Ryan Resch - How Data Changed the NBA and What AI Changes Next (Ep. 327)
Infinite Loops
Ryan Resch, former Assistant General Manager and VP of Basketball Operations for the Phoenix Suns, joins guest host Jimmy Soni on Infinite Loops to explore what happens to competitive advantage when every team has the same data, and why the real edge comes from the questions you ask of it. Ryan traces his path from a cold email to Baylor coach Scott Drew to nearly a decade in the Suns front office and his current work leading data and AI in private equity. Show Notes Ryan Resch & Jimmy Soni Ryan Resch on LinkedIn: Former Suns Assistant GM and VP of Basketball Operations, now leading data...
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Brian Chau - How AI is Reinventing Investigative Journalism (Ep. 326)
Infinite Loops
Brian Chau, founder of Effort News, joins Infinite Loops to explore how AI could fundamentally reshape investigative journalism—not by writing articles, but by searching, analyzing, and connecting millions of legal, financial, and government records that humans could never examine manually. Show Notes Brian Chau & Effort News Effort News — Brian Chau’s document-led investigative journalism publication, using AI to search and analyze large datasets while keeping the reporting and final writing human-reviewed. About Effort News — More on Brian’s approach to AI-assisted...
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Julian Gough — The Egg and The Rock (Infinite Loops Classics)
Infinite Loops
We're digging out some of our favorite conversations from the archive. This one is from January 2025, with Julian Gough. Enjoy. Julian Gough sums up his career as follows: “I just sit in my room and write.” Well, I think being an acclaimed children’s author, novelist, stage playwright, poet and top-ten Irish musician is a little more impressive than he’s letting on… Oh, and I didn’t even mention that he wrote the ending to the computer game Minecraft! His current project, The Egg and The Rock, puts all of this to shame. This book, which Julian is writing in public on...
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Dr. Julie Gurner — Ultra Successful (Infinite Loops Classics)
Infinite Loops
Hi everyone, Jim here. We’re taking a short pause on new episodes through the end of August. In the meantime, we’re digging out some of our favorite conversations from the archive. This one is from August 2023, with Dr. Julie Gurner. Enjoy. Dr. Julie Gurner is a doctor of psychology and executive performance coach to top percentile executives, primarily in finance and technology. She is also the proprietor of the Ultra Successful newsletter, which delivers a weekly challenge pulled from global business leaders and designed to ”help you unleash your power.” Dr. Gurner joins the show...
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Lulu Cheng Meservey — Going Direct: What Founders can learn from K-Pop, Crypto, and the Early Christians (Infinite Loops Classics)
Infinite Loops
Hi everyone, Jim here. We're taking a short pause on new episodes through the end of August. In the meantime, we're digging out some of our favorite conversations from the archive. This one is from November 2022, so a few of our references (and jobs!) are out of date, but the ideas have only gotten better. Enjoy this conversation with Lulu Cheng Meservey. Lulu Cheng Meservey is the Chief Communications Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Activision Blizzard. She joins Infinite Loops to provide us with a masterclass in communications for startups. A must-listen for...
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Jesse Michels — American Alchemy (Infinite Loops Classics)
Infinite Loops
Hi everyone, Jim here. We're taking a short pause on new episodes through the end of August. In the meantime, we're digging out some of our favorite conversations from the archive. This one is from February 2023, so a few of the references have aged since (mine included), but the ideas have only gotten better. Enjoy this one with the wonderfully heretical Jesse Michels. Jesse Michels is an investor at Thiel Capital and the creator and host of ‘American Alchemy’, a Youtube channel dedicated to highlighting the most heretical thinkers and ideas of our time. He joins the show to discuss the...
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Nat Eliason - The High School That Guarantees You'll Make $1 Million (Ep. 325)
Infinite Loops
Nat Eliason joins guest host Jimmy Soni to discuss Founders School, a new high school for entrepreneurs that guarantees students will generate $1 million in gross profit by graduation or get their tuition refunded. We explore how AI is changing what teenagers can build, why traditional entrepreneurship education falls short, and what happens when we take young people seriously. Important Links: Learn more about Founders School: Read more from Nat here:
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Philip Howard - How to Bring Common Sense Back to America (Ep. 324)
Infinite Loops
Philip Howard joins Infinite Loops to explain how America’s legal and regulatory system became too complicated to function effectively—and how we can rebuild it around judgment, accountability, and human agency. We discuss why government has become unmanageable, how thousand-page rulebooks discourage individual judgment, why infrastructure projects can take decades to approve, and how public institutions end up costing more while delivering less.
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Sangeet Choudary - How AI Will Reshape the Knowledge Economy (Ep. 323)
Infinite Loops
Sangeet Choudary joins Infinite Loops to explain why AI’s greatest impact will not be automating today’s work, but rebuilding the structures beneath it. They discuss AI-native companies, the future of knowledge work, the American and Chinese AI models, creative “exhaust,” changing career paths, and how to compete when the rules of the game are constantly being rewritten. Important Links: Learn more about Sangeet and Reshuffle here: Read more about the Platform Revolution here:
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Jameson Olsen - Becoming the Main Character (Ep. 322)
Infinite Loops
What if the great stories were more than just stories? Jameson Olsen, host of Becoming the Main Character, joins guest host Liberty to explore fiction as a kind of operating system for life — a way to study agency, ambition, empathy, failure, courage, and change without having to live every consequence yourself. Through Hamlet, Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes, Lord of the Rings, training montages, NPCs, and the Hero’s Journey, they discuss what it means to stop drifting through life and start holding the pen of your own story. Important Links: Listen to Jameson's podcast here:
info_outlineVitaliy Katsenelson is the CEO of a value investment firm IMA, author of two books on investing, and a recently published non-investing book named “Soul In The Game”. Known for his uncommon common sense, Forbes magazine called him "The New Benjamin Graham."
Vitaliy loves to read, listen to classical music, play chess, and write about life, investing, and music.
Important Links:
- Blog: https://contrarianedge.com/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/vitaliyk
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/vitaliyk
- IMA: https://imausa.com/
- Favorite classical music website: https://myfavoriteclassical.com/
- “The Gateway Drug to Classical Music” Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1tfsohjLty6IK2b2B8AGE0
Show Notes:
- Coming to America from Soviet Russia
- How movies shape perception
- Two frameworks to understand the mind
- Programming yourself with the words you use
- The Thinker and the Prover
- Abracadabra—I create as I speak
- Four modes of communication
- Not letting an idea become your identity
- Writing about both sides of the argument
- Reality is nuanced
- Depersonalize your arguments
- A mathematical formula to determine outcomes
- Table cloth model of investing
- Event, Judgement, Reaction framework
- Reframing your worries away
- Is the USA still the best place to be for talented people?
- Elon Musk’s distinctiveness
- Favorite classical composers
- Opera as a plunger for the writer's block
- Introducing kids to classical music
- The best financial advice Vitaliy ever got
- Can money buy happiness?
- Experiencing self vs. remembering self
- Traveling is an antidote for monotony
- Going outside your myopic circles
- “The Gateway Drug to Classical Music” playlist
- And MUCH more!
Books Mentioned:
- Soul In The Game; by Vitaliy Katsenelson
- Think Again; by Adam Grant
- Influence; by Dr Robert B. Cialdini
- The Wealthy Barber; by David Chilton
- Gödel, Escher, Bach; by Douglas Hofstadter
- How to Win Friends & Influence People; by Dale Carnegie