Invest Like the Best with Patrick O’Shaughnessy
Business:Investing
My guest today is Cyan Banister. Cyan’s life story is remarkable. She was homeless at a young age, dropped out of high school, and five years ago she suffered an extremely rare stroke. Yet, in spite of everything, she is one of the most optimistic and curious people you can hope to meet. Cyan is also one of the great angel investors of this era, having invested early in SpaceX, Uber, Postmates, and Deepmind to name a few winners. She became the first female investing partner at Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and now invests at Long Journey Ventures.
Our conversation is as much about investing as it is about the essence of life and how connecting with that will help us in our professional pursuits. It is also full of awesome stories about people and companies like SpaceX and Bill Murray. Please enjoy this great conversation with Cyan Banister.
Listen to Founders Podcast
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.
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Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.
Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.
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Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).
Show Notes:
(00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best
(00:04:03) First question - Spirituality as an Investable Category
(00:06:51) Journey to Founders Fund
(00:12:13) Overcoming Adversity and Embracing Optimism
(00:14:28) The Power of Authenticity and Curiosity
(00:25:28) The Skill of Feeling in Business
(00:30:26) Investing in Uber
(00:36:18) The Changing Dynamics of Early-Stage Investment
(00:39:07) The Philosophy of 'Set it and Forget It'
(00:42:24) The SpaceX Story: A Leap of Faith
(00:48:02) Cyan’s Spiritual Awakening
(00:61:34) Her Story of the Violin Kid
(01:05:36) The Art of Trusting Your Gut in Business
(01:07:47) The Spirit of Founders Fund and the Future of Venture Firms
(01:15:16) What She Would Do With 1 Trillion Dollars
(01:24:05) The Kindest Thing Anyone Has Ever Done For Cyan
Bill Gurley & Michael Mauboussin - Putting Theory into Practice - [Invest Like the Best, EP.370]
Tim Ferriss - Curating Curiosities - [Invest Like the Best, EP.369]
Ken Langone - The American Dream - [Invest Like the Best, EP.368]
Robin Dunbar - Optimizing Human Connection (Dunbar's Number) - [Invest Like the Best, EP.367]
Sean Feeney - Reinventing the Restaurant Business - [Invest Like the Best, EP.366]
Dave Fontenot - The Monastery of Code - [Invest Like the Best, EP.365]
Anne-Marie Peterson - The Capital System - [Invest Like the Best, EP.364]
Aravind Srinivas - Building An Answer Engine - [Invest Like the Best, EP.363]
Ali Hamed - Building an Investment Firm - [Invest Like the Best, EP.362]
Danny Meyer - The Power of Hospitality - [Invest Like the Best, REPLAY]
Chuck Akre - The Three Legged Stool - [Invest Like the Best, REPLAY]
Alex Telford - Unlocking Innovation in Pharma - [Invest Like the Best, EP.360]
Madhavan Ramanujam - How to Price Products - [Invest Like the Best, REPLAY]
Daryl Morey - Systems Thinking in Sports - [Invest Like the Best, REPLAY]
Michael Ovitz - Knowledge Is Power - [Invest Like the Best, EP.359]
Erik Serrano - Investing in Investment Firms - [Invest Like the Best, EP.358]
Doug Leone - Lessons from a Titan - [Invest Like the Best, REPLAY]
Justin Ishbia - Lessons from Acquiring 586 Companies - [Invest Like the Best, EP.357]
Gavin Uberti - Real-Time AI & The Future of AI Hardware - [Invest Like the Best, EP.356]
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