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Alex Lieberman14 July 2022

Lessons From Selling Morning Brew For $75 Million At 28 - Alex Lieberman

5Frameworks
15Insights

Frameworks in this episode

Insights & moments

The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.

Myth Buster· 1

Myth Buster55:30

Therapists are not fungible — treat it like speed dating

i think therapy is in a lot of ways like speed dating where i think it is very reasonable to see like eight therapists as…

Alex Lieberman · 55:30

how easy our brains can get into autopilot and just assume what we're doing is the thing to do if we don't question it

Alex Lieberman · 53:30

Hot Take· 2

Hot Take11:00

Academia is broken because it teaches what to think, not how

i think this just speaks to where a lot of academia is broken and i think it's broken for a lot of reasons i think…

Alex Lieberman · 11:00

i wish there was more attraction to entrepreneurs and practitioners going back to universities because i think it would make what you learn far more…

Alex Lieberman · 11:30
Hot Take1:35:30

What Alex might do next — including becoming a therapist

a third thing that i've considered which is totally out of left field is to become a therapist myself

Alex Lieberman · 1:36:30

i am very scared about not knowing at the age of 28 what i want to do for the for many years

Alex Lieberman · 1:38:00

Explainer· 3

Explainer29:30

The three-role newsroom: writers, editor, and a voice editor

our content needs to read like you're having a conversation with your smart and sociable best friend it can't read like traditional business news where…

Alex Lieberman · 30:30

we we put out we put it out a uh you know a job post for a funny person and we found our funny person

Alex Lieberman · 31:00
Explainer1:06:30

Self-doubt is the real cause of procrastination on creative work

i was comparing my shitty first draft to james clare or mark manson or tim

Ali Abdaal · 1:06:30

they're comparing it to someone else's final draft because you never see a non-edited version of someone's video

Ali Abdaal · 1:07:00
Explainer45:30

Emotional suppression: his best trick and his worst trick

my best trick and my worst trick was to take emotionally provoking things and push them into my body and not feel them

Alex Lieberman · 45:30

emotions give you amazing data in life to know what you love what you don't love what you want to do and what you don't…

Alex Lieberman · 47:00

Story· 4

Story42:30

Losing his father at 49 and the life countdown clock

a week before junior year of college at michigan uh my dad passed away suddenly uh he passed away uh from a stroke he was…

Alex Lieberman · 43:00

how most things that we worry about on a daily basis in life are wildly unimportant

Alex Lieberman · 43:00
Story05:00

Morning Brew started as a mock-interview side observation

one question i would always ask students is how do you keep up with the business world

Alex Lieberman · 05:00

these students are about to spend 50 percent of their life of their waking hours between the ages of 21 and let's call it 70…

Alex Lieberman · 05:30
Story1:16:30

How the acquisition started: 'deep partnership' and a $50m number

the the phrase to get people into acquisitions if you want to test it is not hey would you be interested being acquired it's like…

Alex Lieberman · 1:18:00

basically we were always like what's a stupid amount of money that it'd be worth having a conversation about

Alex Lieberman · 1:19:30
Story1:22:30

The wire goes out and he feels nothing

what i remember in that moment going back to talking about feelings is i felt nothing

Alex Lieberman · 1:23:00

there's nothing in my life that i've spent on that i wouldn't have spent on prior

Alex Lieberman · 1:24:00

Q&A· 1

Q&A57:30

Could Morning Brew have worked with a balanced life?

i don't think morning brew would have been as successful if we were more balanced in our life as in spent less time on morning…

Alex Lieberman · 58:00

it would have been possible to have more balance and been a successful morning brew if i was more efficient and smarter in my work…

Alex Lieberman · 58:00

Tool· 1

Tool1:12:30

Ali's seven affirmations for creator number-anxiety

i already have enough i don't need more money or success i am playing my infinite game to learn and teach cool stuff on my…

Ali Abdaal · 1:12:30

if i lost everything i'd be able to build back up again to this infinite game over time and it would be even more fun

Ali Abdaal · 1:13:00

Takeaway· 3

Takeaway12:30

Typing and Excel: the two timeless skills

the most valuable class i've ever taken my life was my fourth grade typing class like i i've used this skill more than any other…

Alex Lieberman · 13:00

the faster my typing speed is gone it's like i can type at the speed of thought almost

Ali Abdaal · 16:00
Takeaway1:24:30

After the exit: no happier, and an identity crisis at 28

i am no more happy in life today than i was before we did the deal and i had less money

Alex Lieberman · 1:24:30

no amount of money can help me in that feeling of feeling a loss of identity of not knowing what motivates me

Alex Lieberman · 1:26:00
Takeaway53:30

Spending on a therapist when you're a money hoarder

if if i am not willing to spend my money on someone who is helping me see the world more clearly and live a more…

Alex Lieberman · 54:00