#39 Walt Disney: An American Original

**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. In 1965, a publisher suggested that I write a biography of Walt Disney. Knowing that Walt was heavily involved with a full production schedule, his television show, a proposed theme park in Florida, new attractions for Disneyland, and a host of other projects, I expected to write the book from file material. But Walt insisted on giving me four lengthy interviews.
He dwelled on his early years on the farm in Marceline, as a newspaper delivery boy in Kansas City, and as a student and mailman in Chicago. He seemed eager to sum up the lessons he had learned as a boy and tell young people how he applied them in his later life.
He died within a year after the interviews.
So that paragraph comes from the introduction to the book that I want to talk to you about today, which is Walt Disney, An American Original. And I love how it explicitly states why we spend so much time studying these biographies and autobiographies of entrepreneurs, where he says, he seemed eager to sum up the lessons he had learned as a boy and tell young people how he applied them in his later life, which is exactly the point of this podcast, for us to learn the lessons from people that have come before us, that have built companies, and apply those, what we learn in our own lives. Before I get into the book, I just want to remind you how you can support founders. If you value the work I'm doing here, if you're learning something, if you want to help support the podcast, this podcast is ad free, so once we get going, we just stick to lessons that we can all learn. I don't interrupt it with ads at the beginning or the end or in the middle for that matter. So the only way I can do that is because of paid members. So if you want to become a paid founders member, paid members make founders possible and they receive extra podcasts from me every week. The links are always in the show notes, which you can get directly on your podcast player or you can go to founderspodcast.com. As soon as you do that, you'll immediately receive an email from me with all of the past member only episodes that I've done.
So, so far, I've created three of them by the time you listen to them. And then every Monday, I email you with another link. Another way for you to support the podcast is become a paid member of Founders Notes. Founders Notes helps you know what other founders are thinking. It's key ideas from interviews and talks with entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox every Sunday. And the one that went out yesterday was the largest one so far. It's over 3,500 words of just ideas and thoughts from all kinds of different other founders. If you want to support this podcast at the max level, sign up for both the member only podcast and Founders Notes. Some of you have already done that, and I think that's amazing. So links, as always, is in the show notes and again at founderspodcast.com. Okay, so let's go ahead and get into the book. I think this is a great quote that summarizes him. He had little patience with those whose thinking was earthbound.
Okay, so one of his first jobs was selling and delivering newspapers.