{"podcast":{"title":"Smart Friends","slug":"smart-friends-2136135","podcast_index_feed_id":2136135,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/SOMC8581176390","website_url":"https://www.ejorgenson.com/podcast/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/fae742a2-db05-11ec-a787-5b6fc0a4f209/image/ad94dd4d3d8679e0de87602a070d58f9.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Eric Jorgenson","episode_count":123,"summary":"Casual conversations with founders, technologists, investors, and artists about building a brighter future, together. Welcome to our digital living room. With science, technology and entrepreneurship we can *continue* to create unfathomable leaps in quality of life. We show you how to find, apply, build, and invest in technologies to change your life and the world. When we have smart friends, we do smart things. When we do smart things, we save the world. No matter who, where, or when you are – now you have smart friends, too. Outside this podcast, I’m the author of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant and The Anthology of Balaji. Connect at ejorgenson.com Laugh and learn with people like Balaji Srinivasan, Naval Ravikant, Andrew Wilkinson, Austen Allred, David Senra, Josh Storrs Hall, Ashley Rindsberg, Zach Pettet, Bret Kugelmass, Omar ElNaggar, Grace Guo, Brett Kopf, Max Olson, Chris Williamson, Shane Mac, Tim Hwang, David Perell, Jason Hitchcock, Natalia Karayaneva, Sebastian Marshall, Taylor Pearson, Mitchell Baldridge and more. Join conversations with my partners in early-stage tech investing, Bo Fishback and Al Doan. Our Rolling Fun Episodes cover our investments and escapades as…","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/smart-friends-2136135"},"episode":{"title":"#092 Sarma Melngailis: Bad Vegan, Memoir as Recovery, and Reclaiming Your Story","slug":"092-sarma-melngailis-bad-vegan-memoir-as-recovery-and-reclaiming-your-story","published_at":"2025-08-05T15:35:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/smart-friends-2136135/092-sarma-melngailis-bad-vegan-memoir-as-recovery-and-reclaiming-your-story","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/smart-friends-2136135","url":"https://www.ejorgenson.com/podcast","audio_url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/traffic.megaphone.fm/SOMC6155876130.mp3","summary":"Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:37) - The Netflix documentary: Misrepresentation and struggles (00:03:19) - Writing the memoir (00:08:47) - The challenges of independent publishing (00:12:40) - The creative process and future plans (00:35:23) - Impact of the book on readers (00:36:04) - Scripted series and unused content (00:36:36) - New docuseries and correcting the narrative (00:37:04) - Psychological analysis in documentaries (00:40:13) - Challenges and rewards of writing (00:41:36) - Unexpected positive outcomes (00:45:38) - Vulnerability of publishing a memoir (00:49:44) - Future aspirations and business rebuilding (00:53:54) - Experience with Scribe Publishing (01:02:59) - Advice for aspiring authors Links: People: Andrew Huberman — https://hubermanlab.com/about David Goggins — https://davidgoggins.com Eric Jorgenson — https://www.ericjorgenson.com Mary Karr — https://english.utexas.edu/people/mary-karr Paul Millerd — https://www.pathlesspath.com Sarma Melngailis — https://thegirlandtheduck.com Tim Ferriss — https://tim.blog Podcasts: Huberman Lab — https://hubermanlab.com The Tim Ferriss Show — https://tim.blog/podcast Companies: Scribe — https://scribemedia.com Websites / Tools / Platforms: Scrivener — https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview The Girl and the Duck (Sarma’s memoir site) — https://thegirlandtheduck.com To support the costs of producing this podcast: >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanack: www.navalmanack.com/ >> Buy a copy of The Anthology of Balaji: https://balajianthology.com/ >> Sign up for my online course and community about building your Personal Leverage: https://www.ejorgenson.com/leverage >> Invest in early-stage companies alongside Eric and his partners at Rolling Fun: https://angel.co/v/back/rolling-fun >> Join the free weekly…","meta_description":"Topics: (00:00:00) - Intro (00:01:37) - The Netflix documentary: Misrepresentation and struggles (00:03:19) - Writing the memoir (00:08:47) - The challeng…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4043,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/smart-friends-2136135/episodes/092-sarma-melngailis-bad-vegan-memoir-as-recovery-and-reclaiming-your-story/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/smart-friends-2136135/092-sarma-melngailis-bad-vegan-memoir-as-recovery-and-reclaiming-your-story.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}