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The Tim Ferriss Show

The Tim Ferriss Show

By: Tim Ferriss: Bestselling Author Human Guinea Pig
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Tim Ferriss is a self-experimenter and bestselling author, best known for The 4-Hour Workweek, which has been translated into 40+ languages. Newsweek calls him "the world's best human guinea pig," and The New York Times calls him "a cross between Jack Welch and a Buddhist monk." In this show, he deconstructs world-class performers from eclectic areas (investing, chess, pro sports, etc.), digging deep to find the tools, tactics, and tricks that listeners can use.© 2014–2026 Tim Ferriss Economics Leadership Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • #869: Max Levchin, PayPal and Affirm — The Path from The Soviet Union to Building Multi-Billion Dollar Companies (Plus: Real-World Socialism vs. Capitalism)

    #869: Max Levchin, PayPal and Affirm — The Path from The Soviet Union to Building Multi-Billion Dollar Companies (Plus: Real-World Socialism vs. Capitalism)
    Jun 9 2026
    Max Levchin (@mlevchin) is a serial entrepreneur and investor in 100+ startups. He's the founder and CEO of Affirm, the payment network powering consumer purchases and merchant growth. An original PayPal co-founder, Max served as CTO until its 2002 acquisition by eBay.This episode is brought to you by:ProLon: science-backed Fasting Mimicking Diet that helps activate cellular renewal through fasting, while still eating nourishing meals: ProlonLife.com/TimMonarch track, budget, plan, and do more with your money: Monarch.com/Tim Shopify global commerce platform, providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business: Shopify.com/timTimestamps:[00:00:00] Start.[00:02:50] The Ronin line that rewired how Max makes every decision.[00:06:09] Paprika-style brain-computer interfaces.[00:09:09] PayPal's founders lived inside a Neal Stephenson novel.[00:19:21] Transformation via Neuromancer and Snow Crash.[00:23:40] The book that found Max his wife.[00:29:24] The real secret to a great marriage.[00:38:29] What's worth tracking, and what's not.[00:44:13] A scrawny kid, a clarinet, and a Kyiv velodrome.[00:46:55] What going all-out on a bike actually gives you.[00:51:02] The mantra by which Max rides.[00:53:02] A Soviet kid's fear of socialism.[01:02:48] Making a profit without destroying society.[01:04:31] What is Affirm, and why did every banker say it would fail?[01:20:18] Why the best mathematicians eschew the lending industry.[01:23:50] Does agentic commerce break Affirm, or supercharge it?[01:28:01] A PhD-level financial advisor in everyone's pocket.[01:29:58] How close are we to buying anything through one AI chat?[01:36:32] Improving your coffee: cheap, intermediate, and Bugatti options.[01:44:33] The books every first-time founder should actually read.[01:48:08] Claude Shannon, Ed Thorp, and the joy of playful genius.[01:51:00] Why physical books still beat every digital reading experience.[01:51:44] Parting thoughts.*For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsorsSign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissYouTube: youtube.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferrissSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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    1 hr and 58 mins
  • #868: Tim’s Founder Kitchen — From Brainstorm to The President’s Office in Two Months (Featuring Jake Becraft, Strand Therapeutics)

    #868: Tim’s Founder Kitchen — From Brainstorm to The President’s Office in Two Months (Featuring Jake Becraft, Strand Therapeutics)
    Jun 2 2026
    Jake Becraft is the CEO and co-founder of Strand Therapeutics, a company building one of the most advanced programmable genetic medicine platforms in biotechnology. Under his leadership, Strand is redefining what RNA medicines can do by enabling cell-selective targeting and therapeutic payload delivery inside the body, unlocking a new class of precision genetic therapies.This episode is brought to you by:Helix Sleep premium mattresses: HelixSleep.com/Tim (20% off any purchase) Incogni, which automatically removes your personal data from the web, helping shield you from fraud, scams, and identity theft: Incogni.com/Tim (use code TIM at checkout and get 60% off an annual plan)Timestamps:[00:00:00] Start.[00:06:07] What Strand does.[00:08:19] The Boston dinner.[00:11:05] The image of a body riddled with cancer.[00:15:05] What stuck for the muggles in the pitch deck.[00:17:14] A good drug vs. a good product.[00:19:40] Tricking cancer into snitching on itself.[00:27:38] The abscopal effect.[00:34:04] Potency, specificity, and delivery.[00:35:46] First principles thinking.[00:36:38] The precipice of a revolution.[00:41:14] The thousand people in the room.[00:48:38] Psychedelic medicine as a cautionary tale.[00:51:17] What actually catches a policymaker’s attention.[00:53:42] Breakthrough vs. incremental.[00:54:55] What’s in it for the policymakers?[00:58:08] The 80/20 wish list.[01:01:31] Australia’s CTN system.[01:03:51] Sheep, psychedelics, and red-tape arbitrage.[01:05:22] China’s clinical-trial flywheel vs. slow-motion American loss.[01:06:53] The bicoastal biotech ethos.[01:08:10] Can the FDA actually pull this off?[01:12:12] The Sophie’s Choice of pharma development.[01:14:16] Lost arts of founder mode.[01:15:23] Rockets for tumors, T-cells, and beyond.[01:19:16] Viral in policy circles.[01:23:09] The Washington Post headline and the PickFu split test.[01:27:56] Solution-first storytelling.[01:33:54] RNA medicine and platform therapeutics.[01:39:17] Moderna’s 62 days.[01:40:33] Uber Eats and the de-risked launch.[01:44:17] CEO blockers.[01:45:52] Where’s biotech’s SpaceX moment?[01:46:53] Elon Musk betting black on the wheel.[01:51:55] AWS and the post-conviction / pre-consensus window.[01:58:47] COVID politicization.[01:59:46] Insulin, growth hormone, and the original platform story.[02:01:35] Biotech as pharma’s little brother.[02:03:29] More recent role models, Apple edition.[02:04:50] Art Levinson, Steve Jobs, and the biotech-tech crossover.[02:06:25] The iPhone as a delivery platform.[02:08:25] Spotify’s problem and the future of bespoke medicine.[02:10:07] Baby KJ and the limits of liver-only solutions.[02:11:19] Parting thoughts.*For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsorsSign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissYouTube: youtube.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferrissSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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    2 hrs and 15 mins
  • #867: Dr. Becky Kennedy — Parenting Strategies for Raising Resilient Kids, Plus Word-for-Word Scripts for Repairing Relationships, Setting Boundaries, and More (Repost)

    #867: Dr. Becky Kennedy — Parenting Strategies for Raising Resilient Kids, Plus Word-for-Word Scripts for Repairing Relationships, Setting Boundaries, and More (Repost)
    May 28 2026
    Dr. Becky Kennedy is the founder and CEO of Good Inside, a parenting movement that overturns a lot of conventional, modern parenting practices to empower parents to become sturdy, confident leaders and raise sturdy, confident kids. She is the author of the bestselling book Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be, a chart-topping podcast, a TED talk with more than 5 million views on the power of repair.This episode is brought to you by:Monarch track, budget, plan, and do more with your money: Monarch.com/Tim Shopify global commerce platform, providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business: Shopify.com/tim*This episode was originally published in December 2024. Show notes and links: https://tim.blog/2024/12/27/dr-becky-kennedy-good-inside/TIMESTAMPS:[00:00:00] Start.[00:01:55] The power of repair.[00:04:50] "It's never your fault when I yell at you."[00:08:55] What does it mean to be a "good" parent?[00:10:32] Activating curiosity over judgment.[00:13:33] Alternatives to saying "Good job" as a confidence builder.[00:20:50] Making kids happy vs. building capability.[00:24:18] A pilot metaphor for sturdy leadership.[00:29:30] Role confusion.[00:32:04] Defining boundaries.[00:35:07] How parenting becomes a two-way mirror for growth.[00:40:09] The MGI (Most Generous Interpretation) approach.[00:42:52] Biggest challenges in parenting.[00:46:52] Recommended reading for someone with kids in their life.[00:52:11] Advisable prerequisites for singles who aim to build a family.[00:56:18] Setting boundaries with grandparents and dealing with different parenting styles.[01:01:42] Handling frustration when a child is pushing your buttons.[01:09:58] Lessons learned from working with eating disorders.[01:13:26] Managing troublemaker behavior.[01:17:38] Bad influence intervention.[01:22:52] Cultivating resilience in "deeply feeling" kids (DFKs).[01:28:58] The trials and errors that birthed Good Inside.[01:32:53] "Our words are not our wishes. Our words are our fears."[01:40:07] Billboard messages and mantras.[01:48:00] Fan-favorite scripts on saying no, boundaries, and repair.[01:51:15] The tennis court metaphor for boundaries.[01:55:45] Resources and parting thoughts.For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsorsSign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissYouTube: youtube.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferrissSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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    2 hrs and 5 mins
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