Michael Mayer – Pseudonymous Social Capital and Bottomless Coffee - [Invest Like the Best, EP.124]

My guest this week is unique and so requires a short story. I met our guest Michael Mayer because of twitter. I followed and enjoyed one of several pseudonymous accounts that he maintains to experiment with ideas. His various accounts have wide followings. I think many of the best accounts on twitter are anonymous or pseudonymous, and I’ve always made a point to get to know the ones I like best. As it turns out, Michael was also an entrepreneur. He’d been building a new company and was raising a small amount of outside capital. I didn’t invest personally, in part because he raised it so quickly after I spoke with him. Ever since, I’ve gotten to know him better and followed his company, Bottomless, with interest. You know that I am always hyper transparent about any potential conflicts of interest, so it’s worth noting that while I am not an investor in this company, I expect to be at some point in the future. The topic of our conversation is both his social media activity and his company. I am a coffee fanatic, and the problem he is solving is one I live. I order a weekly bag of coffee beans, but I often have too much coffee or run out. Bottomless solves this by shipping you a simple scale which you keep wherever you store your coffee, connect to your Wi-Fi, and set your bag of coffee on. It automatically orders new coffee for you at the right time. Thus the name: Bottomless. If you like the conversation, check out bottomless.com With this podcast, all I’m really trying to do is find, meet, and learn from interesting people. Michael certainly qualifies. I hope you enjoy this unique episode. For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast . Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub . Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Show Notes 2:06 - (First Question) – Why he writes under a pseudonym online 2:58 – Positive impacts of writing this way 3:45 – His background 5:02 – Habits he improved upon 7:03 – Where did his exploration into technology and start-ups come from 7:33 – Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions 10:32 – Elements of business that interest him most 13:26 – Building social capital vs the current state of education 17:06 – What information does he like to consume 18:17 – Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future 18:34 – Jerry Neumann blog Reaction Wheel | Podcast episode 18:39 – Kevin Simler’s blog Melting Asphalt | Podcast Episode 21:01 – Why the current education system is busted 22:54 – Formation of his business 24:04 – Importance of making things legible 25:54 – On demand delivery vs subscription business models 30:16 – Early day in developing the scale for his business 33:50 – What he learned about coffee roasters 35:29 – thoughts on supplier power 36:17 – The customer relationship 39:50 – Best objections to his business 41:58 – Biggest operational/emotional challenges 42:56 – Best moment 44:39 – Time at Y combinator 46:28 – His unique co-founder story 49:47 – Marketing strategies and acquisition costs 51:37 – The idea of a commercial loop 53:27 – Discarded ideas, such as spaced repetition social networks 57:38 – Having a long-term plan vs reformatting a business into success 1:00:35 – What works on twitter based on his experience 1:03:09 – Most controversial opinion 1:05:59 – Kindest thing anyone has done Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast . Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag