20 Minute Playbook: Tactics, Routines, and Habits of World-Class Performers

In this episode, we deconstruct Adam Nash's peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. Adam is the Co-Founder and CEO of Daffy. We cover the importance of brutal prioritization, lessons from mentors and books, and being a leader as an engineer. “For many people who come from an engineering background, it can be difficult separating building the product you want to build from actually building the company itself, which is going to build and maintain that product indefinitely.” – Adam Nash EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED) https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/adam-nash-playbook  FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/adam-nash-playbook-transcript  CHAPTERS In this episode, we deconstruct Adam Nash’s peak performance playbook—from their favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on their life. In it we cover: (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:02:03) – The rapid progress in space exploration (00:03:05) – Being a leader as an engineer (00:04:31) – The importance of brutal prioritization (00:07:22) – On Reid Hoffman, building companies, and solving problems (00:08:52) – Why every founder should read The Innovator’s Dilemma (00:11:59) – Your daily top three (00:14:08) – The lessons of delayed gratification and humility in gardening ABOUT ADAM NASH Adam Nash is the co-founder and CEO of Daffy, which is building a modern platform for giving and in the process rethinking how we all give to the causes and charities we care about. Adam has a long and incredible history as an entrepreneur and builder. He's been a VP at LinkedIn, helping scale the network in its earliest years, entrepreneur in residence at Greylock, the President and CEO of Wealthfront, and an advisor to a long list of incredible companies from Gusto to Bitwise. In this episode, Adam shares why the hardest part of company building is prioritization and phasing, and how he gets these things right. We talk about why, as a founder, it's important to know everyone's superpower on your team. He shares the lessons he learned by working closely with Clayton Christensen of the Innovator's Dilemma fame. He shares why he's a big believer in interdisciplinary innovation, and that his favorite thing to do on the weekends is gardening and what that's taught him about company building. 💌 FREE NEWSLETTER https://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter 🎙 LISTEN ON iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775 Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182 ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMY Learn 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.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademy ABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNER Outlier 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.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to one of our favorite moments from tomorrow’s 20 Minute Playbook episode featuring Adam Nash of Daffy. In it, Adam shares his favorite books, tools, habits, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we deconstruct Milind Mehere's peak performance playbook—from their favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on their life. Milind Mehere is the Founder and CEO of Yieldstreet. We cover the ABCDE of building a company, the importance of gratitude, and the impact of blockchain on private markets. “Be bright, be brief, be gone.” – Milind Mehere EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED) https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/milind-mehere-playbook  FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/milind-mehere-playbook-transcript/ CHAPTERS In this episode, we deconstruct Milind Mehere’s peak performance playbook—from their favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on their life. In it we cover: (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:02:09) – The impact of blockchain on private markets (00:03:16) – Adaptability as a superpower (00:04:59) – Learning from mentors, both personal and public (00:07:09) – Be bright, be brief, be gone. (00:09:14) – The ABCDE of building a company (00:12:19) – Leadership and Self-Deception, plus American Aristocracy (00:13:49) – The importance of gratitude ABOUT MILIND MEHERE Milind Mehere is co-founder and CEO of Yieldstreet. Milind's background is fascinating. Before founding Yieldstreet in 2014, Milind founded and scaled several other companies, including Yodle, which he scaled to $220 million in annual revenue before being acquired by web.com. Over the last eight years, Yieldstreet has built one of the largest private investment platforms in the world. To date, they brought on over 377,000 members that have invested more than $1.5 billion, and Yieldstreet has paid out over $196 million in interest alone. In this episode, Milind shares why he's been fascinated with blockchain and the problems it can solve, including KYC for platforms like Yieldstreet as well as why his superpower is adaptability, and how that's helped him as a serial entrepreneur. He shares some of his favorite books, including, Leadership and Self Deception and The Richest Man in Babylon, as well as why he loves the phrase, "Be bright, be brief, be gone," and why, if he could go back in time, he'd tell his younger self to take even more risks. 💌 FREE NEWSLETTER https://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter 🎙 LISTEN ON iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775 Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182 ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMY Learn 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.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademy ABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNER Outlier 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.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to one of our favorite moments from tomorrow’s 20 Minute Playbook episode featuring Milind Mehere of Yieldstreet. In it, Milind shares his favorite books, tools, habits, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we’re joined by Mo Islam, Payload’s Co-Founder. We cover lessons we can learn from the Apollo space era, why killing them with kindness is the best option, and why founders should stay focused on what they love. “Hubris kills startups and humility saves them. No matter what your success level is or may not be, it's really important to always be humble about what you're building and what you're doing because it can change at the drop of a hat.” – Mo Islam EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED) https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/mo-islam-playbook  FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/mo-islam-playbook-transcript  CHAPTERS In this episode, we deconstruct Mo Islam’s peak performance playbook—from their favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on their life. In it we cover: (00:00:00) – Introduction (00:01:40) – Clearing up misconceptions about space (00:03:06) – Kill them with kindness, embrace the boredom (00:05:30) – Learning from Phillippe Laffont and Engines That Move Markets (00:07:33) – Hubris kills startups; humility saves them (00:09:18) – Focus on what you love (00:12:02) – Learning from the Apollo era (00:13:15) – Relying on to-do lists and the Notes app (00:15:53) – Do what matters, change people’s lives for the better ABOUT MO ISLAM Mo Islam is co-founder of Payload, 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. Mo Islam has a fascinating background in finance, having worked at J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank before co-founding Payload. In this episode, Mo shares why hubris kills startups and humility saves them, what he's learned from incredible investors like Philippe Laffont at Coatue, and why he loves the book Engines That Move Markets, which we had never heard of but immediately ordered after recording this episode with him. 💌 FREE NEWSLETTER https://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter 🎙 LISTEN ON iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775 Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182 ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMY Learn 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.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademy ABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNER Outlier 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.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to one of our favorite moments from tomorrow’s 20 Minute Playbook episode featuring Mo Islam of Payload. In it, Mo shares his favorite books, tools, habits, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we deconstruct Illia Polosukhin's peak performance playbook—from his favorite book to the tiny habit that's had the biggest impact on his life. Illia is the co-founder of NEAR Protocol and Unchain Fund. We cover why context switching is a necessary skill for founders, Illia’s recommended books, and the nuance of the Russian language in writing. “Find a mentor who's a few years ahead of you, like not too far, but like two, three years ahead of you, because those are people who still remember what they were doing in your position. And so they will be able to give you the most useful advice.” – Illia Polosukhin EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED) https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/illia-polosukhin-playbook  FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/illia-polosukhin-playbook-transcript  CHAPTERS In this episode, we deconstruct Illia Polosukhin’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 (00:01:59) – Designing social graph in Web3 (00:04:01) – Why context switching is a necessary skill for founders (00:05:51) – Finding mentors who are just a few years ahead of you in business (00:10:56) – Building a great decentralized ecosystem requires high-level, small, agile teams (00:13:29) – Books Illia recommends (00:16:59) – The nuance of the Russian language in writing ABOUT ILLIA POLOSUKHIN Illia 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 $5 billion today. From 2020 through 2021, the developers working in NEARs ecosystem, that's everyone building applications on top of their blockchain quadrupled, making NEAR the second fastest growing chain behind only Solana.  In this episode, Illia shares why he loves running daily and how it helps him remember to just put one foot in front of the other to accomplish anything; why he loves the book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and how he applies that principle in his life and work; why he's fascinated with the concept of a social graph and how to build it into the NEAR protocol and why it's so important for building a better world in Web3; why he thinks everyone should find mentors that are two to three years ahead of them in terms of where they'd like to be and why he'd tell his younger self to focus on speed and velocity shipping quickly in everything that he does. 💌 FREE NEWSLETTER https://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter 🎙 LISTEN ON iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775 Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182 ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMY Learn 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.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademy ABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNER Outlier 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.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to one of our favorite moments from tomorrow’s 20 Minute Playbook episode featuring Illia Polosukhin of NEAR Protocol. In it, Illia Polosukhin shares his favorite books, tools, habits, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 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. 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 Simon EPISODE GUIDE (LINKS, QUOTES, NOTES, AND BOOKS MENTIONED) https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/alex-simon-elude-playbook-show-notes   FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT https://www.danielscrivner.com/notes/alex-simon-elude-playbook-transcript  CHAPTERS In 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 SIMON Alex 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 NEWSLETTER https://www.outlieracademy.com/newsletter 🎙 LISTEN ON iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/outlier-academy/id1523851182 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58edVNgqaPNaCSGSxM6pef?si=88f37a5d20434775 Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1523851182 ABOUT OUTLIER ACADEMY Learn 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.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/outlieracademy ABOUT DANIEL SCRIVNER Outlier 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.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/danielscrivner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to one of our favorite moments from tomorrow’s 20 Minute Playbook episode featuring Alex Simon of Elude. In it, Alex Simon shares his favorite books, tools, habits, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices