I watched Louis Theroux's new documentary Inside the Manosphere this week. If you haven't seen it, Theroux goes deep into the world of manosphere influencers, the guys who've built “empires”telling young men that masculinity is a competition and that the path to winning is paved with peptides, jaw implants, and 47-step routines.

One of the more fascinating rabbit holes in this world is a 20-year-old kid named Clavicular. Real name Braden Peters. He's been "looksmaxxing" since he was 14, injecting and ingesting dozens of substances, including steroids, all in the pursuit of becoming more physically attractive. He livestreams eight hours a day to tens of thousands of viewers. He was just arrested in Florida this week on an assault charge, which probably wasn't part of the optimization protocol.

And while a lot of the tech community was making fun of these guys on X, they’re really just a different flavor of Bryan Johnson (a current demi-god in most tech circles). To many, Bryan has effectively turned water into wine by scientifically lowering his age to that of an 18-year-old.

And look, I get the appeal of optimizing your health (a big part of why I write this). As founders, we're wired this way. We optimize our funnels, our pricing, our teams, our tech stacks. Which is a big part in why I think Johnson appeals to so many in the tech community.

This would all be fine, but now it seems to be spilling into higher-stakes territory: peptides.

My feed is now 40% founders talking about BPC-157, GHK-Cu, and whatever other acronym they discovered on a podcast last week. Guys who couldn't pass a high school biology exam are suddenly reading clinical studies at midnight, debating dosage protocols, and injecting mail-ordered substances from China into their butt with the confidence of a board-certified endocrinologist.

And to be clear, I'm not anti-peptide. I have friends who have genuinely changed their lives with GLP-1s and other protocols. People who were struggling with their weight for years, tried everything, and finally found something that worked. That's a net positive. Getting healthy by any means is infinitely better than doing nothing.

But there's a difference between using a tool to get healthy and falling down an optimization rabbit hole that slowly takes over your life. The guy who got on GLP-1 to lose 40 pounds and now has the energy to play with his kids? That's a win. The guy who started with one peptide and now has a spreadsheet tracking 14 different compounds, blood work every six weeks, and a dedicated mini-fridge in his home office? You start to question whether your buddies ‘health hobby’ is becoming an addiction.

So what do I do? I keep it stupid simple:

Is this the most optimized routine? Not at all. But the amount of mental space I've freed up by not moonlighting as an MD, reading research studies I don't understand, to inject a substance I don't understand into my body... I'll take that trade every time.

I am a firm believer that the thing that ages you the fastest is stress. I can’t imagine something more stressful than trying to decipher a peer-reviewed research study with ChatGPT so you can hopefully order the right peptide from China 😂

At the end of the day, focus on what works for you. Don’t get caught up following someone else’s protocol. Stick to the simplest plan that will give you the best results for your goals.

credit: ideabrowser.com

A new Knight Frank report made an unexpected declaration. It revealed that 44% of family offices are investing more in residential real estate now. And, you don’t need to be Warren Buffet to see why.

Since 2000, residential real estate outperformed the S&P 500 by 70% in total returns. It’s the only asset that pays you to own it, grows while you sleep, and shields your gains from the IRS. 

That’s why you need mogul. It’s a real estate platform that lets you invest in institutional-grade rental properties. You get monthly rental income, capital appreciation and tax benefits without a down payment or 3 a.m. tenant calls. In fact, over 20,000 investors have joined. 

Here’s Why:

• Tax Benefits

• +7% annual yields

• 18.8% avg annual IRR

TLDR: You can invest in high quality real estate for a fraction of the cost. Why wait?

Unlock This Alternative Now

Past performance isn't predictive; illustrative only. Investing risks principal; no securities offer. See important Disclaimers

5 rounds for time:

Rest 60 seconds between rounds.

Compound strength day. 5 sets of:

Tips:

Great thread on launching a start-up

I wrote a deep dive on the difference between investment bankers and business brokers, and why most business owners in the $5M to $50M range end up stuck in no man's land between the two.

If you've ever wondered whether you need a Wall Street banker or a Main Street broker to sell your company, this one breaks it all down:

Read the full article here: Investment Banker vs. Business Broker: Which Do You Need?

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