Antifragile by Esteban Reyes

What’s up everyone! Today I’m joined by Chet Corcos, programmer, product designer, and engineer at Notion. His notable career includes working at Affirm and SpaceX. In the long run, how you build something has a more substantial impact than what you built Notion is an all-in-one workspace that blends everyday work apps like databases, kanban boards, notes, calendars for you and your team. In this episode, Chet shares about his startup journey, product building principles at Notion, approach to building things “with good design”, startup growth strategies, and thoughts on tool making and privacy. Episode Quotes "A good designer fights habituation." - Tony Fadell "You learn so much by building." "Build something you want and you love... and pray that people follow it." "First we shape our tools and then our tools shape us." - Marshall McLuhan "How you build something has a more substantial impact than what you built." Listen to Learn 01:31 - How Chet got into the world of startups 11:58 - Chet's journey at Notion 17:16 - Building things "with good design" 27:41 - How Notion reached a million users 39:55 - Tactics to maintain growth and get people creative 48:00 - Product building principles for other problems 54:23 - Thoughts on ethics on tool making and privacy 59:27 - What is the future of business software? 01:03:09 - Parting thoughts

Hey everybody! Joining me this week is Sam Corcos, software developer, community builder, and Co-founder and CEO of Levels, a company that aims to reverse the trend of metabolic dysfunction. Figure out who your biggest champions are and lean into them a lot more Levels started with the performance and athletic market to build brand credibility and thought leadership, to then move into mainstream health and wellness in 2021. Focusing on metabolic health, Level’s product gives personalized insights into how different foods affect your body and your health. In this episode, Sam talks about the metabolic health crisis, how Levels is solving this problem, the science behind Levels, tactics for team alignment, product-market fit strategies, and importance of communities for business growth. Episode Quotes "We need to break the stigma around glucose monitoring and make it an objective desire." "Figure out who your biggest champions are and lean into them a lot more." "Ship early, ship quickly, and keep learning from your customers." Listen to Learn 00:52 - Career background and journey to Levels 04:50 - Understanding metabolic dysfunction and sugar addiction 16:06 - Why there's less attention on metabolic health 21:33 - What is Levels, how it works, future plans 30:16 - Level's operating system and decision making frameworks 35:50 - Tactics for team alignment, focus, product-market fit 40:20 - Community led-growth, Making key hires 42:56 - Challenges encountered and lessons learned 46:52 - Advice for entrepreneurs

What’s up everyone! Joining me this week is Albert Wenger, businessman, venture capitalist, managing partner of Union Square Ventures, and author of World After Capital. The #1 thing that I've learned is to invest in things that I love Albert combines over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience with an in-depth technology background. He founded and co-founded various companies in the field of consulting and data analytics. In his book World of Capital, he shares the importance of figuring out how to live in a World After Capital in which the only scarcity is attention. In this episode, Albert and I talk about investment mistakes and tips, convex vs. concave bets, the knowledge age, and frameworks for attention allocation. Episode Quotes "Convexity and concavity are inherent to different business models." "The number one thing that I've learned is to invest in things that I love." "The biggest mistake to make is to try and copy what others are doing." "In this knowledge age, knowledge is the place to go look and find purpose." Listen to Learn 01:16 - Investing: Convex vs. Concave 15:13 - Establishing convexity features 18:16 - Investment mistakes and lessons learned 22:17 - Biggest mistakes VCs make 29:20 - The knowledge age, Frameworks for attention allocation 37:24 - End notes and links

What’s up everyone! Today I am joined by Jeff Clavier, founder and managing partner of Uncork Capital (formerly SoftTech VC). He founded Uncork Capital in 2004 to serve an unmet need of startup founders: active support and capital for companies in their first 18 months of life. Some of his successful investments include Fitbit, Sendgrid, Eventbrite, and Vungle. As a VC today, working hard/smart is not enough. You need to find that investor-market fit. After first working as a CTO for a fintech startup in France, Jeff then founded Uncork. Since then, Uncork has been helping startups through their most critical early stages. Jeff has helped guide these companies through the many struggles that come with being an early stage startup. Listen as Jeff shares his startup and VC journey, challenges encountered with founders, and how he built a successful venture capital firm. Enjoy! Episode Quotes "You can't just put a thesis together and say I'm going to work hard and succeed" "Today working hard/smart is not enough. You need to find that investor-market fit" "Get the valuation that the market gives you but don't go seeking the unicorn status" "We should do fundraising not just for the sake of raising but to scale faster, better and higher" Listen to Learn 01:04 How Jeff got into startups and venture capital? 04:53 Helping founders and challenges encountered 08:14 Jeff's core VC skill 14:13 Advice for new investors or startup founders 19:08 Insights from the recession, The $15 million VC fund 23:56 What does it take to start a successful fund? 32:41 Non-rapid Fire Questions 43:45 Jeff's social media links

What’s up everyone! In this episode, I am joined by Alex Rigopulos. Alex is a video game designer, musician, and the founder and creative director of Harmonix Music Systems. Harmonix is a video game development company best known for their music video games such as Guitar Hero, Dance Central, and Rock Band. Our mission has always been delighting the world through music and gameplay. As a musician with a passion for the music game industry, Alex left MIT to start Harmonix with Eran Egozy. The first few years weren’t that great for Alex having to go through few flopped games. It was a defining moment until a monumental game called Guitar Hero changed the whole world of the company and shaped on what is now. Listen as Alex and I talk about Harmonix, the hardest challenges he faced as an entrepreneur, how Guitar Hero became a success story, and some advice from Alex for entrepreneurs. Enjoy the episode. Episode Quotes "Music has this incredible, primal, mysterious power over our emotions" "One thing that strengthened and flourished us as a company is we keep people focused on a mission" "As an entrepreneur you simultaneously need to have an irrational amount of optimism and irrational amount of pessimism" "I don't let fear be a factor in my decision making" Listen to Learn 00:32 Getting to know Alex Rigopulos - Harmonix and startup journey 04:11 Core mission that strengthened the company, Alex's core company building skill 06:32 Make-it-or-break-it moments as an entrepreneur, The Frequency game story 16:02 The EyeToy: Antigrav story 18:34 The success story of Guitar Hero 20:34 How to balance optimism with rationality 23:47 Pivot or Persevere? The problem with Lean Methodology 27:10 Advice that helped Alex overcome business challenges 28:14 Non-Rapid Fire Questions 36:33 Exciting games coming up from Harmonix

Today we talk to Holly Hester-Reilly. Holly is a product expert with multiple leadership roles in hyper growth companies like Shutterstock and MediaMath. Currently, she works at H2R Product Science and advises multiple startups. As founders, we must understand the people more than the system because this creates more value. Holly’s love of software and technology paved her way into the startup world. Her experience as a product leader in various hyper growth companies enabled her to understand the business on a product perspective. She is here to share her startup journey and the challenges she faced as a product leader at Shutterstock and MediaMath. We talk about how to lead teams and expand the support of the customer’s workflow. Also, Holly mentions about people dynamics and incentive alignment, what are good and bad OKRs, how to implement them in the team, and what leaders should focus on to leverage the company’s success. Episode Quotes "One of the best ways to build/launch software on a timeframe that works is to make sure that you are a person that it is safe to tell the truth to" "It is a holistic thing; it is not just the analytic experiments but also knowing the market and the customers' needs, then sharing it to the team" "Sometimes leaders do things that are mainly focused on accumulating power at the expense of the organization's growth" "Good OKRs are those that clearly define the vision for what kind of value your team is providing" "Money is a means to an end not the end in itself" "If you actually empathize with people then you can make things happen and there is a lot of value" "As a founder, make your people do their best work towards the company's vision above just achieving the vision" Listen to Learn 00:32 Getting to know Holly Hester-Reilly - tech startup journey 03:30 Holly's core company building skill 05:50 Make-it-or-break-it moments as a product leader, How her core skill was helpful in solving these challenges 11:19 Why is describing a product or product market a recurring problem for most founders? 14:17 How to leverage success and be antifragile? Learnings from the Shutterstock experience 17:47 People dynamics and the role of incentive alignment, Importance of implementing well defined OKRs 21:52 Examples of good and bad OKRs 26:39 Trello's unique way of doing "wear your customer's shoes" 28:35 Non-Rapid Fire Questions 33:23 End notes and website links

Hey everybody! Today, we have Connie Kwan. Connie is a B2B expert with multiple leadership roles in hyper growth companies. She is the Chief Storyteller at Product Maestro, and Head of Product at Atlassian’s Marketplace. Building a startup is hard but there is an ecosystem of people willing to help that makes it an enjoyable experience In this episode, Connie shares her career and business journey which includes her experiences in different hyper growth companies. She also talks about her core company building skill and how she used it to overcome the cash gap and sales gap in the business. Moving forward, Connie and I talk about how to avoid the common death traps in product management. We touch on concepts like lean startup, building an MVP, product building and marketing, as Connie stated, “There is more balance towards build more versus sell more first.” Connie shares her insights for investors who are looking for hyper efficient capital businesses, and then for founders about cultural readiness and product understanding. Join us in this awesome conversation about product building, product management and Connie’s Product Maestro. Episode Quotes "We need to keep our spirits up, and that is very important, because we can't work effectively without that" "Having a positive attitude help people see an example and feel that energy to continue to be positive" "'One brick at a time' is the most valuable values for me" "If you've been persistent over time, and then you take a step back, you will see that it got built" "Don't get confused by the bad feeling that you have in the moment that you're not making any progress because you are actually making progress" "I think there is definite balance towards let's build more versus let's sell more first" "There is not a huge benefit for startups to having a lot of diversity especially in the early stage" "Building a startup is hard but there is an ecosystem of people willing to help that it is an incredibly an enjoyable experience" Listen to Learn 01:36 Getting to know Connie Kwan - career and business journey 03:38 Connie's core company building skill 04:45 Make-it-or-break-it moments as a founder 09:00 How did you overcome those business challenges? 10:02 Most valuable advice, and how did it change your perspective 13:30 Advise for founders to avoid the common death traps in product building 15:52 Connie's take about the concept of lean startup and building an MVP 20:40 Advise for investors looking for hyper capital efficient businesses 23:58 Advise for founders about cultural readiness and customer understanding 27:41 Non-Rapid Fire Questions - fun, off balance questions 38:03 What is Product Maestro? 41:20 Parting thoughts and website links

Welcome to another episode of Antifragile. I am joined by Jason Mendelson – general partner and co-founder of Foundry Group. Jason is going to talk about the awesome story of Foundry Group and the interesting ecosystem of boards, investors and founders. The thing that a great functioning board can do is be the CEO's partner Tired of dysfunctional boards and overbearing investors? It is time to turn those “bored” meetings into productive board meetings. In this episode, Jason share powerful insights about the ideal board structure and agenda. We are also going into details about the ecosystem of boards and investors, and share solutions to the problems that exists within the team. Furthermore, Jason talks about emotional intelligence and why it is a critical factor in achieving success. Episode Quotes "When you think you’ve lost everything is actually when you’re the most powerful" "It is when there’s something still left to lose that we are constrained" "There is nothing better than having clients that trust you with their lives and support you" "It is not just about leverage. It is about selecting the people who can make you better" "The lack of humility is the #1 cancer that venture capitalists have" "The thing that a great functioning board can do is be the CEO's partner" "The main reason why startups fail is that the team doesn't execute correctly and doesn't work well together" "If you have tremendous emotional intelligence and can make teams work better, you have a much better chance to success" "I always keep an open mind for everybody. I make a quick decision, act on it, but I always keep my mind open." Listen to Learn 00:34 Getting to know Jason Mendelson - career journey 05:07 Jason's core building skill 06:11 Make-it-or-break-it moment - the Foundry Group story 09:11 Jason's turning point and realizations 15:02 Importance of partner selection 18:24 Why most boards are dysfunctional and how to make them functional 21:03 The #1 cancer that investors or venture capitalists have 22:44 What is an ideal board structure and agenda? 25:48 What does a great functioning board looks like? 27:40 Emotional Intelligence - a critical factor in achieving success 33:08 Non-Rapid Fire Questions 40:48 End notes, website and social media links

Welcome everybody to another episode of Antifragile. Joining us today is Brad Feld – author, entrepreneur and investor. Brad is going to share about venture capital investing and entrepreneurship. I focus my investment approach not on being the boss, but being someone who is of service to the CEO Being one of the most successful VC investors, Brad has a lot of insights for us on how he was able to attract and work with top entrepreneurs, citing the interesting success story of Harmonix (Guitar Hero). Together, we discuss both the founder and investor side of venture capital investing. As he says: “Ultimately it is about understanding how you can best work with people (founders/investors) and how that synergy can create success”. Furthermore, Brad shares what makes a durable company and his approach to investment. One exciting thing about this episode is Brad’s opinion about traits of good vs great investors. Episode Quotes "We're very focused on being partners with the entrepreneurs and founders of the company rather than control investors" "Do not be emotionally invested in the outcome to the point where it interferes your ability to be constructive" "Companies that acknowledge mistakes and make adjustments are much more durable than the ones who does not" "The best way to fly is to throw yourself off the ground as hard as you can miss" "As founders don't be insular. Get perspective from people outside your company" "Ultimately it's about understanding how it is that you can best work with people (founders/investors) and how that synergy can create success." "I focus my investment approach not on being the boss, but being someone who is of service to the CEO" "Your goal is to make a return that's above the market return, and there's a lot of different ways to do that" "I try really hard not to have envy of other investors and not to have remorse for companies that I didn't invest in" "What attracts me to companies is the utility of what they do rather than the aspirational thing that they are setting up" Listen to Learn 00:18 Episode intro, getting to know Brad Feld03:30 What enables Brad to attract and work with top entrepreneurs?10:29 Untold make-it-or-break it moments13:45 The Harmonix (Guitar Hero) success story15:43 The huge failure - "We are losing $5 million a month"19:48 Change is inevitable - how to have control over your business25:45 The cryptocurrency phenomena29:30 Founders: biases vs experiences34:46 What founders could do to find objectivity?38:43 Traits of a great vs a good investor42:54 Brad's approach to investment45:43 Brad's take on Warren Buffett's investor letter, venture investment52:24 Rapid Fire Questions57:49 Investing in companies where the product/product vision is awesome01:00:45 Rapid Fire Questions (continuation), end notes

Welcome to another episode of Antifragile. Joining us today is Ben Metcalfe – entrepreneur, investor and community builder. Ben co-founded WPEngine and is currently into venture capital at Ridge Ventures. Today, he is going to share his experiences as a founder/investor and the dynamics of sales and marketing team. Founders should motivate the sales team, and make sure that growth is occurring Seeing the opportunity to help more founders, Ben shifted into venture capital. He shares that a lot of founders, especially technical people, have a lot of anxiety in the area of sales. To cope with that, Ben believes that, as a founder, the next most important job after identifying an opportunity is hiring the best people in your team. Ben and I discuss the importance of mentoring and motivation in the success of the sales team, as he mentions that founders and sales team must make sure that growth is occurring. He also thinks that the Ivy League is overrated and that in fact, what gives entrepreneurs a much better chance at success is hustle and talent. Episode Quotes "As a founder your most important job after identifying an opportunity is to hire the best people who are smarter than you" "Making sure that mentally you are in the most performant place you can be is really important" "You have to motivate a sales team, there is a dynamic to being a successful salesperson" "If you're an entrepreneur and you can hustle and you have talent, I think that gives you much better chance at success" "If you're an entrepreneur it's hard, it is a journey but enjoy the journey" Listen to Learn 00:15 Getting to know Ben Metcalfe, business journey (WPEngine)04:02 How Ben got into venture?06:29 Skills that entrepreneurs should develop09:27 Make-it-or-break-moments as a founder13:41 The concept of behavioral fitness16:58 How did you solve business challenges?19:42 Hiring a good sales leader, Founder and the sales team25:24 Rapid Fire Questions32:57 Links and announcements

What’s up everybody! I am with Rodrigo Teijeiro on our Antifragile episode today. Rodrigo is a tech entrepreneur, CEO and Founder of RecargaPay Inc. Companies don't go out of business because they ran out of cash, but because founders just give up When it comes to business, Rodrigo believes that resilience and perseverance matter. Challenges are inevitable, especially on the financial aspect, but raising capital is not always the solution. As entrepreneurs, you need to see what resources you have at hand and just figure out what you can do with that. Be excited as Rodrigo shares his make-it-or-break-it moments in business, how to handle failure, and key advices for entrepreneurs to reach their goals. Episode Quotes "Resilience and perseverance is the name of the game being an entrepreneur" "Companies don't go bankrupt because they ran out of cash, but because founders just give up" "Think hard and see what's possible with what you have" "Mindset is the key in testing many things and evolving your product" Listen to Learn 00:08 Getting to know Rodrigo Teijeiro - career/business journey04:04 Robert's core skill07:48 Make-it-or-break-it moments building a company19:35 Advice for founders facing financial challenges22:21 Rapid Fire Questions, misconceptions of entrepreneurship32:25 End notes and links

What’s up everybody! Another episode of Antifragile and joining us today is Albert Santalo. He is a computer scientist, Internet entrepreneur and angel investor. Albert has founded CareCloud, Avisena, and is currently Founder/CEO of 8base. I think grit is probably the number one thing an entrepreneur has to have With the passion of designing products and building companies, Albert shares his experiences and his key strength being an entrepreneur. He mentioned the critical challenge of fundraising and shares some interesting stories when building his companies. As he said, when it comes to raising money, grit is one thing that entrepreneurs should have. Stay tune as Albert shares on how he became a creature of faith in facing different make-it-or break moments in his career and listen to Albert’s tips on how to persevere on fundraising. Episode Quotes "I like to go after something that has a significant competitive mode around it" "Raising money is a complicated thing. It's not about great salesmanship necessarily by itself" "I think grit is probably the number one thing an entrepreneur has to have" "I became a creature of faith and that thinking has driven the rest of my career" "Try to learn from other people's mistakes as much as you can rather than your own" Listen to Learn 00:20 Getting to know Albert Santalo04:00 Albert's key strength as an entrepreneur07:47 The critical role of fundraising at the beginning of a company10:54 Untold make-it-or-break-it moments as a founder13:26 Importance of having "grit" as an entrepreneur16:53 Advice on how to persevere on fundraising21:00 Recommended resources for founders22:32 Rapid Fire Questions

Hello everybody! Today, we have Toby Rush from Zoloz. Toby is also the Founder/CEO of EyeVerify which became the platform for ZOloz. He also founded Rush Tracking Systems and enabled forklifts to optimize warehouse labor and increase inventory accuracy. As a CEO it's our responsibility: we make sure to keep first things first Toby shares his journey from when he started Rush Tracking Systems in 2003, until he came across the idea of computer vision which led to the creation of EyeVerify; the financial challenges of the company, how they’ve overcome it, and some tips for CEOs to keep first things first. Toby then mentions the importance of building a culture of trust, honesty and openness in the team saying that founders/CEOs must build trust over time. It is a long term investment but will create treasures beyond your imagination. Toby also shares his interesting serendipitous collisions with various people. And then, we discuss the impact of digital connection and social media in building relationships emphasizing that it made people more isolated and lonely. Episode Quotes "Once I was able to separate my identity from the identity of the company it really allowed me to have enough perspective" "As entrepreneurs sometimes our ventures and our own self identity are so intertwined that we stopped thinking clearly" "If we succeed as a company and we do it on the backs of our marriages and got divorced, we fail" "Having the right personalities on the team, and having a level of trust and openness amongst those teams is the difference of life or death" "Trust is embedded inherently in relationships. Trust is built when we're at risk" "But our mobility and our ability to connect with so many people via this digital means have again made us more isolated." "The vast majority of disagreement is really misunderstanding more so than disagreement" "Investing early and often over a long period of time in people will create treasures beyond your imagination." Listen to Learn 00:24 Getting to know Toby Rush (education, business and career)04:50 Toby's core skill06:39 Financial challenges as a founder, make-it-or-break-it moments11:31 Lessons learned, how to leverage it into your team or co-founders13:41 How teams can help founders visualize challenges15:35 Toby's recommended books/resources for founders17:04 How to build the culture of trust19:43 Interesting story about Toby's serendipitous collisions23:51 An extrovert's tips for introverts25:15 Impact of digital connection (social media) to relationships28:42 Rapid Fire Questions32:14 Links and announcements

Welcome everybody! We have Mark Goldenson on the show today. Mark is a founder at VentureKit, and Network Leader at Village Global. He is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and community builder. The challenge is, “wanting to create something but not having the resource” For Mark, the hardest thing that founders deal with is fundraising. Most founders think that everybody is an investor, but startup founders must make sure that they are targeting the right investors, and in order to do this, they should know about storyboarding, figuring out one’s story and finding one’s unique advantage. Similarly, Mark also points out the importance of a mentor in accelerating learning. It’s the task of founders to reach out to them; meaning staying engaged and constantly giving status updates. He emphasizes on the importance of learning interpersonal skills and management skills as this could be helpful in relationships since we are all social people. In this regard, Mark shares insights for managers about providing feedback to the team and the power of delegation. Episode Quotes "I thought the last thing I would go into was business... but I realized that business actually can be a noble profession" "Naive founders will think everybody is an investor and they have money" "I have to love the goal of what I am doing and also love the daily work" "If you give someone a strong why, they will figure out any how" "If you come from a technical background it's tempting to think of people as like pieces of code" "A good manager's job is to provide constant feedback - good and bad" Listen to Learn ● Getting to know Mark Goldenson ● Mark's passion about Mental Health, Psychology ● About Mark's venture investing, story about having 12 co-founders ● What are the hardest things you have to deal with as a founder? ● What are your learnings in going through challenges? ● Mark's advice to founders facing pivotal challenges ● Practical steps in getting a mentor to work with you ● Challenges with co-founders and team members ● Benefits and tips about giving feedback/criticisms ● When is the right time to delegate? ● Rapid Fire Questions ● Links and Announcements

Welcome to another Antifragile episode. Joining us today is Hiten Shah. Hiten started multiple SaaS companies since 2005 and is an active advisor and investor. He is a co-founder of Product Habits, Crazy Egg and FYI. The conversation is very basic: if there is a problem, how are we going to deal with it Talking about challenges, there is nothing more monumental for Hiten than the lawsuit that the company had to deal with. Hiten shares how he and his co-founder were able to work together alongside with their lawyers in solving the problem. You have to be objective of what do you need to make the business successful Hiten talks about the importance of getting past emotions in solving problems. He also warns about false beliefs and false positives which most founders fall into. Founders must be objective in knowing what they need for the business to move forward and be successful. We then get an overview about Draft Send and FYI and how they solve the real problem in the document space. Episode Quotes "The conversation is very basic, if there is a problem, how are we going to deal with it" "The best thing you can do is have a plan and have milestones and execute towards the plan" "Whatever strategies I have they all have to do with getting past emotion" "My companies are not my babies. That's not how I think about them. I am not attached to them in that way" "We usually know the answer to our problems too" "You have to be objective of what do we need to make this business successful" "If you're not happy, figure out why you're not happy and just solve it" Listen to Learn 00:25 Getting to know Hiten Shah05:29 Hiten's make-it-or-break-it moments, lawsuit story12:01 Going forward and solving the problem18:20 How Hiten developed his problem solving skill?20:31 Defining clear goals & strategies, and implementation25:23 Overcoming emotions in problem solving27:41 Who gave you the most valuable advice?29:25 Learning from experience, false beliefs and false positives35:45 The problem in the document space, overview about FYI37:55 Determining false positives, importance of being objective40:37 Rapid Fire Questions42:34 Links and Announcements

Welcome to another episode of Antifragile. Today, we have Micah Baldwin as our guest. Micah has 20+ years of experience as a founder and investor. Currently he is the Executive Director of Create33 which we will be talking about in this episode. Moreover, we will have valuable discussions about founders, CEOs and investors. Most founders, especially young founders, are afraid to ask questions Micah shares that the common problem of young founders is the fear of asking questions. Most founders of startups are figuring out the business on their own. Another challenge is raising the money through venture capital. Founders must find the investor that could help them grow their business. Different strategies are given by Micah and some fundamentals on how to choose an investor for the business. He points out that it’s much less about the character but more about their experience and success stories as an investor. Also, there is an awesome discussion about the challenge for founders about stress and mental health. Micah shares the idea of having a culture that drives conversation and openness. It’s important to have someone to lean on like having a coach. A time for yourself like a day off is not bad all. It’s simply taking a break just to recalibrate, recharge and be back on track. A good CEO is curious, confident and is able to look at people holistically One common assumption for investors is that the founders must be the CEO of the business. Micah clarifies that this is not the case for everybody since being a CEO is a skill set. The chosen CEO must possess the specified skill set for the business. He explains that a good CEO is curious; somebody who is curious not just about what they are doing but how it fits to the greater scheme of the world. Also a CEO is confident but not arrogant. They must have that self awareness knowing what they don’t know and delegating it to the right people. Episode Quotes "Many founders are afraid to ask question" "As an investor... I need to understand that my contribution to the community is more than just money" "Just let the process work itself out" "You have to create a culture that drives conversation and openness" "Good CEO's know what they are not good at" "They tend to think of every relationship as to what can I have versus what I can give" "Everybody has something to admire. The key is being able to see it" Listen to Learn 00:39 Getting to know Micah Baldwin 03:25 Best way to learn about "Create33" 03:42 Challenges that founders face in building startups 09:19 How investors contribute in solving these challenges? 14:09 Strategies for founders in picking/partnering investors 17:47 Founders, stress management and mental health 22:53 Creating a culture that drives conversation and openness 26:23 Underrated things that CEOs should do but don't do enough 28:51 What makes a great CEO? 31:21 Knowing how somebody is good at at something that you're not good at? 33:50 Rapid Fire Questions 38:07 Links and Announcements

Hey everybody! In this episode, we have David Cummings as our guest. David is the co-founder of Pardot, the marketing automation platform acquired by ExactTarget, and an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year winner. He is also one of the 100 most influential Atlantans by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. He works at General Partner at Atlanta Ventures, and the founder/CEO at Atlanta Tech Village. We shifted from leads provider to software provider David and I talk about how he shifted from content management to marketing automation. Their company started out as leads provider using market automation and lead generation through Google adwords. Lead generation was very promising but the company saw this new direction towards being a software provider instead of leads provider. The initial pivot was really hard. David shares different challenges they had to face including pausing the sales momentum from lead generation for four months just to setup the software that they were going to sell. Founders and managers obviously not knowing if the new direction will work out or no, have to find product market fit or finding the reputable customers for the product. The biggest lesson for me was the importance of culture and team Forming the team must not only be based on skill sets but more on whether the employee fits into the company’s culture. It is about hiring people that fit the type of environment that you want to walk into everyday. David shows practical steps, activities, tips and advices on how to define your company’s culture. Episode Quotes "Entrepreneurs are very often in the field of dreams mode" "The reality is 9/10 you build the coolest mouse trap and nobody cares at all" "Early marketing dollars are really just about getting some customers that care" "Move really fast, make the customer happy... the speed element was really powerful for me" "The biggest lesson for me was the importance of culture and team" "Figure out what type of culture you want to create and be intentional about it" "The misconception is around because it's not New York City it can't be possibly interesting" Listen to Learn 00:38 Episode intro and getting to know David Cummings 05:18 What inspired you to go from content management to marketing automation? 07:29 David's make-it-or-break-it moments as an entrepreneur 10:57 Challenges faced shifting from leads provider to software provider 17:13 Product Market Fit: Who are your customers? How do you sell? 18:57 Most valuable advice and how did it helped you? 20:57 What advice would you give your younger self? 25:00 Practical things to do for founders in defining one's culture 27:31 Misconceptions about building a company in places that aren't obvious (South East) 29:27 Rapid Fire Questions 31:30 Links and Announcements

Hello everybody! Today, we have Freddy Vega from Platzi. This is a very special episode for me because Freddy and I are both from Colombia and I am a big fan of Platzi. Freddy is the creator of Cristalab, he was also a university teacher; and the Founder and CEO of Platzi. In today’s episode, we’re going to explore Freddy’s journey at Platzi. We wanted to create a totally different online learning experience that could change the world. Platzi was created because of the collaborative efforts of Freddy Vega and Christian Van Der Henst, which interestingly was Freddy’s number one competitor. The goal was to change the 10% completion rate of online education. Though the first launch in Argentina was a failure, they moved forward and faced the challenges. Freddy shares the make-it-or-break-it moments of Platzi, how he and Christian resolved some communication issues, and how they both leveraged the idea and empowered their team. He emphasizes on the importance of transparency in a startup, and how the pursuit of truth can define its success. Right now, Platzi is positively impacting 700,000 people in 20 different cities, 12 different countries, with over 200 online courses. Episode Quotes "What actually drove us was that our biggest passion was education." "I just never thought the possibility of failing. I just thought that it's going to succeed slower instead of just not going to happen." "If we wanted to do something it's not going to be for Mexico, Colombia, Argentina or Spain. It had to be something for everyone in the world." "You should always reward your first users, the people that believed in you." "A good leader will give you a straight order and explaining why." "When you're not transparent, the cost of communication along the company grows." "It's always education with an effort on a scalable impact in the digital economy that creates the biggest results." "The pursuit of truth defines the people that will be successful in the future." Listen to Learn 00:22 Getting to know Freddy Vega and his journey creating Platzi 05:33 What drove you to do Platzi? 08:38 What led you to move forward after the failure in Argentina? 11:22 The challenges and make-it-or-break-it moments in building Platzi 20:22 The Leader's Camp at Platzi: How Freddy and Christian leverage their brain trust to empower their team 23:22 What experiences have driven you to have a very open introspective mindset? 29:56 If you could go back in time, what advice would you tell yourself? 31:30 Rapid Fire Questions 38:10 If you could teach the world one skill, what would it be? 41:39 Parting thoughts? Where can people find you and learn more about your projects?