Ronin of all Ronins (book)
This is not meant to be a distraction from all the incredible content here from Travis But if there are any readers in the group and you like “truth is stranger than fiction” reads This might be your jam Sam Zemurray got his start in New Orleans as a dirt poor/fresh off the boat immigrant kid from Russia He found a pile of over-ripe bananas and asked the guys who threw them out what they were for… “Ah, those are the ‘ripes’ kid” “Nobody wants those” He asked if he could take them and they said “sure” Took them up to one of the lower income neighborhoods and sold them individually. He was all of a sudden able to eat and help his family survive We’re talking actual “trash can” assets! And this was the start of an empire. I’m talking Carnegie/Rockefeller type This guy Sam was a BOSS. Straight up went to war with his competitors. Like with bazookas, tanks, armies… Ever heard of Banana Republic? Before the clothing brand, it was this guy. Lol I’ll leave the details for the book but some of the characters he bumped up against were people like Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Edward Bernays… this is one of my all time favorite books. So many lessons: spotting and seizing opportunities, ethics, deal making, but most of all, perseverance. Let me know what you think if you’ve read it. :) “The Fish That Ate The Whale: The Life And Times of America’s Banana King” - Rich Cohen