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If you’re new, not yet a subscriber, or just plain missed it, here are some of our recent editions.

🎆 Building Smarter Models with Cheaper Tokens. An interview with Benny Chen, Co-Founder at Fireworks AI.
🍰 What’s the story with Perplexity Computer? It's now possible to have your AI cake and eat it too.
🪐 What Changes After Your Exit (Nothing?). An interview with Ronan Berder, exited-Founder & CEO at Wiredcraft.

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HOUSEKEEPING 📨

You’re not going to believe this, but WE’RE HAVING ANOTHER GIVEAWAY!! This time it’s to W Mexico City. Bold, playful, and unapologetically extra (so the press release tells me), W Mexico City mixes neon-lit energy with sleek rooms, buzzy lobby cocktails, and a spa to recover from it all. Expect late nights, loud playlists, and just enough luxury to keep things spicy. Sounds good, right?

This is the second giveaway we’ve partnered on this year, and if all goes well, my plan is to start crafting tech-centered travel opportunities. So it goes without saying, SIGN UP! And enjoy today’s piece.

BUILDING IN PUBLIC 🔎

Open Sourcing My Own Content Diet

The recommended American diet, as outlined by the USDA, emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy. And to limit sugars, sodium, and unhealthy fats. Focus on nutrient-dense foods like nuts and avocados, while drinking plenty of water. Moderation and variety are key.

The same thing can be said for your own content diet. Podcasts, articles, newsletters, and other thought-provoking, valuable information are good. Social media, YouTube rabbit-holes, and mindless scrolling are bad.

When sitting in on the final interview of candidates wanting to join my company, Athyna, one of the first questions I ask is: “Tell me about your content diet?” It tells me a lot about the person. If they can’t elaborate on their diet at all, that’s bad. If they mentioned that they enjoy Logan Paul videos, that’s worse.

Your own content diet should be taken seriously; you are looking to improve by learning from high-quality sources, all whilst taking in a nice mix of viewpoints so you don’t end up drinking your own bathwater.

When the learning started (again) for me

From childhood to my teenage years, I was an avid learner. Ancient Egypt was my thing. When I had a project on engineering, I chose the pyramids. Presentation on religion, I’m talking about the Sun God, Ra. But something happened around the age of 15. Learning all of a sudden became uncool. And at the age of just discovering the opposite sex, I was certainly not in the business of being uncool at this juncture.

_{*Note: Shout out to all the late 80’s kids who were lucky enough to be able to see Stargate in 1994 between the ages of five and ten years old.}

This carried on until ~27 years of age. I wasn’t yet a founder, and all I really cared about was, paradoxically, nightlife and training. Oh, and real estate. That all changed thanks to a strange interaction with a gentleman named Fred, who was staying with me on my Airbnb in 2015.

I’d just finished watching Interstellar on a Friday night, and as the credits were rolling, Fred walked in. “Holy shit, what a movie, Fred,” I said with my jaw on the floor. “Yes, incredible how grounded in reality it is too,” he replied.

“Excuse me, Fred, but what part of that fucking movie I just saw are you saying was grounded in reality?” Lucky for me, Fred had some serious cerebral horsepower and was able to detail, step by step, general relativity, time dilation, and even the mind-bending fact that Russian Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev actually holds the world record for time travel.

The world was alive with possibility again. Everything became fascinating, and learning became my favorite thing to do. Beneath you will find my (podcasting) content diet from the past through to today.

Never miss them

• Prof G Show: I’m pretty sure Scott Galloway is my spirit animal. Great for big tech, startups, investing, media & comms, and some politics. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• Equity Mates Investing: Two young Australian guys diving into their investing journey together. This is an easy listen with good guests that really lives up to the idea of the listener feeling like a fly on the wall in a great conversation between friends. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• My First Million: Take everything I said in the last, and apply it to this show. The only difference is that My First Milly is tech- and startups-focused, and both hosts have had decent exits themselves. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• The Rest Is Politics: A geopolitical show hosted two British ex-politicians, one from the left and one from the right. Brilliant listening. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• The All-In Podcast: Some of the smartest guys in the room when it comes to startups and technology. I don’t love the characters; in fact, I despise them at times, but I enjoy the content. Importantly, they all seem to be genuinely great friends. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

Mostly don’t miss them

• Today, Explained: By the team that brought you Explained on Netflix, Today, Explained is a daily breakdown of what’s happening in the world today. Incredibly well produced and always interesting. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• Unexplained: From the same team as above, but instead of daily news, this show takes you on a more offbeat path. How space works, do dogs feel love, that kinda stuff. An absolute cracker of a show. Apple | Spotify

• How I Write: David Perell is a master podcast host, and the guests that he brings along are always incredible. I feel like I walk out of the experience a better writer each and every time. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• Making Sense by Sam Harris: I love Sam Harris. I feel like, in a world that is inherently less truthful and trustworthy, I can always rely on Sam. I don’t agree with him on everything, but I value him and his way of thinking. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• The Bill Simmons Podcast: My weekly NBA catch-up. Sports, with incredible yet random cultural references spliced in. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• The Ezra Klein Show: Very similar to Sam Harris, I love how Ezra thinks and find his conversations interesting every time I listen. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• Interesting Times: Ross Douthat is the yin to Ezra Klein’s yang. A conservative voice over at the New York Times, and a great interviewer. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

Love them, but every so often

• Hardcore History: Simply the best history podcast ever created. The Painfortainment and Human Resources episodes are some of the most engaging things I’ve ever laid my ears on. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• Planet Money: Money stuff made fun. A daily take on how economics works on a macro and/or micro scale. Apple | Spotify 

• Dwarkesh Podcast: This podcast is actually too intelligent for me at times. Maybe all the times. But it’s also cool when someone on the train sees you listening to it and thinks you are smart as well. Tech, business, geopolitics, philosophy. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• VC20: I listen to Harry here and there. I find him a bit irritating, and I think a lot of his takes are garbage, but his guests are pretty high-level. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• Gone Medieval: History stuff, made fun. It is what it sounds like, medieval history, which was quite an interesting period to say the least. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• How To Take Over The World: A great breakdown of some of history's greats, and how they did whatever it was that they did. Apple | Spotify 

• Huberman Lab: Only listen to it because Huberman looks like a 50-year-old version of me. Other than that, Huberman is your go-to guy for health, psychology, and more. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• Lenny’s Podcast: Really, really, really great product, strategy, startup, and tech conversations. I tend to jump into the more unique interviews like this one with Rory Sutherland from Ogilvy. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• Stuff You Should Know: Amazing podcast that has stood the test of time about interesting topics, told deeply and told well. I have seen this show live. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• The Intelligence: Money stuff again by Planet Money. Daily insights about interesting parts of the financial system. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• Lex Fridman Podcast: One of the great interviewers. I listen to a few, at least, with Lex. Science, AI, technology, politics, humanity. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• Fin Vs History: This might be the funniest show I listen to on a semi-regular basis. A history podcast by two British comedians who know very little about history. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• Acquired: Some of the best long-form deep dives into the greats of business. Very easy listening. I think the Nintendo episodes might be my faves. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

A note on philosophical + political diversity

Some years ago, feels like a lifetime, I interviewed the famous futurist and founder of WIRED Magazine, Kevin Kelly, for the upcoming release of his 2016 book, The Inevitable. The Inevitable is a 2016 nonfiction book that forecasts the twelve technological forces that will shape the next thirty years. One of his forces was ‘filtering’ and was in large part in reference to being able to filter good information from bad.

Not only that, but he also believed the world would become one big echo chamber thanks to the rise of algorithms. YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, heck, even your newsletter feed will, from now until God knows when, be feeding you more of what you already believe. This leads not only to an echo chamber where you and all your pals sniff each other, but also to a nice, big, juicy slice of confirmation bias when quality, neutral information does come your way.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why the US is more politically divided than it has been in decades. With divisions bordering on those experienced during the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War era, and even the US Civil War.

For that reason, I work actively to make sure I don’t just surround myself with crazy people on the liberal side of things, which is where I lean heavily politically. A great example of the pull between where I get my media is the clash between the right-leaning All-In guys and the likes of Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, who are firmly left-coded.

Content I loved but have since sunset

• The Joe Rogan Experience: It breaks my heart to say this, but I get quite put off by Rogan these days. I know he used to identify as a bleeding heart liberal, but his guests just frustrate me these days. Rogan has provided me with some of the deepest thinking and greatest learnings I have had as an adult, so it’s strange to not still be a loyal fan. But it is what it is. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• StarTalk Radio: Great science show that I used to love until Neil DeGrasse-Tyson was kinda rude to me when I went to see him once. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• Dr. Karl Podcast: I interviewed Karl a number of years ago, and he was the rudest guy I’ve ever met. The first interview was supposed to be on my birthday. We flew up to Sydney especially for it, and he no-showed on us, with no contact whatsoever, then, a day or two later, he followed up by offering to send me a signed copy of his book. The second, and eventual, recording was even worse. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• The Infinite Monkey Cage: Another great science show, but I just don’t have time for it in my rotation anymore. Business has eaten up all my science listening time, which is kinda lame. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• Pivot: The aforementioned Professor Scott Galloway, and renowned media journalist, Kara Swisher, take on media, big tech, and more. Apple | Spotify | YouTube

• How I Built This: Great show by Guy Raz about how businesses got off the ground, but fell out of the rotation a while back. Apple | Spotify 

In a league of its own

• The Ricky Gervais Show: Ahh, where do I even begin with The Ricky Gervais Show? I would honestly say, from the bottom of my heart, that this has been my favorite show in my life. I don’t listen to the shows anymore, and you actually can’t find them for long stretches, but for the last 15 years, for around 50% of the time, I have listened to this show in my ears as I drift off to sleep. I can genuinely recite entire episodes as if they’re my favorite childhood music track. Love. Spotify

My favorite conversation in history

My favorite conversation ever was between Sam Harris and William MacAskill on episode 44 of Making Sense. Reading from Sam’s website, “William MacAskill is an Associate Professor in Philosophy and Research Fellow at the Global Priorities Institute, University of Oxford. He is one of the primary voices in effective altruism and the co-founder of three non-profits based on effective altruist principles: Giving What We Can, 80,000 Hours, and the Center for Effective Altruism.”

In sum, Sam and Oxford philosopher William discussed effective altruism, moral illusions, existential risk, and other topics that are bigger than the big picture.

The most evocative idea was borrowed from Peter Singer, who wrote Famine, Affluence and Morality. “He argues that, because people in extreme poverty are so poor and we can do so much to help them, we have a moral duty to give as much as we can in order to prevent their early death and suffering, just as, if we saw a child drowning in a shallow pond, you’d happily run in to save that child; even if it meant ruining your very nice suit,” William would go on to say. It’s these questions that really shine a lot on morality that made this episode such a good listen for me.

Summary

"You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with,” is a quote often attributed to the motivational speaker and author Jim Rohn. This is how I think about my brain. If I do my job well and feed my brain with good, nourishing information, I will thrive. And if I don’t, I might one day turn into a tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracy pusher. Choose your content wisely, my friends, your future self will thank you.

Bonus: Extra reading

In today’s extra reading section, I am going to give you links to the five newsletters I love the most, just for a little look at the written side of my content diet.

• Not Boring by Pack McCormick

• Strategy Breakdowns by Tom Alder

• Bay Area Times

• Uncharted Territories by Tomas Pueyo

• Marketing Ideas by Tom Orbach

And that's it! You can follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn, and also don’t forget to check out Athyna while you’re at it.

BRAIN FOOD 🧠 

TWEETS OF THE WEEK 🐣 

TOOLS WE RECOMMEND 🛠️

Every week, we highlight tools we like and those we actually use inside our business and give them an honest review. Today, we are highlighting BILL—Your AI-powered financial operations platform.

See the full set of tools we use inside of Athyna & Open Source CEO here.

HOW I CAN HELP 🥳

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