Listen and Learn
My favorite podcast episodes from 2020
I love podcasts. Over the past decade, they’ve overtaken books for me as my primary way to keep learning and growing. I listened to hundreds of podcasts this past year and I wanted to share some of my favorites.
The Tim Ferriss Show #487: Dr. Martine Rothblatt
Martine Rothblatt is a force of nature. A Musk-caliber founder and polymath. The story of how she left the satellite business to find a cure for her daughter’s terminal orphan disease is truly inspiring.
The Tim Ferriss Show #473: Naval Ravikant
Naval is my favorite “Silicon Valley” thought leader. I think about the concepts from his “How to Get Rich (without getting lucky)” thread on a weekly basis. He rarely does interviews so it’s always a highlight when a new one gets posted.
Mike Maples and Shane Parrish: How to Create a Breakthrough
Mike’s Starting Greatness podcast was one of my favorite new feeds this year. I would suggest all of his episodes to any founder or investor. This episode was particularly compelling as Mike shared his frameworks and mental models for building and investing in the future.
20VC: Reid Hoffman & 20VC: Steve Jurvetson
The 20VC by Harry Stebbins has been my most helpful external resource in continued learning about the VC industry. Harry goes deep in the weeds with guests on investing, diligence, fundraising, follow-ons, deal sourcing, etc. His interviews with Reid Hoffman and Steve Jurvetson were my two favorites.
The Portal: Balaji Srinivasan & Timur Kuran
The Portal is a podcast by Eric Weinstein, the managing director of Thiel Capital and a former physicist. Given his proximity to Thiel, it’s no surprise that Brett is a consummate contrarian. His episodes always challenge my existing thinking. I suggest his episodes with Balaji and Timur Kuran.
The Kevin Rose Show: The Mysterious/Unsolvable Zen Koans — Henry Shukman
For something more metaphysical, I highly recommend this interview between Kevin Rose and Zen master, Henry Shukman.
A koan is a riddle or puzzle that Zen Buddhists use during meditation to help them unravel greater truths about the world and about themselves. Zen masters have been testing their students with these stories, questions, or phrases for centuries.” In this episode, Kevin interviews Henry Shukman, associate master of Sanbo Zen at the Mountain Cloud Zen Center. They discuss koans, meditation, enlightenment, and more.
airr Podcast App
Finally, I highly recommend the airr podcast app which makes it easy to save snippets from a podcast to reference later.
Let me know what your favorite episodes were in the comments!
Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. We invest in seed-stage companies reinventing energy, transportation, infrastructure, manufacturing, human augmentation and agriculture.
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