London Richards

Founder, Proprietary Quantitative Firm

[David Senra @FoundersPodcast]

New episode: "How Elon Works"

This episode covers the insanely valuable company-building principles of Elon Musk

A few notes from the episode:

1. The mission comes first.

2. Retreat is not an option.

3. A maniacal sense of urgency is our operating principle.

4. Product design should be driven by engineers.

5. You should not separate engineering from product design.

6. Having separate design and production departments is bullshit. Keep everything together and feedback immediate.

7. The leader should be on the front lines. You should be a battlefield general.

8. "If they see the general out on the battlefield, the troops are going to be motivated. Wherever Napoleon was, that's where his armies would do best."

9. Apply The Algorithm constantly. (1) Question every requirement. (2) Delete any part of the process you can. (3) Simplify and optimize. (4) Accelerate cycle time. (5) Automate.

10. Repetition is persuasive. "I became a broken record on the algorithm. I think it's helpful to say it to an annoying degree."

11. You should go ultra-hardcore on deletion and simplification.

12. Camaraderie is dangerous. It makes it hard for people to challenge each other’s work. (Refer to point #1)

13. Never ask your troops to do something you wouldn’t do.

14. Hire for attitude. Skills can be taught. Attitude changes require a brain transplant.

15. Good attitude = A desire to work maniacally hard.

16. The only rules are the ones dictated by the laws of physics. Everything else is a recommendation.

17. Keep your entire company committed to a common goal.

18. If things aren’t going well, throw away the existing design, start from first principles, question every requirement based on fundamental physics.

19. Find the limit. You want to delete as much as possible and you can’t do that unless you find the limit.

20. If you aren’t adding back at least 10% of the things you deleted, then you didn’t delete enough.

21. Maintain control. Avoid joint ventures. Eliminate middlemen.

22. Have a relentless dedication to questioning every requirement.

23. No work about work, just work.

24. Go to the problem. Get on the plane. Fly to the source. Go to the exact location in the factory. Go to the problem and stay there until it's resolved.

25. The best part is no part.

26. Be wired for war.

27. Do not fear losing. It hurts the first 50 times but then you’ll be able to play with less emotion. You will take more risks.

28. Stay heads down focused on doing useful things for civilization.

29. When something is important and has to be done quickly, have meetings every 24 hours to run the algorithm and check on the previous days progress. You'll be shocked at how fast this speeds things up.

30. Life needs to be interesting and edgy.

31. Delete, delete, delete, delete.

There are 100 more ideas in the episode. I hope you listen to it. 30 years of Elon’s career + 60 hours of reading and research and me just absolutely ripping through idea after idea at 2x speed for 90 minutes.

It will be hard to find a better use of time.

[Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Wisdom @TalebWisdom]

"Wind extinguishes a candle and energizes fire. Likewise with randomness, uncertainty, chaos: you want to use them, not hide from them. You want to be the fire and wish for the wind." - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

[Z Fellows @zfellows]

How Elon Musk thinks from first principles:

[Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Wisdom @TalebWisdom]

"They think that intelligence is about noticing things that are relevant (detecting patterns); in a complex world, intelligence consists in ignoring things that are irrelevant (avoiding false patterns)." - Nassim Nicholas Taleb in The Bed of Procrustes

[Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Wisdom @TalebWisdom]

"Truth is in the extremes. There is no noise in the far tails." - Nassim Taleb

[Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Wisdom @TalebWisdom]

"Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better." - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

[London Richards @LondonRichards]

You’re alive because there is something the world needs that is hidden inside of you.

[David Senra @FoundersPodcast]

10 ideas from Charlie Munger

[The Founders' Tribune @foundertribune]

"Don't be a Career" by Steve Jobs

[David Senra @FoundersPodcast]

I love this idea from @paulg

[London Richards @LondonRichards]

@hamptonism Convexity

[ₕₐₘₚₜₒₙ @hamptonism]

All my opps failed at Monte Carlo simulations.

[London Richards @LondonRichards]

@TKtheLegend @EthereumDenver

[London Richards @LondonRichards]

@Y4Si The stage where you’re in your favorite room, you love this room, you feel safe and at peace. Then the door to exit the room becomes permanently locked. You no longer feel safe. You’re trapped. The room hasn’t changed but your choice has been taken away.

[Jim O'Shaughnessy @jposhaughnessy]

Two thoughts from Anatole France

“To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything.”

“Awaken people's curiosity. It is enough to open minds, do not overload them. Put there just a spark.”

[London Richards @LondonRichards]

@LeakyGasketLens Thank you! Much appreciated.

[London Richards @LondonRichards]

@sabet https://t.co/PJ54fwqsUc
https://t.co/ZzwwNrUHUQ

[London Richards @LondonRichards]

@bitcoinprophet1 OE available for 24 hours.
https://t.co/ZzwwNrUHUQ

[London Richards @LondonRichards]

@begoniachan Thank you Begonia! 🤍