Joe Lonsdale: American Optimist

Could modernizing one of medicine's oldest practices — the house call — dramatically improve care for disadvantaged populations? What if doctors and nurses could treat an entire family in their home through a value-based care model that aligns incentives for both providers and payers? These are the questions Dr. Rebekah Gee aims to answer with Nest Health , a new health startup that's reinventing...

In India, "entrepreneur" was once a dirty word; today it's one of the most desirable career paths for young people. How did this transformation occur? How did the world's largest democracy break out of socialism? What does the remarkable rise of India augur for the 21st century?‍We explore these questions and more with Aditya Berlia, a serial entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist, and the co-foun...

How do we ensure that capital flows more efficiently to the best ideas and creates more value for society? One way is to enable more people to access the best investment opportunities, many of which are in private markets (aka alternative investments) that are notoriously difficult to navigate. It can take a team of lawyers to manage the mountain of paperwork and outdated analog processes — a star...

Is the U.S. on the verge of an unprecedented banking crisis? Other than Bitcoin, where is Balaji keeping his money? Could the government try to confiscate assets like FDR's gold seizures in the 1930s? Will red and blue states break into a cold civil war over the fiscal fallout?  Learn why Balaji is sounding the alarm and why these scenarios may not be as far-fetched as you might think. We also dis...

Maria Davidson is the Founder and CEO of Kojo. Each year, the U.S. construction industry spends roughly $250 billion on materials, much of which is still managed by pen and paper (Excel is considered cutting-edge). Kojo is a software solution that digitizes the process, à la Amazon for contractors, and vastly improves productivity, efficiency, and safety. Learn why it took an immigrant entrepreneu...

Nathan Mintz is the Founder and CEO of Spartan Radar and, previously, the Co-Founder and CEO of Epirus .  In his twenties, Nathan sought to reform California's broken government and ran for state assembly twice, albeit unsuccessfully. Yet, his loss became our gain as he's become a leading entrepreneur in directed energy and radar systems.  In fact, Nathan has built a reputation for attracting some...

Peter Attia is a renowned physician, podcast host, and best-selling author of " Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity ." Peter received his M.D. from Stanford University and was awarded "Resident of the Year" in general surgery at Johns Hopkins University, but left medicine before coming back years later with new perspectives and becoming one of the world's most sought-after longevity experts. I...

Joe Gebbia is the co-founder of Airbnb, which grew from an experiment in his San Francisco living room into a multi-billion dollar global company that transformed the hospitality industry. And his new startup, Samara, is reimagining how homeowners utilize their backyards by offering state-of-the-art Accessory Dwelling Units.  In this episode, Gebbia explains the unlikely genesis of Airbnb, the cha...

Yitz Applbaum is a philanthropist, international bon vivant, and accomplished venture capitalist specializing in Israel and the Middle East. He began his career building a banking software company (acquired by Bank of America) before joining Lightspeed Ventures and later founding MizMaa Ventures.  In this episode, he discusses how Israel transformed from a nation of impoverished refugees into an i...

Admiral Bill McRaven is an American hero and former Commander of U.S. Special Forces Command who oversaw the planning and execution of the raid to kill Osama bin Laden. He's a retired Navy SEAL and four-star admiral whose command experience and academic writings helped shape U.S. Special Forces into the finest fighting force in the world. He's also a best-selling author and former Chancellor of th...

Troy Carter is an iconic music manager who helped launch Lady Gaga to stardom and worked with many prominent artists such as Eve, John Legend, and Meghan Trainor. Carter's work ethic and obsession with hip-hop helped him rise from a tough upbringing in Philadelphia, where his mother often had to choose between paying the water or electric bill each month. He ran errands for Jazzy Jeff and the Fres...

Eboo Patel is the Founder and President of Interfaith America and author of " We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy ." Why did a Rhodes Scholar like Patel — and so many in academia — become social activists preoccupied with race and oppression? And how did a professor jolt him out of this dogmatic ideology toward embracing pluralism and social entrepreneurship? Learn from Patel's jou...

Rahul Gandhi is the CEO and President of Clutter (formerly MakeSpace) – a leader in the self-storage industry. The son of Indian immigrant entrepreneurs, Rahul cut his teeth serving customers at his father’s Arby’s franchise. He saw his family succeed — and almost lose everything — in the highly-competitive restaurant business. He talks candidly about overcoming the fear of failure and making the...

John Chambers is the former Chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems, responsible for growing the company from nearly $2 billion in revenue to almost $50 billion during his tenure. John is a legend in Silicon Valley, and a close advisor to leaders around the world including many CEOs and heads of state. Pankaj Patel was Cisco's former Chief Development Officer and led a $38 billion portfolio with over 26...

Sec. Mike Pompeo is a former entrepreneur, congressman, CIA Director, Secretary of State, and author of the new book, "Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love." From his early days running an aerospace company to negotiating with the world's most notorious authoritarian leaders, Pompeo discusses his leadership philosophy and how to project strength in critical moments. He details his e...

John Mack is the former CEO and Chairman of the Board of Morgan Stanley and author of the new book, “Up Close and All In: Life Lessons from a Wall Street Warrior.” Mack details his unlikely journey from small-town North Carolina to the heights of Wall Street and the leadership lessons that got him there. He explains why personal character and respect are paramount, powerfully illustrated by the un...

Dr. Clay Johnston is the Former Dean of the University of Texas Dell Medical School and Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Harbor Health. Johnston received his MD from Harvard and Ph. D. from UC-Berkeley before leading a distinguished career as an academic neurologist. He then spearheaded the launch of UT's Dell Medical School, pioneering a more innovative curriculum and cutting costs within...

Ryan Holiday is a college dropout turned best-selling author and publisher of the world's largest podcast and newsletter focused on Stoic philosophy: the Daily Stoic.  Holiday began his career exposing the media manipulation playbook and then used those same tactics for good, educating millions on applying ancient wisdom to modern life. In this episode, he explains Stoicism's impact on America's F...

Kimmy Scotti is Founding Partner of 8VC and the Co-Founder & Chairman at Fig.1. After launching a popular consumer brand as a teenager, Scotti went on to tackle the convoluted and broken PBM industry and built a powerful cost-saving alternative for millions of consumers. She reveals her philosophy for building in complex sectors and how she applies that at 8VC through mentoring founders, identifyi...

I've known Iyinoluwa "E" Aboyeji since he was an aspiring, 19-year-old entrepreneur.  Today, he's the founder of two African unicorns, Andela and Flutterwave — the latter of which is now the continent's most highly valued tech startup at over $3 billion.  We discuss the challenges he overcame, plus those that remain, and why he's bullish on Africa's future.  As the general partner and co-founder o...

Andrew Yang is an entrepreneur, former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, and author of "Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy." A lawyer-turned-entrepreneur, Yang explains how he transformed early startup failures into success and why he's now intent on bridging partisan divides in America.  In 2021, Yang became an Independent and launched the Forward Party, which seeks to counter th...

Sebastian Caliri is Partner at 8VC with a focus on healthcare investing. Previously, Sebastian spent four years at Palantir where he was responsible for growing its commercial healthcare business. In this episode, Sebastian diagnoses the core problems in U.S. healthcare and explains why traditional fee-for-service care misaligns incentives, resulting in rising costs and inferior health outcomes. H...

Tony Fadell is one of the great engineers, designers, and business leaders of our time, responsible for creating the iPod, iPhone, and Nest Thermostat. He runs the investment firm Future Shape and recently released his memoir titled “Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making." In this episode, he discusses the lessons he learned at General Magic (which was building the iPhone 15 yea...

Joe Lonsdale sits down with Zach Latta, Founder of Hack Club, a non-profit network of high school coding clubs with over 15,000 members worldwide. At age 15, Zach helped design one of the most popular apps in the world. At 16, he dropped out of high school to become a programmer before founding Hack Club. He then received a Thiel Fellowship and decided to forgo college to build Hack Club full-time...

Gene Berdichevsky is the co-founder and CEO of Sila, a next-gen battery technology company. Previously, he was the seventh employee at Tesla, where he served as Principal Engineer on the Roadster battery and led the development of the world’s first mass-produced lithium-ion car battery. In this episode, he explains how Sila's new battery chemistry innovations can improve efficiency, reduce costs,...