The guest
Tim Ferriss: Author of The 4-Hour Workweek, 4-Hour Body and 4-Hour Chef, host of The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, early-stage startup investor and advisor to companies including Shopify, Uber and TaskRabbit.
What this episode covers
In this private live Q&A, Tim Ferriss alternates between pre-submitted and live-feed questions, focusing heavily on PR, marketing and product launches. Recurring themes include risk mitigation, capping downside, testing concepts cheaply before scaling, and the power of in-person relationship-building over digital channels. He breaks down how he launched The 4-Hour Workweek by targeting a narrow demographic and tipping 'lead dominoes,' explains selling to luxury/affluent markets, and dissects how to evaluate podcast advertising. He also covers personal territory: a profound time-dilation experience hiking at altitude in New Mexico, his fasting and workout protocols, cutting back alcohol, archery, gardening, mental models for prioritization, and teases an absurd upcoming NFT/art project code-named Project 555.
Recommended on this episode
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Guerilla Financing
“I found that book very helpful when I was bootstrapping one of my first companies”
“There's a book. It's out of date, it is out of print, probably, called Guerilla Financing, that may also give you some ideas for how to bootstrap”— Tim Ferriss
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Loom
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“which is a tool I use a lot for screen capture for training employees and contractors”
“people record themselves using something like Loom, which is a tool I use a lot for screen capture for training employees and contractors”— Tim Ferriss
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O2 Trainer
Bas Rutten
“found it to be very, very helpful and easy to use... I, for one, plan on continuing to use that device”
“I used the O2 trainer to prepare for my extensive hiking at altitude in New Mexico and I found it to be very, very helpful and easy to use”— Tim Ferriss
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One Simple Idea: Turn Your Dreams into a Licensing Goldmine While Letting Others Do the Work
Stephen Key
“There is also a great book by Stephen Key... That book I think is worth a read”
“There is also a great book by Stephen Key called One Simple Idea: Turn Your Dreams into a Licensing Goldmine While Letting Others Do the Work.”— Tim Ferriss
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Built to Sell
John Warrillow
“that, I think, is worth looking at, even if you've never considered that possibility... I would take a look at that”
“Another one to look at is Built to Sell. This is a book by John Warrillow. If you were ever considering the possibility of being able to sell this company”— Tim Ferriss
BookRecommendedISBN verified
On Grief and Grieving
David Kessler and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
“I would recommend a book that has been recommended to me several times, including my friends who have lost parents unexpectedly”
“I would recommend a book that has been recommended to me several times... that is, On Grief and Grieving... by David Kessler and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.”— Tim Ferriss
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big
Bo Burlingham
“I really enjoyed it when I did... I very much enjoyed that book when I read it”
“there is a book... I really enjoyed it when I did called Small Giants. The subtitle is, Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big.”— Tim Ferriss
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LMNT
LMNT
“I always supplement with electrolytes these days... LMNT, which is what I've been using for a couple years”
“I fill it full of electrolytes like LMNT, which is what I've been using for a couple years and maybe put in a little bit of lemon just for flavoring”— Tim Ferriss
BookRecommendedISBN verified
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
Al Ries and Jack Trout
“take a close look at that... I'll give you evidence that this actually does work”
“The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing. Get the older one, not the for the internet, which is horribly out of date. Get the older one that has the beer examples”— Tim Ferriss
BookRecommended
1,000 True Fans
Kevin Kelly
“Also read 1,000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly”
“Also read 1,000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly, that's on kk.org, 1,000 True Fans.”— Tim Ferriss
BookRecommendedISBN verified
The 80/20 Principle
Richard Koch
“read The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch”
“And last but not least, read The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch, K-O-C-H.”— Tim Ferriss
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The Price of Everything
“I found it very, very engaging... I really enjoyed this. I really, really enjoyed it”
“The Price of Everything is a documentary about contemporary art, and I found it very, very engaging.”— Tim Ferriss
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Selling to the Affluent
Thomas J. Stanley
“Selling to the Affluent by Thomas J. Stanley, I found certainly helpful at one point”
“the first... is a book called Selling to the Affluent. That's by Thomas Stanley.”— Tim Ferriss
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Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster
Dana Thomas
“I really greatly enjoyed this book... I think that is worth reading for a whole host of reasons”
“Deluxe is the name of the book, How Luxury Lost Its Luster. And it talks about different high-end luxury brands”— Tim Ferriss
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Losing My Virginity
Richard Branson
“one of the books that had a huge impact on me when I was in my early twenties”
“this is chronicled quite a bit in Losing My Virginity, which was one of the books that had a huge impact on me when I was in my early twenties.”— Tim Ferriss
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Pso-Rite
Pso-Rite
“these two devices I have found to be tremendously helpful for improving sleep”
“they apply pressure to your psoas. So this is called a Pso-Rite device, pso-rite.com. And this is a device that I used last night”— Tim Ferriss
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Hip Hook
“this really works well, I've been using it for the last several weeks on the road... tremendously helpful for improving sleep”
“this is the Hip Hook and it more effectively gets into, and you can see how aggressive this looks... this really gets into your psoas”— Tim Ferriss
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Radical Acceptance
Tara Brach
“wrote an incredible book called Radical Acceptance... Read Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach”
“Tara Brach, who wrote an incredible book called Radical Acceptance. So I'd say Tara Brach is definitely one.”— Tim Ferriss
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Four Thousand Weeks
Oliver Burkeman
“I thought Four Thousand Weeks was an exceptional book, and I plan to go back and reread it”
“I thought Four Thousand Weeks was an exceptional book, and I plan to go back and reread it.”— Tim Ferriss
The guest's own work
BookBy the guestISBN verified
The 4-Hour Workweek
Tim Ferriss
“For the first book, The 4-Hour Workweek, that was bloggers, for instance. Most people were like, Blogs, what the hell is a blog?”— Tim Ferriss
BookBy the guestISBN verified
The 4-Hour Chef
Tim Ferriss
“For The 4-Hour Chef, it was podcasts. This was in 2012, after which I launched my own podcast in 2014.”— Tim Ferriss
BookBy the guestISBN verified
The 4-Hour Body
Tim Ferriss
“I really targeted Digg.com... way back in the day to try to get on the homepage for launching The 4-Hour Body”— Tim Ferriss
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
ProductReferenced
UserTesting.com
UserTesting
“There are services that provide for this. Usertesting.com would be one example. I haven't used it personally, but I know startups who have.”— Tim Ferriss
ProductReferenced
GORUCK rucksack
GORUCK
“I will throw on a rucksack. I have a GORUCKsack for an hour hike. I'm not using crazy weight”— Tim Ferriss
ProductReferenced
Athletic Greens
Athletic Greens
“Athletic Greens has the most methodical, quantitative and strategic approach to podcast advertising that I have ever seen in any company.”— Tim Ferriss
BookReferencedISBN verified
Become the Arrow
Byron Ferguson
“a traditional longbow made by someone named Byron Ferguson... I believe Byron has a book called Become the Arrow.”— Tim Ferriss
BookReferencedISBN verified
The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
Gary Keller
“He also has a book called The ONE Thing, subtitled The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results.”— Tim Ferriss
Big reveals from this episode
- Ferriss estimates 50 to 70 percent of his early-stage startup investments go to zero, framing everything through risk mitigation, bankroll and bet sizing.
- His most notable marketing contribution was designing Shopify's Build a Business competition with Tobi and Harley, documented in a Fortune piece called 'The Invisible Selling Machine.'
- He has had no social apps on his phone for two years and keeps it on airplane mode, championing the low-information diet as his most underrated lesson.
- He recounts extreme time dilation while hiking at altitude in New Mexico, proposing that deliberately designed experiences could expand experiential lifespan rather than just biological lifespan.
- His core luxury principle: set the price first, then make it worth it; he charged a $10,000 minimum per seat for an event and engineered overdelivery in the first two hours.
- If relaunching The 4-Hour Workweek today, he'd keep the in-person event engagement strategy and could drop every other prong; in-person remains the least crowded channel.
- He calls Athletic Greens the most methodical, quantitative podcast advertiser he's seen, and explains why he insists sponsors offer 30-50 percent discounts so tracking codes actually get used.
- He confirms the mystery NFT project code-named Project 555 is in fact himself, warning it will be ridiculous and absurd.
Worth remembering
- Ferriss says people send him literally thousands of pitches per day, most of which he deflects for lack of bandwidth.
- For The 4-Hour Body launch he targeted Digg.com as a front-page tastemaking shopping list, comparing it to landing atop Hacker News today.
- He recommends 'Small Giants' by Bo Burlingham about companies that choose to be great instead of big.
- His three-day fast protocol: two days of sub-maintenance keto beforehand, last meal Thursday, then walk-and-talk phone calls 3-5 hours on Friday with LMNT electrolytes to prevent lower back pain.
- He limits himself to one Starbucks cold brew before 10am, then switches to iced tea because coffee disrupts his sleep more than equivalent caffeine.
- His top prioritization question, adapted from Gary Keller's The ONE Thing: which of these, if done, makes the other things irrelevant or easier?
- He observes that people claim to hate centralization but love it because it saves them decisions, making him conflicted about the metaverse.
- He uses two psoas-release devices for sleep and lower back pain: the Pso-Rite (pso-rite.com) and a travel-friendly Hip Hook.
- A seemingly nonsensical Bay Area billboard on the 280 was actually targeted solely at visiting investment bankers, illustrating audience-specific advertising value.
- His initial 4-Hour Workweek target was 20-to-35-year-old tech-savvy males in NY, SF and LA, capping total launch spend at $10-20K to create 'surround sound' perception.
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