Founders

Obsession is the engine of Nolan’s career. This episode examines Christopher Nolan’s life, working methods, and philosophy through The Nolan Variations by Tom Shone.

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This episode discusses Joseph Wechsberg’s 1966 book, The Merchant Bankers. Rather than recounting the histories of families like the Rothschilds, Barings, Hambros, Warburgs, and Lehman Brothers, I wanted to extract the principles they shared.

Merchant banking is fascinating. It's a very distinctive form of entrepreneurship. There is an old-school way of doing business that appeals to me.

The merchant bankers’ profiled in this book have a combination of:

personal honor

speed of action

clear thinking

independent judgment

seamless webs of deserved trust

discretion

and willingness to make unconventional decisions.

The founder of every merchant banking dynasty was a merchant before he was merchant banker. Once they discovered financing transactions was more profitable than physically trading goods, their real products became credit, judgment, information, advice, access, and—above all—trust.

Their greatest asset was not money. Their greatest asset was their reputation.

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What I learned from reading Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters (for the 3rd or 4th time)

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What I learned from reading Honda: The Man and His Machines by Sol Sanders.

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What I learned from reading Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power by James McGrath Morris.

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