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FoundersOct 20, 2025

#403 How Jensen Works

Summary, books mentioned, transcript quotes, and timestamps for #403 How Jensen Works on Founders.

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The Score Takes Care of Itself Creative Selection The NVIDIA Way+1 more

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#403 How Jensen Works mentions The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh, Creative Selection, The NVIDIA Way by Tae Kim, and The Innovator's Dilemma with timestamps, quotes, and episode context.

The Score Takes Care of Itself Creative Selection The NVIDIA Way The Innovator's Dilemma

3 books from this episode

The Score Takes Care of Itself

Bill Walsh

Champions behave like champions before they're champions.

Creative Selection

I've spent thinking about this iPad demo and how much Steve taught me in one meeting where he spoke just four sentences.

The NVIDIA Way

Tae Kim

Jensen has this Vulcan mind meld with everybody inside of his company.

Episode summary

This episode covers the insanely valuable company-building principles of Jensen Huang—and nothing else. I spent over 40 hours reading (and rereading) this book on Jensen and Nvidia written by Tae Kim I then spent several days editing down 30 pages of notes from the book. I deleted everything that was not How Jensen Works. List of ideas: 1. Professor Jensen 2. The Whiteboard 3. Complacency Kills 4. Insist on a Flat Organization 5. Public Criticism 6. Tortured Into Greatness 7. Speed of Light 8. Extreme In All Things 9. Top 5 Emails 10. Direct Communication 11. LUA 12. The Mission is the Boss and Pilot-in-Command 13. Strategy is Action 14. Ship The Whole Cow 15. Go To School On Everybody 16. Create The Market 17. Choke You With Gold 18. Highest Priority First 19. Swarm Your Greatest Opportunity Episode

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The Score Takes Care of Itself

Bill Walsh

The host mentions 'The Score Takes Care of Itself' to highlight the importance of continuous learning and attention t…

Card

Creative Selection

The host mentions 'Creative Selection' to highlight the importance of concise communication, drawing parallels betwee…

Card

The NVIDIA Way

Tae Kim

The host revisits 'The NVIDIA Way' to extract key ideas about how Jensen Huang manages NVIDIA. By focusing on Jensen'…

Card

The Innovator's Dilemma

The host mentions 'The Innovator's Dilemma' to illustrate the importance of flexibility in business strategy, particu…

Card

The Medici Family

The host mentions 'The Medici Family' to illustrate how the Medici's persuasive tactics in attracting talent parallel…

Card

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Summary, books mentioned, transcript quotes, and timestamps for #403 How Jensen Works on Founders.

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The conversation centers on business strategy and planning.
A second recurring theme is communication style of Jensen.
Referenced books include The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh and Creative Selection.
The strongest audience signal points to Aspiring leaders and entrepreneurs and Professionals looking to improve their communication skills.

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Which books are mentioned in #403 How Jensen Works?

The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh, Creative Selection, and The NVIDIA Way by Tae Kim are the clearest linked books in this episode, each tied back to transcript timestamps and quote cards.

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Top triggers

business strategy and planning(1)communication style of Jensen(1)Jensen's management style(1)Jensen's unique business strategy(1)Learning from successful leaders(1)

Mention sentiment

Deep Dive(2)Highly Recommended(2)Passing Reference(1)

Audience signals

Aspiring leaders and entrepreneursProfessionals looking to improve their communication skillsLeaders and managers interested in effective communication strategiesEntrepreneurs and business strategistsBusiness leaders and entrepreneurs

Books Mentioned

The full list below is ranked by how useful each mention is to a listener: stronger recommendation language, clearer quote context, and better timestamp support rise first.

The Score Takes Care of Itself

Bill Walsh

Best for Aspiring leaders and entrepreneursOften cited around Learning from successful leaders

“There's a great line in bill washes book, The score takes care of itself, that I think is very important and related to this.”

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Sentiment: Highly Recommended

Trigger: Learning from successful leaders

For: Aspiring leaders and entrepreneurs

Key quote: “Champions behave like champions before they're champions.”

The host mentions 'The Score Takes Care of Itself' to highlight the importance of continuous learning and attention to detail in leadership. Bill Walsh's insights resonate with the behavior of successful figures like Jensen and Mitch, who prioritize learning and detail-oriented management.

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Creative Selection

Best for Professionals looking to improve their communication skillsOften cited around communication style of Jensen

“There's this great book called Creative Selection, which was written by a person that demoed directly to Steve.”

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Sentiment: Highly Recommended

Trigger: communication style of Jensen

For: Professionals looking to improve their communication skills

Key quote: “I've spent thinking about this iPad demo and how much Steve taught me in one meeting where he spoke just four sentences.”

The host mentions 'Creative Selection' to highlight the importance of concise communication, drawing parallels between Jensen's style and that of Steve Jobs. The book serves as an example of effective communication in high-stakes environments, emphasizing brevity and clarity.

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The NVIDIA Way

Tae Kim

Best for Leaders and managers interested in effective communication strategiesOften cited around Jensen's management style

“The book is a company history and a partial biography of Jensen, covering his life and how he built NVIDIA.”

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Sentiment: Deep Dive

Trigger: Jensen's management style

For: Leaders and managers interested in effective communication strategies

Key quote: “Jensen has this Vulcan mind meld with everybody inside of his company.”

The host revisits 'The NVIDIA Way' to extract key ideas about how Jensen Huang manages NVIDIA. By focusing on Jensen's teaching methods and communication strategies, the host aims to provide insights into effective leadership.

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The Innovator's Dilemma

Best for Entrepreneurs and business strategistsOften cited around business strategy and planning

“The Innovator's Dilemma is one of Jensen's favorite books.”

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Sentiment: Deep Dive

Trigger: business strategy and planning

For: Entrepreneurs and business strategists

Key quote: “One of the things that he learned from the book is that the threat often comes from the low end of the market.”

The host mentions 'The Innovator's Dilemma' to illustrate the importance of flexibility in business strategy, particularly in response to market threats from lower-end competitors. Jensen's insights from the book highlight how companies can adapt and innovate by leveraging resources that may otherwise be discarded.

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The Medici Family

Best for Business leaders and entrepreneursOften cited around Jensen's unique business strategy

“I found a story in one of the books I read on David Ogilvie where he talks about that the Medici family was trying to persuade this sculptor to move to Florence.”

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Sentiment: Passing Reference

Trigger: Jensen's unique business strategy

For: Business leaders and entrepreneurs

Key quote: “Come, I will choke you with gold.”

The host mentions 'The Medici Family' to illustrate how the Medici's persuasive tactics in attracting talent parallel Jensen's approach to recruiting top employees. The reference serves to highlight the importance of offering significant incentives to attract the best in the industry.

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