Founders

What I learned from Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by  Colin Bryar and Bill Carr.----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----[3:58] What is best for the customer? Do that: "Amazon believes that long-term growth is best produced by putting the customer first. If you held this conviction, what kind of company would you build?"[7:05] Jeff skips the conferences and dinners: "95 percent of the time I spent with Jeff was focused on internal work issues rather than external events like conferences, public speeches, and sports matches."[25:08] Don't encourage communication—eliminate it: "Jeff said many times that if we wanted Amazon to be a place where builders can build, we needed to eliminate communication, not encourage it. When you view effective communication across groups as a "defect," the solutions to your problems start to look quite different from traditional ones." (There is nothing conventional

What I learned from The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone.This is part one of a three part series on Jeff Bezos. The next two books are Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon and Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire.----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----(0:54) It may very well be that the absolute intensity of drive and focus is essential and incompatible with all of the nice management thought about consensus and gentle demeanor.(2:07) Jeff’s clarity, intensity of focus, and ability to prioritize is unusual.(4:05) As I read the Steve Jobs biography I even had an insight and question about myself, that maybe I haven’t begun to really find my own limits.(10:49) You have to be able to think what you're doing for yourself. (11:42) There is probably no limit to what he can do. (12:34) People forget that most people believed Amazon was doomed becaus

What I learned from reading Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Productsby Leander Kahney.----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----[4:43] Mike Ive influence on his son’s talent was purely nurturing. They were constantly keeping up a conversation about made-objects and hw they could be made better.[6:39] I came to realize that what was really important was the care that was put into it. What I really despise is when I sense some carelessness in a product.[9:24] Take big chances. Pursue a passion. Respect the work.[11:47] His designs were incredibly simple and elegant. They were usually rather surprising but made complete sense once you saw them. You wondered why we had never seen such a product like that before.[15:52] Grind it out. You can make something look like magic by going further than most reasonable people would go.[17:34] The more I learned about this cheeky, almost rebellious company (Apple) the more it appealed to

What I learned from reading Going for Broke: How Robert Campeau Bankrupted the Retail Industry, Jolted the Junk Bond Market, and Brought the Booming Eighties to a Crashing Halt by John Rothchild.----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----[0:01] A stranger comes to Wall Street, borrows nearly $4 billion to acquire a company that six months earlier he'd never even heard of. This transaction is scarcely settled before he's allowed to borrow $7 billion more to acquire a bigger company, making him a major force in retailing, an industry he knows nothing about. [11:16] Just a few weeks back, Randall had figured that Bob might be interested in attracting a single Brooks Brothers store into one of his malls. Now in a great imaginary leap, Bob had vaulted himself into the ownership of all forty-five Brooks Brothers stores. [15:01 Neither Bob nor his advisers really knew one investment bank from another. "It was basically a matter of looking up

What I learned from reading Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary by Linus Torvalds and David Diamond.----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----[0:01] From a party of one it now counted millions of users on every continent, including Antartica, and even outer space, if you count NASA outposts. Not only was it the most common operating system, but its very development model—an intricate web of its own, encompassing hundreds of thousands of volunteer computer programmers—had grown to become the largest collaborative project in the history of the world. [1:08] Revolutionaries aren’t born. Revolutions can’t be planned. Revolutions can’t be managed. Revolutions happen. And sometimes, revolutionaries just get stuck with it. [9:05] The Swedish language has no equivalent to the term “dysfunctional family.” As a result of the divorce, we didn’t have a lot of money. Mom would have to pawn her only investment—the single share of

What I learned from reading The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard.----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

What I learned from reading Overdrive: Bill Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace by James Wallace.----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----There would be an industry breakthrough unimagined at the time, and it would be made by a company that didn’t yet exist. [7:55]Another corollary to Joys Law of Innovation was that the number of bright people in any company went down as the size went up. [10:47]As Apple founder Steve Jobs liked to say: When you are at simplicity, there ain’t no complexity. [12:49]Gates looks at everything as something that should be his. He acts in any way he can to make it his. It can be an idea, market share, or a contract. There is not an ounce of conscientiousness or compassion in him. The notion of fairness means nothing to him. The only thing he understands is leverage. [17:21]I became convinced that Microsoft was building the last minicomputer. That the Microsoft Network was based on the notion that your

What I learned from reading Hollywood Rajah: The Life and Times of Louis B. Mayer by Bosley Crowther. ----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----The reason so many people showed up at his funeral was because they wanted to make sure he was dead. [0:50]He is in that phalanx of men of aggressive bent who seized on the opportunities that an expanding civilization exposed. With them, he ascended to high places along an upwardly spiraling route that was there to be ascended by those who had the necessary stamina and drive. And, with some of them , he was unsettled and rendered dizzy by the heights, so that he could not control his footing when the road itself began to narrow and fall. [2:07] His own recollections of his early childhood were mercifully meager and dim. They were mainly recollections of being hungry. That was the only memory Mayer had of himself as a little boy. [7:01] How powerful and violent were the urges in the depths of t

What I learned from reading Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger. ----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----[12:38] Numerous other entrepreneurs had tried playing at rocket science before, Musk well knew. He wanted to learn from their mistakes so as not to repeat them. [20:55]  He could be difficult to work for, certainly. But his early hires could immediately see the benefits of working for someone who wanted to get things done and often made decisions on the spot. When Musk decided that Spincraft could make good tanks for a fair price, that was it. No committees. No reports. Just, done. [22:05] Most of all he channeled a preternatural force to move things forward. Elon Musk just wants to get shit done. [27:42] The iterative approach begins with a goal and almost immediately leaps into concept designs , bench tests, and prototypes. The mantra with this approach is build and test early, f

What I learned from reading The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune by Conor O'Clery.----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----He celebrated having divested himself personally of the vast wealth with which fate and his genius for making money had burdened him. [0:01] Feeney was already showing a trait that would assert itself throughout his life: thinking big and aiming to achieve the best result, even if it seemed unattainable. [3:27]I all of a sudden realized, shit, you can sell this to anybody, anywhere. [12:45] Feeney believed that there could be more lucrative opportunities in the less  crowded Pacific. [21:53] Chuck lived out of his briefcase. Everything was connected with business. We did a lot of screwy things. I became part of what he called his ‘teen  age frontier’ approach to business, because he surrounded himself with smart college youngsters, mostly single and aggressive ‘conque

What I learned from reading My Life in Advertising by Claude Hopkins. ----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----Any man who by a lifetime of excessive application learns more about anything than others owes a statement to successors. The results of research should be recorded. Every pioneer should blaze his trail. That is all I have tried to do. [0:19]There are few pages in “My Life in Advertising” which do not repay careful study—and which do not merit rereading. Before your eyes, a successful advertising life is lived—with all that went to make it successful. The lessons taught are taught exactly as they were learned. They are dished up dripping with life. It is not a book, it is an experience—and experience has always been the great teacher. [2:49] The man who does two or three times the work of another learns two or three times as much. He makes more mistakes and more successes, and he learns from both. If I have gone higher than

What I learned from reading The King of Madison Avenue: David Ogilvy and the Making of Modern Advertising by Kenneth Roman. ----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes.com----One characteristic of geniuses, said Einstein, is they are passionately curious. Ogilvy’s great secret was an inquiring mind.In conversation, he never pontificated; he interrogated.There were piles of books all over his house, most about successful leaders in business and government. He was interested in how they used their leadership. How they made their money. He was interested in people — people who had accomplished remarkable things.Reading Ogilvy’s short autobiography is like having dinner with a charming raconteur.His Scottish grandfather is portrayed as cold — hearted, formidable, and successful — and his hero. When you write a book about advertising, you’re competing with midgets. When you write an autobiography, you’re competing with giants.He took the occasion to remind everyone that he w

What I learned from reading Driven: An Autobiography by Larry Miller. ----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----[1:01] I decided I had to be extremely good at something. [2:47] I’m sorry to say, neglecting my family to do all of the above. I worked and worked and worked, day after day, night after night, dawn to bedtime. [5:23] He owned movie theaters, auto dealerships, a motorsports park with a world-class racetrack, a movie production company, an advertising agency, ranches, restaurants, TV and radio stations, a real-estate development company, an NBA franchise, a professional baseball team, an NBA arena, sports apparel stores—nearly 90 companies in all, in six states, with 7,000 employees, all under the umbrella of The Larry H. Miller Group, which produces $3.2 billion in sales annually, ranking it among the 200 largest privately owned companies in the United States. [7:23] The chain of events that began my entrepreneurial career w

What I learned from reading Jackie Cochran: An Autobiography by Jackie Cochran. ----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----[4:37] At the time of her death on August 9, 1980, Jacqueline Cochran held more speed, altitude, and distance records than any other pilot, male or female, in aviation history. Her career spanned 40 years, from the Golden Age of the 1930s as a racing pilot, through the turbulent years of World War Il as founder and head of the Women's Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) program, into the jet age, when she became the first female pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound. She was a 14-time winner of the Harmon trophy for the outstanding female pilot of the year and was accorded numerous other awards and honors in addition to the trophies she won with her flying skills. [6:15] Jackie was an irresistible force. Time and time again in the many, many interviews I was so kindly granted, the repeated theme was "Jackie just co

What I learned from reading The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley by Leslie Berlin.----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----[0:01] Bob Noyce took me under his wing,” Steve Jobs explains. “I was young, in my twenties. He was in his early fifties. He tried to give me the lay of the land, give me a perspective that I could only partially understand.” Jobs continues, “You can’t really understand what is going on now unless you understand what came before.” [2:00] He inspired in nearly everyone whom he encountered a sense that the future had no limits , and that together they could , as he liked to say, “Go off and do something wonderful.” [3:15] Warren Buffett , who served on a college board with Noyce for several years said: “Everybody liked Bob. He was an extraordinarily smart guy who didn’t need to let you know he was that smart. He could be your neighbor, but with lots of machinery in his head

What I learned from reading Broken Genius: The Rise and Fall of William Shockley, Creator of the Electronic Age by Joel Shurkin. ----Come see a live show with me and Patrick O'Shaughnessy from Invest Like The Best on October 19th in New York City. Get your tickets here! ----Subscribe to listen to Founders AMA  Subscribers can: -ask me questions directly-listen to Ask Me Anything (AMA) episodes-listen to every bonus episode--- [1:19] Why would a man as unquestionably brilliant as he knowingly and deliberately destroy himself?[5:04] Dear Jean: I am sorry that I feel I can no longer go on. Most of my life I have felt. that the world was not a pleasant place and that people were not a very admirable form of life. I find that I am particularly dissatisfied with myself and that most of my actions are the consequence of motives of which I am ashamed. Consequently, I must regard myself as less well suited than most to carry on with life and to develop the proper attitudes in our children. I hope you have better luck

What I learned from reading Rocket Man: Robert Goddard and the Birth of the Space Age by David A. Clary. ---Subscribe to listen to Founders Premium  Subscribers can: -ask me questions directly-listen to Ask Me Anything (AMA) episodes-listen to every bonus episode---[18:16] For even though I reasoned with myself that the thing was impossible, there was something inside me which simply would not stop working.  [20:08] Anything is possible with the man who makes the best use of every minute of his time. [20:18] There are limitless opportunities open to the man who appreciates the fact that his own mind is the sole key that unlocks them.  [32:55] It’s appalling how short life is and how much there is to do. We have to be sports, take chances, and do what we can. [35:57] There were limits to Goddard’s ability as a salesman, beginning with his failure to determine the interests of his potential customers.  [44:18] Goddard must be given his due. The first flight of a liquid-propelled rocket may not have looked like

What I learned from reading Alfred Nobel: A Biography by Kenne Fant.----Come see a live show with me and Patrick O'Shaughnessy from Invest Like The Best on October 19th in New York City. Get your tickets here! ----Subscribe to listen to Founders Premium  Subscribers can: -ask me questions directly-listen to Ask Me Anything (AMA) episodes-listen to every bonus episode---[16:24] The self-awareness that would become so characteristic of him was awakening and with it the determination to be the master of every situation. He was not going to throw himself into the world and let luck or chance lead the way. [26:26] When it comes to serious matters, I have adopted the rule of acting seriously. [28:09] Alfred never forgot poverty. [30:04] Financial pressure was accelerating his development as an inventor. [39:15] Alfred asked her what she wished as a wedding present. The quick-witted young woman astonished him by replying without hesitation, “As much as Monsieur Nobel himself earns in one day.” Impressed and amused,

What I learned from reading Yeager: An Autobiography by General Chuck Yeager. ----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes----[10:14] I was a competitive kid. I always tried to do my best. I never thought of myself as being poor or deprived in any way. We managed to scrape by. Kids learned self-sufficiency. Mom and Dad taught us by example. They never complained. I had certain standards that I lived by. Whatever I did, I determined to do the best I could at it.  [13:22] The sense of speed and exhilaration makes you so damned happy that you want to shout for joy. [17:15]  In nearly every case the worst pilots die by their own stupidity. [26:04] I sensed that he was a very strong and determined person, a poor boy who had started with nothing and would show the world what he was really made of. [38:48] Every muscle in my body is hammering at me. I just want to let go of his guy and drop in my tracks—either to sleep or to die. I don’t know why I keep hold of him and struggle

What I learned from reading Becoming Dr. Seuss: Theodor Geisel and the Making of an American Imagination by Brian Jay Jones.----Come see a live show with me and Patrick O'Shaughnessy from Invest Like The Best on October 19th in New York City. Get your tickets here! ----Subscribe to listen to Founders Premium  Subscribers can: -ask me questions directly-listen to Ask Me Anything (AMA) episodes-listen to every bonus episode---[6:32] Both his parents would inspire and encourage Ted’s love for books. Reading was a pastime the entire family took seriously. [9:24] Ted came to appreciate the considerable discipline and commitment it took to hone expertise. [10:15] He was an inspiration. Whatever you do, he taught me, do it to perfection. [10:53] No matter what discipline you are in there’s a common denominator in how we approach our craft. The attention to detail, the level of commitment. Those things are the same across the board. That is my message. Don’t look at what I did but how I did it. The how. And then you