🇺🇸 United States Episodes

We sit down with the one & only Michael Mauboussin to dive deep into his incredible body of work: untangling skill and luck, measuring moats, persistence of returns in venture capital, decision making and — particularly timely — expectations investing and how to think about valuations in the current 2021 market environment. (!!) Michael's work is maybe our most frequent carve out on Acquired, so we're pumped to finally have a chance to interview the man himself. Big thank you to Patrick O'Shaughnessy and Brent Beshore for introducing us all at Capital Camp this year! Sponsors:WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierraSentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentryAnthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25More Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLCLinks:Michael's wonderful talk at Google: https://youtu.be/1JLfqBsX5LcThe new revised edition of Expectations Investing:  https://www.amazon.com/Expectations-Investing-Reading-Returns-Heilbrunn/dp/0231203047/The Success Equation:  https://www.amazon.com/The-Success-Equation-Untangling-Investing/dp/1422184234/Measuring the Moat:  https://research-doc.credit-suisse.com/docView?language=ENG&format=PDF&sourceid=csplusresearchcp&document_id=1066439791&serialid=4uA2wHojCvFKzqWfwIyDvkSN1pkXRpb43LvyclLcJsk%3D&cspId=nullPublic to Private Equity:  https://www.morganstanley.com/im/publication/insights/articles/articles_publictoprivateequityintheusalongtermlook_us.pdf ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, led a dazzling career in consumer goods, from Procter & Gamble to Nestlé to the British multinational. His experience fending off a hostile takeover bid taught him that the doctrine of shareholder capitalism is wrong. He believes there’s a better way of doing business, one that embraces all stakeholders — not just stockholders — and improves the environment. He cofounded the consultancy IMAGINE to further sustainable goals, and he shares his advice for the next generation of leaders. With Andrew Winston, Polman wrote the new book “Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More than They Take”.

Rob Dyrdek (@robdyrdek), founder & CEO of venture studio Dyrdek Machine, former professional skateboarder, and star of hit shows like Rob & Big and Ridiculousness, joins Sam (@TheSamParr) and Shaan (@ShaanVP) to discuss how he transitioned from acting and athletics to venture capital and how he structures his many business interests. He also talks about how he structures his life to achieve maximum human optimization, why he’s glad he didn’t have TikTok growing up, and much more. Show Notes: * (00:57) Why Ridiculousness is always on MTV * (11:35) How Rob structures his business, money, and time * (16:49) How Rob tracks his time with custom scripts * (26:22) The transition from skater kid to human optimization * (35:40) The value of opening your finances * (44:16) Why Rob is glad he didn’t have TikTok growing up * (58:29) Why Rob is trying to create a “Drake equation” for business Links: * Rob’s Podcast: https://dyrdekmachine.com/build-with-rob

No matter what phase of growth you’re in, data is essential to scale. Take it from Sheila Lirio Marcelo, the founder and former CEO of Care.com, the two-sided marketplace connecting working families with care providers. Marcelo scaled her business past the competition by getting the right data at the right time. Marketplaces are tricky flywheels to get started, and Marcelo used data to help her determine which markets Care.com should pursue first — and when to wait. "Something I coach a lot of entrepreneurs: You can have a great vision and idea, but start with a lot of data and testing,” says Marcelo.Listen to Sonal Shah's Rapid Response episode. "Scaling a mission": https://mastersofscale.com/rapidresponse/shah/Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.comSubscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

My guest today is Jenny Lefcourt, an equal General Partner at seed-stage venture firm Freestyle Capital, where she manages $450 million in seed investments. Jenny has been engrained in the tech world since the early days of the internet. She dropped out of her Stanford MBA program to co-found online wedding registry startup WeddingChannel.com with classmate, Jessica Herrin, which was subsequently acquired by The Knot. During our conversation, we cover Jenny's investment frameworks, why she believes a deep understanding of the customer is key for founder success, and what makes great go-to-market strategies. We also touch on some of Jenny's favorite market themes around technology for the aging population, the future of work, and the growing low-code/no-code market. Please enjoy my conversation with Jenny Lefcourt.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   ------   Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.    Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:03:24] - [First question] - Her background and some formative experiences that lead her to where she is today [00:08:38] - Common patterns of desirable founders when it comes to customer focus [00:09:50] - Her investing framework for evaluating and deciding which companies to invest in [00:15:11] - The biggest jobs to be done in this space currently today [00:17:33] - Cultural differences in how the West views and treats their elderly [00:21:02] - Business model options for turn-key apartments offered by UpsideHoM [00:22:48] - Other categories and potential opportunities in tech geared towards the elderly [00:24:59] - What you need to do differently when building products for the elderly [00:27:32] - How she learns about a new prospect’s go-to-market approach and reverse engineering an action plan to execute it [00:32:03] - Founders, You Want to Sell Viagra [00:33:33] - Selling transformation and an overview of this idea with BetterUp [00:36:30] - Her thoughts on how the world and the future of work might change  [00:43:24] - The emerging movement of low code/no code tools [00:46:58] - How she as an investor adjusts as the world becomes more digitally connected [00:49:02] - Ways her life has most dramatically changed over the past few years [00:51:33] - Lessons learned from her time at All Raise [00:53:40] - Outstanding and remaining barriers to inclusive and diverse teams [00:58:47] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for her

It’s up to all of us to create a more inclusive and diverse workplace. No matter where you are in your career journey, it’s essential that you help others grow, even as you are growing yourself, says ACLU Chief Equity Officer Amber Hikes. These are the three ways she says we can help each other -- and empower and advance those who historically have been left behind.Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode I am joined by Dr. Craig Heller, Ph.D., Professor of Biology at Stanford University and world expert on the science of temperature regulation. We discuss how the body and brain maintain temperature under different conditions and how most everyone uses the wrong approach to cool off or heat up. Dr. Heller teaches us the best ways and in doing so, explains how to offset hyperthermia and hypothermia. He also explains how we can use the precise timing and location of cooling on our body to greatly enhance endurance and weight training performance. He describes how cooling technology discovered and engineered in his laboratory has led to a tripling of anaerobic (weight training) performance and allowed endurance athletes to run further and faster, as well as to eliminate delayed onset muscle soreness. Dr. Heller explains how heat impairs muscular and mental performance, and how to cool the brain to reduce inflammation and to enhance sleep and cognition. We discuss how anyone can apply these principles for themselves, even their dogs! Our conversation includes both many practical tools and mechanistic science. Read the full show notes for this episode at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://athleticgreens.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/hubermanlab Waking Up: https://wakingup.com/huberman Momentous: https://livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps 00:00:00 Introducing Dr. Craig Heller, Physiology & Performance   00:02:20 Sponsors: AG1, LMNT & Waking Up 00:06:45 Cold Showers, Ice Baths, Cryotherapy   00:10:45 Boundary Layers   00:11:55 Cooling Before Aerobic Activity to Enhance Performance   00:14:45 Anaerobic Activity Locally Increases Muscle Heat   00:16:45 Temperature Gates Our Energy Use   00:19:00 Local Versus Systemic Fatigue: Heat Is Why We Fail   00:22:10 Cooling Off: Most Methods are Counterproductive   00:26:43 Exercise-Induced Brain Fog   00:27:45 Hyperthermia   00:31:50 Best Body Sites for Cooling: Palms, Foot Pads, Upper Face   00:38:00 Cooling Your Brain via The Upper Face; Concussion   00:41:25 Extraordinary (Tripling!) Performance by Cooling the Palms   00:45:35 Enhancing Recovery, Eliminating Soreness w/Intra-workout Cooling   00:50:00 Multiple Sclerosis: Heat Sensitivity & Amelioration with Cooling   00:51:00 Enhancing Endurance with Proper Cooling   00:53:00 Cool Mitt, Ice-Cold Is Too Cold, 3 Minutes Cooling   00:58:20 How You Can Use Palmer Cooling to Enhance Performance   01:01:15 Radiation, Convection, Heat-Transfer, Role of Surface Area   01:04:40 Hypothermia Story, Ideal Re-Heating Strategy   01:11:40 Paw-lmer Cooling for Dog Health & Performance   01:12:45 Warming Up, & Varying Temperature Around the Body   01:17:35 Cooling-Enhanced Performance Is Permanent   01:19:55 Anabolic Steroids versus Palmer Cooling   01:24:00 Female Athletic Performance   01:25:18 Shivering & Cold, Metabolism   01:26:55 Studies of Bears & Hibernation, Brown Fat   01:31:10 Brown Fat Distribution & Activation In Humans   01:34:18 Brain Freeze, Ice Headache: Blood Pressure, Headache   01:37:50 Fidgeters, Non-Exercise Induced Thermogenesis   01:39:44 How Pre-Workout Drinks, & Caffeine May Inhibit Performance   01:43:42 Sleep, Cold, Warm Baths, Screens, & Socks   01:48:44 Synthesis   01:49:30 Supporting the Podcast & Scientific Research   Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This wonderful week brings us thespian-extraordinaire Jeff Daniels. We deep-dive on craft, hear about collaborators from Sorkin to Cagney to Forman, and the essential power of flop sweat. But at the end of the day, it’s all about whatever gets us on the 10/405 interchange quickest. When life gives you Monday, dip it in glitter and make it sparkle all week.

Dan Jones is a historian, TV presenter and an author. Dan took a break from walking about great British castles to write a book about the 1000 years of the Middle Ages. Knights and Templars and Monks and Mongols and Barbarians. Expect to learn why Genghis Khan was harder than Jocko Willink, Dan's best ever finish in Peloton, why I won't be allowed to go as a wizard to his imaginary medieval fancy dress party, just how bad a pandemic in the Middle Ages was, why Rome got rekt by climate change and much more... Extra Stuff: Buy Powers & Thrones - https://amzn.to/3m6kXtc Follow Dan on Twitter - https://twitter.com/dgjones  Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch. Join the discussion with me and other like minded listeners in the episode comments on the MW YouTube Channel or message me... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ModernWisdomPodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Also: what’s the best way to handle rejection?

with @michaeldell @martin_casado @pmarca @smc90 It's rare to see a company go public then private then back to public again, as Dell Technologies did -- and which also pulled off one of the most epic mergers of all time with Dell + EMC + VMWare. How does one not just start, but keep -- and transform -- a company and business, especially as it adapts to broader, underlying tech platform shifts like demise of PC, end of cloud, cloud wars, and much more? This is really a story about innovation: who decides, who judges, who does it, and where.

Rupert Sheldrake PhD is a biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of Morphic Resonance. Morphic Resonance is the idea of mysterious telepathy-type connections between organisms and of collective memories within species. Rupert has spent 30 years investigating and researching this phenomenon, much to the annoyance of the scientific community. Expect to learn why it is that rats who are taught to escape from a maze have children who are able to escape it more quickly and why rats in other areas of the world learn to escape more quickly as well, why are dogs able to predict when their owner is coming home 15 minutes before they arrive at the house, how blue tits drowning in milk can be explained by Morphic Resonance and much more... Sponsors: Get 83% discount & 3 months free from Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MODERNWISDOM (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D and Free Shipping from Athletic Greens at https://athleticgreens.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Extra Stuff: Buy Rupert's book - https://amzn.to/3B4IZuI Check out Rupert's website - https://www.sheldrake.org/  Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch. Join the discussion with me and other like minded listeners in the episode comments on the MW YouTube Channel or message me... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ModernWisdomPodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Show Notes: 0:00 Brian Armstrong follows up on his one-year old blog post "Coinbase is a mission focused company" 19:27 Authoritarianism on the left 33:04 Newsom's new vaccine mandate, NBA vaccine coverage, Merck COVID pill 45:51 Golden Age of VC, 1000 unicorns & the impact on private/public markets 57:45 Corporate tax reform, Roth IRAs & the "Peter Thiel Provision" 1:06:36 Chances of a VC bubble, why notable VCs are retiring, building a modern venture firm 1:23:51 All-In summit planning Follow the besties: https://twitter.com/chamath https://linktr.ee/calacanis https://twitter.com/DavidSacks https://twitter.com/friedberg Follow the pod: https://twitter.com/theallinpod https://linktr.ee/allinpodcast Intro Music Credit: https://rb.gy/tppkzl https://twitter.com/yung_spielburg Intro Video Credit: https://twitter.com/TheZachEffect Referenced in the show: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-is-a-mission-focused-company-af882df8804 https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1443727729476530178 https://blockchain.news/news/workers-quit-coinbase-exchange-apolitical-stance https://twitter.com/DavidSacks/status/1443846265582735362 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/psychological-dimensions-left-wing-authoritarianism/620185/ https://ktla.com/news/california/gov-newsom-to-make-major-announcement-on-efforts-to-protect-teachers-students-from-covid/ https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/01/merck-to-seek-emergency-authorization-for-oral-covid-19-treatment.html https://www.wsj.com/articles/university-endowments-mint-billions-in-golden-era-of-venture-capital-11632907802 https://news.crunchbase.com/news/crunchbase-unicorn-board-1000-companies/ https://siblisresearch.com/data/us-stock-market-value/ https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-number-of-companies-publicly-traded-in-the-us-is-shrinkingor-is-it-2020-10-30 https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/17/house-tax-bill-would-likely-force-peter-thiel-to-pull-5-billion-from-his-ira.html

Maintaining a healthy weight takes more than diet and exercise, says physical activity epidemiologist Olivia Affuso. In this actionable talk, she shows how you can kickstart a healthy life by tapping into the collective power of a community that supports and motivates your health goals.Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Sam (@theSamParr) and Shaan (@ShaanVP) discuss the latest news on the unfolding Ozy Media story, discuss why Google might not be a dominant tech giant in ten years, and place a bet on whether Shaan can make $10k in a day with a mall Santa scheme. --------- Show notes: * (1:00) How to explain My First Million * (2:53) Why furniture-less design is the new style * (9:46) Shady sh*t of the week: Ozy Media * (19:44) The research power of Newspapers.com  * (30:37) Blue-collar side hustle: Mall Santas * (38:46) Sam and Shaan make a $500 bet * (40:40) Royalty-free music and its AI-generated future * (43:04) Why NerdWallet persisted * (53:13) Why big companies shut down products worth $10s of millions * (58:48) Why Google and Facebook employees are soft

Sean Kelly is a philosopher at Harvard specializing in existentialism and the philosophy of mind. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Coinbase: https://coinbase.com/lex to get $5 in free Bitcoin – InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/lex and use code Lex25 to get 25% off – NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/lex to get free product tour – Ladder: https://ladderlife.com/lex – Sunbasket: https://sunbasket.com/lex and use code LEX to get $35 off EPISODE LINKS: Sean’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sean_d_kelly Sean’s Website: https://scholar.harvard.edu/sdkelly Sean’s Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Dorrance_Kelly PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) – Introduction (06:50) – Existentialism (26:58) – Nietzsche and nihilism (44:35) – Dostoevsky (1:00:02) – Camus and suicide (1:18:31) – The Big Lebowski (1:26:20) – Ayn Rand (1:36:28) – Evil (1:47:03) – Heidegger (1:58:43) – Hubert Dreyfus (2:04:35) – Moby Dick (2:15:51) – David Foster Wallace (2:36:03) – Can AI make art? (2:55:46) – Meaning of life

Tactics that startups use to build a product quickly and effectively.

Mike Baker is a former CIA covert operations officer and current CEO of Portman Square Group, a global intelligence firm. He's also the host of "Black Files Declassified" on Discovery’s Science Channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twerking is mainstream now ... but do you know where it came from? Superstar Lizzo traces booty shaking to a traditional West African dance and tells how Black women across generations kept the rhythm alive, from blues and jazz singers to modern rap and hip-hop performers. With her characteristic energy, she shares how twerking empowered her to love her own body -- and explains why understanding its origins helps protect Black culture from erasure and misappropriation. (And, yes, she twerks on stage.)Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To compete against bigger players, you need a special edge. Sridhar Ramaswamy, who led Google’s huge ad business, is now going head-to head against his former employer with an ad-free subscription-based search engine called Neeva. Ramaswamy became disillusioned by Google’s priorities and practices and argues that big platforms – including Facebook and Amazon – have failed to scale responsibly. Sharing inside stories of how big tech makes decisions, and his own experiences with a startup, Ramaswamy offers lessons on growth, monopolistic threats, and why challenging even great companies is necessary right now. “I’m a tech optimist,” he says, “but we need to be conscious of the good and bad.” A renewed focus on responsible tech scaling is right for the businesses and for society. Read a transcript of this interview at: mastersofscale.comSubscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.