What I learned from reading How To Succeed in Mr. Beast Production and how ideas from Sam Zell, Charlie Munger, Nick Sleep, Warren Buffett, Sam Zemurray, Bob Kierlin, Steve Jobs, Li Lu, Edwin Land, Larry Ellison, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, James Cameron, Anna Wintour, Walt Disney, Bernard Arnault, and Brad Jacobs immediately came to mind. ---- Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's great...
Sep 27, 2024•45 min
The best investors are not investors at all. They're entrepreneurs who have never sold. — Nick Sleep Nick Sleep’s letters are a masterclass on the importance of understanding the underlying reality of a business — what he calls the engine of its success. I read all 110,000 words of Nick’s letters (twice!) to make this episode and what I found most important is Nick’s ability to develop a deep understanding of “honestly run compounding machines” (like Costco and Amazon) years before everyone else...
Sep 16, 2024•56 min
How Nick Sleep and Qais Zakaria built their radically unconventional investment partnership. From the incredible book Richer, Wiser, Happier: How The World's Greatest Investors Win In Markets and Life by William Green. ---- I’m doing a LIVE podcast in New York next Monday with Patrick from Invest Like The Best. It’s FREE to attend because of the great people at Ramp ! Space is limited so register here fast! Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your ...
Sep 10, 2024•45 min
I sent a friend this text: I'm working on another Li Lu episode but this one is about his remarkable investing career. Can be summarized by: 1. Studied Buffett and Munger. 2. Did that. Last episode was about how Li Lu survived one of the most horrific childhoods imaginable. This episode covers how he thinks about investing and entrepreneurship—in his own words. Sources: The forward to the Chinese edition of Poor Charlie’s Almanack written by Li Lu Li Lu's Colombia Business School lecture 2006 Li...
Sep 06, 2024•1 hr 24 min
Charlie Munger said that Li Lu was the only outsider he ever trusted with his money. Decades before Li Lu made Munger half a billion dollars, Li survived one of the most horrific childhoods imaginable: Born into poverty, abandoned, hungry, beaten, surrounded by death. Persistent. Smart. Disciplined. Intensely curious. Obsessed with reading and learning. Determined to escape. This is a story you absolutely cannot miss. What I learned from reading Moving The Mountain: My life in China from the Cul...
Aug 26, 2024•38 min
Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger said it was a crime that more business schools didn't study Henry Singleton. I think it's a crime that more entrepreneurs don't study Estée Lauder. She is one of the best founders to ever do it. This is the story of how she went from a childhood obsession, to a single counter in a beauty salon, to a multibillion dollar empire. This is my third time reading this book. It gets better every time I read it. This episode is what I learned from rereading Estée: A Succ...
Aug 18, 2024•58 min
Since its founding in 1967 Fastenal has grown from a small fastener store in Winona, Minnesota, into a multibillion-dollar global organization. How did a small town “nuts and bolts” shop become one of the world's most dynamic growth companies? Whenever asked, company founder Bob Kierlin attributes Fastenal's success to the company's high-quality employees and their commitment to a common goal: Growth Through Customer Service. What I learned from reading The Power of Fastenal People by Robert Kie...
Aug 12, 2024•57 min
The name of Nobel usually calls to mind Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, and the internationally prestigious prizes that bear his name. But Alfred was only one member of a creative and innovative family who built an industrial empire in prerevolutionary Russia. The saga begins with an emigre from Sweden, Immanuel Nobel, who was an architect, a pioneer producer of steam engines, and a maker of weapons. Immanuel's sons included Alfred; Robert, who directed the family's activities in the Caspian...
Aug 07, 2024•1 hr 6 min
What I learned from having dinner with John Mackey and reading his autobiography The Whole Story: Adventures in Love, Life, and Capitalism. ---- Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more. ---- Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founder...
Jul 28, 2024•1 hr 34 min
What I learned from reading What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir by Haruki Murakami. ---- Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ---- Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event ---- (3:01) No matter how mundane some action might appear, keep at it long e...
Jul 21, 2024•59 min
What I learned from reading The Tinkerings of Robert Noyce: How the Sun Rose on Silicon Valley by Tom Wolfe. Read The Intel Trinity: How Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove Built the World's Most Important Company by Michael Malone with me. ---- Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ---- Build relationship...
Jul 12, 2024•58 min
What I learned from reading The House of Arnault by Brad Stone and Angelina Rascouet. ---- Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ---- Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event ---- (3:00) While other politicians were content to get their information from a scattering o...
Jul 04, 2024•44 min
What I learned from reading Sam Walton: The Inside Story of America's Richest Man by Vance Trimble. ---- Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ---- Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event ---- (2:30) Sam Walton built his business on a very simple idea: Buy cheap. Sel...
Jun 29, 2024•1 hr 33 min
What I learned from reading How To Be Rich by J. Paul Getty. ---- Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event ---- "Learning from history is a form of leverage." — Charlie Munger. Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. You can also ask SAGE (the Founders Notes AI assistan...
Jun 23, 2024•1 hr 4 min
What I learned from reading As I See it: The Autobiography of J. Paul Getty by J. Paul Getty. ---- Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event ---- "Learning from history is a form of leverage." — Charlie Munger. Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. You can also ask SAG...
Jun 15, 2024•1 hr 30 min
What I learned from reading about Hans Wilsdorf and the founding of Rolex. ---- Build relationships at the Founders Conference on July 29th-July 31st in Scotts Valley, California ---- "Learning from history is a form of leverage." — Charlie Munger. Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Get access to Founders Notes here. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. You can also ask SAGE any q...
Jun 04, 2024•57 min
What I learned from reading The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience by Carmine Gallo ---- Learning from history is a form of leverage. —Charlie Munger. Founders Notes gives you the super power to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. You can also ask SAGE any question and SAGE wi...
May 27, 2024•47 min
What I learned from reading Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success by Ken Segall. ---- Learning from history is a form of leverage. —Charlie Munger. Founders Notes gives you the super power to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. You can also ask SAGE any question and SAGE will read all my notes, highlights,...
May 20, 2024•52 min
What I learned from reading Driven From Within by Michael Jordan and Mark Vancil. ---- Relationships run the world: Build relationships at Founders events ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders You can read, reread, and search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. You can also ask SAGE any question and SAGE will read all my notes, highlights, and every transcript from every episode for you. A few questions I've asked SAGE recently...
May 12, 2024•1 hr 36 min
What I learned from reading The Match King: Ivar Kreuger, The Financial Genius Behind a Century of Wall Street Scandals by Frank Partnoy. ---- Relationships run the world: Build relationships at Founders events ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders You can read, reread, and search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. You can also ask SAGE any question and SAGE will read all my notes, highlights, and every transcript from every e...
May 07, 2024•1 hr 16 min
What I learned from reading Disney's Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World by Richard Snow. ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders You can read, reread, and search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. You can also ask SAGE any question and SAGE will read all my notes, highlights, and every transcript from every episode for you. A few questions I've asked SAGE recently: What are the most ...
Apr 29, 2024•1 hr 18 min
What I learned from rereading Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler. ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders You can read, reread, and search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. You can also ask SAGE any question and SAGE will read all my notes, highlights, and every transcript from every episode for you. A few questions I've asked SAGE recently: What are the most important leadership lessons from hi...
Apr 22, 2024•1 hr 47 min
What I learned from rereading George Lucas: A Life by Brian Jay Jones. ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders You can read, reread, and search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. You can also ask SAGE any question and SAGE will read all my notes, highlights, and every transcript from every episode for you. A few questions I've asked SAGE recently: What are the most important leadership lessons from history's greatest entrepreneu...
Apr 12, 2024•1 hr 59 min
What I learned from reading Steven Spielberg: A Biography by Joseph McBride. ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders You can read, reread, and search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. You can also ask SAGE any question and SAGE will read all my notes, highlights, and every transcript from every episode for you. A few questions I've asked SAGE recently: What are the most important leadership lessons from history's greatest entre...
Apr 04, 2024•1 hr 39 min
What I learned from reading Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino. ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders Some questions other subscribers asked SAGE: I need some unique ideas on how to find new customers. What advice do you have for me? What are some strategies that Cornelius Vanderbilt used against his competitors? How did Edwin Land find new employees to hire? Any unusual sources to find talent? What are the most important leadership lessons from history's greate...
Mar 30, 2024•1 hr 6 min
What I learned from reading Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness: Being Very Good Is No Good,You Have to Be Very, Very, Very, Very, Very Good by David Ogilvy and Ogivly & Mather. ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes Some questions other subscribers asked SAGE: I need some unique ideas on how to find new customers. What advice do you have for me? What are some strategies that Cornelius Vanderbilt used against his competitors? How did Edwin Land find n...
Mar 24, 2024•32 min
What I learned from reading The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant. ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes ---- Follow Founders Podcast on YouTube ---- (1:00) This is a 100 page biography of the human species (1:00) The Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant (Full Set) (2:30) Generations of men establish a growing mastery over the earth, but they are destined to become fossils in its soil. (4:00) Ruthlessly prioritize how you spend y...
Mar 18, 2024•53 min
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 ...
Mar 11, 2024•1 hr 6 min
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 be...
Mar 01, 2024•1 hr 24 min
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 yourse...
Feb 25, 2024•2 hr 8 min
