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0:01:24 What is the Trump administration’s thinking on a possible war with Venezuela?
0:01:31 He’s probably thinking in his mind, with a show of strength, I can get a big win on the cheap.
0:01:32 I’m John Feiner.
0:01:34 And I’m Jake Sullivan.
0:01:38 And we’re the hosts of The Long Game, a weekly national security podcast.
0:01:48 This week, we dig into Venezuela, the U.S.-China AI race, and game out whether Presidents Zelensky and Putin should accept the U.S.-backed peace deal.
0:01:49 The episode is now out.
0:01:53 Search for and follow The Long Game wherever you get your podcasts.
0:01:57 Today’s number, $245 million.
0:02:01 That’s how many hot dog combos Costco sold in 2025.
0:02:07 Ed, true story, whenever there’s a hot young man checking me out at a retail establishment, and he says,
0:02:08 Do you want a box?
0:02:11 I say, No, but I’ll wrestle you.
0:02:15 See, it’s funny.
0:02:16 Dad joke.
0:02:16 Dad joke?
0:02:25 Well, actually, last time I checked out, if you want a dad joke, the last time I checked out at a Costco, I bought a giant vat of whiteout.
0:02:28 And she asked me why, and I said, Big mistake.
0:02:32 Double dad joke.
0:02:32 Unreal.
0:02:44 How are you, Ed?
0:02:45 I’m doing well.
0:02:51 I’m very happy, especially because we’ve got the one and only Claire Miller in the studio with us today.
0:02:51 I’m back.
0:02:52 She’s back.
0:02:55 See, I can’t see either of you, so the camera isn’t trained on either of you.
0:02:56 I just see space in between the two of you.
0:02:57 Do you guys not like each other?
0:03:00 Let’s definitely get some, how do we fix that for you?
0:03:02 Is Claire getting handsy again?
0:03:06 I’ve got to be stopped.
0:03:09 Claire, governor of New York.
0:03:10 Man, we have it now.
0:03:10 Yeah?
0:03:11 So you can see us now?
0:03:12 Yeah, I can see you.
0:03:15 This is the problem when your boss lives across the ocean.
0:03:16 So we’re here.
0:03:19 Claire is in the studio.
0:03:23 Scott, do you know what the plan is today?
0:03:24 I have no idea.
0:03:25 You have no idea.
0:03:29 This is literally my 11th podcast joke of the day.
0:03:30 Full of life.
0:03:36 My phone is blowing up with, like, everybody angry at me because I didn’t show up for some Christmas fucking lunch I was supposed to be at.
0:03:45 All I want to do is have a makers and ginger, 15 grams of an edible right now, and go to sleep.
0:03:48 So let’s get this Joey Bag of Donuts podcast over with.
0:03:49 What are we doing here?
0:03:53 We are doing our annual Ask Me Anything episode.
0:03:57 And Claire is going to be hosting and asking us the questions.
0:03:59 So, Claire, I will pass it over to you.
0:04:04 And, by the way, it’s our last episode of the year, but you can always send in questions.
0:04:05 Our inbox is open.
0:04:10 So hit up markets at profgmedia.com if you have any further questions.
0:04:11 But let’s get into it.
0:04:15 I’m going to start with our favorite question that we got.
0:04:22 Scott, you have many skills, but I believe your success in business has come at the cost of other life skills.
0:04:27 For instance, please answer honestly, can you cook?
0:04:32 You strike me as a man who outsources his meals.
0:04:34 This is not an exaggeration.
0:04:39 I have—so my New York apartment is my man cave.
0:04:40 No one’s allowed in there.
0:04:49 I have basically one plate, a spoon, four cases of Modelo, six bottles of Ruinart Champagne, some granola, and nothing else.
0:04:51 And exceptionally high-end linen.
0:04:53 And I am so happy there.
0:05:05 And it has a beautiful kitchen in the most incredible Pulgenpol, whatever it’s called, some Swiss thing made by, you know, gnomes with tiny hands.
0:05:15 And the flame cooking, the flame has only been on six times, and all of them were to light a joint.
0:05:18 I do not know how to cook.
0:05:24 I—when I was younger and didn’t have a lot of money, I used to make top ramen a lot, and I used to eat a lot of granola.
0:05:32 And I found—and I—you can—my junior year in college, I was totally freaked out.
0:05:36 By the end of the year, I owed the fraternity so much money, and they told me I wouldn’t be able to come back.
0:05:38 And I owed—I had debt.
0:05:43 I was like, okay, if I don’t make $3,400 this summer, make and save $3,400, I’m not coming back for my senior year at UCLA.
0:05:46 And I found—and this is true.
0:05:48 It’s the worst frat brother ever.
0:05:51 I found—I found—we gamified it.
0:05:58 I found the other two broke guys in the house amongst the sea of wealthy Jewish kids whose parents were putting them through college and used to rag on me for not paying my fraternity.
0:05:58 Yeah.
0:05:59 Yeah, fine.
0:06:04 Fine, Gary Schwartz, when dad’s buying you a Volkswagen Scirocco and pay your fucking fraternity bill.
0:06:08 Anyway, a little trauma there.
0:06:16 I found that you can literally live—and I did this for an entire summer.
0:06:20 I lived off of Top Ramen, bananas, and milk.
0:06:30 And I used to cut out a coupon from the Daily Bruin and go to—with the crew team to the Chart House.
0:06:34 And for $3.99, we got all-you-can-eat chicken and salad bar.
0:06:38 And it opened at $4 and closed at $9, so we’d go twice.
0:06:43 We’d go at $4 and then eat, like, a crazy amount of food and then leave.
0:06:47 But anyways, this is my bridge to the answer here.
0:06:48 We’re getting there.
0:06:50 We’re almost going to get the answer to the question.
0:06:50 We’re on, why not?
0:06:51 We’re getting there.
0:06:56 I have—I still eat a lot of bananas, and I don’t know how to cook.
0:06:56 Not quite that.
0:06:58 Two more minutes, yeah.
0:07:01 But see, the good thing is now is that I have money.
0:07:06 I just get amazing food, and I have really nice, pleasant people cook for me.
0:07:11 But also, I grew up—I have a strange relationship with food.
0:07:18 I grew up—my mother was a single mother who didn’t have much time or money, and she’s British, so food was punishment.
0:07:22 And once every Sunday night, she’d make a vat of shepherd’s pie.
0:07:24 Let’s go.
0:07:27 It actually tasted pretty good the night she made it.
0:07:37 And then she’d put it in the freezer, and I’d come home and slice a piece of frozen shepherd’s pie and put it into this microwave that sounded like Chernobyl right before the disaster.
0:07:43 And I take out this wet, gross shepherd’s pie.
0:07:44 So I don’t like food.
0:07:46 You know how people say I’m a foodie?
0:07:46 Yeah.
0:07:51 So Mary Jean, who we all know and love, who’s my chief of staff, will call me.
0:07:55 She’ll hear my voice at 2 p.m. on a podcast, and she’ll call me and she goes, you haven’t eaten today, have you?
0:08:00 If somebody doesn’t remind me to eat, I don’t eat.
0:08:02 I could drop—I’m 60, 190.
0:08:08 I could be 170 in eight weeks if I’m just left to my own devices because I don’t really enjoy food and I’m not very good at it.
0:08:10 But no, I do not know how to cook.
0:08:12 I’m actually the same way.
0:08:13 I forget to eat.
0:08:13 Yeah.
0:08:15 Ed is a big food guy, though.
0:08:16 God, I just cannot relate.
0:08:20 I think he loves nothing more than a good restaurant.
0:08:20 Yeah.
0:08:21 That’s right.
0:08:22 And you like to cook, right, Ed?
0:08:22 And I like to cook.
0:08:23 Yeah.
0:08:23 And I like to cook.
0:08:24 What’s your favorite thing to cook?
0:08:25 Bolognese.
0:08:26 Pretty good.
0:08:27 Tried and true.
0:08:28 Really?
0:08:28 Yeah.
0:08:29 I love it, man.
0:08:34 The food—the ordering the food, I think I’ve said this before, it’s just—I find it gross.
0:08:37 And, yeah, I get very upset if I’m eating food.
0:08:39 I’m like, I’m not even enjoying this.
0:08:45 I feel like dinner is, like, the one thing that should be, like, the good, fun, nice part of your day.
0:08:49 And if it sucks, I’m like, well, this is depressing, and then I’ve got to go to bed.
0:08:51 So, yeah, I care about it a lot.
0:08:53 I do not relate.
0:08:54 You’re vigilant about meals.
0:08:55 Okay, I’m going to keep us moving.
0:08:56 Keep us going.
0:09:00 But just before we go on, I do try—I think, and Ed, you’ll definitely do this.
0:09:09 And, Claire, I don’t know if it doesn’t sound like it goes into food, but you’ll—you’ll treasure dinner time with your partner and your kids.
0:09:13 And I demand that we all eat together so I can express to my sons what a disappointment they are to me.
0:09:18 Very important.
0:09:19 All right.
0:09:22 Best book you read in 2025.
0:09:23 Ed, let’s start with you.
0:09:26 I just want to—Scott, did you read a book in 2025?
0:09:28 That’s what I really want to know.
0:09:29 He read his own book.
0:09:35 I read so much during the day that I don’t find reading relaxing.
0:09:38 I did pick up on a plane at it.
0:09:48 I was at an airport, and I was delayed, and I did pick up a book that kind of—I don’t want to say changed my life, but The World According to Garp and Cider House Rules.
0:09:51 Is it Jeff Irving?
0:09:52 John Irving, yeah.
0:09:52 John.
0:09:53 Oh, my God, you’re better than me.
0:09:55 I remember reading those books.
0:10:00 My mom gave me that book, and I don’t know if it was just because she loved them or she saw how fucked up in the head I was.
0:10:08 But those books gave me so much confidence or made me feel so much better about myself when I saw how weird people are and how weird life is.
0:10:21 And I picked up The World According to Garp because I love the movie, and the book was really meaningful to me.
0:10:24 And then Cider House Rules because I love that.
0:10:30 And then another book I did—I’m fond of reading books that bring up emotions from my past.
0:10:37 And another book I read was—and it’s probably my favorite—my favorite writer is Stephen King’s The Dead Zone.
0:10:39 I just think that’s a beautiful book.
0:10:41 I just love the way Stephen King writes.
0:10:43 I just find his—he’ll have paragraphs, and I’ll think.
0:10:55 The way he’s able to express fear, and a lot of his books are actually quite emotional, and the economy of words he uses, it really strikes me.
0:10:58 So in sum, I haven’t read any new books in 2025.
0:10:59 How about you, Ed?
0:11:09 My favorite book is an old book that I read this year, which was the authoritative biography of Genghis Khan.
0:11:12 It’s called Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.
0:11:14 It’s by this guy Jack Weatherford.
0:11:23 And I would—I recommend this book to pretty much anyone who is interested in being successful at anything.
0:11:30 Like, if you’re interested in power, if you are an ambitious person, if you’re interested in what it takes to succeed,
0:11:36 I’m just going to tell you right now, you have to read Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.
0:11:45 Because what I didn’t realize about this guy, one, there is the image of him as this serial rapist, which turns out to actually not be true.
0:11:46 It’s actually a myth.
0:11:48 So we can just get that out of the way.
0:11:57 But two, I don’t think that a single person in history has accomplished and overcome more than Genghis Khan.
0:12:10 This is something I didn’t really realize, but this guy was born—he was the bastard son of a mother who—his father ended up being killed,
0:12:13 and he was exiled with his mother and his family.
0:12:20 And he was raised basically homeless, uh, by the side of a river, and he had to scrounge for food.
0:12:31 And in one lifetime, he was able to build the largest empire in the history of the world while he was alive, and he created this.
0:12:38 And there’s so much in there about what it actually took to do that—I mean, a lot of it is military strategy, a lot of it was skill.
0:12:46 But the most interesting thing about him, which I’m just fascinated by, which is why I recommend it to people, is an incredible understanding of people.
0:12:54 And how to understand how to network with people, how to make friends with the right people, how to work your way up, how to socialize with people.
0:12:58 And so wherever he went, people ended up just wanting to do things for him.
0:12:59 They wanted to help him.
0:13:07 And that was how he went from being literally this little homeless kid to being the ruler of the largest empire in the history of the world.
0:13:09 Again, the craziest stat ever.
0:13:10 So that would be my recommendation.
0:13:12 I would highly recommend people read it.
0:13:15 Most popular question on Reddit, Scott.
0:13:20 Whatever happened to Scott’s investment in a professional soccer team from Latin America?
0:13:26 He was so giddy about the opportunity when he first bought in, but he’s literally gone crickets about it for almost a year now.
0:13:28 What happened, Scott?
0:13:31 Nothing’s happened except we just announced our new branding.
0:13:32 We’re now Inter Bogota.
0:13:34 So that’s exciting.
0:13:41 And actually, not a lot has happened except for the rebranding.
0:13:44 And I’ve already gotten my money out.
0:13:54 It’s, like, been a great investment because we were able to recapitalize the investment, put some debt on the company, and get my initial equity out.
0:13:56 So it’s already kind of a win, and now everything’s just upside.
0:14:06 And we kind of decided in the last editorial call that the next Prop G team trip is going to be to Bogota to see a game, and then we’re going to go to Cartagena.
0:14:07 Actually, I’ll split off.
0:14:09 You guys don’t need to see me in Cartagena.
0:14:11 When do we do that?
0:14:12 When is the season?
0:14:13 When do we go?
0:14:18 The season, you’re asking me questions an owner should know.
0:14:22 I think it’s coming up, and it’s going to end sometime.
0:14:23 Probably.
0:14:25 I’m trying to be as vague as possible.
0:14:36 But I don’t know if you heard this, but every—and I’m quite frank, I got a little pissed off because every piece of media is, like, including—celebrities, including Ryan Reynolds, Justin Berlander, Cable.
0:14:41 It lists every Joey Bag of Donuts investor, and then it’ll say, like, at the end of the article.
0:14:44 And also joining the group is podcaster Scott Calloway.
0:14:47 But, no, it’s been a good investment.
0:14:49 We talked about it on our show.
0:15:02 I like investing in sports teams because I think there’s a dearth of supply and the number of people who make too much money and are in their arrested adolescents’ 50s, like myself, are going to continue to buy these things.
0:15:04 But I was very excited about it.
0:15:12 It’s been a good investment, but I haven’t been that emotionally involved in it, and we’ve got a really good group of guys or a group of people who are running the thing.
0:15:15 But, yeah, we’ll definitely—we’ll report back.
0:15:20 I think Prop G is going to do a trip to go see the new Inter Bogota team play.
0:15:21 Live pod from the game.
0:15:22 There you go.
0:15:23 All right.
0:15:26 What do you all splurge on, and what does it say about you?
0:15:29 I think I’ll probably have a similar answer to Scott.
0:15:40 While I splurge on travel, I try to be really, really cost-conscious when I’m just doing my work and doing my job.
0:15:48 I try to be very intentional about saving and living kind of a humble lifestyle throughout the week.
0:15:59 And then when it comes to, okay, now it’s time to go on vacation, I just want to have zero interest in saving, being efficient.
0:16:01 I just—I mean, I think it’s the same as Scott.
0:16:02 I probably learned it from Scott.
0:16:04 I want to feel and act like Ebola.
0:16:06 So travel’s one thing.
0:16:10 And then I guess nice dinners.
0:16:11 I go to a nice restaurant.
0:16:15 I like to do that semi-regularly.
0:16:21 And we live in New York, which has the best food in the world, and people—you need to take advantage of that.
0:16:25 So I guess it would be travel and nice restaurants.
0:16:26 Scott?
0:16:34 I spend $150,000 a month on a plane, which says that I am deeply insecure, have an enormous fear of death, and want to impress people who don’t care about me.
0:16:38 All of that’s true.
0:16:40 That’s why it’s funny.
0:16:40 All of that’s true.
0:16:52 And to what Ed was saying, I mean, the research shows that people overestimate the happiness things will give them and underestimate the happiness that experiences will give them.
0:17:02 So if you include that in travel, I spend most or all of my discretionary income or whatever you want to call it on travel.
0:17:10 I’m going to—in a few days, I’m going to Singapore, then Australia with my boys, and I absolutely love—I travel to hotels, not to cities.
0:17:14 And I think that—people ask me what my hobbies are, and I’m like, edibles and hotels.
0:17:17 And they look at me like, are you supposed to say kayaking or something?
0:17:26 But I love travel, but I love travel, but yeah, that’s my indulgence.
0:17:27 What’s your indulgence, Claire?
0:17:28 Also travel.
0:17:33 I think you’ve spoiled us a little bit and given us a taste of, like, really nice trips.
0:17:36 So now we’re both in the mood to spend money on trips.
0:17:39 But that’s, like, once a year in August when we have time off.
0:17:41 We do kind of get to have one big trip.
0:17:44 But also art.
0:17:48 I really love to just have art in my home.
0:17:51 It makes my life feel a little bit richer.
0:17:54 You were talking about this on the previous recording, Scott.
0:18:00 Just loving to look at this one piece and getting a lot of joy and reward from that.
0:18:02 I feel the same way with the pieces I have in my house.
0:18:10 And I love to support small artists, and especially local ones, just who I have met in person.
0:18:13 I like to kind of bring their energy into my home.
0:18:15 So, yeah, I’d say art.
0:18:19 I’m not at Sotheby’s level yet, but—
0:18:19 We’re getting there.
0:18:20 One day.
0:18:21 We’re getting there.
0:18:21 Yeah.
0:18:23 We were the Signal Award winner.
0:18:23 That’s right.
0:18:25 We’re close.
0:18:28 All right, this one’s for me.
0:18:34 Claire, how do you handle all those wildly inappropriate, dirty jokes?
0:18:37 Okay, I did the math on this.
0:18:47 I’ve produced more than 450 episodes of this show, which means I’ve heard more than 450 of these jokes.
0:18:52 And they’ve just lost all meaning for me at this point.
0:18:54 You’ve worn me down.
0:18:56 I don’t even hear it anymore.
0:18:59 To be honest, though, they’ve never really bothered me.
0:19:02 That sense of humor doesn’t offend me and never has.
0:19:06 I think you kind of can’t be offended by that if you’re going to work here.
0:19:19 So the thing I think is actually funny about them to me, more than the joke itself, is just how insane it is that our boss says them to us.
0:19:25 Like, when you really think about it, it’s kind of bonkers that we’re having these—
0:19:27 I’m subjecting myself to that kind of economic risk.
0:19:28 Exactly.
0:19:30 I mean, it is hilarious in that sense.
0:19:39 But I get the concern where this listener is coming from, and a lot of listeners put that out there as concern about these jokes.
0:19:41 And we’re thinking about it a lot lately.
0:19:51 You put out that call to our listeners to get their opinion, and I think we got, like, 10x the number of comments that we usually do.
0:19:56 So people have really strong feelings about whether or not to keep the joke the way it is.
0:19:59 And I think it’s a serious consideration that we’re thinking about.
0:20:08 I think we’re weighing what the people want, which overwhelmingly, from those comments, it seems they want us to keep it the way it is.
0:20:13 We’re weighing that against potential future listeners and growth.
0:20:15 So, Scott—
0:20:18 Why aren’t we weighing it against the occasional guest that gets offended and says, like, can’t come on here?
0:20:19 Yeah, not too.
0:20:21 So you’ve been thinking about this, too.
0:20:23 So where have you landed lately?
0:20:24 I think about this a lot.
0:20:33 And there is a strategy here around offensive jokes that sometimes cross the line and are just, I don’t know, totally inappropriate.
0:20:43 And that is, when I think of the progressives that I really admire throughout history, Lanny Bruce, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, the left used to own irreverent humor.
0:20:53 And then the left became so worried about safety and words or violence and all this other bullshit that we became fucking humorless.
0:21:01 And I want the left and progressives to take back irreverence and humor.
0:21:04 And I think what it does is it softens the beach.
0:21:09 If you can make someone laugh for a brief moment, they’re receptive to new ideas.
0:21:11 It’s also authentic.
0:21:13 I am truly a vulgar and profane person.
0:21:14 It’s not an act.
0:21:18 But also, we want to attract a younger audience.
0:21:21 I do think a younger audience appreciates vulgarity.
0:21:32 Also, one of my observations when I talk to people and we get a lot of feedback is that women are a lot less offended oftentimes by vulgarity than people expect them to be.
0:21:33 They’re expected to behave a lot.
0:21:37 They’re expected to behave a certain way and be more like delicate little flowers.
0:21:43 And I find a lot of our female listeners like appreciate some of the vulgarity.
0:21:57 And also, just as a personal goal, I want to be the most irreverent person in terms of—or very irreverent, never mean or hostile towards anyone in terms of my words.
0:22:05 But I want to be one of the most progressive, Alan Alda-like people have ever met in terms of their actions and the way I treat people and the way I acquit myself professionally and personally.
0:22:17 So, I think I can get away with a lot more than most people because anybody who knows me or listens to this podcast knows that it comes from a good place.
0:22:24 It comes from a place where I’m trying to, I don’t know, call it be inclusive and just offend everybody and mock everybody.
0:22:32 But I’m about, you know, I’m a fairly progressive person in terms of how I treat people and where I, you know, what my actions are.
0:22:32 Yeah.
0:22:37 And I would just add that until recently, every producer you’ve had has been a woman.
0:22:41 So, I don’t know.
0:22:48 I think that this listener—clearly this listener asked me this question because I’m a woman and they expect me to be offended.
0:22:49 Right.
0:22:51 To be clear, I’m not.
0:22:53 Well, okay.
0:23:11 So, let me—now that I have excuse to sound defensive, I figured out that I think about 27 people in my company, companies, have become millionaires in the last 10 years through acquisition of our companies.
0:23:37 And 24 or 25 of them have either been women or LGBTQ, and so my goal is to create economic security for, you know—I don’t think I discriminate against white heterosexual men, but I’m hugely proud of the fact that I’m very committed to economic viability for women.
0:23:46 Because for me, growing up, the most anxious thing in my life, hands down, was the economic instability of my mother.
0:23:58 So, I take—I really enjoy—I not only enjoy working with women, but I’m, you know, I want to be known as someone who has created a lot of economic security for women.
0:24:03 I think Ed definitely feels discriminated against as a heterosexual male.
0:24:06 So hard out of it, man.
0:24:07 God.
0:24:13 We’ll be right back.
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0:26:39 C’est le matcha ou les trois ensembles cadeaux Sephora des fêtes que je viens de dénicher qui m’énergisent autant?
0:26:40 C’est les ensembles.
0:26:42 Les formats standards et mini regroupés?
0:26:43 Quelle aubaine!
0:26:44 Puis l’emballage?
0:26:45 Trop beau!
0:26:46 Qui est pratiquement prêt à donner.
0:26:51 Et je sais que je devrais les offrir, mais je garde les Summer Fridays et Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez.
0:26:52 Je te comprends.
0:26:55 Les plus beaux ensembles cadeaux des fêtes se trouvent chez Sephora.
0:26:59 Summer Fridays, Rare Beauty, Waze, Sephora Collection et autres partent vite.
0:27:02 Procurez-vous ces formats standards et mini regroupés pour une meilleure qualité-prix.
0:27:04 En ligne sur sephora.ca ou en magasin.
0:27:12 We’re back with Prof G Markets.
0:27:13 Let’s keep going.
0:27:18 How do both Ed and Scott approach analysis as a means of achieving conviction?
0:27:24 I.e., what are the processes, avenues, metrics, and tools used to evaluate the future?
0:27:35 I would note Tom Lee had a great definition on our last podcast with him of conviction and something I want to highlight.
0:27:36 So he said,
0:27:40 Stubborn is believing in something when all the facts have changed.
0:27:43 Conviction is riding through the volatility.
0:27:47 And it’s not easy to tell the difference until history has already passed.
0:27:53 So, back to the question, how do you approach analysis as a means of achieving conviction?
0:27:55 Ed, let’s start with you.
0:27:57 It’s a really interesting question.
0:28:05 Something I often, maybe this answers the question.
0:28:10 Something that I often think about is an idea from John Maynard Keynes, the economist.
0:28:15 And he had this idea called, it’s called the Keynesian Beauty Contest.
0:28:17 And this is something that we talk about on the research team.
0:28:18 And it’s pretty important.
0:28:29 And basically, he made the link between, he was trying to describe what is the market, what is really happening in the market, which is our job on this podcast.
0:28:30 It’s our job of the research team.
0:28:50 And he basically said that the market is like a beauty contest where the judge’s job isn’t to figure out who is the most beautiful person in the contest, but who do they think other people will think is the most beautiful person in the contest.
0:28:59 In other words, it’s not really what you believe, it’s you trying to replicate and come up with an idea of what everyone else will believe and create an average for that.
0:29:07 And his point was that that doesn’t actually work in terms of truth-seeking.
0:29:14 You get, ultimately, a very different answer if all you’re trying to do is trying to figure out, okay, what does everyone else believe?
0:29:15 What do they think?
0:29:18 And then I’ll come to my conclusion based on what they believe.
0:29:29 And so something that we try to do, because we are really in search of truth on this podcast, and it’s hard to do that in the markets, is what do we actually believe?
0:29:32 And that doesn’t mean don’t listen to everyone else’s views.
0:29:36 You need to understand what the consensus view is if you want to come up with a non-consensus view.
0:29:48 But if you’re saying something just because someone else said that, or you read some research report and it had a fancy name on it, and so, oh, that’s what I believe now, then you’ve already lost.
0:29:50 That’s not conviction.
0:29:51 That’s groupthink.
0:29:52 That’s herd mentality.
0:29:57 So that’s at least a framework that I’m constantly trying to think.
0:30:03 I’m constantly asking myself, do I believe that because someone said it and they have credentials?
0:30:07 And maybe that can be important, but it can’t be everything.
0:30:11 I’m always trying to ask myself, I believe it because I believe it.
0:30:12 I think these things are true.
0:30:16 I’ve looked at all the evidence, and it’s important to me, these details.
0:30:22 And so when I feel that way, that’s usually a good sign that I have conviction.
0:30:22 Scott?
0:30:24 Yeah, I like that.
0:30:31 Look, I used to look at everything through a strategy framework of what is differentiated, relevant, sustainable.
0:30:44 I look at valuation metrics, but probably the part that’s hardest but most important is I try to marinate and try, before I make a decision, to remove my emotions.
0:30:52 Because I find my emotions sometimes, I backfill the analysis based on what I’m hoping or believing should happen.
0:31:06 And just try to, that’s the hardest part for me, is figuring out a way to objectively look at a situation without having my emotions or, you know, beliefs.
0:31:20 Basically, my biases, I go through all the proximity bias, confirmation bias, I go through all of them and try and remove them and then just look at it, look at it sort of with kind of starched almost in a sterile way.
0:31:21 And I struggle with that.
0:31:24 Well, that said, this next question is about Figma.
0:31:29 Hi, Ed and team would love another analysis of Figma before the end of the year, if possible.
0:31:33 As you predicted, the stock had a massive pop the day of the IPO.
0:31:36 I would love a re-analysis of the stock at its current price.
0:31:41 I know that most shares are still in lockup periods through the middle of 2026.
0:31:43 I’d love to get your guys’ take on the stock.
0:31:44 Very interested in it.
0:31:49 I just want to note, we’re pre-recording this episode on December 11th.
0:31:52 So, the current price of Figma is about $38 a share.
0:31:53 That could change.
0:31:55 But, Ed, let’s start with you.
0:32:01 I can’t give you a super in-depth valuation analysis right now, but I’ll give you something.
0:32:06 First thing I would say, a lot of people I’ve seen online have been saying,
0:32:09 you guys said that Figma was a buy and it went up and now it’s crashed.
0:32:11 I just want to clarify what we said about Figma.
0:32:17 We said Figma was a buy at $33 because that was the IPO price.
0:32:23 In fact, we actually said it started out at $27 and the IPO price kept on inching up and up.
0:32:26 But we said $33 on Figma is a buy.
0:32:33 Then it went public and it opens at, like, whatever it was, $120.
0:32:33 It was above $100.
0:32:34 Yeah.
0:32:38 It was something crazy, which we never said that that was a buy.
0:32:43 We said that $33 was a buy and then it goes and it opens at a crazy number.
0:32:50 And to be fair, like, our advice wasn’t very helpful because no one could get in at $33.
0:32:57 I mean, even if you put the request in on, like, Robinhood or whatever, you got maybe one share.
0:32:58 So it wasn’t very helpful.
0:33:04 But I just want to clarify, we said $33 based on, that was the valuation analysis.
0:33:16 And then the demand was absolutely insane, which says all of these things about the way the IPO market works and how crazy it is and the stuff we’ve talked about with the divide between private markets and public markets and how it’s gated out to retail investors.
0:33:20 That’s a whole other story, but I just want to be clear on what we said there.
0:33:20 Okay.
0:33:22 So it’s above $100.
0:33:25 Then it comes down.
0:33:25 It plummets.
0:33:27 I think it’s down, like, 70%.
0:33:28 We’re now at $37.
0:33:32 That’s not a bad price.
0:33:34 We said $33.
0:33:37 And we’ve just seen the earnings.
0:33:40 They grew at 38% growth on the revenue.
0:33:44 They have net dollar retention of 131%.
0:33:48 In other words, people, the existing customers they have are actually paying more.
0:33:54 And you look at the valuation right now, it’s pretty good.
0:33:56 It’s not bad.
0:34:00 It’s trading at a higher multiple than Adobe, but I think Adobe’s actually undervalued right now.
0:34:04 Also, Adobe’s growing four times slower than Figma.
0:34:08 So I think it’s – I’d want to look at it more.
0:34:10 I think the lockup period is also a good point.
0:34:13 The lockup period is going to end at the end of December.
0:34:15 So maybe that would be the better time to buy.
0:34:20 But I do want to just clarify what we said about that stock because, obviously, it’s had a wild ride.
0:34:24 But we did not say buy at over $100 a shift.
0:34:26 Scott, you got in on the IPO.
0:34:27 So how are you feeling now?
0:34:31 I can’t remember if I – I mean – by the way,
0:34:33 I think our prediction was the IPO was going to be huge.
0:34:34 I mean, Randu –
0:34:35 Exactly, it was right.
0:34:38 Randu, I think it got as high as 140.
0:34:45 I like the number two player, and it’s more of a collaborative tool, and we have people here use it.
0:34:55 And the reason I like the company or the primary reason I’m real big is that if you go to any design, graduate design class, almost all of them are using Figma.
0:34:59 So I think that you’re going to see it start to absorb into the corporate market.
0:35:03 It’s – I just think it’s an incredible product.
0:35:06 And I like the guy who runs it.
0:35:11 And it doesn’t have earnings yet, so it’s hard to look at the P multiple.
0:35:14 But if you look at – it’s got a market cap now of $19 billion.
0:35:19 I think Adobe would buy this for $30 billion tomorrow, so –
0:35:23 They tried to buy it for 20 a couple years ago, and they’ve only grown since then, so –
0:35:25 Yeah, and I think its revenues are up 50% since there.
0:35:27 That’s where I got to $30 billion.
0:35:29 So I like it at this price.
0:35:36 I don’t – I mean, I’m going to – I’m not entirely sure, but I think I don’t – I don’t think I’ve sold a share.
0:35:38 I think I ran – I think I ran it all the way to $140 and then down again.
0:35:52 When I get in on an IPO, and this is like kind of the country club, I don’t know, code of the IPO investor, I don’t – I generally don’t buy stocks unless I’m willing to hold them for three or five years.
0:35:55 I just don’t – I don’t want to be a trader.
0:36:00 You know, that was probably stupid if I – it’s easy to say now.
0:36:04 When it popped to whatever it was, $60 or $80 or $100 in like 48 hours, it might have been a time to get out.
0:36:13 But generally speaking, and this is a flaw in mine, I hate to pay short-term capital gains, which makes no sense when you look at the price that I could have got out at.
0:36:18 But generally, I want to be seen as a long-term investor that holds stocks for a while.
0:36:22 This is a longer one, but I want to help this guy out.
0:36:26 So, Scott, I just read Notes on Being a Man, and I really enjoyed it.
0:36:30 One part in particular that stuck out to me was asking,
0:36:36 what kind of son do I want to be as it relates to Scott’s relationship with his father?
0:36:44 I have a similarly fraught relationship with my father and have been trying to put all the past issues aside and focus on our relationship in the present.
0:36:56 However, I struggle with the idea of letting my guard down while my mother is still alive, as the majority of my grievances revolve around the way he treated her, myself, and my sister when we were growing up.
0:37:04 He’s now happily remarried and has decided the past either didn’t happen or it doesn’t matter, which, of course, is easy in a glass house.
0:37:11 And I can’t help but feel like my letting go of the past would be an affront to the challenges my mother endured.
0:37:13 So my question is this.
0:37:21 Do you think you could have gotten to the wonderful place in your relationship with your father had your mother still been around to see it happen?
0:37:22 What a good question.
0:37:42 Look, I think that after what his, if it’s similar to, if it’s similar to my situation, that he has the right to protect himself and protect his mother before worrying about protecting his father, adding value to his father’s life.
0:37:59 And if he personally would have a difficult time letting go of these things and needs to protect his own sense of well-being and justice and fairness and just isn’t ready to have a relationship with his father, I’m not going to tell him, no, put away the scorecard and re-engage with your father.
0:38:04 And if you really do think it would upset your mother, then I think you have to take that into account.
0:38:07 You know, these, these are very deeply personal questions.
0:38:11 So I don’t want to suggest that my way is the right way.
0:38:12 It was just my way.
0:38:25 And that, you know, at some point if he thinks, okay, I mean, the bottom line is I probably wouldn’t have, I came to this rep, my mom died 21 years ago.
0:38:30 And so after she was gone, it was a little bit easier for me.
0:38:33 The things I would ask him to just consider are the following.
0:38:38 One, was your father a better father to you than his father was to him?
0:38:40 I think that’s who we model.
0:38:49 And if the answer is no, and this was just a bad person, I think you have an obligation yourself to just protect your own mental health and do what just feels right, first and foremost.
0:39:06 And two, you know, where I got to was it was going to make me happier to have a good relationship with my father.
0:39:15 And the other question I would ask him is that if he did what I did, I think a lot of people, my parents weaponized the divorce or they weaponized me in the divorce.
0:39:21 And that is they would, I was eight years old and my mom would say, I would leave for the weekend.
0:39:25 My dad would pick me up and say, tell your father if the child support check isn’t here by Tuesday, I’m calling his boss.
0:39:29 And I would digest my stomach thinking about delivering that message to my father.
0:39:37 And then on the ride home with my dad, I would tell my dad and my dad would say, tell your mother she’s a bitch and I’m not going to send a child support check.
0:39:39 And I would have to deliver that message to my mother.
0:39:40 Now, granted, it was the 70s.
0:39:45 It wasn’t like today where we reorchestrate our entire lives around children.
0:39:49 But that was still a really stupid, unsophisticated thing to do and not a very kind thing.
0:39:56 What I had a tendency to do and I would ask him to be mindful of is you have a tendency to demonize one in a divorce.
0:39:58 It’s a bit of a war.
0:39:59 It’s a conflict.
0:40:03 And especially back then, I think it’s gotten much better.
0:40:04 I think parents are much more mindful now.
0:40:09 But you have had a tendency, at least I did, to demonize one person and sanctify the other.
0:40:17 And the person you’re typically going to sanctify is the person who got you up in the morning and packed your lunch and stuck around for the hard part.
0:40:24 And then you have an opportunity or your tendency to demonize the person who didn’t stick around.
0:40:28 And that is dad who goes off and starts a new family with a younger woman.
0:40:41 And at least in my case, all of a sudden, my dad seemed to be continue ascending economically while we ended up in just this shitty bad apartment in the valley, wondering how we were going to fix our vacuum that had broken down because we didn’t have the money.
0:40:53 But what I did do, and I would just tell him to be cautious of, is there were good components to my father, and he did try, but I didn’t let any of that creep in because I decided, mom good, dad bad.
0:41:00 And then as you get older, you realize that people are deeply flawed and that no one is pure good and no one is pure evil.
0:41:06 But it helped me to recognize my dad was better to me than his father was to him and that he did try.
0:41:10 But I’ll finish where I began.
0:41:16 He needs to affix his own oxygen mask and think about if he’s ready to re-engage with his father.
0:41:17 And if he isn’t, that’s fine.
0:41:18 That’s okay.
0:41:24 He deserves that safety given the way his father treated him.
0:41:26 He treated him and his mother.
0:41:34 And that what I would also suggest is as the father gets older, just recognize, it sounds like his mom and dad are alive.
0:41:35 They’re both going to be dead.
0:41:42 And just ask yourself, try and imagine after your parents are gone, how you wish you had behaved and what you wish you had said to them.
0:41:42 Because they will leave.
0:41:45 It’s hard to imagine that people die when you’re a young person.
0:41:45 They do.
0:41:53 And the nice thing I really treasure about my time with my mom and my dad is that nothing went unsaid.
0:42:04 And just to maybe go through those exercises of asking themselves that question, was his dad better to you than his dad was to him?
0:42:07 Have you sanctified and demonized either of the parties?
0:42:14 And if your dad were to pass away unexpectedly, would you be comfortable with where your relationship is now?
0:42:23 How does Oscar, you feel that you said what you needed to say to your mother?
0:42:35 Do you feel you’ve said, I’m just wondering personally, because I think about that like, oh, there are a lot of these topics and questions that I feel like I should ask my parents at some point.
0:42:41 But I’m not really sure when, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever satisfy that.
0:42:42 I feel like I’m always going to have more questions.
0:42:47 Do you feel that you said everything you wanted?
0:42:51 Yeah, for the most part, especially because a lot of communication is nonverbal.
0:42:57 And moving in with my mom, when she was very sick, was essentially telling her every day, I love you.
0:43:09 But nothing went unsaid.
0:43:12 My dad was around so long.
0:43:13 My dad recently passed.
0:43:14 He was 95.
0:43:18 And I got a lot off my chest kind of 20, 30 years ago with him.
0:43:26 And he was very apologetic and just sort of took it and was never, I mean, the thing about my father was he never asked anything of me.
0:43:32 He wasn’t a great dad, but in terms of ROI, he was all positive because he never asked anything of his adult children.
0:43:45 And my mom, you know, I don’t know if one parent, do you have one parent that you feel, I won’t ask you which one because they’re both alive, but do you have one parent that you feel has invested much more in you than the other?
0:43:51 The real AMA begins.
0:43:57 I do, but I go back and forth on it.
0:44:01 I mean, I’ve had years where I felt the other way.
0:44:09 Well, that means, quite frankly, you either have really bad or really good parents because if they’re in the running, if they’re both neck and neck, for me, it was pretty obvious who had invested more.
0:44:12 But the fact that you’ve even gone back and forth means that you probably have pretty good.
0:44:14 Yeah, no, I, yeah.
0:44:20 But what I would say is, as you get, when you get to this age, you communicate non-verbally.
0:44:21 It’s about your actions.
0:44:23 And I was good to my dad.
0:44:24 I hung out with him.
0:44:27 I was a good, you know, I was a good son, better than most.
0:44:32 But my mom, you know, when she got sick, took a leave of absence, moved in with her.
0:44:35 And, you know, put my life on hold to take care of her.
0:44:40 And that, you know, that was, that was the, you know, that was the best communication.
0:44:46 But, again, going back to what we’re talking about, your parents aren’t going to be around forever.
0:44:57 And you’re just, what I would tell you is, after your parents are gone, you’re not going to regret having erred a little bit to the upside in terms of generosity and being emotional with them.
0:45:03 You’re not going to look back and think, oh, I really fucked up telling my dad I admired him and that I loved my mom a great deal.
0:45:04 You’re just not going to regret that.
0:45:06 Different kind of relationship question for Ed.
0:45:13 How should someone early in their career balance ambition and self-investment with the demands of a relationship?
0:45:19 I’m trying to build good investing habits, grow my income, and still be a present partner.
0:45:23 But it often feels impossible to do all three as a young man in L.A.
0:45:34 Just before you answer, I’ve said this to Ed before privately, but I think him getting a girlfriend was genuinely one of the best.
0:45:37 One of the best things that ever happened to the show.
0:45:43 He had this kind of, like, surly, disgruntled vibe before he got with her.
0:45:49 And once he got with her, he was happy, well-rested, focused.
0:45:56 I honestly think getting a girlfriend levels you up in a way.
0:45:58 And I think it’s the same for me.
0:46:00 100%.
0:46:05 I don’t, yeah, I can’t relate to what this guy’s talking about, like, demands of a relationship.
0:46:13 I think actually the right relationship should be leveling you up and only helping your focus in your career.
0:46:15 But, Ed, what do you think?
0:46:17 I think everything you just said.
0:46:20 I 100% agree with you.
0:46:28 Yeah, I can’t tell from the question whether he is in a relationship right now or thinking about one.
0:46:38 But, yeah, my view on this is relationships should make you actually more focused and more ambitious and more interested in investing for the long term.
0:46:50 If it’s the right relationship, if you’re thinking for the long term, it means that you’re going to be more focused on how do I make sure that I make money and build up my career such that we can build a life together.
0:47:01 How can I be structured about my work requirements such that I can show up for dinner and do something nice or take her out to a restaurant or get her a nice gift?
0:47:15 Those are all kinds of things that I think actually it’s a virtuous cycle where you get more focused, you end up working harder, I have found, when you’re in a relationship.
0:47:26 So, I guess if the question is like, oh, I need to invest in myself now, like, I don’t think I should get a relationship yet, I don’t think that’s the right way to think about it.
0:47:34 If you’re in a relationship, you’re going to spend a lot less time going out, getting drunk, trying to meet people and trying to get into a relationship.
0:47:38 You’re going to think a lot more responsibly about what you’re doing for your career.
0:47:42 So, I think that is the question.
0:47:46 And if so, I would be like, my answer is what you said.
0:47:50 The relationship actually won’t be a demand on your energy and your time and your focus.
0:47:51 It’ll actually multiply it.
0:48:00 Yeah, the most rewarding thing is when I think about kids or economic security, it’s having built that with someone else.
0:48:01 It’s really rewarding.
0:48:09 It does also, I think, having a partnership makes you a better person because you know someone is watching, so to speak.
0:48:11 You know you want to impress them.
0:48:13 You want to start investing in their life and investing together.
0:48:19 So, I do think, especially men, I really do think men need the guardrails of a relationship.
0:48:26 And I think, especially when you’re young, I don’t want to say relationship, good relationships aren’t work.
0:48:27 Every relationship is work.
0:48:35 And you need to bring a certain willingness to forgive, invest, think about them, notice their lives.
0:48:40 When things are important to you, important to them, even if they’re not important to you to invest in those things.
0:48:46 But also, as a young person, quite frankly, if a relationship is a lot of work, that’s probably a sign it’s not a great relationship.
0:48:46 Right.
0:48:47 Agreed.
0:48:56 When I was young and in love and no stress to kids and, you know, doing cool shit and hanging out with friends and discovering new things.
0:49:00 God, any relationship that was work was called an ex-relationship.
0:49:01 I’m like, okay.
0:49:09 I mean, so a relationship that’s a lot of work is a sign, especially when you’re young, of maybe not a great relationship.
0:49:12 The relationships I had when I was young, quite frankly, just weren’t a lot of work.
0:49:14 They were almost all upside.
0:49:16 At least that’s how I found them.
0:49:17 Or net upside.
0:49:21 It’s like if it’s taking more from you than it’s giving you, then that’s bad.
0:49:23 But it’s always going to take, you’re going to have to invest something.
0:49:25 It’s going to take some level of work and commitment.
0:49:31 But net, net, it should be a surplus.
0:49:33 Stay with us.
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0:49:55 The McValue menu has a lot of delicious options for under $4 each plus tax.
0:50:01 Like a cheeseburger deluxe, sweet chili junior chicken, McDouble, and chicken snack wrap.
0:50:02 So it’s okay to take…
0:50:06 A minute when ordering, the McValue menu.
0:50:09 So many options for under $4 each.
0:50:12 Plus applicable taxes at participating McDonald’s restaurants in Canada.
0:50:13 Prices exclude delivery.
0:50:16 Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap.
0:50:16 Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap.
0:50:18 You’re almost at the finish line.
0:50:19 But first…
0:50:24 Something magical in the night, can you see it shining?
0:50:27 Ah, there, the last one.
0:50:31 Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.
0:50:40 We present some of the biggest stars and biggest dramas streaming on Paramount+.
0:50:42 And the nominees are…
0:50:45 Best British Baddie, Tom Hardy in Mobland.
0:50:46 I will find you.
0:50:50 Most Killer Performance, Michael C. Hall in Dexter Resurrection.
0:50:52 Glad to be back.
0:50:55 Slickest Oil Man in Texas, Billy Bob in Landman.
0:50:56 Lawyer up, big boy.
0:50:57 Let’s go.
0:50:58 And the winner is…
0:50:59 You.
0:51:02 Extreme Paramount+, a mountain of entertainment.
0:51:09 We’re back with Profity Markets.
0:51:13 As we reach year-end and begin thinking of what’s in store for the future,
0:51:20 do you think we’re approaching the right time to rebrand to Prof Elson Media?
0:51:23 Oh-ho-ho!
0:51:27 Prof E-Media?
0:51:29 It doesn’t have the right ring to it.
0:51:31 No, it’d be Ed Elson, it’d be E-squared media.
0:51:33 E-squared.
0:51:37 Well, you know, guys, it’s…
0:51:39 I don’t even think about these things.
0:51:40 I don’t really have a very big ego.
0:51:44 I’m not, you know, I’m not very self-absorbed.
0:51:46 I don’t like to think about me.
0:51:48 Yeah.
0:51:51 No, it’s going to be Prof G Media for a while.
0:51:54 Yeah.
0:51:56 I don’t know, Ed.
0:51:57 What do you think?
0:51:59 Do you want something brand…
0:52:02 I did notice, nobody asked me, this is a true story.
0:52:03 Oh, God.
0:52:10 When we went to five days a week, all of a sudden it went from Prof G Markets to Prof G Markets with Scott Galloway and Ed Elson.
0:52:11 Yes.
0:52:12 No one asked me.
0:52:16 It just, all of a sudden the branding changed.
0:52:18 Just a slight tweak.
0:52:19 Just a slight tweak.
0:52:19 Yeah.
0:52:21 Or does it say Ed Elson and Scott Galloway?
0:52:21 I can’t remember.
0:52:22 It does not say that.
0:52:23 You’re first, Scott.
0:52:24 You’re first.
0:52:34 What I will say, though, I’m trying to couch this in a lesson and a learning, is I have always given people, I’ve been pretty promiscuous with titles.
0:52:39 So, for example, there’s probably, I probably have 10 co-founders.
0:52:44 That is people who on LinkedIn say they’re a co-founder of Red Envelope or a co-founder of Profit.
0:52:46 No, I hired you.
0:52:48 You’re not a co-founder.
0:52:53 And here’s the thing, I don’t call them and say, I mean, maybe they’ve even asked me.
0:52:54 I’m like, yeah, fine.
0:52:56 This is what a founder is.
0:52:59 I’m loving me as the parallel in this situation, but please continue.
0:53:01 This is what a founder is.
0:53:02 We may call you a co-host.
0:53:08 A founder is someone who signs the front of checks, not the back of checks.
0:53:17 And it just strikes me that once success has many fathers and failure is an orphan, and it just strikes me how many founders there are of my companies out there,
0:53:19 who, according to LinkedIn, co-founded my companies.
0:53:23 And I’m like, okay, you never invested a fucking red sign of your money.
0:53:27 And I hired the guy that hired you five years later, but you’re a co-founder.
0:53:28 Fine.
0:53:31 And I sound like a bitter old man.
0:53:37 Titles are pretty easy to give to people, and they’re important to people.
0:53:38 So, fine.
0:53:40 I’m always pretty promiscuous with titles.
0:53:41 You want to call yourself a co-founder?
0:53:43 Have at it.
0:53:44 Congratulations, co-founder.
0:53:47 Is that to me?
0:53:49 I didn’t ask this question.
0:53:49 No, that’s not you, Ed.
0:53:50 That’s not you.
0:53:53 You have earned the right to be co-host.
0:53:56 You have earned the right to be co-host.
0:53:57 I’m happy.
0:54:00 I’m generally happy for you and all of your success.
0:54:04 Let’s get your official answer on this at the end of 2025.
0:54:06 Are you going to run for public office?
0:54:08 Good question.
0:54:15 You know, occasionally, what I’m feeling, occasionally, I get very excited about public policy ideas.
0:54:20 And I think about it for a minute, because I think, well, I’ll help shape the conversation.
0:54:21 I’m going to be dead soon.
0:54:22 It’s a chance to serve.
0:54:24 And then I realize I don’t have those skills.
0:54:26 I wouldn’t enjoy it.
0:54:34 And I think the best thing, and I’ve said this over and over, and I mean this sincerely, that we can do at Prop G Media is bring attention to great Democrats.
0:54:39 I just gave money to Desmond Crockett and James Tallarico, where I think are both amazing.
0:54:50 I love, I’m a huge fan of governors Shapiro, Moore, Newsom, Senators Klobuchar, Bennett, Governor Whitmer.
0:54:54 I just think we have just some outstanding people who’ve devoted their whole life to public service.
0:54:56 Can I interrupt and ask you a different question?
0:54:56 Sure.
0:54:58 Yeah, you’re sick of hearing this answer.
0:54:59 Well, I.
0:55:02 Yeah, go ahead, Ed.
0:55:07 Do you not think that if you ran, you might actually win?
0:55:11 Because that’s why people are interested in you running.
0:55:18 It’s like, one, you have a lot of fans, but I think a lot of people are like, if he runs, he’ll, he could actually win.
0:55:27 Like, he has more power among, in terms of a platform and a voice, more, a greater following.
0:55:29 Everyone in America trusts him more.
0:55:33 He’s got, he’s more aligned with the direction that the Democratic Party should be moving in.
0:55:43 Like, I get that it’s sort of like, you know, I don’t have the skills, but it’s sort of like, you actually do, and you could actually win.
0:55:46 And given the first, do you agree with that?
0:55:52 And two, assuming you do agree with that, how is that not tempting?
0:55:55 I think you’re being generous, to be blunt.
0:55:55 Okay.
0:55:58 Other people would not think that.
0:56:03 I just want to make sure you know, many, many people out there do not think I’m being generous, but please.
0:56:05 Well, I told you, this is a true story.
0:56:11 Several months ago, a group of people called me and said, if I put in 10 million, they’ll put in 10 million.
0:56:14 And I said, I’m not sure I could win.
0:56:15 And they said, it’s not about winning.
0:56:24 We want you to help shape the conversation around income inequality and, and the middle class and restoring, you know, prosperity for young people.
0:56:28 Anyways, but, okay, so assume you do win, right?
0:56:32 Would you want to spend, do you think you’re the best person to make these types of decisions?
0:56:49 Do you have empathy, leadership skills, an understanding of public policy, how to get things done in Washington, an incredible feel for geopolitics, empathy for how people are struggling and the skills to affect change?
0:56:52 I have some of those, but there are a lot of people that have more of them.
0:57:12 And I think that the fact that there’s any sort of chatter around the possibility of me running for office and being successful is just a vast, vastly incorrect underestimate of how talented some of the people are who are in Washington, who already have a lot of experience and know how to do these things.
0:57:20 So I just don’t, I feel like I’m fairly self-aware and I’m not a humble person, but I, I literally, I’m, I consider myself a patriot.
0:57:22 I’m moving back to the U.S.
0:57:23 I want to be part of the resistance.
0:57:27 I want, I, I feel like the Trump administration is a stain on the American experience.
0:57:30 I want to play a real significant role in changing that.
0:57:38 And then you think, well, all right, if you’re a real patriot, you’re going to figure out what weapon you are best to command and how you can best be a warrior in the fight.
0:57:40 And hands down, everything points to the same thing.
0:57:49 I’m going to bring a ton of attention and I’m going to use my time, treasure and talent to get an amazing group of young Democrats elected.
0:57:57 That is absolutely the best use of my time and skills and any sort of ego and narcissism that takes from that is nothing but ego and narcissism.
0:58:07 Sit down with Senators Murphy, sit down with Senator Bennett, sit, listen to, you know, Governor Moore, you know, you just, you meet these people.
0:58:08 Who’s that?
0:58:09 Wes Moore?
0:58:10 He’s fantastic.
0:58:14 I know, I know, I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m standing in for my generation.
0:58:15 Who, who are these guys?
0:58:16 I don’t know them.
0:58:17 Scott Galloway’s cool.
0:58:18 He’s on the internet.
0:58:20 Yeah.
0:58:21 He’s got the mojo.
0:58:25 Who are these boring dudes, these thoughtful dudes coming up with this?
0:58:30 That’s who should be deciding who goes, where the Sixth Fleet goes in the Mediterranean to, to suppress.
0:58:30 Yeah.
0:58:35 No, these, these individuals, um, uh, I would love to see a great Democrat.
0:58:39 And also I would love to see, uh, Admiral Stavridis as vice president.
0:58:41 Um, he’s, anyways.
0:58:45 But I love thinking about it because I’m a narcissist and it’s very, it’s very flattering.
0:58:49 But no, if you’re a patriot, you think about where, where you can best serve.
0:58:52 And that’s absolutely where we’re going to serve.
0:58:58 We’re going to, we’re going to help Democrats and moderate Republicans get elected, uh, in 26.
0:59:08 And then we’re going to play a small but important role in recapturing the White House in 28 and ending this weird, dark moment in history known as the Trump administration.
0:59:15 My promise to the audience, I know you love when I give these promises to the audience, my promise to the audience, I’m going to convince Scott to run.
0:59:16 It’s going to happen.
0:59:20 The Prof G legacy must continue.
0:59:24 We’ll stack the cabinet with Prof G media people.
0:59:25 Hey, weirder things have happened.
0:59:27 And Mia will be secretary of state.
0:59:32 Oh, Claire, you’d be much more qualified as secretary of war than, you know.
0:59:36 A chicken in every pot, a Cialis in every cupboard.
0:59:38 Galloway Elson, 2028.
0:59:40 There we go.
0:59:42 Let’s roll.
0:59:42 There we go.
0:59:43 Let’s roll.
0:59:47 This episode was produced by Claire Miller and engineered by Benjamin Spencer.
0:59:49 Our associate producer is Alison Weiss.
0:59:50 Mia Silveri is our research lead.
0:59:54 Our research associates are Isabella Kinsel, Dan Chalon, and Kristen O’Donoghue.
0:59:56 Drew Burrows is our technical director.
0:59:58 And Catherine Dillon is our executive producer.
1:00:03 Thank you for listening to Prof G markets from Prof G media all year long.
1:00:05 We really appreciate it.
1:00:08 And we will see you in 2026.
1:00:14 Lifetimes
1:00:15 Lifetimes
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1:00:34 As the world turns
1:00:39 And the dark flies
1:00:41 In love
1:00:41 In love
1:00:42 In love
1:00:44 In love
1:00:45 In love
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0:01:24 What is the Trump administration’s thinking on a possible war with Venezuela?
0:01:31 He’s probably thinking in his mind, with a show of strength, I can get a big win on the cheap.
0:01:32 I’m John Feiner.
0:01:34 And I’m Jake Sullivan.
0:01:38 And we’re the hosts of The Long Game, a weekly national security podcast.
0:01:48 This week, we dig into Venezuela, the U.S.-China AI race, and game out whether Presidents Zelensky and Putin should accept the U.S.-backed peace deal.
0:01:49 The episode is now out.
0:01:53 Search for and follow The Long Game wherever you get your podcasts.
0:01:57 Today’s number, $245 million.
0:02:01 That’s how many hot dog combos Costco sold in 2025.
0:02:07 Ed, true story, whenever there’s a hot young man checking me out at a retail establishment, and he says,
0:02:08 Do you want a box?
0:02:11 I say, No, but I’ll wrestle you.
0:02:15 See, it’s funny.
0:02:16 Dad joke.
0:02:16 Dad joke?
0:02:25 Well, actually, last time I checked out, if you want a dad joke, the last time I checked out at a Costco, I bought a giant vat of whiteout.
0:02:28 And she asked me why, and I said, Big mistake.
0:02:32 Double dad joke.
0:02:32 Unreal.
0:02:44 How are you, Ed?
0:02:45 I’m doing well.
0:02:51 I’m very happy, especially because we’ve got the one and only Claire Miller in the studio with us today.
0:02:51 I’m back.
0:02:52 She’s back.
0:02:55 See, I can’t see either of you, so the camera isn’t trained on either of you.
0:02:56 I just see space in between the two of you.
0:02:57 Do you guys not like each other?
0:03:00 Let’s definitely get some, how do we fix that for you?
0:03:02 Is Claire getting handsy again?
0:03:06 I’ve got to be stopped.
0:03:09 Claire, governor of New York.
0:03:10 Man, we have it now.
0:03:10 Yeah?
0:03:11 So you can see us now?
0:03:12 Yeah, I can see you.
0:03:15 This is the problem when your boss lives across the ocean.
0:03:16 So we’re here.
0:03:19 Claire is in the studio.
0:03:23 Scott, do you know what the plan is today?
0:03:24 I have no idea.
0:03:25 You have no idea.
0:03:29 This is literally my 11th podcast joke of the day.
0:03:30 Full of life.
0:03:36 My phone is blowing up with, like, everybody angry at me because I didn’t show up for some Christmas fucking lunch I was supposed to be at.
0:03:45 All I want to do is have a makers and ginger, 15 grams of an edible right now, and go to sleep.
0:03:48 So let’s get this Joey Bag of Donuts podcast over with.
0:03:49 What are we doing here?
0:03:53 We are doing our annual Ask Me Anything episode.
0:03:57 And Claire is going to be hosting and asking us the questions.
0:03:59 So, Claire, I will pass it over to you.
0:04:04 And, by the way, it’s our last episode of the year, but you can always send in questions.
0:04:05 Our inbox is open.
0:04:10 So hit up markets at profgmedia.com if you have any further questions.
0:04:11 But let’s get into it.
0:04:15 I’m going to start with our favorite question that we got.
0:04:22 Scott, you have many skills, but I believe your success in business has come at the cost of other life skills.
0:04:27 For instance, please answer honestly, can you cook?
0:04:32 You strike me as a man who outsources his meals.
0:04:34 This is not an exaggeration.
0:04:39 I have—so my New York apartment is my man cave.
0:04:40 No one’s allowed in there.
0:04:49 I have basically one plate, a spoon, four cases of Modelo, six bottles of Ruinart Champagne, some granola, and nothing else.
0:04:51 And exceptionally high-end linen.
0:04:53 And I am so happy there.
0:05:05 And it has a beautiful kitchen in the most incredible Pulgenpol, whatever it’s called, some Swiss thing made by, you know, gnomes with tiny hands.
0:05:15 And the flame cooking, the flame has only been on six times, and all of them were to light a joint.
0:05:18 I do not know how to cook.
0:05:24 I—when I was younger and didn’t have a lot of money, I used to make top ramen a lot, and I used to eat a lot of granola.
0:05:32 And I found—and I—you can—my junior year in college, I was totally freaked out.
0:05:36 By the end of the year, I owed the fraternity so much money, and they told me I wouldn’t be able to come back.
0:05:38 And I owed—I had debt.
0:05:43 I was like, okay, if I don’t make $3,400 this summer, make and save $3,400, I’m not coming back for my senior year at UCLA.
0:05:46 And I found—and this is true.
0:05:48 It’s the worst frat brother ever.
0:05:51 I found—I found—we gamified it.
0:05:58 I found the other two broke guys in the house amongst the sea of wealthy Jewish kids whose parents were putting them through college and used to rag on me for not paying my fraternity.
0:05:58 Yeah.
0:05:59 Yeah, fine.
0:06:04 Fine, Gary Schwartz, when dad’s buying you a Volkswagen Scirocco and pay your fucking fraternity bill.
0:06:08 Anyway, a little trauma there.
0:06:16 I found that you can literally live—and I did this for an entire summer.
0:06:20 I lived off of Top Ramen, bananas, and milk.
0:06:30 And I used to cut out a coupon from the Daily Bruin and go to—with the crew team to the Chart House.
0:06:34 And for $3.99, we got all-you-can-eat chicken and salad bar.
0:06:38 And it opened at $4 and closed at $9, so we’d go twice.
0:06:43 We’d go at $4 and then eat, like, a crazy amount of food and then leave.
0:06:47 But anyways, this is my bridge to the answer here.
0:06:48 We’re getting there.
0:06:50 We’re almost going to get the answer to the question.
0:06:50 We’re on, why not?
0:06:51 We’re getting there.
0:06:56 I have—I still eat a lot of bananas, and I don’t know how to cook.
0:06:56 Not quite that.
0:06:58 Two more minutes, yeah.
0:07:01 But see, the good thing is now is that I have money.
0:07:06 I just get amazing food, and I have really nice, pleasant people cook for me.
0:07:11 But also, I grew up—I have a strange relationship with food.
0:07:18 I grew up—my mother was a single mother who didn’t have much time or money, and she’s British, so food was punishment.
0:07:22 And once every Sunday night, she’d make a vat of shepherd’s pie.
0:07:24 Let’s go.
0:07:27 It actually tasted pretty good the night she made it.
0:07:37 And then she’d put it in the freezer, and I’d come home and slice a piece of frozen shepherd’s pie and put it into this microwave that sounded like Chernobyl right before the disaster.
0:07:43 And I take out this wet, gross shepherd’s pie.
0:07:44 So I don’t like food.
0:07:46 You know how people say I’m a foodie?
0:07:46 Yeah.
0:07:51 So Mary Jean, who we all know and love, who’s my chief of staff, will call me.
0:07:55 She’ll hear my voice at 2 p.m. on a podcast, and she’ll call me and she goes, you haven’t eaten today, have you?
0:08:00 If somebody doesn’t remind me to eat, I don’t eat.
0:08:02 I could drop—I’m 60, 190.
0:08:08 I could be 170 in eight weeks if I’m just left to my own devices because I don’t really enjoy food and I’m not very good at it.
0:08:10 But no, I do not know how to cook.
0:08:12 I’m actually the same way.
0:08:13 I forget to eat.
0:08:13 Yeah.
0:08:15 Ed is a big food guy, though.
0:08:16 God, I just cannot relate.
0:08:20 I think he loves nothing more than a good restaurant.
0:08:20 Yeah.
0:08:21 That’s right.
0:08:22 And you like to cook, right, Ed?
0:08:22 And I like to cook.
0:08:23 Yeah.
0:08:23 And I like to cook.
0:08:24 What’s your favorite thing to cook?
0:08:25 Bolognese.
0:08:26 Pretty good.
0:08:27 Tried and true.
0:08:28 Really?
0:08:28 Yeah.
0:08:29 I love it, man.
0:08:34 The food—the ordering the food, I think I’ve said this before, it’s just—I find it gross.
0:08:37 And, yeah, I get very upset if I’m eating food.
0:08:39 I’m like, I’m not even enjoying this.
0:08:45 I feel like dinner is, like, the one thing that should be, like, the good, fun, nice part of your day.
0:08:49 And if it sucks, I’m like, well, this is depressing, and then I’ve got to go to bed.
0:08:51 So, yeah, I care about it a lot.
0:08:53 I do not relate.
0:08:54 You’re vigilant about meals.
0:08:55 Okay, I’m going to keep us moving.
0:08:56 Keep us going.
0:09:00 But just before we go on, I do try—I think, and Ed, you’ll definitely do this.
0:09:09 And, Claire, I don’t know if it doesn’t sound like it goes into food, but you’ll—you’ll treasure dinner time with your partner and your kids.
0:09:13 And I demand that we all eat together so I can express to my sons what a disappointment they are to me.
0:09:18 Very important.
0:09:19 All right.
0:09:22 Best book you read in 2025.
0:09:23 Ed, let’s start with you.
0:09:26 I just want to—Scott, did you read a book in 2025?
0:09:28 That’s what I really want to know.
0:09:29 He read his own book.
0:09:35 I read so much during the day that I don’t find reading relaxing.
0:09:38 I did pick up on a plane at it.
0:09:48 I was at an airport, and I was delayed, and I did pick up a book that kind of—I don’t want to say changed my life, but The World According to Garp and Cider House Rules.
0:09:51 Is it Jeff Irving?
0:09:52 John Irving, yeah.
0:09:52 John.
0:09:53 Oh, my God, you’re better than me.
0:09:55 I remember reading those books.
0:10:00 My mom gave me that book, and I don’t know if it was just because she loved them or she saw how fucked up in the head I was.
0:10:08 But those books gave me so much confidence or made me feel so much better about myself when I saw how weird people are and how weird life is.
0:10:21 And I picked up The World According to Garp because I love the movie, and the book was really meaningful to me.
0:10:24 And then Cider House Rules because I love that.
0:10:30 And then another book I did—I’m fond of reading books that bring up emotions from my past.
0:10:37 And another book I read was—and it’s probably my favorite—my favorite writer is Stephen King’s The Dead Zone.
0:10:39 I just think that’s a beautiful book.
0:10:41 I just love the way Stephen King writes.
0:10:43 I just find his—he’ll have paragraphs, and I’ll think.
0:10:55 The way he’s able to express fear, and a lot of his books are actually quite emotional, and the economy of words he uses, it really strikes me.
0:10:58 So in sum, I haven’t read any new books in 2025.
0:10:59 How about you, Ed?
0:11:09 My favorite book is an old book that I read this year, which was the authoritative biography of Genghis Khan.
0:11:12 It’s called Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.
0:11:14 It’s by this guy Jack Weatherford.
0:11:23 And I would—I recommend this book to pretty much anyone who is interested in being successful at anything.
0:11:30 Like, if you’re interested in power, if you are an ambitious person, if you’re interested in what it takes to succeed,
0:11:36 I’m just going to tell you right now, you have to read Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.
0:11:45 Because what I didn’t realize about this guy, one, there is the image of him as this serial rapist, which turns out to actually not be true.
0:11:46 It’s actually a myth.
0:11:48 So we can just get that out of the way.
0:11:57 But two, I don’t think that a single person in history has accomplished and overcome more than Genghis Khan.
0:12:10 This is something I didn’t really realize, but this guy was born—he was the bastard son of a mother who—his father ended up being killed,
0:12:13 and he was exiled with his mother and his family.
0:12:20 And he was raised basically homeless, uh, by the side of a river, and he had to scrounge for food.
0:12:31 And in one lifetime, he was able to build the largest empire in the history of the world while he was alive, and he created this.
0:12:38 And there’s so much in there about what it actually took to do that—I mean, a lot of it is military strategy, a lot of it was skill.
0:12:46 But the most interesting thing about him, which I’m just fascinated by, which is why I recommend it to people, is an incredible understanding of people.
0:12:54 And how to understand how to network with people, how to make friends with the right people, how to work your way up, how to socialize with people.
0:12:58 And so wherever he went, people ended up just wanting to do things for him.
0:12:59 They wanted to help him.
0:13:07 And that was how he went from being literally this little homeless kid to being the ruler of the largest empire in the history of the world.
0:13:09 Again, the craziest stat ever.
0:13:10 So that would be my recommendation.
0:13:12 I would highly recommend people read it.
0:13:15 Most popular question on Reddit, Scott.
0:13:20 Whatever happened to Scott’s investment in a professional soccer team from Latin America?
0:13:26 He was so giddy about the opportunity when he first bought in, but he’s literally gone crickets about it for almost a year now.
0:13:28 What happened, Scott?
0:13:31 Nothing’s happened except we just announced our new branding.
0:13:32 We’re now Inter Bogota.
0:13:34 So that’s exciting.
0:13:41 And actually, not a lot has happened except for the rebranding.
0:13:44 And I’ve already gotten my money out.
0:13:54 It’s, like, been a great investment because we were able to recapitalize the investment, put some debt on the company, and get my initial equity out.
0:13:56 So it’s already kind of a win, and now everything’s just upside.
0:14:06 And we kind of decided in the last editorial call that the next Prop G team trip is going to be to Bogota to see a game, and then we’re going to go to Cartagena.
0:14:07 Actually, I’ll split off.
0:14:09 You guys don’t need to see me in Cartagena.
0:14:11 When do we do that?
0:14:12 When is the season?
0:14:13 When do we go?
0:14:18 The season, you’re asking me questions an owner should know.
0:14:22 I think it’s coming up, and it’s going to end sometime.
0:14:23 Probably.
0:14:25 I’m trying to be as vague as possible.
0:14:36 But I don’t know if you heard this, but every—and I’m quite frank, I got a little pissed off because every piece of media is, like, including—celebrities, including Ryan Reynolds, Justin Berlander, Cable.
0:14:41 It lists every Joey Bag of Donuts investor, and then it’ll say, like, at the end of the article.
0:14:44 And also joining the group is podcaster Scott Calloway.
0:14:47 But, no, it’s been a good investment.
0:14:49 We talked about it on our show.
0:15:02 I like investing in sports teams because I think there’s a dearth of supply and the number of people who make too much money and are in their arrested adolescents’ 50s, like myself, are going to continue to buy these things.
0:15:04 But I was very excited about it.
0:15:12 It’s been a good investment, but I haven’t been that emotionally involved in it, and we’ve got a really good group of guys or a group of people who are running the thing.
0:15:15 But, yeah, we’ll definitely—we’ll report back.
0:15:20 I think Prop G is going to do a trip to go see the new Inter Bogota team play.
0:15:21 Live pod from the game.
0:15:22 There you go.
0:15:23 All right.
0:15:26 What do you all splurge on, and what does it say about you?
0:15:29 I think I’ll probably have a similar answer to Scott.
0:15:40 While I splurge on travel, I try to be really, really cost-conscious when I’m just doing my work and doing my job.
0:15:48 I try to be very intentional about saving and living kind of a humble lifestyle throughout the week.
0:15:59 And then when it comes to, okay, now it’s time to go on vacation, I just want to have zero interest in saving, being efficient.
0:16:01 I just—I mean, I think it’s the same as Scott.
0:16:02 I probably learned it from Scott.
0:16:04 I want to feel and act like Ebola.
0:16:06 So travel’s one thing.
0:16:10 And then I guess nice dinners.
0:16:11 I go to a nice restaurant.
0:16:15 I like to do that semi-regularly.
0:16:21 And we live in New York, which has the best food in the world, and people—you need to take advantage of that.
0:16:25 So I guess it would be travel and nice restaurants.
0:16:26 Scott?
0:16:34 I spend $150,000 a month on a plane, which says that I am deeply insecure, have an enormous fear of death, and want to impress people who don’t care about me.
0:16:38 All of that’s true.
0:16:40 That’s why it’s funny.
0:16:40 All of that’s true.
0:16:52 And to what Ed was saying, I mean, the research shows that people overestimate the happiness things will give them and underestimate the happiness that experiences will give them.
0:17:02 So if you include that in travel, I spend most or all of my discretionary income or whatever you want to call it on travel.
0:17:10 I’m going to—in a few days, I’m going to Singapore, then Australia with my boys, and I absolutely love—I travel to hotels, not to cities.
0:17:14 And I think that—people ask me what my hobbies are, and I’m like, edibles and hotels.
0:17:17 And they look at me like, are you supposed to say kayaking or something?
0:17:26 But I love travel, but I love travel, but yeah, that’s my indulgence.
0:17:27 What’s your indulgence, Claire?
0:17:28 Also travel.
0:17:33 I think you’ve spoiled us a little bit and given us a taste of, like, really nice trips.
0:17:36 So now we’re both in the mood to spend money on trips.
0:17:39 But that’s, like, once a year in August when we have time off.
0:17:41 We do kind of get to have one big trip.
0:17:44 But also art.
0:17:48 I really love to just have art in my home.
0:17:51 It makes my life feel a little bit richer.
0:17:54 You were talking about this on the previous recording, Scott.
0:18:00 Just loving to look at this one piece and getting a lot of joy and reward from that.
0:18:02 I feel the same way with the pieces I have in my house.
0:18:10 And I love to support small artists, and especially local ones, just who I have met in person.
0:18:13 I like to kind of bring their energy into my home.
0:18:15 So, yeah, I’d say art.
0:18:19 I’m not at Sotheby’s level yet, but—
0:18:19 We’re getting there.
0:18:20 One day.
0:18:21 We’re getting there.
0:18:21 Yeah.
0:18:23 We were the Signal Award winner.
0:18:23 That’s right.
0:18:25 We’re close.
0:18:28 All right, this one’s for me.
0:18:34 Claire, how do you handle all those wildly inappropriate, dirty jokes?
0:18:37 Okay, I did the math on this.
0:18:47 I’ve produced more than 450 episodes of this show, which means I’ve heard more than 450 of these jokes.
0:18:52 And they’ve just lost all meaning for me at this point.
0:18:54 You’ve worn me down.
0:18:56 I don’t even hear it anymore.
0:18:59 To be honest, though, they’ve never really bothered me.
0:19:02 That sense of humor doesn’t offend me and never has.
0:19:06 I think you kind of can’t be offended by that if you’re going to work here.
0:19:19 So the thing I think is actually funny about them to me, more than the joke itself, is just how insane it is that our boss says them to us.
0:19:25 Like, when you really think about it, it’s kind of bonkers that we’re having these—
0:19:27 I’m subjecting myself to that kind of economic risk.
0:19:28 Exactly.
0:19:30 I mean, it is hilarious in that sense.
0:19:39 But I get the concern where this listener is coming from, and a lot of listeners put that out there as concern about these jokes.
0:19:41 And we’re thinking about it a lot lately.
0:19:51 You put out that call to our listeners to get their opinion, and I think we got, like, 10x the number of comments that we usually do.
0:19:56 So people have really strong feelings about whether or not to keep the joke the way it is.
0:19:59 And I think it’s a serious consideration that we’re thinking about.
0:20:08 I think we’re weighing what the people want, which overwhelmingly, from those comments, it seems they want us to keep it the way it is.
0:20:13 We’re weighing that against potential future listeners and growth.
0:20:15 So, Scott—
0:20:18 Why aren’t we weighing it against the occasional guest that gets offended and says, like, can’t come on here?
0:20:19 Yeah, not too.
0:20:21 So you’ve been thinking about this, too.
0:20:23 So where have you landed lately?
0:20:24 I think about this a lot.
0:20:33 And there is a strategy here around offensive jokes that sometimes cross the line and are just, I don’t know, totally inappropriate.
0:20:43 And that is, when I think of the progressives that I really admire throughout history, Lanny Bruce, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, the left used to own irreverent humor.
0:20:53 And then the left became so worried about safety and words or violence and all this other bullshit that we became fucking humorless.
0:21:01 And I want the left and progressives to take back irreverence and humor.
0:21:04 And I think what it does is it softens the beach.
0:21:09 If you can make someone laugh for a brief moment, they’re receptive to new ideas.
0:21:11 It’s also authentic.
0:21:13 I am truly a vulgar and profane person.
0:21:14 It’s not an act.
0:21:18 But also, we want to attract a younger audience.
0:21:21 I do think a younger audience appreciates vulgarity.
0:21:32 Also, one of my observations when I talk to people and we get a lot of feedback is that women are a lot less offended oftentimes by vulgarity than people expect them to be.
0:21:33 They’re expected to behave a lot.
0:21:37 They’re expected to behave a certain way and be more like delicate little flowers.
0:21:43 And I find a lot of our female listeners like appreciate some of the vulgarity.
0:21:57 And also, just as a personal goal, I want to be the most irreverent person in terms of—or very irreverent, never mean or hostile towards anyone in terms of my words.
0:22:05 But I want to be one of the most progressive, Alan Alda-like people have ever met in terms of their actions and the way I treat people and the way I acquit myself professionally and personally.
0:22:17 So, I think I can get away with a lot more than most people because anybody who knows me or listens to this podcast knows that it comes from a good place.
0:22:24 It comes from a place where I’m trying to, I don’t know, call it be inclusive and just offend everybody and mock everybody.
0:22:32 But I’m about, you know, I’m a fairly progressive person in terms of how I treat people and where I, you know, what my actions are.
0:22:32 Yeah.
0:22:37 And I would just add that until recently, every producer you’ve had has been a woman.
0:22:41 So, I don’t know.
0:22:48 I think that this listener—clearly this listener asked me this question because I’m a woman and they expect me to be offended.
0:22:49 Right.
0:22:51 To be clear, I’m not.
0:22:53 Well, okay.
0:23:11 So, let me—now that I have excuse to sound defensive, I figured out that I think about 27 people in my company, companies, have become millionaires in the last 10 years through acquisition of our companies.
0:23:37 And 24 or 25 of them have either been women or LGBTQ, and so my goal is to create economic security for, you know—I don’t think I discriminate against white heterosexual men, but I’m hugely proud of the fact that I’m very committed to economic viability for women.
0:23:46 Because for me, growing up, the most anxious thing in my life, hands down, was the economic instability of my mother.
0:23:58 So, I take—I really enjoy—I not only enjoy working with women, but I’m, you know, I want to be known as someone who has created a lot of economic security for women.
0:24:03 I think Ed definitely feels discriminated against as a heterosexual male.
0:24:06 So hard out of it, man.
0:24:07 God.
0:24:13 We’ll be right back.
0:24:24 Support for the show comes from Grunz.
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0:25:37 Like, imagine running an ad for cataract surgery on Saturday morning cartoons,
0:25:41 or running a promo for this show on a video about Roblox or something.
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0:26:39 C’est le matcha ou les trois ensembles cadeaux Sephora des fêtes que je viens de dénicher qui m’énergisent autant?
0:26:40 C’est les ensembles.
0:26:42 Les formats standards et mini regroupés?
0:26:43 Quelle aubaine!
0:26:44 Puis l’emballage?
0:26:45 Trop beau!
0:26:46 Qui est pratiquement prêt à donner.
0:26:51 Et je sais que je devrais les offrir, mais je garde les Summer Fridays et Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez.
0:26:52 Je te comprends.
0:26:55 Les plus beaux ensembles cadeaux des fêtes se trouvent chez Sephora.
0:26:59 Summer Fridays, Rare Beauty, Waze, Sephora Collection et autres partent vite.
0:27:02 Procurez-vous ces formats standards et mini regroupés pour une meilleure qualité-prix.
0:27:04 En ligne sur sephora.ca ou en magasin.
0:27:12 We’re back with Prof G Markets.
0:27:13 Let’s keep going.
0:27:18 How do both Ed and Scott approach analysis as a means of achieving conviction?
0:27:24 I.e., what are the processes, avenues, metrics, and tools used to evaluate the future?
0:27:35 I would note Tom Lee had a great definition on our last podcast with him of conviction and something I want to highlight.
0:27:36 So he said,
0:27:40 Stubborn is believing in something when all the facts have changed.
0:27:43 Conviction is riding through the volatility.
0:27:47 And it’s not easy to tell the difference until history has already passed.
0:27:53 So, back to the question, how do you approach analysis as a means of achieving conviction?
0:27:55 Ed, let’s start with you.
0:27:57 It’s a really interesting question.
0:28:05 Something I often, maybe this answers the question.
0:28:10 Something that I often think about is an idea from John Maynard Keynes, the economist.
0:28:15 And he had this idea called, it’s called the Keynesian Beauty Contest.
0:28:17 And this is something that we talk about on the research team.
0:28:18 And it’s pretty important.
0:28:29 And basically, he made the link between, he was trying to describe what is the market, what is really happening in the market, which is our job on this podcast.
0:28:30 It’s our job of the research team.
0:28:50 And he basically said that the market is like a beauty contest where the judge’s job isn’t to figure out who is the most beautiful person in the contest, but who do they think other people will think is the most beautiful person in the contest.
0:28:59 In other words, it’s not really what you believe, it’s you trying to replicate and come up with an idea of what everyone else will believe and create an average for that.
0:29:07 And his point was that that doesn’t actually work in terms of truth-seeking.
0:29:14 You get, ultimately, a very different answer if all you’re trying to do is trying to figure out, okay, what does everyone else believe?
0:29:15 What do they think?
0:29:18 And then I’ll come to my conclusion based on what they believe.
0:29:29 And so something that we try to do, because we are really in search of truth on this podcast, and it’s hard to do that in the markets, is what do we actually believe?
0:29:32 And that doesn’t mean don’t listen to everyone else’s views.
0:29:36 You need to understand what the consensus view is if you want to come up with a non-consensus view.
0:29:48 But if you’re saying something just because someone else said that, or you read some research report and it had a fancy name on it, and so, oh, that’s what I believe now, then you’ve already lost.
0:29:50 That’s not conviction.
0:29:51 That’s groupthink.
0:29:52 That’s herd mentality.
0:29:57 So that’s at least a framework that I’m constantly trying to think.
0:30:03 I’m constantly asking myself, do I believe that because someone said it and they have credentials?
0:30:07 And maybe that can be important, but it can’t be everything.
0:30:11 I’m always trying to ask myself, I believe it because I believe it.
0:30:12 I think these things are true.
0:30:16 I’ve looked at all the evidence, and it’s important to me, these details.
0:30:22 And so when I feel that way, that’s usually a good sign that I have conviction.
0:30:22 Scott?
0:30:24 Yeah, I like that.
0:30:31 Look, I used to look at everything through a strategy framework of what is differentiated, relevant, sustainable.
0:30:44 I look at valuation metrics, but probably the part that’s hardest but most important is I try to marinate and try, before I make a decision, to remove my emotions.
0:30:52 Because I find my emotions sometimes, I backfill the analysis based on what I’m hoping or believing should happen.
0:31:06 And just try to, that’s the hardest part for me, is figuring out a way to objectively look at a situation without having my emotions or, you know, beliefs.
0:31:20 Basically, my biases, I go through all the proximity bias, confirmation bias, I go through all of them and try and remove them and then just look at it, look at it sort of with kind of starched almost in a sterile way.
0:31:21 And I struggle with that.
0:31:24 Well, that said, this next question is about Figma.
0:31:29 Hi, Ed and team would love another analysis of Figma before the end of the year, if possible.
0:31:33 As you predicted, the stock had a massive pop the day of the IPO.
0:31:36 I would love a re-analysis of the stock at its current price.
0:31:41 I know that most shares are still in lockup periods through the middle of 2026.
0:31:43 I’d love to get your guys’ take on the stock.
0:31:44 Very interested in it.
0:31:49 I just want to note, we’re pre-recording this episode on December 11th.
0:31:52 So, the current price of Figma is about $38 a share.
0:31:53 That could change.
0:31:55 But, Ed, let’s start with you.
0:32:01 I can’t give you a super in-depth valuation analysis right now, but I’ll give you something.
0:32:06 First thing I would say, a lot of people I’ve seen online have been saying,
0:32:09 you guys said that Figma was a buy and it went up and now it’s crashed.
0:32:11 I just want to clarify what we said about Figma.
0:32:17 We said Figma was a buy at $33 because that was the IPO price.
0:32:23 In fact, we actually said it started out at $27 and the IPO price kept on inching up and up.
0:32:26 But we said $33 on Figma is a buy.
0:32:33 Then it went public and it opens at, like, whatever it was, $120.
0:32:33 It was above $100.
0:32:34 Yeah.
0:32:38 It was something crazy, which we never said that that was a buy.
0:32:43 We said that $33 was a buy and then it goes and it opens at a crazy number.
0:32:50 And to be fair, like, our advice wasn’t very helpful because no one could get in at $33.
0:32:57 I mean, even if you put the request in on, like, Robinhood or whatever, you got maybe one share.
0:32:58 So it wasn’t very helpful.
0:33:04 But I just want to clarify, we said $33 based on, that was the valuation analysis.
0:33:16 And then the demand was absolutely insane, which says all of these things about the way the IPO market works and how crazy it is and the stuff we’ve talked about with the divide between private markets and public markets and how it’s gated out to retail investors.
0:33:20 That’s a whole other story, but I just want to be clear on what we said there.
0:33:20 Okay.
0:33:22 So it’s above $100.
0:33:25 Then it comes down.
0:33:25 It plummets.
0:33:27 I think it’s down, like, 70%.
0:33:28 We’re now at $37.
0:33:32 That’s not a bad price.
0:33:34 We said $33.
0:33:37 And we’ve just seen the earnings.
0:33:40 They grew at 38% growth on the revenue.
0:33:44 They have net dollar retention of 131%.
0:33:48 In other words, people, the existing customers they have are actually paying more.
0:33:54 And you look at the valuation right now, it’s pretty good.
0:33:56 It’s not bad.
0:34:00 It’s trading at a higher multiple than Adobe, but I think Adobe’s actually undervalued right now.
0:34:04 Also, Adobe’s growing four times slower than Figma.
0:34:08 So I think it’s – I’d want to look at it more.
0:34:10 I think the lockup period is also a good point.
0:34:13 The lockup period is going to end at the end of December.
0:34:15 So maybe that would be the better time to buy.
0:34:20 But I do want to just clarify what we said about that stock because, obviously, it’s had a wild ride.
0:34:24 But we did not say buy at over $100 a shift.
0:34:26 Scott, you got in on the IPO.
0:34:27 So how are you feeling now?
0:34:31 I can’t remember if I – I mean – by the way,
0:34:33 I think our prediction was the IPO was going to be huge.
0:34:34 I mean, Randu –
0:34:35 Exactly, it was right.
0:34:38 Randu, I think it got as high as 140.
0:34:45 I like the number two player, and it’s more of a collaborative tool, and we have people here use it.
0:34:55 And the reason I like the company or the primary reason I’m real big is that if you go to any design, graduate design class, almost all of them are using Figma.
0:34:59 So I think that you’re going to see it start to absorb into the corporate market.
0:35:03 It’s – I just think it’s an incredible product.
0:35:06 And I like the guy who runs it.
0:35:11 And it doesn’t have earnings yet, so it’s hard to look at the P multiple.
0:35:14 But if you look at – it’s got a market cap now of $19 billion.
0:35:19 I think Adobe would buy this for $30 billion tomorrow, so –
0:35:23 They tried to buy it for 20 a couple years ago, and they’ve only grown since then, so –
0:35:25 Yeah, and I think its revenues are up 50% since there.
0:35:27 That’s where I got to $30 billion.
0:35:29 So I like it at this price.
0:35:36 I don’t – I mean, I’m going to – I’m not entirely sure, but I think I don’t – I don’t think I’ve sold a share.
0:35:38 I think I ran – I think I ran it all the way to $140 and then down again.
0:35:52 When I get in on an IPO, and this is like kind of the country club, I don’t know, code of the IPO investor, I don’t – I generally don’t buy stocks unless I’m willing to hold them for three or five years.
0:35:55 I just don’t – I don’t want to be a trader.
0:36:00 You know, that was probably stupid if I – it’s easy to say now.
0:36:04 When it popped to whatever it was, $60 or $80 or $100 in like 48 hours, it might have been a time to get out.
0:36:13 But generally speaking, and this is a flaw in mine, I hate to pay short-term capital gains, which makes no sense when you look at the price that I could have got out at.
0:36:18 But generally, I want to be seen as a long-term investor that holds stocks for a while.
0:36:22 This is a longer one, but I want to help this guy out.
0:36:26 So, Scott, I just read Notes on Being a Man, and I really enjoyed it.
0:36:30 One part in particular that stuck out to me was asking,
0:36:36 what kind of son do I want to be as it relates to Scott’s relationship with his father?
0:36:44 I have a similarly fraught relationship with my father and have been trying to put all the past issues aside and focus on our relationship in the present.
0:36:56 However, I struggle with the idea of letting my guard down while my mother is still alive, as the majority of my grievances revolve around the way he treated her, myself, and my sister when we were growing up.
0:37:04 He’s now happily remarried and has decided the past either didn’t happen or it doesn’t matter, which, of course, is easy in a glass house.
0:37:11 And I can’t help but feel like my letting go of the past would be an affront to the challenges my mother endured.
0:37:13 So my question is this.
0:37:21 Do you think you could have gotten to the wonderful place in your relationship with your father had your mother still been around to see it happen?
0:37:22 What a good question.
0:37:42 Look, I think that after what his, if it’s similar to, if it’s similar to my situation, that he has the right to protect himself and protect his mother before worrying about protecting his father, adding value to his father’s life.
0:37:59 And if he personally would have a difficult time letting go of these things and needs to protect his own sense of well-being and justice and fairness and just isn’t ready to have a relationship with his father, I’m not going to tell him, no, put away the scorecard and re-engage with your father.
0:38:04 And if you really do think it would upset your mother, then I think you have to take that into account.
0:38:07 You know, these, these are very deeply personal questions.
0:38:11 So I don’t want to suggest that my way is the right way.
0:38:12 It was just my way.
0:38:25 And that, you know, at some point if he thinks, okay, I mean, the bottom line is I probably wouldn’t have, I came to this rep, my mom died 21 years ago.
0:38:30 And so after she was gone, it was a little bit easier for me.
0:38:33 The things I would ask him to just consider are the following.
0:38:38 One, was your father a better father to you than his father was to him?
0:38:40 I think that’s who we model.
0:38:49 And if the answer is no, and this was just a bad person, I think you have an obligation yourself to just protect your own mental health and do what just feels right, first and foremost.
0:39:06 And two, you know, where I got to was it was going to make me happier to have a good relationship with my father.
0:39:15 And the other question I would ask him is that if he did what I did, I think a lot of people, my parents weaponized the divorce or they weaponized me in the divorce.
0:39:21 And that is they would, I was eight years old and my mom would say, I would leave for the weekend.
0:39:25 My dad would pick me up and say, tell your father if the child support check isn’t here by Tuesday, I’m calling his boss.
0:39:29 And I would digest my stomach thinking about delivering that message to my father.
0:39:37 And then on the ride home with my dad, I would tell my dad and my dad would say, tell your mother she’s a bitch and I’m not going to send a child support check.
0:39:39 And I would have to deliver that message to my mother.
0:39:40 Now, granted, it was the 70s.
0:39:45 It wasn’t like today where we reorchestrate our entire lives around children.
0:39:49 But that was still a really stupid, unsophisticated thing to do and not a very kind thing.
0:39:56 What I had a tendency to do and I would ask him to be mindful of is you have a tendency to demonize one in a divorce.
0:39:58 It’s a bit of a war.
0:39:59 It’s a conflict.
0:40:03 And especially back then, I think it’s gotten much better.
0:40:04 I think parents are much more mindful now.
0:40:09 But you have had a tendency, at least I did, to demonize one person and sanctify the other.
0:40:17 And the person you’re typically going to sanctify is the person who got you up in the morning and packed your lunch and stuck around for the hard part.
0:40:24 And then you have an opportunity or your tendency to demonize the person who didn’t stick around.
0:40:28 And that is dad who goes off and starts a new family with a younger woman.
0:40:41 And at least in my case, all of a sudden, my dad seemed to be continue ascending economically while we ended up in just this shitty bad apartment in the valley, wondering how we were going to fix our vacuum that had broken down because we didn’t have the money.
0:40:53 But what I did do, and I would just tell him to be cautious of, is there were good components to my father, and he did try, but I didn’t let any of that creep in because I decided, mom good, dad bad.
0:41:00 And then as you get older, you realize that people are deeply flawed and that no one is pure good and no one is pure evil.
0:41:06 But it helped me to recognize my dad was better to me than his father was to him and that he did try.
0:41:10 But I’ll finish where I began.
0:41:16 He needs to affix his own oxygen mask and think about if he’s ready to re-engage with his father.
0:41:17 And if he isn’t, that’s fine.
0:41:18 That’s okay.
0:41:24 He deserves that safety given the way his father treated him.
0:41:26 He treated him and his mother.
0:41:34 And that what I would also suggest is as the father gets older, just recognize, it sounds like his mom and dad are alive.
0:41:35 They’re both going to be dead.
0:41:42 And just ask yourself, try and imagine after your parents are gone, how you wish you had behaved and what you wish you had said to them.
0:41:42 Because they will leave.
0:41:45 It’s hard to imagine that people die when you’re a young person.
0:41:45 They do.
0:41:53 And the nice thing I really treasure about my time with my mom and my dad is that nothing went unsaid.
0:42:04 And just to maybe go through those exercises of asking themselves that question, was his dad better to you than his dad was to him?
0:42:07 Have you sanctified and demonized either of the parties?
0:42:14 And if your dad were to pass away unexpectedly, would you be comfortable with where your relationship is now?
0:42:23 How does Oscar, you feel that you said what you needed to say to your mother?
0:42:35 Do you feel you’ve said, I’m just wondering personally, because I think about that like, oh, there are a lot of these topics and questions that I feel like I should ask my parents at some point.
0:42:41 But I’m not really sure when, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever satisfy that.
0:42:42 I feel like I’m always going to have more questions.
0:42:47 Do you feel that you said everything you wanted?
0:42:51 Yeah, for the most part, especially because a lot of communication is nonverbal.
0:42:57 And moving in with my mom, when she was very sick, was essentially telling her every day, I love you.
0:43:09 But nothing went unsaid.
0:43:12 My dad was around so long.
0:43:13 My dad recently passed.
0:43:14 He was 95.
0:43:18 And I got a lot off my chest kind of 20, 30 years ago with him.
0:43:26 And he was very apologetic and just sort of took it and was never, I mean, the thing about my father was he never asked anything of me.
0:43:32 He wasn’t a great dad, but in terms of ROI, he was all positive because he never asked anything of his adult children.
0:43:45 And my mom, you know, I don’t know if one parent, do you have one parent that you feel, I won’t ask you which one because they’re both alive, but do you have one parent that you feel has invested much more in you than the other?
0:43:51 The real AMA begins.
0:43:57 I do, but I go back and forth on it.
0:44:01 I mean, I’ve had years where I felt the other way.
0:44:09 Well, that means, quite frankly, you either have really bad or really good parents because if they’re in the running, if they’re both neck and neck, for me, it was pretty obvious who had invested more.
0:44:12 But the fact that you’ve even gone back and forth means that you probably have pretty good.
0:44:14 Yeah, no, I, yeah.
0:44:20 But what I would say is, as you get, when you get to this age, you communicate non-verbally.
0:44:21 It’s about your actions.
0:44:23 And I was good to my dad.
0:44:24 I hung out with him.
0:44:27 I was a good, you know, I was a good son, better than most.
0:44:32 But my mom, you know, when she got sick, took a leave of absence, moved in with her.
0:44:35 And, you know, put my life on hold to take care of her.
0:44:40 And that, you know, that was, that was the, you know, that was the best communication.
0:44:46 But, again, going back to what we’re talking about, your parents aren’t going to be around forever.
0:44:57 And you’re just, what I would tell you is, after your parents are gone, you’re not going to regret having erred a little bit to the upside in terms of generosity and being emotional with them.
0:45:03 You’re not going to look back and think, oh, I really fucked up telling my dad I admired him and that I loved my mom a great deal.
0:45:04 You’re just not going to regret that.
0:45:06 Different kind of relationship question for Ed.
0:45:13 How should someone early in their career balance ambition and self-investment with the demands of a relationship?
0:45:19 I’m trying to build good investing habits, grow my income, and still be a present partner.
0:45:23 But it often feels impossible to do all three as a young man in L.A.
0:45:34 Just before you answer, I’ve said this to Ed before privately, but I think him getting a girlfriend was genuinely one of the best.
0:45:37 One of the best things that ever happened to the show.
0:45:43 He had this kind of, like, surly, disgruntled vibe before he got with her.
0:45:49 And once he got with her, he was happy, well-rested, focused.
0:45:56 I honestly think getting a girlfriend levels you up in a way.
0:45:58 And I think it’s the same for me.
0:46:00 100%.
0:46:05 I don’t, yeah, I can’t relate to what this guy’s talking about, like, demands of a relationship.
0:46:13 I think actually the right relationship should be leveling you up and only helping your focus in your career.
0:46:15 But, Ed, what do you think?
0:46:17 I think everything you just said.
0:46:20 I 100% agree with you.
0:46:28 Yeah, I can’t tell from the question whether he is in a relationship right now or thinking about one.
0:46:38 But, yeah, my view on this is relationships should make you actually more focused and more ambitious and more interested in investing for the long term.
0:46:50 If it’s the right relationship, if you’re thinking for the long term, it means that you’re going to be more focused on how do I make sure that I make money and build up my career such that we can build a life together.
0:47:01 How can I be structured about my work requirements such that I can show up for dinner and do something nice or take her out to a restaurant or get her a nice gift?
0:47:15 Those are all kinds of things that I think actually it’s a virtuous cycle where you get more focused, you end up working harder, I have found, when you’re in a relationship.
0:47:26 So, I guess if the question is like, oh, I need to invest in myself now, like, I don’t think I should get a relationship yet, I don’t think that’s the right way to think about it.
0:47:34 If you’re in a relationship, you’re going to spend a lot less time going out, getting drunk, trying to meet people and trying to get into a relationship.
0:47:38 You’re going to think a lot more responsibly about what you’re doing for your career.
0:47:42 So, I think that is the question.
0:47:46 And if so, I would be like, my answer is what you said.
0:47:50 The relationship actually won’t be a demand on your energy and your time and your focus.
0:47:51 It’ll actually multiply it.
0:48:00 Yeah, the most rewarding thing is when I think about kids or economic security, it’s having built that with someone else.
0:48:01 It’s really rewarding.
0:48:09 It does also, I think, having a partnership makes you a better person because you know someone is watching, so to speak.
0:48:11 You know you want to impress them.
0:48:13 You want to start investing in their life and investing together.
0:48:19 So, I do think, especially men, I really do think men need the guardrails of a relationship.
0:48:26 And I think, especially when you’re young, I don’t want to say relationship, good relationships aren’t work.
0:48:27 Every relationship is work.
0:48:35 And you need to bring a certain willingness to forgive, invest, think about them, notice their lives.
0:48:40 When things are important to you, important to them, even if they’re not important to you to invest in those things.
0:48:46 But also, as a young person, quite frankly, if a relationship is a lot of work, that’s probably a sign it’s not a great relationship.
0:48:46 Right.
0:48:47 Agreed.
0:48:56 When I was young and in love and no stress to kids and, you know, doing cool shit and hanging out with friends and discovering new things.
0:49:00 God, any relationship that was work was called an ex-relationship.
0:49:01 I’m like, okay.
0:49:09 I mean, so a relationship that’s a lot of work is a sign, especially when you’re young, of maybe not a great relationship.
0:49:12 The relationships I had when I was young, quite frankly, just weren’t a lot of work.
0:49:14 They were almost all upside.
0:49:16 At least that’s how I found them.
0:49:17 Or net upside.
0:49:21 It’s like if it’s taking more from you than it’s giving you, then that’s bad.
0:49:23 But it’s always going to take, you’re going to have to invest something.
0:49:25 It’s going to take some level of work and commitment.
0:49:31 But net, net, it should be a surplus.
0:49:33 Stay with us.
0:49:45 Hi, welcome to McDonald’s.
0:49:45 Can I take your order?
0:49:46 Hi.
0:49:47 Oh, wow.
0:49:50 Um, can I get, um…
0:49:50 Yep.
0:49:55 The McValue menu has a lot of delicious options for under $4 each plus tax.
0:50:01 Like a cheeseburger deluxe, sweet chili junior chicken, McDouble, and chicken snack wrap.
0:50:02 So it’s okay to take…
0:50:06 A minute when ordering, the McValue menu.
0:50:09 So many options for under $4 each.
0:50:12 Plus applicable taxes at participating McDonald’s restaurants in Canada.
0:50:13 Prices exclude delivery.
0:50:16 Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap.
0:50:16 Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap.
0:50:18 You’re almost at the finish line.
0:50:19 But first…
0:50:24 Something magical in the night, can you see it shining?
0:50:27 Ah, there, the last one.
0:50:31 Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.
0:50:40 We present some of the biggest stars and biggest dramas streaming on Paramount+.
0:50:42 And the nominees are…
0:50:45 Best British Baddie, Tom Hardy in Mobland.
0:50:46 I will find you.
0:50:50 Most Killer Performance, Michael C. Hall in Dexter Resurrection.
0:50:52 Glad to be back.
0:50:55 Slickest Oil Man in Texas, Billy Bob in Landman.
0:50:56 Lawyer up, big boy.
0:50:57 Let’s go.
0:50:58 And the winner is…
0:50:59 You.
0:51:02 Extreme Paramount+, a mountain of entertainment.
0:51:09 We’re back with Profity Markets.
0:51:13 As we reach year-end and begin thinking of what’s in store for the future,
0:51:20 do you think we’re approaching the right time to rebrand to Prof Elson Media?
0:51:23 Oh-ho-ho!
0:51:27 Prof E-Media?
0:51:29 It doesn’t have the right ring to it.
0:51:31 No, it’d be Ed Elson, it’d be E-squared media.
0:51:33 E-squared.
0:51:37 Well, you know, guys, it’s…
0:51:39 I don’t even think about these things.
0:51:40 I don’t really have a very big ego.
0:51:44 I’m not, you know, I’m not very self-absorbed.
0:51:46 I don’t like to think about me.
0:51:48 Yeah.
0:51:51 No, it’s going to be Prof G Media for a while.
0:51:54 Yeah.
0:51:56 I don’t know, Ed.
0:51:57 What do you think?
0:51:59 Do you want something brand…
0:52:02 I did notice, nobody asked me, this is a true story.
0:52:03 Oh, God.
0:52:10 When we went to five days a week, all of a sudden it went from Prof G Markets to Prof G Markets with Scott Galloway and Ed Elson.
0:52:11 Yes.
0:52:12 No one asked me.
0:52:16 It just, all of a sudden the branding changed.
0:52:18 Just a slight tweak.
0:52:19 Just a slight tweak.
0:52:19 Yeah.
0:52:21 Or does it say Ed Elson and Scott Galloway?
0:52:21 I can’t remember.
0:52:22 It does not say that.
0:52:23 You’re first, Scott.
0:52:24 You’re first.
0:52:34 What I will say, though, I’m trying to couch this in a lesson and a learning, is I have always given people, I’ve been pretty promiscuous with titles.
0:52:39 So, for example, there’s probably, I probably have 10 co-founders.
0:52:44 That is people who on LinkedIn say they’re a co-founder of Red Envelope or a co-founder of Profit.
0:52:46 No, I hired you.
0:52:48 You’re not a co-founder.
0:52:53 And here’s the thing, I don’t call them and say, I mean, maybe they’ve even asked me.
0:52:54 I’m like, yeah, fine.
0:52:56 This is what a founder is.
0:52:59 I’m loving me as the parallel in this situation, but please continue.
0:53:01 This is what a founder is.
0:53:02 We may call you a co-host.
0:53:08 A founder is someone who signs the front of checks, not the back of checks.
0:53:17 And it just strikes me that once success has many fathers and failure is an orphan, and it just strikes me how many founders there are of my companies out there,
0:53:19 who, according to LinkedIn, co-founded my companies.
0:53:23 And I’m like, okay, you never invested a fucking red sign of your money.
0:53:27 And I hired the guy that hired you five years later, but you’re a co-founder.
0:53:28 Fine.
0:53:31 And I sound like a bitter old man.
0:53:37 Titles are pretty easy to give to people, and they’re important to people.
0:53:38 So, fine.
0:53:40 I’m always pretty promiscuous with titles.
0:53:41 You want to call yourself a co-founder?
0:53:43 Have at it.
0:53:44 Congratulations, co-founder.
0:53:47 Is that to me?
0:53:49 I didn’t ask this question.
0:53:49 No, that’s not you, Ed.
0:53:50 That’s not you.
0:53:53 You have earned the right to be co-host.
0:53:56 You have earned the right to be co-host.
0:53:57 I’m happy.
0:54:00 I’m generally happy for you and all of your success.
0:54:04 Let’s get your official answer on this at the end of 2025.
0:54:06 Are you going to run for public office?
0:54:08 Good question.
0:54:15 You know, occasionally, what I’m feeling, occasionally, I get very excited about public policy ideas.
0:54:20 And I think about it for a minute, because I think, well, I’ll help shape the conversation.
0:54:21 I’m going to be dead soon.
0:54:22 It’s a chance to serve.
0:54:24 And then I realize I don’t have those skills.
0:54:26 I wouldn’t enjoy it.
0:54:34 And I think the best thing, and I’ve said this over and over, and I mean this sincerely, that we can do at Prop G Media is bring attention to great Democrats.
0:54:39 I just gave money to Desmond Crockett and James Tallarico, where I think are both amazing.
0:54:50 I love, I’m a huge fan of governors Shapiro, Moore, Newsom, Senators Klobuchar, Bennett, Governor Whitmer.
0:54:54 I just think we have just some outstanding people who’ve devoted their whole life to public service.
0:54:56 Can I interrupt and ask you a different question?
0:54:56 Sure.
0:54:58 Yeah, you’re sick of hearing this answer.
0:54:59 Well, I.
0:55:02 Yeah, go ahead, Ed.
0:55:07 Do you not think that if you ran, you might actually win?
0:55:11 Because that’s why people are interested in you running.
0:55:18 It’s like, one, you have a lot of fans, but I think a lot of people are like, if he runs, he’ll, he could actually win.
0:55:27 Like, he has more power among, in terms of a platform and a voice, more, a greater following.
0:55:29 Everyone in America trusts him more.
0:55:33 He’s got, he’s more aligned with the direction that the Democratic Party should be moving in.
0:55:43 Like, I get that it’s sort of like, you know, I don’t have the skills, but it’s sort of like, you actually do, and you could actually win.
0:55:46 And given the first, do you agree with that?
0:55:52 And two, assuming you do agree with that, how is that not tempting?
0:55:55 I think you’re being generous, to be blunt.
0:55:55 Okay.
0:55:58 Other people would not think that.
0:56:03 I just want to make sure you know, many, many people out there do not think I’m being generous, but please.
0:56:05 Well, I told you, this is a true story.
0:56:11 Several months ago, a group of people called me and said, if I put in 10 million, they’ll put in 10 million.
0:56:14 And I said, I’m not sure I could win.
0:56:15 And they said, it’s not about winning.
0:56:24 We want you to help shape the conversation around income inequality and, and the middle class and restoring, you know, prosperity for young people.
0:56:28 Anyways, but, okay, so assume you do win, right?
0:56:32 Would you want to spend, do you think you’re the best person to make these types of decisions?
0:56:49 Do you have empathy, leadership skills, an understanding of public policy, how to get things done in Washington, an incredible feel for geopolitics, empathy for how people are struggling and the skills to affect change?
0:56:52 I have some of those, but there are a lot of people that have more of them.
0:57:12 And I think that the fact that there’s any sort of chatter around the possibility of me running for office and being successful is just a vast, vastly incorrect underestimate of how talented some of the people are who are in Washington, who already have a lot of experience and know how to do these things.
0:57:20 So I just don’t, I feel like I’m fairly self-aware and I’m not a humble person, but I, I literally, I’m, I consider myself a patriot.
0:57:22 I’m moving back to the U.S.
0:57:23 I want to be part of the resistance.
0:57:27 I want, I, I feel like the Trump administration is a stain on the American experience.
0:57:30 I want to play a real significant role in changing that.
0:57:38 And then you think, well, all right, if you’re a real patriot, you’re going to figure out what weapon you are best to command and how you can best be a warrior in the fight.
0:57:40 And hands down, everything points to the same thing.
0:57:49 I’m going to bring a ton of attention and I’m going to use my time, treasure and talent to get an amazing group of young Democrats elected.
0:57:57 That is absolutely the best use of my time and skills and any sort of ego and narcissism that takes from that is nothing but ego and narcissism.
0:58:07 Sit down with Senators Murphy, sit down with Senator Bennett, sit, listen to, you know, Governor Moore, you know, you just, you meet these people.
0:58:08 Who’s that?
0:58:09 Wes Moore?
0:58:10 He’s fantastic.
0:58:14 I know, I know, I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m standing in for my generation.
0:58:15 Who, who are these guys?
0:58:16 I don’t know them.
0:58:17 Scott Galloway’s cool.
0:58:18 He’s on the internet.
0:58:20 Yeah.
0:58:21 He’s got the mojo.
0:58:25 Who are these boring dudes, these thoughtful dudes coming up with this?
0:58:30 That’s who should be deciding who goes, where the Sixth Fleet goes in the Mediterranean to, to suppress.
0:58:30 Yeah.
0:58:35 No, these, these individuals, um, uh, I would love to see a great Democrat.
0:58:39 And also I would love to see, uh, Admiral Stavridis as vice president.
0:58:41 Um, he’s, anyways.
0:58:45 But I love thinking about it because I’m a narcissist and it’s very, it’s very flattering.
0:58:49 But no, if you’re a patriot, you think about where, where you can best serve.
0:58:52 And that’s absolutely where we’re going to serve.
0:58:58 We’re going to, we’re going to help Democrats and moderate Republicans get elected, uh, in 26.
0:59:08 And then we’re going to play a small but important role in recapturing the White House in 28 and ending this weird, dark moment in history known as the Trump administration.
0:59:15 My promise to the audience, I know you love when I give these promises to the audience, my promise to the audience, I’m going to convince Scott to run.
0:59:16 It’s going to happen.
0:59:20 The Prof G legacy must continue.
0:59:24 We’ll stack the cabinet with Prof G media people.
0:59:25 Hey, weirder things have happened.
0:59:27 And Mia will be secretary of state.
0:59:32 Oh, Claire, you’d be much more qualified as secretary of war than, you know.
0:59:36 A chicken in every pot, a Cialis in every cupboard.
0:59:38 Galloway Elson, 2028.
0:59:40 There we go.
0:59:42 Let’s roll.
0:59:42 There we go.
0:59:43 Let’s roll.
0:59:47 This episode was produced by Claire Miller and engineered by Benjamin Spencer.
0:59:49 Our associate producer is Alison Weiss.
0:59:50 Mia Silveri is our research lead.
0:59:54 Our research associates are Isabella Kinsel, Dan Chalon, and Kristen O’Donoghue.
0:59:56 Drew Burrows is our technical director.
0:59:58 And Catherine Dillon is our executive producer.
1:00:03 Thank you for listening to Prof G markets from Prof G media all year long.
1:00:05 We really appreciate it.
1:00:08 And we will see you in 2026.
1:00:14 Lifetimes
1:00:15 Lifetimes
1:00:22 You help me
1:00:27 In kind reunion
1:00:34 As the world turns
1:00:39 And the dark flies
1:00:41 In love
1:00:41 In love
1:00:42 In love
1:00:44 In love
1:00:45 In love
1:00:46 In love
Scott Galloway, Ed Elson and Claire Miller answer listener questions about everything from Scott’s investment in a professional soccer team, Ed’s advice for analyzing stocks, and how Claire really feels about Scott’s dirty jokes. They also address Scott’s cooking abilities, give their updated thoughts on Figma since the IPO, and reveal what they splurge on. Plus, Scott divulges whether or not he is planning to run for office.
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