Keith Rabois, an experienced entrepreneur and investor known for his roles at PayPal, LinkedIn, and Square, shares his insights on identifying talent. He discusses the importance of strategic thinking and adaptability in career paths, relaying anecdotes of successful executives who took unconventional routes. Rabois emphasizes leveraging social capital through networking and highlights the nuances in recognizing hidden talent beyond typical resumes. He also touches on how to find promising startup opportunities and the role of sleep in enhancing productivity.
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volunteer_activism ADVICE
Be Unique, Not Just The Best
Strive to be unique in your professional life, not just the best.
Define yourself uniquely, like a compelling personal statement.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Unconventional Success Stories
Keith Rabois hired David Hahn, Jared Fleisler, and Brian Gastronomy at 22 years old.
None had elite school or tech backgrounds, but all became successful execs by leveraging unique skills and strategic thinking.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Passion-Driven Founding
Start a company only when deeply passionate about a specific idea.
Avoid founding for the sake of being a founder; passion is key.
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This book delves into the purpose and power of sleep, explaining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Walker discusses how sleep enriches our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions, recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. He also explores the consequences of sleep deprivation and provides actionable steps to improve sleep quality, including ways to prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity.
Seven powers
Alex Rovira
The winner within
A Life Plan for Team Players
Pat Riley
In 'The Winner Within', Pat Riley shares his tactics for converting teams into units with an emphasis on the greater good. The book provides winning strategies that inspire change, motivate teamwork, and reveal the winner within individuals. It is applicable not just on the court but also in business, at home, and in personal achievement.
Rocket Men
The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon
Robert Kurson
This book tells the story of the Apollo 8 mission with a focus on the three astronauts: Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders. It details the epic dangers and singular bravery involved in this historic mission, set against the backdrop of 1968, a year marked by significant social and political turmoil. The narrative is drawn from hundreds of hours of interviews with the astronauts, their families, NASA personnel, and other experts, providing vivid and unforgettable detail about the mission and its impact[1][2][3].
This episode of Turpentine VC was recorded in front of a live audience in San Francisco in October 2018.Keith Rabois discusses his frameworks for identifying talent, sharing anecdotes about notable operators and companies like PayPal, LinkedIn, and Square. He emphasizes the importance of talent assessment, strategic thinking, and offers career advice while reflecting on his own experiences and observations.
Eavesdrop on Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, Logan Bartlett, and Zach Weinberg's monthly backchannel. They unpack their hottest takes on the future of tech, business, venture, investing, and politics.
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE EPISODE:
"You don't want to be the best at what you do. You want to be the only one who does what you do." This was a key lesson Keith learned from a Pat Riley book.
Great talent can be found in unexpected places, as demonstrated by Keith's hiring of successful executives like David Han, Jared Fleisler, and Brian Gastronomy who came from non-elite schools without technical backgrounds.
You should only start a company if you have a specific idea you're deeply passionate about - Keith doesn't believe in starting companies just for the sake of being a founder.
Working at a high-growth company for two years is valuable because the constant flow of problems creates unique learning opportunities, but you hit diminishing returns after about two years.
The identification of talent often comes from seeing unique "sparks" - like when Taylor Francis solved the complex smoothie delivery problem at Square in an innovative way.
When evaluating people, Keith tests them by continuously expanding their scope of responsibilities until they show signs of struggling.
Strategic thinking means understanding how different parts of the business connect to each other - like understanding how turning different "knobs" affects the entire system.
The best market opportunities exist in industries with low NPS scores that are highly fragmented and can be improved through vertical integration and simplification.
Good judgment means understanding your limitations and knowing when to ask for help before getting in too deep.
Getting adequate sleep (8 hours) is crucial for maintaining high performance and making good decisions - Keith believes most human problems stem from lack of sleep.
A venture capitalist can effectively handle about 8-10 meetings per day before their energy and creativity begin to decline.
Reading should combine both professional necessity and serendipitous discovery, with Keith still valuing physical bookstores for finding unexpected insights.
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