Today, opioids are the go-to treatment for people with severe pain, and alternatives are needed.

Hear how scientists are investigating a different kind of approach to meet pain where it starts.

On the latest episode of Targeting the Tephist Diseases, a new podcast by Bloomberg Media Studios and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

This is Master's in Business with Barry Redholz on Bloomberg Radio.

This week on the podcast, my special guest is Max Chaffkin. He is a journalist and a reporter and writer and has a new book out all about Peter Teal and Silicon Valley.

It's quite fascinating. The book is called The Contrarian. Previously, I interviewed Ryan Holiday about his book on Peter Teal funding the Hulk Hogan litigation against Gokor.

This book is really less focused on any single event and more of a deep dive into the life and times of Peter Teal.

He's a fascinating character and the book is really quite interesting. I found the book intriguing and I found my conversation with Max fascinating and I think you will also.

So with no further ado, my interview with Business Weeks, Max Chaffkin.

This is Master's in Business with Barry Redholz on Bloomberg Radio.

My special guest this week is Max Chaffkin. He is a features editor and tech reporter at Bloomberg Business Week.

His work has also appeared in such August magazines as Fast Company, Family Fair, The New York Times magazine.

He is the author of a fascinating new book, The Contrarian. Peter Teal and Silicon Valley's pursuit of power.

Normally here I say, guest, welcome to Bloomberg but since you work here, I'm going to say, Max, welcome to Masters in Business.

Thanks for having me, Barry. It's a pleasure to be here.

And I have to say, this is a fascinating topic about a really interesting eclectic person that even though there's been a decent amount written about him before this, there wasn't as much of a deep dive into his life.

So we're going to get to that in a few minutes. Before we do, let's just start with your background. How did you get into journalism? What attracted you to this?

Yeah, so my first job in journalism was at a magazine called Inc, which is a short business magazine.

I don't know. I was interested in getting a job in journalism. This is going back 16, 17 years ago.

And my father had worked in business his whole career. I'd sort of been interested in business and in the idea that the business stories have something to say about the real world.

I read Moneyball and the Michael Lewis book about the Oklanays and the business story behind the Oklanays being good at baseball.

Anyway, I got this job at Inc magazine, Small Business Magazine, and that was kind of how I got into it.

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