Sessions: David Senra (Founders Podcast)

ACQ Sessions returns with David Senra of the Founders Podcast. David is one of our very favorite people in the world - it’s impossible to spend an hour (or 3!) with him and not come away inspired to go take over the world. This conversation is an “extended, IRL version” of monthly calls that we do together where we share stories, swap life and podcast advice, and just genuinely enjoy sharing time with someone who shares our outlook and enthusiasm for the history of entrepreneurship. Pull up a chair, grab a beverage (or energy drink in David’s case) and join us!
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Links:
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pod.link/founders
Some of our favorite episodes:
Bernard Arnault
pod.link/founders/episode/820...
Brunello Cucinelli
pod.link/founders/episode/41a...
Edwin Land
pod.link/founders/episode/b56...
Kobe Bryant
pod.link/founders/episode/bda...
Topics:
0:00:00 Intro
0:03:30 David’s time with Charlie Munger
0:06:00 Henry Flagler after Standard Oil
0:09:00 What makes a great biography, and how to capture all sides of complex characters?
0:11:30 Studying history is a form of leverage to achieve success
0:13:30 How do we figure out what the true story is for an episode we're doing?
0:21:00 Silicon Valley should focus more on durability than growth
0:22:00 How David got into reading biographies and podcasting
0:26:10 What were each of their influences before starting Acquired and Founders?
0:36:00 How to suck less over time
0:38:00 What motivates, Ben, David, and David to get better?
0:45:30 Dead ends: business model changes, paid podcasts, changing the name to “Adapting”, and Senra's “Autotelic”
0:52:00 “You’re not advertising to a standing army, you’re advertising to a moving parade”
0:56:30 Comparison of podcasting business models
1:00:40 Senra’s insane Readwise "healthy twitter" habit
1:05:00 Is it possible for the ultra-wealthy not to mess up their kids?
1:15:00 The fleeting moments you get to spend with your kids
1:17:30 The value of building relationships with best-in-class peers
1:20:00 How the book publishing industry works
1:29:15 How to differentiate yourself as an investor in 2023?
1:39:00 The greatest historical examples as content marketing
2:02:30 The best businesses are cults (and Senra starts one on the episode)
2:07:30 Senra gives feedback to Ben and David on Acquired episode format
2:16:00 Steve Jobs’ 1997 product matrix
2:17:30 The moral imperative to market products that help people
2:23:30 Ray Kroc and Steve Jobs: deeply flawed founders
2:24:00 The founders we idolize are world-builders
2:28:30 When yachts and jets are underpriced assets
2:32:30 How to compete when money is cheap vs. when there are real interest rates
2:40:00 When Ben and David have fixed broken episodes in post-production
2:45:00 Why masters of craft are so interesting to study
2:46:00 Should you listen to advice?
2:51:30 David’s first job detailing cars
2:53:00 The Cuban experience immigrating to Miami
3:01:30 College entrepreneurship programs
3:04:30 Ben’s experience learning UNIX as a kid
3:09:00 David remembers Tim Ferriss guest lecturing in college
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

[@TakingBackMonday]

This is gold. Three hours of the two best business-building podcasts sharing what they've learned through their work. 12/10 👏

[@karenscookingkorner]

At 58 years old I have been trying to grow my bookkeeping business. I constantly watch and listen to business podcasts as well as read tons of books. This KZbin episode is mind blowing! Anyone who is or wants to be an entrepreneur must watch this!!! Phenomenal

[@adammiller1167]

Massively inspired by David. What a man! And great podcast to all of you.

[@RAM-py6zp]

Love David's work ethic. Same for you guys, keep up with the amazing podcast. Greetings from Brasilia/BRAZIL

[@StartupSpells]

2 of my favorites for 3 hours. knew it after i saw that tweet.

[@elenakozlova7681]

I tried this strategy on my demo account and it worked like a charm! And I didn't even always follow all the conditions exactly, for example I tried it on a range market and it worked there too! This simple strategy is so robust!

[@c.phikiso8936]

My first and last KZbin comment: This was awesome. I've watched it twice already.

[@AndrewDarlow]

Outstanding conversation. I appreciate the honesty and life experiences. Founders is one of my favorite podcasts, and now I have many Acquired episodes to dive into!

[@IbrahimAli-rn1fl]

The opposite for me. Acquired is my fav podcast and now jumping onto founders podcast.

[@barriehep1759]

2:09:22 !! That’s the next T-shirt….. “OK let’s bring this home….” and the ACQ logo.

[@Betweterspodcast]

I have listened to this podcast 3 times now. This episodes deserves a award.

[@jean-paulgedeon8195]

David is my guy in the ear. The narrator of the greatest entrepreneurs who ever lived.

[@liyaaa5941]

Absolutely incredible podcast. It was so good that I wish it could have gone on for another 3 hours. Very inspiring!

[@mugtabafadil4159]

Amazing session; two of the best podcasts out there right now.

[@LibertyRPF]

This was great, loved it! 💚 🥃

[@manavgolecha]

Man listening to Acquired and David is Gold! I'm obsessed

[@markdbullard7165]

I can't believe David had lunch with Charlie Munger AND Sam Zell!!!! Sam just passed away this month. David is focused on the legends. I so so so appreciate David's podcast and his passion for learning. I've recommended it to EVERY founder I've ever met and many have thanked me later for the recommendation. It is the very best on the internet. Frankly, I REALLY like Acquired as well. Their podcast on Bitcoin radically changed my perspective on crypto currency on Bitcoin in particular. Thanks to all of you!

[@ZMartinW]

Amazing stuff thanks guys

[@markstashko3115]

Founders is undoubtedly best value providing podcast and of course there is no comparision between Acquired and Founders but if I were to Acquired would be top

[@maasdd]

This is great! Would be great to learn more about your business and your prep for shows - getting sponsors - investing etc

[@joeslack]

senra is the champ, founders is my favourite.

[@WFGMARCEL]

There is so much here it's insane in the membrane!!

[@NotStripeu]

So much value!!!

[@KingUnique888]

Such a great podcast

[@miguelparente]

Please don't stop posting on KZbin ❤

[@ngalawena]

This is crack cocaine for us mungerites

[@QualitativeInvestor]

Mr. Rosenthal, please do not interrupt your interviewee.

[@maasdd]

alright I know what I'm going to do for the next 3hrs , thx (well 1.5hrs on 2x speed :)

[@Ryan.G.Spalding]

What other podcasts am I missing only listening on KZbin?

[@MichaelBabich]

Great episode. Very entertaining. I'm subscribed to David's podcast for some time already and have some-hopefully-helpful constructive critics for David: the way he tells a story is very unstructured. Like a salad of ideas. There is no beginning, middle, and end. Looks like there are too many thoughts simultaneously and he tries to tell them all at the same time without building a story arc. He starts telling one thing and immediately remembers something different and jumps to this new thing without logical completion of a previous thing. This results in constant jumping back and forth to different contexts, and repetitions. It's hard to tell in the end what the story was really about.

[@thecafcl8409]

You're just slow

[@getsharp]

David said many times, his format is an 100s of hours long ongoing conversation. Not one-off in an of itself episode. The value is finding common traits of successful founders and keep contextualizing them in different stories. The beginning is founders episode 1. The ending will be his final episode - decades down the road. He keeps saying, he is interested in listeners who are willing to go thru 50 episodes. I guess you can say that's one of his differentiation.

[@dangtimothy]

At 2:11:39, who is the Patrick they are talking about?

[@foeppel]

Patrick O'Shaughnessy Invest Like the Best

[@Danny-mt5os]

Tim Ferris is the OG

[@christopherarmstrong2710]

One of the hosts looks like a spitting image of Kylo Ren.

[@makepurethyheart]

Does David Senra remind you of the actor Jake Johnson?

[@makepurethyheart]

You guys sponsored by spindrift?

[@Stegostomatidae]

First, this is not Bezos' new yacht. Secondly that's is a tender not a chase yacht. It literally lives inside of that actually yacht. Also chase yacht not a real term. Yacht support vessel or shadow yachts is probably what you are trying to reference.

[@terryfox7427]

What a clown "they estimate...something like half a million people perished" - in reference to Cuban exiles fleeing the revolution. Everyone can be wrong about facts and holding people to unreasonably high standards in a casual conversion is wrong. However this is such grave and almost hilarious miss that even someone who's taken high school history or has a passing understanding of the world's history would never do. Off by a magnitude and when the subject matter is this serious, for shame!