All Podcasts / The Tim Ferriss Show / #834: David Baszucki, Co-Founder of Roblox — The Path to 150M+ Daily Users, Critical Business Decisions, Ketogenic Therapy for Brain Health, Daily Routines, The Roblox Economy, and More
The Tim Ferriss Show
The Tim Ferriss Show

#834: David Baszucki, Co-Founder of Roblox — The Path to 150M+ Daily Users, Critical Business Decisions, Ketogenic Therapy for Brain Health, Daily Routines, The Roblox Economy, and More

November 05, 2025 • 1h 55m

Summary

⏱️ 10 min read

Overview

Tim Ferriss interviews David Baszucki, founder and CEO of Roblox, in a wide-ranging conversation covering metabolic psychiatry, ketogenic therapy for mental health (particularly bipolar disorder), the evolution and future of Roblox as a platform, biohacking practices, and the intersection of physiology and performance. The discussion reveals how Baszucki's family's experience with bipolar disorder led to involvement in metabolic health research, while also exploring Roblox's journey from a small startup in 2004 to a platform with 120 million daily users and a thriving creator economy.

Introduction and Connection Through Metabolic Health

Tim Ferriss introduces David Baszucki and explains that their connection came not through Roblox's business success, but through mutual interest in metabolic psychiatry and ketogenic therapy. They connected via Dr. Dominic D'Agostino, a researcher focused on exogenous ketones, and through Baszucki's work with the Baszucki Group supporting metabolic health research. This unexpected entry point sets the stage for a conversation that bridges mental health, physiology, and technology innovation.

  • Roblox was started in 2004, the same year as Facebook, and has iterated its way to massive scale
  • David previously founded Knowledge Revolution, creating Interactive Physics educational software
  • The connection between Tim and David came through Dominic D'Agostino and metabolic psychiatry research, not through Roblox

Family Crisis: Son's Bipolar Disorder and Mental Health Journey

Baszucki shares the deeply personal story of his son Matthew's first manic episode during freshman year at UC Berkeley. What began as a promising start to college devolved into an eight to nine-year journey involving multiple hospitalizations, ten different medications, and eventually Matthew running away and living on the streets. The family struggled to navigate the medical system and find effective treatment. This harrowing experience, which David's wife described as lying on the bedroom floor at 4 a.m. convinced their son was dead, ultimately led them to explore metabolic approaches to mental health.

  • Matthew entered his first manic episode during freshman year at UC Berkeley
  • The journey involved eight to nine years of wild experiences, hospitalizations, and trying to navigate the medical system
  • In December 2017, Matthew ran away, flushed his medications, and lived on the streets in San Diego and Los Angeles
  • David eventually found Matthew at a Starbucks in LA and managed to get him to a hospital in San Diego
  • The family learned about ketogenic therapy from another CEO founder who had success with bipolar treatment using a metabolic diet
" At 4 a.m. the Friday before Christmas, I lay curled up and crying on my bedroom floor, convinced my son was no longer alive. "
" After eight years and hospitalizations and very difficult times, we worked with Dr. Palmer and others and he tried a ketogenic diet. And literally within three weeks or four weeks, we saw progress that we had never seen with any drug or medication. "

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