Creating a User Guide for Working with Founders

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Sam Corcos (@samcorcos) is the CEO and Co-founder of Levels, an a16z-backed startup that shows you how food affects your health using continuous glucose monitors and other biosensors.

Please enjoy!

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This episode is also brought to you by AG1! I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. I do my best with nutrient-dense meals, of course, but AG1 further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system. 

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This episode is also brought to you by Shopify! Shopify is one of my favorite platforms and one of my favorite companies. Shopify is designed for anyone to sell anywhere, giving entrepreneurs the resources once reserved for big business. In no time flat, you can have a great-looking online store that brings your ideas to life, and you can have the tools to manage your day-to-day and drive sales. No coding or design experience required.

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[05:08] Delegation implementation and common mistakes.

[11:07] Recommended reading for delegators, delegatees, and all humans.

[13:26] Building a company culture that treats people like adults.

[15:01] Tools for performance and communication accountability.

[20:39] Why Sam considers Loom the “most important” tool in the kit.

[24:18] Friday Forum.

[27:17] Acclimating the recording-averse to Loom.

[30:40] Organizing Loom recordings for later search and use.

[36:35] Common challenges of sourcing and properly utilizing EAs/chiefs of staff.

[43:19] Novelty-seeking and board games.

[44:35] Vetting, pairing, and onboarding EAs and chiefs of staff.

[48:38] News and social media sobriety.

[55:20] Why does new employee onboarding take a month at Levels?

[1:00:59] What most delegators wish they’d known as newbs.

[1:04:57] Loom security and privacy concerns.

[1:08:10] From to-do list to calendar.

[1:13:17] How Sam skips the to-do list entirely.

[1:16:49] General schedule and repeating items.

[1:18:22] Scheduling stress reduction.

[1:21:59] Selecting books and hosting themed salon dinners.

[1:37:03] Calendly and related social hurdles.

[1:38:42] Using email proactively.

[1:41:23] The underrated power of hotkeys and shortcuts.

[1:44:42] Scheduling spontaneity.

[1:48:23] Calendar course correction.

[1:49:59] How Sam utilizes multiple EAs.

[1:51:58] Improvement growth for intermediate delegators.

[1:58:56] The Working with Sam user manual.

[2:04:20] Memo culture over meeting culture.

[2:11:55] Fighting organizational entropy.

[2:14:12] Raised secularly, what does Sam get out of theology?

[2:22:54] The perils of postmodernism.

[2:26:35] Network theory and relationship management.

[2:39:33] The investor-swaying juice cart moment.

[2:41:22] Metabolic health and the Levels mission.

[2:45:29] Who is Levels hiring right now?

[2:46:37] Physical over philosophical minimalism.

[2:51:37] Why Sam has a travel-sized copy of the US Constitution.

[2:55:21] Parting thoughts.

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