Don't Be a Jerk The Quantum Physicist Who Proves Soft Skills Beat IQ
Most people meet a quantum physicist and think they have nothing in common.
But Anastasia Marchenkova is built different.
She went from breaking the servers at Georgia Tech to building quantum chips at Rigetti, to investing in deep-tech startups, to teaching introverts how to communicate. And along the way she discovered something surprising.
Being smart is not the hard part. Being human is. In this episode, we talk about how Anastasia rewrote her entire identity. From shy scientist to founder to creator to someone who believes empathy is a core technology.
You will hear:
- The night she accidentally took down Georgia Tech’s internet and got seed funding for it
- Why scientists struggle to admit “I don’t know” and how it kills innovation
- The “misogyny is a skill issue” problem in tech and what confident people do differently
- Why 85 percent of career success comes from people skills, not IQ
- How she taught herself charisma using physics-level study habits
- Why scientists should fire clients faster
- The rule she lives by online: never punch down
- How to handle haters who can’t spell “your”
- The moment she realized asking for help is a superpower
- How boundaries make you kinder, not harsher
- The real cost of being the smartest person in the room
This conversation is part science, part philosophy, and part survival guide for anyone who has ever felt like their intelligence outran their communication skills.
EPISODE TIMESTAMPS
00:00 — The supervillain origin story
03:00 — Breaking Georgia Tech’s servers and starting a company
07:00 — The academic mindset vs the startup mindset
11:30 — Why saying “I don’t know” increases innovation
15:00 — The danger of needing to be the smartest person in the room
17:30 — Why founders should fire faster
20:00 — People skills as a competitive advantage
27:00 — Misogyny as a skill issue
30:00 — Handling online hate and setting boundaries
35:00 — The psychology of communication in deep tech
40:00 — What scientists can teach founders (and vice versa)
48:00 — The most important question every technical leader should ask
🎧 Listen to this episode of Don’t Be A Jerk wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow along for more conversations on leadership, kindness, and the future of work:
IG: @healeycypher | @dontbeajerkpodcast
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/healeycypher