Cyrus is General Partner at rational.fund. He podcasts and writes at rationalvc.com. He is currently working as a Software Engineer at Tesla. He has co-invested alongside Founders Fund, Jim O'Shaughnessy, YC, a16z, Sam Altman et al. The podcast has reached the top 25 charts on several occasions, and the essays have 3,000+ subscribers. Previously, Cyrus operated my own indie startups (some failed, 2 sold) or worked in VC-backed startups (and advised several). Prior to that he was part of a founding team for Silicon Valley Bank in London after university where he managed a $200MM portfolio in his early 20s. Interests: reading (preferably Lindy), podcasting, writing, polymathy, learning new skills, indie hacking, asymmetric bets, lifestyle design, sovereignty, mentoring ambitious immigrants, barbell training, martial arts, flâneuring the oldest inhabited cities, architecture, hiking, meditating, and Achaemenid history. Timestamps: 00:29 Cyrus's Background 08:08 Cyrus's Values 12:11 Escaping corporate 13:28 Leveraging code, media & capital 18:35 Self teaching software then joining Tesla 21:03 Making Small Bets 27:51 What is Lindy knowledge and why will it change your life 34:07 Is code or media a better form of leverage? 46:57 The Mayfair music scene 48:59 Should you optimise for work rate or exploration? 01:01:27 Why people should be bored more 01:04:29 Will AI eat software devs? 01:14:04 What it takes to be a top performing CEO / Founder 01:18:03 The problem with 30 under 30 & other status games 01:21:07 Don't build SaaS 01:24:03 How to get people more interested in quality content 01:35:50 The story of David Senra & Chris Williamson 01:40:48 Starting your life's work before having financial runway 01:46:22 Lifestyle design 01:49:40 Do people have a tendency to over prepare? 01:54:06 Is Charlie Munger right to be anti-crypto? Cyrus Yari: https://cyrusyari.com/ Ollie Allen Fox: https://www.weboaf.com/ https://twitter.com/ollieallenfox This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theoafproject.substack.com