Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders

In this conversation, we explore:

• Eric's approach to writing a book entirely made up of Naval's words
• philosophy around wealth + happiness
• eastern vs western approaches
• permissionless leverage + ownership
• why desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy
• freedom to vs freedom from

Watch the full episode on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/J7j-5sgDkxQ

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Snippet
• 0:01:50 - Intro + Figuring Out Transitions
• 0:08:54 - Who Is Naval Ravikant?
• 0:15:08 - Unique Approach To Writing This Book
• 0:21:08 - Process Of Writing A Book
• 0:30:17 - Not Letting The Tools Get In The Way
• 0:33:12 - 80/20 Of Naval’s Philosophy on Wealth + Happiness
• 0:39:36 - The Older The Problem, The Older The Solution
• 0:41:10 - Eastern + Sufi Philosophy, Imam Ali + Nahj al-Balagha
• 0:45:06 - Western vs Eastern Philosophy - Meditation Example
• 0:46:49 - Seek Wealth, Not Money or Status
• 0:51:59 - Ownership, Wage Work + “Do not fear work that has no end”
• 0:55:51 - Types of Leverage
• 1:00:17 - Sponsor Break - Nord VPN
• 1:01:20 - Permissionless Leverage, Gatekeepers + DeFi
• 1:12:33 - Creative Work For Its Own Sake
• 1:14:33 - A Year To Decide, And A Day of Acting
• 1:18:58 - Antigoals + Sacrificing Today For An Imaginary Tomorrow
• 1:25:49 - Background on Creator Lab
• 1:27:48 - Buddha Was A Prince
• 1:32:56 - FIRE Community + Knowing How Much Is Enough?
• 1:40:43 - Direction vs Speed
• 1:44:10 - Happiness = Not Suffering
• 1:49:19 - Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy
• 1:56:38 - Losing Motivation + Hunger
• 1:59:47 - Happiness is peace in motion, and peace is happiness at rest
• 2:03:07 - Healing Old Wounds
• 2:05:38 - Freedom To vs Freedom From

Thank you to my sponsors:

AppSumo - the marketplace entrepreneurs trust to buy and sell the products that grow small businesses into name brands:
https://www.appsumo.com

Nord VPN - https://nordvpn.com/clab 
Coupon code: CLAB

Bilal breaks down the secret sauce that makes Google + YouTube two of the greatest businesses of all time. 

We discuss the ad auction, how Google understands intent better than anyone, the future of advertising + compare YouTube, Netflix + live TV.

Subscribe + listen to the full episode on "Not Investment Advice":

https://linktr.ee/notinvestmentadvice

Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/not-investment-advice/id1563288568?itsct=podcast_box_link&itscg=30200&ls=1

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/0Pogh5lcyKxmZVKQnao8zT?si=DSuMCklFTM-mOV9WbltZkg&dl_branch=1

YouTube:
https://youtube.com/notinvestmentadvice

Join our groupchat on Telegram:
https://t.me/notinvestmentadvice

Let me know what you think on Twitter: @bzaidi

Thank you to my sponsors:

AppSumo - the marketplace entrepreneurs trust to buy and sell the products that grow small businesses into name brands:
https://www.appsumo.com

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Mary Grove is Managing Partner of Bread and Butter Ventures. She brings nearly two decades of leadership experience in technology, early-stage investing, and startup ecosystem growth. 

She began her career working on the Google IPO, and went on to lead new business development partnerships, negotiating early-stage product and technology deals worldwide. 

She was the founding director of Google for Startups, leading the company’s global efforts to support entrepreneurs in over 100 countries.

Let us know what you think on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/bzaidi
https://twitter.com/marygrove

Watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/t52IaNs2IYE

Timestamps: 

• 0:00:00 - Preview
• 0:01:52 - Google IPO Team, Google For Startups + VC
• 0:09:05 - What Changed After Google IPO?
• 0:12:36 - Figuring Out Your Next Career Step
• 0:15:03 - Career Mistakes
• 0:17:19 - Knowing When To Move On
• 0:20:27 - Google For Startups
• 0:24:04 - International Startup Hubs
• 0:29:13 - Only 65% Of The World Has Internet Access
• 0:31:22 - Thesis To Invest Outside Of The Coasts
• 0:36:10 - Investing In A Distributed + Remote Work World
• 0:39:58 - Health Tech, Food Tech + SaaS
• 0:44:33 - Investing In Clipboards + Fax Machines
• 0:45:14 - Solo Capitalists + Creators Becoming Investors
• 0:49:22 - Learning How To Be A Good Startup Investor
• 0:53:36 - What Their Team Looks Like
• 0:54:38 - The Funnel of Dealflow To Get To 15 Startup Investments
• 0:56:38 - Being Proactive About Diversity In LPs, Founders + Hiring
• 1:01:26 - Close

Learn more about Bread & Butter Ventures:

• https://www.breadandbutterventures.com/
• https://medium.com/bread-and-butter-ventures

Thank you to our sponsors:

AppSumo - the marketplace entrepreneurs trust to buy and sell the products that grow small businesses into name brands:
https://www.appsumo.com

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Ryan Berckmans is an ex-Amazon + fintech startup engineer. He's been involved with the Ethereum community for many years + invests in the crypto space.

He recently published a bullish thesis for investing in ETH at:
ethereumcashflow.com

Watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/u3IGTSBzwOk

Let us know what you think on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/bzaidi
https://twitter.com/RyanBerckmans

In this conversation you'll learn about:

• blockchains, bitcoin + ethereum
• difference between ethereum + ether (ETH)
• ETH 2.0 + the transition from proof of work to proof of stake
• how to earn 6-20% yield from ETH "staking"
• applications of DeFi, peer-to-peer lending, smart contracts + NFTs
• alternatives like Solana + what could still go wrong
• side chains (Polygon) + layer 2 rollups (Arbetrum)

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Snippet
• 0:01:18 - Intro To Ryan + What We’ll Cover
• 0:05:57 - Explaining Blockchain, Bitcoin + Ethereum
• 0:08:25 - Decentralization
• 0:13:57 - Difference Between Bitcoin Blockchain, Currency + Example Transaction
• 0:19:55 - Game Of Monopoly Example
• 0:21:50 - Ethereum Is Like The App Store + Uniswap Example
• 0:26:52 - What’s Being Built On Ethereum? ENS domains, Defi + NFTs
• 0:30:02 - Smart Contracts
• 0:31:24 - Decentralized Lending Through Code vs Banks
• 0:32:37 - “An App That Can’t Lie”
• 0:34:39 - Individuals Earning Yield Like The Banks
• 0:36:17 - Eco Is Like A Decentralized Venmo
• 0:37:26 - Ethereum Cash Flow Thesis
• 0:39:04 - Transition From Confidence To Cashflow Based Investment
• 0:42:06 - Replacing Basic Lawyer Tasks With Smart Contracts?
• 0:43:15 - Complimentary To Bitcoin
• 0:45:01 - ETH 2.0
• 0:47:03 - Consuming Less Energy + Impact On Environment
• 0:48:00 - Proof Of Work vs Proof Of Stake
• 0:51:10 - Solving For Scarcity
• 0:52:41 - EIP 1559 - Destroying ETH Tokens + How Fees Work
• 0:58:01 - How To Earn Yield By Staking ETH
• 0:58:50 - 3 Rewards As A Validator
• 1:03:34 - Staking Through Lido Without 32 ETH Minimum
• 1:05:11 - What % Yield Can You Expect From ETH? Why Will It Change?
• 1:09:56 - Currently 8 Day Wait To Be A Validator
• 1:12:29 - Why Yield Will Go Up + Down
• 1:14:16 - Summary Of ETH Bull Case
• 1:15:09 - What Could Go Wrong? Bear Case For ETH
• 1:17:25 - Why Can’t We Do This All On Bitcoin Instead?
• 1:22:29 - Network Effects + Head Start
• 1:23:15 - Promise Of Solana As An Alternative?
• 1:29:16 - Other Alternatives: DOT, Cardano, Binance Smart Chain
• 1:30:24 - Polygon/Matic + Side Chains
• 1:32:57 - Scaling Solutions + Rollups
• 1:34:48 - How Ryan Is Investing
• 1:39:41 - Do Your Own Research + Understand Risks And Downside
• 1:41:40 - Advanced Levels Of Yield Farming

Thank you to our sponsors:

AppSumo - the marketplace entrepreneurs trust to buy and sell the products that grow small businesses into name brands:
https://www.appsumo.com

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Bilal Zaidi is joined by Jack Butcher, Trung Phan & Alex Cohen to discuss the latest in business, technology & memes.

Listen to the full convo on "Not Investment Advice":

Apple:
https://pod.link/notadvicepod.apple

Spotify:
https://pod.link/notadvicepod.spotify

YouTube:
https://youtu.be/t1MmZk6aWnI

Let us know what you think on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/bzaidi

http://twitter.com/trungtphan

http://twitter.com/jackbutcher

http://twitter.com/anothercohen

Lenny writes the #1 business newsletter on Substack (Lenny's Newsletter) and previously sold his company, Localmind, to Airbnb.

He then spent 7yrs at Airbnb leading product + growth teams and now angel invests + works as a full-time creator.

Watch + subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/aogsYWWnq60

Get every episode + giveaways sent to your inbox: https://www.creatorlab.fm/subscribe/

Let us know what you think on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/bzaidi​

https://twitter.com/lennysan

In this conversation you'll learn about:

– the racecar growth framework:
growth engines, turbo boosts, lubricants + fuel

– core growth engines:
performance marketing, virality, content + sales

– examples from Airbnb, Zapier, Superhuman, Wish, Casper + others

– benchmarks for user retention + types of virality 

– 3 steps to getting early users

– growing a newsletter + the differences in approach for creators vs companies

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Snippet + What We Cover
• 0:01:28 - Sponsor Break
• 0:02:17 - Lenny Intro + Background
• 0:07:38 - Scale of Newsletter
• 0:09:17 - Questions To Ask Yourself When Figuring Out Your Next Step
• 0:12:18 - Energy + The Struggle Of The Content Treadmill
• 0:13:31 - Early Days Of Airbnb
• 0:15:09 - Creating Something Remarkable
• 0:17:22 - Racecar Growth Framework - Who Is This For?
• 0:18:20 - Early vs Late Stage Growth
• 0:19:48 - Engine, Turbo Boosts, Lubricants + Fuel
• 0:20:05 - Growth Engines - virality, performance marketing, content, sales + bonus examples
• 0:24:11 - “1st time founders focus on product, 2nd time founders focus on distribution”
• 0:28:09 - Becoming The Best In The World At 1 or 2
• 0:28:38 - Airbnb vs Booking
• 0:29:16 - Performance Marketing
• 0:30:51 - Wish + Casper - Built On Performance Marketing
• 0:31:42 - Feasibility When Bootstrapping
• 0:32:31 - If You Should Be Performance Marketing Driven: 1) Generating Revenue From Users 2) Not Something Users Are Looking For
• 0:34:01 - Growth vs Brand Marketing
• 0:35:37 - When To Expand To The Next Engine + S Curve
• 0:36:56 - Examples Of Virality - Word-of-mouth, referrals, inviting friends, etc
• 0:40:22 - Bottoms Up vs Top Down Virality
• 0:41:31 - Knowing When You’re Going Viral - K Factor vs % of people who came in thru referral
• 0:42:33 - % Benchmark To Aim For
• 0:43:24 - Companies Who Are Suited To Viral Growth
• 0:43:48 - Clubhouse + FOMO
• 0:45:17 - User Generated Content Loop
• 0:47:29 - Data Driven SEO - Zapier + Thumbtack
• 0:49:11 - Editorial SEO + Figuring Out Content Strategy
• 0:50:31 - Superhuman Example
• 0:51:13 - Desired Outcomes, Primary + Secondary KPIs
• 0:52:43 - Sales Channel
• 0:55:19 - Turbo Boosts + Lubricants
• 0:56:52 - Power Of Events
• 0:58:37 - Retention + Conversion
• 1:00:41 - Activation: Using Product For Its Core Purpose
• 1:02:03 - Superhuman , Creators + The Customers Who Care
• 1:05:38 - User Retention Benchmarks
• 1:07:44 - Common Pitfalls
• 1:09:36 - Getting First 1000 newsletter subscribers
• 1:11:20 - 3 steps to getting early users
• 1:14:45 - Creators vs Companies - Finding Core Users
• 1:19:27 - Would You Still Be Doing This With 1000 Subs?
• 1:20:55 - 5 “Jobs To Be Done” Of Content
• 1:21:49 - Newsletter Discoverability
• 1:23:42 - What Gives You Energy
• 1:25:23 - Airbnb Job vs Creator Life
• 1:26:22 - Tim Urban on Content That Spreads
• 1:27:18 - Creators: Value vs Support
• 1:29:22 - Decision To Stay On Substack
• 1:31:31 - Knowing What To Write About
• 1:35:57 - Longer-Term Plan

Thank you to our sponsors:

AppSumo - the marketplace entrepreneurs trust to buy and sell the products that grow small businesses into name brands:
https://www.appsumo.com

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Subscribe to "Not Investment Advice":
https://pod.link/notadvicepod

Watch + Subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/_pqfAU92ZGw

Let us know what you think on Twitter:

@bzaidi
@jackbutcher
@trungtphan

Jack Butcher, Bilal Zaidi & Trung Phan discuss the latest in business, technology & memes.

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Snippet + What We Cover
• 0:01:40 - Best Bad Investments + The Surprise Gap
• 0:05:27 - Anti-Life Portfolio - Trung’s 20s In Vietnam
• 0:08:33 - Bilal’s 401k Mistake
• 0:12:33 - Paper Hands
• 0:15:34 - Immigrants + Property
• 0:17:21 - Jack’s 20s + Working On Brands
• 0:18:32 - Working on Ferrari
• 0:20:57 - “You’ll Never Work In This Town Again”
• 0:22:40 - Anti Warren Buffet Portfolio
• 0:27:43 - European Super League
• 0:39:03 - Meme School On The Blockchain
• 0:48:46 - Trung’s Comedy Script (Preview)
• 0:50:29 - Audience Question: Life 5yrs Ago Vs Now
• 0:54:14 - Jack’s 180
• 0:56:30 - Trung 5yrs ago vs now
• 0:59:18 - Useless Dads + Super Moms
• 1:02:08 - What Changed After Becoming A Dad

Ben Tossell is the founder of Makerpad, the leading online community for No Code. 

His company was recently acquired by Zapier, a $5bil+ tech company. Ben is also an educator + investor in the no code space.

In this conversation you'll learn about:

• what it was like to get acquired by Zapier
• developing the maker muscle by starting + launching projects
• what it takes to build a paid learning community + knowing when to monetize
• 80/20 of learning no code
• evolution of learning + membership models

Watch + subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/ONh66pmDUwk

Get every episode + giveaways sent to your inbox: https://www.creatorlab.fm/subscribe/

Let us know what you think on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/bzaidi​
https://twitter.com/bentossell

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Snippet + What We Cover
• 0:01:12 - Sponsor Break
• 0:02:00 - Ben Intro + Time In China
• 0:06:21 - Getting Acquired By Zapier
• 0:13:06 - Before Makerpad - 50+ Projects
• 0:17:11 - Knowing When To Move On From Projects
• 0:21:26 - Role Of Fear
• 0:25:02 - Motivation, Parents + Buying A Yacht
• 0:29:20 - Zapier - Expectation vs Reality
• 0:33:02 - Working With Someone Who Built A $5bil Company (Wade)
• 0:36:00 - No Code + Paid Learning Communities
• 0:39:57 - Size Of Makerpad + 10k Community Success Stories
• 0:46:12 - Reforge + Membership Models
• 0:48:21 - Evolution Of Learning
• 0:50:44 - Shishir (Coda) + Unbundling
• 0:51:58 - Masterclass, Edutainment + Netflix
• 0:54:03 - Paid Products - Make You Money Or Save You Time
• 1:02:36 - Knowing When To Charge
• 1:04:16 - Other Projects Ben Considered
• 1:07:16 - Types of entrepreneurs
• 1:16:09 - 80/20 of growing Makerpad
• 1:19:06 - Paid Acquisition
• 1:19:44 - Hiring Good People
• 1:22:17 - Working In vs On The Business
• 1:25:09 - Starting In 2021 - What Would You Do Differently
• 1:26:05 - “Hope No Code Isn’t A Thing In 5yrs”
• 1:30:15 - 80/20 of learning no code
• 1:33:31 - What’s Missing In No Code

Thank you to our sponsors:

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Micro Acquire - the largest startup acquisition marketplace, join 50k+ others and buy or sell your startup:
http://www.microacquire.com

Watch the full episode on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/ZNFxICgbkuY

Let us know what you think on Twitter:

@bzaidi
@jackbutcher
@trungtphan

This is an experimental episode w/ Trung Phan & Jack Butcher discussing the latest in business, technology & memes.

Expect a raw & uncut convo, mostly filled with silly, fun banter.

You'll hear us discuss:

• behind the scenes look at Jack's recent NFT success & crowdsourced Figma experiment
• Balaji's convo w/ Tim Ferriss
• The Future Of Online identity:  pseudonymous vs anonymous vs real names
• Coinbase going public
• WeWork documentary
• Difference between Fyre Fest + Tesla
• Potential for decentralized social networks + Bitclout
• The mechanics of memes + what it's like to write a daily newsletter to 1.7mil people
• Why Jack dubbed Trung "Fiat Phan"

Time Stamps:

• 0:00:00 - Snippet + What We Cover
• 0:03:08 - Start
• 0:03:25 - Intros - Trung, Jack + Bilal
• 0:04:53 - ROI On Jack’s Tweets
• 0:06:26 - Inside Look At Jack’s NFTs
• 0:16:48 - NFTs Explained - Visualize Value
• 0:18:06 - Meme Mechanics + The Roast Of Jack Butcher
• 0:19:49 - Selling An NFT For $150k
• 0:20:49 - Trung’s Theory
• 0:23:03 - Jack’s Opinion On NFTs
• 0:29:13 - From Nations To Nodes
• 0:30:16 - Crowdsourcing Creativity On Figma
• 0:32:24 - What Goes Into Writing A Daily Email To 1.7mil People?
• 0:34:53 - “Give Me That Dopamine Son!”
• 0:37:26 - Ideas From Balaji’s Tim Ferriss Podcast
• 0:38:38 - “2020 is the year the internet starts”
• 0:40:23 - Pseudonymity + The Future Of Identity Online
• 0:49:03 - Bitclout + Moving Beyond Rented Platforms
• 0:51:59 - “Can I Get A Dollar Son”
• 0:54:58 - Bitclout, legit or scam?
• 0:56:15 - “Not Financial Advice”
• 0:58:36 - Fiat Phan
• 1:01:33 - US, China + Bitcoin
• 1:05:40 - Coinbase Going Public
• 1:12:04 - WeWork Documentary
• 1:15:57 - Reality Distortion Field
• 1:20:49 - Difference Between Fyre Fest + Tesla

Kevin is the co-founder + CEO of Rally,  a platform that allows creators to launch their own digital currency + build independent economies with their communities.

He's also Chairman of Gen.G, an esports enterprise bridging Asia and North America. Previously, Kevin co-founded Kabam, a top mobile gaming company that grew to $400M/yr in revenue, 500+ million players and sold for nearly $1 billion.

Watch + subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/mlSl5q_n9xU

Get every episode + giveaways sent to your inbox: https://www.creatorlab.fm/subscribe/

Let us know what you think on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/bzaidi​
https://twitter.com/kevinchou

In this conversation you'll learn about:

• emerging waves like AI, crypto, climate change + biotech
• evolution of the gaming industry + its business models
• rise of social gaming, esports, live streaming + where we're today
• gartner's hype cycle + how this applies to crypto
• how Rally is empowering creators to develop their own economies
• why there's a need for decentralized alternatives

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 – Preview Of Convo
• 0:02:19 – Sponsor Break
• 0:03:08 – Intro + Kevin’s Interest In Gaming
• 0:07:00 – 50 Games + 500mil Users
• 0:08:23 – Moment You Understand Ownership
• 0:14:59 – Hype Cycles + “Finding Something New”
• 0:20:57 – Other Waves: AI, Climate Change, Biotech
• 0:23:11 – What Is Rally?
• 0:24:02 – How Creator’s Use Rally
• 0:31:02 – What Are The Alternatives?
• 0:33:22 – NFT vs creator coin + creating an economy
• 0:37:49 – Why is it beneficial for a game to have its own currency?
• 0:46:04 – Kabam – Building A Billion Dollar Gaming Company
• 0:48:39 – Evolution Of Gaming Industry – 2.5bil People Playing Games
• 0:52:06 – Impact Of Social + Mobile On Gaming
• 0:53:38 – Gaming Business Models – Virtual Goods, Micro Transactions, Ads
• 0:56:04 – Fortnight
• 0:57:24 – Psychology Of Buying Virtual Goods
• 1:00:31 – Streaming – Watching People Play Games
• 1:04:54 – Rise of esports
• 1:09:33 – esports vs traditional sports
• 1:12:25 – NFTs + Vectors Of Opportunity
• 1:13:16 – Crypto Transcends Nations
• 1:16:56 – Digital Gold + Oil
• 1:18:44 – Problems with government money printing, dollars are worthless
• 1:23:31 – Price Volatility + Stable Coins
• 1:25:59 – Putting Bitcoin On Your Balance Sheet
• 1:29:43 – What does a decentralized alternative look like
• 1:33:37 – Decentralized social networks?
• 1:34:43 – “there is no corporation who runs email”
• 1:37:07 – Investing
• 1:39:34 – How to participate in crypto

Thank you to our sponsors:

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Micro Acquire - the largest startup acquisition marketplace, join 50k+ others and buy or sell your startup:
http://www.microacquire.com