People whose work or thinking I find particularly compelling.
- Steve Jobs — Proved that taste, vision, and relentless standards can reshape entire industries. The intersection of technology and the humanities.
- Paul Graham — His essays on startups, ambition, and independent thinking are some of the best writing on the internet. Founded Y Combinator.
- Elon Musk — Whatever you think of him, the ambition is extraordinary. SpaceX and Tesla were both supposed to fail.
- Peter Thiel — Zero to One is the most important book about startups. His contrarian thinking about technology and progress remains influential.
- Tyler Cowen — Economist, blogger, and voracious reader. His work on progress studies and stagnation shaped how I think about the world.
- Marc Andreessen — “Software is eating the world” turned out to be an understatement. Now it's AI eating software.
- Sam Altman — Runs OpenAI. His writing on startups and ambition, especially “How to Be Successful,” is worth reading.