; and both insisted that their inventions would change the fundamental nature of human interaction.

? Jobs expressed his deep admiration for Edwin Land. He called him a national treasure.

? Books on Edwin Land:

Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg (Founders #263)

A Triumph of Genius: Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War by Ronald Fierstein (Founders #134)

Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg (Founders #133)

The Instant Image: Edwin Land and the Polaroid Experience by Mark Olshaker (Founders #132)

Insisting On The Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land and Instant: The Story of Polaroid(Founders #40)

? Biography about Steve Jobs: Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli

? Edwin Land of Polaroid talked about the intersection of the humanities and science. I like that intersection. There's something magical about that place. There are a lot of people innovating, and that's not the main distinction of my career. The reason Apple resonates with people is that there's a deep current of humanity in our innovation. I think great artists and great engineers are similar, in that they both have a  desire to express themselves. In fact some of the best people working on the original Mac were poets and musicians on the side. In the seventies computers became a way for people to express their creativity. Great artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were also great at science. Michelangelo knew a lot about how to quarry stone, not just how to be a sculptor. ?  Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson (Founders #214)

? Book on Henry Ford:

I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford by Richard Snow (Founders #9)

The Autobiography of Henry Ford by Henry Ford (Founders #26) 

Today and Tomorrow Henry Ford (Founders #80) 

My Forty Years With Ford by Charles Sorensen  (Founders #118)

The Story of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison's Ten Year Road Trip by Jeff Guinn (Founders #190) 

? Another parallel to Jobs: Land's control over his company was nearly absolute, and he exercised it to a degree that was compelling and sometimes exhausting.

? When you read a biography of Edwin land you see an incredibly smart, gifted, driven, focused person endure decade after decade of struggle. And more importantly ?finally work his way through.

? Another parallel to Jobs: You may be noticing that none of this has anything to do with instant photography. Polarizers rather than pictures would define the first two decades of lands intellectual life and would establish his company. Instant photos were an idea that came later on, a secondary business around which his company was completely recreated.

? ?Missionaries make better products.? ?Jeff Bezos

? His letter to shareholders gradually became a particularly dramatic showcase for his language and his thinking. These letters-really more like personal mission statements-are thoughtful and compact, and just eccentric enough to be completely engaging. Instead of discussing earnings and growth they laid out Land's World inviting everyone to join.

? Land gave him a four-word job description: "Keeper of the language.?

? No argument in the world can ever compare with one dramatic demonstration. ? My Life in Advertising by Claude Hopkins (Founders #170)

? The leap to Polaroid was like replacing a messenger on horseback with your first telephone.

? Hire a paid critic:

Norio Ohga, who had been a vocal arts student at the Tokyo University of Arts when he saw our first audio tape recorder back in 1950. I had had my eye on him for all those years because of his bold criticism of our first machine.

He was a great champion of the tape recorder, but he was severe with us because he didn't think our early machine was good enough. It had too much wow and flutter, he said. He was right, of course; our first machine was rather primitive. We invited him to be a paid critic even while he was still in school. His ideas were very challenging. He said then, "A ballet dancer needs a mirror to perfect her style, her technique.

? Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony by Akio Morita.

? Another parallel to Jobs: Don't kid yourself. Polaroid is a one man company.

? He argued there was no reason that well-designed, wellmade computers couldn't command the same market share and margins as a luxury automobile.

A BMW might get you to where you are going in the same way as a Chevy that costs half the price, but there will always be those who will pay for the better ride in the sexier car. Rather than competing with commodity PC makers like Dell, Compaq and Gateway, why not make only first-class products with high margins so that Apple could continue to develop even better first-class products?

The company could make much bigger profits from selling a $3,000 machine rather than a $500 machine, even if they sold fewer of them.

Why not, then, just concentrate on making the best $3,000 machines around? ? Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products by Leander Kahney.

? How To Turn Down A Billion Dollars: The Snapchat Story by Billy Gallagher 

? Books on Enzo Ferrari

Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans by A.J. Baime. (Founders #97) 

Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics, and The Making of an Automotive Empire by Luca Dal Monte (Founders #98) 

Enzo Ferrari: The Man and The Machine by Brock Yates (Founders #220) 

? Soul in the game. Listen to how Edwin Land describes his product:

We would not have known and have only just learned that a new kind of relationship between people in groups is brought into being by SX-70 when the members of a group are photographing and being photographed and sharing the photographs: it turns out that buried within us?

there is latent interest in each other; there is tenderness, curiosity, excitement, affection, companionability and humor; it turns out, in this cold world where man grows distant from man,

and even lovers can reach each other only briefly, that we have a yen for and a primordial competence for a quiet good-humored delight in each other:

we have a prehistoric tribal competence for a non-physical, non-emotional, non-sexual satisfaction in being partners in the lonely exploration of a once empty planet.

?  ?Over the very long term, history shows that the chances of any business surviving in a manner agreeable to a company?s owners are slim at best.? ?Charlie Munger

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?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

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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. 

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?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

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What I learned from rereading Random Reminiscences of Men and Events by John D. Rockefeller. 

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Notes and highlights from the episode: 

It has not been my custom to press my affairs forward into public gaze. (Bad boys move in silence)

My favorite biography on Rockefeller John D: The Founding Father of the Rockefellers by David Freeman Hawke. (Founders #254)

Secrecy covered all of his operations.

Taking for granted the growth of his empire, he hired talented people as found, not as needed. ? Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller by Ron Chernow. (Founders #248) 

We had been frank and aboveboard with each other. Without this, business associates cannot get the best out of their work.

Rockefeller said Jay Gould was the best businessman he knew. Jay Gould books and episodes: American Rascal: How Jay Gould Built Wall Street's Biggest Fortune by Greg Steinmetz (Founders #285) and Dark Genius of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons by Edward J. Renehan Jr. (Founders #258) 

"If I have to choose between agreement and conflict, I'll take conflict every time. It always yields a better result." ? Jeff Bezos

It's a pity to get a man into a place in an argument where he is defending a position instead of considering the evidence. His calm judgment is apt to leave him, and his mind is for the time being closed, and only obstinacy remains

I like doing deals with the same people. You get to know each other and build a mutual sense of trust. Today, a lot of what I do originates from associations that go back ten, twenty, thirty, even forty years. ? Am I Being Too Subtle?: Straight Talk From a Business Rebel by Sam Zell.

Writing a check separates conviction from conversation. ? Warren Buffett

We had with us a group of courageous men who recognized the great principle that a business cannot be a great success that does not fully and efficiently accept and take advantage of its opportunities. (Do everything and you will win)

Such was Rockefeller's ingenuity, his ceaseless search for even minor improvements. Despite the unceasing vicissitudes of the oil industry, prone to cataclysmic booms and busts, he would never experience a single year of loss. ? Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller by Ron Chernow. (Founders #248)

Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean by Les Standiford. #247 Henry Flagler (Rockefeller?s Partner)

Rockefeller on the impact Henry Flagler had on the beginning of Standard Oil: He always believed that if we went into the oil business at all, we should do the work as well as we knew how; that we should have the very best facilities; that everything should be solid and substantial; and that nothing should be left undone to produce the finest results. And he followed his convictions of building as though the trade was going to last, and his courage in acting up to his beliefs laid strong foundations for later years. (Build a first class business in a first class way)

Young people should realize how, above all other possessions, is the value of a friend in every department of life without any exception whatsoever.

When you recruit A players you don't tell them here's 5 things I want you to focus on. Here's your top 10 priorities. NO. You've got one priority. Destroy that priority. Do it more than anybody else possibly will. (Henry Flagler?s main priority was controlling the cost of transportation.)

Larry Ellison: You don?t want turnover on your core product team. Knowledge compounds. Don?t interrupt the compounding. ? Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle by Matthew Symonds. (Founders #124) 

We were accustomed to prepare for financial emergencies long before we needed the funds. (Keep a fortress of cash)

It is impossible to comprehend Rockefeller's breathtaking ascent without realizing that he always moved into battle backed by abundant cash. Whether riding out downturns or coasting on booms, he kept plentiful reserves and won many bidding contests simply because his war chest was deeper. ? Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller by Ron Chernow. (Founders #248)

I learned to have great respect for figures and facts, no matter how small they were.

This casual way of conducting affairs did not appeal to me.

As our successes began to come, I seldom put my head upon the pillow at night without speaking a few words to myself: "Now a little success, soon you?ll fall down, soon you?ll be overthrown. Because you?ve got a start, you think you?re quite a merchant; look out, or you will lose your head?go steady." These intimate conversations with myself had a great influence on my life. I was afraid I couldn?t stand my prosperity, and tried to teach myself not to get puffed up with any foolish notions. (If you go to sleep on a win you?ll wake up with a loss)

I hope they were properly humiliated to see how far we had gone beyond their expectations. (Chips on shoulders put chips in pockets) 

98 percent of our attention was devoted to the task at hand. We are believers in Carlyle's Prescription, that the job a man is to do is the job at hand and not see what lies dimly in the distance. ? Charlie Munger in Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein. (Founders #182) 

Rockefeller on Standard Oil stock: Sell everything you've got, even the shirt on your back, but hold on to the stock.

All business proceeds on belief: Trying to run a company without a set of beliefs is like trying to steer a ship without a rudder. ? Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy by Isadore Sharp (Founders #184)  

Rockefeller on his ?unintelligent competition?: We had the type of man who really never knew all the facts about his own affairs. Many kept their books in such a way that they did not actually know when they were making money or when they were losing money.

A few weeks later, the newspapers announce his new partnership?revealing who had backed his bid?and the news that Rockefeller is, at twenty-five, an owner of one of the largest refineries in the world. On that day his partners ?woke up and saw for the first time that my mind had not been idle while they were talking so big and loud,? he would say later. They were shocked. They?d seen their empire dismantled and taken from them by the young man they had dismissed. Rockefeller had wanted it more.  ? Conspiracy by Ryan Holiday 

At best it was a speculative trade, and I wonder that we managed to pull through so often; but we were gradually learning how to conduct a most difficult business.

A blueprint for success in any endeavor: Low prices to the customer. Root out any inefficiency. Pay for talent. Control expenses. Invest in technology.

We devoted ourselves exclusively to the oil business and its products. The company never went into outside ventures, but kept to the enormous task of perfecting its own organization

The fastest way to move a dial is narrow the focus. People naturally resist focus because they can?t decide what is important. Therein lies a problem: people can typically tell you after some deliberation what their top three priorities are, but they struggle to decide on just one. What is too much and what is too little focus? Do you ever even discuss this? Most teams are not focused enough. I rarely encountered a team that employed too narrow an aperture. It goes against our human grain. People like to boil oceans. Just knowing that can be to your advantage. When you narrow focus, you are increasing the resourcing on the remaining priority. ?  Amp It Up by Frank Slootman 

Two people can run the same business and have vastly different results: Perhaps it is worth while to emphasize again the fact that it is not merely capital and "plants" and the strictly material things which make up a business, but the character of the men behind these things, their personalities, and their abilities; these are the essentials to be reckoned with. 

When it comes to competition, being one of the best is not good enough. Do you really want to plan for a future in which you might have to fight with somebody who is just as good as you are? I wouldn't. ? Jeff Bezos in Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos

Don't even think of temporary or sharp advantages. Don't waste your effort on a thing which ends in a petty triumph unless you are satisfied with a life of petty success.

Study diligently your capital requirements, and fortify yourself fully to cover possible set-backs, because you can absolutely count on meeting setbacks.

Do not to lose your head over a little success, or grow impatient or discouraged by a little failure.

Know your numbers. You need to know your business down to the ground.

Money comes naturally as a result of service (Henry Ford)

Don?t do anything that someone else can do (Edwin Land)

The man will be most successful who confers the greatest service on the world.

Commercial enterprises that are needed by the public will pay. Commercial enterprises that are not needed fail, and ought to fail.

Dedicate your life to building something that contributes to the progress and happiness of mankind.

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?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

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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. 

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?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 Money Talks, Bullsh*t Walks: Inside the Contrarian Mind of Billionaire Mogul Sam Zell by Ben Johnson.

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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations ?all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

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?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

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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. 

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?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 How To Succeed in Mr. Beast Production and how ideas from Sam Zell, Charlie Munger, Nick Sleep, Warren Buffett, Sam Zemurray, Bob Kierlin, Steve Jobs, Li Lu, Edwin Land, Larry Ellison, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, James Cameron, Anna Wintour, Walt Disney, Bernard Arnault, and Brad Jacobs immediately came to mind. 

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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations ?all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. 

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?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

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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. 

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?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

The best investors are not investors at all. They're entrepreneurs who have never sold. ? Nick Sleep

Nick Sleep?s letters are a masterclass on the importance of understanding the underlying reality of a business ? what he calls the engine of its success.

I read all 110,000 words of Nick?s letters (twice!) to make this episode and what I found most important is Nick?s ability to develop a deep understanding of ?honestly run compounding machines? (like Costco and Amazon) years before everyone else.

Nick explains clearly how Jim Sinegal and Jeff Bezos set up their companies for long term success ?from the very beginning ? and gives us a few hints along the way on how we can do the same in our business.

And the absolute entrepreneurial history nerd in me loved the references to Henry Ford, Sam Walton, Rockefeller and other greats from the past that are sprinkled throughout Nick?s letters.

No surprise that someone who was able to make $2 billion for his clients has a deep understanding of the great work that came before him.

If you want to read all of Nick Sleep?s partnership letters you can do so here for free

You can also read William Green?s book Richer, Wiser, Happier: How The World's Greatest Investors Win In Markets and Life ?which both Nick and I recommend. It has an excellent chapter on How Nick and Zak built their firm. 

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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations ?all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. 

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?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

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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. 

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?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

How Nick Sleep and Qais Zakaria built their radically unconventional investment partnership. From the incredible book Richer, Wiser, Happier: How The World's Greatest Investors Win In Markets and Life by William Green. 

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I?m doing a LIVE podcast in New York next Monday with Patrick from Invest Like The Best.  It?s FREE to attend because of the great people at Ramp ! Space is limited so register here fast! 

 

Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations ?all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. 

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Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book

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?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

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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. 

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?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

I sent a friend this text: I'm working on another Li Lu episode but this one is about his remarkable investing career. Can be summarized by: 1. Studied Buffett and Munger. 2. Did that. Last episode was about how Li Lu survived one of the most horrific childhoods imaginable. This episode covers how he thinks about investing and entrepreneurship?in his own words. 

Sources: 

The forward to the Chinese edition of  Poor Charlie?s Almanack written by Li Lu 

Li Lu's Colombia Business School lecture 2006

Li Lu?s San Francisco State University lecture 2012

Graham & Doddsville interview with Li Lu 

13th Colombia Business Conference 2021 

Li Lu's Reflections On Reaching Fifty 

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Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event

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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. 

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?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

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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. 

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?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

Charlie Munger said that Li Lu was the only outsider he ever trusted with his money.  Decades before Li Lu made Munger half a billion dollars, Li survived one of the most horrific childhoods imaginable:

Born into poverty, abandoned, hungry, beaten, surrounded by death. Persistent. Smart. Disciplined. Intensely curious. Obsessed with reading and learning. Determined to escape. This is a story you absolutely cannot miss. 

What I learned from reading Moving The Mountain: My life in China from the Cultural Revolution to Tiananmen Square by Li Lu.

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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations ?all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

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Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event

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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. 

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Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book

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?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

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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. 

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?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

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger said it was a crime that more business schools didn't study Henry Singleton. I think it's a crime that more entrepreneurs don't study Estée Lauder. She is one of the best founders to ever do it. This is the story of how she went from a childhood obsession, to a single counter in a beauty salon, to a multibillion dollar empire. 

This is my third time reading this book. It gets better every time I read it. This episode is what I learned from rereading Estée: A Success Story by Estée Lauder. 

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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations ?all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

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Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event

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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. 

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?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. 

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?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

Since its founding in 1967 Fastenal has grown from a small fastener store in Winona, Minnesota, into a multibillion-dollar global organization. How did a small town ?nuts and bolts? shop become one of the world's most dynamic growth companies? Whenever asked, company founder Bob Kierlin attributes Fastenal's success to the company's high-quality employees and their commitment to a common goal: Growth Through Customer Service.

What I learned from reading The Power of Fastenal People by Robert Kierlin.  

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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations ?all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

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Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event

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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. 

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Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book

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Other books mentioned in this episode: 

Les Schwab Pride In Performance: Keep It Going! by Les Schwab.

Sam Walton: Made In America by Sam Walton.

All I Want To Know Is Where I'm Going To Die So I'll Never Go There: Buffett & Munger ? A Study in Simplicity and Uncommon, Common Sense by Peter Bevelin.

Bloomberg by Michael Bloomberg.

Born of This Land: My Life Story by Chung Ju-yung.

The Bugatti Story by L?Ebe Bugatti.

Sol Price: Retail Revolutionary by Robert Price. 

How To Make A Few Billion Dollars by Brad Jacobs.

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?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

 

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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. 

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?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

The name of Nobel usually calls to mind Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, and the internationally prestigious prizes that bear his name. But Alfred was only one member of a creative and innovative family who built an industrial empire in prerevolutionary Russia. The saga begins with an emigre from Sweden, Immanuel Nobel, who was an architect, a pioneer producer of steam engines, and a maker of weapons.

Immanuel's sons included Alfred; Robert, who directed the family's activities in the Caspian oil fields; and Ludwig, an engineering genius and manufacturing magnate whose boundless energy and fierce determination created the Russian petroleum industry.

Ludwig's son Emanuel showed similar mettle, shrewdly bargaining with the Rothschilds for control of the Russian markets and competing head-on with Standard Oil and Royal Dutch Shell for lucrative world markets.

Perhaps no family in history has played so decisive a role in building an industrial empire in an underdeveloped but resource-rich nation. Yet the achievements of the Nobel family have been largely forgotten. When the Bolsheviks came to power, Emmanuel had to flee the country disguised as a peasant.

The Nobel empire with its 50,000 workers lay in ruins. An empire which had taken eighty years to design and build, was nearly destroyed, bringing a sudden and bitter end to one of the most remarkable industrial odysseys in world history.

This episode is what I learned from reading The Russian Rockefellers: The Saga of the Nobel Family and the Russian Oil Industry by Robert Tolf.

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Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. 

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Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book

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?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

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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. 

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?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 having dinner with John Mackey and reading his autobiography The Whole Story: Adventures in Love, Life, and Capitalism.

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Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. 

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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. 

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Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book

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Follow Founders Podcast on YouTube (Video coming soon!) 

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?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

 

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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. 

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?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 What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir by Haruki Murakami. 

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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. 

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(3:01) No matter how mundane some action might appear, keep at it long enough and it becomes a contemplative, even meditative act.

(4:00) Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.

(4:00) The hurt part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand anymore is up to the runner himself.

(10:00) You can't fake passion ? someone else, that really loves the job, will out run you. Somebody else sitting in some other MBA program has a deep passion for whatever career path you're going down, and they are going to smoke you if you don't have it yourself.  ? Runnin' Down a Dream: How to Succeed and Thrive in a Career You Love 

(12:00) What?s crucial is whether your writing attains the standards you?ve set for yourself. Failure to reach that bar is not something you can easily explain away.

(14:00) Big ideas come from the unconscious. This is true in art, in science and in advertising. But your unconscious has to be well informed, or your idea will be irrelevant. Stuff your conscious mind with information, then unhook your rational thought process. You can help this process by going for a long walk, or taking a hot bath, or drinking half a pint of claret. Suddenly, if the telephone line from your unconscious is open, a big idea wells up within you.  ? David Ogilvy

(16:00) If you absolutely can't tolerate critics, then don't do anything new or interesting. ? Jeff Bezos

(16:00) So the fact that I?m me and no one else is one of my greatest assets.

(19:00) Failure was not an option. I had to give it everything I had.

(19:00) My only strength has always been the fact that I work hard and can take a lot physically. I?m more a workhorse than a racehorse.

(22:00) I was more interested in having finished it than in whether or not it would ever see the light of day.

(26:00) I?m the kind of person who has to totally commit to whatever I do.

(29:00) The entrenched professional is always going to resist far longer than the private consumer. ? James Dyson

(34:00) You really need to prioritize in life, figuring out in what order you should divide up your time and energy. If you don?t get that sort of system set by a certain age, you?ll lack focus and your life will be out of balance. I placed the highest priority on the sort of life that lets me focus on writing,

(37:00) You can?t please everybody. If one out of ten enjoyed the place and said he?d come again, that was enough. If one out of ten was a repeat customer, then the business would survive. To put it the other way, it didn?t matter if nine out of ten didn?t like my bar. This realization lifted a weight off my shoulders. Still, I had to make sure that the one person who did like the place really liked it. In order to make sure he did, I had to make my philosophy and stance clear-cut, and patiently maintain that stance no matter what. This is what I learned through running a business.

(40:00) The reason we're surprised is that we underestimate the cumulative effect of work. Writing a page a day doesn't sound like much, but if you do it every day you'll write a book a year. That's the key: consistency. People who do great things don't get a lot done every day. They get something done, rather than nothing. ? How To Do Great Work by Paul Graham. (Founders #314)

(41:00) When you follow what you are intensely interested in this strange convergence happens where you're working all the time and it feels like you're never working. ? How To Do Great Work by Paul Graham. (Founders #314)

(43:00) No matter how strong a will a person has, no matter how much he may hate to lose, if it?s an activity he doesn?t really care for, he won?t keep it up for long.

(44:00) Nobody ever recommended or even desired that I be a novelist?in fact, some tried to stop me. I had the idea to be one, and that?s what I did.

(45:00) I decided who I want to be, and that is who I am. ? Coco Chanel

(46:00) Once, I interviewed an Olympic runner.  I asked him, ?Does a runner at your level ever feel like you?d rather not run today, like you don?t want to run and would rather just sleep in?? He stared at me and then, in a voice that made it abundantly clear how stupid he thought the question was, replied, ?Of course. All the time!?

(47:00) I pity the poor fellow who is so soft and flabby that he must always have "an atmosphere of good feeling" around him before he can do his work. There are such men. And in the end, unless they obtain enough mental and moral hardiness to lift them out of their soft reliance on "feeling," they are failures. Not only are they business failures; they are character failures also; it is as if their bones never attained a sufficient degree of hardness to enable them to stand on their own feet. There is altogether too much reliance on good feeling in our business organizations. ?  Henry Ford?s Autobiography

(50:00) If I used being busy as an excuse not to run, I?d never run again.

(51:00) Focus and endurance can be acquired and sharpened through training.

(54:00) Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that?s the essence of running, and a metaphor for life.

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?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

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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. 

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?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 The Tinkerings of Robert Noyce: How the Sun Rose on Silicon Valley by Tom Wolfe. 

Read The Intel Trinity: How Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove Built the World's Most Important Company by Michael Malone with me. 

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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. 

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(1:00) America is today in the midst of a great technological revolution. With the advent of the silicon chip, information processing, and communications, the national economy have been strikingly altered. The new technology is changing how we live, how we work, how we think. The revolution didn't just happen; it was engineered by a small number of people. Collectively, they engineered Tomorrow. Foremost among them is Robert Noyce.

(2:00) Steve Jobs on Robert Noyce: ?He was one of the giants in this valley who provided the model and inspiration for everything we wanted to become. He was the ultimate inventor. The ultimate rebel. The ultimate entrepreneur.?

(4:00) When you read biographies of people who've done great work, it's remarkable how much luck is involved. They discover what to work on as a result of a chance meeting, or by reading a book they happen to pick up. So you need to make yourself a big target for luck, and the way to do that is to be curious. Try lots of things, meet lots of people, read lots of books, ask lots of questions.  ? How To Do Great Work by Paul Graham. (Founders #314)

(7:00) Bob Noyce had a passion for the scientific grind.

(10:00) He had a profound and baffling self-confidence.

(15:00) They called Shockley?s personalty reverse charisma. ?  Broken Genius: The Rise and Fall of William Shockley, Creator of the Electronic Age by Joel Shurkin. (Founders #165)

(25:00) What the beginning of an industry looks like: Anywhere from 50 to 90% of the transistors produced would turn out to be defective.

(33:00) Young engineers were giving themselves over to a new technology as if it were a religious mission.

(41:00) Noyce's idea was that every employee should feel that he could go as far and as fast in this industry as his talent would take him. He didn't want any employee to look at the structure of Intel and see a complex set of hurdles.

(43:00) This wasn't a corporation. It was a congregation.

(43:00) There were sermons. At Intel everyone, Noyce included, was expected to attend sessions on "the Intel Culture." At these sessions the principles by which the company was run were spelled out and discussed.

(45:00) If you're ambitious and hardworking, you want to be told how you're doing.

(45:00) In Noyce's view, most of the young hotshots who were coming to work for Intel had never had the benefit of honest grades in their lives. In the late 1960s and early 1970s college faculties had been under pressure to give all students passing marks so they wouldn't have to go off to Vietnam, and they had caved in, until the entire grading system was meaningless. At Intel they would learn what measuring up meant.

(49:00) When you are trying to convince an audience to accept a radical innovation, almost by definition the idea is so far from the status quo that many people simply cannot get their minds around it. They quickly discovered that the marketplace wasn?t just confused by the concept of the microprocessor, but was actually frightened by its implications. Many of my engineering friends scoffed at it was a gimmick. Their solution? The market had to be educated. At one point, Intel was conducting more seminars and workshops on how to use the microprocessor than the local junior collage?s total catalog of courses. Bob Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove became part of a traveling educational roadshow. Everyone who could walk and talk became educators. It worked.  ?  The Intel Trinity: How Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove Built the World's Most Important Company by Michael Malone. 

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?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

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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. 

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?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 The House of Arnault by Brad Stone and Angelina Rascouet. 

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(3:00) While other politicians were content to get their information from a scattering of newspapers, he devoured whole shelves.  ? Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill by Michael Shelden. (Founders #320)

(7:00) Arnault had understood before anyone else that it was a true industry. ? The Taste of Luxury: Bernard Arnault and the Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton Story by Nadege Forestier and Nazanine Ravai. (Founders #296)

(9:00) Arnault is an iron fist in an iron glove. ? The Taste of Luxury: Bernard Arnault and the Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton Story by Nadege Forestier and Nazanine Ravai.

The public conception of Sam as a good ol? country boy wearing a soft velvet glove misses the fact that there?s an iron fist within. ?  Sam Walton: The Inside Story of America's Richest Man by Vance Trimble.

(12:00) People often ask me, ?When are you going to retire?? And I answer, ?Retire from what?? I?ve never worked a day in my life. Everything I?ve done has been because I?ve loved doing it, because it was enthralling. ? Am I Being Too Subtle?: Straight Talk From a Business Rebel by Sam Zell. (Founders #269)

(16:00) ?I am not interested in managing a clothing factory. What you need, and I would like to run, is a craftsman?s workshop, in which we would recruit the very best people in the trade, to reestablish in Paris a salon for the greatest luxury and the highest standards of workmanship. It will cost a great deal of money and entail much risk.? ? Christian Dior to Marcel Boussac

(17:00) Arnault believed that luxury brands could be larger than anyone at the time imagined.

(20:00) Arnault said this 35 years ago: ?My ten-year objective is that LVMH's leading position in the world be further strengthened in the luxury goods sector. I believe that there will be fewer and fewer brand names capable of retaining a worldwide presence and that those of our group will be among them as we will provide them with the means for growth.?

(25:00) There are huge advantages for the early birds. When you're an early bird, there's a model that I call surfing?when a surfer gets up and catches the wave and just stays there, he can go a long, long time. But if he gets off the wave, he becomes mired in shallows. But people get long runs when they're right on the edge of the wave, whether it's Microsoft or Intel or all kinds of people, including National Cash Register. Surfing is a very powerful model.?  ?  the NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger. (Founders #329)

(25:00) One thing I learned from having dinner with Charlie was the importance of getting into a great business and STAYING in it. There?s a tendency in human nature to mess up a good thing because of an inability to sit still.

(25:00) The incredible career of Les Schwab: Les Schwab Pride In Performance: Keep It Going! by Les Schwab. (Founders #330)

(30:00) Dior in his autobiography: It is widely, and quite erroneously, believed that when the house of Christian Dior was launched, enormous sums were spent on publicity: on the contrary in our first modest budget not a single penny was allotted to it. I trusted to the quality of my dresses to get Christian Dior talked about. Moreover, the relative secrecy in which I chose to work aroused a positive whispering campaign, which was excellent (free) propaganda. Gossip, malicious rumours even, are worth more than the most expensive publicity campaign in the world.

(31:00) Munger: ?There are actually businesses that you will find a few times in a lifetime, where any manager could raise the return enormously just by raising prices-and yet they haven't done it. So they have huge untapped pricing power that they're not using. That is the ultimate no-brainer. Disney found that it could raise those prices a lot and the attendance stayed right up. So a lot of the great record of Eisner and Wells came from just raising prices at Disneyland and Disneyworld and through video cassette sales of classic animated movies. At Berkshire Hathaway, Warren and I raised the prices of See's candy a little faster than others might have. And, of course, we invested in Coca-Cola-which had some untapped pricing power.?

? Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor by Tren Griffin

(33:00) The benefits Arnault receives from owning commercial real estate: He makes money from his own stores, from leasing space to rivals?and from the appreciation of premium real estate. When LVMH buys a building, it takes the best storefronts for its own brands and often asks rivals to move out when their leases expire.

(35:00) Arnault is all about details. He has 200,000 employees and he?s paying attention to details about landscaping in the Miami Design District.

(36:00) If we lose the detail, we lose everything. ? Disney's Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World by Richard Snow. (Founders #347)

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?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

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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. 

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?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 Sam Walton: The Inside Story of America's Richest Man by Vance Trimble. 

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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. 

Get access to Founders Notes here. 

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(2:30) Sam Walton built his business on a very simple idea: Buy cheap. Sell low. Every day. With a smile.

(2:30) People confuse a simple idea with an ordinary person. Sam Walton was no ordinary person.

(4:30) Traits Sam Walton had his entire life: A sense of duty. Extreme discipline. Unbelievable levels of endurance.

(5:30) His dad taught him the secret to life was work, work, work.

(5:30) Sam felt the world was something he could conquer.

(6:30) The Great Depression was a big leveler of people. Sam chose to rise above it. He was determined to be a success.

(11:30) You can make a lot of different mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you?re too inefficient. ? Sam Walton: Made In America by Sam Walton. (Founders #234)

(15:30) He was crazy about satisfying customers.

(17:30) The lawyer saw Sam clenching and unclenching his fists, staring at his hands. Sam straightened up. ?No,? he said. ?I?m not whipped. I found Newport, and I found the store. I can find another good town and another store. Just wait and see!?

(21:30) Sometimes hardship can enlighten and inspire. This was the case for Sam Walton as he put in hours and hours of driving Ozark mountain roads in the winter of 1950. But that same boredom and frustration triggered ideas that eventually brought him billions of dollars. (This is when he learns to fly small planes. Walmart never happens otherwise)

(33:30) At the start we were so amateurish and so far behind K Mart just ignored us. They let us stay out here, while we developed and learned our business. They gave us a 10 year period to grow.

(37:30) And so how dedicated was Sam to keeping costs low? Walmart is called that in part because fewer letters means cheaper signs on the outside of a store.

(42:30) Sam Walton is tough, loves a good fight, and protects his territory.

(43:30) His tactics later prompted them to describe Sam as a modern-day combination of Vince Lombardi (insisting on solid execution of the basics) and General George S. Patton. (A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week.)

(43:30) Hardly a day has passed without Sam reminding an employee: "Remember Wal-Mart's Golden Rule: Number one, the customer Is always right; number two, if the customer isn't right, refer to rule number one.?

(46:30) The early days of Wal-Mart were like the early days of Disneyland: "You asked the question, What was your process like?' I kind of laugh because process is an organized way of doing things. I have to remind you, during the 'Walt Period' of designing Disneyland, we didn't have processes. We just did the work. Processes came later. All of these things had never been done before. Walt had gathered up all these people who had never designed a theme park, a Disneyland.

So we're in the same boat at one time, and we figure out what to do and how to do it on the fly as we go along with it and not even discuss plans, timing, or anything.

We just worked and Walt just walked around and had suggestions. ? Disney's Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World by Richard Snow. (Founders #347)

(1:04:30) Sam Walton said he took more ideas from Sol Price than any other person. ?Sol Price: Retail Revolutionary by Robert Price. (Founders #304)

(1:07:30) Nothing in the world is cheaper than a good idea without any action behind it.

(1:07:30)  Sam Walton: Made In America  (Founders #234)

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?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

 

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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. 

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?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 How To Be Rich by J. Paul Getty. 

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"Learning from history is a form of leverage." ? Charlie Munger. 

Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. 

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You can also ask SAGE (the Founders Notes AI assistant) 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?

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(2:00) My father was a self-made man who had known extreme poverty in his youth and had a practically limitless capacity for hard work.

(6:00) I acted as my own geologist, legal advisor, drilling superintendent, explosives expert, roughneck and roustabout.

(8:00) Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby. (Founders #212) 

(12:00) Control as much of your business as possible. You don?t want to have to worry about what is going on in the other guy?s shop.

(20:00) Optimism is a moral duty. Pessimism aborts opportunity.

(21:00) I studied the lives of great men and women. And I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work.

(22:00) 98 percent of our attention was devoted to the task at hand. We are believers in Carlyle's Prescription, that the job a man is to do is the job at hand and not see what lies dimly in the distance. ? Charlie Munger

(27:00) Entrepreneurs want to create their own security.

(34:00) Example is the best means to instruct or inspire others.

(37:00) Long orders, which require much time to prepare, to read and to understand are the enemies of speed. Napoleon could issue orders of few sentences which clearly expressed his intentions and required little time to issue and to understand.

(38:00) A Few Lessons for Investors and Managers From Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett and Peter Bevelin. (Founders #202) 

(41:00) Two principles he repeats:

Be where the work is happening.

Get rid of bureaucracy.

(43:00) Years ago, businessmen automatically kept administrative overhead to an absolute minimum. The present day trend is in exactly the opposite direction. The modern business mania is to build greater and ever greater paper shuffling empires.

(44:00) Les Schwab Pride In Performance: Keep It Going!by Les Schwab (Founders #330) 

(46:00) The primary function of management is to obtain results through people.

(50:00) the truly great leader views reverses, calmly and coolly. He is fully aware that they are bound to occur occasionally and he refuses to be unnerved by them.

(51:00) There is always something wrong everywhere.

(51:00) Don't interrupt the compounding. It?s all about the long term. You should keep a fortress of cash, reinvest in your business, and use debt sparingly. Doing so will help you survive to reap the long-term benefits of your business.

(54:00) You?ll go much farther if you stop trying to look and act and think like everyone else.

(55:00) The line that divides majority opinion from mass hysteria is often so fine as to be virtually invisible.

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?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

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?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

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What I learned from reading As I See it: The Autobiography of J. Paul Getty by J. Paul Getty. 

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"Learning from history is a form of leverage." ? Charlie Munger. 

Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. 

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 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. 

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(2:00) Vice President Nelson Rockefeller did me the honor of saying that my entrepreneurial success in the oil business put me on a par with his grandfather, John D. Rockefeller Sr. My comment was that comparing me to John D. Sr. was like comparing a sparrow to an eagle. My words were not inspired by modesty, but by facts.

(8:00) On his dad sending him to military school: The strict, regimented environment was good for me.

(20:00) Entrepreneurs are people whose mind and energies are constantly being used at peak capacity.

(28:00) Advice for fellow entrepreneurs: Don?t be like William Randolph Hearst. Reinvest in your business. Keep a fortress of cash. Use debt sparingly.

(30:00) The great entrepreneurs I know have these traits:

-Devoted their minds and energy to building productive enterprises (over the long term)

-They concentrated on expanding

-They concentrated on making their companies more efficient 

-They reinvest heavily in to their business (which can help efficiency and expansion )

-Always personally involved in their business

-They know their business down to the ground

-They have an innate capacity to think on a large scale

(34:00) Five wives can't all be wrong. As one of them told me after our divorce: "You're a great friend, Paul?but as a husband, you're impossible.?

(36:00) My business interests created problems [in my marriages]. I was drilling several wells and it was by no means uncommon for me to stay on the sites overnight or even for two days or more.

(38:00) A hatred of failure has always been part of my nature and one of the more pronounced motivating forces in my life.  Once I have committed myself to any undertaking, a powerful inner drive cuts in and I become intent on seeing it through to a satisfactory conclusion.

(38:00) My own nature is such that I am able to concentrate on whatever is before me and am not easily distracted from it.

(42:00) There are times when certain cards sit unclaimed in the common pile, when certain properties become available that will never be available again. A good businessman feels these moments like a fall in the barometric pressure. A great businessman is dumb enough to act on them even when he cannot afford to. ? The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King by Rich Cohen. (Founders #255)

(47:00) [On transforming his company for the Saudi Arabia deal] The list of things to be done was awesome, but those things were done.

(53:00) Churchill to his son: Your idle and lazy life is very offensive to me. You appear to be leading a perfectly useless existence.

(54:00) My father's influence and example where the principle forces that formed my nature and character.

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?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

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What I learned from reading about Hans Wilsdorf and the founding of Rolex.

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 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) 

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What are some strategies that Cornelius Vanderbilt used against his competitors?

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(0:01) At the age of twelve I was an orphan.

(1:00) My uncles made me become self-reliant very early in life. Looking back, I believe that it is to this, that much of my success is due.

(9:00) The idea of wearing a watch on one's wrist was thought to be contrary to the conception of masculinity.

(10:00) Prior to World War 1 wristwatches for men did not exist.

(11:00) Business is problems. The best companies are just effective problem solving machines.

(12:00) My personal opinion is that pocket watches will almost completely disappear and that wrist watches will replace them definitively! I am not mistaken in this opinion and you will see that I am right." ?Hans Wilsdorf, 1914

(14:00) The highest order bit is belief: I had very early realized the manifold possibilities of the wristlet watch and, feeling sure that they would materialize in time, I resolutely went on my way. Rolex was thus able to get several years ahead of other watch manufacturers who persisted in clinging to the pocket watch as their chief product.

(16:00) Clearly, the companies for whom the economics of twenty-four-hour news would have made the most sense were the Big Three broadcasters. They already had most of what was needed? studios, bureaus, reporters, anchors almost everything but a belief in cable.   ?  Ted Turner's Autobiography (Founders #327)

(20:00) Business Breakdowns #65 Rolex: Timeless Excellence

(27:00)   Rolex was effectively the first watch brand to have real marketing dollars put behind a watch. Rolex did this in a concentrated way and they've continued to do it in a way that is simply just unmatched by others in their industry.

(28:00) It's tempting during recession to cut back on consumer advertising. At the start of each of the last three recessions, the growth of spending on such advertising had slowed by an average of 27 percent. But consumer studies of those recessions had showed that companies that didn't cut their ads had, in the recovery, captured the most market share. So we didn't cut our ad budget. In fact, we raised it to gain brand recognition, which continued advertising sustains. ? Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy by Isadore Sharp. (Founders #184)

(32:00) Social proof is a form of leverage. ? Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger. (Founders #329)

(34:00) What really matters is Hans understood the opportunity better than anybody else, and invested heavily in developing the technology to bring his ideas to fruition.

(35:00) On keeping the main thing the main thing for decades: In developing and extending my business, I have always had certain aims in mind, a course from which I never deviated.

(41:00) Rolex wanted to only be associated with the best. They ran an ad with the headline: Men who guide the destinies of the world, where Rolex watches.

(43:00) Opportunity creates more opportunites. The Oyster unlocked the opportunity for the Perpetual.

(44:00) The easier you make something for the customer, the larger the market gets: ?My vision was to create the first fully packaged computer. We were no longer aiming for the handful of hobbyists who liked to assemble their own computers, who knew how to buy transformers and keyboards. For every one of them there were a thousand people who would want the machine to be ready to run.? ? Steve Jobs

(48:00) More sources:

Rolex Jubilee: Vade Mecum by Hans Wilsdorf

Rolex Magazine: The Hans Wilsdorf Years

Hodinkee: Inside the Manufacture. Going Where Few Have Gone Before -- Inside All Four Rolex Manufacturing Facilities 

Vintage Watchstraps Blog: Hans Wilsdorf and Rolex

Business Breakdowns #65 Rolex: Timeless Excellence

Luxury Strategy: Break the Rules of Marketing to Build Luxury Brands by Jean Noel Kapferer and Vincent Bastien 

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?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

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?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

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What I learned from reading The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience by Carmine Gallo 

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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?

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(1:00) You've got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology?not the other way around.  ?Steve Jobs in 1997

(6:00) Why should I care = What does this do for me?

(6:00) The Match King: Ivar Kreuger, The Financial Genius Behind a Century of Wall Street Scandals by Frank Partnoy.  (Founders #348)

(7:00) Easy to understand, easy to spread.

(8:00) An American Saga: Juan Trippe and His Pan Am Empire by Robert Daley 

(8:00) The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King by Rich Cohen. (Founders #255)

(9:00)  love how crystal clear this value proposition is. Instead of 3 days driving on dangerous road, it?s 1.5 hours by air. That?s a 48x improvement in time savings. This allows the company to work so much faster. The best B2B companies save businesses time.

(10:00) Great Advertising Founders Episodes:

Albert Lasker (Founders #206)

Claude Hopkins (Founders #170 and #207)

David Ogilvy (Founders #82, 89, 169, 189, 306, 343) 

(12:00) Advertising which promises no benefit to the consumer does not sell, yet the majority of campaigns contain no promise whatever. (That is the most important sentence in this book. Read it again.) ? Ogilvy on Advertising

(13:00) Repeat, repeat, repeat. Human nature has a flaw. We forget that we forget.

(19:00) Start with the problem. Do not start talking about your product before you describe the problem your product solves.

(23:00) The Invisible Billionaire: Daniel Ludwig by Jerry Shields. (Founders #292)

(27:00) Being so well known has advantages of scale?what you might call an informational advantage.

Psychologists use the term social proof. We are all influenced-subconsciously and, to some extent, consciously-by what we see others do and approve.

Therefore, if everybody's buying something, we think it's better.

We don't like to be the one guy who's out of step.

The social proof phenomenon, which comes right out of psychology, gives huge advantages to scale.

?  the NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger (Founders #329)

(29:00) Marketing is theatre.

(32:00) Belief is irresistible. ? Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight.  (Founders #186)

(35:00) I think one of the things that really separates us from the high primates is that we?re tool builders. I read a study that measured the efficiency of locomotion for various species on the planet. The condor used the least energy to move a kilometer. And, humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing, about a third of the way down the list. It was not too proud a showing for the crown of creation. So, that didn?t look so good. But, then somebody at Scientific American had the insight to test the efficiency of locomotion for a man on a bicycle. And, a man on a bicycle, a human on a bicycle, blew the condor away, completely off the top of the charts.

And that?s what a computer is to me. What a computer is to me is it?s the most remarkable tool that we?ve ever come up with, it?s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.

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?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

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?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

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What I learned from reading Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success by Ken Segall. 

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 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?

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(1:30) Steve wanted Apple to make a product that was simply amazing and amazingly simple.

(3:00) If you don?t zero in on your bureaucracy every so often, you will naturally build in layers. You never set out to add bureaucracy. You just get it. Period. Without even knowing it. So you always have to be looking to eliminate it.  ? Sam Walton: Made In America by Sam Walton. (Founders #234)

(5:00) Steve was always easy to understand. He would either approve a demo, or he would request to see something different next time. Whenever Steve reviewed a demo, he would say, often with highly detailed specificity, what he wanted to happen next.  ? Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs by Ken Kocienda. (Founders #281)

(7:00) Watch this video. Andy Miller tells GREAT Steve Jobs stories. 

(10:00) Many are familiar with the re-emergence of Apple. They may not be as familiar with the fact that it has few, if any parallels.
When did a founder ever return to the company from which he had been rudely rejected to engineer a turnaround as complete and spectacular as Apple's? While turnarounds are difficult in any circumstances they are doubly difficult in a technology company. It is not too much of a stretch to say that Steve founded Apple not once but twice. And the second time he was alone. 

?  Return to the Little Kingdom: Steve Jobs and the Creation of Appleby Michael Moritz.

(15:00) If the ultimate decision maker is involved every step of the way the quality of the work increases.

(20:00) "You asked the question, What was your process like?' I kind of laugh because process is an organized way of doing things. I have to remind you, during the 'Walt Period' of designing Disneyland, we didn't have processes. We just did the work. Processes came later. All of these things had never been done before. Walt had gathered up all these people who had never designed a theme park, a Disneyland. So we're in the same boat at one time, and we figure out what to do and how to do it on the fly as we go along with it and not even discuss plans, timing, or anything. We just worked and Walt just walked around and had suggestions." ? Disney's Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World by Richard Snow. (Founders #347)

(23:00) The further you get away from 1 the more complexity you invite in.

(25:00) Your goal: A single idea expressed clearly.

(26:00) Jony Ive: Steve was the most focused person I?ve met in my life

(28:00) Editing your thinking is an act of service.

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?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

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?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

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What I learned from reading Driven From Within by Michael Jordan and Mark Vancil. 

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What are some strategies that Cornelius Vanderbilt used against his competitors?

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Episode Outline: 

Players who practice hard when no one is paying attention play well when everyone is watching.

It's hard, but it's fair. I live by those words. 

To this day, I don't enjoy working. I enjoy playing, and figuring out how to connect playing with business. To me, that's my niche. People talk about my work ethic as a player, but they don't understand. What appeared to be hard work to others was simply playing for me.

You have to be uncompromised in your level of commitment to whatever you are doing, or it can disappear as fast as it appeared. 

Look around, just about any person or entity achieving at a high level has the same focus. The morning after Tiger Woods rallied to beat Phil Mickelson at the Ford Championship in 2005, he was in the gym by 6:30 to work out. No lights. No cameras. No glitz or glamour. Uncompromised. 

I knew going against the grain was just part of the process.

The mind will play tricks on you. The mind was telling you that you couldn't go any further. The mind was telling you how much it hurt. The mind was telling you these things to keep you from reaching your goal. But you have to see past that, turn it all off if you are going to get where you want to be.

I would wake up in the morning thinking: How am I going to attack today?

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.

In all honesty, I don't know what's ahead. If you ask me what I'm going to do in five years, I can't tell you. This moment? Now that's a different story. I know what I'm doing moment to moment, but I have no idea what's ahead. I'm so connected to this moment that I don't make assumptions about what might come next, because I don't want to lose touch with the present. Once you make assumptions about something that might happen, or might not happen, you start limiting the potential outcomes. 

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 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?

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?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

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What I learned from reading The Match King: Ivar Kreuger, The Financial Genius Behind a Century of Wall Street Scandals by Frank Partnoy. 

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Episode Outline: 

1. Ivar was charismatic. His charisma was not natural. Ivar spent hours every day just preparing to talk. He practiced his lines for hours like great actors do.

2. Ivar?s first pitch was simple, easy to understand, and legitimate: By investing in Swedish Match, Americans could earn profits from a monopoly abroad.

3. Joseph Duveen noticed that Europe had plenty of art and America had plenty of money, and his entire astonishing career was the product of that simple observation. ? The Days of Duveen by S.N. Behrman.  (Founders #339 Joseph Duveen: Robber Baron Art Dealer)

4. Ivar studied Rockefeller and Carnegie: Ivar's plan was to limit competition and increase profits by securing a monopoly on match sales throughout the world, mimicking the nineteenth century oil, sugar, and steel trusts.

5. When investors were manic, they would purchase just about anything. But during the panic that inevitably followed mania, the opposite was true. No one would buy.

6. The problem isn?t getting rich. The problem is staying sane. ? Charlie Munger

7. Ivar understood human psychology. If something is limited and hard to get to that increases desire. This works for both products (like a Ferrari) and people (celebrities). Ivar was becoming a business celebrity.

8.  I?ve never believed in risking what my family and friends have and need in order to pursue what they don't have and don't need. ? The Essays of Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett and Lawrence Cunningham. (Founders #227)

9. Great ideas are simple ideas: Ivar hooked Durant with his simple, brilliant idea: government loans in exchange for match monopolies.

10. Ivar wrote to his parents, "I cannot believe that I am intended to spend my life making money for second-rate people. I shall bring American methods back home. Wait and see - I shall do great things. I'm bursting with ideas. I am only wondering which to carry out first."

11. Ivar?s network of companies was far too complex for anyone to understand: It was like a corporate family tree from hell, and it extended into obscurity.

12. ?Victory in our industry is spelled survival.?   ?Steve Jobs

13. Ivar's financial statements were sloppy and incomplete. Yet investors nevertheless clamored to buy his securities.

14. As more cash flowed in the questions went away. This is why Ponzi like schemes can last so long. People don?t want to believe. They don?t want the cash to stop.

15. A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market by Ed Thorp. (Founders #222)

16.  A summary of Charlie Munger on incentives:

1. We all underestimate the power of incentives.
2. Never, ever think about anything else before the power of incentives.
3. The most important rule: get the incentives right.

17. This is nuts! Fake phones and hired actors!

Next to the desk was a table with three telephones. The middle phone was a dummy, a non-working phone that Ivar could cause to ring by stepping on a button under the desk. That button was a way to speed the exit of talkative visitors who were staying too long. Ivar also used the middle phone to impress his supporters. When Percy Rockefeller visited Ivar pretended to receive calls from various European government officials, including Mussolini and Stalin. That evening, Ivar threw a lavish party and introduced Rockefeller to numerous "ambassadors" from various countries, who actually were movie extras he had hired for the night.

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?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

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What I learned from reading Disney's Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World by Richard Snow. 

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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) 

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(8:00) When in 1955 we heard that Disney had opened an amusement park under his own name, it appeared certain that we could not look forward to anything new from Mr. Disney.

We were quite wrong.

He had, instead, created his masterpiece.

(13:00) This may be the greatest product launch of all time: He had run eight months of his television program. He hadn't named his new show Walt Disney Presents or The Wonderful World of Walt Disney.

It was called simply Disneyland, and every weekly episode was an advertisement for the still unborn park.

(15:00) Disneyland is the extension of the powerful personality of one man.

(15:00) The creation of Disneyland was Walt Disney?s personal taste in physical form.

(24:00) How strange that the boss would just drop it. Walt doesn?t give up. So he must have something else in mind.

(26:00) Their mediocrity is my opportunity. It is an opportunity because there is so much room for improvement.

(36:00) Roy Disney never lost his calm understanding that the company's prosperity rested not on the rock of conventional business practices, but on the churning, extravagant, perfectionist imagination of his younger brother.

(41:00) Walt Disney?s decision to not relinquish his TV rights to United Artists was made in 1936. This decision paid dividends 20 years later. Hold on. Technology -- developed by other people -- constantly benefited Disney's business. Many such cases in the history of entrepreneurship.

(43:00) Walt Disney did not look around. He looked in. He looked in to his personal taste and built a business that was authentic to himself.

(54:00) "You asked the question, What was your process like?' I kind of laugh because process is an organized way of doing things. I have to remind you, during the 'Walt Period' of designing Disneyland, we didn't have processes.

We just did the work. Processes came later. All of these things had never been done before.

Walt had gathered up all these people who had never designed a theme park, a Disneyland.

So we're in the same boat at one time, and we figure out what to do and how to do it on the fly as we go along with it and not even discuss plans, timing, or anything.

We just worked and Walt just walked around and had suggestions."

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?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

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?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

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What I learned from rereading Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler. 

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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) 

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What are some strategies that Cornelius Vanderbilt used against his competitors?

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(2:00) Disney?s key traits were raw ingenuity combined with sadistic determination.

(3:00) I had spent a lifetime with a frustrated, and often unemployed man, who hated anybody who was successful. 

? Francis Ford Coppola: A Filmmaker's Life by Michael Schumacher. (Founders #242)

(6:00) Disney put excelence before any other consideration.

(11:00) Maybe the most important thing anyone ever said to him: You?re crazy to be a professor she told Ted. What you really want to do is draw. Ted?s notebooks were always filled with these fabulous animals. So I set to work diverting him. Here was a man who could draw such pictures. He should earn a living doing that. 

? Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination by Brian Jay Jones. (Founders #161)

(14:00) A quote about Edwin Land that would apply to Walt Disney too:

Land had learned early on that total engrossment was the best way for him to work. He strongly believed that this kind of concentrated focus could also produce extraordinary results for others. Late in his career, Land recalled that his ?whole life has been spent trying to teach people that intense concentration for hour after hour can bring out in people resources they didn?t know they had.?  A Triumph of Genius: Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War by Ronald Fierstein. (Founders #134)

(15:00) My parents objected strenuously, but I finally talked them into letting me join up as a Red Cross ambulance driver. I had to lie about my age, of course. 

In my company was another fellow who had lied about his age to get in. He was regarded as a strange duck, because whenever we had time off and went out on the town to chase girls, he stayed in camp drawing pictures.

His name was Walt Disney.

Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's by Ray Kroc. (Founders #293)

(20:00) Walt Disney had big dreams. He had outsized aspirations.

(22:00) A quote from Edwin Land that would apply to Walt Disney too: My motto is very personal and may not fit anyone else or any other company. It is: Don't do anything that someone else can do.

(24:00) Walt Disney seldom dabbled. Everyone who knew him remarked on his intensity; when something intrigued him, he focused himself entirely as if it were the only thing that mattered.

(29:00) He had the drive and ambition of 10 million men.

(29:00) I'm going to sit tight. I have the greatest opportunity I've ever had, and I'm in it for everything.

(31:00) He seemed confident beyond any logical reason for him to be so. It appeared that nothing discouraged him.

(31:00) You have to take the hard knocks with the good breaks in life.

(32:00) Nothing wrong with my aim, just gotta change the target. ? Jay Z

(35:00) He sincerely wanted to be counted among the best in his craft.

(43:00) He didn't want to just be another animation producer. He wanted to be the king of animation. Disney believed that quality was his only real advantage.

(47:00) Walt Disney wanted domination. Domination that would make his position unassailable.

(49:00) Disney was always trying to make something he could be proud of.

(50:00) We have a habit of divine discontent with our performance. It is an antidote to smugness.

? Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness: Being Very Good Is No Good,You Have to Be Very, Very, Very, Very, Very Good by David Ogilvy and Ogivly & Mather.  (Founders #343)

(53:00) While it is easy, of course, for me to celebrate my doggedness now and say that it is all you need to succeed, the truth is that it demoralized me terribly. I would crawl into the house every night covered in dust after a long day, exhausted and depressed because that day's cyclone had not worked. There were times when I thought it would never work, that I would keep on making cyclone after cyclone, never going forwards, never going backwards, until I died.

? Against the Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson (Founders #300)

(56:00) He doesn't place a premium on collecting friends or socializing: "I don't believe in 50 friends. I believe in a smaller number. Nor do I care about society events. It's the most senseless use of time. When I do go out, from time to time, it's just to convince myself again that I'm not missing a lot."

? The Red Bull Story by Wolfgang Fürweger (Founders #333)

(1:02:00) Steve was at the center of all the circles.

He made all the important product decisions.

From my standpoint, as an individual programmer, demoing to Steve was like visiting the Oracle of Delphi.

The demo was my question. Steve's response was the answer.

While the pronouncements from the Greek Oracle often came in the form of confusing riddles, that wasn't true with Steve.

He was always easy to understand.

He would either approve a demo, or he would request to see something different next time.

Whenever Steve reviewed a demo, he would say, often with highly detailed specificity, what he wanted to happen next.

He was always trying to ensure the products were as intuitive and straightforward as possible, and he was willing to invest his own time, effort, and influence to see that they were.

Through looking at demos, asking for specific changes, then reviewing the changed work again later on and giving a final approval before we could ship, Steve could make a product turn out like he wanted.

Much like the Greek Oracle, Steve foretold the future.

? Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs by Ken Kocienda. (Founders #281)

(1:07:00) He griped that when he hired veteran animators he had to ?put up with their Goddamn poor working habits from doing cheap pictures.? He believed it was easier to start from scratch with young art students and indoctrinate them in the Disney system.

(1:15:00) I don?t want to be relagated to the cartoon medium. We have worlds to conquer here.

(1:17:00) Advice Henry Ford gave Walt Disney about selling his company: If you sell any of it you should sell all of it.

(1:23:00) He kept a slogan pasted inside of his hat: You can?t top pigs with pigs. (A reminder that we have to keep blazing new trails.)

(1:25:00) Disney?s Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World by Richard Snow.

(1:33:00) It is the detail. If we lose the detail, we lose it all.

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?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

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?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

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What I learned from rereading George Lucas: A Life by Brian Jay Jones.

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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?

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(0:01) George Lucas unapologetically invested in what he believed in the most: himself.

(1:00) George Lucas is the Thomas Edison of the modern film industry.

(1:30) A list of biographies written by Brian Jay Jones

(6:00) Elon Musk interviewed by Kevin Rose

(10:15) How many people think the solution to gaining quality control, improving fiscal responsibility, and stimulating technological innovation is to start their own special-effects company? But that?s what he did.

(17:00) When I finally discovered film, I really fell madly in love with it. I ate it. I slept it. 24 hours a day. There was no going back.

(18:00) Those on the margins often come to control the center. (Game of Thrones)

(21:00) As soon as I made my first film, I thought, Hey, I?m good at this. I know how to do this. From then on, I?ve never questioned it.

(23:00) He was becoming increasingly cranky about the idea of working with others and preferred doing everything himself.

(34:00) Francis Ford Coppola: A Filmmaker's Life by Michael Schumacher. (Founders #242)

(42:00) The film Easy Rider was made for $350,000. It grossed over $60 million at the box office.

(45:00) The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley by Jimmy Soni. (Founders #233)

A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman (Founders #95)

Steve Jobs & The NeXT Big Thing by Randall Stross. (Founders #77)

(47:00) 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. That?s very hard to do in the world of business. You have to have the money in order to have the power to be free.

(49:00) You should reject the status quo and pursue freedom.

(49:00) People would give anything to quit their jobs. All they have to do is do it. They?re people in cages with open doors.

(51:00) Stay small. Be the best. Don?t lose any money.

(59:00) That was a very dark period for me. We were in dire financial strait. I turned that down [directing someone else?s movie] at my bleakest point, when I was in debt to my parents, in debt to Francis Coppola, in debt to my agent; I was so far in debt I thought I?d never get out. It took years to get from my first film to my second film, banging on doors, trying to get people to give me a chance. Writing, struggling, with no money in the bank? getting little jobs, eking out a living. Trying to stay alive, and pushing a script that nobody wanted.

(1:02:00) ?Opening this new restaurant might be the worst mistake I've ever made."

Stanley [Stanley Marcus of Neiman Marcus] set his martini down, looked me in the eye, and said, "So you made a mistake. You need to understand something important. And listen to me carefully: The road to success is paved with mistakes well handled."

His words remained with me through the night. I repeated them over and over to myself, and it led to a turning point in the way I approached business.

Stanley's lesson reminded me of something my grandfather Irving Harris had always told me:

?The definition of business is problems."

His philosophy came down to a simple fact of business life: success lies not in the elimination of problems but in the art of creative, profitable problem solving. The best companies are those that distinguish themselves by solving problems most effectively.

Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by Danny Meyer. 

(1:05:00) 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. I?m a craftsman. I don?t make a work of art; I make a movie.

(1:06:00) I know how good I am. American Graffiti is successful because it came entirely from my head. It was my concept. And that?s the only way I can work.

(1:09:00) Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs by Ken Kocienda. (Founders #281)

(1:21:00) The budget for Star Wars was $11 million. In brought in $775 million at the box office alone!

(1:25:00) Steven Spielberg made over $40 million from the original Star Wars. Spielberg gave Lucas 2.5% of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Lucas gave Spielberg 2.5% of Star Wars. That to 2.5% would earn Spielberg more than $40 million over the next four decades.

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?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

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What I learned from reading Steven Spielberg: A Biography by Joseph McBride. 

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 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?

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Episode Outline: 

Whatever is there, he makes it work.

Spielberg once defined his approach to filmmaking by declaring, "I am the audience."

"He said, 'I want to be a director.' And I said, 'Well, if you want to be a director, you've gotta start at the bottom, you gotta be a gofer and work your way up.' He said, 'No, Dad. The first picture I do, I'm going to be a director.' And he was. That blew my mind. That takes guts."

One of his boyhood friends recalls Spielberg saying "he could envision himself going to the Academy Awards and accepting an Oscar and thanking the Academy.? He was twelve.

He was disappointed in the world, so he built one of his own.

Spielberg remained essentially an autodidact. Spielberg followed his own eccentric path to a professional directing career. Universal Studios, in effect, was Spielberg's film school. Giving him an education that, paradoxically, was both more personal and more conventional than he would have received in an academic environment. Spielberg devised what amounted to his own private tutorial program at Universal, immersing himself in the aspects of filmmaking he found most crucial to his development.

At the time he came to Hollywood, generations of nepotism had made the studios terminally inbred and unwelcoming to newcomers. The studio system, long under siege from television, falling box-office receipts, and skyrocketing costs, was in a state of impending collapse.

When Steven was very discouraged trying to sell a script and break in, he always had a positive, forward motion, whatever he may have been suffering inside.

In the two decades since Star Wars and Close Encounters were released, science-fiction films have accounted for half of the top twenty box-office hits. But before George Lucas and Spielberg revived the genre there was no real appetite at the studios for science fiction. The conventional wisdom was science-fiction films never make money.

Your children love you. They want to play with you. How long do you think that lasts? We have a few special years with our children, when they're the ones who want us around. So fast, it?s a few years, then it's over. You are not being careful. And you are missing it.

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?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

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What I learned from reading Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino. 

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What is the best way to fire a bad employee?

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What was the biggest unlock for Henry Ford?

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(9:00) Tarantino is possibly the most joyously infectious movie lover alive.

(14:00) On the ride home, even if I didn't have questions, my parents would talk about the movie we had just seen. These are some of my fondest memories.

(14:00) He has a comprehensive database of the history of movies in his head.

(17:00) The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron by Rebecca Keegan and The Return of James Cameron, Box Office King by Zach Baron (Founders #311)

(25:00) Robert Rodriguez interviews Quentin Tarantino in the Director?s Chair

(26:00) Like most men who never knew their father, Bill collected father figures. (Kill Bill 2)

(27:00) When people ask me if I went to film school, I tell them, No, I went to films.

(29:00) Invest Like the Best #348 Patrick and John Collision 

(31:00) Tarantino made his own Founders Notes [Comparinig himself and another director] Nor did he keep scrapbooks, make notes, and keep files on index cards of all the movies he saw growing up like I did.

(32:00) Napoleon and Modern War by Napoleon and Col. Lanza. (Founders #337)

(41:00) On Spielberg and greatness: Steven Spielberg's Jaws is one of the greatest movies ever made, because one of the most talented filmmakers who ever lived, when he was young, got his hands on the right material, knew what he had, and killed himself to deliver the best version of that movie he could.

(46:00) I've always approached my cinema with a fearlessness of the eventual outcome. A fearlessness that comes to me naturally.

(51:00) The Big Score: Robert Friedland and The Voisey?s Bay Hustle by Jacquie McNish (Founders #131)

(51:00)

Tarantino's top 8 movies have cost around $400 million to make and made about $1.9 billion in box office sales

Pulp Fiction
$8 million
$213 million

Jackie Brown
$12 million
$74 million

Kill Bill 1
$30 million
$180 million

Kill Bill 2
$30 million
$152 million

Inglorious Basterds
$70 million
$321 million

Django Unchained
$100 million
$426 million

The Hateful 8
$60 million
$156 million

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
$90 million
$377 million

(58:00) What made Kevin Thomas so unique in the world of seventies and eighties film criticism, he seemed like one of the only few practitioners who truly enjoyed their job, and consequently, their life. I loved reading him growing up and practically considered him a friend.

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?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

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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. 

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?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 Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness: Being Very Good Is No Good,You Have to Be Very, Very, Very, Very, Very Good by David Ogilvy and Ogivly & Mather. 

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Some questions other subscribers asked SAGE: 

I need some unique ideas on how to find new customers. What advice do you have for me?

What are some strategies that Cornelius Vanderbilt used against his competitors?

How did Edwin Land find new employees to hire? Any unusual sources to find talent?

What are the most important leadership lessons from history's greatest entrepreneurs?

Can you give me more ideas about how to avoid competition from Peter Thiel?

Have any of history's greatest founders regretted selling their company?

What is the best way to fire a bad employee?

How did Andrew Carnegie know what to focus on?

Why was Jay Gould so smart?

What was the biggest unlock for Henry Ford?

Can you give me a summary of Warren Buffetts best ideas?

If Charlie Munger had a top 10 rules for life what do you think those rules would be?

What did Charlie Munger say about building durable companies that last?

Tell me about Cornelius Vanderbilt. How did he make his money?

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(0:01) But what did David actually mean by divine discontent? Here's an interpretation:

DON'T BOW YOUR HEAD.

DON'T KNOW YOUR PLACE.

DEFY THE GODS.

DON'T SIT BACK.

DON'T GIVE IN.

DON'T GIVE UP.

DON'T WIN SILVERS.

DON'T BE SO EASILY HAPPY WITH YOURSELF.

DON'T BE SPINELESS.

DON'T BE GUTLESS.

DON'T BE TOADIES.

DON'T GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT.

AND DON'T EVER, EVER ALLOW A SINGLE SCRAP OF RUBBISH OUT OF THE AGENCY

(5:00) We have to work equally hard to replace the old patterns of self-defeating behaviors. An old Latin proverb tells us how: a nail is driven out by a nail, habit is overcome by habit.

(7:00) Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is in even shorter supply than genius. ? Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel. (Founders #278)

(7:00) Fear is a demon that devours the soul of a company: it diminishes the quality of our imagination, it dulls our appetite for adventure, it sucks away our youth. Fear leads to self-doubt, which is the worst enemy of creativity.

(10:00) Trust is one of the greatest economic forces on earth. ?  The NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger. (Founders #329)

(13:00) How great we become depends on the size of our dreams. Let's dream humongous dreams, put on our overalls, go out there and build them.

(14:00) If you asked an oracle the secret to doing great work and the oracle replied with a single word my bet would be on ?curiosity? ? How To Do Great Work by Paul Graham. (Founders #314)

(17:00) Only dead fish go with the flow.

(18:00) If I have to choose between agreement and conflict, I?ll take conflict every time. It always yields a better result. ? Jeff Bezos

(20:00) It's the cracked ones that let light into the world.

(20:00)

Rule #1. There are no rules.
Rule #2. Never forget rule #1.

(21:00) Bureaucracy has no place in an ideas company.

(23:00) You see, those who live by their wits go to work on roller coasters. The ride is exhilarating, but one has to have a stomach of titanium. For starters, you're never a hundred per cent certain you'll ever get there. If you (even) get to your destination, you sometimes wonder why you've ever bothered.

Other times the scenery pleasantly surprises you.

(24:00) Discovery consists of seeing what everyone has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.

(25:00) God is with those who persevere.

(25:00) Dogged determination is often the only trait that separates a moderately creative person from a highly creative one.

That's because great work is never done by temperamental geniuses, but by obstinate donkey-men.

(26:00) Against the Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson (Founders #300)

(26:00) We are what we repeatedly do. Our character is a composite of our habits. Habits constantly, daily, express who we really are.

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?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

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?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

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What I learned from reading The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant. 

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(1:00) This is a 100 page biography of the human species

(1:00) The Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant (Full Set) 

(2:30) Generations of men establish a growing mastery over the earth, but they are destined to become fossils in its soil.

(4:00) Ruthlessly prioritize how you spend your time.

(4:00) The influence of geographic factors diminishes as technology grows.

(4:30) ALL OF THE NAPOLEON EPISODES:

Napoleon: A Concise Biography by David Bell. (Founders #294) 

The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Wordsedited by J. Christopher Herold. (Founders #302)

Napoleon and Modern War by Napoleon and Col. Lanza. (Founders #337) 

(8:00) Our job is to make our companies and ourselves better equipped to meet the test of survival.

(11:30) Economic development specializes functions, differentiates abilities, and makes men unequally valuable to their group.

(12:30) The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness by Naval Ravikant and Eric Jorgenson. (Founders #191)

(14:30) In the end, superior ability has its way.

(16:30) Nothing is clearer in history than the adoption by successful rebels of the methods they were accustomed to condemn in the forces they deposed.

(19:00) The imitative majority follows the innovating minority and this follows the originative individual, in adapting new responses to the demands of environment or survival.

(20:00) If you can identify an enduring human need you can build a business around that.

(21:00) In every age men have been dishonest and governments have been corrupt.

(25:00) Survival at all costs: Nature and history do not agree with our conceptions of good and bad; they define good as that which survives, and bad as that which goes under.

(25:00) Victory in our industry is spelled survival. ? Steve Jobs

(25:00) All that matters is to survive. The rest is just words. ? Charles de Gaulle by Julian Jackson. (Founders #224)

(26:00) By being so cautious in respect to leverage and having loads of liquidity, we will be equipped both financially and emotionally to play offense while others scramble for survival. ? The Essays of Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett and Lawrence Cunningham (Founders #227)

(27:00) History reports that the men who can manage men manage the men who can manage only things, and the men who can manage money manage all.

(31:00) The Iron Law of Oligarchy

(32:00) Every advance in the complexity of the economy puts an added premium upon superior ability.

(33:00) The General and the Genius: Groves and Oppenheimer?The Unlikely Partnership that Built the Atom Bomb by James Kunetka. (Founders #215)

(34:00) Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II by Arthur Herman 

(37:00) All technological advances will have to be written off as merely new means of achieving old ends

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?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

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?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

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What I learned from rereading Tycoon's War: How Cornelius Vanderbilt Invaded a Country to Overthrow America's Most Famous Military Adventurer by Stephen Dando-Collins. 

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(0:01) Vanderbilt was only interested in two things: making money and winning

(3:00) Cornelius Vanderbilt, the descendant of poor Dutch immigrants, would die in 1877 possessing more money than was held by the United States treasury.
(3:00) The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles

(5:00) The NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger. (Founders #329) 

(6:00) ?If I had learned education. I would not have had time to learn anything else.?

(7:00) Vanderbilt wrote nothing down, keeping every detail of his business dealings in his head, and at any given time he knew his income and expenditures down to the last cent.

(10:00) From Founders Notes. I asked the chat feature:

Tell me about Cornelius Vanderbilt. How did he make his money?

One trait it identified in Vanderbilt was this:

Vanderbilt's approach to business was often marked by a sly concealment of his intentions, keeping information close while simultaneously gathering intelligence on competitors. This strategic obfuscation allowed him to make moves that others often couldn't predict or comprehend until it was too late

(This feature will be available to Founders Notes subscribers very soon!)

(15:00) The Invisible Billionaire: Daniel Ludwig by Jerry Shields (Founders #292)

(24:00) The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley by Jimmy Soni. (Founders #233) 

(26:00) Gentlemen, you have undertaken to cheat me. I won?t sue you, for the law is too slow. I?ll ruin you. Yours truly, Cornelius Vanderbilt.

(37:00) He's turning everyone against Walker by appealing to their interests. He?s not saying do this for me to get my ships back. He appeals to their interests and aligns their interests with his own.

(40:00) Vanderbilt had more money than all the Central American governments combined.

(41:00) As far as my nature is concerned, I do not meet competition, I destroy competitors.

? The 38 Letters from J.D. Rockefeller to His Son by John D. Rockefeller. (Founders #324)

(41:00) Vanderbilt said why don?t you pay me to not compete with you?

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?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

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?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

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What I learned from reading Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim Grover and Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness by Tim Grover. 

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(3:00) What I am giving you is insight into the mentality of those who have found unparalleled success by trusting their own instincts.

(3:00) Mozart: A Life by Paul Johnson. (Founders #240)

(6:00) Michael was the best because he was relentless about winning. No matter how many times he won he always wanted more and he was always willing to do whatever it took to get it.

(6:00) Michael never cared about achieving mere greatness. He cared about being the best ever.

(7:00) These are the most driven individuals you'll ever know, with an unmatched genius for what they do: they don't just perform a job, they reinvent it.

(8:00) Alex Rodriguez interviews Kobe Bryant 

(11:00) The most important thing, the one thing that defines and separates him from any other competitor: He's addicted to the exquisite rush of success and he'll alter his entire life to get it.

(11:00) The mind will play tricks on you. The mind was telling you that you couldn't go any further. The mind was telling you how much it hurt. The mind was telling you these things to keep you from reaching your goal. But you have to see past that, turn it all off if you are going to get where you want to be. ?

?Driven From Within by Michael Jordan and Mark Vancil. (Founders #213)

(12:30) If one thing separated Michael from every other player, it was his stunning ability to block out everything and everyone else. He was able to shut out everything except his mission.

(14:00) At some point you made something simple into something complicated.

(16:00) Being at the extreme in your craft is very important in the age of leverage. The best person in the world at anything gets to do it for everyone.

(20:00) A 600 page biography of Kobe Bryant: The Life of Kobe Bryant by Roland Lazenby. (Founders #272)

(21:00) This could be an ad for FOUNDERS NOTES 

The greats never stop learning.

All the hours of work have created an unstoppable internal resource you can draw on in any situation.

(22:00) Mostly he tested himself. 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.

? Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby. (Founders #212)

(23:00) Kobe and Ahmad Rashad interview

(23:00) Be indifferent to the opinions of other people. Michael does not care what you think. Kobe does not care what you think. There is no one that can hold them to a higher standard than themselves.

(34:00) How Kobe Bryant knew he was going to win a lot of championships:

It was easy to size other players up in the NBA. I found that a lot of guys played for financial stability. Once they got that financial stability the passion, the work ethic, and the obsessiveness was gone. Once I saw that I thought, ?This is going to be like taking candy from a baby. No wonder Michael Jordan wins all these fucking championships.?

(35:00) Michael Jordan worked on consistency, relentlessly.

(49:00) A good competitor always evaluates his oppenent. And you understand him for what he really is. You never try to give him confidence you try to take it at all times. ? Michael Jordan video

(53:00) Everyone wanted to be like Mike. Mike did not want to be like anyone else.

(1:07:00) Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs by Ken Kocienda. (Founders #281)

(1:07:00) Stop adding. Start deleting. Winning demands total focus.

(1:11:00)  It started with hope.

It started with hope.

We went from a shitty team to one of the all time greatest dynasties.

All you needed was one little match to start that whole fire.

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?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

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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. 

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?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

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What I learned from reading Decoded by Jay Z. 

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(1:39) I would practice from the time I woke in the morning until I went to sleep

(2:10) Even back then I though I was the best.

(2:57) Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography  (Founders #219)

(4:32) Belief becomes before ability.

(5:06) Michael Jordan: The Life (Founders #212)

(5:46) The public praises people for what they practice in private.

(7:28)  Lock yourself in a room doing five beats a day for three summers.

(7:50) Sam Walton: Made In America  (Founders #234)

(9:50) He was disappointed in the world, so he built one of his own ? from Steven Spielberg: A Biography (Founders #209)

(12:47) The Pmarca Blog Archive Ebook by Marc Andreessen (Founders #50)

(13:35) I'm not gonna say that I thought I could get rich from rap, but I could clearly see that it was gonna get bigger before it went away. Way bigger.

(21:10) Over 20 years into his career and dude ain?t changed. He?s got his own vibe. You gotta love him for that. (Rick Rubin)

(21:41) Against The Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson (Founders #200)

(25:27) I believe you can speak things into existence.

(27:20) Picking the right market is essential.

(29:29) All companies that go out of business do so for the same reason ? they run out of money. ?Don Valentine 

(29:42) There are two things in business that matter, and you can learn this in two minutes- you don?t have to go to business school for two years: high gross margins and cash flow. The other financial metrics you can forget. ?Don Valentine 

(31:54) I went on the road with Big Daddy Kane for a while. I got an invaluable education watching him perform.

(33:12) Everything I do I learned from the guys who came before me. ?Kobe

(34:15) I truly hate having discussions about who would win one on one or fans saying you?d beat Michael. I feel like Yo (puts his hands up like stop. Chill.) What you get from me is from him. I don?t get 5 championships without him because he guided me so much and gave me so much great advice.

(34:50) Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography (Founders #214)

(37:20) This is a classic piece of OG advice. It's amazing how few people actually stick to it.

(38:04) Nuts!: Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success(Founders #56)

(39:04) The key to staying on top of things is to treat everything like it's your first project.

(41:10) The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley (Founders #233)

(44:46) We (Jay Z, Bono, Quincy Jones) ended up trading stories about the pressure we felt even at this point in our lives.

(45:22) Competition pushes you to become your best self. Jordan said the same thing about Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

[46:43] If you got the heart and the brains you can move up quickly. There's no way to quantify all of this on a spreadsheet, but it's the dream of being the exception.

(52:26) He (Russell Simmons) changed the business style of a whole generation. The whole vibe of startup companies in Silicon Valley with 25 year old CEOs wearing shell toes is Russell's Def Jam style filtered through different industries.

(54:17) Jay Z?s approach is I'm going to find the smartest people that that know more than I do, and I'm gonna learn everything I can from them.

(54:49) He (Russell Simmons) knew that the key to success was believing in the quality of your own product enough to make people do business with you on your terms. He knew that great product was the ultimate advantage in competition.

(55:08) In the end it came down to having a great product and the hustle to move it.

(56:37) Learn how to build and sell and you will be unstoppable. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness (Founders #191)

(58:30) We gave those brands a narrative which is one of the reasons anyone buys anything. To own not just a product, but to become part of a story.

(59:30) The best thing for me to do is to ignore and outperform.

(1:01:16) Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger. (Founders #90)

(1:06:01) Tao of Charlie Munger: A Compilation of Quotes from Berkshire Hathaway's Vice Chairman on Life, Business, and the Pursuit of Wealth With Commentary  (Founders #78)

(1:08:42) Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products(Founders #178)

(1:11:46) Long term success is the ultimate goal.

(1:12:58) Runnin' Down a Dream: How to Succeed and Thrive in a Career You Love - Bill Gurley

(1:15:11) I have always used visualization the way athletes do, to conjure reality.

(1:18:14) The thing that distinguished Jordan wasn't just his talent, but his discipline, his laser-like commitment to excellence.

(1:19:42) The gift that Jordan had wasn't just that he was willing to do the work, but he loved doing it because he could feel himself getting stronger and ready for anything. That is the kind of consistency that you can get only by adding dead serious discipline of whatever talent you have.

(1:21:37) when you step outside of school and you have to teach yourself about life, you develop a different relationship to information. I've never been a purely linear thinker. You can see it to my rhymes. My mind is always jumping around restless, making connections, mixing, and matching ideas rather than marching in a straight line,

(1:27:41) Samuel Bronfman: The Life and Times of Seagram?s Mr. Sam (Founders #116)

(1:34:15) The real bullshit is when you act like you don't have contradictions inside you. That you're so dull and unimaginative that your mind never changes or wanders into strange, unexpected places.

(1:36:25) There are extreme levels of drive and pain tolerance in the history of entrepreneurship.

(1:38:45) Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business

(1:42:24)  I love sharp people. Nothing makes me like someone more than intelligence.

(1:44:17) They call it the game, but it's not. You can want success all you want but to get it you can't falter. You can't slip. You can't sleep? one eye open for real and forever.

(1:51:49) The thought that this cannot be life is one that all of us have felt at some point or another. When a bad decision and bad luck and bad situations feel like too much to bear those times. When we think this, this cannot be my story, but facing up to that kind of feeling can be a powerful motivation to change.

(1:54:18) Technology is making it easier to connect to other people, but maybe harder to keep connected to yourself.

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?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

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?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

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What I learned from reading The Days of Duveen by S.N. Behrman. 

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(0:01) Duveen noticed that Europe had plenty of art and America had plenty of money, and his entire astonishing career was the product of that simple observation.

(2:30) The great American millionaires of the Duveen Era were slow-speaking and slow-thinking, cautious, secretive, and maddeningly deliberate.

(3:30) How Larry Gagosian Reshaped The Art World by Patrick Radden Keefe. (Founders #325)

(4:30) Invest Like The Best #342 Will England: A Primer on Multi-Strategy Hedge Funds

(6:00) There is an old two-part rule that often works wonders in business, science, and elsewhere: 

1. Take a simple, basic idea and 

2. Take it very seriously. ? the NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger. (Founders #329)

(10:00) The art dealer Joseph Duveen insisted on making the paintings he sold as scarce and rare as possible. To keep their prices elevated and their status high, he bought up whole collections and stored them in his basement. The paintings that he sold became more than just paintings?they were fetish objects, their value increased by their rarity.  ? The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. 

(14:00) Duveen had enormous respect for the prices he set on the objects he bought and sold. Often his clients tried, in various ways, to maneuver him into a position where he might relax his high standards, but he nearly always managed to keep them.

(16:00) Wildcatters: A Story of Texans, Oil, and Money by Sally Helgesen. (Founders #338)

(18:00) You don?t need many customers if the few customers you do have are the riches people in the world.

(22:00) His enthusiasm was irrepressible.

(26:00) Duveen felt that his educational mission was two fold ?to teach millionaire American collectors what the great works of art were, and to teach them that they could get those works of art only through him.

(27:00) When you pay high for the priceless, you're getting it cheap.

(31:00) He was interested in practically nothing except his business.

(31:00) Certain men are endowed with the faculty of concentrating on their own affairs to the exclusion of what's going on elsewhere in the cosmos. Duveen was that kind of man.

(32:00) Monopoly was his method.

(38:00) Duveen would pay the servants of staff that worked in the homes of his clients. This was the result: They developed a feeling that it was only fair to transmit to Duveen any information that might interest him.

(41:00) The art dealer Joseph Duveen was once confronted with a terrible problem.

The millionaires who had paid so dearly for Duveen?s paintings were running out of wall space, and with inheritance taxes getting ever higher, it seemed unlikely that they would keep buying.

The solution was the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., which Duveen helped create in 1937 by getting Andrew Mellon to donate his collection to it. The National Gallery was the perfect front for Duveen.

In one gesture, his clients avoided taxes, cleared wall space for new purchases, and reduced the number of paintings on the market, maintaining the upward pressure on their prices. All this while the donors created the appearance of being public benefactors.

? The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. 

(48:00) His clients felt better when they paid a lot. It gave them the assurance of acquiring rarity.

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?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

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?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

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What I learned from reading Wildcatters: A Story of Texans, Oil, and Money by Sally Helgesen.

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(0:01) Family and business were the same thing to him.

(1:00) We're one-hundred percent family owned, unincorporated, and independent, and we intend to stay that way.

(1:00) He possessed the directness and the utter simplicity of the old and the truly great.

(2:00) His unquestioning confidence in the worthiness of his enterprise made him seem impervious to doubts.

(5:00) The Morgans always believed in absolute monarchy. While Junius Morgan lived, he ruled the family and the business. Until Junius died his massive shadow dominated his son?s life. ? The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance by Ron Chernow. (Founders #139)

(8:00) Everywhere they looked, they saw opportunity without limits. The land itself was empty, and so these men built cities upon it and founded dynasties. They left behind them a world made in their own image.

(9:00) The old wildcatters had neither the time nor the inclination to question their own purposes, or to agonize about what the future consequences of their efforts might be. They just went out and did whatever was there to be done.

(10:00) The trouble with this business is that everybody expects to find oil on the surface. If it was up near the top, it wouldn't be any trick to it. You've got to drill deep for oil. ? The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes by Bryan Burrough (Founders #149)

(14:00) Charlie?s surfing model. One thing I learned from having dinner with Charlie was the importance of getting into a great business and STAYING in it. There?s a tendency in human nature to mess up a good thing because of an inability to sit still:

"There are huge advantages for the early birds. When you're an early bird, there's a model that I call surfing?when a surfer gets up and catches the wave and just stays there, he can go a long, long time.

But if he gets off the wave, he becomes mired in shallows. But people get long runs when they're right on the edge of the wave, whether it's Microsoft or Intel or all kinds of people."

?  the NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger. (Founders #329)

(18:00)  Ted Turner's Autobiography (Founders #327)

(19:00) All the stories seem to be about the same prickly individual. They are giants, successful predators, acute and astute, tamers of the untamable and defenders of vast treasure.

(26:00) There are times when certain cards sit unclaimed in the common pile, when certain properties become available that will never be available again. A good businessman feels these moments like a fall in the barometric pressure. A great businessman is dumb enough to act on them even when he cannot afford to. ? The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King by Rich Cohen. (Founders #255)

(29:00) Delusional optimism: Go from one setback to another setback without any loss of enthusiasm.

(31:00) There's no what if. There's only what happened.

(33:00) Rainmakers Podcast

(34:00) I?d rather be lucky than smart, because a lot of smart guys go hungry.

(36:00) Optimism is the personal quality that nurtures luck.

(36:00) Chaos and defiance ruled the day, and those who led the way made little secret of their refusal to be controlled.

(44:00) Anybody who's got an idea of his own has to be a little bit crazy. Being crazy is something big companies just don't understand.

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?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

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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. 

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?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

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What I learned from reading Roots of Strategy by Thomas R. Phillips and Napoleon and Modern War by Napoleon and Col. Lanza. 

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(0:01) Napoleon fought more battles than Alexander, Hannibal, and Caesar combined.

(5:00) The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words edited by J. Christopher Herold. (Founders #302)

(7:00) Insull: The Rise and Fall of A Billionaire Utility Tycoon by Forrest McDonald. (Founders #336)

(8:00) No one should believe more in your business than you do. If this is not the case you are in the wrong business.

(11:00) If you do everything you will win.

(13:00) Napoleon episodes: 

Napoleon: A Concise Biography by David Bell. (Founders #294) 

The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words edited by J. Christopher Herold. (Founders #302) 

(14:00) What is the bigger number, five or one? One. One army, a real army, united behind one leader, with one purpose. A fist instead of 5 fingers. ? Robert Baratheon in Game of Thrones (YouTube)

(17:00) Keep your forces united. Be vulnerable at no point. Bear down with rapidity upon important points. These are the principles which insure victory.

(17:00) Read over and over again the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus, Turenne, Eugene and Frederic. Make them your models. This is the only way to become a great general and to master the secrets of the art of war. With your own genius enlightened by this study, you will reject all maxims opposed to those of these great commanders. [If Napoleon was alive you know he?d listen to Founders podcast]

(20:00) The Tao of Charlie Munger by Charlie Munger and David Clark (Founders #295)

(20:00) Advance orders tend to stifle initiative. A commander should be left free to adapt himself to circumstances as they occur.

(23:00) The art of war consists in a well organized and conservative defense, coupled with an audacious and rapid offensive.

(26:00) Ten people who yell make more noise than ten thousand who keep silent.

(29:00) Long orders, which require much time to prepare, to read and to understand are the enemies of speed. Napoleon could issue orders of few sentences which clearly expressed his intentions and required little time to issue and to understand.

(31:00) A great leader will resort to audacity.

(32:00) ?Alexander the Great thought, decided, and above all, moved swiftly. He appreciated the importance of speed and the terrifying surprises speed made possible. His enemies were always stunned and shocked by his arrival. He invented the blitzkrieg.?  ? Heroes: From Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to Churchill and de Gaulle by Paul Johnson. (Episode #226)

(34:00) It is no harm to be too strong; it may be fatal to be too weak.

(41:00) Napoleon on single threaded leadership: Once a campaign has been decided upon there should be no hesitation in appointing one commander to assure its success. When authority is divided, opinions and actions differ, and confusion and delay arises. A single chief proceeds with vigor; he is not delayed by necessity to confer.

(42:00) Posess obstinate will.

(43:00) Experience must be supplemented by study. No man's personal experience can be so inclusive as to warrant his disregarding the experiences of others. (This is a great reason why you should invest in a subscription to Founders Notes ) 

(44:00) It is profitable to study the campaigns of the great masters.

(47:00) Skill consists in converging a mass of fire upon a single point. He that has the skill to bring a sudden, unexpected concentration of artillery to bear upon a selected point is sure to capture it. (A lesson from Peter Thiel: Don?t divide your attention: focusing on one thing yields increasing returns for each unit of effort.)

(49:00) All great captains have been diligent students [of history].

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?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

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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. 

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?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 Insull: The Rise and Fall of A Billionaire Utility Tycoon by Forrest McDonald. 

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(0:01) Insull had been in the electric business as long as there had been an electric business.

(4:00) He awoke early, abruptly, completely, bursting with energy; yet he gained momentum as the day wore on, and long into the night. Sam had near-demonic energy.

(5:00) Sam's most obvious attribute was a capacity for racing through large quantities of reading material, effortlessly perceiving its important assumptions and generalizations, and thoroughly assimilating its salient details.

(7:00) He eagerly embraced platitudes:

? Idle hands are the devil's workshop

? Time is money

? Things are simply "done" or "not done"

? One reveres one's family

? Only that which is useful is good

? Survival of the fittest

(8:00) Opportunity handled well leads to more opportunity.

(12:00) He developed an ability to concentrate on a single subject and to completely shut out everything else, no matter how pressing.

(13:00) A theme from the robber baron era: How do we turn a luxury product into a necessity?

(18:00) If you do everything you will win.  ? Working by Robert Caro. (Founders #305) and The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words edited by J. Christopher Herold. (Founders #302)

(19:00) Insull reread every one of Edison's European contracts, and he took it upon himself to write weekly letters to Johnson, summarizing the fluctuations in the telephone situation and outlining Edison's shifting interests in connection with it. These letters proved to be the best selling points Johnson could have in recommending Insull to Edison.

(20:00) One of his most deep-rooted traits was that he was absolutely unable to imagine the possibility of his own failure; he entirely lacked the sense of caution of those who doubt themselves.

(21:00) Caution, like relaxation, was unnatural to him.

(21:00) We will make electric lights so cheap that only the rich will be able to burn candles.

(27:00) Edison had an almost pathological hostility to any form of system, order, or discipline imposed from without.

(33:00) Warren Buffett on leverage:

Unquestionably, some people have become very rich through the use of borrowed money. However, that's also been a way to get very poor. When leverage works, it magnifies your gains. Your spouse thinks you're clever, and your neighbors get envious. But leverage is addictive. Once having profited from its wonders, very few people retreat to more conservative practices.

And [to repeat] as we all learned in third grade-and some relearned in 2008?any series of positive numbers, however impressive the numbers may be, evaporates when multiplied by a single zero. History tells us that leverage all too often produces zeroes, even when it is employed by very smart people.

Leverage, of course, can be lethal to businesses as well. Companies with large debts often assume that these obligations can be refinanced as they mature. That assumption is usually valid. Occasionally, though, either because of company-specific problems or a worldwide shortage of credit, maturities must actually be met by payment. For that, only cash will do the job.

? The Essays of Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett and Lawrence Cunningham. (Founders #227)

(35:00) Smart men go broke three ways: liquor, ladies and leverage. ? Charlie Munger

(42:00) To make electricity as cheap as possible we need the largest base of customers. The way to get the largest base of customers is through monopoly.

(45:00) He understood the potential of his industry in a way others did not.

(45:00) We are only going to do things that other people can not do.

(47:00) While money may not buy friends it will keep many a man from becoming an enemy.

(50:00) The moment of applause was the moment for action.

(1:00:00) You need to tell your customers what goes into making your product. It may be normal to you because it is your everyday thing. It is not normal to them. And if you explain and you educate your customers they will find it fascinating. And as a result it will make the service and the product you provide more valuable in their eyes.

(1:00:00) Sam Insull made electric power so abundant and cheap in the United States that people who had never expected to use it, found it as natural and as necessary as breathing.

(1:06:00) He took his leverage too high and the structure of the leverage was a problem. ?  Ted Turner's Autobiography.(Founders #327)

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?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

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?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

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What I learned from reading How To Make A Few Billion Dollars by Brad Jacobs. 

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(0:01) I'm what's called a moneymaker. I've started five companies from scratch?seven if you include two spin-offs and turned them all into billion dollar or multibillion-dollar enterprises.

(2:00) I love working with outrageously talented people to deliver outsized returns for shareholders in public stock markets.

(5:00) All of the successful people I know have rearranged their brains to prevail at achieving big goals in turbulent environments where conventional thinking often fails.

(5:00) The single most powerful pattern I have noticed is that successful people find value in unexpected places and they do this by thinking about business from first principles. ?  Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel (Founders #335)

(7:00) So much of success in business comes from keeping your head in a good place.

(8:00) I'm an ambitious person by nature and a dealmaker by inclination.

(9:00) Episode #295: I Had Dinner With Charlie Munger

(13:00) Listen to Think Big and Move Fast: Brad Jacobs on Invest Like the Best 

(14:00) Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by Danny Meyer. (Founders #20)

(15:00) If you want to make money in the business world, you need to get used to problems, because that's what business is.

(20:00) I am not surprised when things don?t go perfectly. That is the nature of the universe.

(21:00) Listen to this incredible conversation between Charlie Munger and John Collison on Invest Like The Best. 

(28:00) Invest in technology. The savings compound, it gives you an advantage over a slower moving competitor, and can be the difference between a profit and a loss. (Lesson from Andrew Carnegie)

(31:00) How Larry Gagosian Reshaped The Art World by Patrick Radden Keefe. (Founders #325)

(36:00) While the rental industry overall was slow to computerize, the larger regional players were more tech-savvy. By 1997, nearly all of them were running on software developed by a company called Wynne Systems.

I bought Wynne.

Owning Wynne accomplished two things.

We had an industry-best platform that we could continue to develop internally for our own use, and the acquisition gave us access to aggregated, anonymized data on macro-trends across the industry.

This gave us a high-level view of emerging market trends, such as equipment gluts or shortages in the making. We could proactively adjust our pricing and asset management, while the rest of the industry was being reactive.

(40:00) The deals I've avoided have contributed more to my success than the deals I've done.

(42:00) I love these questions for a business and a family:

?What's your single best idea to improve our company?"

and

"What's the stupidest thing we're doing as a company?"

(47:00) There are few mistakes costlier than hiring the wrong person.  An empty seat is less damaging than a poor fit.

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?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

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?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

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What I learned from reading the transcripts of Young Oprah on Her Life and Career and Oprah on Career, Life and Leadership. 

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(1:00) Oprah fired her agent and replaced him with a Chicago lawyer named Jeffrey Jacobs. "I heard Jeff is a piranha. I like that. Piranha is good."

(3:00) I will just create. And if it works, it works. And if it doesn?t, I?ll create something else. I don?t have any limitations on what I think I could do or be.

(4:30) Dr. Julie Gurner?s Ultra Successful newsletter 

Dr Julie Gurner's Website 

(7:00) Imitation precedes creation.  ? Stephen King On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. (Founders #210)

(9:00) On getting demoted from anchor to talk show host: I was embarrassed by the whole thing because I had never failed before. It was that ?failure? that led to the talk show. (Opportunity is a strange beast. It frequently appears after a loss.)

(9:00) The talk show immediately felt right to her: This is what I should have been doing because it was like breathing to me. It was like breathing. I knew it was the right thing to do.

(10:00) Oprah has an intense, powerful belief in herself. And she has had that since she was 4.

(11:00) I truly believe that thoughts are the greatest vehicle to change power and success in the world. Everything begins with thoughts.

(12:00) If you actually have to choose between the most experienced person, or the most educated person, or the person who actually wants it the most, you always pick the person who wants it the most. ? Josh Kushner on the Invest Like the Best podcast 

(14:00) Visualize.

If in your mind's eye you see a successful venture, a deal made, a profit accomplished, it has a superb chance of actually happening. Projecting your mind into a successful situation is the most powerful means to achieve goals.

If you spend time with pictures of failure in your mind, you will orchestrate failure.

Countless times, before the event, I have pictured a heroic sale to a large department store every step of the  way and the picture in my mind became a reality. I've visualized success, then created the reality from the image.

Great athletes, business people, inventors, and achievers from all walks of life seem to know this secret.

? Estée Lauder: A Success Story by Estée Lauder. (Founders #217)

(17:00) I am going to have what I deserve.

(19:00) I was watching my grandmother boiling clothes (they had no indoor plumbing) and I was four years old and I remember thinking: My life won?t be like this. My life won?t be like this. It will be better.

(22:00) I thank whatever God there is for my unconquerable soul.

(22:00) And whatever you do, if you do a lot of it, you get good at it. And that is how this broadcasting career started for me. I?ve been an orator for a long time. I?ve been an orator all of my life.

(27:00) I feel that my show is a ministry.

(27:00) I loved books so much as a child. They were my outlet to the world.

(29:00) I had a very strict father. I remember my father saying you can not bring C?s in this house because you are not a C student. You?re an A student. It was just so matter of fact.

(31:00) Paul Graham on how to make yourself a big target for luck:

?When you read biographies of people who've done great work, it's remarkable how much luck is involved.They discover what to work on as a result of a chance meeting, or by reading a book they happen to pick up.So you need to make yourself a big target for luck, and the way to do that is to be curious.Try lots of things, meet lots of people, read lots of books, ask lots of questions.?

? How To Do Great Work by Paul Graham. (Founders #314)

(33:00) Her schedule in college was intense: I?d do all my classes from 8am to 1pm. Then I worked at the tv station from 2pm to 10pm. Then I?d study until 1am and then do the routine all over again the next day.

(34:00) I demand only the best for myself.

(35:00) Oprah on the parasocial relationship with her audience: It?s not like other celebrities. I see people react to other people and it?s not like it is to me.

(37:00) Asking for help is a superpower no one uses.

(39:00) The ability to read at an early age saved my life. I knew there was a better way. I knew there was a way out because I had read about it.

(41:00) I sign every check. It is tedious. It gets to be a lot. I have piles of checks. The idea of having money and not being responsible and knowing how much money you have and keeping control of it is not something that I personally can accept. I watch it very carefully.

(42:00) Henry Singleton pays all the bills and signs all the checks, calling it "a form of discipline. Through doing the signing it's amazing how much you learn about the business. There's a reminder of each event or action behind each check. ? Distant Force: A Memoir of the Teledyne Corporation and the Man Who Created It by Dr. George Roberts. (Founders #110)

(42:00) How do you learn to be a founder? You do it the same way you do anything else: 14, 15 hour days. I feel most comfortable working.

(43:00) For me, work just meant discovery and fun. If I heard somebody complaining, ?Oh, I work so hard, I put in ten- and twelve-hour days,? I would crucify him. ?What the fuck are you talking about when the day is twenty-four hours? What else did you do??  ?Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story by Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Founders #141)

(43:00) It doesn?t feel like work.

(46:00) Intuition is a very powerful thing. More powerful than intellect in my opinion. That?s had a big impact on my work. ? Steve Jobs

(48:00) I am only a little dress-maker, trying to make women young and pretty. These other designers that do the pretty little sketches, the boys, they don't understand women, they don't know how they live. Their idea is to make them weird, freaks. ? Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life by Justine Picardie. (Founders #199)

(51:00) I live from the inside out.

(54:00) Acquired?s podcast episode on Oprah and Harpo 

(54:00)

Self belief

Ownership

Do the same thing for 25 years

Stay within your circle of competence

(55:00) Find what feeds your passion. Your real job is to find out why you are really here and then get about the business of doing that.

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?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

 

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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. 

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?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 The Red Bull Story by Wolfgang Fürweger and Red Bull's Billionaire Maniac by Duff McDonald. 

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(1:30) "In literal financial terms, our sports teams are not yet profitable, but in value terms, they are," he says. "The total editorial media value plus the media assets created around the teams are superior to pure advertising expenditures."

(2:30) "It is a must to believe in one's product. If this were just a marketing gimmick, it would never work."

(5:00) He doesn't place a premium on collecting friends or socializing: "I don't believe in 50 friends. I believe in a smaller number. Nor do I care about society events. It's the most senseless use of time. When I do go out, from time to time, it's just to convince myself again that I'm not missing a lot."

(7:30) The most dangerous thing for a branded product is low interest. (Edwin Land: The test of an invention is the power of an inventor to push it through in the face of the staunch-not opposition, but indifference-in society. (Indifference is your enemy)

(9:00) Nike, Adidas and Vans episodes:

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight. (Founders #186)

Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and The Family Feud That Forever Changed The Business of Sports by Barbara Smit. (Founders #109)

Authentic: A Memoir by the Founder of Vans by Paul Van Doren. (Founders #216)

(11:00) The lines between Red Bull, Red Bull athletes, and Red Bull events are blurry on purpose. To Mateschitz, it's just one big image campaign with many manifestations.

(12:00) He has no plans to sell or take Red Bull public. "It's not a question of money. It's a question of fun. Can you imagine me in a shareholders' meeting??

(13:00) Red Bull?s Billionaire Maniac https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-05-19/red-bulls-billionaire-maniac

(16:00) He is universally described as a person with great charisma.

(16:30) The Invisible Billionaire: Daniel Ludwig by Jerry Shields. (Founders 292)

(17:00) He has a fierce desire for privacy. He buys a society magazine to make sure he never appears in it.

(22:00) There is no market for Red Bull. We will create one.

(24:00) Estée Lauder: A Success Story by Estée Lauder.  (Founders #217)

(30:00) the NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger. (Founders #329)

(31:00) Gossip and malicious rumors are worth more than the most expensive publicity campaign in the world.? ? Dior by Dior: The Autobiography of Christian Dior (Founders #331)

(36:00) Control your costs and maintain financial discipline even when making record profits.

(38:00) Cult brands have their own laws, otherwise they would not be cultish.

(38:00) Red Bull is Dietrich Mateschitz and Dietrich Mateschitz is Red Bull.

(38:00) Many companies outsource their marketing and advertising activity. Red Bull consistently took the opposite route: It outsourced production and distribution and takes care of sales and advertising itself.

(40:00) Charlie Munger and John Collison on Invest Like The Best #355 

Rolex: Timeless Excellence on Invest Like The Best 

(41:00) If you are making a physical product make it look different from its competitors from the start.

(43:00) Everything is marketing.

(45:00) Never do anything that compromises your survival.

(46:00) He keeps his empire constantly in motion

(46:00) All corporate projects like Formula 1, football, Air Race, and media serve the core business: the sale of the energy drink.

(47:00) This is a battle for attention.

(49:00) Red Bull owns their events. They never relinquish media rights to any event. They invest in making the content and then they give their content to other media distributors for free. A very clever way to multiply their advertising and marketing spend.

(52:00) The Bugatti Story by L?Ebe Bugatti. (Founders #316)

The Dream of Solomeo: My Life and the Idea of Humanistic Capitalism by Brunello Cucinelli. (Founders #289)

(54:00) Why he moved Red Bull?s headquarters to a little village on a lake: The aim was to create a more pleasant working atmosphere.

(54:00) On why fitness is so important to him: ?Everything that gives me pleasure in life is connected with a certain physical fitness and physical well-being. I like going to the mountain, I like skiing, I like sailing, I like riding a motorbike, I like fooling around - and everything is connected with a minimum of physical agility, motor skills, dexterity, strength, stamina. In order to enjoy it outdoors, I need the indoor program.?

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?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

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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. 

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?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 Jesus: A Biography from a Believer by Paul Johnson. 

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(3:00) 

Churchill by Paul Johnson. (Founders #225) 

Socrates: A Man for Our Times by Paul Johnson. (Founders #252)

Mozart: A Life by Paul Johnson. (Founders #240)

Heroes: From Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to Churchill and de Gaulle by Paul Johnson. (Founders #226) 

(10:00) Jesus was:

-observant

-detail oriented

-maintained intense eye contact

-confident

-decisive

-charismatic

-gifted communicator

(11:00) The most important step when starting anything new is recruiting the people who are going to help you on your mission.

(12:00) No prophet is acceptable in his hometown.

(16:00) Jesus emphasized the importance of humility, gentleness, non aggression. The importance of the pursuit of justice and righteousness. He encourages acts of compassion and forgiveness towards others.  He focuses on inner purity, sincerity, and a genuine heart. He commends those who work towards reconciliation, harmony, and peace.

(17:00) Some of Jesus?s maxims:

Love your enemies.

If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.

Judge not and you will not be judged.

Forgive and you will be forgiven.

(18:00) A summary of Jesus?s teaching in two words: Be kind.

(18:00) He turned compassion, which all of us feel from time to time for a particular person, into a huge overarching gospel of love. He taught the love of mankind as a whole.

(26:00) Jesus taught to change and improve yourself. He led by example and encouraged imitation. Those that changed themselves, changed the world.

(27:00) Jesus?s new 10 commandments:

1. Each of us must develop a true personality. Each of us is unique. Develop your character.

2. Abide by universality. See the human race as a whole.

3. Give equal consideration to all.

4. Use love in all your human relationships, at all times, and in every situation.

5. Show mercy.

6. Balance. Keep your head even when others are losing theirs.

7. Cultivate an open mind.

8. Pursue truth.

9. Judiciously use your power.

10. Show courage.

(34:00) Join my personal email list to get updates about the new Founders conference

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?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

 

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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. 

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?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