This is the 10th episode back for SYDLIS, so if you want us to continue creating new episodes for the podcast, let us know by leaving a review at ratethispodcast.com/learn. 

In this episode, Steph and Cal bring a medley of half-baked business ideas to the table. They introduce the origin story of each idea, rate it on a scale of A-F, discuss modifications that would make it better, and most importantly, roast each other when the idea is a little too half-baked.

This episode is a part of the broader nudge Steph and Cal push for everyone to see that there are endless ideas to pursue when you learn to see them in the world.

Business ideas covered:

1. Marketplace for premium goods
2. Hot sauce tasting kits 
3. Long-duration gifting platform
4. AI-powered collectible evaluators
5. The upgraded ZYN tin!
6. Unrecordable digital spaces
7. Making friends as an adult workshop
8. Bidirectional poll-based newsletters
9. Hyper-localized surf guides
10. Immersive, animal sensory museums

There is something out there that can make one person more productive and kind, while another inharmonious -- even resentful. That thing is identity.

And while we passively adopt parts of identity, we often forget that much of our identity is left up to us. In this episode, Cal and Steph explore the depths of identity and how being intentional around what parts of your identity you adopt, shed, or embrace can lead to a more fulfilled life.

The internet has a treasure trove of information that you can use to generate business ideas, spot trends, and understand what the future will look like before everyone else. But to benefit from the internet's wealth of knowledge, you need to learn how to use it in the right ways.

In this episode, Cal and Steph discuss four unconventional ways that you can use the internet to find good ideas for businesses and products that people actually want.

You’ll learn how to:

• Use Twitter searches to discover products that people want
• Tap into a rich reservoir of unsolved problems with Wikipedia
• Leverage a sci-fi technology database to dream up the future
• Leverage patents to see what companies are investing in

Resources Mentioned

• Wikipedia’s list of unsolved problems
• Patent Drop newsletter
• Not Boring Sci-Fi Idea Bank and further reading on the database
• Twitter Searches
  • "request for product" min_faves:200
  • "someone please build" min_faves:200
  • "I’d pay for" min_faves:200
  • “why doesn’t this exist” min_faves:100
  • "business idea” min_faves:1000

This episode is not affiliated with Steph's work at a16z and is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Writing is one of the most powerful tools on Earth. But few have mastered the craft.

Perhaps because success in writing often actually veers you off course, leading you to a life of talking instead of living -- the very thing that drove the quality of your writing in the first place.

One man  -- (who has written several novels, thousands of poems, and hundreds of short stories) has some merciless takes on the art of writing. And although merciless, many ring true.

In this episode, Cal and Steph dive into the mind of Bukowski and the key lessons we can learn about creating art that truly shakes you alive. 

This episode is not affiliated with Steph's work at a16z and is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Few waves have hit the world quite like remote work; a wave impacting billions of people overnight due to a worldwide pandemic.

But in reality, this wave was brewing for decades and thousands of nomads had long been proving there was a different and viable way to work. Calvin and Steph were two of those people, starting in 2016.

Now that the world has caught up, they decided to reflect back on what was so special about that period and what, in retrospect, they might've seen then that much of the world had still not (and in some ways still hasn't) understood.

Listen in for a look inside the early days of digital nomadism.

This episode is not affiliated with Steph's work at a16z and is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Few people inspire us more than Yayoi Kusama.

Cal recently discovered this 94-year old's work while at the Guggenheim in Bilbao. Like many others, he was immediately gripped by her art – enough to be the only artist he looked up after his visit. Little did he know she was one of the world's most successful living artists, had been creating thousands of pieces across nearly a century, and has quite the storied past.

In this episode, you'll learn about this incredible artist, from her long-time struggle with mental health (she has been living out of a mental facility for 50 years!) to her alienation from the art community and Japan, and how she ultimately succeeded beyond all of that noise by continuing to create a gobsmacking amount of art. A true hero's journey. 

It's truly a wonder that we hadn't heard of Yayoi earlier. We hope this episode leaves you just as astounded by her as we are.

Many people waddle through life without asking themselves a simple, but important question: What do I want? 

In this episode, Steph and Cal discuss how to figure out what you want and avoid some common traps that take you down unhelpful detours.

The episode is based on two of Cal's recent articles, which you can read here:

• What Do You Want?
• Calvinball: The Only Game Worth Playing

This episode is not affiliated with Steph's work at a16z and is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Some people argue for tipping. Some people argue against. But the one thing that unites most people with an opinion on the topic is a lack of understanding of where the practice came from in the first place.

In this episode, Cal and Steph walk through the history of tip culture, how that led to vastly different norms around the world, and the confusing place we're left in today – especially in an era of Square terminals and where tipping seems to be infiltrating the unexpected.

Has tip culture gone too far? Listen in to find out.

This episode is not affiliated with Steph's work at a16z and is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

The Master Somm test is widely recognized as one of, if not the hardest test in the world. Only 273 people have passed it since it was incepted in 1969, also making it one of the rarest distinctions out there (<0.00001% of the world!)

In this episode, Steph and Cal discuss some of the hardest human feats, from athletics to intelligence to, and whether a healthy ambition can lie behind them.

They also discuss where they've taken things the furthest, and where they're still driven to do more.

This episode is not affiliated with Steph's work at a16z and is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

ChatGPT broke records in adoption, hitting 100m monthly active users in a matter of months... faster than any other web platform prior. Even faster than TikTok!

But with fast adoption comes equally swift resistance, surfacing  questions around how this technology is changing the wider world. Should AI models be allowed in schools? How about the courtroom? Do stock image photographers have a fighting chance?

In this episode, Cal and Steph step into the shoes of many people tackling these difficult questions right now. From the middle school teacher to the college admissions officer, to the owners of a stock image sites, or even the head of the Bar Association... how would you respond? What questions would you be asking? 

Listen in to hear Cal and Steph's takes.

This episode is not affiliated with Steph's work at a16z and is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.