What if the game of success really is rigged – and the secret to beating it has nothing to do with pedigree, 90-hour weeks, or hustle culture?
Kofi Ampadu is a two-time founder who went from living in his sister’s basement to becoming a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he runs the firm’s Talent x Opportunity initiative backing overlooked founders. He’s also the “life-metrics” VC who turned his own days into data — proving you can win without the Ivy League, endless grind, or blind resilience.
He explains:
▫️ The hidden “credential trap” making ambitious people broke – and why prestige can be the new poverty
▫️ Kofi’s 3-number Daily Win Score that predicts whether you’ll crush the day or spiral into burnout
▫️ Why 90-hour hustle culture is a lie (and the tiny shift that outperforms all-nighters)
▫️ When resilience backfires: how being too tough can bankrupt your dreams and your wallet
▫️ The one question that vaporizes stress on the spot – straight from Kofi’s mental-health journal
▫️ Beating bias in any boardroom: Kofi’s “rigged-game” playbook
If you’ve ever felt the rules weren’t written for you, this episode hands you the cheat codes.
⏰ Timestamps
00:00 – Intro: “Hard Now, Easy Later”
00:59 – Meet Kofi Ampadu
02:21 – Playing a Rigged Game (and Winning Anyway)
04:35 – Why Founders of Color Carry Extra Weight
07:36 – “Do the Thing NOW” – Kofi’s Go-For-It Rule
10:47 – Kofi’s Founder Journey (Inventing DoorDash??)
12:52 – Lessons From His Dad’s Work & Life
14:47 – VC “Cheat Code” – Learning From Every Pitch
17:07 – “What can I do to change this?” Mindset check
19:35 – “What are you willing to give up for it”? Living on $0 Rent
23:06 – Eternal Co-Founder: Marriage as Startup Power
25:41 – Brown-Bag Debates & Cross-Skill Learning
29:27 – The 3-Metric Daily Win Score Explained
33:17 – Pandemic & BLM: Turning Stress Into Action
36:43 – Time-Blocking Your Failures
40:41 – Lightning Round Kick-off
42:29 – 90-Hour Hustle Culture Is a Lie
44:45 – Is Y Combinator Overrated?
45:46 – Ivy League Degrees Useless in Startups?
47:23 – White Guy in a Hoodie
49:40 – Final Takeaways & Call to Action
Subscribe & tap the 🔔 so you don’t miss the next episode, and drop a comment and rate us ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
------------------------------------------------------------------
🐯👯♀️ Tiger Sisters — Your Silicon Valley & Wall Street Big Sisters
Decoding Money • Power • Love
✨ New episodes every Monday | Shorts all week ✨
We turn Harvard and Stanford MBA case studies and hard‑won tech & finance lessons into frameworks you can use this week.
▫️ 🚀 Ivy League Cheat Sheets in 30 min – no $250 K tuition required
▫️ Recession‑Proof Personal Finance Rules – salary jumps, automated investing, psychology of money
▫️ Networking Scripts that Work – DMs behind Goldman offers, $100M+ deals, & Fortune 500 partnerships
▫️ Exclusive Sit‑downs with billionaire investors, unicorn founders, & media powerhouses
▫️ Mindset & Life Design Resets – growth mindset drills minus the pricey career coach
▫️ Wellness • Fashion • Habit Hacks that survive 12‑hour workdays, travel, and fun
▫️ ⬇️ Free Templates & Worksheets linked in episodes
Share this channel with your friends & let’s level up together.
------------------------------------------------------------------
💛 LET'S CONNECT:
~ CHERIE ~
🤳🏻 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/cherie.brooke
📱 TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@cherie.brooke
✍🏻 My Substack – https://cherieluo.substack.com/
👩🏻💻 LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherie-luo/
~ JEAN ~
🤳🏻 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/jeanluo_/
👩🏻💻 LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanluo
🎵 Music produced by Sammy Signal https://open.spotify.com/artist/2HsyknHuxhT8RoZfn5rqMS
🛍️ Items Referenced:
🍵 Sisters Matcha & SISTERS Merch: www.sistersmatcha.com
🌀 Everything else: https://amzn.to/3z0dx5b
Tiger Sisters