#247 Jason Karp – CEO of HumanCo on Investing, Decision Making, and Healthier Living

Key Takeaways

Jason’s Frameworks:

Gasoline vs. Water

When you’re confronted with a conflict, the issue is a “fire”. You can either throw gasoline on the issue or de-escalate the conflict and throw water.

“I believe the quality of your decision making and the frameworks used for your decision making are the most important thing that you can work on in your lifetime”

Maximizing Optionality

Jason lives by a critical framework of positioning himself in situations where he can optimally be on defense or offense, setting himself up for the best option.

“There are certain things you can do in life that optimize your optionality so that you can see good luck when it happens and you can defend against bad luck when it happens.”

00:43 Gasoline vs. Water

Jason’s framework Gasoline vs. Water: When you’re confronted with a conflict, the issue is a “fire”. You have the choice to throw gasoline or water on the fire.

Gasoline: Gives initial satisfaction, but ultimately a bad move

Water: Have to be the bigger person and look for solutions to de-escalate the conflict

“When you’re in a disagreement in business or in your relationship, and you pause for three or five seconds and you just consciously think, am I going to throw water or gasoline on this?”

“I believe the quality of your decision making and the frameworks used for your decision making are the most important thing that you can work on in your lifetime”

13:04 Self Assessment

Jason talks about how his self assessment has changed throughout the years, saying that he had a “lot of growing up to do.” He goes through his process of self reflection and awareness and being observant.

“I think you’re doing yourself a disservice if you look very similar in personality and behaviors and wisdom as you did when you were a teenager or in your early twenties. I think you’ve failed in life if you stay the same.”

15:41 Solo Sports

Jason was a competitive athlete, primarily tennis and squash, and talks about his attraction towards individual sports because of the emphasis they place on developing yourself. Jason talks about walking on to the nationally ranked squash team and improving his game while also attending The Wharton School.

“I think of all of these things as metaphors for stadiums for self improvement where you have all sorts of different things thrown at you on how to deal with it.”

25:15 Underachiever to Overachiever

Jason says that his freshman year of college was the most pivotal year of his entire life. Jason tells the story that changed his mindset from being an underachiever to an overachiever and how he channeled that mindset through his time in college.

“I was almost like a diamond under pressure, I had to figure out how to survive with my own challenges”

34:19 Imposter Complex

Jason says that in the last 5-10 year he has made more peace with having Imposter Syndrome, which is typically described as not feeling like you are the person people describe you as or know you as and most overachievers struggle with this.

“You feel like you’re an imposter, you feel like ‘I got lucky’, ‘This wasn’t me’ and you want to do everything you can to keep up the mirage.”

36:54 Investing Decisions

When making an investment Jason spends most of his time looking at the people, saying that intellectual honesty is the most important trait.

“I think a lot of people underestimate the importance of the people behind the business and they overestimate the product”

43:00 Maximizing Optionality

Jason describes a critical framework that he believes is critical to be happy in life.

“There are certain things you can do in life that optimize your optionality so that you can see good luck when it happens and you can defend against bad luck when it happens.”

46:13 HumanCo

Jason says that his company, HumanCo, is a culmination of all of his interests in life: investing, entrepreneurship, and health and wellness.

When he was in his early twenties, Jason was diagnosed with multiple illnesses that he was told were incurable but through changing his food and lifestyle, Jason was able to cure himself.

“I ended up building, almost by accident, a health and wellness ecosystem over the last 8-9 years”

56:33 Studying Outside His Field

Jason has built most of his mental models from studying human psychology, anthropology, evolution, biology, anatomy, and nutrition.

“I was always fascinated with what makes the body optimal and what makes the body work”

Studying evolution and anthropology has impacted his work at HumanCo the most.

1:03:45 Disease & Sustainability

Jason spends the most amount of his time thinking about disease and sustainability.

“There are no scientists who are on the fence of what’s happening with human health in terms of chronic disease, diabetes, obesity, all in the past 40 years”

1:07:24 Connecting with HumanCo

HumanCO owns three brands: Monty’s, Snow Days, and Coconut Bliss.

HumanCo also has launched a SPAC called HumanCo Acquisition Corp.

1:10:45 Book Recommendations

Jason’s Book Recommendations:

1:12:56 Jason’s Interview Choice

If Jason could sit down for a long form interview with anyone dead or alive, just not a family or friend, he would choose Ben Franklin.

Connect with Jason:

HumanCo Website