00:52:47 · Molly O'Shea
[00:52:47] S2: It's really hard. Like, and I feel bad because sometimes it's like people that I'm close with or like friends I know and whatever. I'm like, fuck, like I have to all of a sudden go across the country or go to Europe. Like, yeah, and I will do this at a drop of the doubt. And that's why I keep on winning. Like, because I take it so seriously and I hustle my ass off to make sure that I'm getting the top 100 and that I'm prioritizing myself at the end of the day. And I get distractions every week. And I'm not saying all these are like, you know, it's bad or anything, but there are phenomenal companies and like announcements that I have to say no to and whatever. And, you know, sometimes those will, and like, if you look at it on a metric space, it's like, sometimes those will perform better because they're in that media storm of like announcements and blah, blah, blah. It'll get attention. Like you're guaranteed that. But for me, for building the brand, like building who I want as my, kind of like, I wouldn't say like legacy of people that I've interviewed, but like archive. Right. Like, like I just have to be maniacally focused on that or else I will be just, I won't, I just won't be operating like cleanly and like true to myself because if I keep honing in and filtering and refining, like it'll only make it better in the long term, but I could easily just do announcements all day and do them every day and just be completely full and busy. But the goal is not to be busy and full. It's to be intentional and it's to be crafting a story from all these different points of view and from some of the biggest names. Like last week I interviewed Jenny Johnson, CEO of Franklin Templeton. She's been on my list for a while. She is a killer and she was so fun to interview. She was awesome. She was like, I just got back from Uzbekistan. I'm like, what? She's like, I'm not thinking that clearly today. I'm like, are you kidding? Like, and like we're talking with her team and like her off is like anybody else's on. She was pulling references from like crazy places and she's a student of history. She loves, she's just such a interesting mind. And so it's like, I just always have to remind myself, like gear back towards the focus. Don't get distracted. I don't need to start a fund right now.
00:55:06 · Molly O'Shea, Paige Finn Doherty
I don't need to be like, you know, a scout, like I'm definitely not a scout. I'm way past that. Like an advisor, blah, blah, blah. None of these things. Like people have asked me to join their board of directors for public companies. And I'm like, no, like it, it, it causes a conflict with what I'm doing today, which has been the best job I've ever had. And I want to have for as long as possible. I need to stay focused. [00:55:32] S0: I love that. Well, I feel like you had to speak to your continued, like relentlessness, focus, creativity is really inspiring. I'm really excited to see what you do over the next decade plus. Thanks. How are you thinking about your vision for sorcery and what success looks like for you?
00:55:53 · Molly O'Shea
[00:55:53] S2: That's a good question. So I think like the quick answer is obviously to get the Sourcery 100 of the year or wherever, you know, year it is. Right. And pushing myself there. Every interview I try to use as much research as possible. I try to refine my skills as an interviewer. Refine my skills as a freaking walking tour interviewer. Yeah. That was a 180. Like that was hard. Like the Alex Karp one, I had people who have been in the media industry for years and like their whole life. And they're like, you didn't have an earpiece in? You don't have note cards? How did you do that? You were rolling the whole time. Yeah. That's pretty wild. Like it's because I have a good memory. Yeah. If I stay focused on one thing, I can easily get ADD if I want to. But like, if I'm focused, usually when I go into interviews, it's tunnel vision, like Charlotte, who is head of special ops. I mentioned her before, but she came to a couple of my interviews and, she was like, holy shit. Like once you start, you're just locked in. Yeah. Like I don't, there's like lots of cameras. There's lots of lights. It's like, it's the same with getting on stage for things. Like the first time I think I was like really on stage in a crazy capacity was Citadel Securities Conference last And I had interviewed, two of Sourcery's partners at the time, co founders of Cal Shea. And I was actually so nervous for that. I think it was at like ten or 11AM. I had to take a shot. Like I really don't even drink ever. Like, I'm embarrassed to say that, but I was freaking out. Like, you know, I like, you know, had to call up for support, have someone talk me down and everything, but I was so nervous. And then after that, it's like, no, I'm just doing the same exact thing. I'm just at the end of the day, I'm just asking, asking questions and listening. Like that's it. And so I really got over that. I don't like, it doesn't make me nervous. I don't care. I love it now. I'm like, someone calls me up and they want me to moderate something on stage. Let's go. Like, I'm ready to go. Like, it's great. It's like cool to like reach new audiences and like try that out and refine that skill and get better at it.
00:58:17 · Molly O'Shea
But yeah, it's, it's just making the podcast better, making my skills better, capturing the best stories, making sure that I can increase the audience in intentional ways, by delivering the best information. I make sure data's incorporated in everything. I am an investor at the end of the day. I've spent my whole career doing research diligence, data, market maps, like insights, collecting all these nodes of information to understand how a business is growing, how it's working. Does it actually have longevity? Is there a durable underlying model to it? Or is it gonna zoink out once there's like 10 other, you know, competitors or if it's gonna go to zero. So, those are like really the things at the end of the day. And like the whole walking tour thing is so important. That type of content alone is like 10, maybe a 100 to a thousand X more dynamic and visually interesting and performs incredibly well on YouTube. Like if you check out the YouTube channel, it's like, I have categorized out the different types of interviews I do. So it's like, it's like factory tours and HQ tours. The walking portions of these interviews. Then I have like investor interviews and then I have tech interviews and the walking, like the walk and talks, or I went to Bending Spoons and they called it a walkie talkie, which I thought was cute. So I have to use that now. The walkie talkies, they have like hundreds and hundreds of thousands of views. It's a really great format for YouTube because you're just changing your environment a lot. And especially for people like on YouTube, they love like tools. They love like factories. They love how things are made. Like, it's just kind of like the inherent nature of that kind of platform.
01:00:12 · Paige Finn Doherty, Molly O'Shea
[01:00:12] S0: So should we be walking during this? [01:00:14] S2: No, it's fine. I actually can't really think very well when I walk. So it's like hard. I don't think I would be speaking this clearly if we were doing that. But, and so that's why it's like hard with like some of these like investor types or like public company CEOs, like some of them, it's just like, it's not an easy format to do. And, but like, you know, the Figure AI, like Figure Robot company like that walk and talk every day. I get comments on the YouTube about it. It still is growing. And that one will probably hit like a million views pretty soon on YouTube. YouTube is really hard to hit a million views. It's different for every platform like X. There's so many social network factors to that. Like you're, you're much more likely to get it on X. Instagram. I am not an Instagram girly. I'm not an Instagram person, but I'm getting better at it. And so that's just something I don't know how it works. I'll leave it to the Instagram professionals. LinkedIn, I have not sure I've ever seen any, anything hit a million views, I interviewed, this investor from Mayfield, and he regularly, like he is an influencer on LinkedIn. Yeah. He hits like millions of views, which is crazy. But yeah. Dang. Okay. Well, I think
01:01:36 · Paige Finn Doherty, Molly O'Shea
[01:01:36] S0: we've unfortunately hit the end of our time together today. I've so enjoyed this conversation. I feel like it's very clear, like, why you are winning is you're incredibly devoted to this craft, which is so inspiring. You're sharing these amazing stories of founders, investors building incredibly impactful companies, and you're building one yourself. So I I learned a lot today in our conversation. And if you're listening, I'd highly recommend following Molly on X and all of her social channels. We'll link those in the show notes. And any last words? [01:02:11] S2: Yes. I wanna turn it on you. Oh, okay. Because I'm sure my audience, I'm gonna cross post this. Yeah. I'm going put it on my YouTube and I'll put it in a newsletter and everything, but Paige, are actually doing the thing. You have a fund yourself. Yep. So can you just share with everyone, like for my audience, like your fund, your top investments, how you've grown it, you're going to fund three now. So like what is behind Genius? Oh my God.