The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

Av
- Shane Parrish

1 Recensioner: 0.5
Avsnitt: 285
Genomsn. varaktighet: 1T 24min
Språk: Engelska
Format
Kategori: Ekonomi & Business

Uncovering the timeless principles that drive success.

Episodes

The Mindset Behind Building a Great Little Business | Brad JacobsThis summer, I’m revisiting one of my favorite episodes. If you haven’t heard it, now is the time. If you have, it’s a classic and worth listening to again. Brad Jacobs has built eight billion-dollar companies, completed more than 500 acquisitions, and created extraordinary returns for shareholders over four decades. Few people understand how great businesses are built better than he does. This conversation is about the principles behind that success. Brad explains how he spots trends before they become obvious, why psychology matters as much as strategy, and how he thinks about acquisitions, hiring, capital allocation, decision-making, and building organizations that consistently outperform. He also shares lessons from therapy, meditation, and decades of leadership that changed how he manages people and makes decisions. ----- Chapters: 00:00 - Finding Every Opportunity to Make Money 02:03 - The Singularity & The Future of AI 04:14 - How to Think Rationally 05:40 - The Meta-Trend Driving the Future 07:50 - His Research Process 10:21 - How to Ask Better Questions 16:26 - Rearranging Your Brain for Success 20:55 - What Music & Math Teach Us About Business 30:59 - The Asymmetry of Leverage, Debt & Optionality 35:07 - The Psychology of Contrarian Bets 40:41 - Where True Confidence Comes From 50:19 - The Hidden Cost of Negative Feedback 56:12 - Core Lessons on Money & Wealth 58:11 - The M&A Playbook: How to Build an Empire 01:07:50 - The Exact Questions to Read Anyone Instantly 01:11:10 - The Reality of Board Meetings 01:16:55 - Frameworks for High-Stakes Decision-Making 01:23:35 - The Brutal Truth About Capital Markets 01:25:40 - Avoid Hiring This Type of Person 01:31:16 - Traits of the World’s Best Capital Allocators 01:33:53 - The Biggest Lesson of the Past Year 01:37:20 - Redefining Personal Success ----- *Note:* ‍Shane and guests may hold positions in assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this conversation should be considered investment advice, financial guidance, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always do your own due diligence or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. ----- Follow Brad Jacobs: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradjacobsqxo/ QXO: https://www.qxo.com/ ------ Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------ Follow Shane Parrish: X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠ Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠ ----- Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: +Applovin: Launch your first AppLovin campaign and grow your business: https://applovin.com/shane +HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/tkp +Matic: the robot vacuum that does it all—grab yourself a year of free bags here. http://maticrobots.com/shaneparrish +LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: https://DrinkLMNT.com/TKP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
287|1T 39min
John D. Rockefeller: The Principles Behind The Greatest Fortune in HistoryJohn D. Rockefeller became the richest man the world had ever known by thinking differently about business, competition, and family. This episode isn’t just the story of Standard Oil. It’s about the principles that built one of history’s greatest business empires and what they can teach us today. Along the way, you’ll see the rise of Standard Oil, the public backlash that made Rockefeller America’s most hated businessman, the breakup of his company, and the philanthropic legacy that continues to shape the world today. Enjoy! ------ Chapters: (00:00) The Making of John D. Rockefeller (04:56) The Search for Belonging (07:33) Business Lessons From his Mother (10:54) The Unlikely Lessons he Learned from His Father (15:09) When Rockefeller Decided to Get Rich (17:50) The Relentless Job Search (21:21) Learning How to Run a Business (29:49) The Power of a Good Reputation (34:57) The American Oil Boom (36:34) Rockefeller's Biggest Early Bet (43:28) Rockefeller and Henry Flagler (46:21) The One-Drop Difference (49:22) Building Standard Oil’s Partnership (53:06) How Rockefeller Used Leverage (56:43) From Competition to Cooperation (01:00:43) Why America Turned on Rockefeller (01:08:54) The Cleveland Massacre (01:17:41) Rockefeller’s Private Family Life (01:25:45) Rockefeller and the Panic of 1873 (01:29:39) A Private Life, A Public Empire (01:32:50) Standard Oil’s Pipeline War (01:38:40) Creating the Standard Oil Trust (01:42:37) The Fortress on Broadway (01:48:07) The Backlash Against Standard Oil (01:54:33) Ida Tarbell Takes On Rockefeller (02:02:00) Rockefeller’s Failed Media Strategy (02:14:31) How Standard Oil Stayed One Step Ahead (02:16:06) Breaking Up Standard Oil Made Him Richer (02:19:40) Why Rockefeller Gave It All Away (02:26:28) The Weight of the Rockefeller Name (02:28:52) Rockefeller's Hardest Goodbye (02:34:22) Why Rockefeller Gave Away Dimes (02:38:46) The Richest Man Couldn't Buy Time (02:41:41) John D. Rockefeller’s Legacy ------ Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------ Follow Shane Parrish: X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠ Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠ ------ Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: +CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. ⁠https://coinshares.com/⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
286|2T 50min
Opendoor CEO: Excellence Is the Capacity to Take PainNo company decides to fail. It drifts there one comfortable lie at a time. Kaz Nejatian took over Opendoor when it was just months away from bankruptcy and set out to rebuild it from the ground up. What happened next shocked everyone. Most turnaround stories are told years later, by the winner, after the ending is already known. That’s why they always sound clean and polished. This one doesn’t have an ending yet, and it’s anything but clean and polished. Kaz takes us inside while it’s still happening. We discuss why great companies drift away from reality, why truth has to matter more than feelings, and how competent people who don’t believe in the mission quietly destroy an organization. He shares the principles behind rebuilding culture, eliminating bureaucracy, making faster decisions, using AI to flatten management, and creating teams that move with speed and ownership. One of the key things I learned in this conversation is that the comfortable lies that sink a company are the same ones that sink a career. ------ Chapters: (0:00) How Opendoor Came Back from the Dead (1:32) How Mismanagement Causes Atrophy (4:28) The Blueprint that Changed Opendoor (5:33) Rewriting the Book on Company Turnarounds (5:57) The People You Hire Is the Company You Build (6:31) Be a Nuclear Bomb of Truth (7:52) How to Change a Losing Company Culture (8:07) Commit to Truth Over Feelings (8:33) The Most Dangerous Kind of Employee (9:13) Key Principles to Turning Around a Company (11:59) Meetings Are a Bug in the System (12:30) Why It's Rude to Not Disagree (13:05) Say the Thing Culture (15:04) How AI Is Supercharging Opendoor (18:16) Most Powerful Mental Models (22:50) Why Remote Workplaces Don't Succeed (24:56) How Opendoor Killed Distractions (26:09) The Key to Being a Market Maker (35:20) How Companies Fall Off Course Over Time (37:24) The Power of Speaking Simply (43:27) Turnaround Lessons for Life (51:10) Excellence Is Capacity to Take Pain ------ Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------ Follow Shane Parrish: X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠ Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠ ------ Follow Kaz Nejatian: X: https://x.com/nejatian ------ Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: +Applovin: Launch your first AppLovin campaign and grow your business: https://applovin.com/shane +Matic: the robot vacuum that does it all—grab yourself a year of free bags here. ⁠http://maticrobots.com/shaneparrish⁠ +HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/tkp +LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: https://DrinkLMNT.com/TKP ------ Note: ‍Shane and guests may hold positions in assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing in this conversation should be considered investment advice, financial guidance, or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always do your own due diligence or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
285|53min
The Mindset That Unlocks Your Full Potential | Dr. Gio ValianteSteve Cohen and Jack Nicklaus shared the same performance coach. For the next hour, he’s yours too. Dr. Gio Valiante is the world’s leading performance psychologist. We discuss why most people never reach their potential, how confidence and fear shape performance, and what separates those who consistently excel from those who stay stuck. He shares practical strategies for building better habits, overcoming self-imposed limits, staying focused under pressure, and creating the conditions for long-term success. If you’ve ever felt capable of more, this episode will help you understand what’s holding you back and what to do about it. ------ Chapters: (0:00) Why most people underperform and the central governor hypothesis. (4:46) Why lasting change starts with behavior rather than thinking. (7:52) The difference between mastery motivation and ego-driven motivation. (11:24) Flow states, presence, and learning to enjoy the everyday work of excellence. (14:28) Practical techniques for developing presence and reducing distraction. (18:16) Why environment and systems have a greater impact on performance than goals alone. (26:33) What interview questions reveal about confidence, motivation, and character. (31:47) Why overcoming adversity often reveals a person's greatest strengths. (32:46) Rebuilding confidence by focusing on small wins instead of chasing big recoveries. (38:55) The psychology of confidence and the four sources of self-efficacy. (47:14) How self-talk shapes beliefs, behavior, and long-term performance. (50:04) Why fear of rejection and the need to belong influence our decisions. (53:35) Identity, self-discovery, and the importance of moving beyond childhood conditioning. (1:03:20) Definition of success and the experiences that bring lasting fulfillment. ------ Follow Dr. Gio Valiante X: https://x.com/GioValiante ------ Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: +Applovin: Launch your first AppLovin campaign and grow your business: https://applovin.com/shane +HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/tkp +Matic: the robot vacuum that does it all—grab yourself a year of free bags here. http://maticrobots.com/shaneparrish +LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: https://DrinkLMNT.com/TKP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
284|1T 8min
How to Repair and Nourish Your Gut | Dr. Giulia EndersDr. Giulia Enders has changed the way millions of people think about the human body. As a physician, microbiome researcher, and bestselling author, she has spent years studying the surprising role the gut plays in everything from digestion and immunity to mood, sleep, metabolism, and long-term health. In this conversation, Giulia explains how your gut shapes your health, how stress quietly damages it, what ultra-processed foods are doing to you, and what your body’s been trying to tell you all along. This episode is packed with practical advice you can use right away. You’ll understand your body better and leave with a simple framework for improving your health, without complicated diets, expensive supplements, or extreme interventions. If you’ve ever wondered why you feel the way you do, this conversation is a great place to start. ------ Timestamps: (00:00) How A Thriving Gut Can Unlock Your Health (02:23) Foods to Eat to Improve Gut Health (07:57) The Link Between Your Gut and Immune System (09:28) How to Get Prebiotics in Your Food (10:22) Why Fiber is Key to a Healthy Gut (10:47) How Cooling Starches Can Help You Lose Weight (12:48) Why Fiber Reduces Your Risk of Cancer (14:13) How Sugar Causes Inflammation (15:40) Are Some Sugars Better than Others? (16:25) What Your Poop Is Telling You (17:53) Healthy vs Unhealthy Poop (20:01) How to Rebuild the Gut After Antibiotics (22:08) Warning Signs You Should See a Doctor (23:11) The Best Position for Pooping (26:26) Constipation: Causes & Solutions (28:06) Importance of Chewing (31:07) How Long Does it Take to Heal Your Gut? (34:25) Why Dopamine is Driving Your Bad Cravings (36:40) Three Things to Watch Out for on Ingredients List (36:56) Effect of Alcohol on Gut (37:55) Is Caffeine Bad for Your Gut? (39:56) Impact of Snacking on Gut and Metabolism (41:28) Do Gut Cleanses Work? (43:07) Are Supplements Worth It? (44:59) The Benefits of Walking After a Meal (49:29) The Number One Thing to Change for Better Gut Health (49:51) Why Sanitizer Isn't the Best Approach to Hygiene ------ Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------ Follow Shane Parrish: X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠ Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠ ------ Follow Dr. Giulia Enders X: https://x.com/giulia_enders Check out Dr. Giulia’s Books: Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ: https://a.co/d/0hqm72mN Organ Speak: What It Really Means to Listen to Our Bodies: https://a.co/d/07ClmNVu ------ Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: +CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. ⁠https://coinshares.com/⁠ +Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane Check out the Granola Notes +HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/tkp +LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: DrinkLMNT.com/TKP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
283|54min
Mental Models That Change How You Think | Bill GurleyBill Gurley spent years on Wall Street, built his career as a partner at Benchmark, worked through Uber’s hypergrowth era, and now serves on the board of the Santa Fe Institute, where he studies complexity and systems thinking. In this episode, Bill shares the mental models he returns to most, including systems thinking, second- and third-order effects, and the importance of understanding both the bedrock of your field and the bleeding edge. He explains what separates great founders, why storytelling and product instincts matter, how he uses AI across different models, and what he sees coming in open source, China, stablecoins, tokenization, payments, and venture capital. ------ Timestamps: (00:00) Key Mental Models (02:02) Investing Journey and Key Players (05:21) Knowing the Bedrock of the Industry (08:50) Obsessive Learning in Founders (10:04) The Silent Edge (11:44) Surprising AI Use (13:13) The Future of AI Models (14:17) Global AI Regulation (18:12) Impacts of AI on Investing (19:53) Are There Limitations on Training AI Models? (23:04) Would You Sit in the Back Seat While Your Tesla Drives? (24:15) Non-Consensus Opinions (24:53) Are We Overfunding this Buildout? (29:40) The Role of Retail Investors and Tokenization (34:26) What is a Stablecoin? (37:58) Competitive Mode: Visa and Mastercard (39:55) AI and Debt Analysis (45:05) The Craft of Storytelling and Writing (48:07) Founder Advantage: Product Instinct (50:12) Real World Lessons from Working With Uber (52:10) Inside Benchmark’s Success (59:42) What is Success for You? ------ Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------ Follow Shane Parrish: X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠ Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠ Follow Bill Gurley LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgurley/ X: https://x.com/bgurley?lang=en Check out Runnin’ Down a Dream: How to Thrive in a Career You Actually Love ------ Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: +CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. ⁠https://coinshares.com/⁠ +Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane Check out the Granola Notes +HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/tkp +LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: DrinkLMNT.com/TKP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
282|1T 1min
You Don’t Need To Innovate To Be Successful | FarmVille CreatorMark Pincus is the creator behind Farmville and Words with Friends. He built Zynga into one of the biggest gaming companies in the world and helped shape the early era of social products on the internet. In this conversation, he breaks down how great founders spot winning ideas early, why most startups build the wrong thing, and how products become part of people’s daily lives. He shares lessons from building Zynga, missing the opportunity behind social networking before Facebook took off, navigating platform risk during Zynga’s explosive growth, and rebuilding his confidence after major failures. You’ll learn how to test ideas faster, what separates products people try from products people love, how to avoid “death by compromise” as a founder, and why the best builders stay obsessed with what users actually want. + Members get the longer, extended version of this conversation, with additional content not included in the public release. Join Now. + +Pre-order Life at the Speed of Play: Launch Products People Love! ------ Timestamps: (00:00) The Principles of Great Products (01:34) How to Test if Your Idea Has "Heat" (04:02) Falling Out with His Father (06:14) Early Career Fails (09:27) The Presentation that Kicked him out of Bain (12:04) The Book of Life System for Making Strategic Decisions (17:56) Why Your Instincts are Good and Your Ideas are Bad (22:29) Copying is the Key to Great Product Design (23:22) System for Building Great Products (24:05) How to Use "Proven Better New" to Build Ideas (27:39) Why Deconstruction Leads to Better Products (29:33) All Founders Go Through This (35:14) How Zynga Changed Social Gaming (37:25) Pitching Zynga to Steve Jobs (40:36) The Fatal Mistake Founders Make (41:24) The Fight Between Peter Thiel and Sequoia (43:03) The Explosion of Farmville (45:45) Zynga's Near-Death Experience on Facebook (48:36) Why Failure Machines Reveal Your Best Ideas (49:28) The Thing that Almost Killed Words with Friends (53:05) Why the Minimum Viable Product Approach is Hurting You (54:03) Building Fast is More Important than Building Right (56:19) How Zynga Missed Their Instagram Moment (58:50) Your Company Should Be a Democratic Dictatorship (1:02:25) How to Build a Meritocracy in Your Company (1:03:44) Jeff Bezos' Invaluable Management Trick (1:05:25) Bezos Hack: Scaling Leadership with Tech Assistants ------ Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------ Follow Shane Parrish: X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠ Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠ Follow Mark Pincus LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markpincus/ X: https://x.com/markpinc ------ Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: +CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. ⁠https://coinshares.com/⁠ +Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane Check out the Granola Notes +HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/tkp +LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: DrinkLMNT.com/TKP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
281|1T 9min
The Hyundai Founder Who Put a Country on His BackChung Ju-yung built Hyundai because he refused to be stopped. He is known for turning Hyundai into an industrial force that helped transform South Korea. The company built highways, ships, cars, and entire industries. At its peak, Hyundai accounted for 16% of South Korea’s economic output. This episode explores how Chung built Hyundai, how he helped power South Korea’s rise, and how hunger, guilt, discipline, and relentless persistence shaped a man who refused to stop when the path disappeared. ------ Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (02:40) Running Away from Home (12:15) A Lesson from Bedbugs (17:36) His First Auto Repair Shop (21:22) The Beginning of Hyundai (26:09) The Impact of the Korean War (30:12) The Goryeong Bridge (37:20) Trust and the Korean Government (49:31) Competence Over Connections (55:13) Building a Nation (01:03:00) Building During the Vietnam War (01:10:00) Soyang River Dam (01:14:55) Building an Expressway (01:23:14) Time to Start Making Cars… (01:34:24) …And Ships (01:47:04) The Secret Bid for Jubail (01:57:35) The 1988 Olympics (02:01:33) The Chung Family Dynamic (02:05:00) The Government Crackdown (02:10:00) Crossing the DMZ (02:12:06) Diligence Will Overcome all Difficulties ------ Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------ Follow Shane Parrish: X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠ Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠ ------ Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: +CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. ⁠https://coinshares.com/⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
280|2T 15min
Speed, Stress, and Better Decisions | Winston WeinbergWinston Weinberg is the CEO and co-founder of Harvey, the AI platform built for the legal industry. In this episode, Winston explains how AI is reshaping legal work, why judgment becomes more valuable as routine work gets automated, and how to build the prioritization muscle required to move faster, stay focused, and make better decisions when everything is changing. He also shares the operating principles behind Harvey’s growth: make decisions faster, treat most choices as two-way doors, use stress to build resilience, prioritize the one thing that matters most and the Google Doc that drives it all. Harvey began with a simple test: take real legal questions, run them through GPT-3, and ask experienced lawyers whether they would send the answers with zero edits. On 86 out of 100 questions, three out of three attorneys said yes. This is a conversation about AI, law, speed, resilience, and building in a world where the bar keeps getting higher. ------ Timestamps: (00:00:00) “The List” that Powers Winston’s $11B Business (00:02:20) How to Say “No” Like a CEO (00:07:26) The 3 Principles for Strong Decision-Making (00:08:18) How Harvey is Changing the Legal World (00:11:36) One Cold Email to Sam Altman that Changed Everything (00:12:56) The Demo Strategy that Shocked Investors (00:17:55) Advice Winston Didn't Take (00:19:34) The Deal that Almost Killed Harvey (00:21:56) How to Build Resilience to Failure (00:24:00) How Winston Hacks His Stress (00:29:36) The Key to Creating a Sense of Urgency on Your Team (00:31:29) The Kinds of People Not to Hire at Startups (00:35:09) How to Screen for Resiliency in Interviews (00:41:49) Winston's Advice for Law Students (00:45:28) Would AI Make a Better Lawyer than a Human? (00:48:54) The Future of Agent-Powered Law Firms (00:49:14) Will AI Cause Law Firms to Shrink? (00:52:45) Can AI-Only Law Firms Exist? (00:54:52) Why Legal Costs Aren't Going Down (00:56:48) Three Principles All Entrepreneurs Need to Follow (01:00:54) How Winston Defines Success ------ Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------ Follow Shane Parrish: X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠ Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠ Follow Winston Weinberg LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/winston-weinberg/ Harvey: https://www.harvey.ai/blog/author/winston-weinberg ------ Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: +CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. ⁠https://coinshares.com/⁠ +Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane Check out the Granola Notes. +HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/tkp +LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: DrinkLMNT.com/TKP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
279|1T 2min
Ai Goes Parabolic | OpenAI Co-Founder Greg BrockmanThe AI race, the future of AGI, and the inside story of OpenAI. Greg Brockman is the co-founder of OpenAI. This is the most detailed first-person account he has given of the 72 hours after Sam Altman was fired, how OpenAI started, and the future. Greg explains how the original Napa offsite produced the three-step technical plan OpenAI has followed for a decade and the real reason OpenAI had to abandon its pure nonprofit structure. He then walks through the 72 hours after Sam Altman was fired: where he was when he got the board call, why he quit the same day, how the "Phoenix" backup company was designed at Sam's house the next morning, and the moment Ilya Sutskever's tweet changed everything. From there, the conversation turns forward: whether we're in a global AI race, how much of OpenAI's own code is now written by AI ("it's hard to know what percent is not"), why OpenAI stopped showing reasoning traces, what a compute-constrained world means for who gets access to AGI, and Greg's answer to the question everyone is really asking: What happens to your job? ----- Timestamps: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:49 Meeting Sam Altman and Starting OpenAI 00:02:40 Building the Founding Team 00:04:25 DeepMind's Lead Over OpenAI 00:04:54 The Change from a Pure Non-Profit 00:06:05 Breakthrough Moments at OpenAI 00:08:22 What Dota 2 Meant for OpenAI 00:10:04 Reasoning Versus Prediction 00:11:59 Tensions Grow at OpenAI 00:15:44 Sam Altman's Firing 00:17:49 Greg Quits OpenAI 00:19:56 Sam Explores Deal with Microsoft's Satya 00:20:28 OpenAI Employees Sign Petition for Altman's Return 00:23:43 Ilya Sutskever Leaves OpenAI 00:24:59 Lessons Learned in Leadership after Sam Ousting 00:28:22 The Thing Ilya Said that Greg Can't Forget 00:32:22 Is AI Going Parabolic? 00:33:24 How Much of OpenAI's Code is Written by AI? 00:36:21 Are AI Chatbots Just Telling Us What We Want to Hear? 00:38:06 The Global AI Race to Reach AGI 00:38:40 What Happens if US Doesn't Reach AGI First? 00:39:49 Are Competing Countries Stealing AI Advancements from U.S? 00:40:38 Why ChatGPT No Longer Shows Reasoning 00:41:47 The Finite Constraints of Compute 00:43:38 On Investing Early in Data Centers 00:46:31 The Future of Data Center Specialization 00:47:52 How OpenAI Will Decide Whose Queries to Serve 00:49:08 OpenAI on Consumer vs Enterprise Models 00:53:05 Data Centers in Space? 01:00:56 What Should AI Regulation Look Like? 01:04:33 The Future of AI-Powered Entrepreneurship 01:04:44 AI and Job Loss 01:07:15 The Skills Young People Should Invest In 01:11:30 What Does Success Look Like For You? ------ Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------ Follow Shane Parrish: X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/shaneparrish⁠ Insta: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/⁠ Follow Greg Brockman: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thegdb/ Blog: https://blog.gregbrockman.com/ ------ Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: +CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. ⁠https://coinshares.com/⁠ +Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane Check out the Granola Notes. +HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/tkp +LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: DrinkLMNT.com/TKP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
278|1T 11min