founders
Explore "founders" with insightful episodes like "#350 How To Sell Like Steve Jobs", "How LPs identify top emerging fund managers with Slipstream’s Alex Edelson | E1898", "#332 Jesus", "#331 Christian Dior" and "#322 Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines)" from podcasts like ""Founders", "This Week in Startups", "Founders", "Founders" and "Founders"" and more!
Episodes (100)
#350 How To Sell Like Steve Jobs

Founders
Learning from history's greatest entrepreneurs can provide valuable insights. Users can ask SAGE questions about leadership lessons, best ideas of famous founders, hiring strategies, and more. The podcast discusses Steve Jobs' customer experience focus, the importance of benefits in advertising, time-saving strategies for B2B companies, social proof affecting scale, marketing as theatre, and computers being equivalent to bicycles for our minds.
May 27, 2024
How LPs identify top emerging fund managers with Slipstream’s Alex Edelson | E1898

This Week in Startups
This Week in Startups is brought to you by… LinkedIn Ads. To redeem a $100 LinkedIn ad credit and launch your first campaign, go to http://linkedin.com/angelpod Ketone-IQ is a clean energy boost without sugar or caffeine. Get 30% off your first subscription order of Ketone-IQ at http://hvmn.com/TWIST Uizard. Struggling to transform innovative ideas into concrete product designs? Uizard can help you turn your visions into polished UI designs in a fraction of the time, while enhancing collaboration across your entire team. Get 25% off Uizard Pro for an entire year at uizard.io/twist * Todays show: Alex Edelson of Slipstream Investors joins Jason to discuss fund of funds and their place in the venture ecosystem (1:28), ownership in relation to fund size (8:34), picking winners (25:08), generating liquidity for LPs (40:08), and much more! * Timestamps: (0:00) Slipstream Investor’s Alex Edelson joins Jason (1:28) Alex explains what a fund of funds is and why people choose to invest in fund of funds rather than invest directly (8:34) Why early stage funds overperform and ownership in relation to fund size (11:48) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at http://linkedin.com/angelpod (13:09) What Alex looks for when picking venture funds, ownership, and why people invest in fund of funds cont. (19:49) Evaluating ability to compete for deals at seed vs pre-seed stage (23:55) Ketone-IQ - Get 30% off your first subscription order of Ketone-IQ at http://hvmn.com/TWIST (25:08) Picking winners: Identifying promising companies early and tracking them (39:01) Uizard - Get 25% off Uizard Pro for an entire year at http://uizard.io/twist (40:08) Generating liquidity for LPs and picking emerging fund managers (56:47) Competing for deals at the seed stage, the differentiation between pre-seed and seed, and deciding when to double-down (1:01:41) Alex turns the tables and asks Jason some questions. But, first why is optimal fund size important? * Follow Alex X: https://twitter.com/asedelson Check out Slipstream Investors: https://www.slipstreaminvestors.com/ * Follow Jason: X: https://twitter.com/jason Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jason LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis * Thank you to our partners: (11:48) LinkedIn Ads - Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at http://linkedin.com/angelpod (23:55) Ketone-IQ - Get 30% off your first subscription order of Ketone-IQ at http://hvmn.com/TWIST (39:01) Uizard - Get 25% off Uizard Pro for an entire year at http://uizard.io/twist * Check out the Launch Accelerator: https://launchaccelerator.co * Check out Founder University: https://www.founder.university * Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp * Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland * Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis * Follow TWiST: Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisweekinstartups * Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast
February 15, 2024
#332 Jesus

Founders
Paul Johnson discusses insights from reading 'A History of Christianity' and emphasizes Jesus as a confident, detail-oriented communicator; the importance of humility, compassion, and justice during new ventures; key maxims such as 'Love your enemies' and 'Forgive and you will be forgiven'; and concludes with new 10 commandments.
December 24, 2023
#331 Christian Dior

Founders
The podcast discusses Christian Dior's journey from a nobody in his forties to a successful designer, emphasizing the role of luck, curiosity, and craftsmanship in his success. The story also highlights the importance of humility in recognizing good ideas.
December 18, 2023
#322 Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines)

Founders
The podcast discusses leadership lessons from Herb Kelleher, former CEO of Southwest Airlines, emphasizing his emphasis on staying focused, cost-cutting, and avoiding complacency despite success.
September 26, 2023
#321 Working with Jeff Bezos

Founders
In this podcast episode, the host discusses key principles and insights from books including 'Working Backwards' by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr, focusing on Jeff Bezos's leadership style, decision-making process, and innovation approach.
September 21, 2023
#320 The Making of Winston Churchill Part 2

Founders
Episode discusses Winston Churchill's life and career, focusing on his resilience, optimism, and the parallels with Steve Jobs. The podcast shares quotes, anecdotes, and insights from various books such as 'The Splendid and the Vile' by Erik Larson.
September 14, 2023
#315 Balenciaga

Founders
This podcast episode discusses the Greatest Parisian fashion master, Cristóbal Balenciaga. Known as 'the master of us all' by Christian Dior and 'the only couturier in the truest sense of the word' by Coco Chanel, Balenciaga was renowned for his religious devotion to his craft and fundamental principles: making women happy with timeless, high-quality garments. Known as patrons, clients included European nobility.
August 07, 2023
Michael Jordan (The Life)

Founders
The podcast discusses Michael Jordan's unmatched competence and motivation, his unique approach to pressure, impact of 'The Jordan Rules' defense on his career development, and his dedication to practice.
June 30, 2023
#301 Tiger Woods

Founders
This podcast discusses insights from books about Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian's 'Tiger Woods', Michael Schumacher, Paul Johnson's composition analysis, Roland Lazenby's biography of Tiger Woods, Ray Kroc, Marc Andreessen, Bill Walsh, and Kenny Moore's take on training. The common theme is the immense talent, drive, and focus of these individuals, emphasizing practice, recovery, and improvement.
May 01, 2023
Startup pitch competition: Jason invests $25K | E1714

This Week in Startups
Jason hosts a pitch competition featuring graduates from his Founder University program, with feedback on three startups: Sticker, Outmost and PaySquad. Nick introduces the show and Jason provides feedback on each startup's pitch before sharing his final thoughts and investment in one of them.
April 05, 2023
#293: Ray Kroc (The Making of McDonald's)

Founders
Ray Kroc discusses his success with McDonald's after signing a contract with the brothers in 1954. He focuses on simplicity, perfection, and hard work in building the business.
March 06, 2023
#292 Daniel Ludwig (The Invisible Billionaire)

Founders
Jerry Shields' book is revisited, focusing on Ludwig's characteristics - obsessed with privacy, unlimited ingenuity, lifelong penchant for silence, stubborn persistence, and focus in business. Known for owning over 200 companies globally, he was frugal in spending, kept his ships economical, and ventured into less explored territories for opportunities.
February 27, 2023
#291 David Packard (Founder of HP)

Founders
This podcast episode discusses insights from books about influential tech leaders like David Packard, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates. Key takeaways include the importance of starting a unique company, focusing on customer satisfaction, persistence, effective communication, attention to detail in manufacturing, and strategic product development.
February 20, 2023
How To Compete With Amazon and Google

Y Combinator
Y Combinator Group Partners discuss common traps founders fall into when analyzing competition, identifying 'dangerous' companies to watch out for and others that may be a waste of time.
January 18, 2023
#286 Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger

Founders
The quotes discussed in this episode come from various figures including Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, Dr. George Roberts, Michael P. Malone, Laurie Woolever, and Robert E. Price. Topics covered include the importance of saving money for success, being aware of one's own strengths and weaknesses, customer obsession, the value of simplicity in business, learning from experiences rather than memorizing information, and the northern pike model as a business strategy.
January 16, 2023
#285 Jay Gould (How Jay Gould Built Wall Street's Biggest Fortune)

Founders
This podcast episode delves into Jay Gould, a robber baron of the 19th century, praised for financial brilliance by Vanderbilt and Rockefeller, yet criticized by Mark Twain for destabilizing American business values. Gould demonstrated exceptional problem-solving skills, negotiation abilities, communication prowess, quick thinking, tactical genius, and an amazing memory. He lived an eventful life, interacting with figures like Thomas Edison and inspiring cartoons by Thomas Nast.
January 10, 2023
#284 Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick

Founders
Carnegie and Frick, influential businessmen in the steel industry, demonstrate determination, efficient cost control, and expansion during economic downturns. Despite conflict, they share a goal to reduce costs and increase profits.
January 02, 2023
#283 Andrew Carnegie

Founders
What I learned from rereading The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie by Andrew Carnegie. ----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----Follow one of my favorite podcasts Invest Like The Best ----(1:01) 3 part series on Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick:Meet You In Hell: Andrew Carnegie Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Transformed America by Les Standiford. (Founders #73) The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie by Andrew Carnegie (Founders #74) Henry Clay Frick: The Life of the Perfect Capitalist by Quentin Skrabec Jr. (Founders #75) (2:00) What these guys all had in common is they were hell bent on knowing their business down to the last cent. They were obsessed with having the lowest cost structure in their industry.(2:00) Highlights from Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Changed America:—Cut the prices, scoop the market, watch the costs, and the profits will take care of themselves.—Frick knows his business down to the ground.—Frick’s rise from humble beginnings was obviously intriguing to him. It signaled to Carnegie that Frick was another of the fellow “fittest,” and those were the individuals with whom Carnegie sought to align himself.—Carnegie would repeat the mantra time and again: profits and prices were cyclical, subject to any number of transient forces of the marketplace. Costs, however, could be strictly controlled, and in Carnegie’s view, any savings achieved in the costs of goods were permanent.—On this issue the two men were of one mind. Frick had made his way in coke by the same reckoning that Carnegie had in rail and steel: if you knew your costs down to the penny, you were always on firm ground.(6:00) Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson. (Founders #115)(7:00) A sunny disposition is worth more than a fortune. Young people should know that it can be cultivated; that the mind like the body can be moved from the shade into sunshine.(7:00) The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder. (Founders #100)(8:00) The most important judge of your life story is yourself.(9:00) You can always understand the son by the story of his father. The story of the father is embedded in the son. —Francis Ford Coppola: A Filmmaker's Life by Michael Schumacher. (Founders #242)(10:00) Invest in technology, the savings compound, it gives you an advantage over slower moving competitors, and can be the difference between a profit and a loss.(17:00) He is working from sunrise to sunset for $1.20 a week and he is ecstatic about being able to help his family avoid poverty. (18:00) Andrew Carnegie had manic levels of optimism.(20:00) Do not delay. Do it now. It is a great mistake not to seize the opportunity. Having got myself in, I proposed to stay there if I could.(21:00) I felt that my foot was upon the ladder and that I was about to climb.(21:00) Lesson from Andrew Carnegie’s early life: Focus on whatever job is in front of you at this very moment and do the best you can. You can never know what opportunities that will unlock in the future.(24:00) On the miracle of reading and having free access to a 400 volume personal library: In this way the windows were opened in the walls of my dungeon through which the light of knowledge streamed in. Every day's toil and even the long hours of night service were lightened by the book which I carried about with me and read in the intervals that could be snatched from duty. And the future was made bright by the thought that when Saturday came a new volume could be obtained.(26:00) To Colonel James Anderson, Founder of Free Libraries in Western Pennsylvania:He opened his Library to working boys and upon Saturday afternoons acted as librarian, thus dedicating not only his books but himself to the noble work. This monument is erected in grateful remembrance by Andrew Carnegie, one of the "working boys" to whom were thus opened the precious treasures of knowledge and imagination through which youth may ascend.(28:00) Running Down A Dream: How to Succeed and Thrive in a Career You Love by Bill Gurley(36:00) Dark Genius of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons by Edward J. Renehan Jr. (Founders #258)(43:00) This policy is a true secret of success: Uphill work it will be.(46:00) Put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket.(46:00) The most expensive way to pay for anything is with time.(48:00) The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it. It is surprising how few men appreciate the enormous dividends derivable from investment in their own business.(48:00) My advice to young men would be not only to concentrate their whole time and attention on the one business in life in which they engage, but to put every dollar of their capital into it.(51:00) The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance by Ron Chernow. (Founders #139)(52:00) Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean by Les Standiford. (Founders #247)----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
December 26, 2022
#282 Jeff Bezos Shareholder Letters

Founders
Jeff Bezos emphasizes long-term thinking, customer obsession, innovation, and a lean culture in his shareholder letters. Amazon prioritizes operational excellence, delivering cost improvements to customers, and growth through customer acquisition.
December 19, 2022