David Senra - Passion & Pain

**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** (1:27)
Patrick O'Shaughnessy is the CEO of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions.
Clients of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management may maintain positions in the securities as discussed in this podcast.

**Patrick O'Shaughnessy** (1:52)
My guest today is David Senra. David has studied history's great founders and entrepreneurs in more depth than anyone I've ever met and I'd wager more than anyone else alive.
In this conversation, we cover many of the most common themes he's discovered studying hundreds of entrepreneurs like Estée Lauder, John Rockefeller, Enzo Ferrari and Edwin Land. I found this to be one of the most energizing conversations I've had in a long time and one I'll return to often.
David's work and extraordinary energy aligns so well with our mission at Colossus, that we're excited to partner with him. You'll soon be able to find his podcasts and transcripts at joincolossus.com, where we hope you'll learn as much from him as we have. If you like this conversation, be sure to subscribe to David's podcast called Founders Podcast, linked in our show notes. Now onto our discussion. Please enjoy this great conversation with David Senra.
David, I think you have one of the most interesting hobbies turned professions of anyone I know. I first stumbled upon your show, I think because like five friends at once told me to listen to the episodes on Edwin Land and Estée Lauder. Those were my gateway drugs. Into your way of looking at history. I'd love to begin to introduce you to the audience by just outlining what you do. It's quite unusual. You've done a lot of it. Maybe you could just begin all the way back to when you first remember falling in love with reading. Let's start there.

**David Senra** (3:14)
I've been in love with reading longer than I even have a memory.
A few years ago, unfortunately, my mother died of breast cancer at a young age.
And as she was dying, because my parents had like a tumultuous relationship at the beginning of my life, she's really the only one that has any kind of recollection of how it was as a child. So unfortunately, when she died, all those memories died with her.
She said, the way you are now, you were from the time that you could talk.
She's like, you would read anything you can get your hands on. Even if we didn't have books in the house, you'd read the back of cereal boxes.
She said something where she's like, we didn't have a lot of money, but what I would do is take you to the bookstore.
And God bless bookstores where even to this day, you can go in there. And even if you don't buy anything, you just sit on the floor and you can read.
And that's like one of my only memories from childhood.
Her taking me to the bookstore and just letting me read. And even before I could read, one of my favorite books when I was a real young kid was Where's Waldo? That's like even reading. That's just it. They're trying to find the guy with the striped hat. So it's just the only hobby that I've had my entire life. There's a ton of hobbies that I picked up, ton of interests, ton of sports, all these kinds of things where I'll get really intense, do it for a long time and then drop it. I have two modes, zero or a hundred. Reading's not like that.