710: (Solo) I Asked 10 Billionaires The Same Question - Here's What They Said

Over 12 years of interviewing more than 100 billionaires, I started asking every one of them the same question: if you lost everything tomorrow, the money, the brand, the team, and you had to start completely from scratch, what would you do first? Richard Branson, Mark Cuban, Drew Houston, Kendra Scott, people who built billion dollar companies from nothing.

Here is what struck me: ten billionaires, ten different industries, ten completely different answers on the surface. But underneath every single one was the exact same thing, and it is probably not what you would expect.

In this episode, I share all ten answers, from Kendra Scott turning $500 into a billion dollar empire to Jamie Kern Lima betting on the thing everyone saw as her weakness, and the one pattern that connects them all.

Here's what you'll take away:

• Why Richard Branson's instant answer was "find the right people," and how that is exactly how Virgin was built across a hundred industries

• Drew Houston on why founders have to be learning machines, and why the gap between where you are and where you want to be is almost always a knowledge gap

• Mark Cuban's counterintuitive advice to follow your effort, not your passion, and why the distinction matters

• How Jamie Kern Lima wiped off her makeup on live TV and turned the thing she was hiding into the reason customers trusted her

• Tony Robbins on why 80% of success is psychology and only 20% is mechanics

• The single pattern underneath all ten answers, and the one question to ask yourself if you are stuck spinning your wheels on tactics

If you are stuck on funnels, tools, and tactics right now, this episode will reframe where your real starting line actually is, because the answer is almost never another tool. It is always another person.

If you're loving this solo series, I'd love to hear your feedback. Email me directly at nathan@foundr.com — I read every reply. Hope you enjoy it.