Find people who've been there

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.”

Roelof on what separates enduring companies from others“The enduring ones are willing to have what I call multiple founding moments. We have a wall at Sequoia that says, 'We're only as good as our next investment.' You have to stay paranoid. Never get crater-lazy.”

Suzanne on what happens behind closed doors in a layoff“I've personally been involved in laying off well over a thousand people, and the part no one talks about is how fast the dignity gets stripped away: one minute you're trusted, the next a manager you've never met is reading you a script while someone cuts your computer access.”

Grant on growing an AI startup.“When growth stalls, doing more of the same won’t save you. Sometimes your small team needs to make one bigger bet.”

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.”

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.”

Moses on making it to the top when you started with nothing“I had love for the game, parents who kept me grounded, and a city that taught me how to compete. What kept me going was consistency and curiosity. You control what you can control, stack good days, and let the game reward you when it's time.”

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.”

Michael on building for the long term“You can’t build your future around protecting your past. Stay close to customers, keep learning, and be willing to reinvent the business.”

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.”

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.”

Nick on metabolic health, nutrition, and brain health.Harvard MD, Oxford PhD, Dartmouth valedictorian and oreo experiment cut LDL 71%.

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.”

Nyree on why you crash at 2 p.m. after a full night's sleep“Eight hours in bed means nothing if your brain never entered deep restorative sleep, and by 2 p.m. your adenosine tank is still full from incomplete overnight clearance.”

Codie on buying businesses and building wealth“You don’t need a revolutionary idea to build wealth. You need a business people already pay for, and the skills to run it better.”

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.”

Kirsten on understanding what consumers want“Before you ask whether the market is big enough, ask what’s changing in people’s lives. The best opportunities start there...”

Jeffrey on why treating symptoms is the wrong place to start“Symptoms are late signals, not first causes. In chronic illness the biology starts drifting years before a diagnosis. If you start at the symptom, you are downstream. You may mute the alarm without finding the fire. The body is a network, so ask what shifted in the person's story and physiology that made the symptom possible, then address that.”

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.”

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.”