Investing Like A Mystic: How Cyan Banister Finds Outliers (Co-Founder of Long Journey Ventures)

“AI is going to be the age of the polymath. If you have the ability to think about different systems and how they might work together, you’re going to be able to come up with outcomes that were previously impossible because those disciplines didn’t work well together.” — Cyan Banister, Co-Founder of Long Journey Ventures

Cyan Banister has built one of the most distinctive early-stage track records of the last fifteen years, with early bets on companies like Uber, SpaceX, DeepMind, Niantic, and Postmates. Today, she is co-founder and general partner at Long Journey Ventures, where she backs what she calls “magical weirdos.” Banister describes herself as a professional daydreamer, running constant thought experiments and paying close attention to signals others ignore. In this episode, she explains how that mindset translates into investing, and why many of her best opportunities have come from observation, curiosity, and a willingness to look in unlikely places.

In our conversation, we explore:

• Cyan’s philosophy of treating life as a series of experiments

• The strange, profound experiences that led her to question and ultimately move beyond her atheism

• How scanning Wi-Fi networks in a Four Seasons café led her to Flock Safety, last valued at $8.4 billion

• Long Journey Ventures’ “Biz, Tizz, and Rizz” framework for identifying exceptional founders and why the trifecta is rare

• How AI will enable the age of the polymath

• Why she believes brain-computer interfaces are closer than most people think

• Why she says Pokémon Go was “the closest we ever came to world peace”

• Why she lives part-time in a retirement community and her vision for a more connected future

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Explore the episode

Timestamps

(00:00) Intro

(03:51) Never playing the game you appear to be playing

(07:18) Practicing childlike wonder as a daily discipline

(10:08) Questioning belief after her stroke

(13:30) Cyan’s metaphysical experiments

(23:24) Non-local consciousness and creativity

(27:22) Investing with extreme openness to signals

(29:05) The importance of timing in investing

(32:26) Meeting Travis Kalanick

(34:19) Finding Flock Safety through a chance encounter

(38:23) The summer of Pokémon Go (what worked and what didn’t)

(39:55) Human nature and what makes something “stick”

(42:15) Brain-computer interfaces and AI’s accelerating effect

(52:53) “Biz, Tiz, Riz:” her framework for evaluating founders

(59:20) Why Cyan lives in a retirement community part-time

(1:03:50) A unique way of finding books that speak to you

(1:08:44) Final meditations

Follow Cyan Banister:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyanb

X: https://x.com/cyantist

Newsletter: https://uglyduckling.substack.com

Website: https://cyanbanister.com

Resources and episode mentions

Books

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone: https://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Philosophers-Stone-Rowling/dp/0747532745

• Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre: https://www.amazon.com/Impro-Improvisation-Theatre-Keith-Johnstone/dp/0878301178

• The Diamond Age: https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Age-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0553573314

• Snow Crash: https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0553380958

• My Life and Loves: https://www.amazon.com/My-Life-Loves-Frank-Harris/dp/9358712538

• Milton Friedman’s books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Books-Milton-Friedman/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AMilton%2BFriedman

• The Razor’s Edge: https://www.amazon.com/Razors-Edge-W-Somerset-Maugham/dp/1400034205

People

• Kurt Vonnegut: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut

• Aldous Huxley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldous_Huxley

• J.K. Rowling’s website: https://www.jkrowling.com

• Neal Stephenson’s website: https://www.nealstephenson.com

• Travis Kalanick on X: https://x.com/travisk

• Ryan Graves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Graves_(businessman)

• Keith Rabois on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith

• Garrett Langley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glangley

• John Luttig on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luttig

• John Hanke on X: https://x.com/johnhanke

• Paul Stamets website: https://paulstamets.com

• Keith Corso on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-corso

• Brendan Eich on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendaneich

• Arielle Zuckerberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariellezuckerberg

• Josh Browder on X: https://x.com/Joshuabrowder

• Aleister Crowley: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley

• George Gurdjieff: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gurdjieff

• P.D. Ouspensky: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._D._Ouspensky

Other resources

• Josh 31: https://uglyduckling.substack.com/p/josh-31

• The Telepathy Tapes: https://thetelepathytapes.com

• The Intuitive Hour: Awaken Your Inner Voice: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Ws7WZsFuQuwgl6uiPMJq3

• Spellers: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27558471

• Animal Telepathy & Consciousness: https://thetelepathytapes.com/podcast/the-telepathy-tapes-s2-e5

• Brain-computer interface: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain%E2%80%93computer_interface

• Saturday Night Live: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live

• Ouija: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouija

• Kozmo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kozmo.com

• Modern Meditations: Keith Rabois: https://www.generalist.com/p/modern-meditations-keith-rabois

• Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com

• Pokémon Go: https://www.pokemongo.com

• Ingress: https://ingress.com

• Monopoly Go: https://www.monopolygo.com

• Pikmin Bloom: https://pikminbloom.com

• Niantic: https://nianticlabs.com

• Niantic Spatial: https://www.nianticspatial.com

• This Beanie Is Designed to Read Your Thoughts: https://www.wired.com/story/this-beanie-is-designed-to-read-your-thoughts

• CTRL-Labs: https://dsvw8jmuo45j8.cloudfront.net

• Fungi Perfecti: https://fungi.com/pages/bees?srsltid=AfmBOoqnjt2xKnfY7H3bW_yLaUuVrvoogzsa8mt5BHEqN_iWze0WQEkx

• Etsy: https://www.etsy.com

• Busright: https://www.busright.com

• Rizz & Tizz (and a Little Biz): Our Framework for Magical Weirdness: https://www.longjourney.vc/news/founderrizzandtizz

• Crusoe: https://www.crusoe.ai

• Mafia: https://mafia.gg

• B Street Books: https://www.bstreetbooks.com

• Automat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat

• The Restaurant With No (Visible) Workers: https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/08/31/436377616/the-restaurant-with-no-visible-workers

• “The Magic Glasses” by Frank Harris: https://hermetic.com/crowley/equinox/i/i/eqi01007

• Sufism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism

• Kabbalah: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah

• The Razor’s Edge (1946 film): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Razor%27s_Edge_(1946_film)

• The Razor’s Edge (1984 film): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Razor%27s_Edge_(1984_film)

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