In Episode #110, we explore building a media brand to cover the business and policy of space. We’re joined by Mo Islam, Payload’s Co-Founder, who talks with us about becoming the number one resource for space industry news. We cover everything from lowering the costs of space travel to why we are in the middle of the next space race.“Very simply, we are living in the next space race, and it's going to have huge implications for the way we built technology, the way we spend dollars in military.” – Mo IslamEPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/payload-mo-islam FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPThttps://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/payload-mo-islam-transcript CHAPTERSThis episode is our definitive guide to building a media brand to cover the business and policy of space. In it we cover: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:02:36 – How Payload focuses on the business and policy of space 00:10:54 – How Elon Musk has changed the space race 00:15:17 – Aerospace and defense go hand in hand 00:18:11 – Earth imaging illuminates the atrocities of war 00:19:36 – We are living in the next space race 00:22:52 – SPACs and space 00:28:57 – How we’ll move from government to commercial spending in space 00:33:11 – Reusable second stages and lowering the costs of space exploration 00:36:59 – What scaling Starlink could mean for space travel 00:39:40 – Launching a media brand and the importance of voice 00:43:32 – Making Payload the most important voice in the space discussion 00:51:49 – Learning from feedback and embracing boredom ABOUT MO ISLAMMo Islam is the co-founder of Payload Space, which is building a media empire dedicated to covering the business and policy of space, as in outer space. We discovered Payload and immediately subscribed to their daily newsletter after it was recommended by Delian Asparouhov, co-founder of Varda Space Industries, in episode 71. We asked Delian what newsletters and websites he used to stay on top of everything going on in space, and he had only one answer: Payload Space. In this episode, we go deep on why we're at an inflection point when it comes to space and how that was unlocked, at least in the U.S., largely by SpaceX, which has brought down the price to get a unit of mass up to low Earth orbit by order of magnitude. We cover the outsized role the military and defense departments play as customers for space companies, ranging from Earth imaging to satellite manufacturing startups. We talk about the space companies that Mo thinks are the most underrated, as well as how Payload is building a media empire, starting with what Mo calls The Modern Homepage, which is their daily newsletter. We discuss how Payload crafted a compelling voice and editorial style in an old school and relatively stodgy industry, making space cool to read and learn about.💌 FREE NEWSLETTERhttps://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter🎙 LISTEN ONiTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMYLearn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.Website: https://www.outlieracademy.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to a trailer for our next Spotlight episode featuring Payload with Mo Islam. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode #109, we deconstruct Alex Simon's peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. Alex is the CEO and Co-Founder of Elude. We cover mentors, favorite books, and daily meditation.“You don't need to be doing something every single moment or every single day to feel accomplished. Actually, the best times of creativity come when you have nothing going on.” – Alex SimonEPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/alex-simon-elude-playbook-show-notes  FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPThttps://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/alex-simon-elude-playbook-transcript CHAPTERSIn this episode, we deconstruct Alex Simon’s peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. In it we cover: (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:02:02) – Alex’s recent fascination with crystals (00:03:47) – Networking as a superpower (00:04:50) – Guidance from leaders at Lyft, Priceline, and Kelton Global (00:07:18) – Always trust your gut (00:09:11) – Building a startup is about marketing, tech, and everything business (00:10:39) – Alex’s favorite books to recommend (00:12:17) – Why daily meditation is a non-negotiable (00:17:13) – Jiu Jitsu as an outlet and creative source (00:18:34) – Why enjoying your daily work is so important ABOUT ALEX SIMONAlex Simon left a career in investment banking to start the travel startup Elude, where he's the co-founder and CEO today. Elude is focused on helping people find and book incredible travel experiences that help them escape and see the world. It's the only place where you can simply input your max budget, your local airport, and how many days you'd like to be gone to find incredible destinations around the world that fit those parameters. So you can ask the question, where can I go next week for $1000?In this episode, Alex shares why he's been fascinated with crystals, the three mentors he's learned the most from and why one of them has continually pushed him to simplify Elude's design and user experience again and again, and again. Why he wishes he always trusted his gut instincts as much as he does today. He shares his two favorite books, which are World Travel by Anthony Bourdain and The CEO Within by Matt Mochary. And he talks about why he meditates at the end of each day and how he includes reflection on how the day went into that routine.💌 FREE NEWSLETTERhttps://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter🎙 LISTEN ONiTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMYLearn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.Website: https://www.outlieracademy.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademyABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNEROutlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts.Website: https://www.danielscrivner.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to a trailer for our next 20 Minute Playbook episode featuring Alex Simon of Elude. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode #108, we explore building a global blockchain that’s high-speed, climate neutral, and low-fee. We’re joined by Illia Polosukhin, NEAR Protocol’s Co-Founder. We cover why proof of stake beats proof of work, how NEAR approached scaling, and how Illia raised more than $10M to help fund aid in war-torn Ukraine.“For me, web3 is not about decentralization. I think decentralization is just a tool. What it is about is low switching costs.” – Illia PolosukhinEPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/near-protocol-illia-polosukhin-spotlight FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPThttps://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/near-protocol-illia-polosukhin-spotlight-transcript CHAPTERSThis episode is our definitive guide to building a layer-one blockchain that’s incredibly fast, has very low transaction fees, and is climate neutral. In it we cover: (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:02:35) – How NEAR Protocol is imagining your world (00:04:46) – Why decentralization is just a tool (00:09:14) – Dethroning monopolies and leveling the playing field (00:14:02) – NEAR Protocol’s origin with scaling crowdsourcing (00:20:18) – Lack of intellectual honesty in crypto (00:24:19) – NEAR’s approach to sharding (00:31:03) – The importance of bringing the community into decision making (00:37:47) – How the co-founder’s role can evolve from centralized to decentralized (00:43:17) – Illia’s Web3 mindmap and staying decentralized while preserving privacy (00:46:36) – NEAR’s approach to sustainability in blockchain (00:49:46) – Founders: Build credibility and ship fast (00:54:19) – Handling fear and anxiety when building in crypto: Keep calm and build on (00:58:52) – The Unchained Fund and helping Ukraine ABOUT NEAR PROTOCOLIllia Polosukhin is Co-Founder of NEAR Protocol. NEAR is a layer-one blockchain that’s incredibly fast, has very low transaction fees, and is climate neutral—in part because of its Proof of Stake model. It’s traded on crypto exchanges under the ticker symbol NEAR and has a market cap of just under $5B today. From 2020 through 2021, the developers working in NEAR’s ecosystem—building applications on top of their blockchain—quadrupled, making NEAR the second-fastest growing chain behind Solana. Illia is an incredibly impressive founder, but more importantly, he’s an incredibly thoughtful engineer, leader, and community builder who has built something incredible slowly and methodically, one step at a time.💌 FREE NEWSLETTERhttps://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter🎙 LISTEN ONiTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMYLearn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.Website: https://www.outlieracademy.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademyABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNEROutlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts.Website: https://www.danielscrivner.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to a trailer for our next Spotlight episode featuring NEAR Protocol with Illia Polosukhin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode #107, we deconstruct Howie Schwab's peak performance playbook—from their favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on their life. Howie is the Lead Portfolio Manager for Emerging Markets Growth of Driehaus Capital. We cover regime shifts in the market and obsessing over failures.“In terms of how we invest, I think integrating and overlaying macro as well as behavioral components, not simply wedding ourselves to this bottom up, here's our specific template and it's time tested is really important.” – Howie SchwabEPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/howie-schwab-driehaus-capital-playbook-show-notes FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPThttps://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/howie-schwab-driehaus-capital-playbook-transcript CHAPTERSIn this episode, we deconstruct Howie Schwab’s peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. In it we cover: (00:01:41) – Regime shifts in the market (00:06:51) – Learning from investing mentors (00:10:08) – Great investors obsess over their failures (00:12:48) – Advice for young investors (00:16:43) – Howie’s investment philosophy (00:24:24) – Challenging yourself ABOUT HOWIE SCHWABHowie Schwab manages more than 5 billion in emerging market growth funds for Driehaus which is a firm that's based in Chicago and where Howie has worked for the last 20 years. At Driehaus, Howie is the lead portfolio manager for the emerging market's growth. And he's a portfolio manager for the emerging market, small cap equity and emerging markets opportunities.💌 FREE NEWSLETTERhttps://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter🎙 LISTEN ONiTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMYLearn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.Website: https://www.outlieracademy.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademyABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNEROutlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts.Website: https://www.danielscrivner.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to a trailer for our next 20 Minute Playbook episode featuring Howie Schwab of Driehaus Capital. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Episode #106, we explore building a travel search engine and a trusted global brand. We’re joined by Alex Simon, Elude’s Co-Founder and CEO. We cover why the travel industry is a startup graveyard, the importance of being the merchant of record, and the difficulties and rewards of entrepreneurship.“It's not who you know, it's who knows you.” – Alex SimonEPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED)https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/elude-alex-simon-spotlight-show-notes FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPThttps://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/elude-alex-simon-spotlight-transcript CHAPTERSThis episode is our definitive guide to building a travel search engine and a trusted global brand. In it we cover: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:02:24 – The path from investment banking to entrepreneurship 00:05:35 – The Elude customer journey, from app download to travel time 00:14:11 – Building a travel search engine from the ground up 00:19:34 – Why the travel industry is a startup graveyard 00:25:32 – How travel regulations make it difficult to build and scale a business in the industry 00:32:42 – Why becoming a merchant of record was crucial to Elude’s success 00:35:21 – Building a brand with the help of Apple advisors 00:44:09 – The difficulties and rewards of entrepreneurship 00:49:55 – It’s not who you know; it’s who knows you ABOUT ELUDEAlex Simon is the co-founder and CEO of Elude, which is focused on helping people find and book incredible travel experiences. It's the only place where you can simply input your max budget, your local airport, and how many days you'd like to be gone to find incredible destinations around the world that fit those parameters. So you can ask the question, where can I go next week for a thousand dollars? This episode is a fascinating, deep dive into the world of travel, from the unique barriers to building an airline and hotel booking business—which include a surprising amount of regulation—to an overview of the major players in the travel space and a look at what it's like to build a cutting edge company in a very old industry.💌 FREE NEWSLETTERhttps://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter🎙 LISTEN ONiTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMYLearn timeless lessons on work and life from iconic founders, world-renown investors, and bestselling authors. Outlier Academy is the forever school for those chasing greatness. Past guests include Gokul Rajaram of DoorDash, Scott Belsky of Benchmark and Adobe, Joey Krug of Pantera Capital, Mark Sisson of Primal Kitchen, Luke Gromen of The Forest for the Trees, and Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK.Website: https://www.outlieracademy.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademyABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNEROutlier Academy is hosted by Daniel Scrivner. Over the last 15 years, Daniel has led design teams at Square and Apple, turned around a $3M+ ARR SaaS business, and invested in more than 100 companies. He launched Outlier Academy in 2020 to learn from the world’s best founders, investors, authors, and peak performance experts.Website: https://www.danielscrivner.comTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to a trailer for our next Spotlight episode featuring Elude with Alex Simon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices