Episode 003: 3 Books I Read & My Fitness Check-in for January; The Stretch Four Business Results & Selim Benayat — Founder and CEO at Bento.me the first founder to participate Sequoia's Arc Program

Happy Monday,

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I hope you all enjoyed yesterday’s newsletter — Companies do more with less, Frugality vs. ROI, and Tasting the Rainbow, if you missed please check it out.

On this week’s show, I recapped three books that I read in January and how I did on the fitness front with my workouts. I also shared some behind-the-scenes results on how the Stretch Four Media business is doing, what my goals are for the next few months, and how the first two episodes of this podcast are doing.

Finally, I end with an interview with Selim Benayat — Founder and CEO at Bento.me one of the first founders to participate in the Sequoia Arc Program.

We got an inside look at what a high-performing founder’s lifestyle looks like, how and why he chooses to live in Berlin, Germany, and more on how he got into the Sequoia Arc program including what the evaluation process was, and what he built with Bento.

As always, thanks for subscribing, and please shoot me your feedback when you check out the episode.

Find the show notes below.

Also, check out the podcast on your favorite podcast players including Spotify and Apple.

Episode 003: Stretch Four Podcast

My Recaps

• 6:25-17:58 - Summarizing the read three books in January

  • Loonshots

    • Safi Bahcall, an American author, physicist, technologist, business executive, and author, has written a book that highlights companies and stories from the past 100 years, weaving through biotech, aviation, and hardware. He has studied at Harvard and Stanford.

  • Lords of Easy Money

    • The New York Times bestseller from business journalist Christopher Leonard is highly recommended. I had previously read his book, Kochland (an extraordinary account of how the world's largest private company grew to become so powerful, and how it shaped modern corporate America, with a focus on the Koch brothers and their empire), and it was remarkable.

  • Freezing Order

    • In his follow-up to the explosive New York Times bestseller Red Notice, Bill Browder recounts his journey to becoming Vladimir Putin's nemesis. He details the events that led him to become a fierce critic of the Russian president, from his investment in the Russian stock market in 1996 to his eventual exile from the country in 2005. Browder's story is a gripping tale of corruption, courage, and resilience, and a powerful reminder of the power of truth.

• 17:59- 24:43 Fitness Check-in powered by Future reporting and dashboard tools

  • I broke down my Future report for the last 30 days, shared in the newsletter, to show how active I was at the gym in January and what my baseline is for the short month of February.

• 24:54 - 33:32 How the Stretch Four Business Performed in January

  • In January, we reviewed our financials, including revenue, subscriber growth, and the performance of our newly launched podcast in its first few episodes.

Guest Interview

• 33:50 - 1:17:27 — Selim Benayat Founder & CEO of Bento.me

  • Selim Benayat— Founder and CEO at Bento.me—shares his lifestyle tips, how he manages his schedule and food, and life in Berlin, Germany. He also opens up about how he got into Sequoia's Arc Program. Finally, he sheds light on what he is building with Bento, which you can sign up for today using the code: STRETCHFOUR.

Church Announcements

• 1:17:30 - the end

  • This week, I'm participating in a Black History Month Panel in San Francisco. If you're local and looking for Friday night activities, come join us! Here's the registration link: Cap Table Coalition & Pay It Forward MBA Black History Month Panel. I'm also preparing for a presentation at the Fintech Meetup in Las Vegas for ModernTax.

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Thanks to our sponsor Future.