Jake & JZ

It’s the end of Season 1 for Jake & JZ! In this mini episode, we announce that we’re taking a break to publish our new book Click and launch some other cool projects.
Shoot, we gave away the content of the episode in the show notes! Still, it’s worth tuning in to hear our conversation about:
Jake’s new Elgato teleprompter (not an ad)
The iContact Camera (also not an ad)
Baby Mama and the gift of uninterrupted eye contact
Why human visual perception is a prediction
Why Zoom calls are so exhausting
Visual ASMR
If you have ideas or requests for Season 2, please send us an email at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you!
Thanks for listening and watching, and we’ll see you soon.
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💸 Learn more about our seed fund at Character Capital
🥸 Find Jake on LinkedIn and X
🤠 Find JZ on LinkedIn Blue Sky and X

A conversation with a founder inspired this discussion about maintaining freedom of movement while you build new products and companies. It might be the most important startup thing that nobody ever talks about: The need to stay nimble and not give away your advantages by pre-committing to decisions that steal your freedom of movement.
On episode 17 of Jake & JZ, we also talked about:
How startups beat big companies
Identifying your unique advantages in a Foundation Sprint
Eight Sleep, but it’s not an ad!
New and old sleep tactics that we use every night
Recording the audiobook for Click
And much more
Have a question for us? Send it to [email protected] and we’ll answer it on the show.
📩 Get an email about every episode at JakeAndJZ.com
💸 Learn more about our seed fund at Character Capital
🥸 Find Jake on LinkedIn and X
🤠 Find JZ on LinkedIn Blue Sky and X

Two days after recording our last episode about AI, DeepSeek R1 was released, prompting some of you to ask us a set of new questions about how AI will affect the future of work, products, startups, and investing.
Jake is off this week, but we invited our cofounder and partner Eli Blee-Goldman back to help JZ answer these questions and — for at least a brief moment — get us caught up on the latest developments in the world of AI.
This week on episode 16 of Jake & JZ, we talked about:
Why DeepSeek R1 caused such a stir
How AI innovation can come from anywhere
Our 3 newest investments at Character Capital
Types of AI founders (with examples!)
Two important lessons from a Character founder
Doing it right vs getting it right
The downside of being able to build so quickly
Our recent Foundation Sprint Bootcamp
How we get better at sprints by learning from the community
Have a question for us? Send it to [email protected] and we’ll answer it on the show.
📩 Get an email about every episode at JakeAndJZ.com
💸 Learn more about our seed fund at Character Capital
🥸 Find Jake on LinkedIn and X
🤠 Find JZ on LinkedIn Blue Sky and X

Our latest thoughts on AI! At Character Capital, most of our investments are in AI companies. How will recent advancements change how products are designed and startups are built? Our cofounder Eli Blee-Goldman returns to the podcast to share predictions and highlight the importance of human agency in an AGI future.

Quick note: This episode was recorded right before DeepSeek R1 came out. We have thoughts, of course 🤓 We’ll record a follow-up soon!

On episode 15 of Jake & JZ, we talked about:
What stays the same in an AGI future?
The importance of agency
The capabilities gap
Doing meaningful work with people you like
Surprising lessons from a Design Sprint with an AI bio startup
What changes in an AGI future?
How AI can close the gap between builders and customers
AI ethics and sentience
And much more
Have a question for us? Send it to [email protected] and we’ll answer it on the show.
📩 Get an email about every episode at JakeAndJZ.com
💸 Learn more about our seed fund at Character Capital
🥸 Find Jake on LinkedIn and X
🤠 Find JZ on LinkedIn, X, and Blue Sky

10 years ago, we learned how caffeine really works, and it changed how we use, consume, and enjoy coffee. Tune in for a Jake & JZ deep dive on caffeine — from working with Blue Bottle, to our current coffee routines, to insights and tactics for making the most of this wonderful substance.
On episode 14 of Jake & JZ, we talked about:
How caffeine really works
Learning about caffeine from Ryan Brown at Blue Bottle Coffee
Going deeper for Make Time
Two surprising caffeine insights
Two helpful coffee tactics
JZ’s favorite coffee maker: The OXO Brew
Jake’s espresso machine: The Breville BES870XL
Boon Boona Coffee
A great book: Deskbound by Kelly Starrett (not about caffeine, still great)
And much more
Have a question for us? Send it to [email protected] and we’ll answer it on the show.
📩 Get an email about every episode at JakeAndJZ.com
💸 Learn more about our seed fund at Character Capital
🥸 Find Jake on LinkedIn and X
🤠 Find JZ on LinkedIn, X, and Blue Sky