Explore every episode of the podcast Build your Superpower

Reshma Sohoni is a partner at Seedcamp, a top seed fund in Europe. They invest early in founders solving problems with technology in large, global markets.

In part 1 we talk with Reshma about:

* Why doubling-down on your strengths helps you be happy

* How exposing yourself to many things helps you professionally

* Why it’s easier to excel by combining skills than trying to be the best at one

Reshma Sohoni is a partner at Seedcamp, a top seed fund in Europe. They invest early in founders solving problems with technology in large, global markets.

In part 2 we talk with Reshma about:

* Why doubling down on your strengths helps you be happy

* Where she stands on making decisions with gut and intuition

* Why you need to leave your comfort zone to build a superpower

Azeem Azhar writes the Exponential View, a newsletter about accelerating technological change and its consequences.

Azeem’s new book is phenomenal — Exponential: How Accelerating Technology Is Leaving Us Behind and What to Do.

We talk with Azeem not about what he knows but how he knows:

* How does he work?

* How do the tools we use shape our results?

* Being a generalist vs a specialist

Azeem Azhar writes the Exponential View, a newsletter about accelerating technological change and its consequences.

Azeem’s new book is phenomenal — Exponential: How Accelerating Technology Is Leaving Us Behind and What to Do.

We talk with Azheem about how he researches to aggregate information and turn it into such sharp insights:

* Is there value in reading material you don’t understand?

* What’s the non-ergodicity of scientific progress?

* What does perceptive technology writing have in common with social justice?

Dhiraj Mukherjee founded Shazam, the app used by billions and sold to Apple.

We talk with Dhiraj about:

* How “losers” warned him Shazam was too risky — and realizing they were right

* Why it’s personally risky to focus on outcomes

* How to manage hyper growth

Dhiraj Mukherjee founded Shazam, the app used by billions and sold to Apple.

We talk with Dhiraj about:

* Why it’s important for the ambitious to find balance

* How Dhiraj’s family and cultural background influenced him

* Why ruthlessness and focusing on money is short-sighted

Sunnie Groeneveld founded the digital consultancy Inspire 925 straight out of Yale college.

We talk with Sunnie about:

* Why you should have a clear priority

* Why you should be explicit about your priorities

* Why leadership depends on context

Anthony Thomson is a serial banking entrepreneur. He’s raised over $1bn in capital over his career to start 2 banks — and currently chairs a third bank.

We talk with Anthony about:

* What is trust, and how there are different forms of trust

* Why chasing profits have made big banks vulnerable

* How he uses his marketing background to have an edge in banking

Anthony Thomson is a serial banking entrepreneur. He’s raised over $1bn in capital over his career to start 2 banks — and currently chairs a third bank.

This second part is about

We talk with Anthony about:

* How he raised $100m during the financial crisis

* Why there are no set rules for success — and what that means for you

* Serendipity and decision-making

This might be the most insightful interview we've had — don't risk missing it.

Adam shares his secrets on how not to be stupid.

We talk about:

- What is stupidity?

- What drives stupidity — and why are we all at risk?

- What skills can help us not act stupidly?

It’s hard to describe Adam because he’s brilliant. Among other things, he is an:

- Advisor to multi-billion dollar hedge funds

- Founder of the Princeton Review

- US Chess master who trained with Bobby Fisher (!)

If you like this episode, you might like the first part of this interview with Adam. In it, he reveals how you can build your superpower.

It’s hard to describe Adam because he’s brilliant. Among other things, he is an:

- Advisor to multi-billion dollar hedge funds

- Founder of the Princeton Review

- US Chess master who trained with Bobby Fisher (!)

We’ve taken 2 licences with Adam: to record a 3h interview when we typically take 45 minutes and to name this first episode like the podcast.

In this first episode, we talk with Adam about:

- What’s Adam’s opinionated view on how to build a superpower?

- How can you love?

- Where should you focus your attention?

- Why can’t you make breakthroughs with logic?

- How can you build a system to cultivate your intuitions?

Anthony Rose started selling Apple II hardware when he was 14 — and never looked back. He’s currently the founder of SeedLegals, the go-to solution for start-up and financing legals in the UK.

In this first episode of a two-part interview, we talk with Anthony about:

- Should you be ruthless?

- Why start-ups are divided into pre- and post-users

- When should you sit on a decision?

Anthony Rose started selling Apple II hardware when he was 14 — and never looked back. He’s currently the founder of SeedLegals, the go-to solution for start-up and financing legals in the UK.

In this second episode of a two-part interview, we talk with Anthony about:

- How to get a license to break the speed limit

- How he turned his weakness as a micromanager into a strength

- Anthony’s framework for managing his priorities

Julie Gurner knows how to help you achieve your potential. She’s a psychologist turned performance coach with high net worth clients.

Our favourite fact about Julie is that she started her career working in a maximum security prison.

In this first episode we discuss:

- Why you should trust your gut

- How to defuse fear

- How to tell if someone is lying

- Why you should have clear priorities

- Why most overestimate the difficulty to change

Julie Gurner knows how to help you achieve your potential. She’s a psychologist turned performance coach with high net worth clients.

Our favourite fact about Julie is that she started her career working in a maximum security prison.

In this second episode we discuss:

- What you should learn from criminals

- How to plan serendipity

- Why people can do evil things — but are not themselves evil

- What are the commonalities of her successful clients

- Why it’s important to become an autodidact

Haseeb Qureshi knows how to take risks. The former high-stakes poker pro took an unconventional route to programming — and was making $250,000 at AirBnB within a year.

In this second episode we discuss:

- How he learnt software engineering and got a $250K job — in a year

- Haseeb’s key learning tactic to easily learn better

- Why he donates 33% of his income to charity

Haseeb Qureshi knows how to think about taking risks. The former high-stakes poker pro took an unconventional route to programming — and was making $250,000 at AirBnB within a year.

He’s also an effective altruist and donates 33% of his income every year — which we’ll discuss in part 2 next week.

We talk with Haseeb about:

- Why it’s dangerous to avoid taking risks

- How to improve how you take risks

- Why the most de-risk path isn’t the best one

- How to better manage your emotions

- How having less options can help you

Scott Young is the best-selling author of Ultralearning. He’s been experimenting with how to learn and lead a better life for over a decade.

Is learning important to you? If so, Scott’s conversation if a must-listen.

In this first part of a two-part episode, we talked with Scott about:

- How to be the next Elon Musk

- Why you should be spending more time planning

- Why you should be skeptical of your heroes

- How to decide what’s important in your life

- Why it’s important to visualise what you want to do

Scott Young is the best-selling author of Ultralearning. He’s been experimenting with how to learn and lead a better life for over a decade.

Is learning important to you? If so, Scott’s conversation if a must-listen.

In this second part of a two-part episode, we talked with Scott about:

- What mistakes people do when learning

- How our intuitions can hurt us when learning

- How to cultivate your curiosity

Bruce Daisley is a workplace expert and former VP of Twitter. He’s also widely known for his podcast Eat Sleep Work Repeat.

But his biggest achievement is getting his first job by sending a cartoon CV to 50 companies.

We talked with Bruce about:

* How his curiosity led to a new career as a workplace expert

* Why a good workplace culture is not only moral — but good for the business

* How everyone can change the workplace culture at their company

* A surefire way to make content engaging — and why he avoids it

* Why it’s usually a waste of energy to try to give someone purpose

Guy Kawasaki is the most famous software evangelist in the world. He’s helped Apple, and currently Canva, reach and engage their supporters as their Chief Evangelist. He’s even had his shoes shined by Richard Branson!

We talk with Guy about:

- Why Steve Jobs’ advice of “find and pursue your passion” can be harmful to most people — and the alternative he believes in

- How people tend to misunderstand what they’re passionate about “passion”

- Why you should become the best version of yourself rather than trying to copy your heroes — and how Steve Jobs and Melanie Perkins are so effective by being opposites

- How he dealt with family pressure when he quit law school 

- Why you shouldn’t stress about finding the perfect job

Cindy Gallop is the godmother of the sextech industry and founder of MakeLoveNotPorn. In a previous life, she was an advertising executive.

This is the first of a two part interview with Cindy.

In this part we talk with Cindy about:

- How not to give a fuck about what other people think about you

- Why she’s vocal about dating younger men

- How to manage your emotions

- How living and working her values allows her to turn obstacles into motivation

- How she approaches negotiations — and why negotiations are everywhere

Cindy Gallop is the godmother of the sextech industry and founder of MakeLoveNotPorn. In a previous life, she was an advertising executive.

This is the second of a two part interview with Cindy.

What’s special about this part is that we go deep into the role of women in society. We look into:

- The challenges and double standards faced by women

- Why men need more female role models

- The 2 things every man should do