How Smart Are Founders? w/ Drew Oetting

Follow Drew: https://x.com/andrewoetting/ Get your LLC! Doola.com/exerton About Drew: Drew is a founding partner of 8VC. He focuses on investments across various stage and sectors including vertical software, health delivery, and biomanufacturing. He is also a founding Board Director of Affinity Technologies, an early stage enterprise software company. Previously Drew was a partner at Formation 8. Before that he served as Chief of Staff to Joe Lonsdale. Drew serves on the Competitiveness Council for Cerberus Capital Management. He is also a Trustee of LivingOnOne, a non-profit impact production studio; WeAreThorn, a NGO which leverages technology to eliminate child trafficking; and the Claremont McKenna College Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The best podcast episode for every young and ambitious person. I hope this episode existed 3 years ago! (00:00) Intro + doola.com/exerton (02:31) Who is @andrewoetting? (04:37) What makes @JTLonsdale so cool + the biggest thing Drew learned from him?! (07:48) What is the kind of smartness that founders require? (12:19) What role does luck play in a founder/ambitious person's life? + How to optimize for luck (20:11) How do you choose which field to build in for decades? (23:34) Is the goal really important? (25:39) What is the biggest way in which thinking changes with experience? (32:36) Drew's thoughts on the money vs power vs fame debate (37:20) Why is being driven by money a great thing?! (43:56) Are the best ones driven by money? (49:03) Work-life balance for young people is useless (mostly) Enjoy!