Founders

#86 Carl Bosch and Fritz Haber (A Genius and a Doomed Tycoon)

What I learned from reading The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler by Thomas Hager. ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#85 Walter and Olive Ann Beech (Aviation Legends)

What I learned from reading The Barnstormer and The Lady: Aviation Legends Walter and Olive Ann Beech by Dennis Farney.   ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#84 Aristotle Onassis

What I learned from reading Onassis: The Definitive Biography by Willi Frischauer. ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#83 Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, George Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World

What I learned from reading Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World by Jill Jonnes. Jeff Bezos on The Electricity Metaphor for the Web's Future ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#82 David Ogilvy (Ogilvy on Advertising)

What I learned from reading Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy. --- In my Confessions of an Advertising Man I told the story of how Ogilvy & Mather came into existence, and set forth the principles on which our early success had been based. What was then little more than a creative boutique in New York has since become one of the four biggest advertising agencies in the world, with 140 offices in 40 countries. Our principles seem to work. I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of information. When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.  When Aeschines spoke, they said, ‘How well he speaks.’ But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, ‘Let us march against Philip.’ Does old age disqualify me from writing about advertising in today’s world? Or could it be that perspective helps a man to separate the eternal verities of advertising from its passing fads? Consumers still buy products whose advertising promises them value for money, beauty, nutrition, relief from suffering, social status and so on. All I do is report on how consumers react to different stimuli. I ask you to forgive me for oversimplifying some complicated subjects, and for the dogmatism of my style – the dogmatism of brevity. We are both in a hurry. I have seen one advertisement actually sell not twice as much, not three times as much, but 19½ times as much as another. Both advertisements occupied the same space. Both were run in the same publication. Both had photographic illustrations. Both had carefully written copy. The difference was that one used the right appeal and the other used the wrong appeal. Do your homework You don’t stand a tinker’s chance of producing successful advertising unless you start by doing your homework. I have always found this extremely tedious, but there is no substitute for it. On product positioning: Now consider how you want to ‘position’ your product. This curious verb is in great favor among marketing experts, but no two of them agree what it means. My own definition is ‘what the product does, and who it is for.’ I could have positioned Dove as a detergent bar for men with dirty hands, but chose instead to position it as a toilet bar for women with dry skin. This is still working 25 years later. When asked what was the best asset a man could have, Albert Lasker – the most astute of all advertising men – replied, ‘Humility in the presence of a good idea.’ It is horribly difficult to recognize a good idea. I shudder to think how many I have rejected. Make the product the hero. There are no dull products, only dull writers. The idea of a positively good product: It may be sufficient to convince consumers that your product is positively good. If the consumer feels certain that your product is good and feels uncertain about your competitor’s, he will buy yours. ‘If you and your competitors all make excellent products, don’t try to imply that your product is better. Just say what’s good about your product – and do a clearer, more honest, more informative job of saying it. Repeat your winners If you are lucky enough to write a good advertisement, repeat it until it stops selling. Scores of good advertisements have been discarded before they lost their potency. You aren’t advertising to a standing army; you are advertising to a moving parade. In my experience, committees can criticize, but they cannot create. Search the parks in all your cities You’ll find no statues of committees. The good ones know more. I asked an indifferent copywriter what books he had read about advertising. He told me that he had not read any; he preferred to rely on his own intuition. Why should our clients be expected to bet millions of dollars on your intuition?’ This willful refusal to learn the rudiments of the craft is all too common. For 35 years I have continued on the course charted by Gallup, collecting factors the way other men collect pictures and postage stamps. If you choose to ignore these factors, good luck to you. A blind pig can sometimes find truffles, but it helps to know that they are found in oak forests. Most good copywriters all into two categories poets and killers. Poets see an ad as an end. Killers as a means to an end. If you are both killer and poet, you get rich.Set yourself to becoming the best-informed person in the agency on the account to which you are assigned. If, for example, it is a gasoline account, read books on oil geology and the production of petroleum products. Read the trade journals in the field. Spend Saturday mornings in service stations, talking to motorists. Visit your client’s refineries and research laboratories. At the end of your first year, you will know more about the oil business than your boss, and be ready to succeed him.Be personal, direct and natural. You are a human being writing to another human being. Neither of you is an institution. You should be businesslike and courteous, but never stiff and impersonal. Don’t get a job in advertising unless it interests you more than anything in the world. St Augustine had this to say about pressure: To be under pressure is inescapable. Pressure takes place through all the world: war, siege, the worries of state. We all know men who grumble under these pressures, and complain. They are cowards. They lack splendor. But there is another sort of man who is under the same pressure, but does not complain. For it is the friction which polishes him. It is pressure which refines and makes him noble. Any service business which gave higher priority to profits than to serving its clients deserved to fail. Here I go, boasting again. There are better copywriters than I am, and scores of better administrators, but I doubt if many people have matched my record as a new business collector. Focus on value not price: They want to know what commission you will charge. I answer, ‘If you are going to choose your agency on the basis of price, you are looking through the wrong end of the telescope. What you should worry about is not the price you pay for your agency’s services, but the selling power of your advertising. Tell your prospective client what your weak points are, before he notices them. This will make you more credible when you boast about your strong points. If you are lucky enough to have some news to tell, don’t bury it in your body copy, which nine out of ten people will not read. State it loud and clear in your headline. Do not address your readers as though they were gathered together in a stadium. When people read your copy, they are alone. Pretend you are writing each of them a letter on behalf of your client. One human being to another. All my experience says that for a great many products, long copy sells more than short. I suspect that there is a negative correlation between the money spent on producing commercials and their power to sell products. My partner Al Eicoff was asked by a client to remake a $15,000 commercial for $100,000. Sales went down. Don’t dawdle. Most big corporations behave as if profit were not a function of time.  When Jerry Lambert scored his breakthrough with Listerine, he speeded up the whole process of marketing by dividing time into months. He reviewed progress every 30 days, with the result that he made a fortune in record time. Pricing is guesswork.  Advertising is a production cost: I have come to regard advertising as part of the product, to be treated as a production cost, not a selling cost. It follows that it should not be cut back when times are hard, any more than you would stint any other essential ingredient in your product. What did these six giants have in common? All six of them were American. All six had other jobs before they went into advertising. At least five were gluttons for work, and uncompromising perfectionists. Four made their reputations as copywriters. Only three had university degrees. Advertising is salesmanship in print. A definition that has never been improved. Albert Lasker made more money than anyone in the history of the advertising business. Lasker held that if an agency could write copy which sold the product, nothing else was needed. He once defined an administrator as somebody without brains. He once said: I didn’t want to make a great fortune. I wanted to show what I could do with my brains. After the war I decided to try my luck in advertising, but I stood in such awe of Young & Rubicam that I did not dare apply to them for a job. As I thought they were the only agency where I would like to work, I had no choice but to start my own. In one of his last letters before he died, Rubicam wrote, ‘We knew you before you started your agency. How come we missed you?’ By that time we had become great friends. ‘Friends’ is not the right word. He was my patron, inspiration, counselor, critic and conscience. I was his hero-worshipping disciple. He didn’t leave behind a list of rules. He did leave behind an aphorism: resist the usual. In advertising, the beginning of greatness is to be different, and the beginning of failure is to be the same. His attitude to the creative process can be summed up in three things he said:  1 There is an inherent drama in every product. Our No. 1 job is to dig for it and capitalize on it.  2 When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either. 3 Steep yourself in your subject, work like hell, and love, honor and obey your hunches. Claude Hopkins’ book Scientific Advertising changed the course of my life. It is not uncommon for a change in headlines to multiply returns from five to ten times over. Bill was asked what changes he expected in advertising in the eighties. He replied: Human nature hasn’t changed for a billion years. It won’t even vary in the next billion years. Only the superficial things have changed. It is fashionable to talk about changing man. A communicator must be concerned with unchanging man. ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#81 Henry Royce (Founder of Rolls-Royce)

What I learned from reading Rolls-Royce: The First Forty Years of Britain's Most Prestigious Company by Peter Pugh. ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#80 Henry Ford (Today and Tomorrow)

What I learned from reading Today and Tomorrow by Henry Ford.   ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#79 Charlie Munger (The Complete Investor)

What I learned from reading Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor by Tren Griffin ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#78 Charlie Munger (the Tao of Charlie Munger)

What I learned from reading Tao of Charlie Munger: A Compilation of Quotes from Berkshire Hathaway's Vice Chairman on Life, Business, and the Pursuit of Wealth With Commentary by David Clark How is it that Charlie—who trained as a meteorologist and a lawyer and never took a single college course in economics, marketing, finance, or accounting—became one of the greatest business and investing geniuses of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries? Therein lies the mystery. [0:44] Charlie Munger was learning this important investment skill while playing poker with his army buddies. That’s where he learned to fold his hand when the odds were against him and bet heavy when the odds were with him, a strategy he later adapted to investing. [11:12]  Charlie thought a lot about business during that time. He made a habit of asking people what was the best business they knew of. He longed to join the rich elite clientele his silk-stocking law firm served. He decided that each day he would devote one hour of his time at the office to work on his own real estate projects, and by doing so he completed five. He has said that the first million dollars he put together was the hardest money he ever earned. It was also during that period that he realized he would never become really rich practicing law; he’d have to find something else. [12:18] Warren, in summing up Charlie’s impact on his investment style over the last fifty-seven years, said, “Charlie shoved me in the direction of not just buying bargains, as Ben Graham had taught me. This was the real impact that he had on me. It took a powerful force to move me on from Graham’s limiting view. It was the power of Charlie’s mind.” [15:33] Knowing what you don’t know is more useful than being brilliant. [17:39] “People are trying to be smart—all I am trying to do is not to be idiotic, but it’s harder than most people think.” [17:58] All good things in life come from compounding. [19:34] This important investment philosophy assumes that one is better off buying a business with exceptional business economics working in its favor and holding it for many years than engaging in a lot of buying and selling. [19:42] Charlie knows that time is a good friend to a business that has exceptional economics working in its favor, but for a mediocre business time can be a curse. [20:25] Andrew Carnegie says in his autobiography you should study how the great fortunes are made. It's not a scattershot approach. They identified the best business possible and they put all their energy and effort into it. That's certainly what Andrew Carnegie did. [22:39] Charlie makes the point that Berkshire Hathaway probably has the most successful investment record in humanity. That is a hell of a statement and he is probably right. [26:10] Charlie advocates keeping $10 million in cash, and Berkshire keeps $72 billion sitting around in cash, waiting for the right deal to show up. The lousy return their cash balances are getting is a trade-off—poor initial rate of return in exchange for years of high returns from finding excellent businesses selling at a fair price. This is an element of the Munger investment equation that is almost always misunderstood. Why? Because most investors cannot image that sitting on a large pool of cash year after year, waiting for the right investment, could possibly be a winning investment strategy, let alone one that would make them superrich. [27:11] “I think that, every time you see the word EBITDA, you should substitute the word ‘bullshit earnings.’ ” [28:52] You have to wait for the right company—one with a durable competitive advantage—that is selling at the right price. And when Charlie says wait, he means wait as long as it takes, which can mean years. Warren got out of the stock market in the late 1960s, and he waited five years before he found anything he was interested in buying. [31:10] When Charlie and Warren say that they intend to hold an investment forever, they mean forever! Who on Wall Street would ever make such a statement? That’s one of the reasons Charlie and Warren have never worried about anyone mimicking their investment style—because no other institution or individual has the discipline or patience to wait as long as they can. [31:46]  Charlie and Warren’s theory is that a company with a durable competitive advantage has business economics that will expand the underlying value of the business over time, and the more time passes, the more the company’s value will expand. Thus, once the purchase is made, it is wisest to sit on the investment as long as possible, because the longer we own the company, the more it grows in value, and the more it grows in value, the richer we become. [34:48] “It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent. There must be some wisdom in the folk saying: ‘It’s the strong swimmers who drown.’ ” [36:14]  One is actually better off reading a hundred business biographies than a hundred books on investing. Why? Because if we learn the history of a hundred different business models, we learn when the businesses had tough times and how they got through them; we also learn what made them great, or not so great. [38:44] “In business we often find that the winning system goes almost ridiculously far in maximizing and or minimizing one or a few variables—like the discount warehouses of Costco.” [41:53] “If you’re not willing to react with equanimity to a market price decline of 50% two or three times a century you’re not fit to be a common shareholder and you deserve the mediocre result you’re going to get compared to the people who do have the temperament, who can be more philosophical about these market fluctuations.” [46:23]  “Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Slug it out one inch at a time, day by day. At the end of the day—if you live long enough—most people get what they deserve.” [48:42] He implemented a self-education regime for one hour a day to learn such things as real estate development and stock investing. It was slow going at first, but after a great number of years and thousands of books read, he started to see how different areas of knowledge interplay with each other and how knowledge, like money, can compound, making one more and more aware of the world in which he or she lives. He has often said that he is a much better investor at ninety than he was at fifty, a fact he attributes to the compounding effect of knowledge. [49:09] There is another point that I’ve noticed with men and women who truly excel at their craft or profession: they keep on learning and improving themselves long after most people would have retired. [54:02] “Look at this generation, with all of its electronic devices and multitasking. I will confidently predict less success than Warren, who just focused on reading. If you want wisdom, you’ll get it sitting on your ass. That’s the way it comes.” [54:16]  “In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn’t read all the time—none, zero. You’d be amazed at how much Warren reads—and how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.” [55:04] “I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up, and boy, does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.” [55:22] ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#77 Steve Jobs (The NeXT Years)

What I learned from reading Steve Jobs & The NeXT Big Thing by Randall Stross. ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#76 Steve Jobs: The Early Years of Apple

What I learned from reading Return to the Little Kingdom: Steve Jobs and the Creation of Appleby Michael Moritz. ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#75 Henry Clay Frick: Andrew Carnegie's Partner

What I learned from reading Henry Clay Frick: The Life of the Perfect Capitalist by Quentin Skrabec Jr. ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#74 The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie

What I learned from reading The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie by Andrew Carnegie. ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#73 Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick: The Bitter Partnership That Changed America

What I learned from reading Meet You in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership That Changed America by Les Standiford.  ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#72 Stan Lee: Founder of Marvel

What I learned from reading Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee by Stan Lee and George Mair.  Marvel is a cornucopia of fantasy, a wild idea, a swashbuckling attitude, an escape from the humdrum and prosaic. It's a serendipitous feast for the mind, the eye, and the imagination, a literate celebration of unbridled creativity, coupled with a touch of rebellion and an insolent desire to spit in the eye of the dragon (1:15)  discovering his love of reading at an early age (8:45) accidentally finding his life's work at 17 years old / hilarious level of optimism (12:35), there is opportunity in things that other people say will rot your brain (22:30) Stan Lee's advice on writing (26:00) be your own biggest fan (28:00) the turning point of Stan Lee's life (38:20)  humans scorn the abstract (45:20) a lesson in human nature (51:30) the power of direct sales (55:29) ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#71 Jeff Bezos' Shareholder Letters

"To read Bezos’ shareholder letters is to get a crash course in running a high-growth internet business from someone who mastered it before any of the playbooks were written."   ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#70 Mark Spitznagel: The Dao of Capital

What I learned from reading The Dao of Capital: Austrian Investing in a Distorted World by Mark Spitznagel. Klipp's Paradox (0:01) the whole point of my approach to investing is that we must be willing to adopt the indirect route to achieve our goals (14:00) finding his life's work (19:00) if my children will only read one book on economics I would be Economics in One Lesson (25:30) why it is always possible to start new, successful companies (30:00) the point is not to go slow to stay glow. it is to go slow now so you can go faster later (34:15) Robinson Crusoe and roundabout production (39:30) Henry Ford as the quintessential roundabout entrepreneur (45:00) how Mark uses roundabout in his investing (54:00) ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#69 Charles Goodyear: An Inventor's Obsession and the Struggle for a Rubber Monopoly

What I learned from reading The Goodyear Story: An Inventor's Obsession and The Struggle For A Rubber Monopoly by Richard Korman. An obsessive quest to find the recipe for rubber (0:01) Charles Goodyear epitomized the spirit of the upstart American technologists (6:15) the early life of Goodyear's family (20:10) coming up with the idea for a domestic made only hardware store (29:00) a crushing failure + debtor's prison (35:20) accidentally finding his life's work (38:18) optimism + positive mental attitude (44:30) Patent #3633 (1:03:30) why Charles did what he did (1:11:30) ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#68 Daniel Ludwig: The Invisible Billionaire

What I learned from reading The Invisible Billionaire: Daniel Ludwig by Jerry Shields. The cameraman was excited and more than a little nervous. In a matter of moments he would enjoy a unique opportunity: the chance to snap the first unposed picture ever taken of the richest man in the world. The strange thing was that most Americans had never even heard of Daniel Keith Ludwig.How could a man in these days of mass media coverage and public obsession with world records, manage to accumulate a $3 billion fortune with hardly anyone becoming aware of it?Obsessed with privacy, he reportedly pays a major public relations firm fat fees to keep his name out of the papers.Daniel Ludwig is a man nobody knows yet his tanker fleet rivals those of the fabulous Greeks whose names are symbols of wealth. His empire began with shipping, grew big with shipbuilding, is branching out now into other fields.With Ludwig, work is almost an obsession. Spartan in personal habits, business gets almost 100% of his attention. Once a project begins Ludwig doesn't rest easy until completion date. Ludwig’s most notable characteristic, besides his imagination and pertinacity, is a lifelong penchant for keeping his mouth shut.He is interested in achievement, not fame.I'm in this business because I like it. I have no hobbies.D.K. was strictly a solo act. His zest for these operations is that of the lone wolf. He shares neither the rewards nor the risks with anyone.Ludwig doesn't drink much, he doesn't smoke at all, he doesn't entertain lavishly. He counts cakories religiously. His only bad habit is work and that he can't stop.Even as a boy Daniel exhibited a strong drive toward the acquisition of money.During the mid-to-late-1920s Ludwig was more involved in buying and selling ships than he was in operating them.The result was that hundreds of government-owned vessels, built at taxpayers' expense, were being sold off at well below cost both to legitimate shippers and to speculators who did the minimum required renovation work and then sold the ships for a quick profit.He never liked spending money unless there was a good chance that it would make him more.The advantage of bulk carriers was versatility; these ships were to be designed in such a way that they could haul either dry cargo (coal or metal ores) or liquids (petroleum or gasoline) without expensive, time-consuming structural conversion. If the oil market fell off, a bulk carrier could haul ore for a while. Or it could haul oil in one direction and coal or ore on the voyage home.Ludwig needed a way to obtain ready money without either taking partners or assuming heavy mortgages. His early experiences with partnerships had been costly, and borrowing to finance ship renovation was no better. It was at this time that D.K. came up with the "two-name paper" arrangement he later said was the chief reason for his wealth. It all sounded so simple: go to an oil company; get it to sign a long-term charter to ship so much oil on a regular basis; take the charter to a bank and, using it as collateral, obtain a loan to build or renovate a ship to haul the oil to fulfill the charter. The plan was legal, logical, and ingenious.He was able to start his climb toward being the world's biggest shipper mainly because he had finally managed to hook into the big time. He was now hauling oil for the Rockefeller empire.One of the main reasons he had been buying old ships was to salvage and sell the parts removed during renovation. When he purchased a surplus ship he could recoup much of his investment by selling off the old engine and other machinery. Marine salvage was as familiar to D.K. as his own face in the mirror.Some years later, the captain of a Ludwig ship made the extravagant mistake of mailing in a report of several pages held together by a paper clip. He received a sharp rebuke: "We do not pay to send ironmongery by air mail!"D.K.'s tightfistedness, however, persisted after the Depression, putting him in sharp contrast to such free spenders as Onassis and Niarchos. It also was largely responsible for many of his innovations in the shipbuilding industry.Most of Ludwig's shipbuilding innovations were aimed toward a single goal: increasing payload without increasing cost. He was ever on the lookout for ways to reduce tanker design to the bare-bones minimum. His ships had much thinner decks than the industry standard. A modification that meant less weight and a smaller fuel bill.D.K.'s ridding his ships of any feature that did not contribute to profits pleased his own obsessive sense of economy and kept him a step ahead of the competition. When someone asked why he didn't put a grand piano aboard his ships, as Stavros Niarchos did, Ludwig snapped, "You can't carry oil in a grand piano."He had learned something by now. Opportunities exist on the  frontiers where most men dare not venture, and it is often the case that the farther the frontier, the greater the opportunity.Much of Ludwig's success was due to his willingness to venture where more timid entrepreneurs dared not go.  --- Before starting construction, however, D.K. had a little chore to perform, one that he intended to do personally. Twice he had trusted the word of specialists, and twice he had been burned. He had believed them when they told him he could bring fully loaded 60,000 ton ore carriers down the Orinoco without running them aground.And his geologists had failed to discover, until after considerable work was done, that the coral rock underlying Grand Bahama Island was too fragile to support giant supertankers.These episodes had cost D.K. considerable time and expense, so before building a refinery in Panama, he decided to check out the site himself. Dressed in baggy work clothes, he caught a night flight out of New York to Panama City and arrived at Tocumen Airport just about dawn.He sauntered into a little village store at the bay's edge just as it was opening, casual as any gringo tourist down for a holiday and a bit of fishing. Pulling a quarter out of his pocket, he paid for his purchases: a heavy bolt costing a nickel and a twenty-cent ball of string. As a few loiterers watched with amused curiosity, he unwound the string, measured it out in six-foot lengths, and tied a knot at each interval. Then he made a slip knot at one end and drew it tight around the bolt. This done, he went outside, made arrangements with the dock owner to rent a motorboat, and spent the rest of the morning and afternoon puttering around the bay, checking with his weighted line the accuracy of every sounding marked on a  nautical chart he had brought along. Only when he had satisfied himself that the water was as deep as the chart said did he fly back to New York and give the signal to begin construction. ---An engineer by training and temperament, he much preferred machines to men. Humans were unreliable and had far too many needs. With a machine, you only had to give it a little fuel and maintenance occasionally and it would perform faithfully and uncomplainingly until it wore out. It didn't ask for food, shelter, clothing, or higher wages.I do not have anything to say to anybody. I do not give press interviews. To hell with you. I'm busy.A clever, mechanically inventive mind committed to the principle of getting the maximum utility and profit from the minimum expenditure of time, space, energy, and money. Plus an ambition that seemingly knows no limits. Plus a decided preference for deeds over words, machines over men. Plus a high degree of ruthlessness. ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#67 Conrad Hilton: Hilton Hotel Dynasty

What I learned from reading The Hiltons: The True Story of an American Dynasty by J. Randy Taraborrelli. 100 years ago he was a man with $5000 to his name (0:01) the curse of the ambitious/early life + work (6:35) Conrad Hilton is inspired by Helen Keller's optimism (13:00) the first Hilton hotel + more failed businesses (14:45) Conrad at 32 years old /falling back into the Hotel business by accident (25:30) losing it all / The Great Depression (35:00) The Great Depression's effect on his business and marriage (49:00) Conrad's advice on how to make decisions (56:22) Conrad Hilton's philosophy on money (1:03:47) it is important to have friends around you that increase your ambition (1:11:30) the regrets of Conrad Hilton (1:23:48) ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#66 Henry Kaiser: Builder in the Modern American West

What I learned from reading Henry J. Kaiser: Builder in the Modern American West by Mark Foster.  He built giant businesses in roads, bridges, dams, housing, cement, aluminum, chemicals, steel, health care, and tourism. (0:01)  starting a joint venture with Howard Hughes (6:40) learning how not to run a business (12:00) how Kaiser was able to start his own business with no money (18:00) I decided to pick one fellow I wanted most to work for and concentrate on him. (23:15) how Henry Kaiser used passion and enthusiasm to start a construction company in Vancouver (30:00) using the leverage that technology provides or how to make big jobs small (44:00) very difficult work + fewer people willing to do it = opportunity (50:40)  how Kaiser goes from never building ships to having 200,000 employees building ships (1:00:00), Kaiser promoted himself as an industrialist populist (1:13:00) Kaiser's managerial style (1:15:00) ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#65 Kirk Kerkorian: Penniless Dropout became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History

What I learned from reading The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History by William C. Rempel.  ---- [0:16] He was a humble man privately proud of his accomplishments, a business genius who ignored his MBA advisers, a daring aviator and movie mogul, a gambler at the casino and on Wall Street who played the odds in both houses with uncanny skill.   [4:34] Kirk believed there was no point in placing small bets.  [16:48] He was a day laborer at MGA studios. He made $2.60 a day. Thirty years later he owned MGM and his investment was returning $260,000 a day. [21:27] His low tolerance for mistakes and recklessness made him a demanding instructor. He often repeated the mantra: There are old pilots and there are bold pilots—but there are no old, bold pilots.  [46:54] He still relished big risks. And he subscribed to the logic of his friend and casino owner Wilbur Clark of the Desert Inn: “The smaller your bet, the more you lose when you win.” Besides, what’s the point—where’s the thrill—winning a small wager? Betting the limit became Kirk’s trademark.   [53:26] Kirk was now sitting on stock worth more than $66 million, a vast fortune by any measure. And no one was more surprised than he was.   [1:09:03] Kirk blamed Kirk. He had let himself become vulnerable. He hated that. He hated feeling helpless and at the mercy of forces beyond his control. He vowed never to let anything like that happen again.   ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#64 Coco Chanel: Her Life and Secrets

What I learned from reading Coco Chanel: Her Life, Her Secrets. ---- It is my work I am congratulated on, and to me, that's the only thing that counts (0:01) I've been miserable in a life that from the outside seemed magnificent (4:15) The maxims of Coco Chanel (6:43) Coco on marketing (13:22) Coco's early life (15:15) My need for independence began to develop when I was very young. (18:53) Coco Chanel at 20 (28:15) the beginning of her empire (34:00) I have nothing and I know I can do anything. (37:00) relentlessly resourceful / a metaphor on how to create opportunity (41:04) Coco goes to war for her profits - and wins (48:45) ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#63 The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich

What I learned by from reading The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich by Daniel Ammann. ---- The spot market for oil was one of the most lucrative ideas of the twentieth century. [0:01] the historical events intertwined with the career of Marc Rich [5:15] how his family escapes the Nazi's [12:00] his first jobs + learning from his father + finding his vocation [14:30] learning the commodities business from A to Z [20:00] his work environment was training for entrepreneurship + how he thought about the opportunity in oil [30:30] Marc gets screwed on pay so he starts his own company [35:00] why Marc chose Switzerland as the headquarters of Marc Rich + Co. [37:00] why the invention of the spot market was important [43:00] why Marc Rich thought he was exempt from Jimmy Carter's executive order [46:15] the state of his business in 1990 [1:01:00] how to lose $172,000,000 [1:14:00] ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#62 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

What I learned from reading The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin.  ---- [0:01] Why Ben Franklin wrote an autobiography [4:50] Ben Franklin's early education and first job  [7:30] starting out in the printing business  [11:00] Writing had been of great use to me in the course of my life, and was a principal means of my advancement  [16:45] his humble arrival in Philadelphia  [25:00] Ben Franklin's time in London  [29:00] how the mind of Benjamin Franklin worked  [34:30] the opportunity to start your his own business [41:15] industry is virtuous  [46:20] Ben understood branding  [48:15] Ben Franklin creates the first subscription library  [54:30] Ben Franklin's 13 virtues ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#61 Malcom McLean: The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger

What I learned from reading The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger. ---- Such was the beginning of a revolution [0:01] The economic benefits arise not from innovation itself, but from the entrepreneurs who eventually discover ways to put innovations to practical use. [15:30] the basic idea was around for decades [17:30] Malcom's early life and first business [23:00] McLean had an obsessive focus on cutting costs [33:00] the beginning of Malcom McLean's idea [37:00] McLean's definition of total commitment [41:00] McLean's fundamental insight [48:00] fixing the business by focusing on the customer's real problem [53:40] the surprising reason containers are standardized [1:00:00] Daniel K. Ludwig and Malcom McLean [1:07:00] Malcom McLean sells his business [1:13:00] Starting another business [1:21:00] ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#60 Yvon Chouinard: What We've Learned from Patagonia's First 40 Years

What I learned from reading The Responsible Company: What We've Learned From Patagonia's First 40 Years by Yvon Chouinard and Vincent Stanley. ---- When I die and go to hell, the devil is going to make me the marketing director for a cola company. I’ll be in charge of trying to sell a product that no one needs, is identical to its competition, and can’t be sold on its merits. (0:01) What Patagonia was meant to be (8:25) Everyone wants to feel useful (11:00) a short history of companies (14:30) the definition of meaningful work (26:00) more human, less corporate (40:30) Yvon's ancestors and their working conditions (46:00) the benefits of long term thinking (49:00) build something useful and don't bullshit (57:00) Don't do things that have no useful purpose / being bold can lead to new discoveries / we need more small businesses (1:04:00) ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#59 Howard Hughes: The Definitive Biography of the First American Billionaire

What I learned from reading Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters; The Definitive Biography of the First American Billionaire. ---- He was a film director, a producer, a test pilot, inventor, investor, and entrepreneur [0:01] the start of Hughes Tool Company [13:00] during a gold rush sell pickaxe's / great idea about leasing drill bits [19:00] Howard Hughes Jr is on his own at 18 years old [26:00] starting out in the movie business [32:00] his first plane crash/divorce [38:00] Howard Hughes goes broke [48:00] Howard Hughes breaks the world record for the fastest flight around the world / Hitler was always an asshole [56:00] Henry Kaiser and the birth of The Hercules [1:05:00] his 4th plane crash and descent into madness [1:14:00] Howard Hughe's M.O. on corruption and bribes [1:26:00] I am not really interested in people. I am interested in science. –Howard Hughes [1:29:00] ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#58 John Bogle: Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life

What I learned from reading Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life by John Bogle  ---- Gentlemen, cut your costs. [4:00] the benefits of being forced to work early on in life [7:00] I'll never forget the inspiration when I read this quote: The force of his mind overcame his every impediment. [9:30] the traits he needed to found Vanguard [12:00]  what John thinks we should be doing better [13:30] create things that help other people/Charlie Munger [17:30] When a business fails people want to know their revenue. I want to know their costs [19:30] the past is not a prologue in the financial markets... please, please, please don't count on it. [23:00] Einstein well understood the limits of quantification / the way we act and the way we measure are in conflict [26:00] Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome. –Charlie Munger / If you get the incentives right when you start the company you will grow. [35:00] A rule of life: Press On, Regardless [39:00] 10 reasons why I bother to battle [44:00] ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#57 John Bogle: Stay the Course: The Story of Vanguard and the Index Revolution

What I learned from reading Stay the Course: The Story of Vanguard and the Index Revolution. ---- This is a story of a revolution [0:01] what Vanguard does and why? [7:00] the seed of the idea that eventually becomes Vanguard [10:00] switching from conservative investing to speculation / when humans are scared they copy the behavior of those around them [17:00] John gets fired. He decides to fight back. [31:00] if you know why you are doing what you are doing you are less likely to quit [41:00] staying the course gives you a massive advantage because most humans quit [53:00]  We must never underrate the power of compounding investment returns, and always avoid the tyranny of compounding investment costs.– John Bogle [59:00] eliminating the 50-year tradition of sales commission [1:01:00] a failure caused by focusing on competition and not learning from the past [1:06:00] the Founders Mentality [1:07:30] personal reflections and a memoir of sorts [1:11:00] ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work.  Get access to Founders Notes here.  ---- “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. ” — Gareth Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast