Latest Episode 
Jesse Michels — American Alchemy (Infinite Loops Classics)
Hi everyone, Jim here. We're taking a short pause on new episodes through the end of August. In the meantime, we're digging out some of our favorite conversations from the archive. This one is from February 2023, so a few of the references have aged since (mine included), but the ideas have only gotten better. Enjoy this one with the wonderfully heretical Jesse Michels.
Jesse Michels is an investor at Thiel Capital and the creator and host of ‘American Alchemy’, a Youtube channel dedicated to hi
Recent Episodes
Aug. 6, 2026
Jesse Michels — American Alchemy (Infinite Loops Classics)
Hi everyone, Jim here. We're taking a short pause on new episodes through the end of August. In the meantime, we're digging out some of our favorite conversations from the archive. This one is from February 2023, so a few of the references have aged since (mine included), but the ideas have only gotten better. Enjoy this one with the wonderfully heretical Jesse Michels. Jesse Michels is an investor at Thiel Capital and the creator and host of ‘American Alchemy’, a Youtube channel dedicated to hi
325
July 30, 2026
Nat Eliason - The High School That Guarantees You'll Make $1 Million (Ep. 325)
Nat Eliason joins guest host Jimmy Soni to discuss Founders School, a new high school for entrepreneurs that guarantees students will generate $1 million in gross profit by graduation or get their tuition refunded. We explore how AI is changing what teenagers can build, why traditional entrepreneurship education falls short, and what happens when we take young people seriously. Important Links: Learn more about Founders School: https://founders.school/ Read more from Nat here: https://www.na
324
July 23, 2026
Philip Howard - How to Bring Common Sense Back to America (Ep. 324)
Philip Howard joins Infinite Loops to explain how America’s legal and regulatory system became too complicated to function effectively—and how we can rebuild it around judgment, accountability, and human agency. We discuss why government has become unmanageable, how thousand-page rulebooks discourage individual judgment, why infrastructure projects can take decades to approve, and how public institutions end up costing more while delivering less.
323
July 16, 2026
Sangeet Choudary - How AI Will Reshape the Knowledge Economy (Ep. 323)
Sangeet Choudary joins Infinite Loops to explain why AI’s greatest impact will not be automating today’s work, but rebuilding the structures beneath it. They discuss AI-native companies, the future of knowledge work, the American and Chinese AI models, creative “exhaust,” changing career paths, and how to compete when the rules of the game are constantly being rewritten. Important Links: Learn more about Sangeet and Reshuffle here: https://reshufflebook.com/ Read more about the Platform Revo
322
July 9, 2026
Jameson Olsen - Becoming the Main Character (Ep. 322)
What if the great stories were more than just stories? Jameson Olsen, host of Becoming the Main Character, joins guest host Liberty to explore fiction as a kind of operating system for life — a way to study agency, ambition, empathy, failure, courage, and change without having to live every consequence yourself. Through Hamlet, Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes, Lord of the Rings, training montages, NPCs, and the Hero’s Journey, they discuss what it means to stop drifting through life and start hol
321
July 2, 2026
David Gelles - The Stories that Shape Business (Ep. 321)
David Gelles joins guest host Jimmy Soni to discuss his career covering business for The New York Times. They talk about his books - Mindful Work, The Man Who Broke Capitalism, and Dirtbag Billionaire - and the reporting behind major stories on Bernie Madoff, Jack Welch, Boeing's 737 Max crashes, and Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard. David explains how he broke a front-page story five weeks into journalism school, how he convinced Bernie Madoff to grant him a prison interview, and his process for wri
320
June 25, 2026
Gretchen Rubin - How Curiosity Becomes a Calling (Ep. 320)
Gretchen Rubin joins guest host and Infinite Books CEO Jimmy Soni to discuss her journey from Supreme Court clerk to bestselling author, the creative obsessions that shaped her career, and the daily habits that fuel her work. They cover her transition from law to writing Power Money Fame Sex, why she often ends up writing the book before the proposal, the art of editing until the final hour (even during pass pages), her 5:30 AM writing routine, and why "know thyself" remains the foundation of a
319
June 18, 2026
Ben Cohen - The Hidden Art of Making Things Better (Ep. 319)
Wall Street Journal columnist Ben Cohen joins guest host Jimmy Soni, CEO of Infinite Books, to explore the hidden art of making things better. They explore the hot hand phenomenon in basketball, why Moneyball shaped a generation of journalists, the peanut butter and jelly crisis in the Warriors locker room, why ASML is the most important company you’ve never heard of, the strange story of Driscoll's tastiest berries, and the troubled development of The Princess Bride. Important Links: Learn mo
318
June 11, 2026
Revan Lazarus - How AI is Rebuilding the Creator Economy (Ep. 318)
AI is no longer just a tool creators use to make content faster. It is beginning to reshape the entire creator economy. Revan Lazarus is the founder of Jamie, an AI platform for podcast networks and digital sales teams. He joins Infinite Loops, guest-hosted by Nick Tawil, to discuss how AI is changing podcasting, media sales, audience analytics, creator monetization, brand deals, and the future of content itself. Important Links: Learn more about Jamie AI: https://www.jamie-ai.com/
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June 4, 2026
Brian London, Marisa Adler & Eric Stubin - The Hidden Economy of Recycled Clothes (Ep. 317)
What actually happens after you donate a bag of clothes? Most people assume it gets sold locally to someone in need, but the reality is much bigger, stranger, and more global. In this episode of Infinite Loops, hosted by OSV’s Nick Tawil, we sit down for a roundtable on the hidden global economy of secondhand textiles with Brian London, Marisa Adler, and Eric Stubin, all experts in the field. We discuss how the industry works, why fast fashion has made the problem harder, why 70% of the world u
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About the Host
Jim O'Shaughnessy
Jim O'Shaughnessy built O'Shaughnessy Asset Management (OSAM) into a Wall Street powerhouse, managing billions before its successful acquisition. Now, he's embarked on a new venture: O'Shaughnessy Ventures (OSV), a creative investment firm empowering visionaries across business, tech, science, art, media, and literature.
Hailed as a "legendary investor" by Barron's, Jim authored the New York Times bestseller What Works on Wall Street among his four influential books. His expertise spans quantitative analysis, portfolio management, and investment strategy.
Beyond finance, Jim has served as former chair of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and host of the popular Infinite Loops podcast. He shares eclectic insights on everything from philosophy to quantum mechanics via his active Twitter presence (@jposhaughnessy). Jim resides in Connecticut with his wife Melissa, surrounded by the joyful chaos of their three children and six grandchildren.