September AMA with Kevin

0:00:07 You want to start with childhood trauma
0:00:22 All right, I’ll just start out with a solo intro here
0:00:29 Hey friends welcome to the very first ask me anything for Kevin Rose calm the Kevin Rose show
0:00:37 Really stoked that you’re here today got over a hundred questions submitted a lot of really good deep questions for me
0:00:43 This is going to be about honesty transparency and just just giving you the real talk on all the things that are
0:00:49 That you’re asking about which gets into relationships and investing a whole slew of things
0:00:54 I have my good friend Chris Hutchins here with me Chris. Hello. Good to see you again
0:00:55 I’m glad you’re in town here
0:01:00 You’re actually shooting your own podcast in the studio later today with Casey means which should be pretty awesome. I’m excited
0:01:04 but yeah, thanks for agreeing to kind of be my
0:01:06 question
0:01:08 asker and
0:01:11 Feel free to you know push back. Hit me back with
0:01:16 Follow-ups if anything like like, you know strikes you as incomplete or something like that
0:01:22 Yes to the dozens or hundreds of people who submitted questions. I will I will be your voice today. Fantastic
0:01:26 Awesome, let’s let’s do it. All right, so we’re gonna start off with anonymous who wants to know
0:01:33 What specifically are you doing to focus on childhood trauma and what are the modalities that have worked for you best?
0:01:41 Great question. I wanted to kick it off with like not a softball. Yeah straight into this right into it right into it
0:01:50 So, um, yeah, I mean I’ve said this before but my dad was a fantastic dad, but very very verbally abusive to my mom
0:01:55 Every single day you never knew if dad was gonna be
0:02:02 Just pissed off at something. I mean yelling four-letter words like all that every day. So
0:02:07 In some sense, I kind of took that as just general reality
0:02:12 Like I didn’t think of it as being weird because it was just, you know, the life that I grew up in
0:02:15 Later what happened?
0:02:22 And how that manifested in a negative way for me was I didn’t know what a normal relationship looked like and I also
0:02:30 On the personal front didn’t know how to put up kind of boundaries. So I was very bad at boundary setting
0:02:36 And I didn’t know how to have real conversations like deep meaningful conversations
0:02:41 When conflict would arise because I never was none of that was modeled for me at all, right?
0:02:47 So I had to do and I’m still ongoing and doing a lot of work around this topic
0:02:53 One thing I will say is like I definitely know a sadly my dad never was diagnosed, but I knew he was definitely depressed
0:02:58 There’s no doubt about it. You should have been on some medicine for for his anger and for his depression
0:03:00 There is a
0:03:05 fantastic book that if you’ve ever had any issues with your dad
0:03:08 Or even just for yourself personally
0:03:15 By Terry real it’s called I don’t want to talk about it overcoming the secret legacy of male depression
0:03:20 And I think even women would benefit from from reading this book as well
0:03:24 It’s my number one book recommendation. It came out in 1998
0:03:30 Terry real who is the author is an absolute legend in the space a great great
0:03:32 psychologist
0:03:35 Highly recommend getting this on audible
0:03:41 It was a fantastic and eye-opening experience for me and what he was going through which gave me a little bit more compassion towards him
0:03:42 later in life
0:03:46 and then also I’ve been using something called internally internal family systems, which is
0:03:51 This idea that we have these different parts internally. So you can think of it as like
0:03:57 And this is my therapy that I do every week. I found a certified level three. I think it is which is the highest level
0:04:00 internal family systems
0:04:05 Psychologists psychiatrists always get those two confused, which is the one that can prescribe medicine
0:04:13 Psychiatrists. Yeah. Yeah. So I found IFS certified a person that I talked to every week and you know, you have these different
0:04:20 Voices in your head and oftentimes these these voices were kind of constructed at a very early age
0:04:25 You know like so for me I am not conflict avoidant when it comes to the workplace
0:04:30 But I am at home and so, you know, what is that voice? What is that feeling?
0:04:32 What is it trying to protect me from you know?
0:04:39 And you kind of almost like a hypnotic type state. You eventually have a conversation with that part
0:04:43 And then you can ask questions. You can ask it to take a step back
0:04:47 You can ask it and thank it for serving you for so much so many years
0:04:51 And that’s really helped me work through some of this childhood trauma that I’ve had
0:04:54 and just realized that
0:04:58 You know, we’re all it’s so funny, especially high performers. I feel
0:05:04 You know, everyone in obviously Tim’s talked about his depression Peter Tia has talked about his depression
0:05:11 Everyone that I know that’s a high performer has something to work on and I think as men
0:05:15 We need to say raise our hand and say it’s okay to ask for help
0:05:19 I think that’s a big part of the stigma that’s existed for a long time
0:05:22 And so I’m hoping that you know in bringing this is the very first question
0:05:26 We’ll get more people to raise our hand say it’s okay to
0:05:31 Go back and revisit and work through some of this stuff and just become a better happier person overall
0:05:35 Yeah, a couple things one. I’m pretty sure everyone has something to work on. You don’t have to be a high performer
0:05:40 No, that’s good point, but one of the things, you know, your your father’s unfortunately not here anymore
0:05:45 Right, let’s say he was how receptive would he be to you asking him to read this book?
0:05:48 And how would you have approached that if someone listening is they yeah good point?
0:05:53 Kevin gave me this great book, but I can’t imagine if you went to him and said yeah this book
0:06:00 That’s right be open to reading it. So the good news about my dad is that he softened a little bit with age
0:06:05 I feel and that he saw me more as an adult the world we could have kind of peer-based conversations
0:06:10 Which is which is nice not everybody gets that some dads likes treat them
0:06:14 You know the kids like they’re still little kids and they know what’s best for them
0:06:17 And so, you know, I think what I would have done is I would have said hey dad
0:06:20 You know, I’ve read this book
0:06:23 I highlighted a few parts that were really important to me
0:06:29 I you know and I probably would put some earmarks on there because to get him to actually read it would probably be a little bit
0:06:32 Difficult, you know, and I’d be like hey, you know probably write some personal notes in there
0:06:33 Hey, dad
0:06:37 This made me feel like this when I was a kid and just want to let you know and you know
0:06:38 I’d get as vulnerable as possible
0:06:40 I probably would shed some tears and say hey
0:06:44 This is just really important for me to like have you just thumb through this when you get some time
0:06:49 And I know that he respects me it would have respected me enough to to have done that
0:06:56 You know because he loved me dearly and my my my dad was a very good father like a very like present father very
0:06:59 You know took me camping all the time did all the right things
0:07:04 It was the mom part that was really the the the crux of the whole childhood
0:07:08 You know trauma for me, so but I like that strategy the idea of hey
0:07:13 This book had an impact on me. Can you read it so you can help me? Yes, exactly
0:07:20 While he’s reading it about you maybe picks a few things up for him to and he and he might actually go through and read the whole thing
0:07:24 You know you just you never know so anyway, that’s a great follow-up question awesome
0:07:30 I feel like people listening could probably get a whole episode talking about therapy and
0:07:34 Meeting with people and working on yourself, so I encourage you to think about maybe there’s another episode
0:07:38 You could do by yourself just talking about yeah, but in the interest of time. Yes
0:07:43 David asks what general practices or routines have you put into your life?
0:07:50 Either currently or in the past to juggle the high stress or long hours sometimes needed with various projects to avoid burnout
0:07:55 Or even keep your relationships healthy with your family your friends your spouse. Yeah, great question
0:07:57 so
0:08:04 This comes back to that idea of having hard boundaries and in setting up boundaries with with your friends your colleagues
0:08:09 your spouse and actually saying I am allowed to have
0:08:14 Space for myself and time for myself and time for my own personal work
0:08:17 And for me I would say
0:08:20 That’s a list of non-negotiables, so I would come in and say
0:08:28 These are my boundaries these these are the three things that I must do to be a healthy person a better
0:08:34 Friend and a better colleague and that is you know for me. That would be like meditation daily that would be working out
0:08:37 It would be hiking. I really enjoy rocking lately
0:08:43 And I know that when I complete those things I will be better on all those other levels
0:08:49 Especially on the high in the high stress long hours. You have to say if you’re at a startup and you’re pulling, you know
0:08:53 long hours 10 plus hours or whatever it may be
0:08:56 pause because
0:09:04 Oftentimes I find that actually to creativity comes in the moments of rest not so much in the moments of like give me an idea
0:09:09 You know and so you need some downtime for your brain to process
0:09:17 What you’re building and so actually that hike that working out even though it’s it’s it’s for your your decompression
0:09:23 It’s also for your creativity and so I wouldn’t underestimate how important those things are in the professional setting
0:09:27 So, you know when I was running and CEO of my last startup
0:09:33 I you know really encouraged us to get out of the office and a lot of our more creative ideas
0:09:36 came from a place of
0:09:41 You know sitting at dinner together or you know grabbing a drink at a bar or you know
0:09:44 Just the what-if scenarios that we paint for each other
0:09:46 Anyway, I think that
0:09:53 With back to the family and spouse and friends saying no to friends is a huge one learning how to say no is a huge one
0:09:58 You don’t know anyone an explanation. You don’t need to be overly polite. You can just say hey, I
0:10:05 Just can’t do this right now, you know and there’s a great post that I’ll link to in the show notes about how to say no
0:10:08 And I know Tim’s talked about this, but I’m talking about a different post
0:10:15 And how to set those boundaries with friends and then ultimately the respect you my buddy Josh cook. He’s a senior attorney over a good one
0:10:17 he’s
0:10:21 Says no a lot. I’ll be like dude come out. Let’s do this thing. It’s gonna be crazy
0:10:25 Well, no can’t do it and and he’s just like he’s got other commitments and other things he wants to do
0:10:30 But I know when he says yes, he’ll show up and be really present with me and we’ll have a fantastic time
0:10:37 So I respect the nose one of the things that Ron Conway once told me who is one of the most famous investors in Silicon Valley
0:10:41 He’d invited me to an event and Ron, you know, I was a young entrepreneur
0:10:46 He’s something that someone that you know thousands of people look up to really well-known household name
0:10:49 And I respect the share of him
0:10:52 He had invited me to an event and I didn’t respond
0:10:54 and he
0:11:00 He found me at a party and he cornered me and this was many years ago and he goes Kevin. He goes
0:11:03 You don’t have to say yes
0:11:04 He goes
0:11:09 But I need you to say no like don’t don’t live in this world of
0:11:16 Ambiguity this world of like a maybe and then don’t show up or a yes and don’t show up like I’m okay with no
0:11:22 But give me that no, you know, and I was like, holy shit like that has been my life of just being like
0:11:26 Yeah, I think I’ll be there and then bail at the last minute, you know, that type of thing
0:11:29 So anyway, I think that’s a I hope that helps answer that question
0:11:34 One other thing I was gonna say for those of you that have a hard time and you’re saying yourself
0:11:40 I am also one of these people that have a hard time with these tough conversations that can sometimes come out of this
0:11:48 There is a fantastic book for those that are conflict avoidant, which is called crucial conversations
0:11:53 So highly recommend the book crucial conversations. I think you’re gonna really love it if that’s
0:11:57 Actually, I think it’s good for anyone and it covers the whole gamut
0:12:03 So you’ll get personal crucial conversations professional so you get kind of all of it and it’s a it’s a great read
0:12:07 All right, so Mark wrote in I assume you don’t want me to read last names
0:12:10 He said it was okay. So I thought okay fine
0:12:16 So mark Lenweber wrote imagine you’re starting from scratch with no assets income or skills in today’s world
0:12:20 How would you go about building wealth? Where would you choose to live and what specific steps?
0:12:27 Would you take to achieve financial success? This actually is a pretty easy one for me because I feel like this was me
0:12:31 I mean I was I had declared bankruptcy in the year 2000
0:12:36 Because I had a surgery that I couldn’t pay for it was too expensive. I
0:12:39 Got my car repossessed
0:12:41 You know shortly thereafter
0:12:47 So I had no no money and I was like, okay, I need to figure out my I didn’t come from a wealthy family
0:12:52 I need to figure this out. Like how can I like, you know chart a course for a better life?
0:12:59 And I immediately knew because I was into tech that I needed to be in the center of that arena
0:13:07 And the only way to be in the center of that arena is to say where is the highest density of people that are in this profession?
0:13:11 So, you know, choose your own adventure here. You’ll know where it is for whatever your profession might be
0:13:16 For me that was San Francisco. So I had to move to San Francisco
0:13:24 So I took any job I could to get enough money to move to San Francisco. It wasn’t I got a really low-end
0:13:32 Well, I worked in a startup first that had a kind of okay salary was like 55k and then I actually had to take a
0:13:35 a job for 38k a year
0:13:39 This is working as a production assistant at Tech TV
0:13:46 And I had to move into the sunset, which is for people that know San Francisco. It’s kind of you know way out there
0:13:53 And I lived in someone’s garage. They had a bad like made made up in-law unit
0:13:58 That was just not really an in-law unit was not legal and they charged me $500 a month for rent
0:14:02 Which was insane, but I paid it and there were rats underneath my floorboards. I shit you not
0:14:05 I’m not making that up and I actually found a little hole
0:14:10 Where you could pull up the board and I put rat poison down there dumbest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life
0:14:15 Because I came the next because I was sleeping and I’d wake up and I hear the rats running underneath the floorboards
0:14:21 And it’s freaking really like you’re like, okay, are they actually out right because if they’re out above the floorboards
0:14:24 I’m gonna freak the fuck out right because there’s rats running around they were under the floorboards
0:14:31 I put poison in there. I’m like I get these fuckers right they eat it all and then they die under the floorboards
0:14:35 And so I had the worst smell it took about a month and a half
0:14:40 For them to decompose to the point to where they didn’t smell any bad anymore, but anyway, it was horrible
0:14:44 So anyway, the point being is that because I moved there
0:14:48 I had collisions and collisions meaning I would go to coffee shops
0:14:49 I would go to meet ups
0:14:54 I would go to different things and I would run into people that were senior to me or
0:15:00 That were my peers who I could start to network with oh, what are you seeing like what kind of start do you work out?
0:15:02 blah blah, and I would have these
0:15:05 Conversations it was difficult for me because I wasn’t a very introverted person
0:15:08 So I would oftentimes have a couple drinks like losing up to even be able to talk to anyone
0:15:12 thankfully I made some friends at the place where I was working at and
0:15:19 You know from there once I got into tech TV. I said, okay, I’m not gonna win here based on I had no degree
0:15:22 I’m not gonna win here based on my book knowledge
0:15:28 I’m not gonna go work at Google right because they had a really strict intake for college degrees back in the day
0:15:32 And actually actually I think it was one of the first to get around that but anyway
0:15:36 Why I said to myself is I’m gonna win with creativity
0:15:40 So when I went to tech TV, even though I was a production assistant. I was interested in video production
0:15:42 I discovered our vulnerability in Windows
0:15:47 They thankfully through the grace of Paul Block the executive producer and Lila Port
0:15:50 They put me on TV for one episode just for ten minutes
0:15:54 Not even that like five minutes segment to describe the vulnerability. I’d found in Windows
0:16:05 There are many services running by default on
0:16:08 installations of Windows NT 2000 XP and
0:16:13 We have found out there’s a service running that lets spammers or could let spammers bombard you with
0:16:18 Messages now Kevin Rose. You all know he’s usually over there in the neck cam cineplex
0:16:21 But he’s a guy who found this and people probably don’t know this about you Kevin
0:16:27 But you’re very sophisticated computer user. You rather visit home you play with Linux and and and how did you find this at all?
0:16:29 well, just playing around with a couple friends, you know
0:16:31 we like to take apart computers and hack them get into them and
0:16:35 playing around with Chris Crouse from the IT department good friend of mine and just
0:16:39 Started playing around and actually started spamming some machines
0:16:46 You found out something called the net send command show us how this works used by somebody who doesn’t have your best interests at heart
0:16:51 Okay, so what’s involved? Well, the first thing you have to do is you have to do a port scan to find out which machines can be hacked
0:16:54 You need my IP address you can’t do it without it, right?
0:16:58 So what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna take a range of IP addresses right and run a port scan for port 139 now
0:17:01 This is open on a lot of machines. This is the net BIOS port correct
0:17:08 Okay, and anytime that the messenger service is turned on it’ll be found at that port number is message your service turned on by default
0:17:10 Yes, it is on 98 2000
0:17:17 So if you have an XP box chances are this port this messenger service is on right now
0:17:19 It is right now regardless of whether you’re on a corporate network
0:17:25 So you scan it the software comes back with people who that’s turned on right the ways you’ll send a scan out to all these machines
0:17:29 Yep certain machines will come back now machines like Linux and Mac machines
0:17:32 They might have that port closed right because they’re not gonna have that service turned on right
0:17:37 But the majority machines you’re gonna get you’re gonna get the message coming back saying this machine can now receive an attack
0:17:40 So this software is gonna give me a list of machines that that are open
0:17:46 Exactly. Now you dump into a batch file the all the IP address all the IP addresses along with a command in front of it
0:17:52 The net space and space and the IP address that’s open right and then the spam message that you want to send now
0:17:54 Not only could this be used for spam, but you can send so many messages
0:17:58 You can effectively shut my machine down right if I bombard your machine with so many messages
0:18:03 You’re gonna have like a denial service. That’s a denial of service and then afterwards the executive producer said
0:18:07 I think you could do that every once in a while. Just come on TV and do that every once in a while
0:18:10 I was like I can do that and so then I was like, okay
0:18:16 What can I do that’s the best for TV? And so I came up with an Xbox controller that I had re-soldered so that when
0:18:20 You were actually getting hit, you know the vibration that would happen
0:18:27 Yeah, the rumble it would actually shock you and so we had this really funny segment where two people were playing Mortal Kombat
0:18:33 And like when they got hit they would actually get like a micro like almost like a stun gun like kind of shock and drop
0:18:39 Their controllers and it was hilarious and they were like do more of those segments that led to me hosting the television show
0:18:42 Eventually are becoming a regular eventually hosting the television show and I went from there
0:18:43 so
0:18:50 Creativity and networking and being in that essential place for the collisions was essential and then eventually when I started dig I
0:18:52 Became friends with the other founders
0:18:55 So, you know, I got to meet Zuckerberg and you went out dinner a few times
0:19:00 And you know got to be friendly with Ev and Jack and that those led to investments, right?
0:19:04 And so it was like just like this snowballing of of collisions. So that for me
0:19:07 Was very important and then lastly
0:19:09 The thing that I always come back to
0:19:11 Is this idea that?
0:19:13 I
0:19:15 Don’t need wealth to be happy
0:19:23 There are things that wealth provides that is are fantastic in terms of luxury like it is
0:19:28 Really nice to have a handful of things like that. I would say, you know
0:19:32 a first-class plane ticket to the East Coast huge
0:19:37 Upgraded, you know, nicer hotels things of that nature nanny care especially with kids things like that
0:19:46 But at the end of the day, I think my study of more a minimalism and Eastern philosophies
0:19:51 Especially around non attachment have made me a better more
0:19:58 Rounded person in that I don’t feel like I need anything. I feel like I could go back to don’t get me wrong
0:20:01 I wouldn’t go back to the rats and this but I could go back to an apartment living
0:20:04 Well, I did actually when I first moved here in Santa Monica
0:20:08 I moved to apartment because we didn’t have a house and I stayed there for a year and I was like, I’m fine here
0:20:14 it’s a standard apartment, you know and it was crammed toaster and a couple kids, you know, but
0:20:21 It was fine and and I think this idea of chasing wealth and having to go and one up yourself
0:20:25 I see so many people that said if I could only make a million dollars and they make a million dollars
0:20:32 Guess what I’m five to five ten and it keeps going going going and so I highly recommend, you know
0:20:35 Some form of you know, non-attachment Eastern philosophy
0:20:39 You know the way meditation app is great. I think Henry’s fantastic
0:20:44 Anyway, that that that is a good add-on for that for that
0:20:46 success to be balanced with with
0:20:52 With non-attachment. Yeah, the phrase I like that I heard someone use is you want to increase your luck surface area
0:20:54 And I feel like that’s what you did by moving to San Francisco
0:21:00 And funny enough, I think, you know, I had a similar story like I just got to get where the action is but yeah
0:21:05 It’s funny how you yeah, like that’s funny how we met right because you were working another startup
0:21:07 When did we first meet? What was our first?
0:21:10 It’s probably at the climbing gym. So I
0:21:16 Wanted to get into tech and I was living in the East Coast and I realized startups are in San Francisco
0:21:19 I want to work in this industry and I said, I’m just gonna move to the Bay Area and figure it out
0:21:20 And I didn’t have a job
0:21:23 I did have a job that I got laid off a month later and I was like well
0:21:28 All the people that I kind of look up to that are founders and entrepreneurs seem to rock climb
0:21:33 So let’s move one block from Mission Cliffs and just go there all the time and that’s how I ran into Jeff Hudson
0:21:39 That’s I ran into Daniel Burka and I got to know that group of people before I worked at a startup before I worked in tech
0:21:44 and I just kind of like knew these people from the internet, but I didn’t know them right and
0:21:47 You know, we climbed a lot on tech was climbing a lot
0:21:54 So I just got to meet these tech people through climbing. Yes, but it was literally just going to the climbing gym all the time, right?
0:21:59 And that you know, there was a couple times which this doesn’t happen as much anymore
0:22:03 People were like I’m going to the climbing gym. I’m like guess what? I’m going to the climbing gym right now, too
0:22:05 Like I know these people are there right now
0:22:09 That’s a great point. That’s a very like it’s also not a
0:22:17 Quote-unquote networking event because some of the like the more the bigger household name like entrepreneurs like if you were to
0:22:24 Run into someone like a you know a Zuckerberg or you know, Williams or a big, you know entrepreneur
0:22:30 You’re you’re way more likely to enter into an authentic conversation in a relaxed climbing type environment
0:22:35 Where it’s not somebody walking up trying to pitch you something at like a corporate event, right?
0:22:40 Yes, and I find that like those types of environments are probably even better for actually creating meaningful
0:22:47 Connections with people versus people know it’s like sometimes if you’re if you’re a sought-after person and you’re at an event
0:22:52 And you’re getting hunted down you feel like you’re someone’s just want something from you versus friendship
0:22:56 I think I remember this when we worked together at milk that
0:23:00 People would email me all the time because my email I guess was easier to read
0:23:03 You weren’t as good at reading email and they’d be like I have this startup idea
0:23:05 And I’d really love to put it in front of Kevin
0:23:10 How can you connect me with him and I was like these people are so dumb?
0:23:16 Because they’re emailing me and like just completely ignoring me and be like can you connect me with Kevin, right?
0:23:22 The strategy that would have worked ten times better, and I’m sure they’re very smart people, but like would have been hey Chris
0:23:26 You work at a tech company. I’m curious what you think of my idea
0:23:29 I want to I want to pick your brain on this. Can we grab a coffee? It’s and then I would have said yes
0:23:36 Right because I’m not you I don’t get 100 emails like this, and I’m 100% sure that if they got me excited
0:23:41 They would have a much higher chance of getting you excited because I see you all the time and I’d be like dude
0:23:46 I just met this company. It’s so amazing, but when they just completely overlook me and go straight to you
0:23:50 I think they realized that they’re missing out. Yeah, I mean this actually happened
0:23:54 It’s funny because you know I we were working at that company. We sold it to Google
0:23:59 You went over to Google Ventures very wisely and and pulled me into that whole fray, which is great
0:24:02 Thank you for that and then you know I became a partner. You were
0:24:07 Like what was like associate partner or something like that right not like I had a weird name
0:24:10 It was like sourcing partner. Yeah fine deals something like that
0:24:15 But but then you would find these amazing deals and I actually would then you’d pull me in and we’d fund them
0:24:21 Yeah, and then you found them and you know we funded some great companies via the stuff that you went out and found
0:24:26 So yeah, that’s a great point Chris like one step removed from the person that you want to actually interact with is
0:24:32 Is a great kind of way to get in not an evil way, but just like in a let’s make more friends
0:24:36 Alright, so earlier you talked about how you’ve become a well-rounded person
0:24:42 So mine rash has a question used to be a slim guy and now you look pretty swole. Jesus. What has been your weight difference over time?
0:24:45 You know, I was like
0:24:55 255 and then I’ve been all the way up to like close to 200 but not in a healthy way and one of the things that I realized was that I
0:24:57 Didn’t know this about myself
0:25:02 But when I started weight training and I can I’ll throw a picture up like but one of my late 20s early 30s
0:25:08 I put on muscle pretty easily and so I was like, oh, that’s interesting like I didn’t even know but I started actually doing
0:25:10 Proper tell to failure weight training
0:25:14 But yeah, I mean for me these days sadly
0:25:16 I am not where I want to be
0:25:20 Physically like I need to get back into that because I’ve put too much time into you know
0:25:25 Trying to also continue with this work-life balance. I put too much time into more the work side lately
0:25:30 It’s pretty simple on that if you’re asking about the actual swole side of things for me. It’s been
0:25:37 Four sets to failure, you know the last the last set going all the way to failure two sets of four per muscle group
0:25:42 So if I’m doing shoulders, I’m doing let’s just say presses and then you know ladder lifts
0:25:47 like they’ll all pick two exercises per muscle group and then just hit him to failure once a week and
0:25:52 Keep it really simple on that front and then obviously lots of cardio rocking
0:25:59 And then a lot of protein and a little bit of creatine and that’s pretty much the recipe. That’s all there is to it
0:26:01 How much protein and creatine?
0:26:04 People will say that you want one gram per pound of body weight that you have
0:26:12 I think that’s a little overkill and there’s new science around this idea that you can only properly digest around 25 ish grams per
0:26:16 Setting so people to do 50 grams of protein in the setting. I think it’s just nuts
0:26:24 So I’m typically doing you know 25 grams per setting and if it’s a training day or even a recovery day
0:26:29 I’ll always throw in like a really a healthier kind of pro mix protein bar
0:26:34 That’s like 15 grams just in between meals to kind of like get that additional boost
0:26:38 I don’t do my full body weight. Like let’s say I’m one eighty five right now
0:26:45 I would probably try and aim for like 150 and I could still I don’t want to be massive
0:26:50 I just want to be cut like for me. That’s more important is like just a little bit of definition and
0:26:56 And really as you get older obviously core body strength matters as you’re giving a lot of these answers
0:27:01 I’m realizing you could probably give a 30 40 minute conversation about any of these we could go down fitness and
0:27:06 So I’m gonna propose we got a lot of questions. Yeah, let’s just why don’t we run through them?
0:27:08 And then I’m gonna encourage anyone listening
0:27:12 Maybe you could put up a like a Google form. Maybe they could just comment
0:27:18 But if there’s ones where you’re like go deeper let it let let Kevin know and and we can kind of go
0:27:23 Yeah, you can go deeper yourself. Yeah, I know which ones I really want to go deep on but there’s some we can just bang out here
0:27:27 So this is great. Let’s go for it. You still believe in the long-term value of punks
0:27:33 Punks were the very first NFTs if NFTs do make a comeback. I think they are gonna be the OG and I do believe in the long-term value
0:27:39 When NFTs eventually rebound, I think punks will be the one to hold. Yeah, okay
0:27:43 Jackie, what is one product category or concept you are bullish on?
0:27:49 Bullish on I would say over the next decade. It’s certainly the energy sector
0:27:53 I think that we’re gonna need a lot a lot of energy for AI related applications
0:27:59 With that comes data center expansion. So I’m really bullish on companies that are around that space
0:28:05 And then I think the question also was asking what am I bearish on? I’m still bearish on VR. I think it is
0:28:10 It’s a technology. That’s really, you know a hammer looking for a nail
0:28:14 It’s trying to find its fit and just hasn’t found it. I’ve said that for many years now
0:28:18 Yeah, the other one is is there something used to be pretty bullish on and change your mind?
0:28:25 I think NFTs is probably one of them, you know where I got really excited, but we have another question on that coming up
0:28:28 Seems like you have a great relationship with your wife and kids
0:28:33 How do you handle all this long-term travel? Especially when you have to go away for work and you can’t be with them?
0:28:37 Yeah, I mean, I would say that you know the I
0:28:39 think it’s a
0:28:42 huge myth to say that
0:28:48 Everybody just has especially this many years into relationship like the perfect relationship ester-proels is like
0:28:55 I’m gonna be married three times. I hope it’s the same person because you have to reinvent what it is to have an intimate relationship with
0:28:59 Your partner. I have certainly struggled here with my wife. We do
0:29:02 Therapy every single week
0:29:05 And then there’s been times where it’s been better and we haven’t done any therapy
0:29:08 And so, you know, it is very very challenging
0:29:15 To figure out how to evolve with another human. So I will say couples therapy has been huge. I just want to throw that out there
0:29:22 So on the wife side, that’s that side of the house on the kids side, you know, I do a lot of fun things
0:29:27 So my main thing I like to do is I like to hide things around the house for them to discover
0:29:33 And so I take a big piece of paper construction paper and I put down how many days I’m gonna be gone
0:29:38 And I write those and each number cut out numbers that kind of cover up a message
0:29:43 And then I’ll tape them down so they’ll be like one with tape on on both sides to with tape on on both sides
0:29:48 When they peel it back, it’ll give them a hint to where to go find something cool in the house that I’ve left for them
0:29:51 It’s like a little fun little thing or it’ll just be a little message about how much I miss them
0:29:53 How many more sleeps are left until I see them again?
0:29:57 And then obviously there’s a FaceTiming stuff and things like that is that’s also nice
0:30:04 But I find that for them to visually see dad’s gonna be back in X number of days is is a big is a big one
0:30:07 It’s fun for them to wake up and say let’s flip over the next number. Yeah, I like that
0:30:15 When you analyze a company to invest in what one trait do you look for in founders that you think has an outsized impact on?
0:30:18 If the company will be successful or not and I’ll throw in my own little ad here, which is
0:30:22 They might not be the same advice everyone else has got yeah for me
0:30:24 It’s really simple for me
0:30:30 I have to they have to convince me that they are crazy that they are
0:30:36 So in love with something that they believe to be true that no one else does and that this is going to be the future
0:30:40 And so you can see it. I don’t want iterative ideas
0:30:43 I don’t want someone saying like hey, we’re gonna be the member one of is the uber for this
0:30:48 We’re the uber for cat food or whatever it is like don’t give me an iterative idea
0:30:54 Give me something novel that is it’s absolutely batshit crazy where I’m gonna challenge you and say I don’t think that’s gonna work
0:30:58 And then they go no no no no it is because of x y and z and I’m gonna make it happen
0:31:06 Because people that have that amount of craziness that amount of passion that amount of drive and just they can attract great people as well
0:31:11 And so because they will you can just see it manifest in them like how insanely
0:31:18 Excited they are about this is the future you better get on board and when I can see that in someone and sometimes they’ll fail
0:31:24 I’ll even back them a second time because I know that the crazy ones and the crazy ones are the ones that build stuff that was
0:31:26 absolutely disrupt industries and
0:31:30 Reboot our thinking on what is possible and and I I love that
0:31:37 Okay, what are you using these days for headphones and earbuds this person loves AirPods Pro
0:31:43 But the noise cancellation isn’t great and they get comfortable uncomfortable after a while. Yeah, so a real quick
0:31:49 This is an easy one. Obviously Apple has some new newly announced ones. They’re supposed to fit better. Try those out first. I really like
0:31:57 Nothing’s earbuds. So nothing is an Android company. They may be mostly Android devices. They have earbuds for $149 called the ear
0:32:02 Their noise cancelling as well. They make this like really sexy like exhale noise when they turn on they go like
0:32:05 Like when you turn on the cancelling, it’s really cool
0:32:10 And they come with an iOS app and so you can actually use them on iOS as well
0:32:12 On Android, I’m not sure if this is the case on iOS
0:32:16 But I’m pretty sure you can program this with with controls inside of the iPhone
0:32:20 But an Android if you hold in to like activate Siri, but obviously they don’t have Siri
0:32:24 They launched chat GPT, which is actually pretty awesome as well
0:32:30 So they’re really fun. They’re lightweight as hell. They come with a great little charging case a hundred forty nine dollars
0:32:33 I think they’re great value. They sound fantastic and I love that company nothing
0:32:37 I think if you’re considering an Android phone as well, nothing’s a great one to consider
0:32:41 It’s opinionated but not bloatware. I just talked to a friend of mine about headphones
0:32:44 Who was kind of a nerd about this guy named Nick Gray and he was like
0:32:48 You’re not using one with a boom mic and I was like what do you mean like, you know, 20 years ago
0:32:52 I got a little blue and he was like he gave me a couple suggestions. He’s like go find them
0:32:57 Night and day unbelievable difference in sound quality and now I’m like, oh, maybe I’m gonna do it
0:33:03 He’s like I’m in the car driving and it’s noisy and people think I’m in an office. Yeah, but you know what Apple
0:33:04 I don’t know if you just saw the new keynote
0:33:11 But Apple just announced the active AI noise cancelling where there was actually like a band playing behind someone and you couldn’t even hear it
0:33:14 Like AI in real time on device is gonna filter all this stuff out
0:33:20 What did what financial advice would you give to someone and just to be clear what non financial advice financial advice?
0:33:22 Would you give to a friend who had a family?
0:33:27 Middle class in the Bay Area living paycheck to paycheck had their 401k
0:33:34 But wanted some small tweaks that could have a 10x impact. Yeah, so I mean it says 200k gross household income
0:33:37 you know, this is not financial advice, but
0:33:43 Investing in yourself is gonna be the best thing here in terms of getting your base pay up and getting into a
0:33:48 career that eventually you will get into a much higher
0:33:54 Gross annual income than 200k Bay Area 200k is like, you know, by the way, this is household
0:33:57 So right doesn’t say whether their their partner works, but if they do, right?
0:34:03 I mean, but still 200k in the Bay if especially if you’re in San Francisco proper that is tough
0:34:08 These days, right? So I would say if you’re looking for that 10x impact invest in yourself first and foremost
0:34:12 Get into that right career get that to get that salary up
0:34:18 But then, you know, gosh, I did something stupid when I was in this person’s position
0:34:21 And didn’t have any money. I had
0:34:26 You know, probably I don’t know 30k in the bank and savings or something like that
0:34:31 I was supposed to use it for a down payment for a house eventually and instead I invested in startups
0:34:33 And I just happened to pick the right ones, you know
0:34:37 I got really lucky and it was networking with the right people in the Bay Area and
0:34:40 That led to some pretty big returns
0:34:45 But you know, I would say for most people it would be more on the getting the household
0:34:49 Gross up. Yeah. The more I think about your history
0:34:55 I think if there were 10 Kevin Roses and we were looking at 10 different realities a few of them would still be in that garage
0:35:00 With rats running around the floorboards. Oh for sure. I’ll probably be selling and raising rats professionally
0:35:04 Yet somehow turn that into a billion-dollar company, bro
0:35:08 Okay, Anonymous says you made great early bets on Tesla and Nvidia
0:35:15 What’s the next big idea in the public markets and are there any new growth stocks you’ve added to your high-risk high-risk bucket?
0:35:22 Yeah, so not investment advice. This is just my own personal stuff. I have taken small positions in Qualcomm and arm
0:35:25 Very small
0:35:30 I like to kind of dollar-cost average my way into things as my kind of thesis around something proves true
0:35:36 The thesis here, which I’d like to do a dedicated post on eventually is that arm has taken over the world
0:35:38 We know that every single phone is arm-based processors
0:35:41 Every
0:35:43 Apple Silicon chip is an arm-based processor
0:35:49 You know Qualcomm is now making, you know laptop which I actually have right here
0:35:55 This Windows laptop which is feels just like a MacBook
0:35:59 Pro it’s insane how much it feels like a MacBook Pro and actually the keyboard and everything
0:36:04 This is actually an arm-based Windows machine with a Snapdragon arm chip
0:36:08 so arm we know in general is
0:36:14 Especially on the Apple side where they’ve really optimized the layout of the chips better battery life better performance than Intel
0:36:16 Like Intel’s kind of as you’ve seen lately. They’re kind of screwed
0:36:22 So my bet here is that arm figures out a way to make more dollars in their licensing fees over time
0:36:27 Some people have said hey, why don’t you add TSMC to your with Intel failing?
0:36:31 Why wouldn’t you want also want TSMC in a portfolio because they are manufacturing?
0:36:38 You know 80% of the chips that are out there and they they rule the world in in terms of the fabrication process and in die-sized Taiwan semi-conductor
0:36:40 Yeah, Taiwan semi-conductor
0:36:45 Charlie Munger before he passed away rest in peace fantastic investor obviously
0:36:50 Said something about TSMC way back in the day that I thought was brilliant where he said, you know
0:36:56 Fabrication is a very difficult business to make money on because they’re constantly taking every single dollar
0:36:59 They earn and reinvesting it in new technology
0:37:08 So they have to be constantly pouring their profits right back into R&D to get smaller and smaller die sizes and to reinvent themselves every few years
0:37:13 So I do not own any fabrication and also I worry about the China
0:37:20 Conflict potential there with Taiwan being so close to China in the future of TSMC giving a lot of their their fab and production is based there
0:37:25 Okay, let’s keep going. All right, Mike wants to know would you ever dye your hair or your beard?
0:37:28 I have and I can put up pictures of it. I have because
0:37:34 There’s a company that we invest in a true ventures is Amy era who’s a brilliant founder
0:37:41 She started a company called Madison Reed that does hair dye for mainly for like color at home for women
0:37:46 But she has a small men’s line and she was like you try it, you know, she’s like I was like, I’ll try
0:37:49 You’re one of our founders are awesome. So I got some in the mail and
0:37:56 You know when I applied it was cool because it didn’t make that kind of weird like like it didn’t get rid of all the gray
0:38:00 It just got rid of a tiny bit of the gray. That looks pretty cool. And so I did a little bit
0:38:02 I don’t do it anymore, but I
0:38:06 You know, I just don’t would never want that like fake look
0:38:09 You know that fake look like when you see those dudes and you’re like, oh, do you like bronze fake hair?
0:38:15 So, you know, I think a little beard dye every once while if you’re just trying to change it up and look a look to shave
0:38:18 A few years off like whatever but anyway, I love Madison Reed
0:38:22 They’re a founder of ours and and I think that’s the best-looking stuff out there. All right
0:38:28 This is a wide open question. Where is the biggest gap in your attention culturally speaking?
0:38:32 What’s that thing that no one is focused on that you’re keeping tabs on?
0:38:37 You know could be investing technology societal shifts. Yeah, I mean
0:38:44 I think that this is we are gonna see a return to less tech and a more analog movement in the next decade
0:38:47 I think we were already starting to see the realities of
0:38:55 Too much technology in our lives, especially with the tension and social media and it kind of taking over our lives for the worse
0:39:00 So I believe there’s gonna be a movement that will snowball eventually around slow tech
0:39:04 Less phone phones more in real life connection
0:39:08 Most likely in the form of an AI device. I don’t think we need the
0:39:15 Interfaces that we have today on smartphones. I think we can largely use AI to be the bridge for most things
0:39:18 Like I don’t we shouldn’t have to open my app to call an Uber to where I am
0:39:21 I should just be able to talk to my phone and have it do that
0:39:25 So, you know, I’m watching the light phone seeing how the next version of that which launches early next year how that does
0:39:30 But I think there will be new social networks that will really put an emphasis on more real
0:39:37 Connection, you know, one example of that, you know, I’ll throw out real quickly is is the way which is a meditation app
0:39:39 That I yeah, I invested in it
0:39:43 But I think it’s I did so because I think Henry’s the best and it’s the best app out there
0:39:50 They’re doing more in-person meet-ups. So they’re a part of being a member is gonna be about doing in-person type events and meet-ups
0:39:54 An actual real physical connection with people. I think that’s the future of social
0:39:57 apps is gonna be more
0:40:00 localized connection bundled with technology
0:40:03 Anyway, that’s what I’m kind of paying attention to all right
0:40:08 Edward wants to know he’s got two daughters nine and eleven and he thinks about education
0:40:12 What do you think schools should teach that they’re not currently doing or that they’re doing poorly?
0:40:18 How do people around you educate children and thank you he says. Oh, well, thank you for saying thank you
0:40:21 I would say so my kids are six and five
0:40:25 We find we found a school that was all about fostering creativity
0:40:28 I think creativity is gonna be the resource that we need most in the future
0:40:33 especially when AI has every single answer at our fingertips our kids are gonna need to know how to
0:40:39 Explore and tinker and break things and mold things in unique ways
0:40:41 with
0:40:47 With in in lockstep with our official intelligence and so for me, it’s all about
0:40:53 You know, how can we get kids doing real-world activities with computers as well?
0:40:59 So example is like in the school where my kids go when they teach a form of math called Singapore math
0:41:06 Which I think is superior largely because it’s more visual and also it’s things like let’s step outside and measure our garden
0:41:10 You know like real things rather than just being like let’s add numbers together inside indoors
0:41:15 Let’s actually put this in the real world and make it applicable to what we’re doing
0:41:19 And I think that type of experimenting and playing is gonna be really important
0:41:21 All right
0:41:25 What is your current crypto investing strategy and what coins do you plan on holding long-term?
0:41:29 I’ve dialed back on crypto a lot largely because I
0:41:34 Think of it these days is more of just something I want to hold for the long-term and not even have to pay attention to
0:41:38 For me, it’s it’s it’s been primarily Bitcoin. So I own and hold Bitcoin
0:41:43 And that’s it. All right, and you know Phil wants to know
0:41:49 Do you think you went a bit off-piste with your personal brand when you started pimping NFTs and getting on the bandwagon in hindsight?
0:41:53 Would you do it again? Yeah, this is a great question. I didn’t want to dodge any questions
0:41:57 So I think you know NFTs the the technology is sound digital-ownable
0:42:05 Proven scarcity assets make sense to me over the long term my first podcast about NFTs where I went deep on it
0:42:12 Fortunately a lot of those NFTs are still up like if you bought a Fidenza when we first talked about Fidenza than the very first
0:42:18 Podcasts that came out. It’s there’s still in a really good place. It was a wild ride, you know Moonbirds
0:42:26 It was difficult because we had a lot of promises of things that we want to build and I saw things
0:42:31 dynamically kind of shifting in front of us. There was a lot of
0:42:38 Uncertainty and a lot of it actually kind of freaked me out when I saw the bubble that was forming
0:42:44 Like it was very clear to me that when something goes from a few thousand dollars to like hundreds of thousands of dollars
0:42:52 In two or three months. That’s not real. I feel very fortunate that we landed the brand with Yuga because I think they’re obviously
0:42:54 They were the leaders in the space
0:42:58 In hindsight, would I do it again? No, I would not do it again. I would not do it again
0:43:01 Yeah, I just wouldn’t
0:43:07 Tyler says hi Kevin you’ve worked with a lot of startups. You’ve seen a lot of product development evolve
0:43:09 How do you think AI tooling impacts product development?
0:43:17 Do you think it’s gonna enable more solopreneurs or maybe lead to a lot of half-baked buggy outcomes products?
0:43:19 The bugs are here right now
0:43:26 Because the technology is not where it should be in terms of just you describing something to AI and having it build you a product
0:43:30 This is the worst today is the worst it will ever be
0:43:34 Tomorrow would be better and that’s always going to be the case with AI
0:43:39 So I think that while there are half bug half-baked buggy outcomes right now
0:43:44 Within the next few years you will be able to describe the app that you want and it will build it
0:43:46 And it will be able to find and squash the bugs as well
0:43:50 Go to cursor.com. It’s an AI based
0:43:59 Product that is really taking off right now where you can describe to it how you want it to write code and it’s it’s crushing everybody
0:44:01 It’s it’s amazing. It’s a custom models for coding
0:44:07 It’s gonna get so much better. I think we’re not gonna have to learn coding in the next five years
0:44:09 You’ll just build to describe it and it’ll happen now
0:44:13 There’ll be edge cases to that when things get to scale and there’ll be certain things that you know
0:44:15 you need to bring in experts for but
0:44:20 Largely you’ll build a prototype and launch something without the need of an engineer. Yeah, and I’m already seen that
0:44:26 I’m I’ve been building stuff that I could have never built before and it’s have used cursor yet. I’ve not
0:44:33 Oh, yeah, you gotta try it out. All right hypothetical. Do you give up some time now with small children to build a business that could leave to lead
0:44:35 To more free time with them down the road
0:44:43 Obviously not guaranteed or do you just settle into a good job with pretty good benefits and maximize time with your kids when they’re young
0:44:49 But give up the business idea. Hmm. So here’s that here’s that the real hard cold truth on this one
0:44:56 Like I don’t know if your business is gonna fail or succeed obviously like it’s startups like 90% of them fail
0:44:58 But I can tell you
0:45:03 You know dad your kids will never say to you dad. I wish you had a little bit more money
0:45:09 They’ll most likely say dad. I wish you were around more. So just to keep that in mind
0:45:14 Yeah, and I mean I go back to I’ve seen and you probably have a lot of people
0:45:20 Kind of in that second wind of their career build companies and not kill themselves doing it. Oh, dude
0:45:22 So like right now
0:45:25 Here’s a very simple hack is the best hack in the world for this
0:45:28 Don’t watch TV
0:45:34 We don’t watch TV here and guess what when at nighttime when I want to work on a hack on something and I’m like in in Gemini studio
0:45:36 AI doing some crazy shit with news right now
0:45:42 Like I’m doing that when my kids go to sleep because I’m not turning on the TV and granted
0:45:43 I have date nights and things like that
0:45:46 They’re very important to maintain as well for the health on that that side of the house
0:45:50 But I get a couple hours to go and just actually hack on this stuff at night
0:45:55 And it doesn’t feel like work. It’s fun because I don’t watch TV. That that is the the biggest hack for most people
0:45:59 They need to give up other stuff so that they can go and explore. Yeah
0:46:05 Okay, you wake up. You’ve got no plans. No commitments. You’re all alone. How do you spend the day? It’s a fun one
0:46:11 Okay, this is from Grishma. Let’s let’s pound through this real quick pour over coffee. I love a good pour over
0:46:17 I think it’s worth every dollar. It means you grind your own beans. I love Ethiopian coffees. I love about coffee brand called say
0:46:22 SEY type and say coffee and find them buy their coffee. It’s amazing
0:46:27 I would do coal plunge meditation first thing like breakfast exercise some rucking sauna
0:46:30 And then just tinkering with something new
0:46:35 You know something that is a new technology something that I personally would just
0:46:43 Had had time to play with yet, you know and and try that out now one other really important addition to this that I think is a
0:46:47 Very new thing that I’ve added to my routine that I would recommend everyone do
0:46:48 is
0:46:50 one day a month
0:46:52 Pick something that you’re gonna do buy yourself solo
0:46:59 That puts you out of your comfort zone that you would normally never ever do before so I’ll give you an example a
0:47:02 couple nights ago my wife’s been out of town and
0:47:05 so I had my nanny stay late and I
0:47:07 randomly
0:47:09 Booked a ticket for Esther Perrell
0:47:17 To she’s a very famous therapist who is doing a live show in front of 6,000 people at the YouTube
0:47:19 Center here in LA and
0:47:22 I booked a solo ticket by myself
0:47:28 I have seen a couple of clips of Esther’s on on social media, but none of her other content
0:47:32 And I’m like I’m going by myself and I got an Uber. I went down there and
0:47:35 I just sat there next to two people
0:47:41 I didn’t know and I watched the whole thing and I came home and it was amazing and I was like wow
0:47:47 I would have never done that and just like getting yourself out of that comfort zone and just doing something
0:47:54 Random and fun like sign yourself up for a weird type of yoga or meditation class or you know
0:47:59 If you’ve never you know if you’ve always wanted to take a fencing lesson, you know like I’ve always won
0:48:02 I don’t want to say this. I’ve always wanted to tap dance. I
0:48:07 Know it’s funny, but every time I see like old-school movies and people are like
0:48:10 Like doing the tap dancing like that shit looks fun
0:48:14 I want to take a tap dance class, you know, like that’s something I will eventually do and I won’t tell anyone
0:48:20 You will you’ll come on this show. I probably won’t still but anyway, that’s that’s my advice there. Okay
0:48:26 Have you or are you considering a vasectomy? Rick would love to know
0:48:30 Given some of the side effects of birth control for women. Yeah, so I have considered it
0:48:36 You know, I’m at the we don’t want any more kids. So I’m at the age where you know snippy snip time on that front
0:48:38 I
0:48:42 Will say that I talked to a Tia about this like two years ago
0:48:45 He said there were no known downsides
0:48:53 I’m meeting with the Tia’s folks today to review my blood work and I will ask them again for all of you
0:48:57 Not that that they are your doctor and this won’t be medical advice
0:49:02 But I’ll tell you what they said to me and whether I’m going to move forward with it in the show notes
0:49:04 So I’ll let you know there. Okay
0:49:10 Kevin would you be open to sharing the website or contact info of the medium you had that session with yeah
0:49:12 So for people that don’t know I
0:49:16 Really skeptical of people that can say they can talk to dead people
0:49:23 Obviously, we talked about this on Tim show though and I was it was given this medium and I
0:49:31 I listened to the episode. Okay. So anyway, I talked to my dead dad and I cried my eyes out and it was amazing
0:49:35 I don’t know if it was real or not, but it felt really freaking real and given all the things they said
0:49:40 That said I’ll give you the the the URL right now
0:49:47 but please people this is entertainment value if it’s a hundred and twenty bucks or hundred fifty bucks or whatever is
0:49:51 Click the medium one that you want to talk to somebody and like considered entertainment
0:49:55 I’ve had several friends that have done now and they’ve all actually had really fun good outcomes from it
0:49:59 She seems to be pretty amazing. I don’t know. I still don’t even know if I believe it
0:50:04 But like if you want to have if you’re like, this is a fun dinner out quote-unquote, you know for me in terms of expense
0:50:07 It is this is the this is the URL
0:50:12 Carissa c a r i s s a
0:50:18 Sakura s i k o r a dot com and that will also be linked up in the show notes
0:50:22 I have zero affiliation with this person. Just throwing that out there. All right
0:50:27 We’ve got how far away when are we time-wise? I
0:50:34 Got 90 minutes till Casey’s here recording. Okay, great. Well, let’s if we want to leave like a little buffer
0:50:38 Because if Casey shows up 10 minutes early, yeah, let’s bang out some more of these real quick
0:50:41 Oh, I promise to go faster. Okay
0:50:43 All right
0:50:48 Do you think you would reach the same level of contentment you’re at now if you followed the same path of Zen teachings
0:50:53 But did not have your current wealth. I would say that if anything my current wealth
0:50:59 Led me to Zen teachings because I realized that there was no contentment with wealth and that wealth does not bring contentment
0:51:02 It can solve a few problems
0:51:07 But it does not bring contentment at all. And so if anything I
0:51:10 Realize that Zen is more important than ever
0:51:14 And I would not say that I have contentment. I’m
0:51:19 Actively searching for contentment and it’s an ongoing process. So
0:51:22 Zen has certainly helped in that regard, but it is
0:51:30 Yeah, it’s still an active process. All right. So this one’s for you Kev Kev from Steve Steve asking about a podcast with Tim Tim
0:51:36 You said you were gonna go deep on how to stay safe on the how to say stay safe on the internet
0:51:38 You told a story about a friend that was pretty compelling
0:51:43 What kind of advanced protection are you using for your data your iPhone? Yes?
0:51:48 So I have a very very good protocol for data protection that I’ve run by
0:51:53 Some of my top security friends that are very prominent security experts
0:51:58 I’m gonna be doing a full episode on this an article on this definitely in the next month. All right
0:52:04 Now Jason wants to know do you have a plan or perhaps you’ve already started on how you’ll prepare your kids for adulthood and all the
0:52:06 responsibilities and challenges that await them
0:52:10 Yeah, so the they added part of this
0:52:15 I think it’s important throw in there too as he also said you feel like tossing them into the deep end of a pool
0:52:21 Let him to learn to swim in real time or the shallow end or something in between. Okay, so real quick
0:52:23 We got a lot of questions to get to
0:52:25 my my
0:52:28 General take is that you know growth all growth comes from failure
0:52:31 Growth comes from being uncomfortable
0:52:36 Knowledge comes from experience not written word
0:52:39 So for me, I want my kids to fail
0:52:43 I want them to feel comfortable failing when they cry because they’re failing
0:52:46 I want to explain to them that that is actually growing and that is a good thing
0:52:53 They’re learning something new is just admitting that you’ve learned something new and it’s not to be ashamed of and I think that is gonna go a long
0:52:54 Way, it’s my hope anyway
0:53:01 So my approach is you know been for them to help them find their passions when they find these passions help them explore them
0:53:04 Give them the resources needed to help them explore those passions
0:53:10 So that eventually they can find their life’s calling or callings as it were if as people change careers often they often do
0:53:18 Yeah, that’s it. Alright Jonathan wants to know did you ever wish you don’t have that entrepreneur’s curse needing something interesting to do
0:53:22 You ever met people that are just so chill and think well, that would be pretty nice. Yeah
0:53:28 Yeah, I have a buddy that smokes weed almost every night and he just chills and he puts on TV and just chills and
0:53:33 You know, he’s a good homie and he just likes weed and I’m always like that sounds nice
0:53:37 I don’t like weed but like just the idea of just not having to think about shit
0:53:40 And he’s just working the same old job just getting that paycheck and just like you know
0:53:43 Just hitting his bowl and freaking calling it a day
0:53:48 But it is it is a bit of a curse because you’re always on to the next thing
0:53:51 But you know, so so that’s how my brain is operating. So
0:53:57 Yeah, all right Matthew in Texas as someone with a passion for technology, how have you approached introducing it to your kids?
0:53:59 How do you think about?
0:54:03 Screen time content and shows and how do you think you’ll change that as they get older? Yeah, okay?
0:54:09 Let’s go on this quickly. So right now Saturday is cartoon day. That means they get some cartoons in the morning
0:54:13 You know, I try to emphasize higher quality cartoons
0:54:20 They get zero other time on devices, so they don’t have phones or anything weird like that
0:54:22 But I mean, they’re only six and five
0:54:28 Zero TV. We don’t do any television at all outside of sports. We’ll put sports on and stuff like that when NBA is on
0:54:31 I would say that we do movies a lot. I
0:54:36 Highly recommend highly highly highly recommend a show called still water on Apple
0:54:42 Still water is about a panda. It teaches a lot of Eastern philosophies in a cartoon form. Our kids absolutely love it
0:54:48 I would say if you turn it on and it’s not exciting enough for your kids because it’s very deep
0:54:51 Mine are six and five and they love it if it’s not exciting enough say hey
0:54:54 We’ll watch your cartoon, but we have to watch a still water first
0:55:00 They’re only like 15 minutes long and they are really really good and they teach such strong core values
0:55:05 Love that show and then absolutely read the book the anxious generation
0:55:12 It really talks about this important time in a kid’s life when they should not have cell phones because they need to be interacting with
0:55:17 Humans to develop certain social skills backed up by a ton of data
0:55:24 The anxious generation is a must read especially as you get older to like almost, you know cell phone carrying age and social media age
0:55:27 Okay
0:55:30 How do you choose what to work on has it changed over the years?
0:55:35 I’ll answer this one really quickly. It’s always by something just grabs me and says go build it
0:55:39 So, you know what most recent example would probably be
0:55:42 Before the Web 3 stuff was zero the intermittent fasting app
0:55:47 I saw some data around intermittent fasting from Walter Longo that look really promising
0:55:49 I had a friend that went through stage 4 chemotherapy and
0:55:53 Incorporated fasting into his protocol and it’s now in remission
0:56:01 You know Peter T was getting into fasting and it looked promising and I built the app in like three days with a buddy
0:56:04 And Daniel Burkett did the icon design and we launched it and you know now
0:56:09 It’s doing double digits millions of dollars a year in revenue and it just kind of blew up and grew from there
0:56:12 And so it was always there was never a plan to be a business
0:56:17 It was always like well, what if this exists what will happen and that was the same way with dig
0:56:20 I didn’t know did we was gonna be that big I was like well this should exist like let’s see what happens
0:56:23 And it’s always been that way the best stuff
0:56:28 I’ve ever built it always been out of personal curiosity and just like and let’s hack it together and see what happens
0:56:31 It seems to be a recurring theme. I went to a the night you were at Esther Prell
0:56:34 I was watching Zuck talk about how like you know
0:56:38 He thought Facebook was like the idea that he would put to the side so he could build something real
0:56:42 So everyone just seems to success isn’t always planned
0:56:47 Okay, Mike Maisie says please share a deep dive on saunas, which we’re not gonna do during this episode
0:56:52 But but anything you can share quickly that would be helpful on temperature specific companies
0:57:00 Rhonda Patrick has a great PDF type in Rhonda Patrick sauna. The data points to 175 degrees Fahrenheit chest level 20 minutes a day
0:57:04 Wear a sauna hat. You don’t want to fray your brain. There’s actually bad data
0:57:07 That says you can actually do damage if you don’t wear a sauna hat and your head gets too hot
0:57:09 Um
0:57:15 Chris has a episode on saunas or no, you don’t know we talked we did a episode together and talked a little bit
0:57:19 We talked about the Trumpkin guide. Yes all kinds of rabbit holes. So we’ll link to that
0:57:24 Yeah, now the only thing that you didn’t mention infrared. Oh, I do traditional sauna. Okay
0:57:29 I I know that people like infrared and I don’t know at the last I saw I have to ask Ron on this one
0:57:34 I’m gonna have her on the show again soon. I’ll ask her by infrared, but traditional sauna is typically I
0:57:39 We know we get heat shock protein release with traditional saunas
0:57:43 And almost all the studies have been done with traditional sauna. So I would stick with that
0:57:49 Chris not me says how do you cope with balancing being a dad with your career aspirations and work commitments?
0:57:54 Yeah, that’s just don’t watch TV. It’s give up the stuff that is non-productive stuff
0:57:59 That’s that just in TV is a big one for most people. Yeah, I found that if you just turn the TV off at night and go to bed
0:58:03 You’ll be like, oh, I’m ready for bed at 9 o’clock. You wake up. You’ve got like two or three hours
0:58:08 Exactly, very true. That’s a great point because I get up before my kids and then I will be able to jam out for two hours
0:58:14 Before they even get up. Yeah, what is your current tech stack? Yeah, so current tech stack is this is an easy one
0:58:21 You know Apple watch. I’m not wearing it today, but that’s for when I work out. You know iPhone definitely gonna get the new one
0:58:26 Nothing phone when I’m experimenting with Android devices and products
0:58:32 Snap Dragon Windows laptop for staying current with Windows because I think it’s important to keep up with what’s going on on the AI side
0:58:41 And then just a standard Apple air the latest Apple air for for my day-to-day work. Alright another question
0:58:42 These are both from Caspar
0:58:47 How do you like living in a big city again compared to the probably rather calmer life of Portland?
0:58:50 Yeah, we picked a neighborhood that is
0:58:55 Outside of central LA so it is quieter out here, which is great trick-or-treating things like that
0:58:59 And then he also mentions about you know, when you know whether enough to actually buy or rent
0:59:04 You know Chris, I’m actually gonna let you answer this question because you had a great episode about renting versus buying
0:59:12 Do you want to tell people about that episode? Yeah, I mean I talked to someone Katie who has a podcast called money with Katie and
0:59:15 She had some great data which was like in the US right now
0:59:20 Renting is a better deal like if you just look at what you’re gonna be paying for mortgage and we’re gonna be paying renting
0:59:25 It’s a better deal. I think historically a lot of people especially our parents generation might tell us
0:59:31 Well renting is how I built all this wealth and that’s true because you know, you said weren’t renting or oh, sorry buying
0:59:33 Fine, sorry buying is how they built all this wealth
0:59:37 And that’s true because every month they had to make a mortgage payment and that mortgage payment paid off their house
0:59:42 And it forced them to save it forced them to save had they just rented for a less overall monthly cost and
0:59:48 Put the Delta into an account invested in the S&P the toll stock market some index fund
0:59:50 They probably would have been in the same place maybe even better
0:59:53 Yes, like market returns are actually better than home appreciation
0:59:58 You know someone wants to get in the weeds you can lever up and maybe they’re they’re similar
0:59:59 But I don’t know
1:00:05 I think the stigma around renting is silly and if you aren’t sure you want to live in the place
1:00:07 You’re in for a long period of time
1:00:12 Renting is gonna be a better deal and and right now in today’s market rentings might be a better deal
1:00:17 Irregardless, yeah for me what I’ve done in the past real quickly is the the play for me has always been
1:00:20 Even though I could pay off a house
1:00:26 If the rates are low take that rate all day long take some money out of the house and put it into the market because if like
1:00:29 Let’s just pretend you can get a two and a quarter percent loan
1:00:33 I’ll take out that X number of dollars reinvest in the market and hope for that
1:00:38 You know eight to ten percent return and take keep the Delta. Yeah, so that’s that’s been my approach on when rates are low
1:00:43 Yeah, I think this is so psychological to like there are people that are really averse to debt that really understand
1:00:48 Finances and if that’s you and you just can’t sleep at night knowing you have debt
1:00:51 We’ll then like who cares about the return. I have some friends that are nuts like that where they pay out their house
1:00:56 They have no money left. They’re like, oh my house paid off. I’m like, dude, you have no money now
1:01:02 It’s so crazy. Yeah. All right anonymous. Yes is stuck in a high-paying corporate management job
1:01:06 It’s mid 30s happily married having the most fantastic baby boy
1:01:11 Wants to offer them the best life ever be a great husband. What should someone do in that situation?
1:01:16 He feels like his job’s kind of a dead end and has to travel three to four days a week
1:01:22 Yeah, yeah, this one is tough because you know, I was reading this one and it’s much longer post than what we said here
1:01:24 because we don’t have time for it, but
1:01:29 You know, they were saying that switching careers or industries at this stage seems like career suicide
1:01:32 But they’ve also mentioned that they’re in their 30s and I would say
1:01:38 Honestly mid 30s is not that far in if you know the industry you’re in and they’ve said this is going down
1:01:42 You know, I would take your skills, which is
1:01:49 Product management and marketing find like a proxy job in an industry that you want to be in meaning like there’s some overlap
1:01:54 With those skills that can be applied to this new industry that’s actually going to grow make that switch now
1:01:57 You know, you might have to take a tiny bit of a haircut and pay
1:02:02 But make that switch now so that you’re in an industry that’s going to continue to grow over the long term
1:02:05 Because I know a lot of people that are in there 45 there 45 or 50 or 55
1:02:09 They’re making that switch and it’s a lot harder when you get older. Yeah
1:02:11 So anyway, that would be my advice on that front
1:02:14 Yeah, I mean this this person’s lucky that product management and marketing might not be going anywhere
1:02:19 So, right exactly, you know, it’s tough if you’re in a career role and an industry that sucks
1:02:23 But if you’re just in the bad industry, right find a different industry for a similar role. That’s right
1:02:30 How do you decide who to take advice from you’ve obviously got a network of a lot of smart and successful people
1:02:36 How do you balance advice and analysis paralysis and so many opinions? Yeah, so this is real quick
1:02:42 Hardware to answer but I would say I look for people that are also domain experts, you know
1:02:44 Like I call you up sometimes and I’m like, hey
1:02:48 Tell me about this piece of finance that you’ve geeked out on, you know
1:02:55 Because I know you’re like me where like you’ll spend 20 hours on one thing like best credit card rates for one particular thing, you know
1:02:59 And so try to find these friends that are domain experts and go and go there
1:03:03 But if it’s overall life advice, I look for contentment and happiness
1:03:08 Yeah, you’re not calling me for advice on fitness, right like that’s right. That’s that’s correct
1:03:11 All right
1:03:16 Kevin big fan from the UK comes from Matt. Thanks for everything you do. It’s having a ton of impact on his life
1:03:19 How do you think about patience versus drive?
1:03:25 He was a very driven person early on in his career and finds it hard to slow down and enjoy the ride
1:03:32 Any tips or tools that can help I feel you. So this is the last question of the day. I feel you this is really hard
1:03:36 You know Alan Watts said
1:03:42 The existence the physical universe is basically playful
1:03:45 There is no necessity for it whatsoever
1:03:48 It isn’t going anywhere
1:03:51 That is to say it doesn’t
1:03:55 Have some destination that it ought to arrive at
1:04:00 But that it is best understood by analogy with music
1:04:02 because
1:04:11 Music as an art form is essentially playful we say you play the piano you don’t work the piano
1:04:16 Why
1:04:22 Music differs from say travel when you travel you are trying to get somewhere
1:04:27 One doesn’t make the end of a composition
1:04:35 The point of the competition of the composition if that were so the best conductors would be those who played fastest
1:04:41 And there would be composers who wrote only finales
1:04:48 People go to concert just to hear one crashing chord because that’s the end
1:04:54 Say when dancing you don’t aim at a particular spot in the room
1:04:57 That’s where you should arrive the whole point of the dancing is the dance
1:05:00 now
1:05:03 But we don’t see that as
1:05:08 Something brought by our education into our everyday conduct
1:05:12 We’ve got a system of
1:05:15 Schooling which gives a completely different impression
1:05:18 It’s all graded
1:05:22 And what we do is we put the child into the corridor of
1:05:28 This grade system with a kind of come on kitty kitty kitty and yeah, you go to kindergarten
1:05:32 You know and that’s a great thing because when you finish that you’ll get into first grade and
1:05:37 Then come on first grade leads the second grade and so on and then you get out of grade school
1:05:40 You’ve got high school and it’s revving up the thing is coming
1:05:46 Then you’re gonna go to college and by Joe then you get into graduate school and when you’re through with graduate school
1:05:48 You go out to join the world
1:05:51 Then you get into some racket where you’re selling insurance
1:05:57 And they’ve got that quota to make and you’re gonna make that and all the time the thing is coming
1:06:04 It’s coming. It’s coming that great thing the success you’re working for then when you wake up one day about 40 years old
1:06:06 You say my god, I’ve arrived
1:06:11 I’m there and you don’t feel very different from what you always felt
1:06:18 by expectation look at the people who live to retire and put those savings away and
1:06:20 then when they
1:06:24 65 they don’t have any energy left. They’re more or less impotent and
1:06:29 They go and rot in an old people’s senior citizens community
1:06:36 Because we’ve simply cheated ourselves the whole way down the line
1:06:44 We thought of life by analogy with a journey with a pilgrimage
1:06:48 Which had a serious purpose at the end and the thing was to get to that end
1:06:51 Success or whatever it is or maybe heaven after you’re dead
1:07:01 But we missed the point the whole way along it was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing or to dance while the music was being played
1:07:15 I would say
1:07:18 Once you know and you could feel in your gut that is true
1:07:22 You need to incorporate some ways and force yourself to learn how to slow down
1:07:29 slowing down is not just something that you can say that you want to do you actually have to treat it like a new skill and
1:07:35 In doing so, you know, I keep plugging the way, but I say I will say I love Henry
1:07:40 Everybody knows that now it’s at a thousand times, but like even even okay, so here’s a great example
1:07:46 I’ll share something that nobody knows I got a chance to go out to Japan flown to Tokyo and I met with Henry’s
1:07:52 Master his Zen master so Henry’s a Zen master, but he has the head of the Zen sect
1:07:54 I got a chance to go and sit down with him
1:08:01 This guy it runs a very large corporation in Japan and is also ahead of his insect one of the things that
1:08:05 I learned from him is he said to me he goes how often are you practicing instead?
1:08:11 I’m sitting, you know 15 minutes a day and he goes how many days do you miss like in practice?
1:08:15 I’m like sometimes there’s like a week or two where I just I can’t get to it or you know
1:08:18 And he goes make me one promise he goes this is going to change everything
1:08:21 I want you no matter what to sit every day
1:08:26 I don’t care if it’s five minutes or three minutes or one minute
1:08:33 I want you to make this a ritual in your life and a habit in your life and you sit every day
1:08:35 Because everybody can find one minute
1:08:41 to just sit with yourself and sit with your breath and that has changed everything so
1:08:46 Anyway, the way meditation started 10 minutes, and that’s all you have to do do that for a month
1:08:51 And I think you’ll you’ll finally see a little bit of space a little bit of space
1:08:54 It’s just like and you’ll you’ll catch yourself doing the weirdest shit
1:08:59 you’ll walk down the street and you’ll be walking the dog or whatever and you’ll look over and you’ll you’ll just
1:09:07 Notice something a crack a flower something something different and you’ll stop and it’ll just like you’re like whoa a
1:09:12 Little space in my always-on mind, and that’s a beautiful thing to find
1:09:15 I think that’s a great place to end everybody has a minute
1:09:20 Everyone take a minute maybe take ten or thirty, but at least one and start slowly
1:09:26 You’ll have to do thirty start for do do your first month for ten minutes. Yeah, so anyway
1:09:30 thank you Chris for being my my colleague co-host a good friend and
1:09:33 Chris Hutchins calm
1:09:36 I want to plug you as well because you have a fantastic podcast that helps people
1:09:40 Really optimize their life in so many great ways that is very
1:09:46 Value add to them. So please check it out if you will. Thanks. Thanks everybody. Thanks Kevin