What do you do when you get $300m? Start tackling the real problems facing humanity - Kernel Founder & CEO, Bryan Johnson

Bryan Johnson knew from a young age he wanted to have a big impact on the world and set out to do it. His plan was simple, he wanted to make enough money so that he could focus on really making a difference to the world.

And he did it. Not by doing anything flashy but by building a payments platform, bootstrapping it for years, and through understanding a hell of a lot about human psychology he got it to the point where he sold his company, Braintree Venmo , for $800 million to Paypal. He personally got $300 million.

With that money he went on to found Kernel, a company that designs and manufactures brain-scanning technology with the aim to improve life expectancy by combating age-related issues, in 2016. Since then, Bryan has continued to look at how human beings can be and do better, including himself. In 2021 he started Project Blueprint, where he is working to reverse his body’s ageing. It involves measuring his seventy plus organs and then using that data to try to reverse the biological age of each as much as possible. He follows a strict diet and gives up all of the decisions around what he eats to this algorithm. As well as diet the regime also involves taking 25 supplements a day, and a strict exercise, skincare and sleep routine.

We talk about:

What it was like growing up in a Mormon community
Why learning about compounding at 7 years old was key to his success
What he felt the day he sold Braintree Venmo to Paypal for $800 million
How being rich has changed how he parents
What he is doing to reverse his body’s ageing
Why he believes we must improve human intelligence
His advice to entrepreneurs

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