Crazy Wisdom

Enzo is an investment professional at Dalus Capital, Mexico City, and an Angel investor as well. He has holdings in companies like Talently, and this episode discusses investing in Latin America, his unlikely journey to becoming an investment professional in Mexico City, his philosophies, the investing dynamics in different Latin American countries, his passion for the education sector, and a lot more. You can find Enzo on twitter @enzocavalie. Dive in! (3:37) His introduction to entrepreneurship, startups, markets and investing (5:05) How his desire for more and a job application with no expectation to be hired led to him ending up in Mexico City, all the way from Peru. (7:42) How market-size in Latin America affects where startups launch and how investment companies choose to fund these startups. (13:49) How college ignited his passion to reform the educational system. (16:00) Why are some people contrarians and others not? And why Enzo thinks it’s a trait that’s beyond choice (19:19) A difference between entrepreneurs in Latin America and those from places like Europe, or the U.S., that should be noted. (34:03) What types of backgrounds do the majority of the most successful founders in Latin America possess? (36:43) A lesson Latin American angel investors should learn from investors in San Francisco. (38:53) The value of social media, writing online, and building a reputation on the web; how it helps forge genuine connections; how it has helped in building his career and network, and how entrepreneurs can benefit from it. (43:36) The scarcity of original content in Spanish by Latin American venture capitalists and the opportunity it provides. (52:22) How Enzo comes up with content for his blog  

Yoshua and I explore the world of plants (Do you think they’re conscious?) We discuss the wide-ranging influence they have on our lives- from being food sources to medicine to tools for spiritual awakening and, weaving a winding path, we branch into topics like death, awakening, Yoshua’s You Enjoy Life project, what it means to be enlightened, dealing with emotional trauma and a bunch of other random topics because, of course, I don’t believe in themes. To see more of Yoshua’s content google his project: ‘You Enjoy Life’ (podcast, YouTube channel, and Instagram page) and his book ‘Conversations with Your Best Friend’ (4:52) A brief description of permaculture (10:17) What dies when we die? Is there something in us that doesn’t die when our connection to our senses go? (13:13) What is ‘You Enjoy Life?’ (13:54) How Yoshua learned to communicate with plants (15:55) Learning from ayahuasca and psilocybin; his beliefs about how these plants work, and how they helped his inner work. (Do you know that there’s a religion that integrates ayahuasca and Christianity?) (25:55) Innocence: why pursuing childhood innocence is the wrong thing to do and what to look for instead.   (28:10) A common misconception a lot of us have about enlightenment; what waking up to truth is really like; navigating this reality to continual growth and evolution (34:17) Is ‘science vs religion’ a valid debate? (36:08) Why depression is the most powerful tool for awakening and how it led to Yoshua’s experience of awakening. (41:05) Why Yoshua decided to ditch his ADD medication. (51:20) How we can all learn to be less wasteful without needing to be radical about it.

Pamela Valdez is the CEO and founder of Beek.io; one of the top-rated audio platforms in Latin America, known for its original, high-quality audio content, produced in Spanish. In this podcast we discuss the details of creating high-quality audio content in the Latin American market, the unique opportunities and experiences being the founder of the first Mexican company to be sponsored by Y Combinator have brought her, the challenges of growing a start-up and dealing with investors in Mexico, her philosophy and much more. You can find Pamela on Twitter on @pamevls and visit her company website: beek.io (4:38) The current big opportunity available for content creators in the Spanish speaking market. (10:30) What she learned from Netflix about localizing international content. (16:18) How she navigated investors and raising funds and what she feels investors who can afford less should focus on. (20:56) Getting into Y-combinator. (22:13) The major benefit of being part of the Y-combinator network for companies based outside Silicon Valley, asides the investments, and how Pamela takes advantage of it. (26:19) The one skill a founder needs that no one tells him or her to cultivate; the huge part it plays in helping Pamela refine her ideas for her company, and how she knows she’s used it effectively. (33:56) What meditation and God mean to her; how surfing helps her meditate, and what it has taught her about life.

What is the tripartite soul? What do we call people who thinking about thinking? What is the etymology of philosopher? What does it feel like to be unified by a scientific belief? What happens when we have disputes about the meaning of the truth? Is logic our instrument of finding the truth? What is polyproyism syndrome? How do we ensure equal opportunity? Why do people not like to ask questions? What is a stupid question?

Here are some other questions we discuss: What is the best way to take drugs? What is the relationship between creativity and drugs? What is the relationship between What is the ego? What is the difference between civilization and culture? What are accuator impulses? What is the control state? What is the motor state? What is the effect of the abundant virtual environments and how will that change evolution?

Here are some more questions we discuss: How did Ochem break you? Why is organic chemistry so hard? What is the neuroscience of cross country skiing? What living environment can you not stand (geographical)? How do you pick a career? Did academia stifle you? What is the model in neuroscience right now that you suspect is wrong yet everyone still believes? What is the system of memory that helps us build physical skills? What about other skills? Why does it help someone learn to give them a visualization? What is the emotional flavor you experience when you learn something new? Why is it important to learn Ochem? What's the deal with false memories? What is the neuroscience of it? Has anyone started to do virtual dissections on Zoom? Which is the school that is most open hearted when it comes to teaching cognitive science? This gets into mimetics How have you adapted to homeschooling your kids? What's the deal with abstraction from a neuroscience perspective? How have small liberal schools adapted to the recent change in higher education practices? Why is it important for your education to be intimate? What are the parts of studying neuroscience that you have to do in person? Are liberal arts colleges going to survive COVID 19? What things need to be abstracted away to teach someone something online? What is the difference between neuroscience and neurophilosophy? What is the divide between philosophy and psychology? What does it mean to be a reductionist? What is it we don't understand about neuroscience? Can we change the fact that scientific papers aren't written for the general public? Is that a good idea? Why does someone (or myself) need an editor? Read "the fourth draft" or "on writing well" What is missing in this thing I just wrote?

Here are some questions we discuss: What is Iboga? Why did Gabon get so much bwiti or Iboga rather than its neighbors Cameroon? What is different about hunting at night versus at hunting at the day? How does TCM use Ibogaine related plants? What is it like to have a waking dream state? What is the main receptor that iboga interacts with? Why is the mind so good at compartmentalizing?

Here are some questions we talk about: How do people in the woods hurt themselves? How does poor decision making manifest itself in the survival situations? What is the connection with survival situations and mindfulness? How important is knowing how to move in different environments essential to survival? Why is travel so different? What are the core components of wilderness therapy?

We also talked about the following questions: How does education work different in different countries? How has internet connectivity changed in Myanmar? How does an authoritarian government affect education and creativity? What does it take to learn? What does it mean to learn? What was it like to grow up in a dictatorship that is based on Buddhism?

Here are some of my favorite questions: What is the lifespan of an average system? Why does a system prioritize its own existence? How do adaptable systems manage inertia? Why is real estate so stable? Why are corn and soybeans such a good investment in the mid-west? What is regulatory capture? Why humans are so crazy about curiosity? How does consciousness help us eat, have sex, poop, and sleep better? What is the point of subconsciousness? What does it mean to be a system engineer? Can the systems of technology and the systems of nature coexist? Is a human pushing a rock off a cliff an example of technology? How would you describe the intention of a tree? What percent of services are automated now? What percentage will be in five years? Follow Matt on Twitter: @thatmatt