POD OF JAKE

Latest Episodes:

#67 - JULIA GALEF Jun 17, 2021

Show notes

Julia is an intellectual leader in the rationalist community and the author of the book, The Scout Mindset. She previously co-founded the Center for Applied Rationality, a nonprofit organization devoted to helping people improve their reasoning and decision-making. Julia has hosted the Rationally Speaking Podcast since 2010. Visit her website at juliagalef.com and follow Julia on Twitter @juliagalef.

[0:59] - How Julia came to study rationality and decision making

[5:04] - Breaking down rationality and decision making

[11:09] - Epistemic vs. instrumental rationality

[15:39] - The decade-long history of the Rationally Speaking Podcast

[21:42] - Soldier Mindset vs. Scout Mindset

[29:46] - Seeking truth over comfort

[39:53] - Vitalik Buterin's intellectual honesty

[47:30] - Recognizing biases and changing your mind

[54:17] - Keeping a small identity

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#66 - GEORGE MACK Jun 11, 2021

Show notes

George is a digital marketing specialist and the founder of Multiply Marketing where he helps scale great products and ideas across the internet. He is known on Twitter for his thoughts on mental models, first principles thinking, and his creation of @NavalBot, a Twitter bot that resurfaces some of the greatest tweets from Naval Ravikant. Subscribe to George's newsletter, Clouds & Dirt, and follow him on Twitter @george__mack.

[0:59] - George's exploration of psychology and technology

[5:19] - Internet vs in-person friends

[8:59] - The changing dynamics around where to live

[20:44] - Considerations of digital nomads

[25:24] - The need for new words to describe our changing world

[33:38] - First principles thinking and George's intellectual role models

[35:50] - Buffett Coins: a though experiment

[44:45] - Contrasting psychological and technological innovation

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#65 - STEVEN GALANIS Jun 03, 2021

Show notes

Steven is cofounder and CEO of Cameo, the world’s leading marketplace for personalized video shoutouts. The company recently raised a $100 million Series C at a valuation north of $1 billion. Steven graduated from Duke University and worked in finance and entertainment prior to launching the company in 2016.

[0:59] - What Steven learned from his early entrepreneurial ventures

[5:01] - Mindset shifts between the finance and tech industries

[6:49] - The importance of not wasting time early in your career

[10:29] - Cameo's origin story and its direct-to-fan business model

[15:48] - Challenges of scaling an early stage business

[18:27] - Evaluating talent and building a strong team

[22:44] - Expanding Cameo's offerings

[26:19] - Steven's thoughts on Bitcoin and BitClout

[31:24] - Geographic influence on new businesses

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#64 - VIJAY PANDE May 27, 2021

Show notes

Vijay is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he focuses on investments in biopharma and healthcare. As the founding investor of a16z’s Bio Fund, he leads the firm’s investments at the cross section of biology and computer science. Previously, Vijay was the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Structural Biology and of Computer Science at Stanford University. During his time at Stanford, Vijay co-founded Globavir Biosciences and the Folding@Home Distributed Computing Project for disease research. Vijay remains an Adjunct Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University and holds a BA in Physics from Princeton University and a PhD in Physics from MIT.

Disclaimer: a16z investments are discussed in this conversation. None of the content should be taken as investment advice. See a16z.com/disclosures for more information.

[0:59] - How Vijay ended up at the intersection of biology and technology

[6:15] - The academic shift from physics towards biology

[12:32] - The difficulty of scaling education

[16:38] - Vijay's predictions for the future of work and The San Francisco Bay Area

[26:31] - Using distributed computing to simulate protein folding with Fold@Home

[38:19] - The rising cost of healthcare and where the industry is moving

[49:46] - Targeting longevity as a solution to harmful diseases

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#63 - VEDIKA JAIN May 25, 2021

Show notes

Vedika is the Chief of Staff at Weekend Fund where she invests in early-stage startups and helps founders with product, community building, and go-to-market strategy. She previously held positions at Mithril Capital and Stripe and helped to scale TrueLayer into a global organization. Vedika was born and raised in India, attended UC Berkeley, and currently live in London. Check out Vedika's website at vedikaja.in and follow her on Twitter @vedikaja_in.

[0:59] - Vedika's childhood in India and journey to working in tech

[11:21] - The culture shock of moving to America for college

[13:51] - How Vedika broke into venture capital and why she knows it's where she's meant to be

[21:24] - The correlation between energy and value-add activities

[28:38] - Running experiments with Weekend Fund

[34:00] - How Vedika's gap year shaped her future

[40:55] - Vedika's experience scaling TrueLayer

[43:38] - The relationship between hard work and luck

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#62 - JAKE UDELL May 13, 2021

Show notes

Jake is a music manager and entrepreneur, founder of the talent management company, TH3RD BRAIN, and Head of Activation at Community. Most recently, he has become well known as an early BitClout enthusiast with one of the ten most valuable accounts on the network. BitClout is a new type of social network that lets you speculate on people and posts with real money, and it’s built from the ground up as its own custom blockchain. Follow Jake on BitClout @jakeudell.

[1:44] - How chasing autographs as a kid unlocked Jake's entrepreneurial drive

[4:31] - Jake's "fake it 'til you make it" story of breaking into the music industry

[17:23] - The importance of building consumer social into crypto

[24:27] - How BitClout can decentralize social media

[40:12] - The potential for curators in BitClout's model

[43:53] - Key issues to consider about BitClout

[54:42] - BitClout's controversial launch

[1:02:31] - Strategies for success on BitClout

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#61 - GEOFF LEWIS May 06, 2021

Show notes

Geoff is the Founder & Managing Partner of Bedrock Capital, a technology investment firm currently managing approximately one billion dollars. He’s served on the Board of Directors for companies including Lyft, Nubank, and RigUp. He led the Series C round for Wish in 2014. Bedrock is credited with coining the phrase ‘narrative violations’ to describe the most compelling technology investment opportunities. Prior to founding Bedrock, Geoff served as a Partner at Founders Fund for several years. He began his career as a technology entrepreneur in 2009.

[0:59] - Geoff's winding path to professional investing

[7:49] - Early entrepreneurial experiences and Geoff's love for drawing

[11:09] - High vs. low intensity periods in life

[14:09] - How Geoff arrived at Clarium Capital

[20:31] - Geoff's rock bottom turning point

[23:56] - The "narrative violation" investing strategy

[27:51] - The false narrative of dystopian technology

[32:12] - Additional systems for identifying investments and Geoff's opinion on Bitcoin

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#60 - TIM DRAPER Apr 29, 2021

Show notes

Tim is a billionaire venture capitalist and the the founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) as well as Draper Associates, Draper University, Draper Venture Network, and Draper Goren Holm. His exceptional track record of investments includes Tesla, SpaceX, Baidu, Hotmail, Skype, AngelList, Ring, Twitter, DocuSign, Coinbase, Robinhood, and Twitch, among countless other companies. An early advocate of Bitcoin, Tim was the winner of the 2014 US Marshals auction through which he purchased approximately 30,000 bitcoins worth around $19 million at the time.

[0:59] - The Draper family history in venture capital and Tim's successes to date

[10:05] - Coinbase's early promise and Bitcoin's importance as a global currency

[25:51] - Tim's investment thesis for Bitcoin

[32:09] - Why Tim values global perspectives and experiences

[38:57] - The role of politicians vs entrepreneurs in human progress

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#59 - NATHAN CHENG Apr 21, 2021

Show notes

Nathan is an entrepreneur, longevity biotechnology advocate, and investor based in Toronto. He is the creator of Longevity List, Longevity Marketcap, and Biohack Stack. He also writes the Longevity Marketcap Newsletter — a weekly review of developments in the longevity industry. Nathan is a former Quantum Optics Ph.D candidate on a mission to end biological aging. Follow him on Twitter @realNathanCheng.

[0:59] - How Nathan's existential crisis pushed him to focus on longevity

[9:55] - Confronting death and contemplating life's purpose while traveling the world

[22:30] - The evolution of Nathan's involvement in the longevity space

[32:57] - Nathan's strategy to explain the importance of longevity technology

[40:20] - Reasons for increasing attention on longevity research

[47:07] - How anyone can contribute to the longevity movement

[50:54] - Promising solutions under development today

[57:57] - Nathan's personal strategies to live longer

[1:06:37] - Nathan answer to the question, "how long do you expect to live?"

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#58 - SOONA AMHAZ Apr 15, 2021

Show notes

Soona is founder and GP of Volt Capital, a venture firm focused on pre-seed and seed companies in the digital assets space. Before starting Volt, Soona launched and ran Token Daily, a community of 20,000+ builders, investors, and talent in the crypto space. In addition to her work in the crypto space, Soona is an advisor to On Deck and was named to Forbes 30 under 30 in VC.

[0:59] - Soona's experience in crypto and venture capital

[5:52] - Soona's earliest entrepreneurial endeavors

[9:52] - How Soona discovered crypto

[14:11] - Community as a place for the free flow of ideas

[20:47] - Promising crypto opportunities outside of Bitcoin

[26:16] - Transitioning from community to capital

[32:54] - The promise of crypto in Africa

[38:01] - The macro landscape of the current crypto bull run

[48:53] - Soona’s unique perspective given her Lebanese roots

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