Wealth Before Noble Pursuits

Joe Lonsdale shares his perspective on whether entrepreneurs should pursue moonshot ideas immediately or first achieve financial success. He suggests that building a solid financial foundation before tackling ambitious missions is generally a better approach.

Key Points:

• On Getting Your First Win:

  • Agrees it's better to "get your nut" (make a few million) before pursuing noble missions
  • Having a solid base is important before taking on huge, risky quests
  • You don't want to be poor for 12 years while pursuing something ambitious

• On Time vs Money Investment:

  • Making money isn't about how you invest your money, it's about how you invest your time
  • Being disciplined with time investment is crucial
  • Can't just make a million from investing alone (unless over 50+ years)

• On Building Wealth Through Value Creation:

  • Focus on learning how to build things
  • Help create things that are useful to other people
  • Find what you're passionate about and good at
  • Be honest about what you're not good at
  • Connect with others who are successful in your area of interest
  • Learn how their businesses work
  • Be part of growing businesses to understand operations

• On Career Development:

  • Spend time finding ways to help successful people
  • Learn from them and their businesses
  • If you're talented enough, the people you succeed with will likely help you do something new later

• The Path to Success:

  • Focus on being useful to others
  • Figure out your strengths and weaknesses
  • Find mentors and learn from them
  • Build relationships that can lead to future opportunities
  • Be willing to work hard and learn from experience