TMBA 325: A Conversation With Ribbonfarm's Venkat Rao

A picture of the sea and a cave mouth

Podcast 1:00:21| Download | Stitcher | iTunes | Comment

On this week's show, Dan is speaking with Venkatesh Rao, author of RibbonFarm, a rich philosophy blog about technology, entrepreneurship, work structures and much more. He also recently launched an essay series called Breaking Smart, exploring the relationship between humanity and technology.

In a wide-ranging conversation Dan and Venkat talk about, amongst other things, the difference between a ‘business model’ and a ‘business philosophy; what Silicon Valley really thinks about bootstrapped start-ups; the danger of getting locked into ‘mental models’ of perceived knowledge and what it means to be power-literate.

Listen to this week's show and learn:

  • How we can redefine our relationship with money. (4:23)

  • The difference between a being a Missionary and being a Mercenary. (12:02)

  • What "The Gervais Principle" is and how it applies to Lifestyle Designers. (19:10)

  • How you can hit the "Refresh Button" on your mental models. (39:51)

  • Venkash's thoughts on work ethic and how he has been able to create such a strong output level in his writing. (51:37)

Mentioned in the episode:

The Dynamite Circle
RibbonFarm.com
The Gervais Principle
Breaking Smart
Where the Wild Thoughts Are
The 4-Hour Workweek
Entrepreneurs are the New Labor
William Gibson
Y Combinator
Sebastian Marshall
Taylor Pearson
Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott
Nassim Taleb
Chesterton's Fence
The Knowledge Project with Venkatash Rao
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards
You Are Not an Artisan
Paul Graham
Elizabeth Gilbert: Your Elusive Creative Genius
David Heinemeier Hansson
Basecamp
Ruby on Rails
ReWork by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
Getting Real

Enjoyed this podcast? Check out these:

TMBA061: Seven Reasons Why Your 'Four Hour Work Week' Business is Failing
TMBA150: How to Be a Happy Sociopath
TMBA189: How to Monetize a Blog or Podcast

Listening options:

Subscribe via iTunes.
Listen on Stitcher Radio.
Android users can grab our RSS feed here.
Right-click and "save file as" for direct download.
Or click here to get sent to the top of the page where the on-site player is.

HAVE COMMENTS ABOUT THE SHOW?

Do you have ideas for things you'd like Dan and Ian to discuss on future episodes?

Our producer Jane would love to hear from you at jane@tropicalmba.com or leave us a voice message using the record button below.

Thanks for listening to our show! We'll be back next Thursday morning 8AM EST.

Cheers,

Dan & Ian

Previous
Previous

TMBA 326: To VC or Not to VC, That is the Question

Next
Next

TMBA 324: The Amazon Gold Rush