Smart Friends
Eric Jorgenson
Casual conversations with founders, technologists, investors, and artists about building a brighter future, together. Welcome to our digital living room. With science, technology and entrepreneurship we can *continue* to create unfathomable leaps in quality of life. We show you how to find, apply, build, and invest in technologies to change your life and the world. When we have smart friends, we do smart things. When we do smart things, we save the world. No matter who, where, or when you are – now you have smart friends, too. Outside this podcast, I’m the author of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant and The Anthology of Balaji. Connect at ejorgenson.com Laugh and learn with people like Balaji Srinivasan, Naval Ravikant, Andrew Wilkinson, Austen Allred, David Senra, Josh Storrs Hall, Ashley Rindsberg, Zach Pettet, Bret Kugelmass, Omar ElNaggar, Grace Guo, Brett Kopf, Max Olson, Chris Williamson, Shane Mac, Tim Hwang, David Perell, Jason Hitchcock, Natalia Karayaneva, Sebastian Marshall, Taylor Pearson, Mitchell Baldridge and more.Join conversations with my partners in early-stage tech investing, Bo Fishback and Al Doan. Our Rolling Fun Episodes cover our investments and escapades as angel investors and startup helpers. We invest in startups creating the *next* industrial revolution. Learn more at rolling.fun“Surround yourself with people who remind you more of your future than of your past.”
Episodes
Mentioned books
167 snips
May 5, 2026 • 1h 19min
#102 The Next Renaissance, AI Reality vs Hype, and a Movement of Hope with Zack Kass
Zack Kass, former OpenAI go-to-market lead and author focused on human-centered AI, explores AI as infrastructure, not just a tool. He talks about translating tech for everyday people. He digs into why society adopts breakthroughs slowly, how automation may reshape identity and purpose, and why housing, local community, and civic life matter in an AI-filled future.
310 snips
Apr 7, 2026 • 1h 35min
The Book of Elon - Part 4
Eric Jorgensen, author and curator of The Book of Elon, offers a concise guide to Musk’s priorities. He covers companies-as-philanthropy, tunneling into genetics and synthetic RNA, and the push to take risks early in life. Topics include urgency in innovation, Neuralink and brain interfaces, autonomy replacing driving, Mars colonization logistics, and civilizational risks like AI and population decline.
419 snips
Apr 7, 2026 • 1h 44min
The Book of Elon - Part 3
A free audiobook release walks through Elon Musk's journey from South Africa to founding Zip2, PayPal, Tesla, SolarCity, and SpaceX. It covers bold bets like leaving grad school, reinvesting early exits, and the strategy of starting premium to fund mass-market products. The narrative highlights early failures, rapid iteration, and the push for reusable rockets and a multi-planet future.
443 snips
Apr 7, 2026 • 1h 10min
The Book of Elon - Part 2
A free audiobook release dives into unconventional thinking, frontline leadership, and ruthless humility. It covers building hard-driving teams, fostering a maker culture, and hiring exceptional problem solvers. Manufacturing, iterative testing, and simplicity in design get heavy focus. Speed, feedback over feelings, and attacking production constraints are recurring themes.
713 snips
Apr 7, 2026 • 1h 6min
The Book of Elon - Part 1
A free audiobook release explores engineering-driven missions, radical product launches, and the grind of extreme work ethic. It covers first principles thinking, obsession with truth and physics, and creating more than you consume. The discussion highlights probabilistic foresight, tunneling innovations, and why execution and manufacturing beat mere ideas.
115 snips
Mar 24, 2026 • 9min
The Book of Elon launches today
A creator explains five years of research to compile a practical collection of Elon Musk’s ideas in his voice. They describe the book’s mission to be immediately useful and widely accessible, including free digital and audio versions. Listeners hear about Musk’s species-level goals, efforts to inspire future entrepreneurs, and simple ways to support the launch.
995 snips
Feb 24, 2026 • 3h 35min
My Conversation with Naval Megasode
Naval Ravikant, entrepreneur and thinker known for writings on wealth and happiness, reflects on building wealth, judgment, and learning happiness. He discusses assets that earn while you sleep, AI’s limits, cultivating taste and intuition, meditation and no-self insights, and how to choose environments, take big bets, and live authentically.
45 snips
Feb 3, 2026 • 1h 1min
#101 Tesla War Stories, Self-Driving at Waymo, and Building the Salesforce of BOM (Spencer Penn of LightSource)
Spencer Penn, a founder and former engineer at Tesla and Waymo now leading LightSource, shares war stories from rapid Tesla development and contrasts Tesla’s speed culture with Waymo’s methodical autonomy work. He recounts Model 3 production chaos, insights on self-driving subsystems, and why he started an AI-native procurement company to fix long-ignored BOM problems.
63 snips
Jan 20, 2026 • 1h 25min
#100 Interviewing Your Parents, Writing Through Fear, and One's First Book (Kyle Thiermann)
Kyle Thiermann, a professional surfer and writer, dives deep into the journey behind his book, 'One Last Question Before You Go.' He reflects on a transformative pandemic moment that sparked interviews with his parents, exploring how these conversations can heal relationships. Balancing humor with emotional depth, Kyle shares his writing process, the challenges of merging memoir with how-to, and the importance of a compelling book title. He emphasizes the significance of unique storytelling and offers insights on long-term marketing strategies for authors.
128 snips
Jan 6, 2026 • 56min
#099 Jonathan Swanson: Scaling Thumbtack, 10x Delegation, and Designing an Ideal Life
Jonathan Swanson, founder and CEO of Athena, shares insights on blending human and AI assistants to revolutionize productivity. He discusses the surprising challenges faced while scaling Thumbtack, revealing how crisis situations can forge team resilience. Jonathan emphasizes the vital skill of effective delegation, citing unconventional tasks he’s assigned to his assistants. He also explores the evolution of Athena, his unique approach to hiring and coaching assistants, and his grand vision for a future where assistants multiply human capabilities.
