52 episodes
rational vc Cyrus Yari and Iman Olya
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- Business
Learn from history's Greatest Minds — and find Timeless ideas you can apply to business and life. Every episode we explore a Lindy book: We strive to become polymaths like our investing and business icons, pulling the Big Ideas from a wide range of disciplines to help us become better investors and operators. rationalvc.com
“In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn’t read all the time — none, zero. [...] I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up, and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.” — Charlie Munger
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#052 - Antifragile: Nassim Taleb (Incerto Series)
Every episode we explore a Lindy book, and find Timeless ideas you can apply to business and life. We strive to become polymaths like our investing and business icons, pulling the Big Ideas from a wide range of disciplines to help us become better investors and operators. Join 3,000+ curious minds and avid readers by subscribing @ rationalvc.com to get free access to essays and exclusive content. For the video version of episode click here.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(11:39) Antifragile definition
(19:13) Introduction to the core concepts
(22:04) Hormesis, naïve interventionism, iatrogenics
(33:55) Peter Kaufmann and Charlie Munger
(35:57) Modernity, Switzerland, political systems
(55:21) Concavity vs Convexity and Black Swans
(1:07:30) FU Money and wealth
(1:13:12) Optionality and wealth
(1:21:47) Barbell strategy
(1:43:02) Rational Flaneur
(1:47:23) The Lindy Effect
(2:01:22) Raising antifragile kids
(2:12:19) Green Lumbar fallacy
(2:23:53) Signal vs Noise
(2:29:00) Via Negativa
(2:51:07) Ethics of Antifragility and Skin in the Game
(2:57:36) Deep dives and quotes
(3:35:32) Closing thoughts
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Our website (all essays and podcasts): rationalvc.com
Our investment fund: rational.fund
Cyrus' Twitter: x.com/CyrusYari
Iman's Twitter: x.com/iman_olya
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Links mentioned in the episode:
Cyrus referenced Tweets:
https://x.com/CyrusYari/status/1792279103862681603
https://x.com/CyrusYari/status/1757715505819906419
https://x.com/CyrusYari/status/1679174178195353600
Peter Kauffman Rational VC episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMiOFC07X8M&t=8s
The Black Swan episode:
https://youtu.be/HVGJQ25Cr2k?si=8b2DPBPX80Pgbgag
Vizi Andrei:
https://twitter.com/viziandrei
Daniel Vassallo:
https://twitter.com/dvassallo
Cyrus essay on Angel Investing (incl. Barbell Investing):
https://www.rationalvc.com/articles/angel
WhosAria Bars of Wisdom newsletter:
https://www.barsofwisdom.com
Fat Tony's Community:
https://fattonys.net/
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Disclaimer: The materials provided are solely for informational or entertainment purposes and do not constitute investment or legal advice. All opinions expressed by hosts and guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of their employer(s).
#Lindy #knowledge #books -
#051 - The Black Swan: Nassim Taleb (Incerto Series)
Every podcast episode we explore a Lindy book, and find ideas you can use in business and life. Join 3,000+ curious minds and avid readers by subscribing @ rationalvc.com to get free access to essays and exclusive content. For the video version of episode click here.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro / chit-chat
(09:26) Structure of the show
(10:36) What is a Black Swan?
(19:34) Human blindness to Black Swans
(01:02:45) Mediocristan vs Extremistan
(01:30:45) Bell Curve / Gaussian fraud
(01:37:18) Why the Midwit meme is wrong
(01:47:27) Leveraging Black Swans
(01:58:34) Chapter overviews
(02:19:16) Chapter 19 deep dive
(02:27:58) Favourite quotes / our lives
(02:37:09) Fat Tony
(02:43:33) 10 Principles for Black Swan robustness
(02:48:54) Amor Fati
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Our website (all essays and podcasts): rationalvc.com
Our investment fund: rational.fund
Cyrus' Twitter: x.com/CyrusYari
Iman's Twitter: x.com/iman_olya
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Links mentioned in the episode below:
Iman Tweet on daily routines of creatives:
https://twitter.com/iman_olya/status/1764721995743121415
Table 1 - Extremistan vs Mediocristan:
https://capitalideasonline.com/wordpress/mediocristan-vs-extremistan/
Vizi Andrei:
https://twitter.com/viziandrei
Cyrus being interviewed on the Brick by Brick podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/54RvagfMSIWNtVwAe2193a?si=1cb28db259814326
Cyrus essay on Angel Investing (incl. Barbell Investing):
https://www.rationalvc.com/articles/angel
Cyrus essay on Tech Markets are Irrational:
https://www.rationalvc.com/articles/irrational
Jack Raines FU Money ZeroHedge essay:
https://www.youngmoney.co/p/fck-money
WhosAria Bars of Wisdom newsletter:
https://www.barsofwisdom.com
Fat Tony's Community:
https://fattonys.net/
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Disclaimer: The materials provided are solely for informational or entertainment purposes and do not constitute investment or legal advice. All opinions expressed by hosts and guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of their employer(s).
#Lindy #knowledge #books -
#050 - Fooled by Randomness: Nassim Taleb (Incerto Series)
Every podcast episode we explore a Lindy book, and find ideas you can use in business and life. Join 3,000+ curious minds and avid readers @ rationalvc.com to get free access to essays and exclusive content. For the video version of episode click here.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro / chit-chat
(20:11) Randomness & Luck
(24:46) Monte Carlo Simulation
(31:09) Ergodicity
(31:39) Hindsight Bias
(38:00) Survivorship Bias
(39:50) Asymmetric Bets / John & Nero
(49:53) Skewness & Asymmetry
(57:19) Pascal's Wager
(1:00:53) Induction & Chaos Theory
(1:03:22) Chapter 11
(1:08:45) System-1 vs System-2 Thinking
(1:10:03) Satisficing
(1:20:08) Normative vs Positive Thinking
(1:25:52) Signal vs Noise
(1:28:20) Heuristics
(1:33:45) Final Part of Book (Part 3's Importance)
(1:44:41) Favourite Quotes / Our Lives
(2:06:11) Final Thoughts
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Our website (all essays and podcasts): rationalvc.com
Our investment fund: rational.fund
Cyrus' Twitter: x.com/CyrusYari
Iman's Twitter: x.com/iman_olya
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Disclaimer: The materials provided are solely for informational or entertainment purposes and do not constitute investment or legal advice. All opinions expressed by hosts and guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of their employer(s).
#Lindy #knowledge #books -
#049 - The Podcast Is Pivoting And Rebranding!
** Apologies for the audio quality, it's been a while! New audio set-up. The audio will be significantly better from the next episode. In this transitionary episode we discuss our pivot, after 49 episodes our podcast is continuing, albeit in a much different direction, and rebranding. From the next episode (ep. 50 it will be in the new format and all changes will be reflected then). We discuss all the changes (and our view on the podcasting space) in this short transitionary episode.
Video version of episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2L49pYXx8g
"the rational letter" - For free you can join 3,000+ seasoned investors, founders, scientists, engineers, and erudites read the same email summary of our learnings from a Lindy book and use the ideas in their work and life. Curated and emailed once a month. Nothing else. Sign up for it here: https://rationalvc.com
Our investment fund: https://rational.fund
Cyrus' Twitter: https://twitter.com/CyrusYari
Iman's Twitter: https://twitter.com/iman_olya
00:00 Intro Banter
04:18 Explaining the Pivot / Rebrand, Plus Views on Podcasting Space
26:07 Outro
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Disclaimer: The materials provided are solely for informational or entertainment purposes and do not constitute investment or legal advice. All opinions expressed by hosts and guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of their employer(s).
#podcast #knowledge #books -
#048 - Jim O'Shaughnessy (OSV.LLC): Becoming a More Nuanced Thinker
Jim O'Shaughnessy is one of the greatest thinkers of our time. A curious mind, Wall Street legend, Venture Capitalist (OSV.llc), best-selling author, previously founder of OSAM (sold to Franklin Templeton), podcaster (infinite loops), father, grandfather, and the list goes on. We discussed numerous topics. Check the timestamps below for topics and enjoy the audio, or you can watch the video over on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/W-t1v-u-iAg
Jim's Twitter: https://twitter.com/jposhaughnessy O'Shaughnessy Ventures: https://www.osv.llc
Jim's Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/7yAAsaj77q3jQLbX8NAQ7J?si=950606434743485f
00:00 Teaser
01:05 Intro
03:30 The Great Reshuffle / investment in Odin
11:01 O'Shaughnessy Ventures
19:53 What Jim looks for in startups
26:21 Autonomy and accountability in portfolio companies
33:37 Psychological biases & improving decision-making
40:20 Meme culture and human nature
53:07 Wealth creation
1:04:25 What's driving Jim?
1:08:47 Message from Jim
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Get in touch with us:
Our website (all essays and podcasts): https://rationalvc.com
Our investment fund: https://rational.fund
Cyrus' Twitter: https://twitter.com/CyrusYari
Iman's Twitter: https://twitter.com/iman_olya
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Disclaimer: The materials provided are solely for informational or entertainment purposes and do not constitute investment or legal advice. All opinions expressed by hosts and guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of their employer(s). No copyright infringement intended.
#venturecapital #investing #startup -
#047 - Jonny Blausten: Sprout CEO, democratising venture capital, from consulting to running startups, content creation and future of VC
Jonny is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sprout: an investment platform curating access to Venture Capital deals for private investors. We discussed numerous topics. Check the timestamps below for topics and enjoy the audio, or you can watch the video over on our YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/wXWu552WyVE
Jonny's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-blausten-b5178141/?originalSubdomain=uk
Jonny's personal Twitter: https://twitter.com/JBlausten
Jonny's GunnerPunner Twitter: https://twitter.com/gunnerpunner
Sprout website: https://www.viasprout.com/
00:00 Teaser
01:18 Intros
04:19 Jonny's background
05:50 Jonny's early startups
12:32 Jonny's parents & real estate
16:02 Corporate life is charlatanism?
33:26 Sprout intro
36:39 Sprout in depth - the problem of access to the best deals
44:33 Sprout's vision and competition
48:37 UK vs US investors
52:06 Sprout community & education
57:42 VC fund access for retail investors
1:03:13 Sprout's 10 T's (assessing VC funds)
1:10:13 Why do VC funds fail and biases
1:17:19 Sprout's monetisation
1:20:52 Future for Sprout
1:25:25 Why is VC hard?
1:28:50 VCs are charlatans?
1:33:50 VC fund skillset diversification
1:45:24 Future of VC & solo GPs
1:54:35 Content creation & side hustles
2:06:48 Jonny's values & principles
2:15:22 Ending thoughts
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Get in touch with us:
Our website (all essays and podcasts): https://rationalvc.com
Our investment fund: https://rational.fund
Cyrus' Twitter: https://twitter.com/CyrusYari
Iman's Twitter: https://twitter.com/iman_olya
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Disclaimer: The materials provided are solely for informational or entertainment purposes and do not constitute investment or legal advice. All opinions expressed by hosts and guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of their employer(s). No copyright infringement intended.
#sprout #JonnyBlausten #VentureCapital