Episode description

Polina Marinova Pompliano is the author of The Profile, a newsletter that profiles the world's most successful people.

She spent five years at FORTUNE, where she was the author + editor of Term Sheet, an industry-leading newsletter on dealmaking.

Polina has interviewed some of the most influential dealmakers in the world, including: Melinda Gates, Steve Case, Chamath Palihapitiya and others.

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https://youtu.be/XFIPkG0rbvU

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Full show notes on creatorlab.fm
In the conversation, you'll learn about:

• the rise of independent writers + the creator economy
• evolution of the media landscape
• future of media monetization
• her writing process + the art of the edit
• actionable lessons from The Profile, featuring: Malcolm Gladwell, Charlie Munger, Anthony Bourdain, Ira Glass, Elon Musk + more

Timestamps:

• 2:47 Intro
• 5:03 "Oprah is not JUST Oprah"
• 9:54 Leaving Fortune Magazine
• 15:44 Background On The Profile
• 19:09 Expectations vs Reality
• 23:43 Why Polina Uses Substack For Her Newsletter
• 27:13 Evolution of Monetization in New Media
• 36:20 Writing Process: Summarizing 128 Books
• 40:53 The Art of The Edit
• 44:13 Building Your Initial Audience
• 45:50 Growing An Audience

Lessons From The Profile:

• 48:30 Gladwell: "3 Hours of Thinking for 1 Hour of Writing"
• 51:55 "Interesting, Not Perfect"
• 53:54 How To Find Meaning In Your Work
• 55:32 Ira Glass: "Great Stories Happen To Those Who Can Tell Them"
• 58:00 Charlie Munger: Inversion + Avoidance of Stupidity
• 59:29 Survivor vs Victim
• 1:00:46 The Bourdain Principle
• 1:05:46 Lessons From Shonda Rhimes
• 1:09:02 "I'm No Longer Looking For An Enemy..."
• 1:11:23 Guy Raz: Stories We Tell Ourselves
• 1:13:32 Elon Musk: The Chef vs The Cook
• 1:16:34 Thinking From First Principles
• 1:19:04 Unconcious Bias
• 1:20:25 Human Hardware vs Software
• 1:22:16 Wrap Up