#325 Larry Gagosian (Billionaire Art Dealer)

What I learned from reading How Larry Gagosian Reshaped The Art World by Patrick Radden Keefe.  ---- Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes ---- (4:00) The dealer has been so successful selling art to masters of the universe that he has become one of them. (5:45) We think of genius as being complicated, but geniuses have the fewest moving parts. Gagosian is simple. He's basically a shark, a feeding machine. (6:00) A novice is easily spotted because they do too much. Too many ingredients, too many movements. Too much explanation. A master uses the fewest motions required to fulfill their intention. (10:00) His own publicist described him as “A Real Killer” (12:00) The Invisible Billionaire: Daniel Ludwig by Jerry Shields. (Founders #292) (17:30) There is always a blueprint. Joseph Duveen was the art dealer to the Robber Barons.  Biographies of Duveen: Duveen: A Life in Art Secrets Of An Art Dealer Duveen The Artful Partners: The Secret Association of Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen (18:00) Numerous friends of Gagosian caution me not to mistake this merry-go-round of parties and galas and super yacht cruises for a life of leisure. This guy is always working. This motherfucker works 24/7. The parties are marketing showcases in disguise. (19:00) The Taste of Luxury: Bernard Arnault and the Moet-Hennessy Louis Vuitton Story by Nadege Forestier and Nazanine Ravai. (Founders #296) (19:30) The best way to raise the price of something is to say that you would never sell it. (23:00) If Gagosian possesses one secret weapon that has equipped him for success it might be his disinhibition. (33:00) The niche Gagosian pursued was seen —at the time —as low status. The secondary business was perceived as a backwater by dealers. It was considered a bit distasteful. (42:00) He disdains formal meetings. He finds bureaucracy and protocol dull. There is no hierarchy. There is Larry and then everyone else. (44:00) G