Founders

What I learned from rereading Tycoon's War: How Cornelius Vanderbilt Invaded a Country to Overthrow America's Most Famous Military Adventurer by Stephen Dando-Collins.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes ---- Follow Founders Podcast on YouTube  ---- (0:01) Vanderbilt was only interested in two things: making money and winning (3:00) Cornelius Vanderbilt, the descendant of poor Dutch immigrants, would die in 1877 possessing more money than was held by the United States treasury.(3:00) The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles (5:00) The NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger. (Founders #329)  (6:00) “If I had learned education. I would not have had time to learn anything else.” (7:00) Vanderbilt wrote nothing down, keeping every detail of his business dealings in his head, and at any given time he knew his income and expenditures down to the last cent. (10:00) From Founders Notes. I asked the chat feature:

What I learned from reading Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim Grover and Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness by Tim Grover.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes ---- Follow Founders Podcast on YouTube  ----(3:00) What I am giving you is insight into the mentality of those who have found unparalleled success by trusting their own instincts. (3:00) Mozart: A Life by Paul Johnson. (Founders #240) (6:00) Michael was the best because he was relentless about winning. No matter how many times he won he always wanted more and he was always willing to do whatever it took to get it. (6:00) Michael never cared about achieving mere greatness. He cared about being the best ever. (7:00) These are the most driven individuals you'll ever know, with an unmatched genius for what they do: they don't just perform a job, they reinvent it. (8:00) Alex Rodriguez interviews Kobe Bryant  (11:00) The most important thing, the one thing that defines and separate

What I learned from reading Decoded by Jay Z.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes ---- (1:39) I would practice from the time I woke in the morning until I went to sleep (2:10) Even back then I though I was the best. (2:57) Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography  (Founders #219) (4:32) Belief becomes before ability. (5:06) Michael Jordan: The Life (Founders #212) (5:46) The public praises people for what they practice in private. (7:28)  Lock yourself in a room doing five beats a day for three summers. (7:50) Sam Walton: Made In America  (Founders #234) (9:50) He was disappointed in the world, so he built one of his own — from Steven Spielberg: A Biography (Founders #209) (12:47) The Pmarca Blog Archive Ebook by Marc Andreessen (Founders #50) (13:35) I'm not gonna say that I thought I could get rich from rap, but I could clearly see that it was gonna get bigger before it went away. Way bigger. (21:10) Over 20 years into his career and dude ain’t changed. He’s

What I learned from reading The Days of Duveen by S.N. Behrman.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- Founders merch available at the Founders shop ---- Patrick and I are looking for partners. If you are building B2B products get in touch here.  ---- (0:01) Duveen noticed that Europe had plenty of art and America had plenty of money, and his entire astonishing career was the product of that simple observation. (2:30) The great American millionaires of the Duveen Era were slow-speaking and slow-thinking, cautious, secretive, and maddeningly deliberate. (3:30) How Larry Gagosian Reshaped The Art World by Patrick Radden Keefe. (Founders #325) (4:30) Invest Like The Best #342 Will England: A Primer on Multi-Strategy Hedge Funds (6:00) There is an old two-part rule that often works wonders in business, science, and elsewhere:  1. Take a simple, basic idea and  2. Take it very seriously. — the NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit an

What I learned from reading Wildcatters: A Story of Texans, Oil, and Money by Sally Helgesen. ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- Founders merch available at the Founders shop ---- Vesto shows you all of your company's finances in one view. Schedule a demo with Vesto's founder Ben and tell him David from Founders sent you.  ---- (0:01) Family and business were the same thing to him. (1:00) We're one-hundred percent family owned, unincorporated, and independent, and we intend to stay that way. (1:00) He possessed the directness and the utter simplicity of the old and the truly great. (2:00) His unquestioning confidence in the worthiness of his enterprise made him seem impervious to doubts. (5:00) The Morgans always believed in absolute monarchy. While Junius Morgan lived, he ruled the family and the business. Until Junius died his massive shadow dominated his son’s life. — The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and t

What I learned from reading Roots of Strategy by Thomas R. Phillips and Napoleon and Modern War by Napoleon and Col. Lanza.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- Come and build in-person relationships at the Founders Only conference ---- (0:01) Napoleon fought more battles than Alexander, Hannibal, and Caesar combined. (5:00) The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words edited by J. Christopher Herold. (Founders #302) (7:00) Insull: The Rise and Fall of A Billionaire Utility Tycoon by Forrest McDonald. (Founders #336) (8:00) No one should believe more in your business than you do. If this is not the case you are in the wrong business. (11:00) If you do everything you will win. (13:00) Napoleon episodes:  Napoleon: A Concise Biography by David Bell. (Founders #294)  The Mind of Napoleon: A Selection of His Written and Spoken Words edited by J. Christopher Herold. (Founders #302)  (14:00) What is the bigger

What I learned from reading Insull: The Rise and Fall of A Billionaire Utility Tycoon by Forrest McDonald.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- Come and build in-person relationships at the Founders Only conference ---- (0:01) Insull had been in the electric business as long as there had been an electric business. (4:00) He awoke early, abruptly, completely, bursting with energy; yet he gained momentum as the day wore on, and long into the night. Sam had near-demonic energy. (5:00) Sam's most obvious attribute was a capacity for racing through large quantities of reading material, effortlessly perceiving its important assumptions and generalizations, and thoroughly assimilating its salient details. (7:00) He eagerly embraced platitudes: • Idle hands are the devil's workshop • Time is money • Things are simply "done" or "not done" • One reveres one's family • Only that which is useful is good • Survival of the fittest (8:00) O

What I learned from reading How To Make A Few Billion Dollars by Brad Jacobs.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- Come and build in-person relationships at the Founders Only conference ---- (0:01) I'm what's called a moneymaker. I've started five companies from scratch—seven if you include two spin-offs and turned them all into billion dollar or multibillion-dollar enterprises. (2:00) I love working with outrageously talented people to deliver outsized returns for shareholders in public stock markets. (5:00) All of the successful people I know have rearranged their brains to prevail at achieving big goals in turbulent environments where conventional thinking often fails. (5:00) The single most powerful pattern I have noticed is that successful people find value in unexpected places and they do this by thinking about business from first principles. —  Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel (

What I learned from reading the transcripts of Young Oprah on Her Life and Career and Oprah on Career, Life and Leadership.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- Come and build in-person relationships at the Founders Only conference ---- (1:00) Oprah fired her agent and replaced him with a Chicago lawyer named Jeffrey Jacobs. "I heard Jeff is a piranha. I like that. Piranha is good." (3:00) I will just create. And if it works, it works. And if it doesn’t, I’ll create something else. I don’t have any limitations on what I think I could do or be. (4:30) Dr. Julie Gurner’s Ultra Successful newsletter  Dr Julie Gurner's Website  (7:00) Imitation precedes creation.  — Stephen King On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. (Founders #210) (9:00) On getting demoted from anchor to talk show host: I was embarrassed by the whole thing because I had never failed before. It was that “failure” that led to the talk show. (Opportuni

What I learned from reading The Red Bull Story by Wolfgang Fürweger and Red Bull's Billionaire Maniac by Duff McDonald.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- Come and build in-person relationships at the Founders Only conference ---- (1:30) "In literal financial terms, our sports teams are not yet profitable, but in value terms, they are," he says. "The total editorial media value plus the media assets created around the teams are superior to pure advertising expenditures." (2:30) "It is a must to believe in one's product. If this were just a marketing gimmick, it would never work." (5:00) He doesn't place a premium on collecting friends or socializing: "I don't believe in 50 friends. I believe in a smaller number. Nor do I care about society events. It's the most senseless use of time. When I do go out, from time to time, it's just to convince myself again that I'm not missing a lot." (7:30) The most dangerous thing for a bra

What I learned from reading Jesus: A Biography from a Believer by Paul Johnson.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- (3:00)  Churchill by Paul Johnson. (Founders #225)  Socrates: A Man for Our Times by Paul Johnson. (Founders #252) Mozart: A Life by Paul Johnson. (Founders #240) Heroes: From Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to Churchill and de Gaulle by Paul Johnson. (Founders #226)  (10:00) Jesus was: -observant -detail oriented -maintained intense eye contact -confident -decisive -charismatic -gifted communicator (11:00) The most important step when starting anything new is recruiting the people who are going to help you on your mission. (12:00) No prophet is acceptable in his hometown. (16:00) Jesus emphasized the importance of humility, gentleness, non aggression. The importance of the pursuit of justice and righteousness. He encourages acts of compassion and forgiveness towards others.  He focuses on inner purity, s

What I learned from reading Dior by Dior: The Autobiography of Christian Dior and Creators by Paul Johnson.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- (4:00) The Taste of Luxury: Bernard Arnault and the Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton Story by Nadege Forestier and Nazanine Ravai. (Founders #296) (5:00) Opportunity is a strange beast. It frequently appears after a loss. (6:00) Dior was a nobody in his forties, with nothing in his design career to suggest genius. (6:00) When you read biographies of people who've done great work, it's remarkable how much luck is involved. They discover what to work on as a result of a chance meeting, or by reading a book they happen to pick up. So you need to make yourself a big target for luck, and the way to do that is to be curious. Try lots of things, meet lots of people, read lots of books, ask lots of questions. — How To Do Great Work by Paul Graham. (Founders #314) (7:00) Dior told him: “I am not i

What I learned from rereading Les Schwab Pride In Performance: Keep It Going! by Les Schwab.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- (8:00) I didn't know how to ride a bike. We never had one. All the other young kids delivered newspapers on a bike.  He's got no money. He doesn't have a bike. So he ran his routes for two months in order to get enough money to buy his first bike. He’d run nine or 10 miles a day.  (8:00) I was too proud to complain. (10:00) For a poor boy, money was much more important than pride. (10:00) Am I Being Too Subtle?: Straight Talk From a Business Rebel by Sam Zell. (Founders #269) (13:00) I was young. I was cocky. But the same cockiness helped me a lot in going through life. (15:00) The very first sentence describing his very first day in business is mind blowing: I had never fixed a flat tire in my life. (15:00) the NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger (Founders #329) (29:0

What I learned from reading the NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger.  ---- Listen to this incredible conversation between Charlie Munger and John Collison on Invest Like The Best.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- (2:00) The practical wisdom of Poor Charlie's Almanack, this ode to curiosity, generosity, and virtue will similarly compound at successive generations of entrepreneurial readers extend his lessons to their own circumstances. (12:00) Education is the process whereby the ability to lead a good life is acquired.  — Socrates: A Man for Our Times by Paul Johnson. (Founders #252) (22:00) Trust is one of the greatest economic forces on earth. (29:00) Charlie is content to trust his own judgment when it runs counter to the wisdom of the herd. (31:00) Animated: Charlie Munger: The Psychology of Human Misjudgement (31:30) Aim for durability. Durability has always been a first rate virtue in C

Reflections from my dinner with Charlie Munger. Order the new updated version of Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger Charlie Munger episodes: #295 I had dinner with Charlie Munger #286 Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger All I Want To Know Is Where I'm Going To Die So I'll Never Go There: Buffett & Munger – A Study in Simplicity and Uncommon, Common Sense by Peter Bevelin.  #221 Charlie Munger Damn Right: Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger by Janet Lowe. #90 Charlie Munger Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger #79 Charlie Munger Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor by Tren Griffin #78 Charlie Munger Tao of Charlie Munger: A Compilation of Quotes from Berkshire Hathaway's Vice Chairman on Life, Business, and the Pursuit of Wealth With Commentary by David Clark   ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- ---- Founders Notes

What I learned from reading The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success by William Thorndike.  ---- I use EightSleep to get the best sleep of my life. Find out why EightSleep is loved by founders everywhere and get $500 off at eightsleep.com/founders/ ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- (5:00) Tom Murphy] gave me one of the best pieces of advice I've ever received. He said, 'Warren, you can always tell someone to go to hell tomorrow'...You haven't missed the opportunity. Just forget about if for a day. If you feel the same way tomorrow, tell them then-but don't spout off in a moment of anger." All I Want To Know Is Where I'm Going To Die So I'll Never Go There: Buffett & Munger – A Study in Simplicity and Uncommon, Common Sense by Peter Bevelin. (Founders #286) (5:15) Thirty years ago Tom Murphy, then CEO of Cap Cities, drove this point home to me with a hypothetical tale about

What I learned from reading Ted Turner's Autobiography. ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- Listen to Art of Investing #4 David Senra Lessons from the Founder Historian.  ---- (9:00) My net worth dropped by about 67 million per week, or nearly 10 million per day, every day for two and a half years. (10:00) Once to drive home a point about the difficulties of attracting good loyal employees he told me: Jesus only had to pick 12 disciples and even one of those didn't turn out well. (10:00) Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise . (11:00) Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story by Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Founders #141) (13:30) The problem isn't getting rich, it's staying sane. — Charlie Munger (17:00) I learned a lesson that would stick with me throughout my career. When the chips are down in the pressure's on it's amazing to how creative people can be. (20:00) My father always maintained many of the di

What I learned from reading Anna: The Biography by Amy Odell.  ---- 1. If you need tax prep and bookkeeping check out betterbookkeeping.com/founders. It's like having a full time CFO and super cheap grandpa sitting on your shoulder.  2. Vesto makes it easy for you to invest your businesses idle cash. Schedule a demo with Vesto's founder Ben and tell him David from Founders sent you.  Here's the legal disclosures to make the lawyers happy: Vesto Advisors, LLC (“Vesto”) is an SEC registered investment adviser. Registration with the SEC does not imply a certain level of skill or training. More information about Vesto and our partnership can be found here We are entitled to compensation for promoting Vesto Advisors, LLC. Accordingly, we have an incentive to endorse Vesto and its team and services. We are not current advisory clients of the Vesto. 3. I went to Notre Dame and spoke to the Art of Investing class. You can listen to the full conversation here.  ---- (8:00) She knows the ecosystem in which she operates

What I learned from reading How Larry Gagosian Reshaped The Art World by Patrick Radden Keefe.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- (4:00) The dealer has been so successful selling art to masters of the universe that he has become one of them. (5:45) We think of genius as being complicated, but geniuses have the fewest moving parts. Gagosian is simple. He's basically a shark, a feeding machine. (6:00) A novice is easily spotted because they do too much. Too many ingredients, too many movements. Too much explanation. A master uses the fewest motions required to fulfill their intention. (10:00) His own publicist described him as “A Real Killer” (12:00) The Invisible Billionaire: Daniel Ludwig by Jerry Shields. (Founders #292) (17:30) There is always a blueprint. Joseph Duveen was the art dealer to the Robber Barons.  Biographies of Duveen: Duveen: A Life in Art Secrets Of An Art Dealer Duveen The Artful Partners: The Secret Ass

What I learned from reading The 38 Letters from J.D. Rockefeller to His Son by John D. Rockefeller.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- (5:00) My Influence had been extended to all corners of the oil industry.  If I say that I have the power of life and death over oil producers and oil refiners, that is not a lie. I can make them wealthy or I can make them worthless. (7:25) I never thought I would lose. As far as my nature is concerned, I do not meet competition. I destroy competitors. (8:30) Retreat means surrender. Retreat will turn you into a slave. The war is inevitable. Let it come. (9:00) Bring a steel like determination to face all kinds of challenges. (13:45) I firmly believe that our destiny is determined by our actions and not by our origins. (15:45) Alexander the Great: The Brief Life and Towering Exploits of History's Greatest Conqueror--As Told By His Original Biographers by Arrian, Plutarch, and Quintus Curtius