#25 Against the Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson

**David Senra** (0:00)
I want to tell you about a one time only limited event that I don't think you're going to want to miss. I am doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from the Invest Like The Best podcast in New York City on October 19th. Patrick has interviewed over 300 of the world's best investors and founders for his podcast. I've read over 300 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs for my podcast. We'll be talking about what we learned from seven years of podcasting, sharing our favorite ideas and stories, and doing a live Q&A. There will also be special event-only swag. If you live in New York City, I think it's a no-brainer. But if not, I think it's a great excuse to fly in. I've already heard from a bunch of people that bought tickets, they're flying in from other cities. Some people are flying in from other countries. That's setting the bar really high, so I will have at least four shots of espresso, or four energy drinks, before or during the show, so we can make it a night that you'll never forget. If you're interested in attending this unique live event, I will leave a link down below. I highly recommend you get your tickets today, and I hope I get to see you in New York on October 19th. I am a creator of products, a builder of things, and my name appears on them. That is how I make a living, and they are what have made my name at least familiar in a million homes. I lay no claim to the epitaph, household word, though I harbor a secret dream of synonymity, and occasionally imagine a time years from today when Dyson replaces Hoover. Detached from me to such an extent that most people will have no idea that there was ever a man called Dyson, I like the idea of a child in the 21st century telling his friends he can't come out for a bit because mom wants me to Dyson my room. Long after my bones have crumbled, and I am no more than a potential clogging irritant for lesser machines. Okay, so that is from the introduction of just an absolutely wonderful book. I don't know if I've ever highlighted a book more than this one out of the 20 or 30 that I've read so far for this podcast. So that book is Against the Odds, An Autobiography by James Dyson.
So as you could see from that short little paragraph, his personality I think is more apparent in this book than I would say almost any other Founders has been. Keep in mind, obviously, it's an autobiography where most of the books we cover are written by other people. But just this line, I am no more... He's talking about his bones are crumbled, and he's no more a potential clogging air tint for lesser machines.
Rightfully so, he's very proud of his products, and this book is the story of 15 years of struggle to finally invent, manufacture, and sell his own product. So let's get back into it. I want to cover as much of this as fast as possible. I do have a lot of highlights here, so let's see where we're going to go. So I'm going to stay in the introduction.
It's where I immediately started reading, and I'm looking at the few pages now, and it's like I highlighted the whole thing.
So let's go back to the introduction.
Okay, so this is going to tell you why you should read the book. He said, This is also the exposition of a business philosophy, which is very different from anything you might have encountered before. So you're going to see here as we cover more of the book, he's not a typical businessman. He wasn't even interested in that. He wanted to be an artist and then later a designer, and then finally an engineer, which is if you talk to him today is what he considers himself.
He uses the word engineer. He still owns Dyson, and he's worth about, his estimated net worth is around $5 billion to this day, or currently rather, which is going to be really surprising when you consider the first, I would say 75%, 80% of the book, just struggle after struggle after struggle, which I think is actually the most interesting parts of these books that we're talking about because a lot of people can look at people like James Dyson or Jeff Bezos or anybody, Elon Musk or any of these other people that we've talked about, like, wow, that guy is really special. But when you read like their early lives, you realize like, no, they didn't just wake up and be that way. They had to make themselves into that person. And you definitely see that with him.