Productivity · Personal Development · Entrepreneurship · United States
American author of The 4-Hour Workweek and four other books, host of The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, and instructor of paid video classes on CreativeLive.
Tim Ferriss (Timothy Ferriss) is an American author, podcaster and early-stage technology investor. According to Wikipedia, he was born on July 20, 1977, in East Hampton, New York, and earned a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Princeton University in 2000. He is best known for The 4-Hour Workweek (2007, expanded edition 2009), a book on productivity, outsourcing and what he calls lifestyle design.
Before his books, he founded the supplement company BrainQUICKEN in 2001, later renamed BodyQUICK and sold to a London-based private equity firm in 2010, according to Wikipedia. Court records summarized by the law firm Orrick name Krisa Performance as his company. His own site lists him as an early investor or advisor in companies such as Uber, Facebook, Shopify and Duolingo; Wikipedia states he stepped back from active angel investing in 2015. He has also funded psychedelic research, including a contribution of more than $2 million to the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research in 2019, according to Wikipedia.
He publishes most of his material for free: The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, launched in 2014 and described on his site as having passed one billion downloads; the 5-Bullet Friday email newsletter; and his blog at tim.blog. His YouTube channel (@timferriss) had about 1.78 million subscribers and his TikTok account (@timferriss) 196,300 followers when read on September 14, 2026.
What he sells is mainly books. His site lists five titles, sold through retailers such as Amazon, Apple Books and Audible: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body (2010), The 4-Hour Chef (2012), Tools of Titans (2016) and Tribe of Mentors (2017). His site describes all five as #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers. He does not sell a course of his own on tim.blog. The video platform CreativeLive, however, sells classes in which he is the instructor: The 4-Hour Life (16 video lessons, 8 hours 39 minutes) listed at $249, How World-Class Performers Master Productivity (7 lessons, 1 hour 35 minutes) at $99, and Behind the Scenes of The Tim Ferriss Show: Acroyoga, with Jason Nemer, at $99. Those prices were read on CreativeLive's class pages on September 14, 2026; the platform sets them and they may change with promotions.
On the legal side, two court cases carry his name. In December 2010 an Illinois court dismissed a class action, Aliano v. Ferriss and Random House, which claimed that bonus material promised to early buyers of The 4-Hour Body was later made available to everyone; the judge noted that buying the book was not required to access that material (Publishers Weekly, January 3, 2011). In a second case, Ferriss and Krisa Performance sued Alliance Publishing and others in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California for using his name and image to promote a get-rich-quick mailer; Judge Edward M. Chen entered a default judgment with an injunction and attorney's fees, but rejected the requested damages, according to a January 2017 summary by Orrick. A search of ftc.gov for his name on September 14, 2026 did not return any enforcement action concerning him.
Not confirmed: his current city of residence, and whether CreativeLive shares class revenue with him; neither appears in the sources reviewed.
Objective facts about their offer, taken from public sources. We don't rate the quality of the programs or the results you may get.
5 without a public price
6 official channels
Massive audience
Facts checked on Sep 15, 2026.
Alternatives
Productivity · Online Education · Personal Development · United States
Learning scientist with a Stanford PhD and a Cornell law degree who publishes evidence-based videos on how people learn and runs the paid Keep Learning Community ($12 a month or $120 a year).
Productivity · Personal Development · United States
Georgetown computer science professor and author of Deep Work and Slow Productivity. Hosts the Deep Questions podcast and co-teaches the paid online courses Life of Focus and Top Performer with Scott Young.
Entrepreneurship · Online Business · Coaching · Productivity · Canada
Canadian entrepreneur and business coach from Moncton, New Brunswick, founder of SaaS Academy and author of Buy Back Your Time (Portfolio, 2023). He sells invite-only coaching programs for founders without published prices.
Productivity · Personal Development · United States
Author of Essentialism and Effortless, speaker and host of The Greg McKeown Podcast. Sells video courses and memberships through the Essentialism Academy, run by McKeown, Inc.
| Program | Type | Published price | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| The 4-Hour Life CreativeLive video class taught by Tim Ferriss: 16 lessons, 8 hours 39 minutes, on learning, fitness, cooking and business tactics drawn from his first three books. | Course | $249 Checked Sep 15, 2026 | View |
| How World-Class Performers Master Productivity CreativeLive video class taught by Tim Ferriss on the productivity habits of the people he interviewed: 7 lessons, 1 hour 35 minutes. | Course | $99 Checked Sep 15, 2026 | View |
| Behind the Scenes of The Tim Ferriss Show: Acroyoga CreativeLive class with Tim Ferriss and acroyoga teacher Jason Nemer. | Course | $99 Checked Sep 15, 2026 | View |
| The 4-Hour Workweek Book (2007, expanded 2009) on productivity, outsourcing, remote work and building income that requires less time. | Book | Not published Checked Sep 15, 2026 | View |
| The 4-Hour Body Book (2010) on fat loss, strength, sleep and physical performance experiments. | Book | Not published Checked Sep 15, 2026 | View |
| The 4-Hour Chef Book (2012) that uses cooking to teach a method for learning skills quickly. | Book | Not published Checked Sep 15, 2026 | View |
| Tools of Titans Book (2016) compiling tactics, routines and habits from podcast guests. | Book | Not published Checked Sep 15, 2026 | View |
| Tribe of Mentors Book (2017) of short life advice collected from people leading in their fields. | Book | Not published Checked Sep 15, 2026 | View |
Prices are those published by the mentor on the date checked and may change. “Not published” means we couldn't find a public price.
Compare
The same fields, side by side. No verdict: you decide.
An American author and podcaster, born July 20, 1977, in East Hampton, New York, according to Wikipedia. He wrote The 4-Hour Workweek and four other books and hosts The Tim Ferriss Show, which he launched in 2014.
Not on his own site. CreativeLive sells classes he teaches: The 4-Hour Life at $249, How World-Class Performers Master Productivity at $99, and a $99 acroyoga class with Jason Nemer (prices read on September 14, 2026). His podcast, blog and 5-Bullet Friday newsletter are free.
Five: The 4-Hour Workweek (2007), The 4-Hour Body (2010), The 4-Hour Chef (2012), Tools of Titans (2016) and Tribe of Mentors (2017). His site offers free sample chapters of the first three by email signup.
What can be checked: his books appear on his site and on major retailers, a 2010 class action over The 4-Hour Body bonus content was dismissed, and in a 2017 federal case he won a default judgment against a company that used his name in a get-rich-quick mailer. A search of ftc.gov on September 14, 2026 showed no action concerning him.
Mentor Explorer does not rate it. According to CreativeLive, it has 16 video lessons totaling 8 hours 39 minutes and covers tactics tied to The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body and The 4-Hour Chef. Its listed price was $249 on September 14, 2026.
He was born on July 20, 1977, according to Wikipedia, so he is 49 as of September 2026.
Reviews are written by Mentor Explorer users, pass through a moderation filter and do not represent the site's editorial position. Some may be in other languages.
Share your real experience. We don't publish serious accusations without evidence or third parties' personal data. See review policy.