Living at the Speed of Play

Living at the Speed of Play

Author: Next Big Idea Club July 16, 2026 Duration: 1:02:06
Podcasting is lousy with guests who peddle advice about starting businesses, building careers, and living full lives. Few of these gurus have actually accomplished anything. Fewer still have advice that comes anywhere close to revelatory. Mark Pincus is the rare exception. The founder of 10 companies, Mark is best known for Zynga, the gaming juggernaut behind FarmVille and Words With Friends. At its peak, Zynga was valued at more than $12 billion and accounted for 20% of Facebook’s page views. It was so big, in fact, that Mark Zuckerberg once admitted to Mark Pincus, “Zynga is the only company that is capable of being an actual Facebook competitor.” Across his 30-year career, Mark — Pincus, not Zuck — developed a cheat code for building products people love and living a life anyone would admire, and that cheat code winds its way through his new book, Life at the Speed of Play. Today, he shares how he learned to trust his gut, why most founders build too much and test too little, and how failure taught him to move faster, pivot sooner, and search for real signals instead of hope. 📖 CHAPTERS: (02:22) The Fight That Changed His Life  (08:25) The Startup Decision That Matters Most (17:00) The Fastest Way to Make People Care (20:42) The Day Mark Zuckerberg Proved Him Wrong  (31:59) Why Most Startups Build Too Much  (40:11) How The Founder Is Employee #1 (43:39) The Culture Hack That Scales (51:37) The Framework Behind FarmVille 📱 This is part one of our conversation with Mark. The second installment will be out on Monday. If you can’t wait until then, you can listen right now in the Next Big Idea app. 🎥 The Next Big Idea is now on YouTube! You can find our episodes ⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠. ✉️ Follow Rufus on ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠, subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠, or send us an email at ⁠⁠podcast@nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠. 🔗 SPONSORED BY: Granola — If meetings are eating up your day, Granola is a no-brainer. You can try it totally free for three months. Just head to granola.ai/idea IM8 — Athletes, doctors, David Beckham — they all drink IM8. Get a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets, and 10% off your order when you use code NBI at ⁠im8health.com/nbi⁠ Momentous — If you want to try Momentous Signature Spec Creatine, head to livemomentous.com and use code IDEA for up to 35% off your entire first order. Northwest Registered Agent — They’ve been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow businesses for nearly 30 years. Learn more at ⁠northwestregisteredagent.com/nbifree⁠ Upwork — Visit upwork.com right now and post your job for free. Shopify — Stop waiting for permission to build something. Your next revenue stream starts free at ⁠shopify.com/nbi⁠

Each week on The Next Big Idea, hosts Rufus Griscom and Caleb Bissinger sit down with authors and researchers whose ideas are shaping our culture, education, and understanding of society. The conversations are guided by a unique group of curators-Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink-who help frame these discussions around the most compelling new concepts in science and social thought. This isn't just an interview podcast; it's a deep exploration of the books and theories that have the potential to shift perspectives and spark meaningful change. You'll hear the stories behind the ideas, the personal journeys of the thinkers, and practical insights that extend beyond the page. The dialogue is structured yet spontaneous, offering listeners a genuine sense of being part of a substantive conversation. Episodes are released every Thursday, providing a consistent dose of intellectual curiosity. The podcast is produced by the Next Big Idea Club, an organization dedicated to surfacing and discussing transformative knowledge. Whether you're looking to understand the nuances of human behavior, the latest scientific discoveries, or the forces driving social change, this series serves as an accessible gateway to complex topics. The aim is to make big ideas feel relevant and engaging, without oversimplifying their importance. Tune in for a thoughtful break from the noise, where the focus is entirely on understanding what comes next.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

The Next Big Idea
Podcast Episodes
How to Be a Super Ager [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:44:05
For years, cardiologist Eric Topol hunted for the rarest people in America: those over 80 who had never been sick. When he finally found 1,400 of them, he made a shocking discovery. It wasn't their genes. These "super ag…
What If Saving the Planet Could Be Fun? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:24
Despite decades of urgency and alarm, progress on climate change has felt frustratingly slow. What if we've been going about it all wrong? Elizabeth Dunn and Jiaying "JZ" Zhao think there's a missing ingredient in the co…
How to Live a Long and Useful Life [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:42
Publisher, scientist, humorist, diplomat — Benjamin Franklin was America's first polymath. Today, with help from Eric Weiner, we revisit Franklin's life, searching for tips about how to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. Thi…
As America Turns 250, Are You in the Mood to Celebrate? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:30
"We’re entering our 250th birthday, and we’re not quite in the mood for a birthday party. We’ve been tearing ourselves apart." That's what Walter Isaacson told Rufus when they sat down last year. But, he says, it doesn't…
THE GOD TEST (Part 2): Can Humanity Pass the Cosmic Reckoning? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:01
On Thursday, Rufus and Robert Wright (The God Test) talked about AI as a new stage in the evolution of intelligence — and about the very human traits already showing up in our machines: empathy, deception, power-seeking,…
THE GOD TEST (Part 1): Are You Ready for Superintelligence? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:47
Does the logic of human destiny now lead to artificial intelligence? Are we creating a higher form of intelligence in our own image? And, if so, what kind of image is that? These are the questions celebrated author Rober…
You Have 72 Free Hours a Week. How Do You Want to Spend Them? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:56
Most of us swear we have no free time. But the week is 168 hours long. Subtract a 40-hour job and eight hours of sleep a night, and you're left with 72 hours. So where do they go? Today, Laura Vanderkam, author of the ne…
Are You Playing Someone Else’s Game? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:14:44
GPAs. Citations. Step counts. Likes. We love a good metric, don't we? It tells you exactly where you stand, no arguing. Mention a 4.0 to a high schooler and they'll know exactly what you mean. Tell a fellow Fitbit-wearer…
This World Cup Is Messy. Watch It Anyway. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:22
The World Cup kicked off over the weekend, and so far the mood is meh. Fans are fuming over sell-your-kidney ticket prices, frightened by reports that ICE may target matches, tailgates, and sports bars, and generally fee…
The Case for AI Optimism with Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:27
Nearly half of all Americans believe AI is bad for humanity. Peter Diamandis is not one of them. On his podcast, Moonshots, and in his new book, We Are as Gods, co-written with the inimitable Steven Kotler, he makes the…