Podcast
David Senra
Hosted by David Senra · EN
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Peter Thiel & Josh Wolfe: Harnessing and Securing American Innovation: How Venture Capital Impacts Defense
Dec 9, 201900:06:59Tap to summarizePeter: By my count, there are only two companies that have been started since The Cold War, that are (1) focused on national security, and (2) have reached a billion-dollar valuation: SpaceX and Palantir. [4:00]Peter: A lot of innovation gets driven by smaller companies. This is absolutely critical. When not many people are doing it— if you are one of the few who do it— there is a lot of opportunity. [4:25]Josh: Strength comes in part from technological dominance. Technological dominance comes from brilliant engineers that are inventing cutting edge technologies. [6:20] Josh: Palmer Luckey, Trae Stephens, and Brian Schimpf [founders of Anduril Industries] are authentic engineers that are obsessed with technology. They are constantly thinking about: What does the warfighter need? Where is the white space? Where is the gap? What is China developing? What is Russia developing?How can we put them [US warfighters] with the most cutting edge technologies out there?[6:35][You can read my past notes on Palmer Luckey here.]Josh: Many of these people [those inventing new technology] were inspired by Science Fiction. They are literally going back— 20 years into the annals of comic books and sci-fi movies— and saying it would be amazing if we had that. [7:00] Peter: If you can’t create a business that is worth a billion or more the venture capital model does not work that well. If you start a company that is worth $30 or $100 million that can be quite successful for the person who started that company. For a venture fund if that is the best we did we would be out of business. [9:40]Have Palantir and SpaceX created a template for other startups to follow with the defense space? [Peter]: Well there is certainly proof that it can be done. In both cases, it took a wickedly long time. Close to a decade to start getting significant contracts from the US Military. In some ways, they were not conventionally venture fundable. [10:20] Josh: It helps to reduce market risk. You will have a lot of venture capitalists that say you are focused on the defense industry. The stereotypes of the defense industry are that the defense industry is slow-moving, bureaucratic, very political, they might not pick the best technology, they might instead give the contract the company they have been working with for the past 20 years, etc…So whatever you can do to eliminate that risk [is good]. [If not] It is like we are fighting with ourselves by not equipping the warfighters with the absolute best technology that is coming from some of these early companies. [14:30] Josh: The origins of Silicon Valley were in electronic warfare and defense. There is an aversion for people to want to work on defense-related things. That is a zeitgeist that is growing. [21:30]Josh: I think there is a job society can do —and that is the retelling of a narrative that can galvanize some of the best and brightest to work on American defense. [23:10]Peter: There is always this danger for a tech company to become overly bureaucratized. [29:49]Josh: The one real edge you can have as an investor is a behavioral advantage. For us [at Lux Capital] that means having a longer time horizon than the average investor. We call this time arbitrage. If the average investor is looking for a signal of success in a year or two— and we are looking at something that might not give us a signal for 4 or 5 years —then by definition there will be fewer investors looking to fund what we are funding. The valuations will be lower— and if we are right —the returns for us and our investors will be higher. So we like to look at things that are further out which means they are riskier and more improbable to work. But when they do they work in a really big way. [30:46] Peter: When I started PayPal years ago I was always asked, “Why can’t a big bank do this?” I never had a good answer because in theory, the banks had the scale, more capital, longer time horizons. I think the answer is the internal politics are unbelievably bad. This is true not only in government but also true of large corporations. They become incredibly politicized in ways that are not good for innovation. [39:45] Full video here: Harnessing and Securing American Innovation: How Venture Capital Impacts DefenseLearn from founders who came before you. Every week I read a biography of a founder and tell you what I learned on Founders podcast.If you are looking for something to read check out this list of every book featured on Founders podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davidsenra.substack.com
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“Arming the Rebels!” -Tobi Lütke, Founder of Shopify - Escape Velocity Ep. 16
Dec 6, 201900:19:14Tap to summarizeOn the day I became a billionaire the clouds did not part. The trumpets did not play. Nothing is different. I never set out to be rich. I have very cheap hobbies. As long as I have a gaming PC and a good laptop to do my work on that is all I need. [0:39] What is different about the way you think that allows you to build world-class product? I don’t know if I do anything terribly different from what most people do...I follow my interests fairly wide. I find businesses super interesting. I find finance interesting. I just have questions about the world. And I like exploring those questions.[3:21] In the case of Shopify, it required building a company. Initially, I built a snowboard store and wondered why is it so damn hard to build an internet company? Didn’t we invent the Internet so everyone could do their own thing on it? [3:53]Building a business is one of the most pure forms of self-expression. [4:16] For the past 15 years, I have been completely obsessed with how to build software that makes it easier for people who aren’t technical to start Internet companies. It has been all-consuming. [6:26] Shopify is a collaborative inquiry into “What would the world look like if entrepreneurship would be easy and common?” My hypothesis is that it would be a cooler version of the world than exists right now. [6:48]I really believe in the self-expression of starting a business. It is very pure and it is very important. [7:14]The question Tobi asks himself on a daily basis: What sucks about starting an online business? The answer to that is the next thing we should be working on. If you are not working on that you probably didn’t get the prioritization right [9:25] By default, most people think things happen linearly. The world doesn’t work at all like that. The world works in systems. The good news is we know this in engineering but most of the world doesn’t know this in company building yet. [13:20] What is a business? This is such an interesting question. We talk about this like “Apple did this” and “Google did this”. There is no such thing. There is no monolithic Google. Google doesn’t make decisions. There are 150,000 people at Google. [When Tobi said this my mind went to this interview with Steve Jobs from 1985. When asked how Apple planned to sell to businesses instead of consumers he said, “Our approach is to think of them not as businesses but as collections of people.”] [15:30]There is 5,000 people at Shopify. So how does Shopify get better? We have to. The Shopify of 2012 could not solve the challenges of Shopify of 2020. So how does a company get better? It is not just by getting more people. That wouldn’t lead to exponential growth. That would lead to linear growth. The existing people at Shopify have to get better. You have to requalify for your job every year. How do you do that? A lot of this is culture. A lot of this is systems. [16:06] We have a fairly sizable coaching staff in the organization. It is called Talent Acceleration. This is my point. What is a company? A company is a collection of people. If you want to become better as a company [you need to]help your people have their breakthroughs. [17:12] [The results of Talent Acceleration] It is not just that they [the people in your company] made this one choice better—that person will make every choice they encounter better. How many billions of choices happen at a company in a calendar year? [17:56]Really good feedback Tobi received in the early days of Shopify: Everyone I am meeting in this company is some version of you. You really have to figure out how to hire people that are different than you. That was really good feedback. [23:27] Why would you build a company that is exactly like the other ones? What you should do is build one that is different. As different as possible. To do this you need to figure out your own set of things that you think matter. [31:09]We have a developer acceleration team. It makes way more sense to invest in developer efficiency because you get massive leverage when compared to giving people inefficient tools and then having more people. It makes perfect sense from an investment perspective. [39:36]I would absolutely self identify as the kind of person who had to start their own company. Therefore I did. There is a certain percentage of people who are the kind of people who really, really have to start their own companies. I don’t think this is as rare as we make it out to be. [42:38] New company formation is trending downwards. The opportunities for new business formation has actually been reduced. The Internet is just one big village. There is a Walmart in the Internet space and it wants to own all retail. I’m talking about Amazon. They want an empire. Shopify exists to arm the rebels. We want lots of people to go and compete with Amazon. I think that is really good for the Internet.[49:04] When I start to feel comfortable, when I think I got a handle on what Shopify needs from me, that is when I get really suspicious. That means I need to go back and look broader, to read some far-field books, to try and get some ideas to figure out where my next growth comes from. Ideally, I need to get twice as good by next year to stay in my job. To requalify. [53:04] Full podcast: The Future of Retail “Arming the Rebels!” - Tobi Lütke, Founder of Shopify - Escape Velocity Ep. 16Learn from founders who came before you. Every week I read a biography of a founder and tell you what I learned on Founders podcast.If you are looking for something to read check out this list of every book featured on Founders podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davidsenra.substack.com
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Venture Stories: Investing in Space with Delian Asparouhov and Felix Ejeckam
Dec 5, 201900:06:35Tap to summarizeFelix: What is Akash Systems? We make gear for the satellite communications industry. The world today is going through a revolution and transformation in communications. There is a large number of people who are not connected to the Internet. Around here we get 4G and LTE. Most people in the world are using 2G. The gap between what we could have and where we are today is huge. Satellites are aiming to close that information gap. Akash is enabling the solution for that gap. [0:30]Delian: [How Delian of Founders Fund analyzes Space startups and why he invested in Akash]:1. Is there a real commercial market that already exists? 2. Are you just developing a commoditized product or a highly differentiated product? Akash has developed a material science innovation that is very unique and has massive business implications to their customers. It is a highly differentiated and defensible product. 3. What is the total addressable market? This is an industry where people are willing to spend a lot of money to get online. The current satellite radio business is already a couple billion a year. There will be tons and tons of people buying radios and we will have the best one. There is a risk that one day people won’t be using radios to communicate with satellites but we have been using radios to communicate for a long time. [3:05] Delian: There is an incredible book The Case for Space: How the Revolution in Spaceflight Opens Up a Future of Limitless Possibility. It is the same author that wrote the book that inspired Elon Musk to want to go to Mars. The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must . [10:25]Delian: The most difficult part of space exploration is the rocket equation. The heavier something is that you need to launch, the exponential amount of fuel you need. The ideal end-state for humanity is not bringing any heavy things up and down from Earth. It is having the heavy things built outside of Earth. The only things coming up and down from the surface are people. [12:58]Felix: There is a wave of opportunity coming. I don’t think we have seen the winners in Space. That company may have not been born yet. Google was search engine number 16. They came at a time when Yahoo was already declared the winner. It is still very much early days. [16:57]Felix: Space is not a far fetched idea. There are very real ideas being pushed right now. An example: Recently an NGO asked us to provide satellites to them to help them collect data from fishermen around the world. To make sure they aren’t catching endangered species. There an infinite number of applications. [21:03]Delian: Akash is a company that can start making real revenues in a year. Not in five or ten years. In a year they could start selling radios to commercial operators like Elon and Bezos. They could sell to anyone who needs to communicate with their satellites. That is basically everyone in the Space industry. [31:10]Felix: There are a lot fewer companies making hardware than software. Probably by a factor of 10. Within hardware, there are even fewer [companies] making [hardware] for Space. [32:43] Delian: SpaceX really helped shift the curve. The government used to go to ULA and say we need to launch this satellite. Tell us how much it cost you and we will pay you 20% above that. ULA is incentivized to make the launch cost a billion dollars. When SpaceX comes in and says we can launch it for 100 million the government is obligated to take a serious look. SpaceX has gone through many lawsuits to get to this point. [38:21]Felix: There is an extraordinary, backbreaking demand for data that wasn’t there before. I think that is the justification for so much push into space. That is what is pulling so many companies to make things in space. [42:55]Delian: Space is one of the few places where there is literally uncapped upside. How do you not pay attention to space? [44:23]Full podcast here: Venture Stories: Investing in Space with Delian Asparouhov and Felix EjeckamIf you want to learn more about investing in Space I recommend reading The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport Learn from founders who came before you. Every week I read a biography of a founder and tell you what I learned on Founders podcast.If you are looking for something to read check out this list of every book featured on Founders podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davidsenra.substack.com
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The Tim Ferriss Show #397: Two Questions Every Entrepreneur Should Answer
Dec 3, 201900:06:02Tap to summarizeIf the customer doesn’t scream, you don’t have product-market fit. [7:20]Don Valentine of Sequoia Capital used to say: I am looking to invest in companies that can screw everything up and still succeed because the customer pulls the product out of their hands. [9:15]First, you have to prove a value hypothesis. Only once you have proven the value hypothesis should you test a growth hypothesis. [10:03]The value hypothesis is the what, the who, and the how. What are you going to build? For whom is it relevant? And how is the business model? [10:15]People kid themselves into thinking they have product-market fit because they bought it. The only way to know that you have product-market fit is if you have word-of-mouth. The only way you can get exponential, organic growth is through word-of-mouth. [10:49]All of my best ideas have come from other people. I am just curating. [13:06]Why do you think Crossing The Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers should be read by more folks? The fundamental idea expressed in Crossing The Chasm is there is a natural rate of adoption of every product. That hasn’t changed. The basic premise is there are different people who are willing to adopt at different rates. [16:53]The biggest mistake I see people [entreprenuers] make is trying to start with [sell to] pragmatists because it is the biggest market. They do this because every book or podcast tells them to go after a big market because the ultimate size of market addressed is the single greatest determinate of outcome. That is true but you won’t capture that market if you try to start with that market. This lesson will last forever. [18:53]An example of how Google crossed the chasm: As a business, it exactly followed the Crossing The Chasm philosophy. When they first started monetizing they used text ads. At the time Yahoo offered display ads. Yahoo sold these ads through a salesforce. The minimum was a $10,000 a month contract. Google came to the market with a six-word text ad. You could buy an ad for as little as $1. It was self-serve. The only people who bought these ads were startups [who couldn’t afford the Yahoo ads]. Startups were the desperate. Once Google proved the efficacy of text ads they crossed the chasm into the early majority. They started with startups. They didn’t start with traditional advertising. [21:33] Netflix started as DVD rental by mail. You’d pay $6 every time you rented. It failed miserably. Reed Hastings ran a successful company called Pure Software. One thing that made Pure successful was he changed the business model from a perpetual license to a subscription license. This was controversial in the 90s. He said why don’t we do the same thing at Netflix? Little did he know that was the ideal antidote to the late fees that Blockbuster charged that drove everyone crazy. [24:46]The only way to make outsized returns as an investor or an entrepreneur is to be right and non-consensus. [30:02]Human beings are conditioned to like, or not like, things. [Which means you can change people’s opinions about your product.] [31:22]One of the best parts of teaching is how much you get to learn. [32:10] The President of Wealthfront has a great saying: The definition of a good experiment is one from which you learn not one that succeeded. If there were no surprises you didn’t learn anything. [34:49]Don’t project your own tastes onto other people. This is an enormous mistake my MBA students make. They say, “Well I wouldn’t use that product therefore it is not a good company.” That is irrelevant. [35:29]Full podcast here: The Tim Ferriss Show #397: Two Questions Every Entrepreneur Should AnswerLearn from founders who came before you. Every week I read a biography of a founder and tell you what I learned on Founders podcast.If you are looking for something to read check out this list of every book featured on Founders podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davidsenra.substack.com
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Peter Thiel: The End of the Computer Age
Dec 1, 201900:04:16Tap to summarizeThe question for the United States is what is the best strategy? Is it to go big? To go with a global scale? This has been a thread throughout US history for at least the last 100 years. There was a sense that the US should always operate on an even bigger scale. [21:17]In some sense, this [to lean into the bigness of the country and go even bigger] was a very good strategy for the US. But I think there are ways we need to update this in the world of 2019. It [the reason] is shaped by the rivalry with China. [22:16] When you have a rival that is also big, simple bigness is not necessarily the right strategy. [22:47]The four vectors of globalization: 1) Movement of goods. 2) Movement of people. 3) Movement of capital.4) Movement of ideas.[In the past] It made sense for the US to lean into all four because we would get outside returns due to scale. Today the US has a powerful advantage in two of these. Finance and the Internet. [22:50]In the 1950s the CEO of General Motors could still say what is good for GM is good for America. It would be inconceivable today for the CEO of Goldman Sachs or Google to say the same. [23:50]It is striking how much better China is at moving goods and people than we are. China has had the greatest internal migration of any country in the last 30 years. Shenzhen had 60,000 people in 1980. It has 12 million today. [24:55] The US can scale finance and tech. We are really bad at scaling people. [25:29]There is an urgent need to rethink all of these scale questions. To think about where we can be good and where it will be much more challenging. [25:54]I would say that perhaps we have to switch from quantity to quality. This means back to innovation. Back to intensive growth. Not just doing more of the same. [28:00]The United States needs to settle for greatness. [31:20]Full video here: Peter Thiel delivers the 2019 Wriston Lecture: The End of the Computer AgeLearn from founders who came before you. Every week I read a biography of a founder and tell you what I learned on Founders podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davidsenra.substack.com
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Keith Rabois on How He Invests, Forming a Founding Team, and Funding “Ridiculous” Ideas
Nov 27, 201900:05:19Tap to summarizeWhat is your advice for founders who don’t have an idea yet: I don’t like that kind of founder. As a general matter, I like people who have a very specific idea that they want to pursue. An idea that keeps them up at night. An idea they can’t stop proselytizing etc. [2:18]The general filter I use [for startups] is the more ambitious the better. [4:56] I want half of my VC friends to laugh at the investments I make. If half do not laugh it means I am not taking enough risk. [5:38]As your value proposition becomes more succinct and more powerful sales velocity increases. Long sales cycles are a function of a poor value proposition. [12:46]I am not the “sober analysis founder” type. I am more of the “the world should be different and I am going to will it into existence” type. I don’t like X. I am going to go fix X. [17:23]To me, a startup is a movie. You write the script. You cast the actors. You produce [finance] it. Then you make the trailer. That is how you market it. And then you sell tickets. [20:13]Ultimately —with very few exceptions — there is one real founder who is the driving CEO [even if there are other cofounders]. Someone needs to assume the mantle of responsibility. [27:39]Peter Thiel on the idea for OpenDoor: The idea had to be differentiated enough that it would immediately cut through the clutter. It shouldn’t be boring. It should be so different that you have a shot at making it work. [33:10]I have been trying to find companies to fund in homeschooling. Homeschooling has been under the radar for the last 30 years. Roughly 10% of Americans are homeschooled these days. The evidence of their performance —both academically and socially—is much better than anything else they can do. But it is real friction for the parents. So we can build products that make things easier. No one has done it yet. [44:55]People who are experts tend to know what you can’t do very well. They have mastered the rules. They typically don’t ask enough “why” questions. Why can’t this be done this way? So I like people who kind of don’t know what they are tackling but are fast learners. [Henry Ford had a similar thought. This is a quote from Henry Ford’s biography: “That is the way with wise people--they are so wise and practical that they always know to a dot just why something cannot be done; they always know the limitations. That is why I never employ an expert in full bloom. If ever I wanted to kill opposition by unfair means I would endow the opposition with experts. They would have so much good advice that I could be sure they would do little work.”] [48:13]If you find an extraordinary founder, with a big market opportunity, don’t ask any questions because you will make a mistake. Give them a term sheet. [52:00]The fundamental book about how to build a company is The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh. [1:19:00]Full podcast here: Keith Rabois on How He Invests, Forming a Founding Team, and Funding “Ridiculous” IdeasLearn from founders who came before you. Every week I read a biography of a founder and tell you what I learned on Founders podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davidsenra.substack.com
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Carroll Shelby - The Lost Interview | Ford v Ferrari | Le Mans | GT40 | Complete Life History
Nov 25, 201900:05:39Tap to summarizeThere was something that always fascinated me about something that went fast. I have been very lucky to spend my life around both of them [cars and planes] doing what I want to do. [2:00]I tried business in 5 or 6 different facets. I never found anything that was fast enough for me. I ran a ready mix concrete plant. I ran a bunch of trucks. I tried a lot of things. I tried chicken farming. [8:51]Never B.S. yourself with how things happened. [15:56]I had the ambition to build my own car. What I did was spend a lot of time around the factories that I drove for. I spent one whole summer with Dino Ferrari. I was lucky to get to spend three months with him. He was a fine young man. In my opinion, if he would have lived Ferrari would have been a better company than it became under the old man [Enzo Ferrari]. [16:26]I had to move to California to build my car. I couldn’t build it anywhere else because of the hotrodders [talent]. [22:22]Why Lee Iacocca agreed to give Shelby $25k to build a prototype to beat the Corvette: At the time prototypes were costing Ford $200,000 or $300,000. How are you going to build two for $25,000? [28:29]When you are dealing with the people in Detroit you were dealing with a bunch of slippery, slimy people. In Detroit, 20% of the people did 80% of the work. You were always getting shivs in your back. Detriot was full of a lot of bitter and jealous people when you came in with an exciting project and they weren't a part of it. [29:28]In the beginning, all I wanted to do was build 100 cars. I never even thought past 100 cars because it was so much work. So many things had to happen to just to get to 100 that it was beyond my comprehension [at that time] to think about anything else. After that, we realized there was a much bigger market out there than just 100 cars. [35:34]There were always political problems at Ford [and every other large company]. Unless you take money out of your own pocket and use it you are going to have political problems. [38:25]Shelby American went from two employees to 1,000 in two years. [40:13] Henry Ford II hires Shelby to beat Ferrari at Le Mans in 1966. They ask Henry Ford II what their budget is for this project. Ford says: “Just what it says on that sign. We win Le Man in 66.” That was the beginning of the darndest racing program that has ever been. [58:20] We had a wonderful person [at Ford] named Homer Perry. He was apolitical. He moved everything out of the way. He was one of those rare individuals. We wouldn’t have won Le Man without Homer Perry. He was one of these people who could stay focused and didn’t let anything get in his way. So seldom do you see people like that. [1:06:23] I’d had enough of it and I went to Africa. I lost all interest in 1968. I dropped out for 12 years. I might have been kind of childish. I didn’t have [protection from Ford] when I wanted to do something. I picked up my marbles and went to Africa. [1:10:16]I always loved Africa and wanted to see it before it disappeared. I traveled around Africa for 12 years. I saw it. I’ve never been sorry for it. I didn’t miss anything in the automobile industry. [1:11:54]You see what the cars were in the 1970s. You can see how far the American industry went. The Japanese were making inroads with their little economy cars. Detroit said it would never happen. You can see how many horrible decisions were made in Detroit by everybody in the 70s. I thought I was pretty lucky to be in Africa. [1:13:25]If you build the right thing when it is unpopular that is the right time to build. [1:15:40]I wake up every morning with 10 new ideas. [1:23:07]A wonderful part of having a little company is you can make decisions like that [snaps fingers]. [1:35:11]How would you like to be remembered? I’ve got enough sense to know that nobody is remembered very long. I am interested in living my life today. [1:36:47]If you want to learn more about Carroll Shelby listen to Founders #99 Carroll Shelby and read Carroll Shelby: The Authorized Biography by Rinsey Mills.Full video here: Carroll Shelby - The Lost Interview | Ford v Ferrari | Le Mans | GT40 | Complete Life History This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davidsenra.substack.com
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Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger – How to Build a Great Product – Invest Like the Best, EP. 148
Nov 22, 201900:08:37Tap to summarizeKevin: We had a great run. We created something that a lot of people love in the world. Over 1 billion people use it every month. We had over 1,000 team members. To be 33 and 35 years old and pressing the reset button is this awesome, but harrowing adventure of becoming a beginner again. [3:30]Kevin: We only spent $65,000 to launch Instagram. [11:00]Kevin: Now we are in a place where —for zero marginal costs—you too can have these things [open-source software] at your fingertips. Then it becomes not about access to super tools, but about the knowledge of how to use these super tools. [12:00]Mike: We had a phrase that we used religiously at Instagram: Do the simple things first. [12:26]Mike: Don’t get so enamored by building something super scalable. Just have a deep understanding of the problem you are solving. [14:16]Kevin: Every major change [to the product] that came with a ton of pain was either (A) the best decision we ever made or (B) the worst decision we ever made. [37:31]Kevin: Time spent per user is how we measured it [the growth of the product]. So how many minutes per day [each user used Instagram]. [39:28]Kevin: The person that starts off searching for a great startup idea never finds one. [It is better if] The person starts off with, “Hey, I have this itch. I want to scratch it. I think other people have this problem too. I am going to create something really awesome that solves this thing for me.” [47:06]Mike: I don’t think enough teams think about the opportunity cost of being super pie-in-the-sky. Obviously it is important to have R&D teams in some companies developing technology. Folks often lose sight of problems that could be solved today. [51:11]Kevin: One lesson we learned from our time at Facebook is do not pat yourself on the back ever. We got hit in the face so hard, multiple times, launching products that didn’t work. [1:01:10]Kevin: People will forget your failures. They will remember your successes. [1:01:30]Kevin: I read Getting Things Done by David Allen. One thing I took away from it was you should always have a list [a someday/maybe list] of things that you think are really interesting but you don’t have the time to do right now. [1:20:57] Kevin: I think people who leave their companies get a little dull. They get a little slow. They are not as sharp because they are not managing something every day. [He learned how to fly to avoid this.] [1:21:30]Mike: Never self select out of things because you feel you don’t know them yet.[1:26:39]Mike: Have the open-mindedness to say, “I don’t know that yet. Not knowing that is standing in the way of solving some problem. Then take that learning mentality [and solve it]. That was us over and over again.” [1:27:30]Kevin: Stay super curious. Stay a learner. I think people —if they are lucky—will get through college and they stop learning. And then they stop trying. [1:29:05]Full podcast here: Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger – How to Build a Great Product – [Invest Like the Best, EP. 148Learn from founders who came before you. Every week I read a biography of a founder and tell you what I learned on Founders podcast. If you are looking for something to read check out this list of every book featured on Founders podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davidsenra.substack.com
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Distributed Podcast #14: InVision CEO Clark Valberg on Distributed Design
Nov 18, 201900:02:53Tap to summarizeWhat is InVision?: If you are a digital product designer you need a place to design. To create the actual screens that make your product beautiful. That is InVision. InVision is the place where that design comes to life in a collaborative sense. [2:05] Design is no longer a job-to-be-done. It is an organizational discipline in a world where the screen has become one of the most important places in the world. [2:38][InVision was an internal tool at Clark’s agency] That tool evolved over time. Someone said, “Hey what if we took designs out of Photoshop, connected them together, and turned them into a high fidelity simulation?” [5:45]At what point did you switch to being a fully remote company? I never had the vision to be a remote company. I didn’t think it was the future. I didn’t think it was for everyone. It was a necessity. Every person we tried to hire was also talking to Google, Yahoo, Facebook, etc. They were destroying us for talent. So we asked ourselves: What if we just hired people we worked with in the past as contractors when we had an agency? And what if we just did this at scale? What if we figured out how to make collaboration work where everyone was remote? The next week we shut down the office. [8:04]The percentage of intellectual focus/deep work that happens in your business is a significant driver— or limiter— of your success. The more creative your work the more focus you need. I think real creative work is done alone. [15:20]One thing that is unique about Invision is that everyone is on east coast office hours. I do believe you need a certain amount of hours of overlap. There should be about a 3-hour overlap between most of the teams. [22:47]People assume I am a remote zealot. I am not. I am not religious about the topic. You have to be getting something out of being remote. I just want to hire the best people wherever they are. [24:44]Full podcast here: Distributed #14: InVision CEO Clark Valberg on Distributed DesignLearn from founders who came before you. Every week I read a biography of a founder and tell you what I learned on Founders podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davidsenra.substack.com
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Elon Musk: Neuralink, AI, Autopilot, and the Pale Blue Dot Part 2| Artificial Intelligence Podcast
Nov 14, 201900:05:47Tap to summarizeIf we ask, “Are we headed towards a future where an AI will be able to outthink us in every way?” The answer is unequivocal yes. [3:48]I think there is a lack of investment in AI safety. In my view, there should be a government agency that oversees anything related to AI to confirm that it does not represent a public safety risk. Just as there is the FDA for food safety, NHTSA for automotive safety, FAA for aircraft safety. We have generally come to the conclusion that it is important to have a referee that is serving the public interest and insuring things are safe. [6:59] I would argue that AI is something that has the potential to be dangerous to the public. [7:40]How Elon describes the human brain: We’ve got like a monkey brain with a computer stuck on it. That is the human brain. A lot of our impulses are driven by our monkey brain. The computer—the cortex—is constantly trying to make the monkey brain happy. It is not the cortex that is steering the monkey brain. The monkey brain is steering the cortex. [14:26] The cortex is what we call human intelligence. That is like an advanced computer relative to other creatures. It seems like the really smart thing should control the really dumb thing, but actually the dumb thing controls the smart thing. [15:00]Why Elon is optimistic about adding digital superintelligence to humans in the future: There is room for optimism given that the cortex [which is very intelligent] and the limbic system [which is not intelligent] work together well. Perhaps there can be a tertiary layer where digital superintelligence —which would be vastly more intelligent than the cortex—could coexist in a benign manner with the cortex and the limbic system. [21:01]A car that is autonomous is a four-wheeled robot. An autonomous car will be an eye-opener to people about robotics. Most people have never seen a robot. It won’t be long before there are a million Tesla’s that have autonomous capability. [25:41] The probability of an injury or impact is much lower for Autopilot than it is for a person. [28:14]People get trapped in their squabbles with other humans. They don’t look at the big picture. They take civilization —and our continued existence— for granted. They shouldn’t do that. Look at the history of civilizations. They rise and they fall. Things don’t always go up. That should be an important lesson of history. [31:37] The universe appears to be 13.8 billion years old. Earth is 4.8 billion years old. In another half billion years or so the Sun will expand and evaporate the Oceans, making life impossible on Earth. This means if it had taken consciousness 10% longer to evolve it would have never evolved at all. I wonder how many dead one planet civilizations there are out there in the cosmos. The ones that never made it to another planet and were ultimately destroyed. [33:00]Full video here: Elon Musk: Neuralink, AI, Autopilot, and the Pale Blue Dot | Artificial Intelligence (AI) PodcastLearn from founders who came before you. Every week I read a biography of a founder and tell you what I learned on Founders podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit davidsenra.substack.com
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