#37 - Don't Start a Blog, Start a Cult - Mr. Money Mustache

**Craig Cannon** (0:00)
Hey, this is Craig Cannon, and you're listening to Y Combinator's podcast. Today's guest is Pete Adeney, also known as Mr. Money Mustache. So Pete worked as a software engineer for about 10 years and then retired at the age of 30 He started blogging about it at mrmoneymustache.com, where he'd write about his saving strategy, where he invested the money, and how he thought about life. His blog became super popular, especially among engineers, so he's been one of the most requested guests for the podcast.
I met up with Pete in Longmont, Colorado, at the newly constructed Mr. Money Mustache headquarters, and had a blast talking with him. So I hope you enjoy this one. And before we get started, just want to let you know that the Winter 2018 application is open. So if you'd like to apply to YC, the link is ycombinator.com/apply.
All right, here we go. The first question I had for you, not on the paper, is, if I want to start a cult, like mustachians, what are your pro tips?

**Pete Adeney** (0:55)
Man, that's a good question. And if I had prepared, I would have brought my little talk that I gave a few years ago at a blogger conference that was called, don't start a blog, start a cult.
But anyway, I think the pro tips are, you need to have a identifiable philosophy that's maybe a bit different than what the normal world is into. So because you're people, your cult members are gonna organize around this cult. So you maybe want just a little bit of a feeling of us versus them and like, oh, we got these values and they're noble, but the outside world doesn't quite support us. We're a little bit oppressed. So then you have this sense of identity. And then this is all stuff I stumbled on accidentally because really I was just saying, here's a good idea for living. And then other people like, yeah, I like that idea too, but nobody agrees with me. So that's why I accidentally had this slightly cult thing going on. And other things that are useful, you know, a couple more pro tips would include like use of terminology and silly words.
And that's true with like, whether you're the cult of Star Trek or iPhone or the various religions, they all have these sort of special terminology.
And it helps to have an identifiable leader too. So a cult in which I actually became, yeah, but you got Steve Jobs or Captain Kirk or the leaders of the religions or the gods, all this stuff is handy for creating a cult. People think of a cult as a bad thing because they're thinking of Waco, Texas and Kool-Aid, but really it's just a social organization structure, which is a basic built-in thing to human beings. And it's what allows us to live together and cooperate. So if you can make your brand or your company or your blog have these cult-like properties, then that's probably a good thing for making it last and having a real audience.

**Craig Cannon** (2:50)
How do you feel about the cult of Elon Musk?

**Pete Adeney** (2:53)
Well, I'm part of it. So I think that's, I'm gonna have a biased answer, but it certainly fits the description that we were saying, that I was just saying now about what a cult is. And he's definitely an identifiable leader. He's definitely got unusual ideas.
But the reason I am so much in this cult is everything that guy says or writes, I just agree with it so almost fully. And I really like the way he explains stuff. It's like, finally, someone is running a company, and instead of just spewing this corporate bullshit, we are considering the needs of our customers, and we will get back. He's always like, no, I think there's a bug in the 3 software. We'll get a release out next week. It's proper. He speaks like a combination of an engineer, but with a much bigger perspective on everything, and he has these clear goals. So that's why I'm so favor. And so far, he's done very little evil.
Maybe he has personal issues in the sense that he's so driven that it's hard to relate to Elon Musk if you work directly for him.
But his overall goals seem to be absolutely spot on for a good person. That's the kind of cult I want to be on.

**Craig Cannon** (4:11)
Well, I was curious if the cult leader needs to be somewhat maniacal in their pursuit. They have to be polarizing to a certain extent.

**Pete Adeney** (4:20)
Probably a little bit, or they at least have to be so convinced that their way is the way or a viable way that they're gonna get some disagreement from some people. In my personal views, for example, I've become more hardcore over the last year that cars are just the biggest stupid inefficiency that we have in the United States, and we need to just cut that whole shit down by at least 90%.