The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

We all know the Steve Jobs who came back in the late 1990s and saved Apple from becoming a footnote. And we've all heard the story of how, in 1985, he was pushed out of the company he'd created.

What we don't know is what happened in between.

Geoffrey Cain spent years reconstructing the decade Jobs spent outside Apple. NeXT spent years losing money. His co-founders left. His investors lost faith. His fortune nearly disappeared. At one point, he was a weekend away from shutting the company down.

Somewhere in those failures, Jobs learned how to become the leader Apple would eventually need.

This is Steve Jobs before he became Steve Jobs.

------

Chapters:

(0:51) Why Steve Jobs Was Pushed Out of Apple

(3:04) Steve Jobs' Failed Coup Attempt to Oust CEO

(4:33) The Failure of Macintosh II

(8:27) Starting NeXT Computers

(9:34) The Story Behind NeXT's Iconic Logo

(11:38) A Perfect Cube: The Impossible Design of NeXTcube

(13:50) What Movies Get Wrong About Steve Jobs

(14:02) The Ultimate Trait Steve Jobs Looked For in Hiring

(14:59) Decision Making By Intellectual Combat

(16:40) Steve Jobs' Reality Distortion Field

(17:25) The Flaw that Almost Destroyed Steve Jobs

(21:25) How NeXT Software Changed Computing Forever

(24:44) Steve Jobs' Self-Sabotages at NeXT

(25:02) Ross Perot and Steve Jobs

(28:48) How Pixar Saved Steve Jobs from Bankruptcy

(29:19) The Realization Steve Jobs Had at Rock Bottom

(31:49) The Last Ditch Effort to Save NeXT Computers

(38:55) Steve Jobs Gets His Revenge

(43:09) Larry Ellison's Friendship with Steve Jobs

(45:05) How Steve Jobs Brought Out the Best in His Employees

(48:08) The Lessons Steve Jobs Learned From Failure

(50:08) Bill Gates and Steve Jobs Rivalry

(51:44) The Funniest Steve Jobs/Bill Gates Moment

(53:43) Steve Jobs Takes Over As Apple CEO

(57:08) How Meeting Laurene Changed Everything

(59:01) Rapid Fire Questions

(59:21) How Steve Jobs Inspired His Team

(1:00:31) Steve Jobs Medical Treatment

(1:01:42) What We Can Learn from Steve Jobs

------

Follow Geoffrey Cain:

X: https://x.com/geoffrey_cain

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

-----

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

+Applovin: Launch your first AppLovin campaign and grow your business: https://applovin.com/shane

+HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/tkp

+Matic: the robot vacuum that does it all—grab yourself a year of free bags here. http://maticrobots.com/shaneparrish

+LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: https://DrinkLMNT.com/TKP
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Baszucki is the co-founder and CEO of Roblox, a platform built around a simple idea: give people the tools and incentives to create together.

In this short conversation we discuss how a health decision saved his son's life and how it changed how he eats, why bureaucracy compounds unless you actively destroy it, monitoring your mind before making decisions, and why the best products often improve by removing complexity.

It's time to listen and learn.

------

Chapters:

(0:00) How Keto Can Help Treat Bipolar Symptoms

(2:38) Connection Between Physical and Mental Health

(3:58) Current Metabolic Routine

(4:40) How Your Metabolic State Affects Decision Making

(5:48) The Signs of a Great Product

(6:32) Bureaucracy is the Enemy of Progress (ALT: Why You Need to Destroy Bureaucracy)

(7:20) Giving Feedback that Actually Motivates

(7:50) The Key to Feedback is Tone

(8:44) The Email You Should Never Send

(9:53) Patterns in Bad Decision Making

(10:38) Principles of Good Decision Making

(11:19) Mental Models for Problem Solving

(11:56) The Gaming World Said the Avatar Was a Disaster. He Didn't Listen. (ALT: Why the Gaming World Hated the First Avatar)

(12:58) When Instinct and Data Disagree

(14:12) Roblox's Magic Decision Making Quadrant

(14:38) Inner Monologue of the Best CEOs

(15:36) Manufacturing Threats to Achieve Alpha

(16:08) Mistakes in Roblox History

(18:30) Biggest Generated Universe in World

(19:33) Roblox Community's Pushback on New Avatars

(20:20) Capital Allocation Strategy

(22:28) Building Incentives on Early Roblox

(24:31) Early Disagreements on API

(26:18) How Erik Cassel Supercharged Roblox

(27:05) The Economic Model that Almost Ruined Roblox

(31:43) How Robux Works

(32:22) Robux as Future Digital Currency

(33:34) What True Focus Looks Like

(35:14) How Roblox Uses AI

(36:11) Age Ban and Verification Policy

(38:29) Is Age Verification Slowing Growth at Roblox?

(38:56) Positioning and Optionality for Long Term Growth

(39:43) The Future of Immersive Gaming

(42:51) Reaction to Ready Player One

(43:48) Advice For To a 16-Year-Old Wanting to Start a Company

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

------

Follow David:

X: https://x.com/DavidBaszucki

------

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

+Applovin: Launch your first AppLovin campaign and grow your business: https://applovin.com/shane

+Matic: the robot vacuum that does it all—grab yourself a year of free bags here. ⁠http://maticrobots.com/shaneparrish⁠

+HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/tkp

+LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: https://DrinkLMNT.com/TKP

NOTE: This episode discusses health and medical topics for informational purposes only. Shane and his guest are not medical professionals, and nothing in this conversation should be considered medical advice. Please do your own research and consult a qualified healthcare professional before making decisions about your health.

NOTE: Shane and guests may hold positions in assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this conversation should be considered investment advice, financial guidance, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always do your own due diligence or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John D. Rockefeller became the richest man the world had ever known by thinking differently about business, competition, and family.

This episode isn’t just the story of Standard Oil. It’s about the principles that built one of history’s greatest business empires and what they can teach us today.

Along the way, you’ll see the rise of Standard Oil, the public backlash that made Rockefeller America’s most hated businessman, the breakup of his company, and the philanthropic legacy that continues to shape the world today.

Enjoy!

------

Chapters:

(00:00) The Making of John D. Rockefeller

(04:56) The Search for Belonging

(07:33) Business Lessons From his Mother

(10:54) The Unlikely Lessons he Learned from His Father

(15:09) When Rockefeller Decided to Get Rich

(17:50) The Relentless Job Search

(21:21) Learning How to Run a Business

(29:49) The Power of a Good Reputation

(34:57) The American Oil Boom

(36:34) Rockefeller's Biggest Early Bet

(43:28) Rockefeller and Henry Flagler

(46:21) The One-Drop Difference

(49:22) Building Standard Oil’s Partnership

(53:06) How Rockefeller Used Leverage

(56:43) From Competition to Cooperation

(01:00:43) Why America Turned on Rockefeller

(01:08:54) The Cleveland Massacre

(01:17:41) Rockefeller’s Private Family Life

(01:25:45) Rockefeller and the Panic of 1873

(01:29:39) A Private Life, A Public Empire

(01:32:50) Standard Oil’s Pipeline War

(01:38:40) Creating the Standard Oil Trust

(01:42:37) The Fortress on Broadway

(01:48:07) The Backlash Against Standard Oil

(01:54:33) Ida Tarbell Takes On Rockefeller

(02:02:00) Rockefeller’s Failed Media Strategy

(02:14:31) How Standard Oil Stayed One Step Ahead

(02:16:06) Breaking Up Standard Oil Made Him Richer

(02:19:40) Why Rockefeller Gave It All Away

(02:26:28) The Weight of the Rockefeller Name

(02:28:52) Rockefeller's Hardest Goodbye

(02:34:22) Why Rockefeller Gave Away Dimes

(02:38:46) The Richest Man Couldn't Buy Time

(02:41:41) John D. Rockefeller’s Legacy

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

------

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

+CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. ⁠https://coinshares.com/⁠
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No company decides to fail. It drifts there one comfortable lie at a time.

Kaz Nejatian took over Opendoor when it was just months away from bankruptcy and set out to rebuild it from the ground up. What happened next shocked everyone.

Most turnaround stories are told years later, by the winner, after the ending is already known. That’s why they always sound clean and polished. This one doesn’t have an ending yet, and it’s anything but clean and polished. Kaz takes us inside while it’s still happening.

We discuss why great companies drift away from reality, why truth has to matter more than feelings, and how competent people who don’t believe in the mission quietly destroy an organization.

He shares the principles behind rebuilding culture, eliminating bureaucracy, making faster decisions, using AI to flatten management, and creating teams that move with speed and ownership.

One of the key things I learned in this conversation is that the comfortable lies that sink a company are the same ones that sink a career.

------

Chapters:

(0:00) How Opendoor Came Back from the Dead

(1:32) How Mismanagement Causes Atrophy

(4:28) The Blueprint that Changed Opendoor

(5:33) Rewriting the Book on Company Turnarounds

(5:57) The People You Hire Is the Company You Build

(6:31) Be a Nuclear Bomb of Truth

(7:52) How to Change a Losing Company Culture

(8:07) Commit to Truth Over Feelings

(8:33) The Most Dangerous Kind of Employee

(9:13) Key Principles to Turning Around a Company

(11:59) Meetings Are a Bug in the System

(12:30) Why It's Rude to Not Disagree

(13:05) Say the Thing Culture

(15:04) How AI Is Supercharging Opendoor

(18:16) Most Powerful Mental Models

(22:50) Why Remote Workplaces Don't Succeed

(24:56) How Opendoor Killed Distractions

(26:09) The Key to Being a Market Maker

(35:20) How Companies Fall Off Course Over Time

(37:24) The Power of Speaking Simply

(43:27) Turnaround Lessons for Life

(51:10) Excellence Is Capacity to Take Pain

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

------

Follow Kaz Nejatian:

X: https://x.com/nejatian

------

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

+Applovin: Launch your first AppLovin campaign and grow your business: https://applovin.com/shane

+Matic: the robot vacuum that does it all—grab yourself a year of free bags here. ⁠http://maticrobots.com/shaneparrish⁠

+HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/

+LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: https://DrinkLMNT.com/TKP

------

Note: ‍Shane and guests may hold positions in assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this conversation should be considered investment advice, financial guidance, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always do your own due diligence or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Giulia Enders has changed the way millions of people think about the human body.

As a physician, microbiome researcher, and bestselling author, she has spent years studying the surprising role the gut plays in everything from digestion and immunity to mood, sleep, metabolism, and long-term health.

In this conversation, Giulia explains how your gut shapes your health, how stress quietly damages it, what ultra-processed foods are doing to you, and what your body’s been trying to tell you all along.

This episode is packed with practical advice you can use right away. You’ll understand your body better and leave with a simple framework for improving your health, without complicated diets, expensive supplements, or extreme interventions.

If you’ve ever wondered why you feel the way you do, this conversation is a great place to start.

------

Timestamps:

(00:00) How A Thriving Gut Can Unlock Your Health

(02:23) Foods to Eat to Improve Gut Health

(07:57) The Link Between Your Gut and Immune System

(09:28) How to Get Prebiotics in Your Food

(10:22) Why Fiber is Key to a Healthy Gut

(10:47) How Cooling Starches Can Help You Lose Weight

(12:48) Why Fiber Reduces Your Risk of Cancer

(14:13) How Sugar Causes Inflammation

(15:40) Are Some Sugars Better than Others?

(16:25) What Your Poop Is Telling You

(17:53) Healthy vs Unhealthy Poop

(20:01) How to Rebuild the Gut After Antibiotics

(22:08) Warning Signs You Should See a Doctor

(23:11) The Best Position for Pooping

(26:26) Constipation: Causes & Solutions

(28:06) Importance of Chewing

(31:07) How Long Does it Take to Heal Your Gut?

(34:25) Why Dopamine is Driving Your Bad Cravings

(36:40) Three Things to Watch Out for on Ingredients List

(36:56) Effect of Alcohol on Gut

(37:55) Is Caffeine Bad for Your Gut?

(39:56) Impact of Snacking on Gut and Metabolism

(41:28) Do Gut Cleanses Work?

(43:07) Are Supplements Worth It?

(44:59) The Benefits of Walking After a Meal

(49:29) The Number One Thing to Change for Better Gut Health

(49:51) Why Sanitizer Isn't the Best Approach to Hygiene

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

------

Follow Dr. Giulia Enders

X: https://x.com/giulia_enders
Check out Dr. Giulia’s Books:
Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ: https://a.co/d/0hqm72mN
Organ Speak: What It Really Means to Listen to Our Bodies: https://a.co/d/07ClmNVu

------

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

+CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. ⁠https://coinshares.com/⁠

+Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane

Check out the Granola Notes

+HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/

+LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: DrinkLMNT.com/TKP
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bill Gurley spent years on Wall Street, built his career as a partner at Benchmark, worked through Uber’s hypergrowth era, and now serves on the board of the Santa Fe Institute, where he studies complexity and systems thinking.

In this episode, Bill shares the mental models he returns to most, including systems thinking, second- and third-order effects, and the importance of understanding both the bedrock of your field and the bleeding edge.

He explains what separates great founders, why storytelling and product instincts matter, how he uses AI across different models, and what he sees coming in open source, China, stablecoins, tokenization, payments, and venture capital.

------

Timestamps:

(00:00) Key Mental Models

(02:02) Investing Journey and Key Players

(05:21) Knowing the Bedrock of the Industry

(08:50) Obsessive Learning in Founders

(10:04) The Silent Edge

(11:44) Surprising AI Use

(13:13) The Future of AI Models

(14:17) Global AI Regulation

(18:12) Impacts of AI on Investing

(19:53) Are There Limitations on Training AI Models?

(23:04) Would You Sit in the Back Seat While Your Tesla Drives?

(24:15) Non-Consensus Opinions

(24:53) Are We Overfunding this Buildout?

(29:40) The Role of Retail Investors and Tokenization

(34:26) What is a Stablecoin?

(37:58) Competitive Mode: Visa and Mastercard

(39:55) AI and Debt Analysis

(45:05) The Craft of Storytelling and Writing

(48:07) Founder Advantage: Product Instinct

(50:12) Real World Lessons from Working With Uber

(52:10) Inside Benchmark’s Success

(59:42) What is Success for You?

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

Follow Bill Gurley

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgurley/

X: https://x.com/bgurley?lang=en

Check out Runnin’ Down a Dream: How to Thrive in a Career You Actually Love

------

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

+CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. ⁠https://coinshares.com/⁠

+Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane

Check out the Granola Notes

+HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/

+LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: DrinkLMNT.com/TKP
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark Pincus is the creator behind Farmville and Words with Friends. He built Zynga into one of the biggest gaming companies in the world and helped shape the early era of social products on the internet.

In this conversation, he breaks down how great founders spot winning ideas early, why most startups build the wrong thing, and how products become part of people’s daily lives.

He shares lessons from building Zynga, missing the opportunity behind social networking before Facebook took off, navigating platform risk during Zynga’s explosive growth, and rebuilding his confidence after major failures.

You’ll learn how to test ideas faster, what separates products people try from products people love, how to avoid “death by compromise” as a founder, and why the best builders stay obsessed with what users actually want.

+ Members get the longer, extended version of this conversation, with additional content not included in the public release. Join Now.

+ +Pre-order Life at the Speed of Play: Launch Products People Love!

------

Timestamps:

(00:00) The Principles of Great Products

(01:34) How to Test if Your Idea Has "Heat"

(04:02) Falling Out with His Father

(06:14) Early Career Fails

(09:27) The Presentation that Kicked him out of Bain

(12:04) The Book of Life System for Making Strategic Decisions

(17:56) Why Your Instincts are Good and Your Ideas are Bad

(22:29) Copying is the Key to Great Product Design

(23:22) System for Building Great Products

(24:05) How to Use "Proven Better New" to Build Ideas

(27:39) Why Deconstruction Leads to Better Products

(29:33) All Founders Go Through This

(35:14) How Zynga Changed Social Gaming

(37:25) Pitching Zynga to Steve Jobs

(40:36) The Fatal Mistake Founders Make

(41:24) The Fight Between Peter Thiel and Sequoia

(43:03) The Explosion of Farmville

(45:45) Zynga's Near-Death Experience on Facebook

(48:36) Why Failure Machines Reveal Your Best Ideas

(49:28) The Thing that Almost Killed Words with Friends

(53:05) Why the Minimum Viable Product Approach is Hurting You

(54:03) Building Fast is More Important than Building Right

(56:19) How Zynga Missed Their Instagram Moment

(58:50) Your Company Should Be a Democratic Dictatorship

(1:02:25) How to Build a Meritocracy in Your Company

(1:03:44) Jeff Bezos' Invaluable Management Trick

(1:05:25) Bezos Hack: Scaling Leadership with Tech Assistants

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

Follow Mark Pincus

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markpincus/

X: https://x.com/markpinc

------

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

+CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. ⁠https://coinshares.com/⁠

+Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane

Check out the Granola Notes

HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/

Join the salty rebellion: https://drinklmnt.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chung Ju-yung built Hyundai because he refused to be stopped.

He is known for turning Hyundai into an industrial force that helped transform South Korea. The company built highways, ships, cars, and entire industries. At its peak, Hyundai accounted for 16% of South Korea’s economic output.

This episode explores how Chung built Hyundai, how he helped power South Korea’s rise, and how hunger, guilt, discipline, and relentless persistence shaped a man who refused to stop when the path disappeared.

------

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:40) Running Away from Home

(12:15) A Lesson from Bedbugs

(17:36) His First Auto Repair Shop

(21:22) The Beginning of Hyundai

(26:09) The Impact of the Korean War

(30:12) The Goryeong Bridge

(37:29) Trust and the Korean Government

(49:41) Competence Over Connections

(55:23) Building a Nation

(01:03:09) Building During the Vietnam War

(01:10:09) Soyang River Dam

(01:15:05) Building an Expressway

(01:23:24) Time to Start Making Cars…

(01:34:34) …And Ships

(01:47:14) The Secret Bid for Jubail

(01:57:45) The 1988 Olympics

(02:01:43) The Chung Family Dynamic

(02:05:08) The Government Crackdown

(02:10:07) Crossing the DMZ

(02:12:16) Diligence Will Overcome all Difficulties

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

------

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

+CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. ⁠https://coinshares.com/⁠
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Winston Weinberg is the CEO and co-founder of Harvey, the AI platform built for the legal industry.

In this episode, Winston explains how AI is reshaping legal work, why judgment becomes more valuable as routine work gets automated, and how to build the prioritization muscle required to move faster, stay focused, and make better decisions when everything is changing.

He also shares the operating principles behind Harvey’s growth: make decisions faster, treat most choices as two-way doors, use stress to build resilience, prioritize the one thing that matters most and the Google Doc that drives it all.

Harvey began with a simple test: take real legal questions, run them through GPT-3, and ask experienced lawyers whether they would send the answers with zero edits. On 86 out of 100 questions, three out of three attorneys said yes.

This is a conversation about AI, law, speed, resilience, and building in a world where the bar keeps getting higher.

------

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) “The List” that Powers Winston’s $11B Business

(00:02:20) How to Say “No” Like a CEO

(00:07:26) The 3 Principles for Strong Decision-Making

(00:08:18) How Harvey is Changing the Legal World

(00:11:36) One Cold Email to Sam Altman that Changed Everything

(00:12:56) The Demo Strategy that Shocked Investors

(00:17:55) Advice Winston Didn't Take

(00:19:34) The Deal that Almost Killed Harvey

(00:21:56) How to Build Resilience to Failure

(00:24:00) How Winston Hacks His Stress

(00:29:36) The Key to Creating a Sense of Urgency on Your Team

(00:31:29) The Kinds of People Not to Hire at Startups

(00:35:09) How to Screen for Resiliency in Interviews

(00:41:49) Winston's Advice for Law Students

(00:45:28) Would AI Make a Better Lawyer than a Human?

(00:48:54) The Future of Agent-Powered Law Firms

(00:49:14) Will AI Cause Law Firms to Shrink?

(00:52:45) Can AI-Only Law Firms Exist?

(00:54:52) Why Legal Costs Aren't Going Down

(00:56:48) Three Principles All Entrepreneurs Need to Follow

(01:00:54) How Winston Defines Success

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

Follow Winston Weinberg

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/winston-weinberg/

Harvey: https://www.harvey.ai/blog/author/winston-weinberg

------

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

+CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. ⁠https://coinshares.com/⁠

+Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane

Check out the Granola Notes.

HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/

Join the salty rebellion: https://drinklmnt.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The AI race, the future of AGI, and the inside story of OpenAI.

Greg Brockman is the co-founder and President of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT and GPT-5. He was the first engineer at Stripe before leaving in 2015 to help start OpenAI.

In this rare conversation, Greg goes inside the moments that built, and nearly broke, the most important AI company in the world.

Greg explains how the original Napa offsite produced the three-step technical plan OpenAI has followed for a decade and the real reason OpenAI had to abandon its pure nonprofit structure.

He then walks through the 72 hours after Sam Altman was fired: where he was when he got the board call, why he quit the same day, how the "Phoenix" backup company was designed at Sam's house the next morning, and the moment Ilya Sutskever's tweet changed everything.

From there, the conversation turns forward: whether we're in a global AI race, how much of OpenAI's own code is now written by AI ("it's hard to know what percent is not"), why OpenAI stopped showing reasoning traces, what a compute-constrained world means for who gets access to AGI, and Greg's answer to the question everyone is really asking: What happens to your job?

-----

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Introduction

00:00:49 Meeting Sam Altman and Starting OpenAI

00:02:40 Building the Founding Team

00:04:25 DeepMind's Lead Over OpenAI

00:04:54 The Change from a Pure Non-Profit

00:06:05 Breakthrough Moments at OpenAI

00:08:22 What Dota 2 Meant for OpenAI

00:10:04 Reasoning Versus Prediction

00:11:59 Tensions Grow at OpenAI

00:15:44 Sam Altman's Firing

00:17:49 Greg Quits OpenAI

00:19:56 Sam Explores Deal with Microsoft's Satya

00:20:28 OpenAI Employees Sign Petition for Altman's Return

00:23:43 Ilya Sutskever Leaves OpenAI

00:24:59 Lessons Learned in Leadership after Sam Ousting

00:28:22 The Thing Ilya Said that Greg Can't Forget

00:32:22 Is AI Going Parabolic?

00:33:24 How Much of OpenAI's Code is Written by AI?

00:36:21 Are AI Chatbots Just Telling Us What We Want to Hear?

00:38:06 The Global AI Race to Reach AGI

00:38:40 What Happens if US Doesn't Reach AGI First?

00:39:49 Are Competing Countries Stealing AI Advancements from U.S?

00:40:38 Why ChatGPT No Longer Shows Reasoning

00:41:47 The Finite Constraints of Compute

00:43:38 On Investing Early in Data Centers

00:46:31 The Future of Data Center Specialization

00:47:52 How OpenAI Will Decide Whose Queries to Serve

00:49:08 OpenAI on Consumer vs Enterprise Models

00:53:05 Data Centers in Space?

01:00:56 What Should AI Regulation Look Like?

01:04:33 The Future of AI-Powered Entrepreneurship

01:04:44 AI and Job Loss

01:07:15 The Skills Young People Should Invest In

01:11:30 What Does Success Look Like For You?

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

Follow Greg Brockman:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thegdb/

Blog: https://blog.gregbrockman.com/

------

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

+CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. ⁠https://coinshares.com/⁠

+Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane

Check out the Granola Notes.

HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/

Join the salty rebellion: https://drinklmnt.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How does one engineer run 40,000 people with 10 daily numbers, zero hobbies, and a $1 billion bet he made in his first year as CEO?

Mario Harik is the CEO of XPO, one of the largest trucking companies in the world. He started as employee #3, learned from Brad Jacobs (who built eight multibillion-dollar companies from scratch), and now leads 40,000 people with a management style shaped by engineering discipline, frontline feedback, and a deep belief in human potential.

Mario shares how he uses real-time data and second-derivative thinking to make decisions, how he hires and develops A players (and the gut test that tells you who isn’t one), how he runs meetings that surface the best thinking from the most junior person in the room, and why ego, complacency, and small goals quietly cap everything.

Enjoy!

-----

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) Defining ego and the importance of continuous learning

(00:00:19) How an engineering mindset translates to business leadership

(00:01:58) Applying engineering frameworks to CEO-level strategy and execution

(00:03:38) Letting go of perfection and understanding how people operate

(00:05:14) Lessons from working with Brad Jacobs and thinking big

(00:07:13) Building strong teams and the importance of feedback loops

(00:08:18) Evaluating talent: skill, work ethic, and collegiality

(00:10:51) Disagreement vs consensus and decision-making in teams

(00:12:50) Service-first strategy and improving customer experience

(00:16:21) Running the business through KPIs, data, and real-time systems

(00:19:41) Learning from frontline employees and feedback loops

(00:22:35) Using technology and AI to track performance and reduce errors

(00:28:35) Coaching employees through data-driven performance insights

(00:29:30) Structuring effective meetings with data and ranked input

(00:32:36) Pre-meeting preparation and leveraging team intelligence

(00:34:29) Identifying and developing talent within the organization

(00:39:48) Hiring frameworks and assessing candidates deeply

(00:47:30) Early life experiences and how they shape perspective

(00:49:27) Analytical approach to risk and decision-making

(00:50:56) Capital allocation and the Yellow bankruptcy acquisition

(00:55:31) Turning strategy into execution through financial tracking

(00:59:23) A/B/C player framework for evaluating talent

(01:02:12) Creating a high-performance environment through belief and feedback

(01:04:18) Evolving leadership style and giving effective feedback

(01:07:33) Core levers of value creation: people, capital, and time

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

Follow Mario Harik:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marioharik/

XPO: https://investors.xpo.com/board-member/mario-harik/

------

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

+Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane

Check out the Granola Notes.

+CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. https://coinshares.com/
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Liemandt is the principal of Alpha School and the founder of Trilogy Software and ESW Capital.

Liemandt dropped out of Stanford to build Trilogy, made the cover of Forbes twice before thirty, became the youngest member of the Forbes 400, then vanished from public life for twenty-five years. But he didn’t stop building. Through ESW Capital, he quietly became one of the most prolific acquirers of software businesses in the world.

Now he’s back with a $1 billion bet that AI can make kids learn ten times faster, and that school as we know it isn’t just inefficient, it’s broken.

At Alpha School, students spend two hours a day on AI-driven instruction and score in the top 1% on standardized tests. The rest of the day is devoted to what Liemandt calls life skills: leadership, entrepreneurship, teamwork, and real projects that kids actually care about.

There are no lectures, and kids don’t move forward until they master the material.

He argues the traditional classroom was designed for a narrow slice of students and wastes everyone else’s time. The fix isn’t more money or better teachers; it’s rebuilding from scratch around mastery, motivation, and AI.

This conversation covers his full arc from sleeping on the floor at Trilogy to being mentored by Jack Welch, to deciding that “kids must love school more than vacation” was a non-negotiable design principle.

He explains how Timeback works under the hood, why he’s comfortable streaming student screens to AI in real time, and how he plans to scale it for a billion kids.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

------

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:08) Is the Current Education System Broken?

(07:01) Alpha School: What is it?

(11:01) Alpha School: Results

(14:55) Ad Break

(16:55) Selection and Affordability

(23:20) Current Classroom Struggles

(26:40) What Does Mastery Mean?

(35:37) Can You Change the System?

(39:19) Teaching Through AI

(44:27) How Do You Solve Motivation?

(57:01) What Makes A Good Guide?

(01:01:04) Coaching Kids

(01:05:17) Teaching Life Skills

(01:08:18) You Can Do Hard Things

(01:13:25) AI Monitoring

(01:21:08) Effort vs. IQ

(01:23:36) Physics for High Schoolers

(01:24:40) What Happens After Alpha School?

(01:37:08) Investing in Yourself

(01:38:21) Conversations with Jack Welch

(01:45:49) Trilogy IPO: The Choice to Not Go Public

(01:51:40) Physical vs Virtual

(02:03:18) Paying Kids To Learn

(02:11:01) What Is Success For You?

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

Follow Joe Liemandt:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liemandt/

Tools to help your kids:

Math up to grade 7: https://www.synthesis.com/tutor

High School Physics: https://physicsgraph.com

Math Grade 8-12: https://www.mathacademy.com

------

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

+Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane

Check out the Granola Notes.

+Shopify: https://shopify.com/knowledgeproject
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Harrison McCain learned salesmanship by talking his way into a pharmaceutical job at 22, then spent five formative years under K.C. Irving, absorbing lessons in vertical integration, relentless deal-capture, and "management by suggestion."

He quit with no plan, two newborn kids, and no income. His brother Bob noticed that New Brunswick potato farmers were shipping raw potatoes to Maine for processing into frozen fries, then buying the finished product back. The McCains pooled $100,000 in family money, assembled capital from five different sources without giving up equity, and built a plant on a cow pasture in Florenceville.

The company's core strategy was to avoid competition entirely: enter markets where frozen fries didn't exist, prove the market by exporting first, hire locals, and only build a factory after the numbers justified it.

The U.S. was the one market that scared Harrison, and he patiently waited 16 years before a $500 million acquisition of Ore-Ida's foodservice division finally cracked it. Along the way, Harrison nearly destroyed his most important customer relationship with McDonald's by telling their buyer he didn't need to tour his plant, a mistake that took years to repair.

By the time he died in 2004, McCain Foods operated 57 factories across six continents, sold in 160 countries, and processed a million pounds of potato products every hour.

-----

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:03) The Offer

(04:35) Learning From the Best

(12:30) Time to Build

(19:45) Going Global

(27:57) The McDonald’s Mistake

(31:17) The Operating Principles

(33:24) Florenceville: I Like it Here

(36:10) Characteristics of an Entrepreneur

-----

Upgrade: Get a hand edited transcripts and ad free experiences along with my thoughts and reflections at the end of every conversation. Learn more @ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Connor Teskey is the new CEO of Brookfield Asset Management, one of the world’s largest investors, managing about a trillion dollars across infrastructure, power, real estate, private equity, and credit.

In this exclusive in-depth interview, his first as CEO, we explore his approach to capital allocation, isolating variables, and building a business designed for long-term growth.

Discover why effective investing begins with minimizing losses, how waiting for perfect information can result in missed opportunities, the strategies Brookfield uses to manage market risk while maintaining upside potential, and the key insights he gained working alongside Bruce Flatt.

This discussion goes beyond investment strategies, offering a glimpse into Connor's perspective on decision-making in an uncertain environment, mentorship, culture, positioning, and talent.

It's a rare inside look at the operations of one of the world's most tight-lipped firms.

Enjoy!

-----

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:05) State of the Union for Brookfield

(04:14) Nature of Investing

(07:24) The Rise to Brookfield

(12:06) Your Work Ethic is in Your Control

(17:30) Ad Break

(19:00) Data Center Deep Dive

(22:22) How Does a Deal Come to Be?

(29:34) Taking Bets Against Consensus

(32:00) What Happens Post Business Acquisition?

(40:44) Ad Break

(41:55) Lived Experience Through Crashes

(43:44) Where Does Talent Matter the Most at Brookfield?

(47:10) Identifying Talent

(58:18) Using AI to Increase Value Not Cut People

(01:01:58) When Was Brookfield the Underdog?

(01:03:38) Personal Ambition Over the Next 20 Years

(01:10:34) Behind The Scenes of Oaktree

(01:15:17) Work and Life Harmony

(01:17:54) Time Allocation

(01:19:58) The Most Fun Deal to Work On

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

Follow Connor Teskey:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-teskey-67931326b/?originalSubdomain=uk

------

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

+Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane

Check out the Granola Notes: https://notes.granola.ai/t/b0c2c94e-a330-4f0f-a62d-beb3c946a539-009c2hma

+Download The League App today and find your perfect match! https://click.theleague.com/qmhm/0vdzsmj5

+Shopify: https://shopify.com/knowledgeproject

-----

* Note: ‍Shane and guests may hold positions in assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this conversation should be considered investment advice, financial guidance, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always do your own due diligence or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bill Marriott built the largest hotel company in the world. But he didn’t open his first hotel until he was 55 and he fought against it the whole way.

In fact, the man that would go on to build the world’s largest hotel chain started with a nine-seat root beer stand in Washington, DC and a simple goal: serve people well and build something that lasts.

In this episode of Outliers, we explore how Marriott turned that single stand into huge hotel empire without a master plan. In fact, before hotels, he even made a detour to start the airline catering industry.

We break down his obsession with downside risk, how he isolated variables like location, and why his refusal to rely on forces he couldn’t control allowed him to expand during the Great Depression while his competitors folded.

-----

Approximate Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(03:58) Ice Cold Root Beer

(10:35) The Hot Shoppe Expansion

(12:07) Building the Machine

(20:07) The Airport Expansion

(24:20) The Marriott Lessons

(26:22) The Hotel Empire

(30:53) Handing Over the Presidency

(35:01) The End of an Era

-----

Upgrade: Get a hand edited transcripts and ad free experiences along with my thoughts and reflections at the end of every conversation. Learn more @ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robinhood's co-founder reveals the brutal reality of surviving an 80% market crash, going "founder mode" to cut corporate bloat, and what actually happened during GameStop.

Vlad Tenev is the co-founder and CEO of Robinhood. Not only did he navigate the unprecedented GameStop crisis, but he completely re-engineered the fintech giant to thrive.

He breaks down the brutal transition from bloated hyper-growth to a lean machine, why a "juicy falsehood is more powerful than a boring truth", and the 3 distinct phases of AI integration separating the winners from the dead.

Believe it or not, GameStop was not his hardest moment.

-----

Approximate Timestamps:

(00:00) The Unprecedented Crisis
(00:33) The Truth About GameStop
(09:30) Why False Narratives Win
(10:39) Surviving an 80% Market Crash
(16:02) Firing the Nice Founder & Going Founder Mode
(24:25) Rules for High Performance
(28:50) The Young Talent Advantage
(35:13) First Principles Storytelling
(39:07) 3 Phases of AI Integration
(50:03) Building AI That Reasons
(01:02:59) Fixing Private Market Access
(01:20:04) Deciding What to Build Next
(01:22:05) Surviving 1800% Inflation
(01:31:22) How Robinhood Makes Money
(01:39:51) Redesigning the Modern Bank
(01:47:47) The Definition of Success

-----

Check out Vlad:
https://investors.robinhood.com/management/vlad-tenev
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vlad-tenev-7037591b/

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

------

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

+Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane

Check out the Granola Notes

+Download The League App today and find your perfect match! https://click.theleague.com/qmhm/0vdzsmj5

+Shopify: https://shopify.com/knowledgeproject

+.tech domains: Nothing says tech like being on .tech https://get.tech/

And a Big shout out to Wouter Teunissen who prepared a book on Robinhood that helped me prepare!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Phil Knight is the founder of Nike, the brand that reshaped sports and became one of the most powerful companies in the world.

What would you do if your bank, your supplier, and your government all turned against you at the same time? Phil Knight didn’t have to imagine it. He lived on the edge of insolvency for nearly two decades.

This Outliers episode explores belief, trust, fear, and the price of growth through the story of Nike’s founding.

-----

Approximate Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:07) Lessons From Phil Knight

(11:25) How It All Began

(15:56) The Waiting Game

(22:26) The Darker Times

(32:56) The End of the Customs War

-----

Upgrade: Get a hand edited transcripts and ad free experiences along with my thoughts and reflections at the end of every conversation. Learn more @ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nicolai Tangen is the CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund. He is responsible for managing $2.1 trillion. That's roughly 1.7% of every listed company on earth.

In this episode, we explore the intersection of massive wealth, high-speed decision-making, and the psychological traits required to survive the AI revolution.

-----

Approximate Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:09) What Are You Leaning Against?

(03:17) Tech Sector Evolution

(04:15) The AI Bubble

(05:44) Will AI Replace Humans in Investing?

(06:24) Lessons on Listening

(09:15) American vs. European Mindset

(12:09) Prime Minster For a Day

(14:27) Most Important Data

(16:00) Speed and Agility

(17:05) Ad Break

(18:35) Using Urgency as a Tool

(20:12) Can You Teach People to Change Their Minds?

(22:14) Positive and Negative Comments

(22:56) Testing Assumptions Before a Big Investment

(25:07) Attitude Towards Risk

(28:33) What’s Gotten Harder in Investing?

(29:07) The Rise of Passive Investing

(33:42) Why Did You Take This Job?

(35:04) Ad Break

(36:14) Sovereign Wealth Funds

(38:24) Voting Against Elon Musk’s Pay Package

(39:08) Building Long-Term Thinking

(43:17) Slowing Down Decisions

(45:13) Seeking Out Disagreement

(48:08) Hiring Checklist

(49:15) 140 Conversations To Prepare For A Huge Role

(53:33) CEO Evaluation

(01:01:25) What is Success For You?

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

Follow Nicolai Tangen:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolai-tangen/?originalSubdomain=no

Learn More: https://www.nbim.no/en/about-us/leader-group/leadergroup-persons/nicolai-tangen/

------

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

+Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane

Check out the Granola Notes

+Download The League App today and find your perfect match!

+Shopify: https://shopify.com/knowledgeproject
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Ovitz co-founded CAA and helped reshape Hollywood, then took the same playbook into tech investing and advising founders.

In this conversation, he breaks down the operating rules that kept CAA from losing clients, and the personal disciplines that kept him grounded when the stakes got massive.

You’ll learn how to build momentum, tell the truth without hesitation, read for context instead of noise, hire people who raise the standard, and package ideas into outcomes.

-----

Upgrade: Get a hand edited transcripts and ad free experiences along with my thoughts and reflections at the end of every conversation. Learn more @ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Approximate Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(00:58) Appetite For Learning

(03:41) Always Tell The Truth

(05:50) The Loneliest Professions

(08:17) Where Does Hollywood Go Wrong?

(10:16) Importance of Being Well Read

(16:42) Don’t Fight Your Job

(18:28) Managing Relationships

(19:15) Ad Break

(20:46) Hiring Top Performers

(22:35) Creating Depth in Knowledge

(26:47) Staying Grounded

(30:27) What Do You Look For in People?

(33:28) A Meeting with Marc Andreessen

(36:44) Being Fearless

(42:12) Allow People to Keep Their Dignity

(43:42) You Fail, So What?

(47:48) Advice From Michael Crichton

(49:46) What Drives You Today?

(52:49) What This Generation Really Wants to Learn

(57:51) The Woke Culture Influence

(01:01:30) How Do You Keep Up With the Flow of Information?

(01:11:30) What Makes A Good Leader?

(01:14:13) Business Education Curriculum

(01:16:28) How Do You Gain Momentum?

(01:18:16) How Important is Packaging?

(01:24:43) What Would You Tell Your Younger Self?

(01:26:30) How Important is Trust?

(01:29:15) What is Success For You?

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠

------

Thank you to the sponsors for this episode:

Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane

Check out the Granola Notes

Download The League App today and find your perfect match!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ray Kroc turned McDonald’s from a single roadside restaurant into a system built to scale.

At 52, after decades selling paper cups and milkshake machines, he opened the first McDonald’s in 1955 and helped grow it to nearly 8,000 restaurants worldwide.

This Outliers episode breaks down how standards, execution, franchising, and real estate created a business machine built to last.

-----

Approximate Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:46) Turning Dreams Into Action

(10:05) The Multimixer

(15:51) America's Roadside Revolution

(22:58) Building the Machine

(32:14) What Ray Kroc Really Built

(43:12) Epilogue: Grinding it Out

-----

Upgrade: Get a hand edited transcripts and ad free experiences along with my thoughts and reflections at the end of every conversation. Learn more @ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership

------

Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

------

Follow Shane Parrish:

X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠

Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices