Tim Ferriss

Chris Sacca on Being Different and Making Billions (#79)

sacca_disco
Goofing around with Sacca and his afro.

“Fuck it… I’m just not going to play this traditionally anymore.” — Chris Sacca

Chris Sacca was recently the cover story of the “Midas Issue” of Forbes Magazine.

The reason: He is a newly-minted billionaire and the proprietor of what will likely be the most successful venture capital fund in history: LOWERCASE I of LOWERCASE Capital.

He’s an early-stage investor in companies like Twitter, Uber, Instagram, Kickstarter, and many more.

In this interview, we discuss unfair advantages, how Chris chooses founders and investments, stories of missed opportunities, the styles that differentiate Wall Street from Silicon Valley investors, and how keg parties can liberate law students from the tyranny of class (Chris completed law school without attending any classes).

Enjoy!

You can find the transcript of this episode here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.

#79: Chris Sacca on Being Different and Making Billions

This episode mentions the incredible Matt Mullenweg. Matt, who’s also been on this podcast, was a lead developer behind WordPress, which runs about 23% of the Internet. You can listen to our booze-infused conversation here, in which we discuss polyphasic sleep, tequila, and building billion-dollar companies like his current gig.

Ep 61: The Benevolent Dictator of the Internet, Matt Mullenweg

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What’s the best investment advice you ever received? Or worst? Please let me know in the comments.

Scroll below for links and show notes…

Selected Links from the Episode

Show Notes

  • What is Chris Sacca best known for? [6:10]
  • Total Immersion swimming and how to invest like Chris Sacca [8:40]
  • Pieces of advice given to Chris Sacca on early-stage investing [11:55]
  • What disqualifies startup founders in Sacca’s mind [16:05]
  • Travis Kalanick and Nintendo Wii Tennis [18:55]
  • Traits of founders for whom success, at massive scale, is predestined [22:00]
  • The whales that got away: GoPro, Snapchat, and more [27:40]
  • On letting the negative case dominate one’s analysis for whether to invest or not [29:55]
  • Differences between venture capitalists and private equity [35:15]
  • Books for investing and cultivating emotional intelligence [41:00]
  • Thoughts on modeling what it is to be successful [49:30]
  • What Chris Sacca’s parents did when he was a kid [53:50]
  • What Sacca looks for when hiring [58:25]
  • What historical figure Sacca most identifies with? [1:01:15]
  • Early collecting habits [1:04:25]
  • The story of the prophetic notebook [1:10:10]
  • The two differentiators that shifted the nature of Sacca’s business [1:19:10]
  • Advice to founders or would-be entrepreneurs [1:27:40]
  • Most readily quoted movie [1:31:10]

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