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Tim Ferriss

David Senra — How Extreme Winners Think and Win: Lessons from 400+ of History’s Greatest Founders and Investors (Including Buffett, Munger, Rockefeller, Jobs, Ovitz, Zell, and Names You Don’t Know But Should) (#828)

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“If you could summarize nine years, 400 biographies, into one word of what I’ve learned, it’s ‘focus.’”
— David Senra

David Senra (@FoundersPodcast) is the host of the Founders podcast. For the past nine years, David has intensely studied the life and work of hundreds of history’s greatest entrepreneurs. Every week he reads another biography and shares lessons on his podcast. David has been invited to lecture at Harvard Business School, Columbia Business School, and Notre Dame. Founders is one of the top business podcasts in the world, with hundreds of thousands of founders, investors, and executives listening every week. 

His new podcast, David Senra, showcases conversations with the best-of-the-best living founders and extreme winners. Its goal is to share timeless lessons with current and future generations of entrepreneurs and leaders.

Please enjoy!

This episode is brought to you by:

  • Cresset family office services for CEOs, founders, and entrepreneurs
  • Our Place’s Titanium Always Pan® Pro, using nonstick technology that’s coating-free and made without PFAS, otherwise known as “forever chemicals”
  • AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement
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David Senra — How Extreme Winners Think and Win

Additional podcast platforms

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Audible, or on your favorite podcast platform.

SHOW NOTES & LINKS

  • Connect with David Senra:

Website | Founders Podcast | Founders Newsletter | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram

Transcripts

Podcasts

Books & Articles

People

Visual Media

Companies

Miscellaneous Mentions

Timestamps

  • [00:00:00] Start.
  • [00:01:11] Brad Jacobs: Roll-up king and positive-driven billionaire founder.
  • [00:02:26] Rare positive archetypes: Ed Thorp, Sol Price, Brunello Cucinelli.
  • [00:06:04] Michael Dell as another exception; fear of failure and motivation.
  • [00:06:47] Negative self-talk, excellence, and its ripple effects.
  • [00:08:26] Jensen Huang story: “Why do you suck so much?”
  • [00:08:54] Inspiration from Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History.
  • [00:10:00] Derek Sivers: unconventional, philosophical entrepreneur.
  • [00:11:04] Learning equals behavior change, not memorization.
  • [00:11:48] Jeremy Gafan insight: biographies as substitute mentors.
  • [00:12:37] Reading biographies as one-sided conversations.
  • [00:13:16] The chain of influence.
  • [00:14:09] Podcasting as “relationships at scale.”
  • [00:14:28] Coping with trauma and breaking cycles.
  • [00:20:18] Note-taking process: books, Post-its, ruler, Readwise.
  • [00:29:27] OCD tendencies and love of doing things the hard way.
  • [00:31:04] Comparing our reading/re-reading workflows.
  • [00:35:04] A family falling out and the randomness of student housing.
  • [00:38:58] David’s introduction to my work during his MySpace-era college years.
  • [00:40:07] Podcasting influences: Jocko Willink, Kevin Rose’s Elon Musk interview.
  • [00:44:14] Five-and-a-half years of obscurity before breakthrough.
  • [00:46:50] Graphtreon and experiments with subscription models.
  • [00:49:25] Patrick O’Shaughnessy’s endorsement sparks growth.
  • [00:51:23] Sam Hinkie and Patrick connections fuel momentum.
  • [00:52:19] Transition to ads and joining Patrick’s network.
  • [00:55:17] Edwin Land: patron saint of founders and Steve Jobs’ influence.
  • [00:57:02] Lessons from Sam Zell, Jay Pritzker, and William Zeckendorf.
  • [00:58:48] Need a generous, well-connected person? You can’t go wrong with Rick Gerson.
  • [01:03:04] Edwin Land’s philosophies: Differentiation and doing to excess.
  • [01:04:30] Entrepreneurial archetypes and conflicting advice.
  • [01:06:00] Daniel Ek as an alternative founder archetype and mentor.
  • [01:10:59] Further founder archetypes and contrasts.
  • [01:13:41] What is an anti-business billionaire?
  • [01:19:55] Advice from “shark” Michael Ovitz about the value of truth in one’s inner circle.
  • [01:22:30] The hands-on approach of practical founders who live for the love of their business.
  • [01:23:28] Doing one thing relentlessly.
  • [01:23:51] “This can’t be my life” as a powerful motivator.
  • [01:26:57] Low introspection as a common trait among founders — and its implications about human nature.
  • [01:30:15] Robert Caro: The only writer David believes should be allowed to write thousand-page biographies.
  • [01:32:40] James Dyson’s persistence vs. the risk of blind stubbornness.
  • [01:34:22] Todd Graves (Raising Cane’s) as an example of relentless focus on one idea.
  • [01:35:41] Separating fact from fiction in biographies/histories.
  • [01:41:55] Considering trainable vs. non-trainable attributes in potential role models.
  • [01:46:11] Perusing Charlie Munger’s library.
  • [01:49:35] Dealmaking lessons on Eddie Lampert’s superyacht.
  • [01:55:34] The smartest person David knows.
  • [01:56:55] David’s obsessive craftsman approach to podcast creation.
  • [01:58:51] Why David decided to begin a second podcast.
  • [02:01:21] The economics of trust.
  • [02:03:40] The benefits of cultivating a purposeful aloofness about current events.
  • [02:07:11] Using the pulpit of publicity for good, not evil.
  • [02:09:57] New show frequency/dynamic and how David plans to balance the burden of running two shows.
  • [02:13:30] Teamwork with essence of turtle.
  • [02:15:40] Adapting the Rockefeller “secret allies” strategy to podcasting.
  • [02:17:56] Chris Hutchins: The mad scientist of podcasting?
  • [02:18:30] Working with Rob Mohr and Andrew Huberman of SciComm.
  • [02:20:54] Why David focuses on 24-hour cycles over long-term planning.
  • [02:24:54] Does David worry the extra workload will disrupt his lifestyle?
  • [02:30:18] What makes one potential guest more interesting to David than another?
  • [02:34:34] Making an impact vs. happiness.
  • [02:36:32] Playing the status game when your heart’s not in it is for suckers.
  • [02:44:23] Travel observations and the rarity of truly unique experiences.
  • [02:46:26] Books as philosophical operating systems.
  • [02:48:39] Parting thoughts.

MORE DAVID SENRA QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW

“I’m not building a media company. I’m building relationships at scale.”
— David Senra

“You should be copying the what, not the how. You don’t copy what they did; you copy how they did it, and then you just take the little ideas that make sense to you.”
— David Senra

“The maxim I’ve made for myself on this is learning is not memorizing information. Learning is changing your behavior.”
— David Senra

“If you could summarize nine years, 400 biographies, into one word of what I’ve learned, it’s focus.”
— David Senra

“My whole thing is just very simple. I want to do one thing relentlessly.”
— David Senra

“I just love when people take what they do very seriously, and I like the craft of it. And I want to dedicate my life to making a product that makes somebody else’s life better. That is what drives me.”
— David Senra

“I love the climb. I don’t care where the summit is.”
— David Senra

“All a great life is, is a string of great days. And so the furthest I plan out is 24 hours.”
— David Senra

Want to hear another episode with someone who deeply appreciates business history? Listen to my conversation with Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart, as he shares stories from Sam Walton’s office (which he still works in), discusses the founder’s legendary Saturday morning meetings, the “Go for it” keychain philosophy, and much more.

This episode is brought to you by Cresset Family Office! Cresset offer family office services for CEOs, founders, and entrepreneurs. They handle the complex financial planning, uncertain tax strategies, timely exit planning, bill pay and wires, and all the other parts of wealth management that would otherwise pull me away from doing what I love most: making things, mastering skills, and spending time with the people I care about.  Schedule a call today at cressetcapital.com/Tim to see how Cresset can help streamline your financial plans and grow your wealth.

I’m a client of Cresset. There are no material conflicts other than this paid testimonial. All investing involves risk, including loss of principal.

This episode is brought to you by AG1! I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. And right now, when you first subscribe to AG1, you’ll get an AG1 Welcome Kit, a bottle of Vitamin D3+K2, a Morning Person hat, AND you’ll get to try each new flavor of AG1 and their new sleep supplement, AGZ. That’s $126 in free gifts for new subscribers! Visit DrinkAG1.com/Tim to claim this special offer today

This episode is brought to you by Our Place’s Titanium Always Pan® Pro! Many nonstick pans can release harmful “forever chemicals”—PFAS—into your food, your home, and, ultimately, your body. Exposure to PFAS has been linked to major health issues like gut microbiome disruption, testosterone dysregulation, and more, which have been correlated to chronic disease in the long term. This is why I use the Titanium Always Pan Pro from today’s sponsor, Our Place.  It’s the first nonstick pan with zero coating. This means zero “forever chemicals” and durability that will last a lifetime. Visit FromOurPlace.com/Tim and use code SAVE10TIM at checkout for 10% off your entire order. With a 100-day, risk-free trial, free shipping, and free returns, there’s zero risk in test-driving a great upgrade to your kitchen.

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Jessica
Jessica
2 months ago

Tim,

I greatly enjoy your podcast and have learned a lot from it. I often have it playing in the car because I want my children to benefit from the ideas and discussion, too.

I was appreciating this episode when your guest used a term that is both offensive and destructive to our society at large, and particularly those with intellectual disabilities.

Mr. Senra obviously recognized the inappropriateness of his language because he volunteered that it could be edited. (Although this in no way changes what he said or how he thinks.) You, however, told him that it was “fine.” Then you and your team aired an episode to millions that not only includes this perjorative but also your express condoning of its use.

I hope you will take the time to educate yourself on why this term is harmful and damaging to an already marginalized population.

Two such resources are below:

https://www.specialolympics.org/stories/news/the-r-word-is-back-how-a-slur-became-renormalized

https://www.congress.gov/111/crpt/srpt244/CRPT-111srpt244.pdf

If this term is consistent with your values, that’s on you. However, it’s incongruent to discuss the characteristics of “extreme winners” and “thought leaders” while using an outdated and offensive slur.

-5
Reply
PASANGNOMOR2
PASANGNOMOR2
2 months ago

May all industries continue to move forward in the same direction and make positive contributions to the world. Greetings from me, PASANGNOMOR2.

-1
Reply
Mike A
Mike A
2 months ago

Not a single woman mentioned other than the wives the greats divorced..?

4
Reply
Diana Oehrli
Diana Oehrli
1 month ago
Reply to  Mike A

Good point!!! All men!

0
Reply
Pierre
Pierre
1 month ago

Slow down and take a breath when you’re talking…it was so hard to keep up.

1
Reply

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