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The Sparrow in the Razor Wire

The Sparrow in the Razor Wire

Inside prison he devoured books on entrepreneurship, spirituality, mindfulness, and personal development. One idea kept circling in his mind. What if prison was not the end of his life? “I asked myself why do I have to view prison as punishment. Why can’t this be a place where I remake myself.”

Scott Elrod next to Cosper on a blue velvet couch in studio talking shop, cars, and making it big in the City of Angels.

In L.A., people trust one guy with their pricey supercars

A lot of founders start companies because they want to build. Others start them because they get tired of waiting around inside systems they don’t control. Elrod sounds like the second kind.

Entrepreneur, Seeker, Vagabond

Entrepreneur, Seeker, Vagabond

For a stretch of time he lived in a converted Volkswagen bus parked on the beach in Tulum. Everything he owned fit inside the van and he smiles as he remembers it as one of the most liberating periods of his life. “It was the freedom of not having anything.”

Nando, shown here eating pizza, came to America with big dreams, but no money. He's been an actor, but his favorite role is pizza maker for his popular restaurant, The Good Pizza.

The Good Pizza guy

“I went to investors,” he says. “No, no, no, no, no. Always no.” At the time, he thought they were wrong. “I said, what asshole, all these people,” he says, laughing.

Adam Goering, CEO, Revive Media. He left Amazon on a Friday. Started a business on Monday.

The outlook for entrepreneurship? Pretty damn good

I could have been an asshole, but I started a business instead. I mean, the guy left Amazon on a Friday and started a business the following Monday.

This is my desk. That's my favorite bag from Colombia. AI added a fake coffee mug.

AI has no editorial judgement. None. Zero. Zilch.

Maybe keep a human between the machine and the "hit publish" function. Just a thought.

Women founders and the question of capital

Women founders and the question of capital

Women-led startups produced seventy-eight cents in revenue for every dollar of funding, compared with thirty-one cents generated by male-founded companies. In venture capital terms, that kind of capital efficiency usually earns admiration.