Colton

[Colton @ColtonDavie]

"'God, I’ve GOT to win the lottery'.... 'Moishe, you’ve got to buy a ticket!'"

Rest in peace, Sam Zell

[Bill Ackman @BillAckman]

Let’s not be so quick to destroy capitalism. I met @awilkinson a few years ago over lunch and have watched his incredible journey as a partner and small shareholder. And he is just getting started. Worth a read.

[Tren Griffin @trengriffin]

Breaking down the unit economics of subscription "shoes as a service" (SaaS) is a natural for a runner like @d_mccar

CAAC
churn
ARPU
COGS

https://t.co/gXRjCDpswN

[Colton @ColtonDavie]

Many interesting heretical thoughts are already mostly formed in our minds. If we turn off our self-censorship temporarily, those will be the first to emerge." Great Essay from @paulg https://t.co/kAcZZVPlnX

[Colton @ColtonDavie]

Part of their brain knew there was something there; it just didn't percolate all the way up into conscious knowledge...

[Colton @ColtonDavie]

"In 1989 some clever researchers tracked the eye movements of radiologists as they scanned chest images for signs of lung cancer. They found that even when the radiologists missed a cancerous lesion, their eyes had usually paused at the sight of it.

[David Senra @FoundersPodcast]

I had lunch with Sam Zell.

We talked for over 2 hours.

I could ask him any question I wanted.

At 81 he is still *ferociously* intelligent and completely authentic.

Here are 7 key ideas I learned from our lunch:

1. Go for freedom

Freedom allows you to control what you work on.

If you control what you work on then you can work on what you love.

If you love it you will do it for a long time.

If you do it for a long time you will get really good at it.

Money will come as a result.

2. It's extremely important to be obsessive about understanding everything you possibly can about your craft. Consider it an obligation. Hold yourself accountable. Keep learning over time. Study the history and know the pioneers. — @bgurley

Sam Zell has been doing this for 60 years.

Every time I mentioned some obscure figure from the history of business Sam

-knew who the person was
-knew what company they had built
-and had read their biography

Every. Single. Time.

He has all this information stored in his head.

He never looked at any notes or had to Google anything.

It was all in his brain.

3. The right information is priceless

It can save your life (the right information helped Sam’s family escape the Nazis)

and help you build a wonderful business

(Sam used an idea he found in William Zeckendorf’s autobiography in both his real estate and business career)

4. Have fun

You’d be surprised how many rich people don’t have any fun.

Don’t be like these people.

Sam is still curious and is seeking adventures all over the world.

5. You have an obligation to share what you have learned

Sam flies all over the world to talk to other entrepreneurs (at his expense!) just to teach everything he has learned.

He considers it an obligation to pass knowledge onto the next generations.

6. When you a few decades of experience —write an autobiography

Sam hated writing his. It was difficult.

But it is one of the best things he ever did.

His favorite day of the week is Monday.

That is the day Sam and his team go over the messages people send Sam telling him how his book changed their life.

He finds this deeply satisfying. You will too.

7. If you love what you do the only exit strategy is death

Sam will be doing deals, building businesses, and sharing everything he learned until he dies.

- - - -

“People sometimes ask me when I’ll retire. Retire from what? I love what I do.” — Sam Zell

- - - -
A scene from our lunch:

David: I bought Zeckendorf’s book because you mentioned reading it in your autobiography

Sam Zell: Did you read it?

David: Not yet

Sam Zell: READ IT!

David: Yes sir 🫡

- - - -
The first 30 minutes of episode 298 is what I learned from having lunch with Sam Zell.

I go into a lot more detail than I can fit here.

The rest of the episode is what I learned from reading the book Sam Zell told me to read:

Zeckendorf: The Autobiography of The Man Who Played a Real Life Game of Monopoly and Won the Largest Real Estate Empire in History by William Zeckendorf

You can listen in any podcast player right now!

[Daniel S. Loeb @DanielSLoeb1]

Healthy mindset. You will also not be as young as you are at this moment ever again. So why not enjoy life, love yourself, your family and fellow humans? Try not to catastrophize and express gratitude. --a few helpful affirmations I remind myself of daily.

[Bill Ackman @BillAckman]

For the troll skeptics

[Colton @ColtonDavie]

Excellent chat between @eriktorenberg and @pmarca
-Principle-agent problem between management and owners
-Bourgeois capitalism in Venture and PE
-Slave-master dynamics (kinky)
-Aristocracy vs Oligarchy (stocks & flows of the ruling class)
https://t.co/A3Asykg3WX

[Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 @pmarca]

This is an essay for the ages: https://t.co/ieRVa84lsd @auren

[Bryan Johnson @bryan_johnson]

Zeroth-Principles Thinking

How does one come up with a truly original idea? One that reshapes society for centuries. Learning about the discovery of the number zero, and its philosophical representation -- nothingness -- changed my orientation with transformational thinking.

[Prof. Feynman @ProfFeynman]

Educate yourself about things. Study hard what interests you the most. Don't worry about what others think of you, that's none of your business. Train your mind to think, doubt, and question. That's how you grow. 🧠

[Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 @pmarca]

Big news! I just received a fresh research report from the world’s leading expert on things that have already happened.

[Andrew Wilkinson @awilkinson]

Two years ago, my friend @MohnishPabrai (who taught me almost everything I know about investing) mentioned something bizarre:

He had hired a psychologist to deep dive on his life and rip it to shreds.

This guy interviewed his wife.
His co-workers.
And him, for hours and hours.

[Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 @pmarca]

"Motivated largely by his own awareness of the discreditable nature of his secret behavior, the covert deviant develops a presentation of self that is respectable to a fault. His whole lifestyle becomes an incarnation of what is proper and orthodox."--Laud Humphreys

[Mohnish Pabrai @MohnishPabrai]

This was my 13th year speaking to Prof. Arvind Navaratnam's students at @BCCarrollSchool and @HarvardHBS. It is always the highlight of the year for me. Enjoy the video: https://t.co/LmPY4mVykR.

[David Sacks @DavidSacks]

Only the paranoid survive. It was easy to forget this lesson in a bull market.

[Nassim Nicholas Taleb @nntaleb]

2) Note that Gladwell has some data on good lawyers having a low LSAT.
And, of course,
https://t.co/QnGPLVOTiQ

[Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 @pmarca]

10. Going outdoors without sunscreen.