#780: Cyan Banister — From Homeless and Broke to Top Angel Investor (Uber, SpaceX, and 100+ More)

Cyan Banister (@cyantist) is a general partner
at Long Journey Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm
focused on early and new investments. Cyan was an early investor
in Uber, SpaceX, DeepMind, Flexport, and Affirm and has invested
in more than 100 companies. Prior to that, she was at Founders
Fund, a top-tier fund in San Francisco. Subscribe to Cyan's
Substack at uglyduckling.substack.com.


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Timestamps:


[00:00] Start 


[06:16] Early life and education as a white minority on a Navajo
reservation.


[11:18] Strained family dynamics and a cycle of neglect.


[18:20] The intervention of Officer Pratt and becoming a ward of
the state at 15.


[22:46] Crusty punk survival strategies and life on the streets.


[32:02] The positive influence of Cyan's "second" mother.


[34:17] Crass, Chris Collins, and computers.


[38:03] An unorthodox path to angel investment beginning with
Uber.


[48:13] Niantic/Pokemon GO.


[56:27] How stalking Garrett Langley led to a Flock Security
investment.


[01:00:07] GameCrush, activist investors, and lessons learned.


[01:07:00] Sales lessons from the street.


[01:10:08] A mindful approach to questioning narratives.


[01:15:35] The pre-OnlyFans story of Zivity.


[01:24:44] Views on sex and relationships.


[01:28:47] Magic glasses, esoteric rabbit holes, and rolling the
dice.


[01:44:02] How Aleister Crowley and Bill Murray paved a path to
ex-atheism.


[02:02:21] Cyan's billboard.


[02:04:41] Enduring a stroke and its aftermath.


[02:08:31] Meditation, throat-singing, and philosophy.


[02:17:50] The Boston spiritual experience and duck boat baptism.


[02:40:53] A book in the works, the Ugly Duckling Substack, and
parting thoughts.


*


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Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael
Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold
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Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly
Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard
Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael
Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan
Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit
Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim
Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval
Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth
Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard
Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid
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Silverman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, and many more.


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