AI Summary
5 min readJulien Smith started his career with no college degree, a customer service job, and a conviction that no one was going to give him a break. He ended up raising hundreds of millions of dollars for a venture-backed company, Breather, after writing multiple books and building a following from scratch. In this conversation, he walks through the mental models that got him there—and the ones he had to unlearn along the way.
The central argument of the episode is that luck is not random. It is a byproduct of motion. Smith argues that the people who get lucky are the ones who create enough activity in their ecosystem that they are bound to collide with opportunity. "If you're like an atom entering an ecosystem and you're just shooting around, banging into things, crashing into stuff," he says, "somehow, some way there's gonna be some lucky thing that happens to you as a result of all that motion you're creating." The mechanism is simple: you do not need to be an expert before you start. You just need to move. Expertise can be figured out along the way.
The underdog origin and the cost of failure
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Opening Banter & Guest Introduction** - Hosts Greg and Greg introduce Julien Smith, a longtime friend and entrepreneur, setting up the conversation about his path and mindset.
- 2 (07:19) **Creating Luck Through Motion** - Julien explains how he created his own luck by generating high activity in his ecosystem.
- 3 (10:18) **Learning from "Glancing Blows"** - The hosts discuss how to compound from failures rather than just absorbing them.
- 4 (12:20) **Fearlessness and the Cost of Failure** - Julien explains how his background created a fearless approach to entrepreneurship.
- 5 (18:36) **The Worst Case Isn't That Bad** - The hosts discuss how facing your biggest fear can be liberating.
- 6 (22:37) **From Relentless Positivity to Honest Leadership** - Julien explains his evolution as a CEO from first to second company.
- 7 (23:54) **The Complete Guide to Not Giving a Fuck** - Julien shares the story behind his famous 2011 blog post and the book that followed.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Are you or your business stuck between a rock and a hard place? In today’s episode, we explore why suffering actually makes you stronger, divulge the secret to getting your business started, and share how you can make your own luck. Hosts Sahil Bloom and Greg Isenberg are joined by guest Julien Smith, a NYT bestselling author turned founder (Practice.do | Breather), who raised more than $250M for his first venture. Julien shares his personal underdog story, how entrepreneurship is never as perfect as it seems, and offers insights into what allowed him to find happiness in both his life and career.
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THIS EPISODE
Julien Smith: https://twitter.com/julien
Sahil Bloom: https://twitter.com/SahilBloom
Greg Isenberg: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg
Production & Marketing Team: https://penname.co/
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