#191 with Mike Maples - 4 Big Trends and $0 to $1 Billion Startup Idea Frameworks

It's more important, in today's world, to figure out... what am I best at? And then, what does the world value? And then, what am I passionate about? ... The intersection of that set of things is where you want to develop your talents because, over time, that's where your comparative advantage will be the highest, and that is where the network will pay you the most for contributing to the network.

If you want to start a great startup, don't try to think of a startup.

If the 20th century was about being the 'organization man' and following the rules and progressing up the hierarchy, that doesn't exist anymore. Now... you have to take agency for your own life and own your comparative advantage.

Great startup founders are like time travelers—they get out of the present, and they visualize different futures that are a breakthrough, that break free from the present.

I don't even think a startup is a company. I think a startup is the capabilities and talents of the founders and their insight about the future. And what you're betting is on two things: one is that their insight's right, and two is they're good enough to navigate the idea to a great product someday.

One inflection I'm interested in, obviously, is the blockchains with crypto. I think that if I was starting a startup today, that's probably where I would spend most of my time.

I believe software-defined, network-centric companies at their core are going to keep winning, and they're going to keep displacing the companies that think of computers as the thing that you did to make your industrial thing go faster.

I read a ton. I probably read about one or two books a week.