No. 1 CEO: The Strategies I Used to Build 5 Billion-Dollar Companies (And How You Can Use Them)

Throughout his tenure, Brad Jacobs has built multiple billion-dollar companies. While there is no “playbook” for growing a business, he focuses on a few factors above all else in every company he operates, and in this conversation, he reveals them all.

Shane and Jacobs discuss how to read anyone during an interview through a series of intentional questions, the exciting role of AI and technology in the future of business, and where money-making ideas hide in companies. Jacobs also shares how his training in math and music made him a better business operator, the one thing he focuses on to grow his businesses, how to spot big trends before everyone else, and the only thing a company should focus on for success.

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00:00 - Intro
01:13 - The future of AI
03:50 - How to think rationally
05:17 - The major trend
07:26 - The research process
09:58 - On asking better questions
16:04 - On rearranging your brain
18:52 - On music, math, simplicity, and business
28:55 - Leverage, debt, and optionality
31:40 - What it takes to take contrarian bets
37:14 - Confidence and parents
46:50 - Why negative-only feedback is detrimental for employees
52:43 - Money lessons
54:42 - A deep dive on M&A (Jacobs' secret sauce to growing his companies)
01:04:20 - Questions to immediately get to know anyone
01:07:43 - On boards and board meetings
01:13:26 - On decision-making
01:20:06 - The role of capital markets
01:22:10 - The type of person you don't want to hire
01:27:45 - The best capital allocators
01:30:22 - Biggest lesson Jacobs learned from the past year
01:33:49 - On success