Aubrey Marcus: Founder of Onnit, the human-performance supplement company (maker of Alpha Brain) he built with Joe Rogan and sold to Unilever; podcaster, author, and founder of the Fit for Service community.
What this episode covers
Aubrey Marcus traces his path from four-parent childhood and approval-seeking under a high-achieving but rage-prone father, through years of failed businesses, to founding Onnit. A 30-minute coffee with Joe Rogan, chosen over a Kentucky Derby party, became the pivot that led to Alpha Brain selling out in 12 hours and Onnit growing to ~$60M before its Unilever acquisition. He speaks candidly about psychedelic medicine as his tool for self-awareness, an eight-year polyamorous relationship with Whitney that ultimately broke him, and finding monogamous love with his wife Vylana. The conversation closes on conflict-resolution practices, his reliance on sleep medication, the Fit for Service community, and forgiveness.
Recommended on this episode
Sex at Dawn
Chris Ryan
“it was really the book Sex at Dawn by by Chris Ryan that actually opened my mind to this idea that there is a different concept”— Aubrey Marcus
The guest's own work
Alpha Brain
Onnit
“when all of that came together and we launched Alpha Brain, it just clicked. We sold out of that product in 12 hours.”— Aubrey Marcus
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Market Wizards
Jack Schwager
“he was actually kind of stretching what the market and what the world understood about futures trading. He's written up in a book called Market Wizards.”— Aubrey Marcus
Fleshlight
Fleshlight
“the client was Fleshlight, which is a whole other story. But I was like, Joe, we want to advertise on your podcast.”— Aubrey Marcus
The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien
“if we take the Lord of the Rings analogy, the two towers need to rise so that the fellowship of the ring comes together”— Aubrey Marcus
Jerry Maguire
“it's not that, you know, the Jerry Maguire's you complete me. No, we're two complete beings of different skills”— Aubrey Marcus
True Blood
“Mehcad Brooks is now an actor on Law & Order. He was He was an actor in True Blood back then.”— Aubrey Marcus
Law & Order
“my friend Mehcad. Mehcad Brooks is now an actor on Law & Order.”— Aubrey Marcus
Big reveals from this episode
- With Joe Rogan as partner, Onnit's Alpha Brain sold out in 12 hours and the company grew from zero to roughly $60 million.
- Marcus broke his father's lineage of rage after yelling at a sweet front-desk employee who then cried at her desk.
- He skipped the Kentucky Derby with best friend Bode Miller to meet Joe Rogan for coffee, the choice that launched everything.
- Onnit nearly went bankrupt ('cashpocalypse') after distributing all cash for an investment that never came; the CFO quit on the spot.
- When his primary partner Whitney took her first lover, it 'absolutely broke' him despite his own polyamory.
- After eight years he concluded he could never master polyamory and refused to do it again with Vylana.
- Marcus admits ongoing reliance on stimulants and sleep medication he knows is harmful but keeps returning to.
Worth remembering
- His mother reached the Wimbledon semi-finals (losing to Billie Jean King) and his father, a futures trader, appears in the book Market Wizards.
- Marcus claims deep breathwork produces endogenous DMT, the same psychedelic compound active in ayahuasca.
- Onnit's link to Joe Rogan began when Marcus pitched Rogan's podcast as an ad slot for his client Fleshlight.
- Onnit could only afford its first Alpha Brain batch via net-30 credit terms and sold through two orders before paying the first invoice.
- Before Onnit, Marcus ran a failed men's nail-polish line inspired by fighters Chuck Liddell and Roger Huerta painting their nails.
- Friends Christine Hassler and Stefanos resolve conflict by him going into a plow stretch and yelling at her 'between his own legs.'
- He cites John Gottman's research that contempt, not arguing, predicts divorce, mirroring his own 'monster that eats love.'
- Marcus bought Vylana's wedding ring before they had even had sex, certain she was 'his queen.'