#863: Elad Gil, Consigliere to Empire Builders — How to Spot Billion-Dollar Companies Before Everyone Else, The Misty AI Frontier, How Coke Beat Pepsi, When Consensus Pays, and Much MoreElad Gil (@eladgil) is CEO of Gil & Co, a multi-stage investment firm, holding company, and operating company working on the world’s most advanced technologies. Elad is a serial entrepreneur, operating executive, and investor or advisor to private companies, including AirBnB, Anduril, Coinbase, Figma, Instacart, OpenAI, SpaceX, and Stripe. He was previously VP of Corporate Strategy at Twitter and started mobile at Google. He was the founder and CEO of Mixerlabs and Color. Elad is the author of the bestseller High Growth Handbook: Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People. This episode is brought to you by: Matic the intelligent robot vacuum and mop that navigates obstacles and needs no babysitting: MaticRobots.com/Tim AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement: DrinkAG1.com/Tim Eight Sleep Pod Cover 5 sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating: EightSleep.com/Tim  Helix Sleep premium mattresses: HelixSleep.com/Tim Timestamps [00:00:00] Start. [00:02:21] What’s the “AI personal IPO” that just quietly happened across Silicon Valley? [00:05:28] Tens to hundreds of millions per researcher: What top AI pay packages actually look like. [00:06:44] The compute ceiling: Why Korean memory fabs are the unlikely bottleneck throttling every AI lab on earth. [00:11:11] From zero to $30B run rate: The fastest revenue ramps in the history of capitalism. [00:17:24] The dot-com survival rate was one in 100. Buckle up, AI founders. [00:20:35] Your value-maximizing window: Why the next 12–18 months may be as good as it gets. [00:21:32] Durable advantage — and why the AI market is an oligopoly (for now). [00:24:12] Exit options for AI founders: labs, hyperscalers, vertical players, and the underrated merger of equals. [00:28:11] Math, biology, and intuitive leaps: Elad’s pre-investing background. [00:29:42] Elad’s revisionist genesis story. [00:30:50] Go where the cluster is: 91% of global AI private market cap lives in a 10×10 mile square. [00:33:20] The accidental investor: Patrick Collison walks, Airbnb intros, and deals that just happened. [00:34:37] Want money? Ask for advice. Want advice? Ask for money. [00:35:00] The High Growth Handbook: Tactical guide, not bedtime reading. [00:35:41] Market first, team second — with a Perplexity-and-Anduril asterisk. [00:37:43] Smoke in the distance: AlexNet and the transformative GPT-3 moment. [00:45:15] AI cold-reading: Feeding photos to the model and getting eerily accurate personality reads. [00:48:56] Has Elad ever done a retrospective on his own investing? [00:52:13] Power laws are terrifying: 10 companies, 80% of returns, two decades. [00:55:53] Avoiding science projects, and how SPACs accidentally saved hard tech investing. [00:59:20] The one-belief framework: Coinbase = crypto index. Stripe = e-commerce index. That’s the whole memo. [01:00:54] Due diligence theater vs. the one question that actually matters. [01:02:13] The four-year vest is a relic: How venture capital ate growth investing. [01:07:16] Boards as in-laws: You can’t fire them, so choose wisely. [01:09:47] “Valuation is temporary. Control is forever.” — Naval Ravikant, as quoted by Elad, as relayed to you. [01:11:30] How great companies actually grew: toolbars, name-targeted ads, and billions in distribution spend. [01:15:36] Selling software vs. selling labor hours: The real shift generative AI made. [01:18:40] Spotting a great market: regulatory shifts, technology shifts, and Hashi getting bought by IBM. [01:21:28] Fake TAM, real TAM, and the Coke CEO who realized he wasn’t in the soda business. [01:22:47] Right now, consensus is just correct. Save the contrarianism for later. [01:25:15] Market entry vs. market disruption: SpaceX launched rockets, then disrupted the internet. [01:26:16] How Elad learns: X, papers, 20-minute calls with the right people — and four AI models running in parallel. [01:27:15] Deep dive: ADHD, autism, and why diagnostic rates soared without more people actually having it. [01:33:40] Longevity for realists: sleep, creatine, and maybe rapamycin when the real drugs arrive. [01:40:30] Ibogaine, anesthesia, and the next frontier of bioelectric medicine. [01:45:15] Elad’s first-ever 10-year plan — and why making one changes everything. [01:46:53] Parting thoughts. * For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast. For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday. For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts. Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books. Follow Tim: Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss  Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss  LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-n […]

#862: Cathy Lanier, Chief Security Officer of the NFL — From 9th-Grade Dropout to DC’s Longest-Serving Police Chief, Protecting the Super Bowl, and Resilience Under Extreme PressureCathy Lanier is the Chief Security Officer of the National Football League, where she oversees security across the league office and all 32 clubs. Before the NFL, she served as Chief of Police of Washington, D.C., from 2007 to 2016 — the first woman in the role and the longest-serving chief in the force’s history — where her strategies helped cut violent crime by 21 percent even as the city’s population grew 15 percent. This episode is brought to you by: Eight Sleep Pod Cover 5 sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating: EightSleep.com/Tim  Shopify global commerce platform, providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business: Shopify.com/tim Helix Sleep premium mattresses: HelixSleep.com/Tim Wealthfront high-yield cash account: Wealthfront.com/Tim  Wealthfront disclaimer: New clients get 3.30% base APY from program banks + additional 0.75% boost for 3 months on your uninvested cash (max $150k balance). Terms and conditions apply. The Cash Account offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC (“WFB”) member FINRA/SIPC, not a bank. The base APY as of 1/30/26 is representative, can change, and requires no minimum. Tim Ferriss, a non-client, receives compensation from WFB for advertising and holds a non-controlling equity interest in the corporate parent of WFB, which creates a conflict of interest. Individual experiences and outcomes will differ. Instant withdrawals may be limited by your receiving firm and other factors. Investment advisory services provided by Wealthfront Advisers LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Securities investments: not bank deposits, not bank-guaranteed or FDIC-insured, and may lose value. TIMESTAMPS: [00:00] Start. [01:38] Cathy Lanier: from Tuxedo to the top. [03:22] Dad vanishes; Mom holds the line (and takes shorthand to the TV). [08:08] Bused into DC: straight-A student turns chronic truant. [10:37] Married at 15, signed over for $100 off child support. [12:54] The baby-in-the-crib wake-up call. [16:37] GED by a single point; secretary by day, waitress by night. [20:18] The Washington Post ad that changed everything. [20:39] 1990 MPD: into the crack cocaine wars. [23:46] Grandma’s gospel: no excuses, damned for doing. [26:23] Mount Pleasant riots: trial by brick, and a better-way epiphany. [33:23] Donny Exum’s nudge — and sergeant at 26. [38:56] Being a woman on the ’90s force: harassment and the 90-day dodge. [49:38] Marion Barry exits, Chuck Ramsey enters. [51:08] Lieutenant: the sweet spot. Captain: the desk (but keep the cuffs). [56:58] 9/11 and the surprise transfer to Special Ops. [58:07] Mentors lend confidence — and a counterterrorism bureau built from scratch. [1:00:14] Live Sarin, VX, and training with bioweapons legends. [1:02:22] Text the 50, get the 411: the tip line gambit. [1:03:36] Cultivating sources: the white Escalade payoff. [1:09:02] Attention to detail: OCD as a superpower. [1:10:43] Teletubby pagers to smartphones — and the Thomas Maslin reckoning. [1:15:14] NFL security: the scope of “everything.” [1:17:10] Red teaming, explained. [1:18:53] NFL vs. MPD: diversity and complexity that goes to 11. [1:21:24] The book club: The Tipping Point and Blink. [1:23:32] Decisions under pressure — and with incomplete information. [1:28:34] Billboard wisdom: it’s not what happens; it’s what you do. [1:30:08] Parting thoughts. * For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast. For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday. For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts. Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books. Follow Tim: Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss  Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss  LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-s […]

#861: 4-Hour Workweek Success Story, Brian Dean — From Dad’s Basement to Selling Two CompaniesBrian Dean is the founder of Backlinko and Exploding Topics, both acquired […]

#860: Daredevil Michelle Khare — How to Become a YouTube Superstar, Open Impossible Doors (FBI, Secret Service, etc.), Craft Jedi-Level Cold Emails, and Use Fear-Setting to Change Your LifeDaredevil Michelle Khare lives life to the extreme in Challenge Accepted, amassing more than 6 million followers and more than 1 billion views. Across the show, you’ll see Michelle attempt everything from Tom Cruise’s Deadliest stunt to Harry Houdini’s water torture cell to trying to earn a black belt in taekwondo in only 90 days. This episode is brought to you by: Fin powerful AI Agent for all your customer service: Fin.Ai/Tim Monarch track, budget, plan, and do more with your money: Monarch.com/Tim  Momentous Fiber+ 3-in-1 formula with soluble fiber, insoluble fiber, and Solnul® resistant starch: LiveMomentous.com/Tim AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement: DrinkAG1.com/Tim TIMESTAMPS: [00:00:00] Start. [00:00:24] Challenge Accepted: The logline and why breakdowns stay in the edit. [00:03:05] Growing up in Shreveport, LA: Friday night movies, the AFI Top 100, and interning on Snitch. [00:06:15] Podcasting: While “easier” than writing books, it’s a heck of a lot more work than meets the ear. [00:21:24] Quality over quantity: 8–10 episodes a year, scarcity as strategy, and building a defensible moat. [00:31:47] “Hard choices, easy life.” — Jerzy Gregorek, calling the FAA 300 times, and why no one copies you when the barrier is insanity. [00:35:32] Dartmouth to Google.org: the Fermi estimation faceplant and not getting the job. [00:37:10] BuzzFeed as graduate school of the internet. [00:40:37] Work for someone else first: My case against starting a company right out of school. [00:47:28] The stolen book: Michelle pulls out a battered 2016 copy of The 4-Hour Workweek and reads her fear-setting chart aloud. [00:51:10] “I’ve never designed my own rubric of success” — the nightmare, the repair plan, and what Michelle was putting off out of fear. [00:56:59] Practicing poverty: studio apartment, stripped-down life, moonlighting for a year, then the three-month-savings leap. [01:06:58] Kebab-shop destiny: meeting stunt coordinator Steve Brown in L.A. — now he does Avatar and straps Michelle to planes. [01:09:04] Surface area for luck: Bill Gurley, Kevin Kelly’s sleeping bag, and Seneca on voluntary discomfort. [01:12:44] Coach, mentor, cheerleader: the three-person Formula One team you actually need. [01:17:20] The art of the cold email — and cold-calling the FBI tip line to meet “The Hollywood Guy.” [01:21:55] Michelle’s three-paragraph, six-sentence formula for emails that open any door. [01:26:15] My cold email playbook: the “via” trick, include your damn cell number, and why “Yo, Ferriss” is an auto-archive. [01:36:24] The fake Tim Ferriss Podcast phishing scam: Zoom calls, screen access, and hijacked Facebook pages. [01:40:58] Emailing Hank Green, Brandon Sanderson’s unpublished novels, and why your first cold emails are just practice reps. [01:46:37] Michelle’s storytelling syllabus: Survivor, Snyder’s Save the Cat, and peer review of whatever went viral last week. [01:48:44] The magic of Jeff Probst, and dissecting the bones of storytelling. [01:53:12] John McPhee’s red-ink writing class at Princeton. [01:58:38] Six Thinking Hats broke Michelle’s pessimism; Radical Candor taught her how to give feedback. [02:07:20] The slinky org chart: Seven full-timers that balloon to 50 for a shoot, then compress right back. [02:21:21] Scope creep, saying no to big checks, and why Michelle has never hit creator burnout. [02:30:34] My No Book teaser: 850 pages on renegotiating commitments and getting back on the wagon. [02:33:31] The Mindy Kaling manifesto: @MindyKalingFan, The Office, and shattering expectations for Indian women in entertainment. [02:40:38] Wishlist shout-out: Norland College, where Mary Poppins meets Secret Service. [02:42:48] Episodes Michelle would pay to relive. [02:47:40] Episodes Michelle would pay to skip. [02:52:15] Seven marathons, seven continents, one week. [02:57:10] Free Solo, Alex Honnold in the creepy van, and things both of us would never do. [03:00:38] Books gifted most: Radical Candor, The Great CEO Within, and Adam Grant’s Originals. [03:01:21] Michelle’s billboard. [03:02:45] A primetime Emmy run and parting thoughts. * For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast. For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday. For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts. Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books. Follow Tim: Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss  Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss  LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-n […]

#859: Q&A with Tim — The Upcoming AI Tsunami and Building Offline Advantage, Book Recommendations, Spotting Psychedelic Red Flags, Courage as a Learnable Skill, and MoreWel […]

#858: The Random Show, Couch Edition! — Supplements, Hummingbirds, Cock Rings, Optimizing Mitochondria, Breathing and Balance Training, Cool Grip Strength Tools, and MoreWelco […]

#857: How to Simplify Your Life in 2026 — New Tips from Maria Popova, Morgan Housel, Cal Newport, Craig Mod, and Debbie MillmanMany of us feel like we’re drowning in i […]

#856: Jim Collins — What to Make of a Life and How to Maximize Your Return on LuckJim Collins has published multiple international bestsellers that have sold in […]

#855: Tim Ferriss — How to Quiet the Ruminative Mind, Avoid Traps of Self-Help, and Focus in a World of Promiscuous OvercommitmentThis episode is a bit different, and I […]

#854: Tish Rabe — 200+ Children’s Books, Getting Picked for Dr. Seuss, Lessons from Early Sesame Street, How to Write 300+ Songs, and MoreTish Rabe (@tishrabebooks) is the […]

#853: Jordan Jonas, Champion of Alone — The Art of Survival, Lessons from Nomadic Tribes, Hardship as the Path to Peace, How to Handle Rogue Wolverines, and Why Not to Photograph Attacking BearsJordan Jonas (@hobojordo) grew up on a farm in Idaho, rode freight trains across the US, spent time in remote Russian villages, fur trapped and travelled for several years with nomads in Siberia, and won Alone Season 6, after being the first contestant to truly thrive in the wilderness and harvest big game. You can learn more about Jordan’s axes at JordanJonas.com/Axe. This episode is brought to you by: Momentous high-quality creatine for cognitive and muscular support: LiveMomentous.com/Tim Monarch track, budget, plan, and do more with your money: Monarch.com/Tim Eight Sleep Pod Cover 5 sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating: EightSleep.com/Tim Cresset family office services for CEOs, founders, and entrepreneurs: CressetCapital.com/Tim * For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast. For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday. For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts. Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books. Follow Tim: Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss  Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss  LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/pri […]

#852: Tim McGraw — Starting Late with a $20 Guitar, Selling 100M+ Records, and 30+ Years of Creative LongevityTim McGraw (@thetimmcgraw) is a Grammy Award-winning […]

#851: Dr. Tommy Wood — How to Future-Proof Your Brain from DementiaDr. Tommy Wood (@DrRagnar) is an associate professor of pediatrics and neuroscience at the […]

#850: The Peace That’s Always Within You — Guided Meditation by Zen Master Henry ShukmanThis episode is part of a series called Meditation Monday. The teacher, Henry […]

#849: Dr. Michael Levin — Reprogramming Bioelectricity, Updating “Software” for Anti-Aging, Treating Cancer Without Drugs, Cognition of Cells, and Much MoreDr. Michael Levin […]

#848: From Stress to Stillness — Guided Meditation with Zen Master Henry ShukmanThis episode is part of a series called Meditation Monday. The teacher, Henry […]

#847: Steve Young, from Super Bowl MVP to Managing Billions – Hall of Fame 49ers Quarterback on High Performance, Reinvention, Faith, and How to Blend Dreams and PlansStev […]

#846: Permission to Do Nothing — Guided Meditation with Zen Master Henry ShukmanThis episode is part of a series called Meditation Monday. The teacher, Henry […]

#845: How to Use Ketosis for Enhanced Mood, Cognition, and Long-Term Brain Protection — A Practical and Tactical Guide with Dr. Dominic D’Agostino (Plus: Deconstructing Tim’s Latest Keto Experiment)Dr. Dominic D’Agostino (@DominicDAgosti2) is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine and a Visiting Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. This episode is brought to you by: Gusto simple and easy payroll, HR, and benefits platform used by 400,000+ businesses: https://gusto.com/tim  Seed’s DS-01® Daily Synbiotic broad spectrum 24-strain probiotic + prebiotic: https://Seed.com/Tim  David Protein Bars 28g of protein, 150 calories, and 0g of sugar: https://davidprotein.com/tim  Coyote the card game​, which I co-created with Exploding Kittens: https://coyotegame.com * For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast. For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday. For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts. Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books. Follow Tim: Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss  Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss  LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-se […]

#844: Be Still — Guided Meditation with Zen Master Henry ShukmanThis episode is part of a series called Meditation Monday. The teacher, Henry Shukman, has been on my […]