"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today's episode is another deep dive with Dr. Peter Carnochan, who the coach to some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. He spent 25+ years as a psychologist and psychoanalyst before becoming an executive coach. I love getting Peter's key takeaways from the psychological side of things from recent guests. So today we covered Dr. Andrew Weil’s episode and the topic of death, Paul Austin on psychedelics, Cal Fussman on storytelling, Ann Miura-Ko on investing, Joseph Emmett on yoga for the intellect, Justin Kan on the inner journey of being a founder and creator, and many other areas where Peter shared his insights. Enjoy. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC.

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Serena Dugan is a founder, an artist, and a delight to chat with — This episode is a founder story that isn't like many founder stories. She didn't set out to create a world-renowned brand. She actually just walked into a small local shop, and before she knew it, she was meeting with the shop-owner the next day... and from there, they were planning world dominance. They ended up creating Serena and Lily, the famous home decor brand. If you don't know about home decor brands, ask anyone who does, and they'll tell you that Serena and Lily is perhaps the most respected brand within the space. But that didn't happen overnight. Serena talks about the honest version of creating Serena and Lily. She also talks about the life experiences that have helped shape who she has become, beyond just an artist and founder. From a consultant to an artist, then to a co-founder, and now back to art... Every time that we have artists on, it's just a very different perspective. A very different take on entrepreneurship — bringing something into the world in a different way than a tech founder story. Her candor and warmth are infectious. And within minutes, I think you will see why people would want to work with here. I enjoyed it immensely, and I think you will too. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today's episode is with an anonymous guest. We're going to call him John Doe. John and I talked about the “below the line” version of the story of being a police officer. We also covered what has changed in San Francisco, some for the better, some for the worse, over the years. There's no doubt there are many good things that have happened in San Francisco in the last few decades. There are also some really strange and unfortunate things in his estimation, and we talked about the root causes of that in his opinion. As a life-long San Franciscan, who has seen the underbelly while living here for 50+ years, it’s a fascinating take on the city. We also covered why he became a police officer in the first place, what he didn't expect to see and experience, and a whole lot more. This is one of the most interesting conversations we've had on the podcast. And we certainly talked about a world you don't get to hear much about — So I think you're going to enjoy this one. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today we have another deep dive and this one is a really hot topic in the startup ecosystem and yet so little is written, discussed, researched, and talked about when it comes to how to build marketplace businesses. So after spending seven years at Airbnb, Lenny Rachitsky has been advising marketplaces around the world in 2019. He took that experience, and said his own experience at Airbnb wasn’t enough — and so he had conversations with dozens of other people from 17 of the biggest marketplaces out there and consolidated all of his research into what has just dropped this week, which is about a 50-page amazing deep-dive on what makes these marketplace businesses tick. And this episode is the audio complement to this comprehensive (yet simple to understand) compilation of what he has found. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC.

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today's episode is with Matt Mullenweg. The founder of Automattic, the parent company of WordPress (which powers an unbelievable 34% of the internet as of recording!). We talk about the beginning of WordPress, about getting started as a founder and organizer, about attachment theory, about what’s in his backpack at all times, his hardest days running WordPress and Automattic, and a whole lot more. We also talked about what it's been like raising $300 million for Automattic just last month, valuing the company in the billions. He also shared with us what he learned in Houston as a kid growing up there and why he still makes it his home base. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author When it comes to productivity, there aren’t many things we do today that we did 200 years ago. We send emails instead of post mail, drive cars instead of horse-drawn carriages, and look up things on our phones instead of traveling miles to the nearest library. However, when it comes to our morning routine, 80 percent of the world consumes caffeine each day to wake them up and give them a boost for their daily tasks. Whether it’s black tea or coffee, most of us consume the same ingredients we consumed 200 years ago without realizing two important facts. First, coffee beans and tea leaves are not the only sources of energy that nature provides us. Second, productivity is more than just wakefulness. Its energy, focus, creativity, decreased stress, and improved sleep, among other things. What can nature, science, and global access to different ingredients tell us about optimal productivity? And which ingredients are scientifically proven to be effective and safe? Backed by over 240 scientific studies, Beyond Coffee is a simple guide that answers these questions. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Dr. Andrew Weil has been called “the medical Nostradamus” for his foresight into what’s on the healthcare horizon. He is a world-renowned pioneer in the medical and healthcare space — leading Western healthcare toward an integrative, healing and prevention-based approach to health, decades before it was en vogue. His resume could go on for another few pages, and it still wouldn’t do it justice. He’s the best-selling author of over a dozen books, founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, and the co-founder of one of my favorite restaurants (and my wife’s all-time favorite) True Food Kitchen. He’s also a massive matcha tea fan. He was one of the earliest healthcare professions to openly write about diet and nutrition, openly criticize the over-prescription of pharmaceuticals, popularizing themes like healthy aging, mind-body connection, breathing techniques... all years (and sometimes decades) before the rest of the medical community started to take them seriously. I asked him after the episode something I wish I had asked him on-air, but he gave me permission to mention it here — and that was his dietary and healthcare advice for founders, leaders, and creators in high-stress jobs. His response was that his “first, second, and third piece of advice” would be to watch his short video on youtube on the 4-7-8 breathing technique. Breathing is one of the only activities that is both voluntary and involuntary, one of the only activities we can do to communicate back to the involuntary parts of our physiology that can get out of whack while stressed — like spikes of cortisol or increased heart-rate — which can be remedied by something as simple as practicing the super short breathing technique he talks about on that video for 4-6 weeks. YouTube video on Dr. Weil’s free advice and free remedy for anyone in a high-stress job or circumstance in life. https://youtu.be/YRPh_GaiL8s You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today's episode was actually a live recording with a good friend, a former investor and a continual mentor to me (and dozens of entrepreneurs who I also love and respect). His name is Justin Kan, and he was episode number one for Below The Line. Justin is a founder and investor based in San Francisco. He has been building startups for close to 15 years now, and he's seen pretty much everything there is to see when it comes to the founder’s journey. He's also a former partner at Y Combinator and has invested in dozens of companies, giving him a unique perspective on both sides of the table. He is the co-founder and CEO of Atrium, a full-service corporate law firm that uses modern technology to serve startups all around the world in a fast, transparent and price predictable way. It's phenomenally useful. I've used it and so has a number of founders that have been on the podcast. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author  A R I Z O N A, the band not the state, is one of the top 100 streamed bands in the world in the last two years, with over a billion streams of their music since their first album in 2017. Today they will talk about what the journey has been like as artists and musicians.  We covered many topics like where they were 10 years ago, the path they took to form their band and what it's like to be musicians touring around the world. They just released their second album so be sure to check it out.  You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder and NYTimes bestselling author Today's episode is with Paul Austin, a social entrepreneur in a very unique space, the psychedelic space. He has been featured in Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Economist, Forbes, and others for his pioneering work regarding microdosing, and his work with a psilocybin retreat center that he co-founded in the Netherlands last year, called Synthesis. I want to point out up front that I don't microdose. I never have and I'm not advocating psychedelic usage. But what interests me about this space, similar to what interests a lot of people when it comes to mental health about the space, is that we've had about 20-25 years of stagnation in treatments for mental health. A sibling of mine has tried basically every treatment there is over the last 20 years with very minimal results and psychedelic therapy is perhaps the most scientifically and effectively interesting approach that we've seen in these last two decades around new discoveries for the treatment of mental illnesses like PTSD or major depression. Therefore, it made complete sense to me to want to follow this space closely. Paul, who is a friend, is one of the earliest educators on the space starting, perhaps the most widely used and most responsible educational courses on microdosing called The Third Wave. It's also an interesting conversation with the founder that has had to blaze a trail in a highly controversial, highly stigmatized, and poorly understood space. He also talks about how this has affected him over the years... I think you’ll enjoy this conversation with Paul Austin. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC.