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David Senra

Learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs. Every week I read a biography of an entrepreneur and find ideas you can use in your work.

This quote explains why: "There are thousands of years of history in which lots and lots of very smart people worked very hard and ran all types of experiments on how to create new businesses, invent new technology, new ways to manage etc. They ran these experiments throughout their entire lives. At some point, somebody put these lessons down in a book. For very little money and a few hours of time, you can learn from someone’s accumulated experience. There is so much more to learn from the past than we often realize. You could productively spend your time reading experiences of great people who have come before and you learn every time." —Marc Andreessen

Founders

"I set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be.” —Rick Rubin. This episode is what I learned from reading The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin. 

Episode sponsors: ⁠

Ramp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud ⁠⁠⁠by going to Ramp.com and learn how they can help your business control your costs and save time and money.⁠⁠⁠ 

Automate compliance, security, and trust with Vanta.⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Vanta helps you win trust, close deals, and stay secure—faster and with less effort⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠Find out how increased security leads to more customers by going to Vanta⁠⁠⁠. Tell them David from Founders sent you and you'll get $1000 off. https://www.vanta.com/founders

Collateral⁠⁠ transforms your complex ideas into compelling narratives. Collateral crafts institutional grade marketing collateral. Storytelling is one of the highest forms of leverage and you should invest heavily in it. You can do that by going to ⁠⁠https://collateral.com

Some of my favorite quotes: 

(00:00) Just one habit, at the top of any field, can be enough to give an edge over the competition.

(1:00) It must have been frustrating for these elite athletes, who wanted to get on the court and show what they could do, to arrive at practice for the first time with this legendary coach only to hear him say, Today we will learn to tie our shoes. 

The point Wooden was making was that creating effective habits, down to the smallest detail, is what makes the difference between winning and losing games. 

Each habit might seem small, but added together, they have an exponential effect on performance. 

Just one habit, at the top of any field, can be enough to give an edge over the competition. 

(8:41) Faith allows you to trust the direction without needing to understand it.

(10:16) If you make the choice of reading classic literature every day for a year, rather than reading the news, by the end of that time period you’ll have a more honed sensitivity for recognizing greatness from the books than from the media.

This applies to every choice we make. The friends we choose, the conversations we have, even the thoughts we reflect on. All of these aspects affect our ability to distinguish good from very good, very good from great. They help us determine what’s worthy of our time and attention.

Because there’s an endless amount of data available to us and we have a limited bandwidth to conserve, we might consider carefully curating the quality of what we allow in.

(14:25) We’re affected by our surroundings, and finding the best environment to create a clear channel is personal and to be tested.

(27:57) Rules direct us to average behaviors. If we’re aiming to create works that are exceptional, most rules don’t apply. Average is nothing to aspire to. The goal is not to fit in. Communicate your singular perspective.

(28:30) It’s a healthy practice to approach our work with as few accepted rules, starting points, and limitations as possible. Often the standards in our chosen medium are so ubiquitous, we take them for granted. They are invisible and unquestioned.

(29:00) The world isn’t waiting for more of the same. Often, the most innovative ideas come from those who master the rules to such a degree that they can see past them or from those who never learned them at all.

(38:50) Fear of criticism. Attachment to a commercial result. Competing with past work. Time and resource constraints. The aspiration of wanting to change the world. And any story beyond “I want to make the best thing I can make, whatever it is” are all undermining forces in the quest for greatness.

(42:32) To hone your craft is to honor creation. By practicing to improve, you are fulfilling your ultimate purpose on this planet.

#409 The Creative Genius of Rick Rubin

In 2024 Brad Jacobs wrote the book How to Make a Few Billion Dollars. 

In the book Brad explains how he built 8 separate billion dollar companies and other lessons from his 40+ year career as an elite entrepreneur. 

In the two years since Brad has made a few MORE billion dollars and so the sequel to his first book is: How to Make a Few MORE Billion Dollars. 

In this episode I share some of Brad's ideas on raising tons of money (Brad has raised over $50 billion), mastering his integration playbook, ideas for organizational integration, org chart design, and how Brad keeps his mind centered and in a positive place to handle the inevitable ups and downs of building great companies. 

Episode sponsors: ⁠

Ramp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud ⁠⁠⁠by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save time and money.⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ramp.com

Automate compliance, security, and trust with Vanta.⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Vanta helps you win trust, close deals, and stay secure—faster and with less effort⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠Find out how increased security leads to more customers by going to Vanta⁠⁠⁠. Tell them David from Founders sent you and you'll get $1000 off. https://vanta.com/founders⁠⁠⁠

Collateral⁠⁠ transforms your complex ideas into compelling narratives. Collateral crafts institutional grade marketing collateral for private equity, private credit, real estate, venture capital, family offices, hedge funds, oil & gas companies, and all kinds of corporations. Storytelling is one of the highest forms of leverage and you should invest heavily in it. You can do that by going to ⁠⁠https://collateral.com

#408 How to Make a Few MORE Billion Dollars: Brad Jacobs

The Life of Jesus as told in the book Jesus: A Biography of a Believer by Paul Johnson. 

This episode was originally published on Christmas Eve 2023.

The Life of Jesus

A viciously unhappy childhood causes Bruce Springsteen to retreat into work in an extreme way as he searches for success (and control). He channels his pain into focus and drive and gets everything he thought he wanted. He didn’t yet know he was lying to himself. He will find that out soon. He falls into a deep depression. One that almost leads to s*icide. With the help of his true friend Jon Landau he seeks professional help. This help helps immediately. The lie he was telling himself was that work was the most important thing in his life. What he really wanted, was what he was incapable of doing: forming a lasting and loving relationship with a woman. For that he realizes he can’t run. For that he realizes he has to stay. That thought terrifies him and is what caused him to seek help. He meets a truly singular woman and for the first time in his life he's able to have a healthy relationship with someone he loves. This realization comes almost 400 pages into Bruce’s incredible autobiography (one of the best I’ve ever read) and it is shocking. I originally thought I was making an episode about Bruce Springsteen’s extreme work ethic (one example: He wrote this book out by hand, multiple times, over 7 years. It’s almost 600 pages. He’s like this with everything btw.) But as I read, and reread this book over the last 6 months I realized that is not the most important part of the story. The work Bruce had to do to fix his mind is the heart and soul of the book. The work he did with Dr. Wayne Myers over 25 years is what allowed him to have a life. Not just a job. A life.

As Bruce says after coming through the other side of this: “Work is work . . . but life . . . is life . . . and life trumps art . . . always.”

This is a very unusual episode of Founders. I hope you enjoy it. If you want to skip to the part where he starts dealing with the struggles going on in his mind that starts 46 minutes in. 
 
Episode sponsors: ⁠

Ramp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud ⁠⁠⁠by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save time and money.⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ramp.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Automate compliance, security, and trust with Vanta.⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Vanta helps you win trust, close deals, and stay secure—faster and with less effort⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠Find out how increased security leads to more customers by going to Vanta⁠⁠⁠. Tell them David from Founders sent you and you'll get $1000 off. ⁠⁠⁠https://www.vanta.com/founders⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠

Collateral⁠⁠ transforms your complex ideas into compelling narratives. Collateral crafts institutional grade marketing collateral for private equity, private credit, real estate, venture capital, family offices, hedge funds, oil & gas companies, and all kinds of corporations. Storytelling is one of the highest forms of leverage and you should invest heavily in it. You can do that by going to ⁠⁠https://collateral.com

#407 Bruce Springsteen Repairs the Hole in Himself

Christian von Koenigsegg is unapologetically in the pursuit of greatness. Koenigsegg builds some of the fastest and most expensive cars on Earth, has a cult-like following, and relentlessly seeks out challenges he can innovate on. After building his company for more than 30 years, his love and passion for his craft is still as strong as ever. This episode explores some of the most important ideas I found from studying his life and career. It's perfect for anyone that wants to live their dream. 

Episode sponsors: ⁠

Ramp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud ⁠⁠⁠by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save time and money.⁠⁠⁠ 

Automate compliance, security, and trust with Vanta.⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Vanta helps you win trust, close deals, and stay secure—faster and with less effort⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠Find out how increased security leads to more customers by going to Vanta⁠⁠⁠. Tell them David from Founders sent you and you'll get $1000 off. ⁠⁠⁠https://www.vanta.com/founders⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠

Collateral⁠⁠ transforms your complex ideas into compelling narratives. Collateral crafts institutional grade marketing collateral for private equity, private credit, real estate, venture capital, family offices, hedge funds, oil & gas companies, and all kinds of corporations. Storytelling is one of the highest forms of leverage and you should invest heavily in it. You can do that by going to ⁠⁠https://collateral.com

Sources:

Apex: The Story of the Hypercar 

Koenigsegg Documentary 

Ultimate Koenigsegg Factory Tour With Christian Von Koenigsegg 

BMW Podcast Episode 75

Chronicles of Koenigsegg: The World's Fastest Car Company 

How To Build A Koenigsegg - NEW Factory Tour

How Koenigsegg Sets Hypercar World Records! | Beyond Victory #19 | Nico Rosberg 

Inside Sweden’s Innovation Factory 

Christian von Koenigsegg Talks About the Future and His Nerves Leading Up to the Speed Record

Christian von Koenigsegg Interview: The Technical Power of Lateral Thinking

Interview with Christian Von Koenigsegg

Cars and Culture #25 - Koenigsegg Automotive AB CEO & Founder Christian von Koenigsegg 

Hypercar Boss Chat! Fixing Jaguar, Horsepower Wars & More 

Koenigsegg History

#406 Christian von Koenigsegg

I'm reposting one of my favorite founder stories. If you listened to this first time I recommend listening again. If you missed this before, you're about to hear one of the wildest founder stories of all time.

A few surprising things I learned from reading about Dietrich Mateschitz, founder of Red Bull: 

1. He started the company when he was 41 years old.

2. He was making $500 to $800 million a year and his 49% stake is worth $20 to $30 billion.

3. He still prioritized fitness deep into his 70s and liked driving fast, piloting his planes, and competing in off-road motorcycle races. 

4. The company was started with just $500,000 from Mateschitz and $500,000 from his partner. Outside of a small loan from a local bank all other expansion was funded by profits. 

5. The company reached profitability in its 3rd year and has been profitable every year since. (33 years and counting)

6. He took no dividends for the first 13 years and reinvested all profits into growth instead 

7. He viewed Red Bull as a “marketing conglomerate” and tried to outsource everything else

8. He was intensely private. When an author tried to interview his elderly mother for an unauthorized biography. Mateschitz threatened to have his knee caps broken. He said it would only cost $500 to hire a Russian to do the job. 

9. There are no biographies written in English about Mateschitz. 

10. He believed a handshake agreement among gentlemen was sufficient and regularly did business with trusted partners with no written contract. 

11. He bought a popular Austrian magazine just so he wouldn’t appear in it.

12. He was universally described by former employees as a gentleman, charismatic, and fiercely loyal. 

13. He didn’t like spending time socializing. He said: 

“I don't believe in 50 friends. I believe in a smaller number. Nor do I care about society events. It's the most senseless use of time. When I do go out, from time to time, it's just to convince myself again that I'm not missing a lot."

14. He owned a private island in Fiji and said he was attracted to having his own independent state.

His state would have the shortest set of laws in the world: 

“The rules are simple: Nobody tells you what you have to do — only what you don’t have to do.” 

15. When he was asked if he was going to retire he said “I’m having more fun than ever.” 

16. He refused to sell Red Bull or take it public and worked on it until he died. 

Episode sponsors: ⁠

Ramp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud ⁠⁠⁠by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save time and money.⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ramp.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Automate compliance, security, and trust with Vanta.⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Vanta helps you win trust, close deals, and stay secure—faster and with less effort⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠Find out how increased security leads to more customers by going to Vanta⁠⁠⁠. Tell them David from Founders sent you and you'll get $1000 off. ⁠⁠⁠https://www.vanta.com/founders⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠

Collateral⁠⁠ transforms your complex ideas into compelling narratives. Collateral crafts institutional grade marketing collateral for private equity, private credit, real estate, venture capital, family offices, hedge funds, oil & gas companies, and all kinds of corporations. Storytelling is one of the highest forms of leverage and you should invest heavily in it. You can do that by going to ⁠⁠https://collateral.com

Red Bull's Billionaire Maniac Founder

This episode covers the insanely valuable company-building principles of John D. Rockefeller—and nothing else. 

I spent over 40 hours reading (and rereading) this obscure biography of Rockefeller that costs $1,000 

I then spent several days editing down 25 pages of notes from the book. I deleted everything that was not How Rockefeller Works 

Episode sponsors: ⁠

Ramp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud ⁠⁠⁠by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save time and money.⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ramp.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Automate compliance, security, and trust with Vanta.⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Vanta helps you win trust, close deals, and stay secure—faster and with less effort⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠Find out how increased security leads to more customers by going to Vanta⁠⁠⁠. Tell them David from Founders sent you and you'll get $1000 off. ⁠⁠⁠https://www.vanta.com/founders⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠

Collateral⁠⁠ transforms your complex ideas into compelling narratives. Collateral crafts institutional grade marketing collateral for private equity, private credit, real estate, venture capital, family offices, hedge funds, oil & gas companies, and all kinds of corporations. Storytelling is one of the highest forms of leverage and you should invest heavily in it. You can do that by going to ⁠⁠https://collateral.com

#405 How Rockefeller Worked

Todd Graves is one of my favorite living founders. He owns over 90% of Raising Canes — a business that is worth at least $20 billion. Todd's maxim is "Do one thing and do it better than anyone else." It is impossible not to be inspired by his terminator levels of determination. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did. 

Episode show notes: ⁠https://www.davidsenra.com/episode/to...

Made possible by
Ramp: ⁠⁠https://ramp.com⁠⁠
HubSpot: ⁠⁠https://hubspot.com⁠⁠
Function: ⁠https://functionhealth.com/senra⁠

Chapters

(00:00) The Entrepreneurial Mindset: Sleep and Business Obsession
(02:13) The Birth of Raising Cane's: Overcoming Skepticism
(03:29) Inspiration from In-N-Out Burger
(07:17) The Importance of Quality and Focus
(14:49) The Journey to Success: Hard Work and Sacrifice
(19:21) The Early Days: Building Raising Cane's from Scratch
(21:23) Financing the Dream: Unconventional Paths
(32:28) The Relentless Pursuit of Success
(33:02) Commitment and Oaths: The Camping Trip
(34:02) Fanaticism and Relentless Focus
(34:53) Learning from Others and Continuous Improvement
(35:06) The Never-Satisfied Mindset
(36:04) The Importance of Founders in Business
(39:55) The Purpose Beyond Profit
(51:52) Financing the Dream: Credit Cards and SBA Loans
(55:47) Building the First Restaurant
(57:56) Expanding the Vision
(58:59) Positive Motivational Management
(01:00:51) Creating a Coaching Culture
(01:01:42) Intrinsic Motivation vs. Titles
(01:02:41) The Importance of Being Present
(01:06:35) Respect, Recognition, and Rewards
(01:09:12) The Power of Encouragement
(01:18:10) The Myth of Delegation
(01:22:57) Focus on What You Do Best
(01:30:07) Dining at Jiro in Tokyo
(01:30:59) The Franchise Model Debate
(01:32:50) Challenges of Franchising
(01:35:21) Building a Business Authentic to You
(01:37:07) Financing and Expansion Strategies
(01:49:13) Surviving Hurricane Katrina
(01:55:48) Lessons from Estée Lauder
(01:58:06) Final Thoughts and Reflections

My conversation with Todd Graves

This episode covers the unique way Larry Ellison thinks. 

I spent over 40 hours reading (and rereading) this book on Ellison written by Matthew Symonds. ⁠

I then spent several days editing down 40 pages of notes into a one-hour nonstop stream of Larry Ellison's ideas. 

Episode sponsors: 

⁠Ramp⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud ⁠⁠⁠by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save time and money.⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ramp.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Automate compliance, security, and trust with Vanta.⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Vanta helps you win trust, close deals, and stay secure—faster and with less effort⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠Find out how increased security leads to more customers by going to Vanta⁠⁠⁠. Tell them David from Founders sent you and you'll get $1000 off. ⁠⁠⁠https://www.vanta.com/founders⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠

⁠Collateral⁠⁠ transforms your complex ideas into compelling narratives⁠. Collateral crafts institutional grade marketing collateral for private equity, private credit, real estate, venture capital, family offices, hedge funds, oil & gas companies, and all kinds of corporations. Storytelling is one of the highest forms of leverage and you should invest heavily in it. You can do that by going to ⁠⁠https://collateral.com

#404 How Larry Ellison Thinks

I’ve started a new show where I have conversations with the greatest living Founders. The show is called David Senra. It will be on a separate podcast feed from Founders. 

So it is very important that you follow David Senra on ⁠Spotify⁠, ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠, ⁠YouTube⁠, or ⁠wherever you're listening to this so you don't miss future episodes⁠.

Nothing is changing with Founders. I will never stop making Founders.

My Conversation with Brad Jacobs

What I learned from having dinner with John Mackey and reading his autobiography The Whole Story: Adventures in Love, Life, and Capitalism.
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast
 

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Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. 
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

#358 I had dinner with John Mackey, Founder of Whole Foods

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