Eric Jorgenson
Smart Friends
Casual conversations with founders, technologists, investors, and artists about building a brighter future, together. Welcome to our digital living room. With science, technology and entrepreneurship we can *continue* to create unfathomable leaps in quality of life. We show you how to find, apply, build, and invest in technologies to change your life and the world. When we have smart friends, we do smart things. When we do smart things, we save the world. No matter who, where, or when you are – now you have smart friends, too. Outside this podcast, I’m the author of The Almanack of Naval R...
Author
Eric Jorgenson
Category
Podcast website
Latest episode
Jun 16, 2026
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Episodes
#091 The Magic of Code, History of Computing, and the Future of AI Interfaces [Sam Arbesman #2] 22.07.2025 1:15:02
Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:14) - The magic of code (00:05:30) - The wonder of early computing (00:11:13) - The evolution of computing: From analog to digital (00:18:45) - The personal computer revolution (00:32:36) - The future of computing: Beyond silicon (00:36:59) - The importance of computing history (00:40:53) - AI and human uniqueness (00:50:46) - The future of AI and computing interf...
#090 Building a Venture Firm From Zero to One, and AI-driven VC Thesis Research [Arkady Kulik #2] 08.07.2025 1:10:13
Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:04:19) - Entering the VC space (00:08:38) - Pilot-fund theories (00:12:50) - Risk tracking (00:19:56) - Finding LP alignment (00:22:39) - Arkady’s fund thesis (00:47:12) - Creating the index of solutions to problems (00:57:18) - The TAM for VC in 2025 (01:00:29) - How founders can increase the odds of being funded by Arkady (01:03:36) - False signals in VC Links: Ark...
#089 David Senra + Mitchell Baldridge #6 : Writing the Founders’ Book, Building Natural-fit Businesses, and Craft 24.06.2025 1:30:31
Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:52) - The Founder's book project (00:04:06) - Effort and building relationships (00:11:20) - The value of self-publishing (00:24:00) - Bootstrapping a HoldCo (00:46:05) - Finding natural fit in business (00:47:48) - The role of trust in business (00:49:07) - AI and changing perspectives (00:50:26) - Daily use of AI tools (00:55:49) - The value of deep research (00...
#088 Toby Rush: $100M Exits, Splitting Companies, Timing Startups, and Ideem Killing 2FA 10.06.2025 1:02:07
Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:45) - Who are your heroes? (00:05:16) - What is something you’ve had to teach yourself that’s become a core part of your identity? (00:07:34) - Taking a sabbatical post-exit (00:09:30) - Going back into entrepreneurship (00:12:52) - How to kill two-factor auth (00:14:34) - When to split a company into two companies (00:18:04) - Who is the customer of iDeem? (00:22...
#087 Nat Eliason: From Blogging to Sci-Fi Novels, Writing Books That Last, and Owning Your Audience 27.05.2025 1:19:29
Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:00:45) - Introducing Nat Eliason (00:01:27) - Nat's Diverse Career and Writing Journey (00:01:47) - The Transition from Nonfiction to Fiction (00:02:13) - The Seven Act Structure and Writing Process (00:02:44) - Publishing with Scribe and Launching Husk (00:03:24) - The Rewards and Challenges of Writing (00:04:29) - Building an Audience and Marketing St...
#086 Jim O’Shaughnessy: Learning to Learn, AI Disruption, and the Future of Publishing 21.01.2025 1:07:04
Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:30) - What’s the most important thing you’ve ever learned? (00:07:23) - Learning to Learn (00:11:20) - How learning changes as you age (00:18:51) - How do you think about your circle of competence? (00:22:21) - The future of book publishing and how authors adapt (00:35:29) - AI disruption in book publishing (00:47:56) - Jim’s inaugural book: Two Thoughts (00:56:46...
#085 Ben Reinhardt: How to Discover New Technology, Playing the Longest Game, and Philanthropy in Technology 07.01.2025 56:30
Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:05:25) - Studying both Medieval History and Engineering (00:09:48) - Founding Speculative Technologies (00:11:25) - Defining “Useful” in Science and Technology (00:13:46) - Building the roadmap of discoveries to unlock futuristic tech (00:17:24) - The need for new institutions (00:25:22) - Why focus on material science and manufacturing technologies (00:46:57) - The...
#084 Augustus Doricko: How to Terraform Earth, The History of Weather Control, and The Mandate of Heaven 10.12.2024 1:01:02
Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:13) - Catching up (00:13:14) - Making Earth (even more) Habitable by Controlling Weather (00:26:54) - Doug Burgum: Next Secretary of the Dept. of the Interior (00:31:30) - Building Rainmaker (00:44:19) - Are we short on clean water in America today? (00:50:37) - Drones, precipitation, cloud seeding, and the future Links: Rainmaker Augustus on X Augustus’ Thread on...
#083 Klaus Kleinfeld: How to Lead Fortune 500 Companies, Manage Energy, Inspire Teams 26.11.2024 1:15:36
Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:04:24) - Watching the moon landing (00:07:32) - Klaus’ career (00:10:08) - Why Klaus wrote Leading To Thrive (00:15:13) - Energy management, not time management (00:19:37) - How do you implement these tactics in business? (00:23:46) - Spiritual energy (00:37:36) - Managing energy for life, work, and family & business (00:54:52) - Instilling purpose as a leader (01:04...
#082 Paul Millerd: Profits in Publishing, Why Self-Publish, How Authors Make Big Money 29.10.2024 1:37:28
Links: Scribe Media Paul’s website The Pathless Path by Paul Millerd Good Work by Paul Millerd Paul on X Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:15) - Introducing Paul, and the early days of the publishing industry. (00:06:48) - The earliest days of publishing, distribution of profit, and printing methods. (00:17:46) - The 2014 E-book collusion (00:20:27) - The self-publishing surge, the $4.99 sweet spo...
#081 The Next Industrial Revolution w/ J. Storrs Hall [Replay] 02.10.2024 1:37:24
This is a replay of episode 34 of this podcast. Links: Josh’s Bio - Autogeny.org Where is my flying car? By J. Storrs Hall Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper The Martian by Andy Weir Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson Beyond AI by J. Storrs Hall Nanofuture: What’s Next For Nanotechnology by J. Storrs Hall Other Episode You’ll Like: Solocast #3: Nuclear, Nanotech, and the next Industrial Revolution (Book...
#080 Solocast #3: Nuclear, Nanotech, and the next Industrial Revolution [Replay] 17.09.2024 53:14
This episode is a replay of episode 22 of this podcast. Links: Eric’s Blog Eric’s blog post on digital scarcity Eric’s Blog post on The Cost of Trust Technological revolutions and Financial Capital by Carlota Perez Topics: (0:08) - Introducing the Web3 discussion (4:13) - What is the Blockchain? (6:06) - Lowering transaction costs across Web1, Web2 & Web3 (9:46) - Creating cheap, digital scarcity...
#079 Andrew Wilkinson: De-risking Leverage, Investing vs. Operating, and the Best Part About Business [Replay] 21.08.2024 1:06:24
[This is a replay of episode #002] Andrew Wilkinson is the co-founder of Tiny, a venture capital firm that has helped to build over 25 profitable internet businesses over the last 15 years. He got his start founding MetaLab, one of the world’s top design agencies. He has gone from working out of his apartment a little over a decade ago, to today overseeing a group of companies with over 300 employ...
#078 David Senra + Mitchell Baldridge #5: David’s Private Conference, Writing Books, and Building Networks 30.07.2024 2:18:58
Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:24) - Recapping FoundersOnly Conference (00:36:36) - Helping others first (00:44:32) - Baldridge updates & the power of working hard (01:03:46) - How do you want to spend your time? (01:10:38) - Great book recs, Scribe, and the knowledge gap (01:44:38) - Unethical founders (02:00:56) - Optimizing for usefulness Links: Founders Podcast Mitchell Baldridge on X Get i...
#077 Alex Komoroske: Systems Thinking, Builders vs Gardeners, and Working In Large Organizations 18.07.2024 1:20:08
Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:52) - The Gardener of Systems (00:07:43) - Builders vs. Gardeners (00:11:09) - Who are the best farmers of miracles? (00:16:52) - How did you become a “systems” person? (00:23:45) - What does Systems Thinking look like for you? (00:53:09) - Alex’s Slime Mold deck (00:55:12) - The iterative, adjacent possible (00:59:53) - Alex’s experience at Google (01:03:12) - AI...
#076 The Alliance of Entrepreneurs and Scientists with Arkady Kulik of RPV 26.06.2024 1:24:00
Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:04:43) - Russian interpretations of friendship (00:09:28) - Thoughts on the state of society and its rate of technological adoption (00:13:22) - Creating alliances between entrepreneurs, capitalists, and scientists (00:17:17) - Rick Rubin on Creativity in Investing (00:20:55) - Does Taste exist in the world of VC? (00:26:06) - Becoming a better Communicator (00:40:59...
#075 Flywheel Masterclass, Flying Planes, and Building For Creators with Nathan Barry of Convertkit 04.06.2024 1:30:17
Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:05:10) - The decision to live in Idaho (00:08:21) - Nathan’s flying hobby (00:15:09) - Building Flywheels (00:46:07) - Incentive compensation and giving people ownership (01:06:39) - Inflection points in building ConverKit (01:14:16) - How to work on a ton of things (01:23:15) - What are the rules of thumb you use the most in life? Links: Nathan Barry on X ConvertKit...
#74 Rolling Fun #8: New LPs, Mark-ups, Giant Guns for Space Cargo, How to Find a Lead Investor, Software for Manufacturing, AI for Ecomm. 21.05.2024 55:24
Links: Join us in Rolling Fun! Hear our other Rolling Fun eps! Rolling Fun GPs: Al Doan - Founder of Creativity Inc., a $100m+ collection of e-commerce brands. Founder of Pretzel. BS from BYU Hawaii, OPM at HBS. Makes one hell of a peach cobbler. (Twitter, LinkedIn) Bo Fishback - Founder of Lightspeed Genomics (acq 2008), Orbis Biosciences (acq 2020), Zaarly (acq 2020). BS in Biomedical Engineerin...
#073 Rolling Fun #7: Q4 Updates: Nuclear Fusion, AI for Kids, AI Manufacturing — and how founders can find lead investors 01.05.2024 49:38
Links: Join us in Rolling Fun! Hear our other Rolling Fun eps! Rolling Fun GPs: Al Doan - Founder of Creativity Inc., a $100m+ collection of e-commerce brands. Founder of Pretzel. BS from BYU Hawaii, OPM at HBS. Makes one hell of a peach cobbler. (Twitter, LinkedIn) Bo Fishback - Founder of Lightspeed Genomics (acq 2008), Orbis Biosciences (acq 2020), Zaarly (acq 2020). BS in Biomedical Engineerin...
#072 The First Artificial Human Arm with Tyler Hayes of Atom Limbs 14.03.2024 1:08:06
Links: Atom Limbs Waitlist Crowdfunding Round - Wefunder Tyler on X Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:02:19) - Inside building Atom Limbs (00:18:37) - The process of researching what knowledge was needed to build this company (00:27:26) - Feedback loops in prosthetics (00:29:23) - Where is Atom Limbs today? (00:40:48) - Wild, irresponsible speculation: Where do you hope this company will be in 50 y...
#071 Robotic Delivery Tunnels with Garrett Scott of Pipedream Labs 27.02.2024 1:04:30
Links: Garrett Scott on X Pipedream Labs Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:03:00) - Pipedream (00:08:33) - What’s the existing infrastructure for this product? (00:12:55) - Finding geographical partners (00:14:52) - Hyperlogistics, regulations, and long-tail e-commerce (00:30:35) - What are the toughest technical problems? (00:34:32) - The ability to master multiple disciplines (00:37:18) - The chall...
#070 Rolling Fun #6: Investing in Robotic Prosthetics, 10x Batteries. Al meets MrBeast. 13.02.2024 52:12
Links: Join us in Rolling Fun! Hear our other Rolling Fun eps! Ouros AltHQ Zencastr Atom Limbs General Fabrication Company Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:02:57) - Dear Listener (00:09:44) - Eric’s life as a CEO & Scribe (00:17:14) – Rolling Fun Q2 Investments (00:30:21) - Rolling Fun Q3 Investments (00:41:26) - Lessons from playing basketball with Mr. Beast for 3 days To support the costs of produ...
#069 David Senra + Mitchell Baldridge #4: Old Books, New Events, and A Surprise CEO Job 16.01.2024 2:33:20
Links: David Senra on X Mitchell on X Founders Podcast Better Bookkeeping Mentioned on the episode: Fiftyyears.com Foundersonly.com Poor Charlie’s Almanac Liar’s Poker Atomic Habits The Pathless Path Morgan Housel books Tren Griffin Blog - 25iq Brent Beshore on meeting Charlie Munger Who is Michael Ovitz? Powerhouse by James Andrew Miller The Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness Blake Robbins on Twitte...
#068 Behind the Scenes of a Nuclear Microreactor Startup with Matt Loszak, Founder CEO of Aalo Atomics 29.08.2023 1:07:16
Links for Matt’s stuff: Aalo.com Matt on Twitter Aalo on Twitter Aalo Job Board Link to invest alongside Eric in deals like Aalo: rolling.fun Links to stuff mentioned: Decouple Podcast Titans of Nuclear Podcast Nuclear Barbarian Substack Atomic Awakening by James Mahaffey Why Nuclear Power Has Been a Flop by Jack Devanney Topics: (00:03:08) How the popular opinion of nuclear has changed from the 1...
#067 Room-Temperature Superconductors and Nuclear Fusion with Andrew Cote 15.08.2023 1:32:18
Links: Andrew on Twitter Andrew’s Substack The AI Salon Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital by Carlota Perez Topics: (00:00:00) Eric welcomes you to the episode (00:03:20) The rocketing popularity of superconductors (00:05:28) The LK-99 Superconductor Breakthrough (00:19:44) How to commercialize room-temp superconductors (00:25:36) The value of superconductors and their impact (00:34:1...
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