There is no venture capital firm like Founders Fund, and there is no writer who tells venture capital firms' stories like Mario Gabriele. In their respective crafts, both have No Rivals. That is the title of Mario's epic four-part series on how Peter Thiel turned Founders Fund into one of the world's top venture firms, and its most unique. If you haven't already, do yourself a favor and read them here: The Prophet The Disciples The Gospel The Kingdom In the series, which Mario worked on for 18 months, and in our conversation, which spans almost an hour and a half, you will learn about Founders' Fund's origins, its team of high-horsepower partners, its investments in Facebook, Airbnb, and SpaceX, among many others. You will learn the 12 Commandments that drive Founders Fund, and why they are impossible to copy. You will learn what it takes to 26.6x a $227 million fund and nearly 14x a $625 million fund. And you will learn how Mario wrote what I believe is the best and most comprehensive exploration of a single venture firm ever written. At the end of our conversation, Mario makes a couple of recommendations:His favorite of his own essays: AI & the Burden of KnowledgeTwo essays everyone should read (although Mario doesn't much like essays):Amis on Nabokov Half-Safe And he gives a one-sentence takeaway from his deep study of Peter Thiel and Founders Fund:"More people should give themselves the permission to follow a thought to its furthest conclusion, even if it leads somewhere really uncomfortable."You can find this and all of the articles we discuss on Hyperlegible in one place thanks to our sponsor, Readwise - Visit readwise.io/hyperlegible for a free trial and get all Hyperlegible articles automatically added to your account: https://readwise.io/hyperlegibleBig thanks to Jim Portela for editing!

Episode 1131 - Wonder Woman 1984!