#305 Robert Caro on power, poverty, ruthlessness, & obsession

**David Senra** (0:00)
Robert Caro is one of the few people in the world that can do world class work without the internet. He writes his books longhand by hand, and then he types them out on a typewriter. For the rest of us, having fast and secure internet and Wi-Fi is essential to our business. One of the sponsors of this episode, Meter, helps you get fast, secure, and reliable internet and Wi-Fi that's as easy to switch on as water or electricity. That's actually why the company is called Meter. There's power meters and there's water meters in every building. There should be one for internet, networking, and Wi-Fi. Meter works in any commercial space that you have, an office, a warehouse, a lab, everywhere. And just like Robert Caro, Meter is world class at what they do. They provide you streamlined design and installation, powerful hardware and smart software, both of which they make themselves, and all of this is fully managed for you, and Meter provides expert support. They have thought of everything and make it super easy to get started. All you have to do is give Meter your address and the square footage of your commercial space, and they take care of the rest. Even better, there's no upfront cost to you. As a business owner, you'll love Meter because it saves you money, and your IT team will love Meter because it saves them time. As your business grows, Meter grows right along with you. That means you can expand your business without worrying about expensive upfront cost. You simply pay one monthly rate. Check out their website. I think it's absolutely beautiful, and it explains all the value that Meter can provide for your business, and you can do that by going to meter.com forward slash founders.
I've told you before that one of the best things about making this podcast is that I get to talk to a lot of founders, and a reoccurring theme of the conversations that I get to have with other founders is that a large part of our lives is actually searching for our lives work. That's something that is unique to us that we can do forever. And in almost every single case, that means starting more than one company. This is so common that the supporter of this episode, Tiny, has built an entire business around buying other businesses. Tiny is the easiest way for you to sell your business. They provide straightforward cash exits for founders. And one thing that I want to mention that I've not mentioned on past ads for Tiny is I know there's a lot of venture capitalists that also listen to this podcast. There may be businesses in your portfolio that you know are not going to get funded again, but would make wonderful, profitable internet businesses. Tiny wants to hear about those opportunities as well. You can get in touch with them by emailing them at hi at tiny.com, and they respond within 48 hours. If you have a business that you want to sell now or in the future, make sure you get in touch with Tiny by emailing them at hi at tiny.com. And one more thing before we get into this episode, the opening, I think the opening's like seven minutes long. I think it's one of the best openings of any podcast I've ever made. The reason I got interested in Robert Caro to begin with is because my friend Sam Hincky kept telling me over and over again how great the books are and how important it was that I read them. I want you to listen to this Invest Like the Best episode that Sam did with my friend Patrick. It is Invest Like the Best, episode 204 It's called Sam Hincky, Find Your People. In that episode, Sam talks about the lessons that he took away from Robert Caro's work. Search the podcast player, find Invest Like the Best, follow that show, and then listen to episode 204, Find Your People.
Biography should not just be a collection of facts. It's of real importance to enable the reader to see in his mind the places in which the book's facts are located.
If a reader can visualize them for himself, then he may be able to understand things without the writer having to explain them.
Seeing something for yourself always makes you understand it better. It took me a long time to understand this, that there are moments of what were for me revelations.
Of insights that suddenly helped me understand.
One of these moments had to do with his father, and with the effect on Lyndon Johnson of a mistake his father made because he didn't understand the land.