Smart Friends - podcast cover

Smart Friends

Eric Jorgensonwww.ejorgenson.com
Casual conversations with founders, technologists, investors, and artists about building a brighter future, together. Welcome to our digital living room.  With science, technology and entrepreneurship we can *continue* to create unfathomable leaps in quality of life. We show you how to find, apply, build, and invest in technologies to change your life and the world.  When we have smart friends, we do smart things. When we do smart things, we save the world.  No matter who, where, or when you are – now you have smart friends, too.  Outside this podcast, I’m the author of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant and The Anthology of Balaji. Connect at ejorgenson.com  Laugh and learn with people like Balaji Srinivasan, Naval Ravikant, Andrew Wilkinson, Austen Allred, David Senra, Josh Storrs Hall, Ashley Rindsberg, Zach Pettet, Bret Kugelmass, Omar ElNaggar, Grace Guo, Brett Kopf, Max Olson, Chris Williamson, Shane Mac, Tim Hwang, David Perell, Jason Hitchcock, Natalia Karayaneva, Sebastian Marshall, Taylor Pearson, Mitchell Baldridge and more. Join conversations with my partners in early-stage tech investing, Bo Fishback and Al Doan. Our Rolling Fun Episodes cover our investments and escapades as angel investors and startup helpers. We invest in startups creating the *next* industrial revolution. Learn more at rolling.fun “Surround yourself with people who remind you more of your future than of your past.”
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Episodes

The Book of Elon - Part 4

Welcome to the free audiobook of The Book of Elon: A Guide to Purpose and Success . This is Part 1 of 4. I’ve made all of my books available for free. This is the third book I’ve published, and like the others, it’s available in all formats—PDF, EPUB, and audio—and in dozens of languages. More than 5 million people have read the free version of The Almanack of Naval , and I wanted to do the same here. You can find the full book and bonus content on my website. I do this because I believe that if...

Apr 07, 20261 hr 35 min

The Book of Elon - Part 3

Welcome to the free audiobook of The Book of Elon: A Guide to Purpose and Success . This is Part 3 of 4. I’ve made all of my books available for free. This is the third book I’ve published, and like the others, it’s available in all formats—PDF, EPUB, and audio—and in dozens of languages. More than 5 million people have read the free version of The Almanack of Naval , and I wanted to do the same here. You can find the full book and bonus content on my website. I do this because I believe that if...

Apr 07, 20261 hr 44 min

The Book of Elon - Part 2

Welcome to the free audiobook of The Book of Elon: A Guide to Purpose and Success . This is Part 2 of 4. I’ve made all of my books available for free. This is the third book I’ve published, and like the others, it’s available in all formats—PDF, EPUB, and audio—and in dozens of languages. More than 5 million people have read the free version of The Almanack of Naval , and I wanted to do the same here. You can find the full book and bonus content on my website. I do this because I believe that if...

Apr 07, 20261 hr 10 min

The Book of Elon - Part 1

Welcome to the free audiobook of The Book of Elon: A Guide to Purpose and Success . This is Part 1 of 4. I’ve made all of my books available for free. This is the third book I’ve published, and like the others, it’s available in all formats—PDF, EPUB, and audio—and in dozens of languages. More than 5 million people have read the free version of The Almanack of Naval , and I wanted to do the same here. You can find the full book and bonus content on my website. I do this because I believe that if...

Apr 07, 20261 hr 6 min

The Book of Elon launches today

The Book of Elon: A Guide to Purpose and Success is now available! “All of Elon Musk’s Most Useful Ideas, In His Own Words.” I’ve invested five years of effort and tens of thousands of dollars into making this book as useful as possible for you. Order the book now on Amazon: Kindle: https://amzn.to/4uEf0pO Paperback: https://amzn.to/47avSuh Hardcover: https://amzn.to/4by5VWL Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Book-of-Elon-Audiobook/B0G3B4SJPQ To support the costs of producing this podcast: ...

Mar 24, 20269 min

My Conversation with Naval Megasode

It's been five years since the Almanack of Naval Ravikant was published. I spent the day with Naval expanding on key ideas from the book. We recorded hours of that conversation to share with you. You can purchase the new expanded edition with nearly 4 hours of new material on Audible here: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Almanack-of-Naval-Ravikant-Audiobook/B0FBCP1JWJ Chapters: 00:00 - Building Wealth 37:49 - Building Judgement 01:12:30 - Learning Happiness 02:15:17 - Saving Yourself 02:50:17 - P...

Feb 24, 20263 hr 35 min

#101 Tesla War Stories, Self-Driving at Waymo, and Building the Salesforce of BOM (Spencer Penn of LightSource)

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:43) - Heroes and inspirations (00:07:14) - The rise of Chinese electric vehicles (00:12:13) - The Tesla experience (00:31:04) - Tesla's rapid development and industry impact (00:32:54) - The culture of speed and frugality at Tesla (00:34:10) - Elon's leadership and pressure tactics (00:37:22) - Transitioning from Tesla to Waymo (00:39:43) - Waymo's organizational structure and challenges (00:43:35) - The future of autonomous vehicles (00:54:34) - Founding Light ...

Feb 03, 20261 hr 1 min

#100 Interviewing Your Parents, Writing Through Fear, and One's First Book (Kyle Thiermann)

Title: #100 Interviewing Your Parents, Writing Through Fear, and One's First Book (Kyle Thiermann) Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:47) - The birth of a book: from idea to reality (00:04:01) - A pandemic epiphany: interviewing my dad (00:07:51) - The journey of a professional surfer and journalist (00:10:48) - Writing a book: challenges and insights (00:17:04) - The emotional depth of interviewing parents (00:22:40) - Balancing humor and vulnerability in writing (00:34:39) - Creating unique val...

Jan 20, 20261 hr 25 min

#099 Jonathan Swanson: Scaling Thumbtack, 10x Delegation, and Designing an Ideal Life

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:30) - Who are your heroes? (00:09:26) - The infancy and evolution of Athena (00:15:12) - Inflection points (00:18:14) - Jonathan’s reasoning for going public with interviews (00:20:08) - How do you pick countries to work in? (00:22:41) - Who is the core Athena customer? (00:28:09) - Jonathan’s 6 EAs (00:32:13) - Surprising things Jonathan’s delegated (00:35:42) - Broadening your scope of what’s possible with assistants (00:42:05) - A day in the life with multipl...

Jan 06, 202656 min

#098 Danielle Strachman: What Makes a Thiel Fellow

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:46) - Deep dive into the Thiel Fellowship (00:07:04) - Success stories and impact of Thiel Fellows (00:11:04) - Challenges and controversies (00:16:01) - Evolution and future of fellowship programs (00:18:39) - Early days of building the Thiel Fellowship (00:23:36) - Traits of a Thiel Fellow (00:33:24) - Nurturing genius (00:39:57) - Screen time & children (00:40:30) - Big screens vs. small screens (00:43:12) - Quality time and engaging activities (00:45:42)...

Nov 04, 20251 hr 13 min

#097 Brad Feld: Founding Techstars, Giving First, and Mentorship

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:49) - Heroes (00:10:50) - How do you know when it’s time to step away from something you started? (00:18:37) - Len Fassler (00:32:52) - Mentors and inflection points in life (00:39:07) - Brad’s book - Give First (00:47:58) - The role of books in Brad’s career Links: Scribe — https://scribemedia.com Give First: The Power of Mentorship - https://amzn.to/3KT3IvF To support the costs of producing this podcast: >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanack: www.navalmanack....

Oct 21, 202558 min

#096 Cal Riley: Special Ops, Grief, and Why Your Business Needs a Heart

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:07) - Cal's military background (00:13:59) - Transitioning into a family business (00:19:35) - Implementing EOS (00:25:08) - The journey to compassionate leadership (00:36:16) - Prioritizing self-care and meditation (00:37:19) - Journaling techniques and prompts (00:39:02) - Mental health stigma and therapy (00:40:16) - Daily intentions and successes (00:42:28) - Leadership (00:47:28) - Coaching and team building (00:58:45) - Writing a book (01:03:10) - Resource...

Sep 30, 20251 hr 5 min

My Conversation with Naval on Building Judgement

Naval Ravikant discusses the human quest for perfect and permanent truths, contrasting timely knowledge with timeless principles for life and technology. He emphasizes how hands-on experience and deep reflection are crucial for developing unarticulable "taste" and superior judgment. The conversation also delves into AI's capabilities as a powerful information retrieval tool, not a source of judgment, highlighting its potential to empower creative human endeavors, particularly for entrepreneurs and engineers.

Sep 23, 202535 min

My Conversation with Naval on Saving Yourself

It's been five years since the Almanack of Naval Ravikant was published. I spent the day with Naval expanding on key ideas from the book. We recorded hours of that conversation to share with you. This episode is a portion of that long conversation that talks about Saving Yourself You can purchase the new expanded edition with nearly 4 hours of new material on Audible here: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Almanack-of-Naval-Ravikant-Audiobook/B0FBCP1JWJ Chapters: 00:00 Virtues as Long-Term Selfishn...

Sep 23, 202536 min

My Conversation with Naval on Learning Happiness

It's been five years since the Almanack of Naval Ravikant was published. I spent the day with Naval expanding on key ideas from the book. We recorded hours of that conversation to share with you. This episode is a portion of that long conversation that talks about Learning Happiness You can purchase the new expanded edition with nearly 4 hours of new material on Audible here: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Almanack-of-Naval-Ravikant-Audiobook/B0FBCP1JWJ Chapters: 00:00 Happiness as a Skill &...

Sep 23, 20251 hr 4 min

My Conversation with Naval on Philosophy

It's been five years since the Almanack of Naval Ravikant was published. I spent the day with Naval expanding on key ideas from the book. We recorded hours of that conversation to share with you. This episode is a portion of that long conversation that talks about Philosophy You can purchase the new expanded edition with nearly 4 hours of new material on Audible here: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Almanack-of-Naval-Ravikant-Audiobook/B0FBCP1JWJ Chapters: 00:00 Meditations, Authenticity & Sc...

Sep 23, 202545 min

My Conversation with Naval on Building Wealth

Naval Ravikant on Building Wealth It's been five years since the Almanack of Naval Ravikant was published. I spent the day with Naval expanding on key ideas from the book. We recorded hours of that conversation to share with you. This episode is a portion of that long conversation that talks about Building Wealth You can purchase the new expanded edition with nearly 4 hours of new material on Audible here: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Almanack-of-Naval-Ravikant-Audiobook/B0FBCP1JWJ 00:00 Defin...

Sep 23, 202538 min

#095 Rolling Fun #10: Capitalism is Hard, Natural Gas From Sunshine, and "Blimps" (That Work This Time)

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro(00:03:26) - Marathon misadventures(00:06:15) - The failed acquisition(00:13:47) - Lessons from the deal(00:29:31) - The future of retail(00:33:44) - Empathy for founders(00:35:23) - The grind of capitalism(00:35:37) - Challenges for young founders(00:36:10) - The importance of peer support(00:37:17) - Scaling and growth pains(00:37:42) - Exciting new ventures(00:38:20) - Genetic engineering innovations(00:43:40) - Revolutionizing air freight with airships(00:49:56) - T...

Sep 16, 20251 hr 12 min

#094 Rolling Fun #9: Basketball, Asteroid Mining, Child Labor (Not Really Tho)

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:46) - Personal updates and new ventures (00:04:06) - The youth sports complex project (00:05:21) - Challenges and strategies in youth sports business (00:09:09) - Community impact and future vision (00:19:00) - Reflections on education and parenting (00:34:05) - The magic of holding a newborn (00:34:32) - The joys and challenges of parenting (00:35:07) - Balancing work and family life (00:37:36) - Exciting company updates (00:38:03) - Success stories in venture ...

Sep 02, 20251 hr 5 min

#093 Behind the Scenes of a Nuclear Microreactor Startup with Matt Loszak, Founder CEO of Aalo Atomics [Replay]

***This is a Replay Episode*** Links for Matt’s stuff: ⁠Aalo.com⁠ ⁠Matt on Twitter⁠ ⁠Aalo on Twitter⁠ ⁠Aalo Job Board⁠ Link to invest alongside Eric in deals like Aalo: rolling.fun Links to stuff mentioned: ⁠Decouple Podcast⁠ ⁠Titans of Nuclear Podcast⁠ ⁠Nuclear Barbarian Substack⁠ ⁠Atomic Awakening by James Mahaffey⁠ ⁠Why Nuclear Power Has Been a Flop by Jack Devanney⁠ Topics: (00:03:08) How the popular opinion of nuclear has changed from the 1950’s (00:15:16) The regulation issues surrounding ...

Aug 19, 20251 hr 7 min

#092 Sarma Melngailis: Bad Vegan, Memoir as Recovery, and Reclaiming Your Story

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:37) - The Netflix documentary: Misrepresentation and struggles (00:03:19) - Writing the memoir (00:08:47) - The challenges of independent publishing (00:12:40) - The creative process and future plans (00:35:23) - Impact of the book on readers (00:36:04) - Scripted series and unused content (00:36:36) - New docuseries and correcting the narrative (00:37:04) - Psychological analysis in documentaries (00:40:13) - Challenges and rewards of writing (00:41:36) - Unexp...

Aug 05, 20251 hr 7 min

#091 The Magic of Code, History of Computing, and the Future of AI Interfaces [Sam Arbesman #2]

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:14) - The magic of code (00:05:30) - The wonder of early computing (00:11:13) - The evolution of computing: From analog to digital (00:18:45) - The personal computer revolution (00:32:36) - The future of computing: Beyond silicon (00:36:59) - The importance of computing history (00:40:53) - AI and human uniqueness (00:50:46) - The future of AI and computing interfaces (01:02:13) - The intersection of playfulness and utility in computing (01:11:17) - Conclusion a...

Jul 22, 20251 hr 15 min

#090 Building a Venture Firm From Zero to One, and AI-driven VC Thesis Research [Arkady Kulik #2]

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:04:19) - Entering the VC space (00:08:38) - Pilot-fund theories (00:12:50) - Risk tracking (00:19:56) - Finding LP alignment (00:22:39) - Arkady’s fund thesis (00:47:12) - Creating the index of solutions to problems (00:57:18) - The TAM for VC in 2025 (01:00:29) - How founders can increase the odds of being funded by Arkady (01:03:36) - False signals in VC Links: Arkady on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/arkady-kulik/ Arkady on X - https://x.com/arkady_kulik...

Jul 08, 20251 hr 10 min

#089 David Senra + Mitchell Baldridge #6 : Writing the Founders’ Book, Building Natural-fit Businesses, and Craft

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:52) - The Founder's book project (00:04:06) - Effort and building relationships (00:11:20) - The value of self-publishing (00:24:00) - Bootstrapping a HoldCo (00:46:05) - Finding natural fit in business (00:47:48) - The role of trust in business (00:49:07) - AI and changing perspectives (00:50:26) - Daily use of AI tools (00:55:49) - The value of deep research (00:57:53) - The future of AI in business (01:16:35) - Avoiding addictive apps (01:18:27) - Collecting ...

Jun 24, 20251 hr 31 min

#088 Toby Rush: $100M Exits, Splitting Companies, Timing Startups, and Ideem Killing 2FA

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:45) - Who are your heroes? (00:05:16) - What is something you’ve had to teach yourself that’s become a core part of your identity? (00:07:34) - Taking a sabbatical post-exit (00:09:30) - Going back into entrepreneurship (00:12:52) - How to kill two-factor auth (00:14:34) - When to split a company into two companies (00:18:04) - Who is the customer of iDeem? (00:22:37) - Verified Credentials (00:28:31) - Fighting fraud with technology (00:30:14) - The story of ey...

Jun 10, 20251 hr 2 min

#087 Nat Eliason: From Blogging to Sci-Fi Novels, Writing Books That Last, and Owning Your Audience

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:00:45) - Introducing Nat Eliason (00:01:27) - Nat's Diverse Career and Writing Journey (00:01:47) - The Transition from Nonfiction to Fiction (00:02:13) - The Seven Act Structure and Writing Process (00:02:44) - Publishing with Scribe and Launching Husk (00:03:24) - The Rewards and Challenges of Writing (00:04:29) - Building an Audience and Marketing Strategies (00:06:54) - Balancing Writing with Other Ventures (00:09:09) - The Reality of a Writing Career (00:10:49...

May 27, 20251 hr 19 min

#086 Jim O’Shaughnessy: Learning to Learn, AI Disruption, and the Future of Publishing

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:30) - What’s the most important thing you’ve ever learned? (00:07:23) - Learning to Learn (00:11:20) - How learning changes as you age (00:18:51) - How do you think about your circle of competence? (00:22:21) - The future of book publishing and how authors adapt (00:35:29) - AI disruption in book publishing (00:47:56) - Jim’s inaugural book: Two Thoughts (00:56:46) - LLMs for authors, and UBI Links: Jim on X Infinite Loops Podcast Infinite Books O’Shaughnessy Ve...

Jan 21, 20251 hr 7 min

#085 Ben Reinhardt: How to Discover New Technology, Playing the Longest Game, and Philanthropy in Technology

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:05:25) - Studying both Medieval History and Engineering (00:09:48) - Founding Speculative Technologies (00:11:25) - Defining “Useful” in Science and Technology (00:13:46) - Building the roadmap of discoveries to unlock futuristic tech (00:17:24) - The need for new institutions (00:25:22) - Why focus on material science and manufacturing technologies (00:46:57) - The day-to-day work and impact of Speculative Technologies Links: Speculative Technologies Ben on X Ben’...

Jan 07, 202557 min

#084 Augustus Doricko: How to Terraform Earth, The History of Weather Control, and The Mandate of Heaven

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:13) - Catching up (00:13:14) - Making Earth (even more) Habitable by Controlling Weather (00:26:54) - Doug Burgum: Next Secretary of the Dept. of the Interior (00:31:30) - Building Rainmaker (00:44:19) - Are we short on clean water in America today? (00:50:37) - Drones, precipitation, cloud seeding, and the future Links: Rainmaker Augustus on X Augustus’ Thread on Doug Burgum To support the costs of producing this podcast: >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanack:...

Dec 10, 20241 hr 1 min

#083 Klaus Kleinfeld: How to Lead Fortune 500 Companies, Manage Energy, Inspire Teams

Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:04:24) - Watching the moon landing (00:07:32) - Klaus’ career (00:10:08) - Why Klaus wrote Leading To Thrive (00:15:13) - Energy management, not time management (00:19:37) - How do you implement these tactics in business? (00:23:46) - Spiritual energy (00:37:36) - Managing energy for life, work, and family & business (00:54:52) - Instilling purpose as a leader (01:04:59) - How do you approach balancing stakeholders? (01:07:50) - What do you look for when buildi...

Nov 26, 20241 hr 16 min
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