Building by Intuition

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that lead you to make a decision. And that's how I'm driven. I go by gut, I go by intuition, whether it's a pricing, or a product decision, or a feature, or a new product, or a name, or whatever it is. We don't test things. We don't do focus groups. We occasionally A/B test for fun, but not because it matters. And that's it. Like, I'm not looking at numbers. I've never seen a spreadsheet that's ever made me do anything. I don't want to make a product decision because a spreadsheet told me to. That's just a thing, and there's a lot of other things that can tell me to do other things. I don't want to value this because it's a spreadsheet with numbers on it. That's just a thing. And so, I'm very careful not to put too much weight into something that

`2:19:01`

purports to be more valuable than some other feeling I have just because it has numbers on it. Now, of course, I don't want to do stupid things. I'm not going to throw 50 million dollars at a Super Bowl ad. Like, I'm not going to do that. So, your intuition has limits, too. But everything we do is based on just kind of what we want to do, what we feel. I want to feel into these decisions and go, "I feel good about this. No matter what happens, let's do it anyway." — Yeah, that's what it is for me. How have you refined it over time? — You just do things. You make decisions. I mean, to me, it's all about time under the curve, in terms of making decisions... Or area under the curve, sorry, I think is the actual correct way to phrase that. So, the more decisions you make, the more time you have, the more intuition you're refining. But you don't actively refine it. You don't practice intuition.

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You just make decisions. And the more you make, the more you make, the more it sharpens everything up. It takes the edge off, I think, eventually, as you make more and more and more, and you're tumbling these things around, essentially, you end up with a nice, smooth orb, and it feels really good to have that in your hand. And it feels right. And that's kind of where you want to get to. So, you want to have this place where, when you make a decision, you're like, "This feels like the right decision. I'm not afraid of this decision. I'm excited about this decision. It could go wrong, and I'd be okay with that, too. I just know that this is the decision I want to make right now, and I'm lucky to be in this position where I can make it. No one can tell me I can't." That's another part of intuition. Because you can have intuition that keeps hitting a ceiling, and someone else says "No," and then you don't get to use it. So, intuition has to be used, I think, to really be enjoyed.

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And that requires, again, back to independence, back to optionality as well. Jason, one of the coolest things about my job is that I can have somebody like you, that I've read and has shaped my thinking over a decade and a half. We've become friends, we get to hang out, and then you also get to come on the show, and then share all the things I love about you for everybody else. I really appreciate the time today, man. Just f****** awesome. — It's been a blast. Thank you so much for having me on. — Yeah, sure. — Thanks for doing it. — It's really fun, yeah. — Yeah, you bet, man. — I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please remember to subscribe wherever you're listening, and leave a review. And make sure you listen to my other podcast, Founders. For almost a decade, I've obsessively read over 400 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs, searching for ideas that you can use in your work. Most of the guests you hear on this show, first found me through Founders.