Page 20 - Alumni Horae: Vol. 94, No. 3 Spring 2014

the rights to older texts in addition to new books, and he’s
ready to branch into the various media of publishing:
eBooks, audio books, and print.
This summer, Tim will drop – “House of Cards-style,”
he says gleefully – all 13 episodes of the first season of
The Tim Ferriss Experiment through distribution outlets
such as iTunes, Amazon, and YouTube. House of Cards
star Kevin Spacey Tweeted encouragement to Tim in
March, saying: “Great to see guys like you shaking up
the status quo of how we get content to fans the way
they want. Good luck.”
Each episode finds Tim attempting to hack a different
skill in a matter of days that typically takes years of
study to master, from speaking Tagalog on live Filipino
television to tactical gunfighting.
However, it’s not enough for Tim just to hack advanced
skills on his show: he even felt compelled to hack the very
delivery method. “So much visual content is delivered
through broadband now,” he explains. “Why not allow
the consumer to binge or watch non-sequentially?”
Tim also suspects there’s significant inefficiency to
the conventional network television model of doling
out content on a weekly basis. By dumping the content
at once, he says, the message gets communicated “in
stereo” across different media platforms providing the
consumer multiple points of contact through Twitter,
Facebook, blogs, etc.
“Let’s say you’re standing on the bank of a raging river,
and your target audience is standing a mile downstream,”
Tim explains. “If you only have 10 tennis balls, and you
want to ensure they see one of them, what’s more effective?
Throwing one in every 10 minutes or throwing them all
in at once? The latter. I always go for a surround-sound
effect in compressed times frames, whether that’s two
days or two weeks, but seldom more.”
As we’re walking through SoMa toward the Mission
District, a passerby in a gray Tesla pullover stops
and recognizes Tim. “Tim? You’re Tim Ferriss, right?”
Tim nods, smiles, shakes his hand, and introduces
himself.
“I just watched your A Day in the Life episode,” he
says, referring to an April 2012 episode of the television
show in which Morgan Spurlock follows a well-known
figure around for a day. “I really appreciate what you’re
doing, man. Thanks!”
Our photographer asks Tim how often such encounters
happen. “In SF?” he says. “A couple times a day . . . but
just in SF.”
We drop by Mission Cliffs, an indoor climbing wall
and gym, so Tim can get in a compressed, high-intensity
workout while wearing a replica St. Paul’s gray gear
T-shirt made by a formmate. After about a hundred
kettle bell swings and making a new friend whose
handstand technique he found particularly impressive,
Tim’s ready to continue our conversation as we walk
deeper into the Mission.
I want to know more not just about the incident on
the street with the fan in the Tesla sweatshirt, but about
the relationship Tim shares with his loyal cadre of fans,
his half a million Twitter followers, and the million-plus
who’ve read his books.
Tim describes how he often uses Facebook to gather
ideas from friends and followers, at times soliciting
suggestions for where to find the best ideas for his
podcasts. The information and respect flow both ways,
as evidenced by the volume of comments left on his
Facebook and blog posts and responses to his tweets.
This isn’t just good business strategy on Tim’s part.
He genuinely cares about his fans, and sees himself as
more of a teacher than a writer or investor. He’s also
found ways to channel his influence philanthropically
by teaming up with Charles Best ’94, his old wrestling
partner from St. Paul’s and founder of DonorsChoose.org.
“Tim has rallied thousands of his followers to support
public school classrooms through our site,” Best says.
“As a result of Tim’s campaigns on DonorsChoose.org,
177,000 students – overwhelmingly from low-income
communities – now have books, art supplies, technol-
ogy, field trips, and other resources they need to learn.
Sounds unbelievable, but it’s true. Tim is a ‘force-multi-
plier’ for good.”
This strand of generosity runs particularly deep with
Tim Ferriss, whether it’s taking the time to discuss
market strategy with the founder of a young startup or
leveraging his social media presence to affect positive
outcomes with philanthropic ventures. Throughout our
day together, I have yet to hear Tim speak negatively of
someone, denigrate something, or reject a suggestion.
Instead, he’s endlessly positive, affirming and open-
minded, as demonstrated repeatedly through his inter-
actions with others – strangers and confidantes alike.
While we’re taking over a table in Central Kitchen, a
foodie Mecca in the Mission District in which Tim is also
an investor, a salt-and-pepper-haired man in pea-green
skinny jeans interrupts us to say hi to Tim. They chat for
a bit, the stranger inquiring as to what Tim’s been up to
of late and suggesting they should get together soon.
When they depart after a quick hug, I ask Tim who
that was. “Nick Bilton,” he says. As in Nick Bilton, the
tech and business columnist for The New York Times
and author of the recent bestseller Hatching Twitter? I
don’t even need to follow up about how they know one
another. By now I’ve learned it’s safe to assume anyone
who’s anyone around here knows Tim Ferriss.
Ferriss says he is recognized “a couple times a day . . .
but just in SF.”
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