Episode

#534: Michael Dell, Founder of Dell — Early Failures, Battling Carl Icahn, Learning from the Competition, and How to Play Nice But Win
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59:20
Published: Tue Sep 28 2021
Description

Michael Dell, Founder of Dell — Early Failures, Battling Carl Icahn, Learning from the Competition, and How to Play Nice But Win | Brought to you by Wealthfront automated investing, Helix Sleep premium mattresses, and Tonal smart home gym. More on all three below.Michael Dell (@MichaelDell) is chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Technologies, an innovator and technology leader providing the essential infrastructure for organizations to build their digital future, transform IT, and protect their most important information. He is the author of Play Nice But Win: A CEO’s Journey from Founder to Leader.Michael is an honorary member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum and is an executive committee member of the International Business Council. In 1999, he and his wife, Susan Dell, established the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.Please enjoy!*This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront! Wealthfront pioneered the automated investing movement, sometimes referred to as ‘robo-advising,’ and they currently oversee $20 billion of assets for their clients. It takes about three minutes to sign up, and then Wealthfront will build you a globally diversified portfolio of ETFs based on your risk appetite and manage it for you at an incredibly low cost. Smart investing should not feel like a rollercoaster ride. Let the professionals do the work for you. Go to Wealthfront.com/Tim and open a Wealthfront account today, and you’ll get your first $5,000 managed for free, for life. Wealthfront will automate your investments for the long term. Get started today at Wealthfront.com/Tim.*This episode is also brought to you by Tonal! Tonal is the world’s most intelligent home gym and personal trainer. It is precision engineered and designed to be the most advanced strength studio on the market today. Tonal uses breakthrough technology—like adaptive digital weights and AI learning—together with the best experts in resistance training so you get stronger, faster. Every program is personalized to your body using AI, and smart features check your form in real time, just like a personal trainer.Try Tonal, the world’s smartest home gym, for 30 days in your home, and if you don’t love it, you can return it for a full refund. Visit Tonal.com for $100 off their smart accessories when you use promo code TIM100 at checkout.*This episode is also brought to you by Helix Sleep! Helix was selected as the #1 overall mattress of 2020 by GQ magazine, Wired, Apartment Therapy, and many others. With Helix, there’s a specific mattress to meet each and every body’s unique comfort needs. Just take their quiz—only two minutes to complete—that matches your body type and sleep preferences to the perfect mattress for you. They have a 10-year warranty, and you get to try it out for a hundred nights, risk free. They’ll even pick it up from you if you don’t love it. And now, to my dear listeners, Helix is offering up to 200 dollars off all mattress orders plus two free pillows at HelixSleep.com/Tim.*If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews!For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Chapters
The Tonal unit allows for advanced exercises such as eccentric loading and rotational exercises, and includes built-in dynamic weight modes and smart flex technology for experimentation in strength training.
00:00 - 01:53 (01:53)
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Home Workouts
Summary

The Tonal unit allows for advanced exercises such as eccentric loading and rotational exercises, and includes built-in dynamic weight modes and smart flex technology for experimentation in strength training. Its patented digital weight system delivers a smooth weightlifting experience with thousands of calculations per second and adaptive digital weights powered by AI learning.

Episode
#534: Michael Dell, Founder of Dell — Early Failures, Battling Carl Icahn, Learning from the Competition, and How to Play Nice But Win
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
Listen to the story of Carl Icahn, a famous financier and corporate raider, known for getting into transactions to cause trouble and receive buyouts.
01:53 - 10:00 (08:07)
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Carl Icahn
Summary

Listen to the story of Carl Icahn, a famous financier and corporate raider, known for getting into transactions to cause trouble and receive buyouts. Also, check out helixsleep.com/tim and take a 2-minute sleep quiz for a customized mattress for the best sleep.

Episode
#534: Michael Dell, Founder of Dell — Early Failures, Battling Carl Icahn, Learning from the Competition, and How to Play Nice But Win
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker discusses trends on people who tend to buy newspapers and how the newspaper company made some mistakes such as not focusing on trial subscriptions for new residents and apartment complexes.
10:00 - 21:16 (11:15)
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Newspaper Subscription
Summary

The speaker discusses trends on people who tend to buy newspapers and how the newspaper company made some mistakes such as not focusing on trial subscriptions for new residents and apartment complexes.

Episode
#534: Michael Dell, Founder of Dell — Early Failures, Battling Carl Icahn, Learning from the Competition, and How to Play Nice But Win
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
The founder of a successful business discusses the difficulty of starting a business and how vulnerability plays a role in success.
21:16 - 28:05 (06:49)
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Business
Summary

The founder of a successful business discusses the difficulty of starting a business and how vulnerability plays a role in success. There is no explicit mention of a product or service being advertised.

Episode
#534: Michael Dell, Founder of Dell — Early Failures, Battling Carl Icahn, Learning from the Competition, and How to Play Nice But Win
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
The process of taking a company private and then public again involves considering various risks, including financial and reputational implications, but can offer benefits such as greater control and flexibility.
28:05 - 39:49 (11:43)
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Taking a company public
Summary

The process of taking a company private and then public again involves considering various risks, including financial and reputational implications, but can offer benefits such as greater control and flexibility. Public company CEOs often dislike the shot clock of public markets, leading some to consider going private.

Episode
#534: Michael Dell, Founder of Dell — Early Failures, Battling Carl Icahn, Learning from the Competition, and How to Play Nice But Win
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
Novices in direct to consumer business often miss out on leveraging the information advantage, capital efficiency, customer intimacy, and product improvement, which can provide a compounding effect of great value towards their business.
39:49 - 48:12 (08:22)
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Direct to Consumer
Summary

Novices in direct to consumer business often miss out on leveraging the information advantage, capital efficiency, customer intimacy, and product improvement, which can provide a compounding effect of great value towards their business.

Episode
#534: Michael Dell, Founder of Dell — Early Failures, Battling Carl Icahn, Learning from the Competition, and How to Play Nice But Win
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
Brian Scudamore, CEO and author, encourages cultivating one's potential by embracing failure and taking risks.
48:12 - 53:50 (05:37)
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Success, Failure
Summary

Brian Scudamore, CEO and author, encourages cultivating one's potential by embracing failure and taking risks. In his book, Scudamore provides insights and stories that inspire readers to apply principles to their own lives and work towards success while maintaining kindness.

Episode
#534: Michael Dell, Founder of Dell — Early Failures, Battling Carl Icahn, Learning from the Competition, and How to Play Nice But Win
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker shares his conclusion that good sleep is crucial for good mood, good performance and a good life.
53:50 - 57:29 (03:39)
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Sleep
Summary

The speaker shares his conclusion that good sleep is crucial for good mood, good performance and a good life. An ad for mattresses from Helix Sleep is also included.

Episode
#534: Michael Dell, Founder of Dell — Early Failures, Battling Carl Icahn, Learning from the Competition, and How to Play Nice But Win
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
The Tonal Unit uses adaptive digital weights and AI learning to provide a smooth weightlifting experience without the need for extra equipment like chains and bands, allowing users to experiment with various ways to get stronger.
57:29 - 59:13 (01:43)
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Tonal Unit
Summary

The Tonal Unit uses adaptive digital weights and AI learning to provide a smooth weightlifting experience without the need for extra equipment like chains and bands, allowing users to experiment with various ways to get stronger. However, the text also includes an advertisement for the product.

Episode
#534: Michael Dell, Founder of Dell — Early Failures, Battling Carl Icahn, Learning from the Competition, and How to Play Nice But Win
Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show