The 50 richest families in America are betting on this trend
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Episode 828: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) and Sam Parr ( https://x.com/theSamParr ) talk to billionaire Joe Liemandt ( https://x.com/jliemandt ) about the experiment he’s put $1,000,000,000 of his own money into.
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Show Notes:
(0:00) Joe, the total man?
(08:09) fighting bill gates for talent
(13:14) intensity
(16:18) choosing hard over easy
(19:00) how to be a magnet
(21:34) high standards
(23:29) being persuasive
(29:23) simplicity: 3 ines, 3 words
(34:41) is 2x faster really better?
(36:23) making kids run a 5k
(38:45) why be public now
(41:01) why put $1b into the lowest roi thing?
(50:03) buying SaaS companies
(51:06) cloning Warren Buffett's brain
(53:00) changing your brain lift
(57:19) is AI going to make everyone dumb?
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Links:
• Alpha School - https://alpha.school/
• 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People - https://a.co/d/048Cfexh
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Check Out Sam's Stuff:
• Hampton (joinhampton.com): My community for founders. Average member does $25m/year. Many of the guests are members. Get after it...apply: http://joinhampton.com/mfm
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Check Out Shaan's Stuff:
• Shaan's weekly email - https://www.shaanpuri.com
• Visit https://www.somewhere.com/mfm to hire worldwide talent like Shaan and get $500 off for being an MFM listener. Hire developers, assistants, marketing pros, sales teams and more for 80% less than US equivalents.
• Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies!
Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC
• I run all my newsletters on Beehiiv and you should too + we're giving away $10k to our favorite newsletter, check it out:
beehiiv.com/mfm-challenge
My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by HubSpot Media // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano /
Reinventing K-12 Education Using AI with Alpha School Principal Joe Liemandt
What if kids could master their academics in just two hours a day and spend the rest of their time developing real-world skills they’re passionate about? Joe Liemandt, founder of the software company Trilogy, is doing just that. Sarah Guo and Elad Gil are joined by Joe Liemandt, principal of Alpha School, to discuss his AI-driven vision of reinventing K-12 education. Joe talks about the strategies that Alpha School employs: reducing the traditional six-hour school day to two, replacing teachers with “Guides,” using financial incentives as motivation, and dedicating the remainder of the school day to project-based workshops that reflect the students’ passions. Together, they also examine Joe’s plan to scale Alpha School, the youth mental health crisis, and why edtech so far has failed.
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Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @AlphaSchoolATX
Chapters:
00:00 – Joe Liemandt Introduction
00:27 – From Trilogy to Alpha School
02:45 – How Joe Changed His Mind About Alpha School
04:16 – Reenvisioning the School Day
09:06 – An Example Day at Alpha School
20:13 – Educating Based on Motivations
22:56 – Incentives-Based Learning
24:40 – Standards for Guides
26:39 – Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivators
35:12 – Tackling Learning Differences
39:13 – Alpha School Pricing Structure
43:08 – Education Tech at Alpha School
44:54 – Rebuilding Education in the AI Age
48:43 – Reforming Education Policy
56:25 – Ed Tech as a Product
58:58 – Fixing Gaps in Education
59:45 – Why Education is Joe’s Mission
01:01:49 – Conclusion
Joe Liemandt - Building Alpha School, and The Future of Education - [Invest Like the Best, EP.439]
My guest today is Joe Liemandt. Joe is the Principal at Alpha School and the founder of Triliogy Software and ESW Capital. He became the youngest member of the Forbes 400 in the 1990s before vanishing from public view for two decades—only to emerge with a $1 billion bet that he can make kids learn 10x faster using AI. Joe has built an AI tutoring system so effective that students at his Alpha School literally beg not to take summer breaks, achieving 2x learning outcomes in just 2 hours with standardized test results that compete with the best of them.
We dive deep into why this could be the most valuable product he's ever built, his contrarian thesis that traditional SaaS is facing AI-driven obsolescence, and how his experience buying 100+ software companies prepared him for this moonshot in a trillion-dollar market that hasn't innovated in 200 years. For investors, this is a masterclass in deploying patient capital to rebuild broken systems from first principles, with insights on everything from regulatory moats to the intersection of AI and human psychology.
As your excited skeptic, I push hard on the technology readiness, parental adoption hurdles, and whether this audacious vision can actually scale to a billion kids. Additionally, in a Colossus Profile released last week, our editor-in-chief Jeremy Stern reported, for the first time, Joe as the product guy behind Alpha School in a can’t miss piece of writing. And now please enjoy my conversation with Joe Liemandt.
Joe Liemandt’s Colossus Profile by Jeremy Stern.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.
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This episode is brought to you by AlphaSense. AlphaSense has completely transformed the research process with cutting-edge AI technology and a vast collection of top-tier, reliable business content. Invest Like the Best listeners can get a free trial now at Alpha-Sense.com/Invest and experience firsthand how AlphaSense and Tegus help you make smarter decisions faster.
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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).
Show Notes:
(00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like the Best
(00:06:08) How Alpha School Is Revolutionizing Learning
(00:12:47) Personalized Tutoring with AI
(00:19:59) Measuring the Impossible: 2x Learning Outcomes
(00:25:39) All Educational Content Is Obsolete
(00:35:51) Motivating Students: The Key to Success
(00:42:06) Life Skills Workshops: Real-World Lessons
(00:47:47) The Key to Happiness: High Standards
(00:52:33) The Role of Guides and Coaches
(00:58:22) Feedback Loops and AI in Education
(01:04:20) The AI-Powered Classroom Experience
(01:18:06) From Self-Doubt to Limitless Learning
(01:28:20) Challenges in Public School Systems
(01:41:56) Gamified Learning and Technology
(01:49:46) From Trilogy to Trillion-Dollar Markets
(01:55:05) Why Software Companies Fail
(02:01:21) Trilogy University
(02:10:39) Lessons from Mentors
(02:17:25) Pushing Limits and Finding Passion
(02:27:12) Joe's Kindest Thing