American Alchemy with Jesse Michels - Jake Paul Reflects on Whole Career

Episode Date: October 2, 2024

Today’s American Alchemist is the one and only Jake Paul. Come explore the radical mind of one of the Internet’s most notorious personalities and get to know the man behind the name. From revitalizing the sport of boxing, to investing in tech, Jake is a true trailblazer... and he’s just getting started. *** AMERICAN ALCHEMY is an original series hosted by Jesse Michels that explores the frontier of ideas, science and tech. Each week, we bring you exclusive interviews. INSTAGRAM ➤ https://www.instagram.com/jessemichel... TWITTER ➤   / alchemyamerican   EMAIL/BOOKINGS ➤ [e-mail] SUBSCRIBE:    / mrjessemichels   ORIGINAL MUSIC by omgkirby: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6LlLR... #jakepaul #boxing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're great at protecting your data, but lots of places could still expose you to identity theft. I thought it was safe. If that happens, LifeLock gives you a U.S.-based restoration agent who will stick by your side from start to finish. Phone calls, filing documentation, preparing insurance claims, your agent handles it all. In fact, we're so confident restoration is guaranteed. Pour your money back. Isn't it nice to have someone like that on your side? Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash Spotify.

Terms apply. What up, bro? How are you? I'm good, man. We're just living my best life out here in Puerto Rico. Yeah, it's unique to say the least. Hold up, you're probably wondering, who am I? Why the hell am I in Dorado, Puerto Rico with Jake Paul?

And who's this guy on the phone with us? First of all, the guy on the phone is my friend and colleague Eric Weinstein, mathematician, cultural commentator, an all-around crazy motherfucker. My middle fingers pointed straight at you, understood. I'm Jesse Michaels, a tech investor, and your host of American Alchemy, a show where we studied the frontier of science and tech, sprinkled in with some conspiracy theories for good measure. There are animals that are immortal.

But if my show's about science, tech, and crazy ideas, why am I talking to internet sensation turned pro boxer Jake Paul? Well, for starters, Jake is about his radical, they come. In just the last year, he's completely revitalized the formerly dead sport of boxing. That's not to say Jake's journey hasn't come with its speed bumps. YouTube star Jake Paul is making headlines after an FBI raid at his home in Calabasas. But I've actually known Jake for about seven years.

He came to me when he was 17 years old for tech advice. I invited him to come up to San Francisco. He ended up crashing in my apartment, and we just hit it off because we're both a little crazy. So in this interview, I wanted to highlight the Jake that I know. Our mission at boxing bullies is to help instill confidence, courage, and leadership. The kid that picks up the phone no matter how busy he is, who's generous, humble, and hardworking.

So without further ado, today's American Alchemist is Jake Paul. You know, it's the work you put in, I think, when no one's watching, that shows in the light. And when you are confident in yourself and you know that you can create something that has never been done before, you just got to go for it. I don't know. Yeah, I felt like people had me down for the count. They were like, this kid just a menace to society. Fighting gave me that outlet to sort of like redeem myself and to work towards a goal. Now you're favored.

Now I'm favored. You're favored. People think I will beat McGregor with ease. Crazy. But you're favored against Woodley, too. Yeah, like the odds-wise. Yep. Like Tyrone Woodley, I think, has been probably boxing since I was five years old.

Hey-oh, I'm Jake Paul from Bizarre Bart, and you're watching Disney Channel. Oh, oh, he tagged him. Big shot! And I think really, like, what it's boiled down to is my work ethic and then having, like, the coaches around me who push me and are just excellent. I remember there's an inflection point with you too where I feel like you were thinking more about being kind of traditional movies, shows. Like you had your Disney show Bizarred Vark and something interesting happened. I think the like ABC or something showed up at your house because you were kind of causing a ruckus. He is a social media megastar. His name is Jake Paul.

You kind of messed with the news guy a little bit. Jake, I wouldn't do that. I have one question for you. Yeah. What are those? But you kind of made this discussion. I'm just going to build my own brand and have my own leverage and do my own thing kind of for the rest of my life and that was also in my mind the moment you embrace the villain too like after that you were kind of the the bad kid all down all downhill from there no seriously I was I was on Disney Channel making you know like $10,000 an episode and that's like working like six days a week for like 12 hours a day and you're doing content

at the same time, which is, that's crazy. Exactly. Like, a lot of people think I got fired from Disney, and I just, like, run with that narrative. Yeah. But it was more so, like, a mutual. It was like a mutual that I was like, guys, I don't know what to do here. Yeah. And they were like, well, you're kind of like causing problems in our company anyways.

So we're like, all right, perfect. Do you guys want to break up? They're like, yeah, sure. At some point, you just have to see, like, where am I growing? What's benefiting me the most? Yeah. And you probably gained like a few million followers literally around that event. Did something go off in your head where you were like, okay, we have this crazy walking on eggshells PC cancel culture bullshit, which was just starting to grow at the time.

Yeah. And the people who win biggest on the internet, and I'm thinking you, I'm thinking, Takashi, obviously. Yeah. I'm not apples to apples, but you know what I mean? Kanye, Trump. people who just kind of they're themselves

they're authentic they say things that aren't very PC all the time I'm not endorsing any of the people I just said I'm just saying yeah did something go off in your mind where you're like this is what works 100% I think just authenticity there's like a whole canceled culture that tries

to make you scared yeah and it's like you're an idiot I hate you die like cancel you're canceled and then there's like the people who are like secretly watching what you're doing and are like I fucking love that guy like I believe people should be canceled if they're doing something fucked up totally but like every time I've been canceled it's like dumb shit it's dumb shit and I think the only way people can be canceled is if they cancel themselves or give up themselves

or if they actually are a piece of shit doing some fucked up things yeah how are you thinking about your business so you have Jake Paul the brand and as a business, and then you have anti-fund as well, which you run with Jeff, Wu. Talk about both of those. Things are amazing, like the deal flow that we're seeing, the investments that we're making, the LPs that we're bringing in,

it's actually like this flies, I'm going to kill this fly. Don't do that. They'll be articles. Oh, yeah, there'll be an article that I kill a fly. I didn't kill the fly. You did not kill the fly. Fly's still here. In fact, we put the fly in an embalmed case and you are now taking care of the fly.

That is true. Fact. And I love that a lot of people in your position don't do the actual calls or the diligence. You do, which is pretty cool. Yeah. Like you're on the phone. I'm so committed to it. I want to get into the trenches and I want to, I'm passionate about it.

Like I don't want to just, like, trust someone to go run off and do it. Are there qualities you look for in a founder? It's someone who is hungry, willing to work, and, you know, isn't maybe too married to the one idea that they have and, like, understands that change is inevitable. There's something about people who have a vision where when they speak in a very matter-of-fact way about how they're going to win. You know, like when I talk to you about boxing, it's like very, when you're going to man, manage all this money in the venture front. It's very interesting to see if you talk to a founder they're like okay these are my metrics this is how I'm going to get there it's almost like it's they're already there in their head. Yeah and like reality just has to catch up.

Personality drive pay-per-views. You've embraced the role of the villain. Do you think that that is sort of a conscious thing? Obviously people tuned in to watch Mayweather lose best fighter in the world. Yeah. I mean, look, I think the villains, the villains always go further in this sport and, you know, it stems from authenticity. Like, I've always just liked to prod and have fun and ruffle feathers and like I was the class clown and I don't know, that's just the way I've always been. And you're good at it too. Like you know the internet way better than any of your opponent. They come in to play the game and I'm like, you're in my territory. You're not gonna be able to swim here

Super creative of you and go on Instagram Ask people for some fucking jokes Hilarious buddy You look old as fuck Stand up straight when I'm talking to you bro Slouching like a bitch I legitimately like when I'm Like beefing with these MMA fighters

Or really whoever it is On social media like I'm sitting there having a blast Big ass belly I'm like just sitting at this table Or wherever I'm at like just like Ah ha ha like giggling and like my friends are looking at me like, what does this get up to? But like, I make myself laugh and I'm having so much fun

doing it. And so like, people can hate me or love me. Like, I could give a shit. Well, they're taking themselves too seriously in many cases. In the case of somebody like Dana White, I think you're exposing a big flaw in terms of fighter pay of the former system in a really healthy way in a way that fighters should kind of embrace. Yeah. They should be like, okay, Jake is making this whole thing more transparent in terms of how underpaid we generally are. Yeah, it's quite a big problem. And look, I don't know what the solution is. I don't have all the answers, but I do know that I have a platform to talk about it. And one thing, like being a fight of myself is people don't realize how expensive it is to run a camp. Like, it is expensive. You make me wonder how anybody but

you does it, because you have money. from your former career. Like, how does anybody do that with those salaries? I honestly don't know. I think what we're seeing is just a different era of boxing. Social media is changing the fight game and that's what we are all witnessing. It's giving that power back to the fighters.

Every fighter has to look at themselves as a media company. I am a brand. I need to create content. I need to get my name out there. And what am I worth? We have set the bar so high and we're living up to the expectations. It's incredible.

Jake, I love you, bro. Thank you for doing this. Amazing, bro. Appreciate it. Of course. Hey, we have to do another one in like four or five years. Yeah, exactly. Every five years.

Every five years. You are disturbing the system. Psychedelics are a great tool to study consciousness.