What I learned from reading The Match King: Ivar Kreuger, The Financial Genius Behind a Century of Wall Street Scandals by Frank Partnoy. ----Relationships run the world: Build relationships at Founders events----Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for FoundersYou can read, reread, and search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. You can also ask SAGE any question and SAGE will read all my notes, highlights, and every transcript from every episode for you. A few questions I've asked SAGE recently: What are the most important leadership lessons from history's greatest entrepreneurs?Can you give me a summary of Warren Buffett's best ideas? (Substitute any founder covered on the podcast and you'll get a comprehensive and easy to read summary of their ideas) How did Edwin Land find new employees to hire? Any unusual sources to find talent?What are some strategies that Cornelius Vanderbilt used against his competitors?Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Make yourself easy to interface with: Scribe helps entrepreneurs, consultants, executives, and other professionals publish a book about their specific knowledge. Mention you heard about Scribe on Founders and they will give you these discounts: Guided Author - $1,000 offScribe Professional - $1,000 offScribe Elite Ghostwriting - $3,000 off----Vesto helps you see all of your company's financial accounts in one view. Connect and control all of your business accounts from one dashboard. Tell Ben (the founder of Vesto) that David sent you and you will get $500 off. ----Join my personal email list if you want me to email you my top ten highlights from every book I read----Buy a super comfortable Founders sweatshirt (or hat) here ! ----Episode Outline: 1. Ivar was charismatic. His charisma was not natural. Ivar spent hours every day just preparing to talk. He practiced his lines for hours like great actors do.2. Ivar’s first pitch was simple, easy to understand, and legitimate: By investing in Swedish Match, Americans could earn profits from a monopoly abroad.3. Joseph Duveen noticed that Europe had plenty of art and America had plenty of money, and his entire astonishing career was the product of that simple observation. — The Days of Duveen by S.N. Behrman.  (Founders #339 Joseph Duveen: Robber Baron Art Dealer)4. Ivar studied Rockefeller and Carnegie: Ivar's plan was to limit competition and increase profits by securing a monopoly on match sales throughout the world, mimicking the nineteenth century oil, sugar, and steel trusts.5. When investors were manic, they would purchase just about anything. But during the panic that inevitably followed mania, the opposite was true. No one would buy.6. The problem isn’t getting rich. The problem is staying sane. — Charlie Munger7. Ivar understood human psychology. If something is limited and hard to get to that increases desire. This works for both products (like a Ferrari) and people (celebrities). Ivar was becoming a business celebrity.8.  I’ve never believed in risking what my family and friends have and need in order to pursue what they don't have and don't need. — The Essays of Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett and Lawrence Cunningham. (Founders #227)9. Great ideas are simple ideas: Ivar hooked Durant with his simple, brilliant idea: government loans in exchange for match monopolies.10. Ivar wrote to his parents, "I cannot believe that I am intended to spend my life making money for second-rate people. I shall bring American methods back home. Wait and see - I shall do great things. I'm bursting with ideas. I am only wondering which to carry out first."11. Ivar’s network of companies was far too complex for anyone to understand: It was like a corporate family tree from hell, and it extended into obscurity.12. “Victory in our industry is spelled survival.”   —Steve Jobs13. Ivar's financial statements were sloppy and incomplete. Yet investors nevertheless clamored to buy his securities.14. A