Episode
#81: The Rags to Riches Philosopher: Bryan Johnson's Path to $800 Million
Description
Bryan Johnson is an entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder of OS Fund and Braintree, the latter of which was bought by eBay in 2013 for $800 million in cash. Bryan launched OS Fund in 2014 with $100 million of his personal capital to support inventors and scientists who aim to benefit humanity by rewriting the operating systems of life. He cultivates real-world mad scientists. Our conversation includes his rags to riches story (and strategies), his philosophical hardwiring, negotiating/sales tactics, and even parenting. We cover a ton of ground with a fascinating and deep mind. Bryan's investments include endeavors to cure age-related diseases and radically extend healthy human life to 100+ (Human Longevity), make biology a predictable programming language (Gingko Bioworks & Synthetic Genomics), replicate the human visual cortex using artificial intelligence (Vicarious), mine an asteroid (Planetary Resources), reinvent transportation using autonomous vehicles (Mattternet), and reimagine food using biology (Hampton Creek), among others. Enjoy! Please check out the sponsors for this episode, which I’ve used myself: Athletic Greens —My all-in-one nutritional insurance policy. 99Designs — Your one-stop shop for all things graphic design related. I used them for the book cover mockups for The 4-Hour Body, which later hit #1 New York Times. Show notes (links, resources, books, etc.) from this episode can be found on my blog here: http://fourhourworkweek.com/podcast.***If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? 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.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Visit tim.blog/sponsor and fill out the form.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 introduction to the Tim Ferriss Show includes a promotion for Athletic Greens, a comprehensive supplement containing vitamins, minerals, and whole-food sourced ingredients that supports gut health, immunity, and energy.
00:00 - 09:37 (09:37)
Summary
The introduction to the Tim Ferriss Show includes a promotion for Athletic Greens, a comprehensive supplement containing vitamins, minerals, and whole-food sourced ingredients that supports gut health, immunity, and energy. By visiting athleticgreens.com/Tfs, listeners can receive a special offer of a free vitamin D supplement and five free travel packs with their first subscription purchase.
Episode#81: The Rags to Riches Philosopher: Bryan Johnson's Path to $800 Million
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker talks about his failed business ventures and how he overcame a two-year period of being dead broke by persistently applying for jobs until he found a role in sales.
09:37 - 22:34 (12:56)
Summary
The speaker talks about his failed business ventures and how he overcame a two-year period of being dead broke by persistently applying for jobs until he found a role in sales. He also shares his people skills and how he built a company by hiring college students to sell phones for him, paying his way through college doing that.
Episode#81: The Rags to Riches Philosopher: Bryan Johnson's Path to $800 Million
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The co-founder of TaskRabbit highlights the importance of building a company culture that not only attracts top talent, but also retains them.
22:34 - 39:28 (16:54)
Summary
The co-founder of TaskRabbit highlights the importance of building a company culture that not only attracts top talent, but also retains them. In order to do this, the company focused on hiring exceptional engineers and creating an environment where employees could feel valued and enthusiastic about their work.
Episode#81: The Rags to Riches Philosopher: Bryan Johnson's Path to $800 Million
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker emphasizes the importance of small details that can have huge implications on brand loyalty, PR, and acquisition.
39:28 - 52:56 (13:27)
Summary
The speaker emphasizes the importance of small details that can have huge implications on brand loyalty, PR, and acquisition. He shares an example of how personalized confirmation emails helped to spread the word about a company through word-of-mouth referrals.
Episode#81: The Rags to Riches Philosopher: Bryan Johnson's Path to $800 Million
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The founder of a company struggled to get honest feedback from his employees until he created a safe space for them to speak out.
52:56 - 1:08:04 (15:07)
Summary
The founder of a company struggled to get honest feedback from his employees until he created a safe space for them to speak out. He found that listening to criticism was key to building a better team and company.
Episode#81: The Rags to Riches Philosopher: Bryan Johnson's Path to $800 Million
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
A discussion of how biology can be used as an operating system to create world-changing solutions in areas such as fragrances, flavors, antibiotic resistance, and carbon capture, as well as the potential challenges such as legislation and incentives management.
1:08:04 - 1:25:02 (16:58)
Summary
A discussion of how biology can be used as an operating system to create world-changing solutions in areas such as fragrances, flavors, antibiotic resistance, and carbon capture, as well as the potential challenges such as legislation and incentives management.
Episode#81: The Rags to Riches Philosopher: Bryan Johnson's Path to $800 Million
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
In this episode, Reid Hoffman talks about the rising generation and the need to foster their ability to contribute to our well-being in fundamental ways.
1:25:02 - 1:47:01 (21:58)
Summary
In this episode, Reid Hoffman talks about the rising generation and the need to foster their ability to contribute to our well-being in fundamental ways. He also dives into meaningful books that he has gifted to other people.
Episode#81: The Rags to Riches Philosopher: Bryan Johnson's Path to $800 Million
PodcastThe Tim Ferriss Show
The speaker reflects on life lessons learned through trials and errors and credits them for her successful career.
1:47:01 - 1:50:03 (03:01)
Summary
The speaker reflects on life lessons learned through trials and errors and credits them for her successful career.