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Jul 31 2025

You Have to Enjoy It a Lot

Marketing is an open problem. People try to solve marketing in different ways. Some people will create videos, some people will write or tweet. Some people will literally stand outside with a sandwich board. Some people will go make a whole bunch of friends and just throw parties and spread by word of mouth. More

Jul 25 2025

In Most Difficult Things in Life, The Solution is Indirect

Like in most interesting, difficult things in life, the solution is indirect. That was part of the How to Get Rich tweetstorm, which is, if you want to get rich, you don’t directly just go for the money. I suppose you could like a bankster, but if you’re building something of value and you’re using leverage and you’re taking accountability and you’re applying your specific knowledge, you’re going to make money as a byproduct. More

Dec 13 2021

To a Caveman Very Few Things Are Resources

There was a time when coal wasn’t a resource
There was a story on ITV in the U.K. talking about how much supposed waste Amazon produces, that Amazon was routinely destroying a whole bunch of products. I thought, “Why are these people inserting their opinion into a business that they know absolutely nothing about?” Would they prefer Amazon to have the perfect knowledge of precisely how many products need to be made? In other words, an epistemologically impossible situation to be in. More

Nov 22 2021

Don’t Rely on Credibility Stamps

The generation-long shift from institutions to individuals will be messy
There are a lot of institutions in our society today that rely on credibility stamps. They used to be how you gain credibility in society. If you were a journalist writing for The New York Times or The Washington Post, then you had the masthead of The Times and The Post. More

Oct 8 2021

With a Good Theory of Knowledge, You Can Decide What Else Is True

David Deutsch’s theory is centered around good explanations
David Deutsch has this great view of the world where he believes that everything important is understandable by a single human. By important he means the underlying base theories that drive most of reality. Deutsch fixates on four theories. I could argue maybe there are a few more, especially if you start getting into Adam Smith and The Wealth of Nations and a few other more sociological ones. More

Sep 14 2020

The Box

“Here and now,” says the voice. It speaks with an assumed familiarity, as if it were the voice in my head, embodied. The voice emanates from the box itself. I am in the box, a simple dark cube, tall enough to stand inside, if I were standing. I can’t see my face or my hands. More
Sep 14 2020

Jul 15 2020

Matt Ridley: How Innovation Works, Part 2

Innovation is the parent of prosperity
Naval interviews Matt Ridley, the author of The Red Queen and, recently, How Innovation Works. Also see Part 1. Innovation Famine I have a chapter towards the end of the book where I complain about the fact that we are living through an innovation famine, not an innovation feast—particularly in areas other than digital. More

Jun 12 2020

How to Angel Invest, Part 2

A preview of our other podcast
We have another podcast called Spearhead, where we discuss startups and angel investing. This is a compilation of recent episodes. Also, see Part 1. Everybody Thinks They Already Have Good Judgment It takes years to know if you have good judgment For the past few episodes, we talked about why you should angel invest and how to get proprietary dealflow by building a brand. More
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