Podcast Summary: "How I Invest with David Weisburd"
Episode E238: "Acting Fast and Slow"
Date: November 9, 2025
Host: David Weisburd

Overview of the Episode

In this introspective episode, host David Weisburd reflects on lessons learned from his recent interview with Dave Fontenot, the founder of HF0, and personalizes those insights for his own work and investment approach. Weisburd dives deep into the psychology behind "fast" versus "slow" dopamine—immediate versus delayed gratification—and how these neurobiological drivers profoundly shape both our productivity and our ability to unlock transformative business outcomes. He further ties these principles into real-world examples from high-performing investors and builders, including Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt, highlighting strategies to foster deep work, resist distractions, and prioritize high-leverage, long-term projects.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Impact of HF0 and Dave Fontenot on Working Style

• Weisburd credits his interview with Dave Fontenot as a catalyst for rethinking his work habits.
• He and his business partner Curtis now consciously block out uninterrupted work time, sometimes working from separate locations to avoid interrupting each other with short-term, immediate needs.
  • "We've constructed our day in a way to allow for long periods of uninterrupted work... so as not to be tempted to interrupt each other over short-term needs." (00:15)

2. Fast vs. Slow Dopamine: Phasic and Tonic Release

• Weisburd draws upon his background in psychology to explain two dopamine systems:
  • Phasic (Fast) Dopamine: Immediate, short-term reward (“the like,” message, or notification)—strongly linked to addictive behaviors, e.g. gambling.
  • Tonic (Slow) Dopamine: Sustained, long-term reward (“delayed gratification”), represented by working on important-but-not-urgent projects.
• Using a two-by-two matrix, he identifies the “important and non-urgent” quadrant as the key to breakthrough results (the “10x boosters”).
  • "The part of the matrix that is important and non-urgent is the slow dopamine release... Those are the 10x boosters and the real unlocks in your business." (01:23)

3. HF0’s Approach: Extreme Outcomes via Deep Work

• Shares context about HF0: 11 batches of 10 companies (110 companies total), with a hit rate that “exceeds Sequoia.”
• Companies in HF0’s program often skyrocket from $500K-$1M ARR in week zero to $10M ARR by week 12.
  • "They have a hit rate that exceeds Sequoia in terms of being able to pick winners... companies will come in with half a million or a million dollars in ARR in week zero and by week 12 get to 10 million ARR." (02:15)
• The “monk mode” focus—extreme, undistracted, long-form sprints, often in isolation—enables this rapid acceleration.
  • "We talk about in the interview about the ability to go into monk mode, to be locked in the basement and just focused..." (03:20)

4. Our Bias for Fast Rewards

• Human behavior is driven by subconscious processes, primarily oriented around immediate gratification.
• Weisburd compares the “junkie” mentality (seeking only fast rewards, leading to destructive patterns) to the “surgeon” mentality (years of deferred gratification, leading to mastery).
• This tension exists in daily work: replying to emails and ticking boxes gives quick hits of dopamine but doesn’t move the needle on core business objectives.
  • "We get that super fast dopamine release. We're literally neurobiologically wired where that actually does not align with the business goals. The business is actually driven by the slow dopamine, the long-term rewards cycles." (06:25)

5. Conscious Re-engineering of Work Patterns

• First step: Recognize and name our bias for immediate rewards.
• Second: Start each day asking, “What is the one long-term project I could tackle today that would make everything else less important?”
  • "Step two is starting the day with a question which is if I could do one thing today, one long term project, and that would make everything else pale in comparison... what would that one thing be?" (07:05)

6. Ryan Hoover’s Systematic Productivity

• Ryan Hoover, founder of Product Hunt, thinks in terms of “products to build” rather than merely “processes to run.”
• Even if it takes two weeks to build an automation that only replaces a 45-minute daily task, the break-even comes quickly, and the long-term gains compound dramatically.
  • "So you have a process running for three, four years, you have two months you pay for upfront and then you have five years and 10 months of scalability and of efficiency." (09:03)

7. “Acting Slow” as a Strategic Superpower

• Weisburd introduces “Acting Slow vs. Fast,” inspired by Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow.
• Although biology and evolution wire us for immediate action, what sets humans apart is our capacity to notice and interrupt these subconscious drives—and act with intention, focusing on long-term outcomes.
  • "Unlike other primates and unlike other animals, the thing that differentiates humans is our ability to make the subconscious conscious and to effect that change at the conscious level." (11:20)

8. Final Takeaway: The Enormous Leverage in Thinking Slow

• Deliberate focus on the “slow dopamine” path is directly linked to 20X returns over short windows (as seen in HF0).
• This strategic patience and prioritization unlocks exponential upside for founders, investors, and anyone optimizing for long-term value.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On structuring for deep work:
  "We've constructed our day in a way to allow for long periods of uninterrupted work." (00:15)

• On the business value of slow dopamine:
  "The business is actually driven by the slow dopamine, the long-term rewards cycles." (06:25)

• On conscious intervention:
  "The thing that differentiates humans is our ability to make the subconscious conscious and to effect that change at the conscious level." (11:20)

• On why process automation compounds results:
  "If you do that twice a day... that break even [is] in 60 days. So after two months, everything's gravy." (09:25)

Key Timestamps

• 00:15 — Impact of Dave Fontenot interview; restructuring for focused work
• 01:23 — Explanation of phasic vs. tonic (fast vs. slow) dopamine
• 02:15 — HF0’s company performance statistics
• 03:20 — Importance of "monk mode" for deep work
• 06:25 — Hardwiring of fast dopamine and its misalignment with business goals
• 07:05 — Daily practice for prioritizing long-term projects
• 09:03 — Case study: Ryan Hoover's approach to automation
• 11:20 — Human capacity to rewire our instincts

This episode offers a compelling synthesis of neuroscience, behavioral psychology, and practical advice on how high-performing individuals and organizations can win by deliberately choosing “slow dopamine”—powering outsized, enduring results. David Weisburd’s personal and actionable reflections, paired with case studies from HF0 and Product Hunt, make this essential listening (and reading) for investors and builders seeking to break out of the cycle of short-termism.