The Mentors

When a founder decides to build an impact driven organization, at some point they have to make an important decision on whether to structure it as a for profit entity or a non-profit. While a for-profit can maximize financial upside to the founding team and shareholders, a non-profit by definition can focus more of its effort on the impact it wants to have in the world. In this week's episode bring back Darrell Silver, the founder and former CEO of Thinkful, a for-profit education venture, to talk about why the model of the non-profit freeCodeCamp is so innovative in its funding and impact model, and why he is now a major donor and supporter of the organization that was founded with a similar mission to his. In this rare interview, we got to dive into some of the nuances of how nonprofits are managed and how freeCodeCamp has been able to deliver 1.1 billion minutes of instruction with just a 12 person team by making their education model open source. We also discussed how people who want to improve their career prospects and pick up a technical skill can best decide whether to learn online for free or pay tuition for an instructor guided education experience if they can afford it. Tune in to hear our interview with Darrell Silver about the story and future of freeCodeCamp.If you want to support their work, you can donate as little as $5 here which will directly contribute to 250 hours of free education! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kevin Urrutia decided to teach himself to code while in college so that he could turn all the different business ideas he had into reality. Little did he know that after years of building apps and websites and trying idea after idea, he would need to completely change his mindset about how to get ideas off the ground to have his first entrepreneurial success.Kevin left his home in New York to go to Silicon Valley and work as a software engineer for Mint.com and later a little known startup called Zaarly where he would learn the power of SEO and marketing. After reading every marketing and sales book he could find, he moved back to start an online maid service called Maid Sailors. In this episode he talks about how his new found love for marketing helped him scale Maid Sailors to millions of dollars in revenue, and truly kicked off his entrepreneurial career helping him launch several more startups, including his digital marketing agency Voy Media.This show is brought to you by School16, a tech career accelerator for professionals interested in roles in Product, Marketing, Sales and Operations at top tech firms and startups. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In today's episode we're sharing an update on what's been happening with our own entrepreneurial venture, School16, and how our publishing schedule for The Mentors will change going forward. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we got the chance to interview a former SpaceX Engineer and founder of biohacking startup Levels as part of a special podcast recording hosted by School16 in front of a live audience.In this episode, Josh Clemente told us about how he pushed his way into getting an opportunity to work at Tesla and then SpaceX, where he ended up leading the Life Support Systems team. He credits his time at SpaceX for teaching him how to think big and go after nearly impossible goals, and his time running his own general contracting business in college for giving him the confidence to start building a business that was going after a massive opportunity.Listen to find out how Josh came up with the idea for a continuous glucose monitoring technology that is being made available to anyone to help people avoid some of the most common and dangerous diseases. We also discuss how he built the right team to help him get his first customers, find investors, and start bringing it to the masses all in less than 2 years since he conceived it. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is one of the most common questions we get from aspiring entrepreneurs. The answer, however, is less about what you should learn and more about how you should do it. Entrepreneurs come from almost every background imaginable, but one of the biggest contributors to founder success is previous experience with working on highly talented teams. Let's take the most famous example - the "PayPal Mafia." Companies like SpaceX, Yelp, Yammer, LinkedIn, and Square all came from individuals that were employees at PayPal. Some of them came from engineering, while others lead operations or sales teams, but the factor that separated them from other people starting companies at the same time was their experience working with and learning from other incredibly talented individuals. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a follow up to our recent episode titled The Story of A Homeless Neuroscientist and how one small act eventually resulted in a job offer. We often come up with reasons not to do something or to delay acting on an idea because of fear of failure or simply because we feel like we have other more important things to do. Entrepreneur Naval Ravikant once wisely said "inspiration is perishable - act on it immediately." Famous motivational speaker Tony Robbins uses the same technique to stay on top of the various business interests that he has. Whenever he's in a meeting he makes sure to act on at least one thing that's discussed immediately to insure that it gets done. This is because he knows from experience that if something is put off there's a big chance it'll never become a priority. In this episode we discuss how you can apply the same ideas to seemingly small actions this week that can have very impactful outcomes. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This rebroadcast episode was inspired by the growing opportunity to connect with sought after individuals that are more accessible than ever before as more people are working remotely in 2020. Finding a good mentor is hard but the real work is in keeping them. In today's episode we talk about how you can impress important people in your life, be they a mentor, advisor, investor, or simply someone that's further along than you.We give two specific examples of how our mentees have accomplished this by following up, following through, being solution oriented, and finding opportunities to add value instead of always asking for help. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Our sense of self worth is constantly in flux, but it's important to learn how to control it to stay productive. This is in part because failure is a big part of the process and if you tie your worth to success or failure it's bound to become debilitating. Instead of worrying about outcomes that are outside of our control we should focus on actions that we can control. In this episode we discuss the following four techniques, tying each of them to a personal story:1) Getting outside encouragement2) Setting achievable goals3) Shifting your focus4) Finding ways to be helpful to others See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When faced with a challenge remember that you don't have to endure it alone. In this week's 5 Minute Pick Me Up we wanted to share a story of Brianna Austin, a homeless neuroscientist that we learned about on LinkedIn and why we were compelled to reach out to our network in an effort to help. In this episode you will learn: Why sometimes it's valuable to trust your instincts and do the opposite of what conventional wisdom tells you to doHow to ask for help while showing credibilityWhy it's critical to invest in building and developing relationships especially in challenging times like theseAs a resource we encourage you to join our free weekly seminars to learn from people that have overcome similar challenges to land incredible opportunities at firms like Twitter, Uber, Google, and more. You will have the chance network with other attendees and connect with our expert instructors to develop your network. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a rebroadcast episode that was inspired by a recent class in our Sales Module at School16.We decided to give you an inside look into a recent phone call we recorded where we ask a high school principal for a speaking budget. For many people, asking someone what they might be willing to pay is the most uncomfortable part of any sales or business development conversation - aka, going for the close. But with practice, you can learn how to do this quickly and effectively, creating new opportunities that may have been left on the table before. You'll hear how to use active listening to rephrase your line of questioning when asking for something like budget or a commitment to finally get the answer that you want. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In our new weekly series at School16 we interview experts at big tech companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Slack to find out how they've navigated their careers to land lucrative and dynamic roles at some of the most sought after companies in the world. In this episode we highlight what one expert, Holyn Kanake who does Strategy and Operations at Twitter, noticed early on in her career when she was transitioning from consulting into tech. In tech, as in life, there really is no such thing as a true meritocracy. Being good at what you do is table stakes, but getting the best opportunities is fundamentally a matter of: Making sure you invest in relationships over timeMaking sure your work gets noticedBeing willing to ask for help when neededIf you're not seeing results from your efforts, be it entrepreneurial or career related progress, ask yourself - am I doing everything I can? Am I being as strategic and proactive as I can? People that get the best opportunities go above and beyond to position themselves for them, and that's actually a good thing because it puts things more in your control than you may have thought. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Online education has been around since the 1990s but when Andrew Clark decided to start a fully remote accredited college, students weren't yet used to the idea of going to a school without a campus. His solution? Raise money to buy a small liberal arts school with a central campus that students could choose to visit any time, with the option to complete their education completely online.In this episode we talk about Zovio's origin story (formerly Bridgepoint Education) and how Andrew was able to convince a private equity investor to give him $20 Million to build his vision after knocking on doors to raise capital for over a year. Andrew proved his credibility with his decade long management experience at University of Phoenix and his profoundly forward thinking approach to education.We discuss how his team created a highly sought after program by standardizing their curriculum and allowing students to enroll any week of the year, and talk about his outlook on the future of remote learning given the rapidly changing global environment that's forcing all higher education institutions to move online. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Great business leaders come from all sorts of backgrounds but the one skill that all of them prioritize developing over time is learning how to write effectively. The reason for this is clear - as a creator you're communicating through the written word all of the time - by writing speeches, landing page copy, job descriptions, thought-leadership content, business proposals, social media posts, etc. But how do you develop this skills if it hasn't been a priority for you? The best writers (and entrepreneurs) are voracious readers, so before you develop your own style you need to get into a habit of consuming the work of other writers, but the best way to get better at it yourself is to start writing every opportunity that you get. In this episode we discuss four main tactics for becoming a better writer: 1) Write about what you know or care about2) Get critical feedback on your writing early on3) Pick a medium or format for your writing (like long form essays) to create constraints around the type of writing that you do4) Make your writing public See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Almost all sources of conflict stem from someone feeling like they're not being heard. Sometimes this is knowingly perpetuated by two sides that are proactively unwilling to make concessions but other times we unknowingly ignore warning signs that a conflict is escalating.In this episode we discuss two cases - a prisoner of war negotiation highlighted in Chris Voss' book Never Split The Difference and a story of a founder dealing with a partner that wasn't pulling his weight. In both cases resolution was only achieved once the source of the problem was actively acknowledged, validating the concerns of the other side, and achieving the coveted "that's right" response. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Many entrepreneurs prioritize building a great product that people want but fewer prioritize building a great team that allows your business to grow. In this episode we talk about the importance of developing a business that's designed to work even when you're not working on it. The only way to achieve this is to move away from being an individual contributor and becoming a manager and leader that learns to effectively delegate.This comes down to two fundamental principles. 1) Having the right people in place2) Investing the time upfront before you delegate Tune in to learn about the character traits you should look for in the talent you recruit and the preparation required to set them up for success. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Most of us assume that taking a step back in our career can be a fatal move but in reality it can actually help you skip several steps quickly. This week we decided to feature a story that was shared by sales influencer Kevin Dorsey (KD) during a live class at School16 about how taking a pay cut and a demotion in title ended up catapulting his career in technology sales, leading him to become a VP of Sales just a few years after he started working in tech. KD explains how he was able to take on responsibilities that weren't part of his job description to quickly get promoted to management and leadership roles and why having the confidence to take on a more junior role ended up paying off in the long run. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

One of the greatest misconceptions about career progression is that the consequences of our choices should always be predictable and linear. It's this thinking that creates risk averse decision making for fear of irreversible outcomes, potentially closing you off to opportunities that could lead to something you can not yet foresee. Over the last few weeks we've had several people come to us expressing trepidation in making the right choice in the next step of their career. To help anyone else that might be going through this, we reshaped this question to three simple prompts:1) What are the soft and hard skills you can learn to fill your own skills gap?2) Where do you need to grow your network, whether it's industry or expertise based?3) Is this next step helping you level up in a measurable and significant way?What should also help inform your decision is the understanding that most careers today are not linear and that the old way of deciding the next step in your career does not fit the model of the new economy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we decided to address two important yet seemingly unrelated events that went on over the weekend in the United States. The mass protests that spread across most major cities in America, and the first manned launch into space between a government institution (NASA) and a private company called SpaceX. We discuss the idea that major changes often come after periods of sustained failure, and that societal progress, much like personal development, can only come with deliberate action. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When you're just starting out it's easy to get caught up in what your competition is doing because naturally they're further along than you. But once you learn that your competition isn't perfect and that there's likely a lot about their business that could be improved upon, start focusing on the opportunity instead of fixating on your relative position in the market. In this episode we discuss the true benefit of being a nimble startup and why young companies constantly beat out incumbent competitors. When you don't have to worry about a public track record, existing investors, or a large set of existing customers that require your attention you can move in any direction you want on a dime. So, don't make the mistake of worrying about the competition at the expense of action. Your ability to act fast is what will pull you ahead of them in the long run. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

An indisputable character trait of every successful person is their willingness to stay persistent even when it feels uncomfortable. In this episode we discuss the growing importance of persistence in today's increasingly uncertain economic climate and how we should all get more comfortable with asking for help. A good way to remove negative self think when something triggers you to feel that you're asking too much of others is to remember stories of other ambitious people accomplishing great things because of their willingness to ask others for help directly. We discuss Barbara Corcoran's story of landing a spot on ABC's Shark Tank by following up with Mark Cuban after being rejected for the opportunity. We also talk about how Sergei got a job working for Andrew Yang's last nonprofit, Venture For America, after being rejected for a job there and following up directly with the COO almost two years later. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Entrepreneurship is hard, but one of the basic tenets of being a creator is knowing that you can build something completely on your own terms. For Michael Fenchel, a young physics major out of Wisconsin who loved being a creator, that meant starting companies - three of them at once, to be exact. All three of those ventures ended up being successful, eventually leading him to start his newest company Paradox Ventures (prdx.co), a program providing personal development for entrepreneurs and leaders. But before that Michael stumbled with various failed projects, until he figured out something important - focus on adding value first, and making money second. In this episode Michael talks about how he was able to build one of the largest co-working spaces in Madison, WI (100State), while starting a software company that supported live music events (Prism.fm) and running product at BlueTree Network. In each example he was able to get the business off the ground and identify talent in his network that would then take over leadership responsibilities in the businesses. He also talks about how his experience launching and growing an education company called Breathe For Change inspired him to create a founder and leadership development business called Paradox that provides a true community for likeminded entrepreneurs that recognize the need to balance personal development with audacious professional goals. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From a young age we're asked - "what do you want to be when you grow up?" - implying that we have to be just one thing. Our natural curiosity may take us in unexpected directions but all it takes is an expression of doubt from someone else to stop us in our tracks. In this episode we discuss the importance of questioning self-imposed limitations and removing labels that others may ascribe to us. We discuss two main limiting beliefs that we had to overcome - the idea that we're bad at writing and the belief that we're not good marketers. We talk about the importance of taking the initial step to act on your internal desires, eventually removing your self-imposed labels through sustained effort that leads to the external validation you need to completely redefine yourself. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

All ambitious people, even the ones that have already experienced measurable success, feel self doubt at certain times. Knowing how to move past those feelings is critical in getting to the next stage of your journey. In this episode we discuss:1) The importance of positive outcomes (wins) and other external validators2) The value of working on what you care about and what you're good at3) Why you should ask yourself if you're working on the right things See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

All entrepreneurs have been forced to rethink their entire strategy over the last 30 days, and many are uncertain about their ability to secure funding during an unstable economic environment. In this episode we discuss what changes we're seeing in the market and how founders should approach the fundraising process now that investors are more careful about how they deploy their capital. In this episode you will learn: 1) How to setup a more targeted fundraising approach2) What types of investors are more likely to write you a check3) How you should adjust your story and business plan to stay attractive to investors4) What traction to focus on to raise your valuationFor more episode on startup fundraising check out our Fundraising 101 series. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Creating a successful career is very similar to building a successful company - your outcomes are directly correlated with your execution. This week we reflect back on a story shared by Daisy dePaulis, Head of Sales at Google Cloud, who was recently featured in a free online class at School16. Daisy worked at a restaurant after going to community college for two years when she decided that her time was more valuable than the hourly work she was doing. In this episode we talk about how she landed a job at a tech company as an office manager, eventually moving to marketing, then sales, and how she developed her leadership skills in each role to rise to VP level early on in her career. We also discuss how leaders are actually discovered within companies by being willing to take on new responsibilities, coming to others with solutions and not just problems, mentoring those that need help, and learning skills on their own time. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Being an entrepreneur means that you get to decide what you want to be an expert in each time you start a new venture. One famous example is Richard Branson, who started off running a student magazine, then a record company, followed by a successful airline and a spaceflight company. Darrell Silver made a similar move with his second company, Thinkful. In part two of our interview we discuss why he decided to move away from enterprise tech where he successfully sold his first business into a sector that was completely unknown to him, direct to consumer education. As before he did what he knew best - created a valuable product as quickly as possible, then figured out an effective business model for it. Darrell explains how him and his co-founder Daniel Friedman saw an opportunity to educate people interested in technology jobs soon after the 2008 financial collapse, and the impressive marketing experiments the team ran to create a revenue generating program in a few short months. Over 8 years they grew Thinkful to a recognized brand, eventually selling to Chegg for $100 Million to reach their next milestone - making tech based education accessible to more people. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"Keep busy at something. A busy person never has time to be unhappy" -Robert Louis Stevenson. Today's episode is inspired by a message from Naval Ravikant, prolific entrepreneur and investor. His observation states that the physical spaces that we, typically, navigate to and from every day - be it the office, school, church, etc. - are primarily there to keep us busy. When going through a difficult period an effective way to keep negativity at bay is to create an environment where there's no time for it. This week we share a story from an entrepreneur that was able to create purpose for himself during this crisis by raising funding to support a network of seamstresses that create masks and other PPE for medical staff in his area. During this time what you do decide to do is not as important as committing to doing something. That alone can drastically help ease the burden of the uncertainty we're all feeling. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Most successful founders will tell you that you can't build a company for the purpose of selling it, yet some entrepreneurs are able to successfully find acquirers for their ventures time and time again throughout their careers. After all, that's one of the most common exit scenarios for founders and shareholders. In this two part series we had the pleasure of sitting down with the founder of Thinkful, Darrell Silver, who sold his education company last year for $100 Million to Chegg, his second acquisition and second company that he founded in the last decade. In Part I Darrell talks about what skills and circumstances he thinks attributed to him being able to start his first venture, Perpetually, and how years of networking with others in his industry led to a successful acquisition of that business at a time when it seemed like it was destined to fail. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The simple act of setting a big goal can change your outcomes because it defines the tasks that you prioritize in the immediate future. This week we talk about how we experienced this phenomenon first hand when we decided to launch our new education program School16. We discuss what motivated us to set a highly optimistic goal and how this led to getting over 600 signups in just a few short weeks. A simple framework that can be used to replicate this process is called SMART goal setting. Goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ever wonder why someone isn't responding to your email? Maybe you made a great connection with someone you met in person, but when you follow up with them you never hear back. Every day others are vying for our attention, but we only truly engage with those that succeed in piquing our interest.This is especially true if you're trying to reach someone important or busy.We've been able to get the attention of some of the most incredible people in the world after refining the outreach process over many years. This has lead to incredible opportunities, like appearances on live shows, writing opportunities with major publications, mentor and investor relationships, high value customers, and much more.Since then, we've taught our methods to hundreds of entrepreneurs that have gone on to build meaningful relationships themselves. Important people are just like you and I – they value positive human interaction, and get excited by new opportunities. They also appreciate working with others that they see as equals (or potential equals) and with people that truly value their time.In this episode we walk you through several communication principles that can be applied immediately. We also walk you through specific examples of the outreach that we've done so that you can replicate our process and see the results for yourself. Whether you're writing a book, working on a new business, trying to find partners, recruit new employees, or simply want to build new relationships – this episode will help you get closer to your goals. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In difficult times it helps to remind yourself that every day there are good things happening in the world. This week we highlight how some entrepreneurs are taking the opportunity to rapidly innovate and address the problems caused by this crisis head on. We also talk about the importance of being grateful for the positive things that happen throughout your day while trying to avoid the negativity of the daily news cycle. We end the episode by highlighting some of the happy moments we experienced this week which will hopefully help you remember your own. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When Vu Van was struggling to learn how to pronounce words in English correctly as a grad student at Stamford, she couldn't have known that a passion for this problem would drive her to build a language learning app with millions of users just a few years later.In this episode Vu breaks down exactly how she managed the process of proving demand for her language app ELSA by getting 1000 users in just one week. She also walks us through how she tested with hundreds of early users in Vietnam to build a functional initial prototype that she used to attract one of the best minds in voice technology to join her as a CTO. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Entrepreneurs are not defined by their product but rather their ability to come up with an idea and bring people together to make it a reality. Given recent events this week we decided to launch a new initiative to help people land jobs in more resilient and flexible industries, starting with tech. Starting in two weeks (April 1st, 2020) we will be launching a series of free live online classes to help people 1) understand the opportunities available to them in tech 2) learn how to develop soft and hard skills specific to the discipline they're interested in 3) understand how to leverage their past experience to identify the industry they're best suited for 4) learn how to rapidly build up their credibility to land interviews 5) begin to establish a network in their field of interest. In this episode we discuss exactly how we're executing the launch of this program, what we're doing to grow awareness, and how other entrepreneurs can start to adapt to the changing environment we're living through. If you're interested in joining our classes or know someone else that would like to learn directly from leaders in tech, you can sign up here to get all future announcements https://school16.co See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Starting one successful business doesn't necessarily make it easier to start another one. However, experienced entrepreneurs are more likely to be successful the second time around simply because they know how to push forward until they start to reach their goals, even if it takes longer than anticipated. In part two of our interview with Claudia Chan we discuss what gave her the idea of starting a women's empowerment company and why this business was more challenging to build from the ground up than the business she started in her mid twenties. We learn the importance of having a right hand man or woman from the onset and how Claudia was able to recruit this type of talent in the very early days of her company to make sure that she was executing on her goals. As the business grew SHE Summit started to attract people from over 100 organizations and to date it has had over 600 speakers while reaching tens of thousands of people through the conference and hundreds of thousands of people remotely. Claudia also talks about how this created an even bigger opportunity to build a leadership program for organizations that are interested in prioritizing diversity and inclusion and why it's so important to show others how leadership opportunities can be accessible to anyone that actively pursues them. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We're in a unique time in history right now where the whole world is going through an experience together. While it's clear that there's a lot we don't know about the spread of a pandemic and it's eventual ramifications, if nothing else our very humanity is evident now more than ever. This is creating a heightened sense of camaraderie and a realtime shift in how we interact with each other. In this 5 Minute Pick Me Up we talk about how Scott Heiferman identified an opportunity for a business that helped build communities and connect people face to face right after the tragic events of 9/11. That company, Meetup.com, grew rapidly in part because of the timing in the market and people's inclination to embrace this new technology. We also talk about why more people are now looking for opportunities to connect with others as they shift to working from home and how this should open up more doors for you to become a creator. During the episode we reference Paul Graham's essay titled Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy which can be found here: http://www.paulgraham.com/badeconomy.html See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Before Claudia Chan was even 30 years old, she was already running a 7-Figure women's entertainment business in New York City. How did this first time entrepreneur accomplish so much, so quickly?It was through that own-your-own-destiny mentality that Claudia's parents ingrained in her from a young age that she was able to have the confidence to think of herself as a born entrepreneur even as a teenager. Always keeping her eyes open for opportunities, Claudia spotted her first business idea while working for a dot com startup in the early 2000's, when companies were spending thousands on event and party sponsorships. In part one of our conversation with Claudia Chan we talked about how she got to revenue with that business before even quitting her job, why she decided to partner with someone else who had an existing party business in NYC and how that led to millions in revenue in a few short years. We also discuss how she used the lessons learned from that first business to start S.H.E Globl, which puts on one of the biggest women's empowerment summits in the world. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We were all set to hold our conference with more than 500 confirmed attendees, but at 8:00AM on the morning of the event we got an email from the venue saying that due to the coronavirus threat, they can no longer host our event. With 4.5 hours left, it seemed that the only option was to email all speakers and attendees apologizing for this unexpected turn of events and cancel the whole thing. But it took just one person to ask, is there any way to keep the event on?This is exactly what happened to us just a few days ago and in this episode we talk about how this proactive mentality helped us figure out how to save this event, and why sometimes having your back against the wall is exactly what you need to achieve things you would otherwise think are impossible. We also discuss the importance of having a resilient team that can handle uncertainty gracefully. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If someone tells you “that's just the way things have always been done,” then there's likely a business opportunity there that no one has been brave enough to tackle yet. When Mona Bijoor was working in the fashion industry connecting apparel brands to retailers, she heard that phrase often. But she knew that offline handshake deals and orders placed via fax were going to be replaced by technology, it was only a matter of time.The difference between her and most of her industry colleagues is that she set out to be the one to change this behemoth of an industry by launching JOOR in 2010, and ultimately growing it to billions of dollars in transaction volume. But how does someone who has no experience building technology, let alone creating a marketplace from scratch, even know where to start? In this episode, we got to hear exactly how Mona was able to convince brands to digitize their inventory exclusively on her platform, and eventually built it into a company with over 100 employees. We also dug into some of the stories that Mona shares in her new book, Startups and Downs: The Secrets of Resilient Entrepreneurs, of her struggles as a first time founder, and how she, along with the dozens of founders that she interviewed for the book, overcame them. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Why would a billionaire agree to be interviewed by someone who just started her own podcast? For most of us, celebrities and ultra-successful people seem completely out of reach, but Heneka Watkis-Porter has proven again and again that if you really believe that you can create value to people, then you can get anyone to support you. As long as you're willing to keep asking them. In this 5 Minute Pick Me Up, Vadim spoke to Heneka to find out how she gets influential people to support her work and the philosophy she uses to get over her own fears. Find out more about Heneka here, and support her podcast, The Entrepreneurial You, by subscribing! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Quitting a job can feel exhilarating and intimidating at the same time. In a perfect world, you're leaving on good terms and have a supportive boss that offers you future opportunities for mentorship and references.Unfortunately, these circumstances are usually far from perfect. Many people leave their jobs because they're unhappy, and the source of this unhappiness typically comes from the people that they work for.There's many misconceptions about what to expect from this process, and how to handle the conversation with your employer when the time finally comes. We start this episode with a role play, giving you a real life example of how to handle a boss that reacts horribly to the news of you leaving. A situation like this can often be fraught with emotions on both sides, so it's important to be fully prepared going into the conversation.We breakdown how you can anticipate questions and objections from your boss, and what to do to prepare ahead of time. Whether you're quitting your job to work on a new business, or leaving for a better opportunity it's important to know your rights as an employee. These tips will help you stay calm and at ease throughout the process, and remember – it's only one conversation. Soon you'll be on your way to a happier you. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The best opportunities are often in the long tail where no-one is looking. This is one of the reasons why startups have an advantage over established businesses - unique strategies can be quickly tested at any time when there's no oversight or rigid processes. This week we talk about three stories of entrepreneurs that were able to create a seemingly unfair advantage resulting in accelerated growth. We reference a student that leveraged texting to reach parents, recap how Teespring (Episode 62) acquired their early customers, and tell you the story of how Tinder grew from 20,000 users to half a million users in one month. The three main takeaways for this week's 5 Minute Pick Me Up are: Be as specific as possible in defining how you will get in front of your customerGo where others don't Leverage your unique domain knowledge or network to activate untapped channels See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's hard to say no to a six figure check but sometimes your best option is to reject it. In this episode we explore three commons reasons for walking away from an investor that's ready to put money into your startup. Here are some red flags to watch out for: An early stage investor that wants too much operational involvementAn investor that gives you an exploding offerA wealthy individual that is making their first and only angel investmentFor each scenario we point to stories from real founders that we've worked with and why their decision to walk away ultimately helped save their respective companies. While there are always exceptions to the rule we bring up these cautionary tails to help first time fundraisers make the best possible decision for their company. The allure of money can be deceiving and as with any contractual obligation the decision to accept money in exchange for equity should be considered carefully. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we tell a story of a Venezuelan med school student who opened up a burger restaurant in Spain called Goiko Grill that grew to over 40 locations and sold for €130 Million only 4 years after the first restaurant opened.We talk about why partnering with the right people can mean the difference between hyper growth and stagnation, and what uniquely positioned this particular entrepreneur to succeed.When you make constraints for yourself it becomes easier to be creative. For a similar reason scarcity creates resourcefulness. You learn how to solve problems in unique ways when you have fewer options available to you. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sometimes the questions that we bury deep inside of us are the ones that should be asked first. This is part two of a segment where we try to answer questions that we get from founders in private. Things that often only come up once we've been talking to someone for quite some time.In this week's episode we answer the following three questions that came up in our recent conversations:1) How do we decide who's the CEO?2) What if I feel like I want to give up?3) How honest should I be with my team?We discuss how to be honest with yourself about the best choice of leader for your team, what to do first before you make the drastic decision to shut down your business, and why there's a difference between transparency with your co-founders vs. the people you employ. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

One of the greatest misconceptions about career progression is that the consequences of our choices should always be predictable and linear. It's this thinking that creates risk averse decision making for fear of irreversible outcomes, potentially closing you off to opportunities that could lead to something you can not yet foresee. Over the last few weeks we've had several people come to us expressing trepidation in making the right choice in the next step of their career. To help anyone else that might be going through this, we reshaped this question to three simple prompts:1) What are the soft and hard skills you can learn to fill your own skills gap?2) Where do you need to grow your network, whether it's industry or expertise based?3) Is this next step helping you level up in a measurable and significant way?What should also help inform your decision is the understanding that most careers today are not linear and that the old way of deciding the next step in your career does not fit the model of the new economy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Every entrepreneurial success story has a strong visionary that's able to recruit countless others to help them along the way. Being willing to ask for help isn't only critical in the early days of building something. It can help you avoid mistakes at every level, filling any gaps in your knowledge, your network, your experience, and much more. Still, for many asking for help is not natural. It's easy to feel like you're inconveniencing someone while adding no value to them. Fortunately, this is mostly a false line of thinking.We start this episode by discussing how to get over this initial feeling of self-doubt by first understanding that every successful person has gotten help from someone else to get to where they are, and by using negative visualization to realize that the worst that can happen if you ask for help is, well, absolutely nothing.Next, we break down the most effective way to get others to help you, especially if you're approaching important people. Start by using whatever you can to your advantage (your friends, classmates, colleagues, your expertise, etc.) and prove to others that you're serious about what you're trying to accomplish. Lastly, we suggest offering value whenever you can, giving examples from our past, and being as specific as possible when asking others to help you. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What can a hostage negotiator teach us about customer relationships? That the best way to disarm someone is to directly confront their grievances. This week we discuss how to handle a situation where you've made a mistake. We talk about what's known as empathy statements and why Sergei's old boss spent 48 hours calling each of his customers after a major server outage. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you need to do something hard start by committing to it for just 30 minutes. You can do almost anything for 30 minutes no matter how difficult it is. This is the advice that Natalie Gray got from her college professor, pushing her to finish a 3 year graduate degree in just 1 year. She later applied that advice to teaching herself how to be a designer, marketer, sales expert, and product leader. She's now the Co-founder and Head of Product at Cover, a startup that recently raised $27 million to change the way people get insurance. While Cover has grown very rapidly in its first four years - getting accepted into YCombinator on a prototype, getting rapid early customer traction, attracting investors, and tripling in size to 124 employees in just the last year - Natalie's story to getting to this point was anything but a straight line. In this episode we talk about the various career shifts that led her to teaming up with her current co-founders on a completely different business and how working on that business for two years, and then together at Shopify after being acquired, ultimately lead them to recognize a massive opportunity in insurance while on a weekend hack session at a cabin with the team. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Everyone's timeline is different but if you're lucky enough to identify what you're uniquely good at, it's imperative that you pursue it. This week we got to watch world renowned violinist Karen Gomyo perform at the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and after seeing our dads old documentary the next day we noticed a parallel in their very different paths.They're passions started as internal feelings that couldn't be explained, but their calling was formed over time by external validation and unwavering pursuit despite overwhelming difficulty. This week's 5 Minute Pick Me Up explores the idea of passions and how to know if your passion is actually a calling. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Everyone wants to get press for their startup, but most founders go about it the wrong way. In this episode, we explore why some founders are so good at constantly getting written about and others struggle for years to get anyone to notice them. Through hundreds of conversations with successful founders, and a few insights we've received from PR professionals over the years, we discovered a few basic principals that any company can follow to be more attractive to the media. The first is to realize that "the media" or journalists, have jobs to get done, and if you can help them make their job easier, you have a much higher chance of getting their attention. And that number one job is to tell a story. We break down some specific examples of how you can create a noteworthy pitch or story that journalists will want to tell, how to find exactly the types of journalists and publications that have a high likelihood of writing about you, and how to develop relationships with them over time. We also share some resources like Help A Reporter and PRNewswire, for founders who are just getting started and want to tell their story, but have not had time to develop relationships with journalists yet. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The problem with getting good at something is the temptation to perpetually avoid the unknown for fear of discomfort. This week we talk about an issue that's real for many mid-career professionals - the "Golden Handcuffs" - ie: the allure of staying in a financially comfortable arrangement at the expense of personal growth. We talk about how this paradox applies to us and why it's important to acknowledge when you've been comfortable for too long. We draw a parallel to the career of famed author Steven Pressfield (of The Legend of Bagger Vance and The War of Art) and why he didn't become the prolific author he is today until late in his life. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.