Korva rescues the ideas worth keeping from podcasts. Each one becomes a Card.

How Fortunes Were Built

Ben Torren@bentorren

17 cards

From FoundersJoseph Pulitzer: The Inventor of Mass Media

A century from now, not one person alive today will still be here. What are we making permanent?

From FoundersJoseph Pulitzer: The Inventor of Mass Media

Pulitzer sold the Associated Press access attached to a German newspaper for about $20,000 in under 48 hours.

From FoundersJoseph Pulitzer: The Inventor of Mass Media

Joseph Pulitzer fooled auction crowds by bidding publicly, withdrawing, and having a secret proxy win the paper.

From FoundersJoseph Pulitzer: The Inventor of Mass Media

Severely disabled, Pulitzer ran his newspaper remotely through hundreds or thousands of telegrams each week.

From FoundersThe Merchant Bankers

Warren Buffett wired money for a deal without even an email.

From FoundersThe Merchant Bankers

A merchant banker moved Spanish colonial silver through a British blockade by exchanging British vessels’ participation for government permission.

From FoundersThe Merchant Bankers

Albert the Benevolent lent on personal trust without collateral after deciding a borrower’s character promised repayment.

From AcquiredFerrari: What happens when you staple a luxury brand to a sports team?

Fiat’s turnaround paired Luca’s operating leadership, John Elkann’s family representation, and Sergio Marchionne’s financial-engineering expertise.

From AcquiredFerrari: What happens when you staple a luxury brand to a sports team?

Luca believed Ferrari’s best business decisions started with making the best cars, not hitting financial targets.

From AcquiredFerrari: What happens when you staple a luxury brand to a sports team?

Ferrari is the only ultra-luxury brand to achieve mass cultural awareness.

From AcquiredThe Walt Disney Company: The most successful enterprise for monetizing human nostalgia (Audio)

Earl Herd’s cell animation let artists reuse static backgrounds while redrawing characters on transparent sheets.

From AcquiredThe Walt Disney Company: The most successful enterprise for monetizing human nostalgia (Audio)

Disney lost its place in American mythmaking as creators like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg moved culture elsewhere.

From David SenraTravis Kalanick, Founder of Uber & Atoms

A New York taxi medallion owner could earn about $80,000 annually while each driver paid $40,000 for half-time access.

From David SenraTravis Kalanick, Founder of Uber & Atoms

Uber gave Baidu about 7% instead of 50%, buying trusted local backing and regulatory access without surrendering control.

From David SenraLessons on Building Carbone, ZZ's & a Restaurant Empire | Jeff Zalaznick

Passion does not make restaurants survivable. Studying the business and doing the work does.

From David SenraDHH: How to Build a Profitable Company Without Losing Control

Radical editing cut Rework from 50,000 words to 25,000, making its ideas work better despite publisher resistance.

From paulgraham.comWhat I Worked On

Give talks to generate ideas. The prospect of wasting an audience’s time forces clearer thinking.

Build a Board of your own.

Save Cards from different podcasts around one subject, then return to the ideas that matter.