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- #157 – Ben Francis & Being Directionally Correct
#157 – Ben Francis & Being Directionally Correct
Quote, Podcast, Mental Model, Observation, X.
Dimitri Gremos
May 27, 2026
Good morning everyone,
Hope you’re having a great week!
Here are 5 things I found interesting over the past few days.
Let’s jump in.
read online on my website
read time 3 minutes
#157 – The Rundown:
Quote: Where discipline comes from.
Podcast: The UK’s youngest billionaire.
Mental Model: The luck razor.
Observation: Wall Street’s sports money is knocking on Australia’s door.
X: Focus on contribution, not reception.
Quote:
“Discipline comes from clarity not force.”
{h/t Dan Koe}
Podcast:
Ben Francis: UK’s Youngest Billionaire
Ben Francis went from a pizza delivery boy to the UK’s youngest billionaire by founding sportswear brand Gymshark.
BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng dive into Ben’s remarkable rise from sewing gym vests in his parents’ garage, to building one of the fastest growing fitness brands in the world.
He’s still only 33.
I think what hearing Ben’s story really opened my eyes to was the power of creative obsession that feeds perfectly into an enormous rising tide: in this case, athleisure and fitness culture.
Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
[Duration: 48 minutes]
P.S. I made a Spotify playlist with every podcast I’ve ever recommended. Hope they bring you as much value as they’ve brought me.
Mental Model:
The Luck Razor
A powerful rule of thumb:
“When choosing between two paths, always choose the path that has the larger luck surface area.
Most of what we call "luck" is the macro result of thousands of micro actions. Your daily habits put you in a position where “luck” is more likely to strike.
It’s hard to get lucky watching TV at home. It’s easy to get lucky when you’re creating motion, meeting people, engaging, and learning.”
This reminded me of an idea that Charlie recently discussed on Sweat Capital that I really like about being “directionally correct”.
It’s incredibly hard to thread the needle of achieving highly specific and long-dated objectives amidst an ever-changing landscape.
Aiming up and giving ourselves the largest “surface area” for positive outcomes is usually a helpful place to start.
{h/t Sahil Bloom & Charlie Selth}
Observation:
Wall Street’s Sports Money is Knocking on Australia’s Door
This one caught my eye for a few reasons.
Sixth Street – California-based investment giant with ~US$125 billion ($173b) in assets and stakes in the New England Patriots, Boston Celtics and Real Madrid – has reportedly been quietly doing the rounds in Australia.
According to the Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk, the firm has been meeting a select group of local institutions and family offices to gauge appetite for a new Sixth Street Sports and Live Entertainment fund, while its deal makers simultaneously sniff around our local sports scene for potential investments.
The new fund is a US$2 billion-plus closed-end vehicle, reportedly bumping up against its hard cap and slated to close globally by June 30. Sixth Street apparently doesn't even bother marketing most of its funds widely as they're typically oversubscribed before they need to.
So, where does Australia come into the picture?
A US$2.16 billion pipeline that includes "a top international sports league," a college stadium renovation, and two structured investments "into leading APAC sporting franchises".
This feeds into a trend some of you may have noticed I’ve been following for a little while now:
→ The dealmakers driving billions in revenue for F1 (#080)
→ Goldman Sachs whitepapers on investing in sports (#105)
→ The Brisbane Broncos share price outperforming the ASX 200 (#111)
→ JP Morgan making a push for athletes by recruiting Tom Brady, Dwayne Wade and others (#151)
→ How Toto Wolff built his billion-dollar empire leveraging the success and popularity of Formula One (#152)
Safe to say, there is a lot of money floating in and around the world of sport – and there has been for quite some time.
Very curious to see how this plays out in Australia as my gut feel is there’s a lot of runway for intelligent and sophisticated capital in the space.
Check out the full article here.
X:
Focus On Contribution, Not Reception
Thanks for reading! Grateful for your support.
Stay hungry, stay humble, stay curious. ⚡
In case you missed it, last week’s newsletter covered the sales tactic that changed how I think about persuasion, the business behind the Enhanced Games & more.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, it would mean the world if you could forward it to a friend or send them my website.
This goes a long way to helping me reach more people :)
See you in the next one,
Dimi