Episode 111 Conversation at Expa Should You Start a Startup

Summary

• Tim Ferriss created a "real world MBA" for himself by coinvesting with Mike Maples Jr. in startups
• He invested in companies that helped him scratch his own itch and demonstrated traction
• He looked for companies that could help each other in his portfolio
• He also looks for an informational, behavioral, or analytical advantage when investing
• He is an investor and advisor for Expa, a startup studio, and encourages listeners to sign up for his free Five Bullet Friday emails
• Tim Ferriss has a simple approach to early stage investing, which has become more difficult in the current environment due to an oversupply of capital.
• He believes that investors have short memories and that there will always be a correction or crash.
• He looks for companies that would do well in a down equity market, such as Uber and Airbnb.
• He invests in people who would be happy to run their companies for 15 years, as a crash could obliterate any acquisition or IPO plans.
• His first business was BrainQuicken, which he started after seeing the writing on the wall at his first job in technical sales.
• Tim Ferriss started a sports nutrition company in his early 20s
• He bootstrapped the company and learned about margins, margin of safety, and negotiation
• He used remnant space in magazines to advertise and negotiated with retailers to feature his product
• He recommends books such as "Secrets of Power Negotiating" and "Getting Past No" to learn negotiation
• He believes that building a bootstrapped company is an opportunity to create a Utopia, while VCbacked businesses are more focused on the deferred life plan
• He recommends the book "Anything You Want" by Derek Sivers to learn more about bootstrapping a business
• Tim Ferriss discusses the importance of taking care of one's physical self in order to optimize cognitive performance.
• He is known for his life hacking and experimenting approaches to success in venture and other businesses.
• He explains the origin of the title of his book, "The 4Hour Workweek".
• He emphasizes the importance of choosing the highest priority tasks that will render everything else easier or irrelevant, rather than doing a lot of things quickly.
• He talks about the distinction between a good founder and a good CEO, and how the latter needs to be able to detach themselves and identify the most critical emergency.
• He advises to factor in happiness when thinking about lifestyle design.
• Tim Ferriss believes that the opposite of happiness is not sadness, but boredom.
• He suggests that people should chase what excites them in order to achieve a sense of happiness.
• He mentions Mark [inaudible], Uber, and Rick Ruben as examples of people who are "killing it" and doing the right thing.
• He also mentions Neil Strauss and Danny Kahneman as examples of people who have effective systems and habits in place.
• He suggests that people use the "stick" rather than the "pat on the head" in order to affect behavioral change.
• Tim Ferriss discussed the importance of selling wants, not needs, and how wants can be assigned a higher value than needs.
• He shared his favorite podcast guests, which included Brene Brown, Jocko, Josh Waitzkin, Rick Ruben, John Favro, and Robert Rodriguez.
• He advised a solo founder to consider a threeyear goal and read the book "Small Giants" by Bo Burlingham for a counter example to the Silicon Valley ventureback script.
• He discussed his own experience as a solo founder and how it differs from being a venturebacked founder.
• He changed his mind about antibiotics in the last year or two, after being knocked out of commission for nine months with Lyme disease. He now understands the potential for iatrogenic problems caused by antibiotics.
• Tim Ferriss believes that many cases of Lyme disease can be explained by antibiotics, and he has experimented with diet and fasting to address the issue.
• Tim Ferriss views himself as risk averse and prefers to use his assets to help people who are leading the charge to build companies worth 50+ billion dollars.
• Tim Ferriss has a meta skill of learning how to learn faster, but he does not have the patience or wherewithal to focus on one thing for a long period of time.
• Tim Ferriss believes that writing holds a unique position in the mind space of humans and that podcasts are a great way to interview experts and get their advice.
• Tim Ferriss recommends talking to Expa, as they have developed a playbook to avoid fatal problems when developing companies.
• Tim Ferriss is a successful entrepreneur and investor.
• He was invited to speak at the startup accelerator, Expa.
• He discussed the importance of having a clear vision and mission for a startup.
• He also discussed the importance of having a team that is passionate and committed to the mission.
• He emphasized the importance of having a good network of mentors and advisors.
• He also discussed the importance of taking risks and being willing to fail.
• He concluded by saying that if you have the opportunity to join Expa, you should take it.