The Gstaad Guy Podcast

The Gstaad Guy sits down with Ted Gushue, founder of ERG Media and Editor-in-Chief of Type 7, who publishes hand bound books in the most digital era in history. Having once declared print dead and been proved comprehensively wrong, Ted has built a career around people who care too much about one thing, on the conviction that making something for two thousand obsessives beats selling fifty thousand copies to the indifferent.

The conversation gets into where taste comes from and why the objects people love say more about them than anything they say out loud. Ted is candid about the discipline of looking at your own work honestly, about why he has never taken a cut for an introduction, and about the one quality he has found impossible to teach. Warm, generous, and full of opinions he has actually earned, it is a conversation about craftsmanship, obsession, and building things designed to outlive you.

Filmed at Mandarin Oriental, Milan.

Intro ✨🎙️

(02:52) The Cheat Code Of Being An American In Europe 🇺🇸🇪🇺

(05:54) Books Are Dead, I Was Wrong 📚🔄

(08:09) Printing It Out In Lockdown 🖨️🏠

(11:18) Jazz Kissa And The Audience Of Two Thousand 🎷🎧

(15:04) Porsche Was The Architect's Car 🏎️📐

(19:32) Building A Community, Not An Advert 🤝📣

(25:29) Fax Machines And Flying Cars 📠🚗

(29:22) Otaku, And The Beauty Of Being Obsessed 🇯🇵🔍

(33:40) What Coolness Actually Looks Like 😎✨

(35:15) I've Never Been A Broker 🚫💼

(40:12) No Door Is Closed In America 🚪🇺🇸

(44:33) DJ, Gossip Columnist, Consultant 🎧🗞️

(48:22) Learning To Say This Ain't It ✋🎯

(49:59) Why Milan Breathes 🇮🇹🌬️

(54:58) Bite The Bullet, Open The Company 🏢🚀

(58:33) À La Poubelle vs. Fantastique 🗑️✨

(01:05:03) You Can't Teach Work Ethic 💪🏆
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In a reversal of the usual format, Alex Ikonn, founder of Intelligent Change, turns the microphone on The Gstaad Guy to explore what actually constitutes a life well lived. From repeating a private joke among college friends to a video that circulated by WhatsApp through Gstaad, Monaco, Aspen and New York, The Gstaad Guy traces a path he describes as entrepreneurial rather than creative: not an artist waiting to be heard, but someone watching for the one thing that worked well enough to run behind.

The conversation gets into why he spent two years nurturing the character before leaving Apple, and why he rejects the rhetoric urging young people to quit and chase the dream. He is candid about what he has learned from observing people who have achieved extraordinary success, and how consistently their regrets turn out to be human rather than professional. He makes the case for dating your best friend, argues that legacy is a self-serving word, and explains why he would risk his financial success for his family's unity but never the reverse. Reflective and unusually direct about the cost of ambition, it is a conversation about balance, perspective, and voting with your screen time.

Filmed at The Peninsula London.

Chapters:

(00:00) Intro 🎙️✨

01:54) Before The Deals, Still At Apple 💻🍎

(02:43) The Joke That Became The Gstaad Guy 😂🏔️

(04:04) Stopped On The Street A Month Later 👀🌍

(06:03) An Entrepreneur, Not A Creative 💼🚀

(07:50) Earning The Right To Quit 💪🎯
(11:47) Advice For Anyone Sitting At A Desk With A Dream 💡🌟

(13:50) What The Most Successful People Have In Common 🏆🔍

(16:21) Living In The Grey Area ⚖️🌫️

(17:26) Filling A Void Versus Building A Tower 🏗️💡

(20:55) Date Your Best Friend ❤️🤝

(23:20) The Rich Guys Who Replace Instead Of Fix 💰🔄

(25:34) What Social Media Did To Love 📱❤️

(27:29) Guiding The Algorithm Instead Of Being Guided 🧭📱

(30:45) Building A Subculture By Choosing Friends 🤝🌍

(35:00) The Question That Made Him Define His Values 🔍🏛️

(39:39) What Money Is Actually Well Spent On 💰✨

(41:47) Where Meaning Fits In 🧭❤️

(47:26) Why Legacy Is A Lame Word 🏆💭

(49:37) The Happiest Marriages Are The Least Social 💍🌿

(53:52) Swiss Values And De-Glamorising Excess 🇨🇭⚖️

(55:41) Grateful For The Law Of Attraction 🙏✨
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The Gstaad Guy sits down with David Grutman, founder of Groot Hospitality and the man many consider to hold the keys to Miami, to explore what it really takes to build places people never want to leave. From working the door to opening Komodo in a space his own friends called dead on arrival, David reflects on a career defined by reading people, spotting trends before they surface, and the conviction that the real reward is not the money but the look on someone's face after a great night.

The conversation gets into why festive beats formal in a restaurant, what makes someone a great guest, and how he tells the difference between genuine warmth and someone working an angle. David speaks candidly about playing the long game with people who let him down, the investments that failed alongside the ones that worked, and the wife who calls him a broken butterfly for the boundaries that keep him whole. Warm, perceptive, and refreshingly honest about his own ambition, it is a conversation about hospitality, loyalty, and why taking it personal might be the whole point.

Filmed at David Grutman’s Miami home.

Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro ✨🎙️
(00:47) Holding The Keys To Miami 🌴🔑
(02:39) Reading People And Spotting The Angle 👁️🎯
(05:56) Setting Trends By Watching The Underground 🔍📈
(08:01) Komodo, Brickell And A Restaurant Everyone Called Dead On Arrival 🐉🍽️
(12:08) Why Festive Beats Formal In A Restaurant 🎉🍽️
(15:12) Mentors, And Why He Refuses To Be One 🚫🎓
(17:03) Take It Personal, And Playing The Long Game 📖⏳
(20:07) How To Be A Great Guest 😊🌟
(21:48) FOG, Friends Of Grutman, At The Door 🚪🤝
(23:29) Ambition, Marriage And The Broken Butterfly 💍🦋
(31:38) Investing In Olipop, Symbiotika And The Deals That Failed 💰📉
(36:48) Writing The Book And Learning Gratitude 📖❤️
(41:48) The Verbal Tip Nobody In The Industry Wants 🗣️😏
(44:20) À La Poubelle vs. Fantastique 🗑️✨
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The Gstaad Guy sits down with David Grutman, founder of Groot Hospitality and the man many consider to hold the keys to Miami, to explore what it really takes to build places people never want to leave. From working the door to opening Komodo in a space his own friends called dead on arrival, David reflects on a career defined by reading people, spotting trends before they surface, and the conviction that the real reward is not the money but the look on someone's face after a great night.

The conversation gets into why festive beats formal in a restaurant, what makes someone a great guest, and how he tells the difference between genuine warmth and someone working an angle. David speaks candidly about playing the long game with people who let him down, the investments that failed alongside the ones that worked, and the wife who calls him a broken butterfly for the boundaries that keep him whole. Warm, perceptive, and refreshingly honest about his own ambition, it is a conversation about hospitality, loyalty, and why taking it personal might be the whole point.

Filmed at David Grutman’s Miami home.

Chapters:
(00:00) Intro ✨🎙️

(01:34) Holding The Keys To Miami 🌴🔑

(03:26) Reading People And Spotting The Angle 👁️🎯

(06:43) Setting Trends By Watching The Underground 🔍📈

(08:48) Komodo, Brickell And A Restaurant Everyone Called Dead On Arrival 🐉🍽️

(12:55) Why Festive Beats Formal In A Restaurant 🎉🍽️

(15:59) Mentors, And Why He Refuses To Be One 🚫🎓

(17:50) Take It Personal, And Playing The Long Game 📖⏳

(20:54) How To Be A Great Guest 😊🌟

(22:35) FOG, Friends Of Grutman, At The Door 🚪🤝

(24:16) Ambition, Marriage And The Broken Butterfly 💍🦋

(32:25) Investing In Olipop, Symbiotika And The Deals That Failed 💰📉

(37:35) Writing The Book And Learning Gratitude 📖❤️

(42:35) The Verbal Tip Nobody In The Industry Wants 🗣️😏

(45:07) À La Poubelle vs. Fantastique 🗑️✨
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The Gstaad Guy sits down with Edgar Bronfman Jr, former CEO of Warner Music Group, and now co-founder of the venture firm Waverley Capital, to explore what it takes to back your own judgement when almost nobody around you agrees with it. From producing his first film at sixteen to running a family business he eventually sold at the top of the market, Edgar reflects on a career defined by early conviction, an instinct for where value was moving before others saw it, and the belief that it does not matter who got you in the door, only what you do once you are in the room.

The conversation gets into the years of bad press he absorbed while trading a chemicals stake for the entertainment industry, the difference between unanimity in word and unanimity in spirit inside a family, and why the customer is never wrong about what they want. Edgar speaks candidly about the personal cost of the job and what he gave up to do it, the standard he sets for anyone about to get married, and what he would do differently for the family member who never wanted the company to go the way he took it. Measured, unsentimental, and full of stories he tells without embellishment, it is a conversation about judgement, legacy, and recognising value where others miss it.

Filmed at Casa Cipriani New York’s Liberty Corner Suite.

(00:00) Intro ✨🎙️

(01:55) Anything But Summer Camp 🏕️😏

(04:21) Why Don't You Produce It? 🎬💡

(06:11) Forty Thousand Pounds Of Bad Cheques 💸😬

(08:31) Learning Lyrics To Get A Date 🎵❤️

(09:27) The Dinner He Had To Pay For 🍽️😅

(10:54) Three Conditions For His Father 👨‍👦📋

(12:50) The File Marked LSD 📁😏

(14:22) It's All On You Once You're In The Room 💪🎯

(15:37) The Script His Team Passed On 📝❌

(17:56) Turn The Car Around 🚗🔄

(20:11) Recognising What You Already Have 👁️✨

(24:06) Unanimity In Word, Not In Spirit 🗣️⚖️

(27:53) Two Kinds Of Consumer Company 🏢🔍

(30:04) The Loophole Worth 1.6 Billion 💰🔓

(36:19) Competing With Disney 🏰⚔️

(41:05) Selling At Forty Six, Not Fifty Six ⏳💼

(43:52) I Gave Up Friends 😔🤝

(46:26) When They Invented Marriage, People Died At Thirty 💍⏳

(50:03) What The Internet Did To Distribution 🌐📦

(54:09) Why Celebrity Spirits Rarely Stick 🥃⭐

(56:24) The Customer Is Never Wrong 🛍️✅

(58:10) À La Poubelle vs. Fantastique 🗑️✨
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