This Week in Startups · Monday, August 31, 2026
The podcast discusses the trend of founders pursuing 'side quests' rather than focusing on their core startup. The advice given is to "drill for oil, go deep" and not seek adjacency until the primary business is fully realized and optimized. For successful founders and VCs, redeploying capital into these side ventures is seen as a better use of resources than acquiring luxury items.
“And then founders always say, hey, wait a second, you told me not to start my own venture fund conference, podcast and to focus on my startup. And you said drill for oil, go deep, remember on the tactical practical Friday.”
“I said job one is when you strike oil, keep going straight down until you, you know, can't increase the velocity of the oil coming out of the ground. Don't look for adjacency.”
“If you are a successful founder slash rich VC, doing side quests is a much better use of your capital than buying an incremental watch, plane, check card, fourth home, etc.”