Dave Fontenot - The Monastery of Code

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (0:00)
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Hello and welcome everyone. I'm Patrick O'Shaughnessy and this is Invest Like the Best. This show is an open-ended exploration of markets, ideas, stories and strategies that will help you better invest both your time and your money. Invest Like the Best is part of the Colossus family of podcasts and you can access all our podcasts including edited transcripts, show notes and other resources to keep learning at joincolossus.com.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:48)
Patrick O'Shaughnessy is the CEO of Positive Sum. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Positive Sum.
This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. Clients of Positive Sum may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast. To learn more, visit p-s-u-m dot v-c.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (2:17)
My guest today is Dave Fontenot, founder of HF0. Born out of Dave's experiences in monasteries across the world, HF0 is a 12-week residency for repeat founders to supercharge their next venture. For three months, 10 teams of engineers relocate to HF0's house in San Francisco. During the residency, everything is taken care of, so their sole focus is on building.
It's one of the most interesting incubators I've come across and we discussed the model and its monastic origins in detail. Please enjoy this conversation with Dave Fontenot. Before we get to the episode, I'm also excited to announce that I am hiring for a new position to come work with me and my team at my investing firm, Positive Sum. We are calling the open position an investigative research analyst, which will become a critical part of our investment diligence function. This job is for a business investing and research fanatic, and it's the chance to work with me and the team in person on a daily basis.
I can't imagine a role that has more potential for learning than this one. You can learn more at PSUMVC slash research dash analyst. Again, that's PSUMVC slash research dash analyst. What was the pathway to the monster?

**Dave Fontenot** (3:31)
In retrospect, it's much clearer.
It was my first major heartbreak. In the moment, I didn't know that this was the reason why, but looking back, I couldn't handle it. I have pretty severe ADD, and so I was on ADD medication, and I blamed being on the medication for things not working out, and so I stopped taking the ADD meds, but then I couldn't read, so I needed to build natural concentration. So I started meditating. In the beginning, it was really hard. I'd meditate for 15 minutes so I could read for 15 minutes, and then it became so much more than that.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (4:04)
Can you tell me about the first day there?

**Dave Fontenot** (4:06)
Well, the first retreat I did was a Gwenca of Apostana retreat. It just felt so spacious to just be able to sit and feel like I had an infinite time.
I think there's something about feeling a sense of abundant time that's really powerful. Even though it's 10 days, it's a finite amount of time, but if you haven't done a 10 day before, stepping into your first day of a 10 day, you're like, wow, this is an expansive time. It's more time than I can even imagine. The 10 day is really powerful, and they figured this out thousands of years ago. The important thing is that you have enough time to have a breakdown and a breakthrough in 10 days.