Welcome to another episode of the Startup Junkies podcast!
This week, Caleb, Jeff, and Matthew talk with Perry Marshall, an online marketing consultant, author, and deep thinker. Perry is the author of The Ultimate Guide to Google Ads, the world’s best-selling book on digital advertisement. In this episode, the guys talk about Perry’s obsession with learning, how artificial intelligence stacks up against biology, and much more. Tune in to learn why Perry spends his time in the shower thinking about the problems with profit-based health care systems. You don’t want to miss out on this wild episode!
Shownotes
(1:23) Introducing Perry Marshall
(2:11) Perry’s shower thoughts
(4:54) The problem with profit-based health care systems
(7:31) How Perry wrote the best-selling book on digital advertising
(18:54) Kindergarten business vs. the adult version of business
(22:23) Evolution 2.0
(45:49) The earth as a self-regulating organism
(51:50) Artificial intelligence vs. Biology
(56:52) Wrapping up
Links
Quotes
“So I write this book and then I turn it into an ebook, and right about then, like, Google hit the hockey stick and it just turned into this crazy magic carpet ride. Like, the whole world discovered that the English language is for sale, and the French, and the German, and Spanish. Right? And, like, this thing just went supernova, and Google went supernova, and like, I just kind of rode the coattails and I hung on for dear life.” (16:54)
“I know how to explain things. I’m a marketing guy. And that’s why I wrote Evolution 2.0…This is literally the first book ever published that correctly explains how evolution works, that you don’t have to be a PhD to understand it.” (45:26)
Perry Marshall – Darwin 2.0
While many people find it commonplace to observe entrepreneurs who involve themselves in several industries and disciplines, it is rare to find a person knowledgeable in as many diverse fields as Perry Marshall. He possesses an evident desire to understand how and why things work. His passion for figuring systems out has led him to obtain knowledge in fields one would not initially see as connected.
Originally a marketing and sales manager for a small software company, Perry jumped at the opportunity to write articles that would help his company gain publicity and credibility. A few articles later, someone from ASI, a trade organization for engineering, offered Perry the opportunity to write a book on ethernet. Perry understood the credibility that authoring a book brought you, but he knew nothing about ethernet. He started buying books, wrote Industrial Ethernet — A Pocket Guide, and became an ethernet expert along the way.
In 2001, the business he worked for was bought by a larger company, and Perry decided to start his own marketing consultancy. While hustling for new clients, Perry decided to dip his toes into the newly released Google Ads. In time, he became an expert in the subject and wrote multiple books in the field, including The Ultimate Guide to Google Ads, which is the world’s best-selling book on digital advertising.
“So I write this book and then I turn it into an ebook, and right about then, like, Google hit the hockey stick and it just turned into this crazy magic carpet ride. Like, the whole world discovered that the English language is for sale, and the French, and the German, and Spanish. Right? And, like, this thing just went supernova, and Google went supernova, and like, I just kind of rode the coattails and I hung on for dear life.” (16:54)
Years later, Perry was visiting his brother, a missionary, in China. His brother began to tell Perry that he no longer believed in God and that life was a culmination of millions of years of natural selection. Perry was caught entirely off guard by his brother’s comments. He found himself unable to argue theology with a seminary graduate who was an expert in Greek and Hebrew.
Perry did not entirely know what he believed, but he knew what he did not believe. He had difficulty siding with scientists who thought that life was formed through a series of happy chemical accidents. He also could not believe what he was taught when he was young, that the universe is 6,000 years old. Perry could use science to prove that this could not be true. He needed to find something in the middle.
Perry’s drive for knowledge and understanding, as well as a desire to discuss theology with his brother, led him to purchase countless books on biology. In time, he became an expert in this field and penned another book, Evolution 2.0: Breaking the Deadlock Between Darwin and Design.
“I know how to explain things. I’m a marketing guy. And that’s why I wrote Evolution 2.0…This is literally the first book ever published that correctly explains how evolution works, that you don’t have to be a PhD to understand it.” (45:26)
Through only a few stories, it is clear that Perry has an obsession with understanding and gaining knowledge. He is uncomfortable accepting ideas and concepts that do not entirely add up, and he will research until he understands the truth.
English 
Spanish 
Korean