Ari Emanuel says psychedelic experience did not blunt his drive, pushes back on Marc Andreessen’s warning

Endeavor co-founder and TKO Group CEO Ari Emanuel said a 2022 experience with 5-MeO-DMT did not weaken his ambition or reduce his appetite for work, pushing back on concerns raised by Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen about psychedelics and startup culture. Speaking on the Founders podcast with David Senra, Emanuel said he still wakes up at 5 a.m., exercises, takes meetings, gives interviews and continues expanding MARI, his live events venture. Emanuel also said Elon Musk had been talking with him about artificial intelligence as far back as 2007. According to Emanuel, Musk argued that live experiences would be among the few parts of entertainment that AI could not disintermediate. That view later shaped Emanuel’s interest in live events beyond TKO’s UFC and WWE assets, including tennis tournaments, art fairs, car auctions, collectibles and other large-scale gatherings. In the same interview, Emanuel described years of anxiety, anger and insecurity tied in part to dyslexia, along with a later turn toward therapy, meditation and psychedelic use. He said the experience changed how he thinks about achievement, status and legacy, but not his willingness to build businesses.