Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Dave Fontenot - The Monastery of Code - [Invest Like the Best, EP.365]

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Mar 19, 2024

Dave Fontenot, founder of HF0, shares insights from his innovative 12-week residency for repeat founders, designed to eliminate distractions and boost coding productivity. He discusses the monastic origins of the program, emphasizing the impact of a focused environment on personal growth. The conversation dives into selecting top-tier engineers, uncovering founders' true visions, and the importance of holistic well-being in venture capital. Fontenot also highlights the value of community living, showcasing how it fosters creativity and innovation in startups.

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ANECDOTE

Path to the Monastery

Dave Fontenot's path to monasteries began with heartbreak and stopping ADD medication, hindering his reading ability.
This led him to meditation for focus, which evolved into a deeper exploration of monastic life.

INSIGHT

Monasteries and Time

Monasteries excel by removing time constraints, allowing focus on the present moment.
This spaciousness enables deep work, whether meditation or coding, and reduces distractions.

ANECDOTE

Basement Coding

Dave's coding journey began with a challenging class at Michigan, leading to marathon coding sessions in the basement.
This experience inspired his vision for HF0, a space for uninterrupted building.

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My guest today is Dave Fontenot, founder of HF0. Born out of Dave’s experiences in monasteries across the world, HF0 is a twelve-week residency for repeat founders to supercharge their next venture. For 12 weeks, 10 teams of engineers relocate to HF0’s house in San Francisco. During the residency, everything is taken care of so their sole focus is coding and building. It’s one of the most interesting incubators I have come across and we discuss the model and its monastic origins in detail. Please enjoy this conversation with Dave Fontenot.

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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.

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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).

Show Notes:

(00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best

(00:04:05) First Question - Dave’s Journey to Meditation and Monastic Life

(00:07:25) From Monastery to Coding: Finding Flow in Programming

(00:08:32) Creating Spaces for Uninterrupted Creativity: The Birth of HF0

(00:20:24) A Day in the Life at HF0

(00:25:15) Why 12 Weeks? The Philosophy Behind the Duration

(00:27:14) Selecting the Brilliant Minds for HF0

(00:31:43) The Thin Line Between Visionary and Crazy

(00:34:39) Creating Space to Meditate

(00:37:24) The Economic Model Behind HF0

(00:41:36) Building Successful Residencies

(00:44:48) Expanding the Residency Model to Universities

(00:52:52) Understanding Engineers and Hackers

(01:02:01) The Kindest Thing Anyone’s Ever Done For Dave