Naval

Get rich quick schemes are just someone else getting rich off you. • There are no get rich quick schemes 0:00 • We don't have ads because it would ruin our credibility 0:56 • Every founder has to lie to every employee 2:02 • Anyone giving advice on how to get rich should have made their money elsewhere 3:02 Transcript:  http://nav.al/rich-quick

When you're finally wealthy, you'll realize it wasn't what you were seeking in the first place. • When you're wealthy, you'll realize it wasn't what you were seeking 0:00 • A calm mind, a fit body and a house full of love must be earned 1:00 • Practical advice for a calmer internal state 1:52 • A lot of divorces happen over money, a lot of battles happen over internal anger 3:14 Transcript:  http:...

Most advice is people giving you their winning lottery ticket numbers. • The best founders listen to everyone but make up their own mind 0:00 • Advice is maxims you can recall later, when you get your own experience 1:29 Transcript:  http://nav.al/reject-advice

Apply specific knowledge with leverage and eventually you will get what you deserve. • On a long enough time scale you will get paid 0:00 • What are you really good at that the market values? 1:59 Transcript:  http://nav.al/deserve

Competition will blind you to greater games. You're one step away from a better market. • Businesses that seem like they're in direct competition really aren't 0:00 • My first company got caught up in the wrong game 1:23 Transcript: http://nav.al/stupid-games

Competition can make you play the wrong game. No one can compete with you on being you. • Competition will trap you in a lesser game 0:00 • No one can compete with you on being you 1:27 • In entrepreneurship, the masses are never right 2:40 • Combine your vocation and avocation 3:45 Transcript: http://nav.al/ competition-authenticity  

Become the best in the world at what you do. Keep redefining what you do until this is true. • Keep redefining what you do until you're the best at what you do 0:00 • Find founder-product-market fit 1:35 Transcript: http://nav.al/redefining  

You should be too busy to "do coffee", while still keeping an uncluttered calendar. • Be too busy to "do coffee" while keeping an uncluttered calendar 0:00 • People will meet with you when you have proof of work 2:00 • Networking is overrated even early in your career 2:09 Transcript: http://nav.al/ meetings

Work as hard as you can. Even though what you work on and who you work with are more important. • Work as hard as you can 0:00 • But what you work on and who you work with are more important 1:00 • Nobody really works 80 hours a week 2:22 • Inspiration is perishable 3:05 • Impatience with actions, patience with results 3:36 Transcript: http://nav.al/work-hard

If outsourcing a task will cost less than your hourly rate, outsource it. • Set and enforce an aspirational hourly rate 0:00 • You can't penny pinch your way to wealth 1:27 • My aspirational rate was $5,000/hr 1:56 • If you can outsource something for less than your hourly rate, outsource it 2:57 • Your hourly rate should seem absurdly high 3:39 Transcript: http://nav.al /hourly-rate

Everything we've discussed so far has been setting you up to apply judgment. • In an age of infinite leverage, judgment becomes the most important skill 0:00 • Everything else you do is setting you up to apply judgment 1:21 • Judgment is knowing the long-term consequences of your actions 2:40 • Without experience, judgment is often less than useless 3:15 • The people with the best judgment are amo...

The continuum from laborer to real estate tech company goes from low accountability to high specific knowledge, accountability and leverage. • L aborers get paid hourly and have low accountability 0:19 •  General contractors get equity, but they're also taking risk 1:20 •  Property developers pocket the profit by applying capital leverage 2:14 •  Architects, large developers and REITs are even hig...

Ideally, you should pick a business model with network effects, low marginal costs and scale economies. •  Scale economies: the more you produce, the cheaper it gets 0:00 •  Zero marginal cost of reproduction: producing more is free 0:51 •  Network effects: value grows as the square of the customers 1:34 •  Network effect businesses are natural monopolies 2:26 •  In a network effect, each new user...

Labor and capital are limited to the people who control those resources. But products reach global markets. •  Product leverage is a positive-sum game 0:00 •  Status goods are limited to a few people 0:57 •  The best products tend to be targeted at the middle class 1:25 •  Creating wealth with product leads to more ethical wealth 2:06 •  You want to use the product that is used by the most people...

Product and media are the leverage of new wealth. Create software and media that work for you while you sleep. • Product and media are the new leverage 0:00 • Product leverage is where the new fortunes are made 0:55 • Combining all three forms of leverage is a magic combination 1:28 • Product and media leverage are permissionless 2:03 • The robots army is already here—code lets you tell them what...

Wealth requires leverage. Labor and capital are older forms of leverage that everyone is fighting over. • Our brains aren't evolved to comprehend new forms of leverage 0:00 • Society overvalues labor leverage 1:08 • You want the minimum amount of labor that allows you to use the other forms of leverage 1:56 • Capital has been the dominant form of leverage in the last century 2:40 • You need specif...

If you have high accountability, you're less replaceable and you can get a piece of the business. • Accountability is how you're going to get equity 0:00 • Taking accountability is like taking equity in all your work 0:29 • The downside of accountability is not that large 2:11 • Accountability is reputational skin in the game 4:30 Transcript : http://nav.al/ accountability-equity  

Embrace accountability. Society will reward you with leverage. • You have to have accountability to get leverage 0:00 • Take business risks under your own name 0:54 • A well-functioning team has clear accountability for each position 2:09 • People who can fail in public have a lot of power 3:47 Transcript: http://nav.al/accountability-leverage  

There's no actual skill called business. Avoid business schools and magazines. • There's no actual skill called business 0:00 • Doing is faster than watching 0:55 • The number of "doing" iterations drives the learning curve 2:49 • If you're willing to bleed a little every day, you may win big later 3:53 Transcript: http://nav.al/skill-business

If you understand mathematics and logic, you have the basis for understanding everything else. • The ultimate foundations are math and logic: 0:00 • It's better to read a great book slowly than to fly through a hundred books quickly: 1:22 • Learn persuasion and programming: 2:08 Transcript:  http://nav.al/math-logic

You should be able to pick up any book in the library and read it. • Read what you love until you love to read: 0:00 • Read the original scientific books in a field: 1:44 • Don't fear any book: 2:43 • The means of learning are abundant, the desire to learn is scarce: 3:54 Transcript: http://nav.al/love-read

Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable.  • Learn to sell, learn to build 0:00 • The Silicon Valley model is a builder and seller 1:07 • If you can do both you will be unstoppable 1:52 • I'd rather teach an engineer marketing than a marketer engineering 2:48 • Building is better when you're starting out, sales scales better over time 4:33 Transcript: http://nav.a...

Specific knowledge tends to be creative or technical. It's on the bleeding edge of technology, art and communication. • Specific knowledge can be taught through apprenticeships 0:00 • Specific knowledge is often highly creative or technical 0:45 • Specific knowledge is specific to the individual and situation 2:02 • You can't be too deliberate about assembling specific knowledge 3:01 • Build speci...

Arm yourself with specific knowledge. It can't be trained but it can be found by pursuing your genuine curiosity. • Arm yourself with specific knowledge 0:00 • Specific knowledge can't be trained 1:47 • Specific knowledge is found by pursuing your curiosity 2:34 • Building specific knowledge will feel like play to you 3:53 Transcript : http://nav.al/specific-knowledge

Don't partner with cynics and pessimists. Their beliefs are self-fulfilling. • Don't partner with pessimists 0:00 • Partner with rational optimists 1:20 • We're descended from pessimists 2:28 • BOCTAOE 4:13 Transcript : http://nav.al/rational-optimists