Joe Lonsdale: Building Billion Dollar Companies, Star Trek, Madness, Courage, and Humility

Samantha Peszek: delusional Olympic dreams at five years old, early gymnastics failures, becoming an Olympian, post retirement, and more

Samantha Peszek is a retired Olympian, an NBC Olympic Broadcaster, and founder of Beam Queen Bootcamp. Last year, we sat down for a conversation with Sam where we touched on her move to Austin, her delusional 5-year old dreams of one day becoming an Olympian, the windy path getting there, retiring at such a young age, her post-athletic career, and more. Samantha's Links * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthapeszek/ [https://www.instagram.com/samanthapeszek/] * Beam Queen: https://www.beamqueen.com/ [https://www.beamqueen.com/] WML Links * WML Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madness_lies/ [https://www.instagram.com/madness_lies/] * WML X: https://x.com/wheremadness [https://x.com/wheremadness]

Etan Ilfeld: Games, Arguing, Investing, Preserving Culture, Philosophy, and more

Etan Ilfeld is a London-based entrepreneur, author, venture partner at Remagine Ventures, and the owner and managing director of Watkins Books, Watkins Media, and the Mind Sports Olympiad. In our conversation, we discuss games, Etan's investing philosophy, geopolitics and exhausted ideologies, AI's approach to morality and ethics, and more. Etan's Links * X / Twitter: https://x.com/EtanIlfeld * The Etan Ilfeld Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-etan-ilfeld-podcast/id1500914118 * Watkins Publishing: https://watkinspublishing.com/ * Remagine Ventures: https://www.remagineventures.com/ WML Social * WML Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madness_lies/ * WML X / Twitter: https://x.com/WMadnessLies

Peter Maxwell: Designing Spaces, Mastery, Timelessness, Hospitality's Impact on Culture, and more

PETERMAX is the creative force behind both The Powder Room & Manny's in Austin, Texas. He has designed spaces with various industry leaders such as MGM International, RH, Starwood Capital, ARIA Hotel, The Light Group and most recently Lobos Hospitality. In this conversation, we discuss the ups and downs of Peter's career so far, how trends follow the convicted, Kelly Wearstler and the Proper Hotel, the importance of operating beyond your comfort zone, storytelling and his process for designing luxury spaces, and more. Peter's Links * Peter's Website [https://www.petermaxco.com/] * Peter's Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/petermax_co/] * Powder Room [https://www.instagram.com/powderroomatx/]

James Phelps: Fred Weasley actor reflects on Harry Potter, new travel series, British royalty and more

James Phelps is an actor best known for playing Fred Weasley in the Harry Potter film franchise from 2001 to 2011. James is an autodidact with passions ranging from astronomy to history. In this conversation, we discussed what it was like being cast in one of the biggest film franchises of all time, a few of his other projects (including a horror comedy that Aaron produced called Patchwork), the travel series he starred in alongside his brother, Oliver, and more. We recorded this episode last summer while traveling in Europe.

Joe Lonsdale: Building Billion Dollar Companies, Star Trek, Madness, Courage, and Humility

Joe Lonsdale has built several multi-billion dollar companies. He's a prolific entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. We discussed why he dislikes the title of our show (Where Madness Lies), his path from PayPal to Palantir, his frustration over the abundance of incompetent cowards in government, lessons from his father and some childhood anecdotes, what it was like being so successful at such a young age, his awkward teenage years, why he moved to Texas, his framework for cultivating talent, getting in trouble on social media, and more. Joe's Links: * Joe's Twitter: https://twitter.com/JTLonsdale [https://twitter.com/JTLonsdale] * Joe's blog: https://blog.joelonsdale.com/ [https://blog.joelonsdale.com/] * Joe's podcast - https://www.americanoptimist.com/ [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbDBYMlk3emFfZkZYX3Q1MmZnQUtzRnpxUndrd3xBQ3Jtc0tuU3ZGTHJnLWtCaGJkc2JhbjJzREZFQWhMREw1NEt2MXdkVm1YU2pWT0VGT3djNkJCU05tYll3YTVHM1lKSXhQR3pqckp3SFBIeGExeVVwbWxDY241OHRnM0dfcEt0eVkyUWlhLXF1TjZqRDVSbGpkTQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.americanoptimist.com%2F&v=iBzy_hDb2W4] * 8VC - https://www.8vc.com/ [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbnppNkJXaDJkeWkxOTl3MWVCNGtkWWJ2Y1gzZ3xBQ3Jtc0ttS1E2a0tKS3pKb0RFMXNtRldXLWE4Sks3dk9ObW5qak1ZTjcyaktzMm1fVVlwRnZyaDJsY1FVcWpya2FSVzl4Z1VrQV9hR2ZvNEozNDMzQ1lTTzNSRmRUc1J3WXFiVlZJTUxKMk9GSkhhY1hjMUpxcw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.8vc.com%2F&v=iBzy_hDb2W4] Where Madness Lies: * instagram.com/madness_lies [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=channel_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbDdTd0NoTUxxU2MtM0NBemtKTVNwd2JRcDZRd3xBQ3Jtc0trYTZSaEROOFZDUlZpU2swNTFrWnNoTU5CUXBzeHo5d3h3d05vTU9CbWtOeDVHLTZIdFFmZW9HWlAxM0FfSmJQbWlxQllqTWJ2RnE1WHdsMjJBbmphdzJ0bVpyMjNKNEpqVFN5bmxLMDJjUDVlX1Uxdw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fmadness_lies] * https://www.youtube.com/@WhereMadnessLies [https://www.youtube.com/@WhereMadnessLies]