Founders
Episode 23 #23 The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story
Founders

Episode 23: #23 The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story

Founders

Episode 23

#23 The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story

David Senra is the host of Founders, where he studies history's greatest entrepreneurs. This is what he learned from reading The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story by Michael Lewis.

What I learned from reading The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story by Michael Lewis

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He grew up poor, dropped out of high school, and made himself 3 or 4 billion dollars (0:01), New Growth Theory (8:00), "Growth is just another word for change." (11:15), "The notion of what constituted useful work had broadened." (15:00), "If everyone was patient there'd be no new companies." (18:00), Turning his life around at 38 (21:00), Jim's idea to avoid the Innovator's Dilemma (30:00), The beginning of Netscape (33:00), The fast eat the slow (38:00), The people you don't want (40:00), The difference between a pig and a chicken /"They had wanted to be chickens; Clark forced them to be pigs" (43:00), All chips on 00 / Diversification is for idiots (48:00), Moving the goalposts / "Mama, I'm going to show Plainview." (56:00)

I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth

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#23 The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story

Introduction

"Why Jim Clark was so worthy of study was another matter, and I'll come to that soon enough. For now, I'll just say that the quirks in the man's character sent the most fantastic ripples through the world around him. Often starting with the best intentions or no intentions at all, he turned peoples' lives upside down and subjected them to the most vicious force a human being can be subjected to, change." "Oddly enough, he was forever claiming that what he really wanted to do was put up his feet and relax. He could not do this for more than a minute. Once he'd put up his feet, his mind would spin and his face would redden, and he'd be disturbed all over again. He thought of something or someone in the world that needed to be changed."

"For all I knew, Clark would be remembered chiefly as the guy who created Netscape and triggered the internet boom, which in turn triggered one of the most astonishing gabfests in the history of capitalism. Maybe somewhere in the footnote, it would be mentioned that he came from nothing, grew up poor, dropped out of high school, and made himself $3 billion or $4 billion."

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