Jello Shots with Jsse Itzler

Author

Joel Hansen
March 17, 2026

Happy 11th Tuesday of 2026,

I woke up at 2:30am in Austin Texas this morning and am about to fall asleep but it’s Tuesady, so I have to send out some ideas to each of you or I have to pay one of you $100.

Yes. Welcome back to Stay Curious — a newsletter I write once per week on 3 things keeping me curious, or I send one of you a hundo dolla bill.

Here’s what’s on my mind this week:

1. Get On More Planes

If you’re like me, you love meeting new people.

And I must say, my last couple days in Austin, Texas blew my mind in every way. We were there for SXSW, but the side events, food, sunshine and energy left me speechless:

  • My wife and I took jello shots with Jesse Itzler (photos to prove it)

  • We met David Friedberg, my favourite bestie @ the All In Podcast

  • Met Allison Ellsworth, founder of Poppi, who just sold her company for $1.9B

  • Had amazing BBQ food at Terry Blacks

  • I Lime scootered my heart out

  • And got to hear from Travis Kalanik (Uber Founder), Michael Dell, Mark Cuban and Alexis Ohanian all talk about the future of their startups and how they’re adjusting to an AI world

I’m not saying you can’t hear from those people on a podcast. You can. But what I’ve finally learned is: there’s 100x more value in meeting a human face to face than staying in our comfy home office vibes

One’s passive, the other one is ACTIVE

And in my 20’s, I wanna be living my life on offence. Which is gonna mean more plane trips like this to learn from the best of the best, face to face.

2. No Phones Party by Jesse Itzler

Last Sunday from 6-11pm, I was with 50 strangers at a No Phones party hosted by Jesse Itzler and Taylor Prokes. It sounds exactly as it would. But it was beautiful in the best of ways

  • Everyone put their phones in bags (like a comedy club)

  • No Instagram, No texting, No scrolling

  • All genuine chats with strangers that become friends

Made me wanna try one out here in Canada….

3. Some Events Around the Corner

Bonus: I’m thinking of hosting a virtual LinkedIn Founder Storytelling Class on April 24th at 10am-2pm with my friends at Maven.com. Would you be interested in joining?

Liked today’s deep dive? Forward it to a friend.

Joel

You can hit me up on Twitter or LinkedIn. But the true besties hit me up on Strava and IG.

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