Founders · 2 min instead of 1 h 24 m · Oct 7, 2026
Stop telling yourself stories and keep making the calls
Ari Emanuel
CEO, TKO
David SenraHost · Host, Founders
Has read an entrepreneur's biography every week for Founders since 2016.
About this segment
Ari tells his CFO to stop spiraling over a fundraise and keep making calls. The stories in your head aren't reality, and activity beats anxiety.
From “Building an Empire with Risk, Rage & 200 Phone Calls A Day | Ari Emanuel, WME & TKO”, Oct 7, 2026. Watch the full episode
“We tell ourselves stories in our heads that we then believe. And those are not real stories. Those are just stories. They're just not reality.”
Takeaways
- Stories we tell ourselves are not reality
- When fundraising feels scary, keep making calls
- Good product and a right thesis will draw people in
In this episode
Full episode- 16:04How Ari saved the ESPN deal by going crazy on purpose3:17
- 32:36Egon Durban's $400 million bid to end the IMG auction2:14
34:55Stop telling yourself stories and keep making the calls1:30
Transcript
Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.
- 34:57
And it was very similar to this because it's just like, so you can only do what's in front of you, man. Yeah. You know, stop telling yourself a story. Renee Brown, stop telling yourself a story. Right. That in her books. And one of the great things that she. Who is this? Renee Brown. Okay. She's got great books. You know, we all do it. We tell ourselves stories in our heads that we then believe. And those are not real stories.
- 35:20
Those are just stories. They're just not reality. And, you know, my CFO of this new company who started this events business called Mari comes up to me and we're going through the raise we have to do. The fundraise. The fundraise. And he's getting very traumatic. I'm like, don't get to. And I said, stop. All we got to do is just keep on making the calls. We're going to get to it. We have a really good product, a really good story.
- 35:47
We're creating a great company. The world's going our way. The thesis is right. And he goes, you know, he takes a deep breath. I said, he goes, you're right. I said, just let's keep on making the calls and doing the thing and talking about our story. People will come to it. It's only getting better, this story. And, you know, I try every day in my life. And one of the things I say in the book is not listening to that voice.
- 36:08
We all have that voice. You know, we're guilty about stuff. We can't spend enough time with our kids. Is this right? you know, it's not really worth it. That voice always wants to boot up negative or tell you something else. That's one of the most interesting parts of the book, like really the transformation you see,