Find people who've been there

Ali on spotting talent before it's obvious“It's mostly about being intentional with the pattern matching you already have from a lifetime of interacting with people, rather than suspending judgment the way polite society trains us to do.”

Jim on learning faster and remembering more“Before you decide you’re bad at learning, look at how you’re learning. Give yourself a method, remove distractions, and practice recalling what matters.”

Pedro on where machine learning is headed“The same basic paradigms have been used since the 1950s. At the end of the day, we’re going to need some new ideas.”

Deena on raising venture money as an underestimated founder“Do your homework on who you're pitching. Most founders spray and pray, but that wastes everyone's time. And bring your full self to the conversation. The intersectional, the immigrant, the nontraditional founder, those backgrounds are not weaknesses. They're edges. The data shows diverse founding teams build better businesses. But you have to own it.”

Tiago on turning knowledge into action“Saving information isn’t the goal. Organize it around what you’re trying to accomplish, so the ideas you collect become things you actually create.”

Spencer on life inside an NBA organization“I used to think pushing past your body meant toughness, but the league taught me that the hardest skill is staying on the floor.”

Alastair on handling a teammate who undermines you in meetings“I would name the pattern in private first: I noticed you agreed in the room, then raised concerns afterwards. If you disagree, raise it in the meeting so we can deal with it straight away.”

Matthew on finding the right partner“You want to be happy enough that the right thing doesn’t become your everything.”

Niraj on using breathwork to change your physical state“Breathing is the only autonomic function you can consciously control. It's a direct line to your nervous system. When you exhale, your parasympathetic system engages and your heart rate comes down. A few minutes of rhythmic breathing is enough to pull yourself out of stress and back into your center.”

Peter on which AI tools are worth paying forNo AI Slop, 4,400+ GitHub stars and interviewed leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor.

Madhavan on pricing for profitable growth“Don’t build a product and then ask what to charge. Find out what customers will pay for before you decide what to build.”

Alisa on growing from founder to CEO“The habits that made you a successful founder can become your biggest obstacles as CEO. Growth starts with seeing how others experience you.”

Peter on taking back your evenings from your phone“I stopped checking messages after 6 pm and told my team to call twice if it was truly urgent; nothing broke, and I got ten hours back every week.”

Jim on enjoying competition when teammates are more intense“I stopped enjoying baseball when I was chasing what everyone else valued, and I found my game again only when I started competing to raise my own level, not to beat theirs.”

Laurie on making a strong start in the first ninety days“Listen, the first 90 days is where careers get made or stalled, and most people waste it being polite and waiting to be told what to do.”

Vanessa on sexual expectations couples never say out loud“I don't believe in a universal normal for any stage, but I do think it's completely natural for that early honeymoon frequency to taper off after about a year.”

Nick on metabolic health, nutrition, and brain healthCo-founded NeuroVitals, raised $1.5M pre-seed and carnivore diet IBD case series.

Andrej on how far we are from AGICo-founded OpenAI and designed Stanford's first deep learning class.

Keith on spotting founders nobody has noticed yet“Stop looking at résumés the way Google does.”

John on fighting back with five months of runway left“Survival brings clarity. The mission kept us going. So many smart people wrote us off. When you have a group of talented people who care deeply about what they're working on, you can accomplish almost anything.”