Hi and welcome to the A16 Z podcast. I'm Doss and this is part two of our two-part series on

human performance with rock climber Alex Arnold who first became famous with his

free solo climb of El Cap in Yosemite, a feat captured in the award-winning documentary, Free Solo.

In part one, we talked to Alex about the limits of human potential in climbing and other sports and how we push those limits through technology and training.

In this episode, recorded at our A16Z Innovation Summit last year, Alex talks to A16Z general partner and fellow

avid climber Peter Levine about how he prepared for his free solo, including some things that the film didn't show.

Climbing's the topic, but the conversation holds parallels and lessons for entrepreneurs

and anyone else who's undertaking something that's never been done before.

They start with how to evaluate risk versus reward,

then move on to how to shift from stealth to the public spotlight,

removing constraints to innovate, and knowing where you can and can't fail.

They finish, though, with Alex's Life Philosophy of Living Simply and Giving Back, including

how he donates a third of all his income to the

Hanold Foundation to support solar projects and underserved communities.

As a note, because this is a live recording around three minutes in,

you're going to notice some issues with Alex's audio. But stay with us.

They fix about a minute later. We have a bunch of entrepreneurs in the room here. We

always think about risk versus reward. Do you think about that? The risk versus the reward of doing any of these endeavors.

I think that as an entrepreneur you can maybe quantify it a little bit more.

I mean because you or is that I don't know so actually so flipping it around so from my perspective. It's all a lot more physical a lot more internal

Something seem really scary and you're like oh, I probably shouldn't do that because it seems really really scary

He's typically feeling fears a warning from your body that something is dangerous.

...