How Did You Decide to Build Robux and Virtual Economies?

David Baszucki is the founder and CEO of Roblox. TIME named Roblox one of the “100 Most Influential Companies,” and it has been recognized by Fast Company for innovation on their “Most Innovative Companies” and “Most Innovative Companies in Gaming” lists.

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Timestamps:

• [00:00:00] Start.
• [00:01:48] Kicking off with custom kettlebells.
• [00:03:00] How David and I connected through Dominic D’Agostino and metabolic health research.
• [00:04:30] Matthew Baszucki’s eight-year journey with bipolar disorder before keto breakthrough.
• [00:08:14] Rescuing Matthew from the streets with a strategic hospital admission.
• [00:18:18] Matthew’s disappearance from his mother’s perspective.
• [00:19:37] Understanding how the ketogenic diet helps people with bipolar disorder.
• [00:24:21] Meeting the challenges of ketogenic diet compliance.
• [00:30:06] Measuring ketone levels.
• [00:32:17] The clandestine Canadian CKM smuggling ring.
• [00:33:07] The calm optimism, mental clarity, and reduced sleep requirements of ketosis.
• [00:35:19] Breath hold experiments.
• [00:37:44] Optimizing my sleep and minimizing my OCD on ketosis.
• [00:40:18] How exogenous ketones improve verbal acuity of relatives with Alzheimer’s
• [00:41:49] Lyme disease and ketosis.
• [00:44:37] Talk therapy vs. mechanical therapy: Fixing the machinery first.
• [00:45:47] Dangers of talk therapy without physiological foundation: Learned helplessness.
• [00:46:49] Atmospheric Calm playlist: Ambient music for focus and productivity.
• [00:49:16] How Roblox fits in with human connection evolution to the tune of 120 million daily users.
• [00:52:50] Emergent games within the Roblox ecosystem.
• [00:54:32] Roblox’s safety infrastructure: Built for all ages from day one.
• [00:55:24] Future of 3D work: Virtual meetings replacing video calls, concerts, and political rallies.
• [00:56:57] The inevitability of innovation.
• [00:58:07] From early revenue challenges to a creator community earning over $1 billion a year.
• [01:02:52] Taking economic inspiration from Adam Smith.
• [01:03:54] Building the successful Robux system with a 20-person team in three months.
• [01:10:17] How does Roblox guard against IP theft among its digital creators?
• [01:14:32] Best company decisions made at Roblox thus far.
• [01:19:35] Missteps and mistakes.
• [01:21:07] When intuitive tech predictions pay off.
• [01:25:49] David’s favorite niche Roblox games.
• [01:28:41] Roblox kid safety: Filtered communication, parental controls, future AI age estimation, and clustering.
• [01:32:02] Roblox AI infrastructure: Hundreds of models for safety, translation, 3D creation, and procedurally generated dreaming.
• [01:33:33] Predictions: Sci-fi becoming reality, holodeck timeline, AI movies in 3-5 years, photorealistic virtual concerts.
• [01:37:24] Product development and challenges of being a public company CEO.
• [01:41:35] David’s self-care routine.
• [01:45:20] Roblox wellness: CGMs for all employees, snack labeling system, employee transformations.
• [01:47:11] Exploratory reading.
• [01:49:32] “Feed Your Head”: David’s Jefferson Airplane-inspired billboard.
• [01:50:24] Whole cream vs. half-and-half for coffee and other parting thoughts.

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