James Cameron - The Futurist - [Founders, Forever Episode]

Almost exactly a year ago, Colossus entered into a partnership with David Senra and the Founders podcast to join the Colossus network. The show has since exploded with more devoted fans than any podcast that I've encountered. With that in mind, we are excited to share an example episode from his show here today on the director, James Cameron. It's my favorite recent episode of David's. Please enjoy this episode, and if you haven't already, subscribe to Founders. This is what he learned from reading The Futurist: The Life and Films of James Cameron by Rebecca Keegan and The Return of James Cameron, Box Office King by Zach Baron. Join Colossus live in NYC with Patrick O’Shaughnessy and David Senra on Oct. 19. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors, and provider of Canalyst. Tired of calculating fully-diluted shares outstanding? Access every publicly-reported datapoint and industry-specific KPI through their database of over 4,000 drivable global models hand-built by a team of sector-focused analysts, 35+ industry comp sheets, and Excel add-ins that let you use their industry-leading data in your own spreadsheets. Tegus’ models automatically update each quarter, including hard to calculate KPIs like stock-based compensation and organic growth rates, empowering investors to bypass the friction of sourcing, building and updating models. Make efficiency your competitive advantage and take back your time today. As a listener, you can trial Canalyst by Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:04:00) - I watched Titanic at the Titanic. And he actually replied: Yeah, but I madeTitanic at the Titanic. (00:07:10) - I like difficult. I’m attracted by difficult. Difficult is a fucking magnet for me. I go straight to difficult. And I think it probably goes back to this idea that there are lots of smart, really gifted, really talented filmmakers out there that just can’t do the difficult stuff. So that gives me a tactical edge to do something nobody else has ever seen, because the really gifted people don’t fucking want to do it. (00:07:20) - At 68 years old, Cameron wakes up at 4:45 AM and often kick boxes in the morning. (00:07:45) - Self-doubt is not something Cameron has a lot of experience with. His confidence preceded his achievements. (00:09:00) - I basically gave myself a college education in visual effects and cinematography while I was driving a truck. (00:16:00) - Every idea is a work in progress. (00:17:30) - He's been on a planet of his own making ever since. (00:18:00) - The Return of James Cameron, Box Office King by Zach Baron (00:22:00) - His outlook is that we can take fate in our own hands. (00:34:00) - Cameron had only been at Corman's for a matter of days, but he was already taking charge. He seems constitutionally incapable of doing otherwise. (What a line!) (00:35:30) - Your mediocrity is my opportunity. (00:37:40) - Cameron finds writing torture. He does it anyway. (00:43:00) - Cameron is willing to let ideas marinate for decades. (00:55:30) - I'd just made T2 for Carolco and I admired how they rolled, being their own bosses, mavericks, entrepreneurs. (00:57:30) - Mute the world. Build your own world. (01:04:50) - Opportunity is a strange beast. It commonly appears after a loss. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast.