Handling criticism and trusting your judgment

David Senra joins Sourcery for a candid conversation about the founders he’s spent nearly a decade studying, and why time, not intelligence or hype, is the only filter that actually matters. As the creator of Founders, Senra has read and analyzed hundreds of biographies of history’s most consequential builders, looking for the recurring patterns behind people who don’t just succeed once, but keep going for decades.

That work led directly to his new show, David Senra. What makes the format unusual is that these aren’t traditional interviews and they aren’t random guests, they’re conversations. And the people David sits down with are often longtime listeners of Founders, super-fans of the ideas, books, and lessons his audience already cares about, who apply those lessons at an extraordinary level. The result is a rare alignment where the guests and the audience share the same reference points.

In this episode, Senra reflects on conversations with founders he’s spoken with directly, including Michael Dell, Brad Jacobs, James Dyson, Michael Ovitz, & Daniel Ek, alongside the long arc of figures he’s studied deeply on Founders such as Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, & Walt Disney. Across all of them, the common thread is durability: staying in the same game long enough for compounding to work.

Rather than focusing on startups, exits, or fundraising cycles, this conversation centers on why most founders disappear, their biggest & most common regrets, how self-sabotage ends more careers than competition, and why the best builders treat problems as puzzles instead of crises. 

It’s a discussion about building something you can stay with for life, & why the rarest outcome in business isn’t success, but longevity.

David Senra: https://x.com/davidsenra 

Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea 

Sourcery: ⁠https://x.com/sourceryy

𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒

YouTube: https://youtu.be/RVdwU711kP0

𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐒

• Brex—The modern finance platform, combining the world’s smartest corporate card with integrated expense management, banking, bill pay, & travel. https://brex.com/sourcery

• Turing—Turing delivers top-tier talent, data, and tools to help AI labs improve model performance—and enables enterprises to turn those models into powerful, production-ready systems. https://turing.com/sourcery

• Deel—Deel is the global people platform that helps startups hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone, anywhere. Trusted by more than 35,000 fast-growing companies, Deel is the people platform that just works, so teams can scale without the chaos. Visit: https://www.deel.com/sourcery

• Public–Investing platform Public just launched Generated Assets, which lets you turn any idea into an investable index with AI. With Generated Assets, you can build, backtest, refine, and invest in any thesis with AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all ETFs. https://public.com/sourcery

Follow Sourcery for the latest updates!

https://www.sourcery.vc/

Disclosure
Paid Endorsement. Brokerage services by Open to the Public Investing Inc, member FINRA & SIPC. Advisory services by Public Advisors LLC, SEC-registered adviser. Crypto trading provided by Zero Hash LLC, licensed by the NYSDFS. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool by Public Advisors. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. See disclosures at public.com/disclosures/ga. Matched funds must remain in your account for at least 5 years. Match rate and other terms are subject to change at any time.