The Startup Story

About this episode My guest this week is David Sellinger, founder of Deep Sentinel. David's startup resume is remarkable and includes such highlights as: * Being an early employee at Amazon working directly under Jeff Bezos and co-inventing Amazon Advertising which now generates BILLIONS of dollars in revenue * Co-founding the real estate brokerage RedFin (now a multi-billion company) * Revolutionizing the shopping experiences for major brands like Macy's and Office Depot with his RichRelevance startup. * Inventing the next HUGE advancement in home security with Deep Sentinel. Deep Sentinel brings artificial intelligence to the home protection industry. With the Deep Sentinel the technology can identify threats in real time and once a threat is identified a live guard is engaged to notify and warn off the threat. The Deep Sentinel hardware is not just a camera but a sleek yet incredibly intimidating piece of technology that allows the Live Guards to engage while police are on their way. In this episode, you'll hear: How being raised by two immigrant parents shaped his ambition and value of opportunities His learnings about organizational culture from the founding brothers of Dutch Bros. coffee. Lessons learned from Jeff Bezos as it relates to data-informed decision making About the next evolution in home security How important it is to speak honestly about your mental health Resources from this episode FREE Access to Grindology: https://www.grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Deep Sentinel Website: https://www.deepsentinel.com/ Deep Sentinel “STOPPED” YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPrVzjHFY6Acoy54iYvo21RW5xjpWNf8m Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Clay Alexander, the inventor and founder of Ember. Ember is a temperature control brand that seeks to disrupt how the world eats, drinks and lives. Their very first product was a Travel Mug and was launched in 100 Starbucks locations. Since their launch they have expanded to other product lines. Clay has an incredible founder story that I hope more people discover because I think it brings encouragement and inspiration to so many. Let me be clear, when I say "encouragement" I am not talking about the type of fuzzy-feelings you get when you receive a Hallmark card. I'm talking about the actual meaning of the word "encourage", to place courage inside of. That is what Clay's story will deliver to you, courage to keep moving forward despite the obstacles or challenges you might be up against. See Clay grew up incredibly poor, in fact to use his words "dirt poor." Aside from his economic challenges he was diagnosed with ADD and dyslexia, and he still is. Yet despite all these challenges he has founded two amazing companies and invented numerous patented products, that I'm sure when the story is over will deliver well beyond $1-billion in revenue. I know this episode will quickly become one of your favorites but like all other founder episodes we need to start at the very beginning. In this episode, you'll hear How Clay's upbringing was not one where entrepreneurship was an inevitable journey for him. In fact, everything about his upbringing would have pointed towards obtaining a steady 9-5 job to help simply put food on the table. About how his creative and inventive mind was at work from a young age and how he even replicated the famous Inspector Gadget bicycle, including switches for smoke screens The journey through college helped set the stage for him to refine his lighting expertise and led to his inventing the brightest LED bulb in the world The steps he took to negotiate a licensing deal with GE for that very bulb he invented How cold scrambled eggs became the catalyst for the first temperature controlled coffee mug on the planet The reason why the Ember mug, iPhone, Macbook Pro, and Apple iPad all look so good together Why any inventor or entrepreneur should never accept the answer of "No" as final and complete Clay unpack the future of Ember and the various industries that will benefit from his many temperature control solution ideas Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Ember website: https://ember.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Michael Werner, founder and CEO of HomeX. Until 2003, Michael served as President and Vice Chariman for his family's 100 year old business, Werner Ladders. The Werner Company continues on today and is now a $1 billion dollar global brand…but Michael has moved on and launched a technology startup within a $500 billion market. HomeX is the first of its kind home services platform for both homeowners and service providers that is radically improving the complex and fragmented home services industry. One of the many things that peaked my curiosity about having Michael on the show was that I am just not a handy individual. Despite the fact that I could watch a YouTube video of how to change my garbage disposal I would much rather have an expert walk me through the process, or just do it for me. Well, that is one of the consumer solutions that HomeX is bringing to the marketplace, direct access to industry experts to guide you through the solution or enable you to hire the expert to come and take care of it for you. HomeX is truly changing the game for homeowners and service providers. And having just come off a $90 million dollar capital raise, things are about to get very interesting for Michael and the HomeX team. In this episode, you'll hear: The importance of reiventing an industry. The nuance of leading a legacy brand. Why global manufacturing is critical to business success. The importance that small business plays to our economy and communities. Resources from this episode Grindology: https://www.grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → ExpressVPN.com/StartupStory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory HomeX for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.homex.lightning&utmsource=web&utmmedium=cta&utm_campaign=newcta HomeX for iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/app/homex-we-got-this/id1505761821?utmsource=web&utmmedium=cta&utm_campaign=newcta Use the code "STARTUPSTORY25" to receive 25% off your first Remote Assist session. Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode Whenever I'm asked which episode of The Startup Story has been my favorite, I truly can't give an answer. I enjoy every single episode because of how much value every entrepreneur brings to the table and how much I learn from them. However, if I were to be asked which episode stands out the most in my mind, it would have to be one of my earliest episodes: my interview with Brandon “Monk” Muñoz from Monkwood Studios. Out of all of the interviews I've held, I've only hosted two founders who were woodworkers. Brandon is one of them. His episode stands out because of how incredibly eclectic his entrepreneurial journey has been. Brandon was both extremely transparent and vulnerable about his story and amazing at telling it. He explains how both he and his startup, Monkwood Studios, got to where they are today. If you want to learn from a talented and hilarious entrepreneur, tune into this conversation with Brandon “Monk” Muñoz. In this episode, you'll hear: How Brandon got into woodworking as a kid. The mentor and friend that taught him how to build furniture. Why he was inspired to go out on his own. How much he failed and learned from his mistakes at the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey. Why how you make something is more important than what you make. Brandon's experience doing ministry in London and building the unique startup of a church. Why he became an entrepreneur by need, not by choice. How he finally niched his business down and began specializing in wooden desks. The connection he feels with the people who purchase his desks. The risk all creative entrepreneurs have to take. Resources from this episode Grindology: https://www.grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → ExpressVPN.com/StartupStory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Brandon in Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monkwood_/ Monkwood Studios: https://monkwoodstudio.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode This week we are featuring Randi Zuckerberg, founder of Zuckerberg Media. If her last name sounds familiar, it should. It's also the last name of her little brother who had a startup about a book of faces or Facebook or something like that. Randi Zuckerberg is an entrepreneur, investor, best selling author, and Emmy-nominated tech media personality. She is the founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media, with the mission of supporting current and future entrepreneurs through investment, mentorship, and media. Growing up she wanted to be a Broadway actress, yet while in college she had to pivot from that dream to pursue a career in advertising. But what I love about the stories of many of the founders this show highlights, is that we always find our way back to our passion, in one form or another. Like every Startup Story founder, we need to go back to the early days to find out what life was like for Randi before Facebook LIVE, before two best-selling books, and before receiving two Tony awards. You'll soon hear how her beginning wasn't all that different from others who have come before her. This is Randi' Zuckerberg's startup story. In this episode, you'll hear: Her aspirations of becoming an actress and how those dreams got crushed early on About creating her first ad campaign for the Special Olympics The transition from working in an ad agency to working for Facebook and becoming the creator of Facebook LIVE About the time she received a call from the producers of the Broadway musical Rock of Ages and the start of her Broadway career How her experiences have taught her that none of us have just one calling and there are so many chapters and phases of our lives, each with different callings Her realization that her best skills were on the production side of the entertainment and Broadway industry; and how she began to apply those skills as an entrepreneur The founding of Zuckerberg Media and Randi's hopes and ambitions for her venture Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Zuckerberg Media: https://www.zuckerbergmedia.com/ Michael Littig, Zuckerberg Institute: https://www.thestartupstory.co/zuckerberginstitute Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode As a pioneer, there is not a single roadmap to work from. There's no way to model your success off of another because there is no other--you're it. You're the front runner. There must be an internal competition established within your brain to be constantly improving. Richard Garriot has experienced all of this throughout his time in the gaming sector. Richard is an investor and private astronaut as well as a pioneer and legend. What drew me to him was his role within privatizing space travel as well as his experience as a video game entrepreneur. However, I had no idea how rich his background in the gaming sector was. Tune into this episode to hear how iconic he truly is and how he reached this level of success. In this episode, you'll hear How entering science fairs prepared Richard to be a great independent competitor. How he published his first product. His experience as a freelance game creator looking for publishers. What caused him to start a company with his brother. Why packaging was important to him even before building a brand. His experience losing the faith of everyone he worked with and making up his own philosophy from scratch. How he navigated his business with the emergence of the internet. The period of time when he took a break from gaming and pursued space travel. His vision for space and the future of space travel. The power of being multidisciplinary. The key things he learned from his failures. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → ExpressVPN.com/StartupStory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Richard on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RichardGarriott Richard's website: http://www.richardgarriott.com Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favorite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don't underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you!

About this episode My guest this week is Matt Meeker, Co-founder of Bark, and while the Bark's name itself might not cause your ears to perk up in excitement for what's to come in this episode. Bark's various product lines are household names. Their flagship product being BarkBox, with over 1.7 million active BarkBox subscribers, BarkBox is the Premier subscription dog toy and treat service. In addition to BarkBox, Bark has various product lines that can be found in over 23,000 retail outlets. Matts entire episode is chock full of value because his journey and his experiences are so extensive. To start with Matt was one of the digital advertising pioneers, and we discuss what digital advertising was like long before the days of Facebook ads. Matt was also a Co-founder of Meetup, which eventually sold the WeWork for $156 million in 2017. And now in 2021, Matt and the Bark leadership team are navigating the SPAC landscape to bring Bark to the public markets. As I said, Matts episode covers quite a bit of ground and I'm super pumped to bring it to you. But with that said while I know, you're excited to hear his insights into SPAC's and all things subscription-related we need to start at the very beginning. In this episode, you'll hear: How he grew up in a small town in Iowa with his parents who were very different. His father was a conservative accountant and his mother a rebel who encouraged him to form his path. How he was entrepreneurial from a young age, at school he had many side hustles like running the schools poker games and selling red cups to buy beer. How he played Racquetball competitively and went on to play at the National Tournament. Matt went to the University of Minnesota but only lasted one quarter as he only went because everyone expected him to go. How Matt dropped out of college and joined the Navy and became a weather observer. Matt went back to university and paid his way through in cash. After college he joined a Digital Ad Agency in March 1997, the company focused on getting traffic from the website to the store. They had big companies like Disney, Capital One and Discover. Matt explains what digital advertising was like in 2000. He shares that the Ad company was very successful but he did sell it, with this he joined forces with one of the companies investors to start a new company. Matt explains that his next company wasn't successful and it was all down to the execution of the business. The company had more money they knew what to do with and hired big names in the business world but never made a real product or spoke to a customer. Matt shares how the founder of the Ad agency Scott started talking about the next business venture. Matt shares how Scott and himself started Meetup, a company trying to encourage people to get out of their house and meet people online. They also wanted to change the negative narrative of meeting people online. How Matt and Scott hired their CTO for Meetup from a listing they put on Craigslist. Matt shares that he left Meetup because it was getting too big with 45 employees and he didn't want the stress of it. Matt founded Barkbox in September 2011 and never thought it would grow to over 735 employees. Matt shares that he started Barkbox as he was living in New York with his Great Dane Hugo, when they went into a pet shop there was nothing for big dogs. He shares that Groupon brought in half of their customers in the first year. Matt shares how BarkBox has further developed into different sections like SuperHuman, Bark Bright, Bark Eats and Bark Home. How BarkBox developed its own dog food as they wanted dogs to be fed as an individual. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Sponsor Movo: https://movo.cash/ Bark HQ: https://bark.co/ BarkBox: https://www.barkbox.com Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode My guest this week is Ryan Serhant, star of Bravo's hit series Million Dollar Listing New York, Best Selling Author, and founder of Serhant. How do the crossroads of reality television and entrepreneurship ever cross? Well, this episode will answer that question very clearly for you. My guest has been the star of Bravo's hit show, Million Dollar Listing New York for the last 10 seasons as well as launching one of the fastest growing Real Estate brands in the nation. Ryan is an absolute branding genius and he shares his expertise on that very topic, as well as his take on how resilience plays into the startup journey. In this episode, you'll hear: Childhood lessons that shaped his entire life's journey How hand modeling helped stabilize his income while building his empire The power of action-taking and not action-thinking How Real Estate is just like improvisational acting Why you should plan out what “future you” looks like How the hardest moments in our life can shape our entire future going forward How he started selling real estate by leveraging YouTube How naivete can be of value to launching your business How selling is the foundation of any business The importance of branding, regardless of your industry Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Ryan's Brand Building Course: https://ryanserhant.com/thestartupstory Sell it Like Serhant: https://amzn.to/3r6hHSH Big Money Energy: https://amzn.to/2ZidbVQ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Sean Cannell, founder of Think Media. His episode was originally released on February 11th of last year. Just 45 days before everything started to unravel from COVID. Sean is an incredible human being and entrepreneur as well as a best selling author, YouTuber, speaker, and absolute digital marketing mogul that has centered his mission on helping entrepreneurs and creatives build their influence with online video. Sean's various YouTube channels have over two million subscribers, his videos have been viewed over 50 million times and he has been featured as one of the “20 Must Watch YouTube Channels That Will Change Your Business” by Forbes. The stats I just read are incredibly impressive, but what is really impressive is that Sean, and the Think Media team are on a mission to help 10,000 people create a living, doing what they love to do, utilizing online video. That is what I love about Sean's story, is that it is grounded in helping others achieve something more for themselves. In this episode, you'll hear: How Sean's childhood needed a complete redemption story in order to move forward. Lessons learned from key mentors in his life. The power of YouTube and why it should not be overlooked. About the marathon of entrepreneurship and how to avoid burnout. Why your brand NEEDS to utilize video. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory YouTube Secrets: https://amzn.to/31YHpOz Think Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGxjDWAN1KwrkXYVi8CXtjQ Sean Cannell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seancannell/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is none other than Evan Goldberg, Founder & EVP of Oracle NetSuite. The startup story of NetSuite is amazing because Evan and Larry Ellison spent 5 minutes on the phone discussing the idea of selling software from the cloud (which wasn't called the cloud back in 1999) and then one year later they were selling to customers. NetSuite is the market leader in small business cloud-based ERP solutions and have over 27,000 customers across the globe. Within my full interview we discuss how he handled the failure of his first software startup, what it was like to build a startup and navigate an IPO as well as a corporate acquisition. We even discuss the fact that Evan had to lead NetSuite through not one financial crisis, but two. The dot com bust of 2000 and the 2008 market crash…and then a third with the COVID pandemic just last year…but we don't spend any time talking about that because there just wasn't enough time! I'm telling you…you are going to love this episode. In this episode, you'll hear: How Evan recovered from the failure of his first startup. How the origin of a company valued at over $9 billion began from a 5-minute conversation. How to handle distractions as a startup founder. The early customer acquisition strategies for a multi-billion-dollar SaaS company. Learnings from the transition as an independent company to being owned by a corporation. How startup founders need to capitalize on a down market to improve their business and be prepared for the rebound. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/ Evan's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-netsuite/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode About six weeks ago one of our past guest experienced a life-changing event with regards to his startup. On September 13, 2021 it was confirmed that Mailchimp had been acquired by Intuit for $12 billion in cash and stock. Because of the recent headlines that have hit the mainstream tech sites, regarding this acquisition, I thought it would be nice to counter the false “overnight success” narratives with an honest discussion about how Ben Chestnut, co-founder of Mailchimp, really helped to build Mailchimp to where it is today. Until now, Ben's story hasn't received a ton of articles published about the savvy way in which Ben and his co-founder built this billion dollar enterprise without any venture capital. But now that they have been acquired for $12 billion…you are seeing them everywhere. This is the REAL startup story! In this episode, you'll hear: Ben's early days and what led him to start MailChimp. Ben's thoughts on bringing capital into the business. How he stayed the course despite competitor noise. Tactics Ben used to acquire his first 10,000 users. How to determine pricing and consumer tolerance in a SaaS product. Ben's key steps to build a $12-billion startup. Ben's advice to any entrepreneur who feels stuck. Resources from this episode Grindology Magazine: http://grindologymagazine.com/ Grindology on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/grindology ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Ben's Twitter: https://twitter.com/benchestnut My LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmckinney1/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode In the past month or so, I've had a few newer listeners reach out to me asking me when I would share a bit more about my story and how I got to the point of bringing The Startup Story to market. Well, as I responded to each of those listeners, I realized that it has been almost two years since my startup story episode has been released. What I also realized is that, when we did release that episode we were sitting at around 30,000 listeners…well we are now close to 100,000 listeners so it seems like it might be advantageous to replay my story for our newer, and much larger audience. This is also the only episode of the show where I am not the host. I could not tell my Startup Story without having my wife be part of the telling because so much of what I've been through has also been part of her story; and that is just the reality of marriage. There is no compartmentalizing things when you are married. As an entrepreneur, your startup plays an enormous role in your marriage…and that is why I had to have her join the show to ask me the questions that I probably wouldn't naturally share had she not asked me. This episode is incredibly raw! In this episode, you'll hear: How I watched my dad grow his side hustle into a multimillion-dollar enterprise, and how it shaped my future Some of my early side hustles, dating all the way back to elementary school About being kicked out at the age of 16, living on my own, and how my dad delivered discipline in an intentional way How learning lessons of hard work and determination affected me as I continued to grow My focus and what I wanted to do with my life and how and why I joined the Marines About building and growing a promotional product business and recalling on the day I lost it all, and how it affected my wife Resources from this episode Grindology Magazine: http://grindologymagazine.com/ Grindology on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/grindology Larry Namer, founder of E! Entertainment Television: https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/larry-namer-founder-of-e-entertainment-television Ben Chestnut, co-founder of Mailchimp: https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/ben-chestnut-co-founder-of-mailchimp Christina Stembel, founder of Farmgirl Flowers: https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/christina-stembel-founder-of-farmgirl-flowers ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory My LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmckinney1/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode My guest this week is Neil Shah, a co-founder of ThinkNimble. Neil is a serial entrepreneur and technology expert and ThinkNimble is a software development agency that helps startups and socially-focused companies grow and scale. As the show has expanded its reach, the demographic that we reach has shifted some as well. Within the last few months I have had some very early-stage founders reach out to me with some very specific questions, and many of them have been tactical in nature. Questions like: * What does product-market fit really look like? * Are Facebook Ads still as beneficial to the startup as they used to be? * Are subscription-based businesses as great as they sound? * How can I acquire my first 1,000 customers for my SaaS solution? Yet, despite the various questions I receive is some variation of “How can I launch a technical startup if I'm not a technical person?” Well, that is the exact question that Neil and I discuss in this week's episode. In this episode, you'll hear: The reality of thinking that you are “non-technical” Common misconceptions that non-technical founders get hung up on How to think about your budget when building a technical solution Can no-code solutions help you get to market How you can move forward on your technical solution Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory ThinkNimble: https://www.thinknimble.com/ Neil's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-shah-85909714/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode My guest this week is Eli Harris, is the co-founder of R-Zero. R-Zero is disrupting an archaic industry (disinfection), and in doing so - creating a category around health security + biosafety technology. Eli and his co-founders recognized that the COVID pandemic was going to present a massive shift in health security, much like 9/11 did for physical security. The opportunity for Eli and the R-Zero team is enormous and we discuss this societal shift in great detail within this episode, but let me be clear…Eli's story is not one of success without failure. R-Zero is Eli's second startup and his first is now valued over $1 billion dollars. You read that correctly, his first startup reached the elusive “Unicorn” status. Unfortunately though, he does not get to share in that success because a little over two years ago he was pushed out and let go from the very company he built. Within this episode we unpack how he processed that moment to get to a place where was capable and emotionally ready to begin building what, from all external signs, looks to be another Unicorn startup story. In this episode, you'll hear: How Eli put in tremendous work to become fluent in Mandarin Chinese and how that work led to various opportunities in mainland China. The origin of his first startup, and how it reached a valuation of $1 billion. The events that led to him being pushed out from that startup. How he processed and leveraged that traumatic experience to strengthen him for the next chapter of his startup journey. Historical perspective of the security changes brought on my the events of 9/11, and how the COVID pandemic has created a similar opportunity. About the future growth opportunities for R-Zero and their recent acquisitions.. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory R-Zero: https://rzero.com/ Eli's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eli-harris-6a262164/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode My guest this week is Joshua Wöhle, CEO & co-founder of Mindstone. Mindstone is an online platform that creates the best learning pathways from the best content available online. Imagine aggregating and curating all the best articles, podcasts, videos, and anything else, to help you learn faster, remember more, and develop your skills and expertise on that given topic of interest. In a world with unlimited access to information and resources, Joshua and the Mindstone team want to provide anyone, anywhere in the world, with the tools, confidence, and motivation to take ownership of their own learning. The mission of Mindstone is incredibly ambitious and complex. If you are one of those startup founders, or wantrepreneurs, that find yourself a bit stuck on how to move forward because you too have a massively complex road ahead of you because of industry or technology then this is the episode for you! In this episode, you'll hear: How being raised by a Pastor and a Philosopher has shaped how he pursues understanding of complex questions. Why he dropped out of University twice before he was able to complete a degree program. What drove him to launch a startup that was centered around making the internet safe for kids, yet he had no kids. Why he thinks solving a problem based on personal need is not the only way to sustain passion and fullfillment during the entrepreneurial journey. Why he would leave his first startup after a massively successful exit with a globally recongnized brand. Why the current cultural foothold held by larger institutions needs to be disrupted. How Joshua, and the Mindstone team, seek to democratize learning and shift how self-driven learning is perceived by the Corporate & Career sector. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Book: “How we learn” by Benedict Carey - https://amzn.to/3DgB5zt Mindstone: https://www.mindstone.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Betsy Fore, co-founder of Tiny Organics. For those that might not be aware of Tiny Organics, they are an early childhood nutrition company that focuses on introducing our little ones to their first 100 flavors to kickstart a lifelong health oriented pallete. In fact, Betsy says that Tiny Organics mission is to help shift the pallete or our children from being sweet oriented to savory oriented. As a dad, what I heard when she described her startup this way was “Tiny Organics is going to help raise less picky kids!” Betsy, and her co-founder Sofia, recently announced their $11 million series A so in the coming months you are truly going to see some big things out of Tiny Organics. Betsy's journey to Tiny Organics is incredibly diverse as it starts on a Tribal reservation and travels through the toy-making industry. Like I've said many times, the entrepreneurial journey is incredibly diverse. In this episode, you'll hear: How her indigenous roots have played a role in how she seeks to serve all those she engages. The relevance that toy making has to childhood nutrition. How an unsuccessful pet hardware startup provided some necessary data points for a future nutrition initiative. What Betsy wants to do to bring increased visibility to other indigenous founders. How we, as parents, can capitalize on the 4-7 month window in our child's development, to increase the desirability of nutritious foods. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Betsy's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/betsyfore/ What I learned when I failed: https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/james-mckinney-founder-of-the-startup-story Tiny Organics: https://www.tinyorganics.com/ Use the code “tinystartupstory30” to receive 30% off of your first Tiny box purchase! Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Jeff Abrams, founder and Creative Director of Rails. For those that might not be aware of what Rails is what product they provide, allow me to enlighten you. Rails is a global lifestyle clothing brand that has an incredibly robust women's and men's collection. The brand started in 2008 with just a $5,000 investment and Jeff has since grown Rails into a brand that is sold in over 40 countries through 1,500 retail partners. Since 2008, Rails has surpassed half a billion in revenue and accumulated some massively popular celebrity fans like Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Gisele, and many more. In fact, his first celebrity fan was Matthew McConaughey…but I will let Jeff share that story. In this episode, you'll hear: The exact steps he took to bring Rails to market and how he secured his first 40 retail partners His strategy for expanding his product catalog How he managed capital to keep Rails bootstrapped Why he thinks brick & mortar retail stores are a necessary channel even with a robust web presence How he kept going in the face of repeated rejection Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Rails Clothing: https://www.railsclothing.com/ Use the code “STARTUPSTORY” to receive 15% off of your purchase Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Danny Wajcman, co-founder of Lucky Orange. For those that might not be aware of Lucky Orange, this episode will be an absolute treat for you because Lucky Orange is one of the most dynamic website analytic tools available to help you truly optimize the customer journey to increase your conversion. Most people think of Google Analytics when it comes to website analytics, but Lucky Orange fills some in the gaps that Google Analytics doesn't address. Google Analytics is phenomenal at telling us how a site visitor comes to our site and how they leave our site, but Lucky Orange informs us on their entire journey across our site. Lucky Orange is truly a powerful tool for conversion analytics. In this episode, you'll hear: The influence that his Grandparents, who survived the Holocaust, had on his life How Danny saw a need to understand user behavior on a website, beyond just numerical metrics About the significance and power of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) What distinguishes an entrepreneur and a leader How ego can impact the entrepreneurial journey and how to keep it in check Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Lucky Orange: https://www.luckyorange.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Mia Plecic, founder of the Slick Hair Company and branding genius who brought the Slick Stick to market in the midst of a global pandemic. Mia is no stranger to the show and was actually our featured founder for episode 19, so she has been part of The Startup Story family from very early on! I highly encourage you to listen to her initial episode because she gets incredible raw with us as it relates to how she processed various startup failures that have occurred along her journey. Her latest venture, the Slick Stick, is actually her 7th startup and her 6th e-commerce startup. In fact, when she was 22 she launched her first e-commerce startup and reached $30,000 in daily revenue within 6 months. But Mia's journey was not met without challenge. In this episode, you'll hear: What Mia has learned coming off of her third startup failure, and what she will do differently as she builds Slick Stick. How Tik Tok had an immediate, five-figure, daily impact to her business and brand. Specific steps take to launch a white-labeled product with a very disciplined, and bootstrapped, approach. How to navigate an expanded product catalog without needing investment capital. What the future of Slick Hair Company looks like. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Mia's very first episode of The Startup Story: https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/mia-plecic-founder-of-her-organics Purchase a Slick Stick today: https://www.slickhaircompany.com Use the code “startupstory” to receive a 10% discount on your order Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode This week's episode features an interview with Vlad Magdalin, co-founder of Webflow. For those that may not be aware, Webflow (at its core) is a website building platform, but yet it is so much more. Webflow is a platform that has enabled thousands of designers to act as an design and development agency because Webflow allows anyone to design masterfully, and develop online engagements without any need to know how to code. In fact, just a few weeks ago we had Duncan Hamra, cofounder of Memberstack on The Startup Story. In his episode we discovered that Memberstack was built ontop of Webflow. So the reality is that Webflow is not just a website builder but an entire web and software development platform that is democratizing how web design and development is achieved. Vlad is an incredible storyteller and you're going to love his full episode. But for me, one of my favourite aspects of his entrepreneurial journey. Is the fact that both he and his brother (who is also his co-founder) are refugees from Russia and who grew up in the Shadows of Silicon Valley. Having immigrated to the US only days before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Vlad knows quite a bit about starting over from scratch. And aside from overcoming many personal struggles as he adapted his life to try and fit in within the United States. It also took him and his brother four separate tries to get their now two-billion-dollar company up and running. Vlad's story is so incredibly relatable because the startup story for many companies is not one continuous thread, sometimes it has many starts and stops and Vlad was no different. In this episode, you'll hear: Vlad shares how he was born in the USSR and his parents took the massive risk to move him and his siblings to America in 1991. He shares what it was like growing up in American from the age of 9 and how he struggled with his identity and he tried to hide that he was from Russia. When Vlad was looking to go to college his parents said he should do a computer course like his brother. He did this for one term then dropped out to go to art school to do 3D animation as he aspired to work at Pixar. While he was at college Vlad had his first entrepreneurial venture. Vlad was using Quickdot to chat with his friends but the app crashed. So picked up a book on programming and started writing a clone of Quickdot but developed it and started ChatterFox. Here he fell in love with programming. Vlad shares how he first came up with the idea for Webflow when he was an intern at a design agency. He accidentally saw how the company was charging their clients hundreds of thousands of dollars while Vlad was getting paid $7 an hour. This sparked his entrepreneurial flair and he wanted to fix the problem he saw and make it better for everyone involved. Vlad shares how he pushed back starting Webflow for 6 years and experienced many ups and downs with this. He almost gave up until one day he randomly receives a trademark certificate for Webflow, that he applied for it over 5 years ago. He took this as a sign to keep going. How he went viral on Hacker News. In less than 24 hours it was the number 1 post and went viral on Twitter. Vlad shares the posting on hacker news drove over 20,000 sign ups. When Webflow launched only 30 people out of the 20,000 paid to use the software. Vlad shares that with those first 30 customers they started a group chat, to hear direct complaints, suggestions and requests they were making. How they think Webflow hasn't even scratched the surface yet of what's to come for the website and with their Series B round completed they are on to developing Webflow. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Webflow Website: https://webflow.com/ Webflow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/webflow/ Webflow Twitter: https://twitter.com/webflow Webflow Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/webflow/ Bret Victor, Investing On Principle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUv66718DII Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Chris Ronzio, founder and CEO of Trainual. If you're unfamiliar with Trainual their product is the absolute easiest way to train and grow your team. In order to grow your business you have to establish processes, and those processes need to be documented. Well, that is if you want consistent results. Small and growing businesses across the world are using Trainual to build playbooks, train teams and scale their business. By using Trainual you can greatly accelerate your entire hiring, onboarding and training process. So that your new hires are up to speed in a full contributing fashion months ahead of schedule. That acceleration without a loss in efficacy is exactly how good businesses become great businesses. In fact, Chris is such an advocate for helping small businesses grow and scale that he and the Trainual team host their PlayBook events series every year. So whether do you need strategies to scale big, marketing ideas that really resonate, or hot tips on anything else small business-related. Their PlayBook events series has exactly what you need. In fact, registration is free so visit PlayBook2021.com to secure your spot. Chris will be having Gary Vaynerchuk and Shaquille O'Neal joining for this event. And if that wasn't enough, everyone who registers will receive a copy of Chris's upcoming book titled “PlayBook.” Alright, enough for the hype Machine let's jump into the early days of Chris Ronzio's entrepreneurial journey to understand exactly how he got to where he is today. In this episode, you'll hear: His first entreprenurial influence was from his uncle who owns a stain glass window shop. Chris shares how at the age of 14 he started a video company, which allowed him to have his first taste of entrepreneurship. Exactly what Trainual is and how it helps businesses with training and creating manuals. How a someone without formal technical training has developed one of the hottest new SaaS platforms on the market. What metric Chris needed to see in order to make the pivot to go all-in on Trainual, after he tried to sell it off! How Chris capitalized the business and how he was able to defer venture capital. His thoughts on whether or not anyone can be an entrepreneur. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Trainual: https://trainual.com/grindology/ Playbook Event: http://playbook2021.com/ LYFT Marketing Automation Roadmap: https://grindologymagazine.com/mag/0633016001629394959/p6 Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Melanie Travis founder and CEO of Andie. Andie is a brand created for every woman, every activity and every body with well-fitting swimwear and intimate in sizes 0 to 26. It's designed for the modern woman, for all of life's occasions. I first discovered this when looking for an appropriate swimsuit for my teenage daughter. Every single suit these days is super cheeky and yes and Andie does have those suits but they truly do have a swimsuit for every activity, body and coverage preference. I love Andie's story, I love how Melanie came to start Andie. But I'm not going to spoil it for you because she is a masterful storyteller and this episode is packed with some tremendous learnings! In this episode, you'll hear: About her childhood, where she had no clue what to do with her life and entered college pursuing comparative literature, but found herself bored out of her mind. While she was at college she found her love for film, before going to grad school she moved to Vienna where she would travel around Europe creating mini-films in which she sent off to get into film grad school. She can now see the similarities between film directing and running a business. She shares how she funded her first film using the Kickstarter platform. While fundraising there she loved the idea of what Kickstarter could do for creators everywhere and then joined the company. The origin story of Andie and how it all started in an attempt to solve a "horrendous" shopping experience. With this little bit of market research and validation from her colleague, she continued to research the swimwear market. When she found enough validation she told her boss, Matt Meeker, she wanted to start her own company. He then provided her with desk space to pursue her passion, and in 4 months her business was up and running. How she funded Andie via Kickstarter campaign The power of storytelling and why that matters more than physical product when it comes to preorders or market validation. How she pivoted the business model within the first few months. Why her collaboration with Demi Moore was the perfect fit to bring Andie to the next-level. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ Read Grindology: http://grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Gardyn Giveaway: https://thestartupstory.co/Gardyn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andieswim/ Website: https://andieswim.com/ Fit quiz: https://andieswim.com/pages/fit-finder Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Robert Brunner, founder of Ammunition and Chief Designer of Beats by Dre. Robert has designed some of the most iconic products that you and I have integrated into our everyday lives. He built Apple's very first Internal Design Studio. He designed the Ember mug which we featured on The Startup Story last month. He completely redesigned how we view retail point of sale systems when he designed the Square card reader, as well as, the Square POS unit. He even led the design of the June smart-oven. But it doesn't stop there! Do you remember when Lyft drivers had those fuzzy pink mustaches attached to their cars. When Lyft wanted to evolve from the pink stache they reached out to Robert, and the end result were those highly colorful LED amp and glowstaches that sat on the dash of the Lyft driver's vehicle. Like I said, Robert has worked on so many iconic products that have impacted all of our lives and his Startup Story episode is amazing! In this episode, we talk a lot about design and how every single entrepreneur needs to think about user-centric design, regardless of what it is you are working on. Whether you have a technology solution, consumer packaged good, a hardware product, or have a service-based industry. User-centric design also known as user experience, matters to all of us and Robert shares his lifelong learning with us today. In this episode, you'll hear: How Robert grew up in a very entrepreneurial, and very design driven household. Once Robert left school and started in engineering this pleased his dad but the program didn't resonate with Robert. So he rebelled and changed course to industrial design. After college, Robert went to work at a design consultant where he learned a lot about how to deal with clients and developed his desire to launch his own company. When working for his company, Luna, he started to work with Apple as a client. In this season, Robert was offered a job with Apple but turned them down. He later joined Apple because he had the opportunity to build Apple's very first internal design studio. Robert shares how he was at Apple for 9 years but left and went to work for Pentagram, as Pentagram was looking for an industrial design as a partner. In 2007, Robert left Pentagram to start his current company, Ammunition. Robert shares what it was like working with Jimmy Lovine and Dr. Dre to launch Beats by Dr. Dre. How Dr. Dre wanted to create headphones that were made to hear the music exactly how he created it but also it to be designed for a look that was inline with the current generation. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Gardyn Giveaway: https://thestartupstory.co/Gardyn Intro shout-out: https://wearecapto.com/ Ammunition: https://ammunitiongroup.com/ Robert Brunner's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertdbrunner/ Ammunition's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ammunitiongroup/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Duncan Hamra, founder of Memberstack. For those who might not be aware, Memberstack is a credentialing or user account solution, for those that would much rather leverage a polished solution and then try and code their own user-access flow. If you have content that you want to put behind a user account, Memberstack can solve that for you. Or if you are building a mobile app and you want to allow user-centric customization, Memberstack can be a key part of that flow with a very simple setup. But what I didn't know about Memberstack until this interview, is how unique their entrepreneurial journey is as compared with the 140 found episodes I've had thus far. This is our first Startup Story episode featuring a product that launched on Product Hunt and Memberstack made it to become a featured product. This is the first episode featuring a technical solution where the vision for growth, is not about exponential growth or chasing a unicorn moniker. And it is definitely the first episode where the founder pushes to ensure that people don't work over 40 hours a week. We discuss all of these topics in great. In this episode, you'll hear: How Duncan was raised in a very supportive household in Virgina, his family originally came from Lebanon. He shares how growing up he would go to family parties where everyone would talk about their businesses. How he met his co-founder Taylor in kindergarten and from a young age always wanted to build things together and started their first company in high school. He shares how in ninth grade, they would get up every morning at 5 am, and do things before school started to make money. Then later started listening to Pat Flynn's podcast about creating online business and this sparked their curiosity. Duncan explains what Memberstack is and how it is a credentialing or user account solution, for those that would much rather leverage of polished solution and then try and code their own user access flow. Memberstack was founded in 2018 and he explains that by building Mamberstac by themselves they could constantly develop it. They originally started to build this just for themself but then realized they stumbled on something really big. Duncan shares how he accidentally arrived at a VC fundraising meeting. He shares how he successfully launched his product on Product Hunt and how he reached being the number 1 product. He gives tips on how he uses his friend and clients to help them grow on Product Hunt. He shares how he makes sure that everyone on the team has an even work-life balance and doesn't push his team to work over 40 hours. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Gardyn Giveaway: https://thestartupstory.co/Gardyn Memberstack: https://www.Memberstack.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guess is Lindsay McCormick, founder Bite. Bite is an all-natural, zero waste, tube free, toothpaste tablet. And not only did Lindsay take something as common as toothpaste and make it more environmentally friendly, by altering its shape and packaging. But she made it healthier for us as well because Bite toothpaste tablets are 100% vegan, gluten-free and cruelty free. In fact, Lindsay is on a mission to grow into the world's most sustainable personal care company. Lindsay was named by Fast Company as one of the most creative people in business and started Bite in her living room; because she was tired of creating so much trash every time she traveled for TV shows. But what's interesting is that until my discussion with her I never realized the environmental impact of the TSA regulations that changed after the events of 9/11. I mean think about that, everyone who relies on not checking in luggage is forced to travel with travel size containers of toothpaste and hair products and even skin products. I did some basic research and the retail footprint for travel size products has doubled because of a change in travel requirements. Now you are going to love Lindsay's episode because she gets super tactical and discusses the early days of Bite, as well as her preparation for being on ABC hit show SharkTank. In this episode, you'll hear: Growing up Lindsay was always super passionate about the environment and even became vegetarian at 7 years old. Lindsay always had a love for the media and with her job she was travelling all the time. When traveling she had reusable shampoo and face wash, but she was going through so many tubes of toothpaste. Lindsay wanted to stop this, and that became the orgin of Bite. Lindsay started researching toothpaste, how it is made, how it is tested on animals and how it ends up in landfills. With this she started to make her own toothpaste, but only thought she would make it to solve her own problem and not build it into a business. Lindsay shared how she started elevating the company by buying a $1000 tablet machine and started selling the toothpaste tablets on Shopify and Etsy. Lindsay shares how she launched Bite in late 2017 early 2018 with a mission to help and educate people about toothpaste and support the low waste/vegan communities. In 2018 she had $6000 dollars in sales after one of her videos went viral and immediately started selling hundres of thousands in product. From that video, the production team from ABC's Shark Tank reached out to invite them to an audition. How her company grew through the pandemic as more people wanted a subscription service. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Gardyn Giveaway: https://thestartupstory.co/gardyn Bite: https://bitetoothpaste.com/ Jaime Schmidt's episode: https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/jaime-schmidt-founder-of-schmidt-s-naturals Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is FX Rouxel, founder and inventor of Gardyn. Gardyn is re-envisioning how consumers like you and I look at our relationship of food and its production. The Gardyn unit is amazing, it has a super small footprint and can fit anywhere in your home, apartment, and even your office. Now while the design of the unit is remarkable the technology is groundbreaking. The Gardyn technology is a cross between aeroponic and hydroponic technologies. In fact, they trademarked the term Hybriponic™, because it combines the benefits of both systems. This benefit allows you to swap plants in and out much like you probably already do with your k-cups or Nespresso pods for your morning coffee. The Gardyn unit uses sophisticated cameras and sensors to capture all the details of the plants. These cameras and sensors analyze the plants development, to ensure that the produce is healthy and expertly tended to. So your lack of a greentherm will not be a hindrance at all. What's amazing about all of this, is the amount of produce that can be grown within a small footprint. In this episode, you'll hear: How FX grew up in the suburbs of Paris, his Mother was a civil servant and father worked for the government. At a young age he aspired to travel the world and wanted to use his love for technology to solve big problems. FX shares he pursued his passion to become a scientist but also had an entrepreneurial flare. His first taste of entrepreneurship was interning in a startup where he was using radio-frequency to make a difference. His next internship was in California. In the early 2000 the talks of climate change were happening and he wanted to get involved and started working in the Nuclear industry. FX shares how Nuclear can help with climate change and that 80% of France's power comes from Nuclear energy and as a result the CO2 footprint was reduced. After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011, FX wanted to pursue a new project and moved to America. While he was living there FX started training for. This is where he discovered the rubbish that goes into fast food and wanted a clean diet. This sparked his engineering and entrepreneurial flair to seek to bring change to this area. He already had the technology to solve this. The final piece of the puzzle was when he was in Montreal he saw that you can grow food vertically and then it all came together. FX shares how he created a food revolution through perfecting Hydroponic™ technology, Gardyn helps people produce a tremendous amount of food in a small footprint. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Gardyn Giveaway: https://thestartupstory.co/Gardyn Gardyn Website: https://mygardyn.com/ Use promo code “startupstory” to get $150 discount Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode My guest this week is Helena Murphy, founder of Raising Partners. Raising Partners is an investing firm seeking to make it easier for startups to raise early-stage capital. They do this through expert guidance and direct connections with her wide network of investors. Helena, and the Raising Partners team, boast a 98% success rate on fully managed campaigns. They have helped brands like Thread, Equipsme, Penfold and many raise about $41 million, or £30 millions for my UK listeners. You and I both know, or have at least heard, that there is money out there to be had and is ready to invest. Yet there are also tens of thousands of startups pitching their decks hoping to get a chance to pitch in person. Well, much like anything else in this world, who you know truly does matter. And Helena has built a business around helping startups and making introductions to those that she knows and the network is extensive. In this episode, you'll hear: Helena shares how she grew up in a small town in Glasgow from a working-class family. Her parents had split when she was young and she didn't experience entrepreneurship until she was older. Helena shares how she has always been driven to do better and at the age of 8 knew that she wanted to study at St Andrew's University. She worked from a young age to save up and to be able to support her dream and when she found out she got in she left her small town. At University she did a degree in Sustainable Development and in her final year she had her first entrepreneurial experience though Entrepreneurial Scotland. With this, she had the opportunity to go to America and work in a startup. This sparked her entrepreneurial interest and when she returned home she knew she wanted to start her own startup. Helena started an Ecommerce business selling sustainable clothing. She shares how she made multiple mistakes which lead to the company folding. This took a toll on her mental and physical health but she quickly picked herself up and was determined once again to find the root of the problem. Helena spent 12 months speaking to investors about why the company failed and how she could have prevented it. The answer was that she didn't know how to keep track of the bottom line data and numbers. Helena shared how she took this information and started to help other people with their startups for free, then with the vast amount of clients approaching her for her help she was able to monetize the business. With this, her company organically grew through word and mouth. She shares how Raising Partners is helping startups in all areas of investment, from creating exciting and informative pitch decks to understanding why investors don't invest. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Entrepreneurial Scotland: https://www.entrepreneurialscotland.com/ Raising Partners: https://raisingpartners.com/ Runway: https://runway.raisingpartners.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode My guest this week is Geige Vandentop, co-founder and CEO of StreamYard. For those that are not aware of StreamYard, they are a livestream platform that allows broadcasters and creators to automatically distribute your video feed to numerous popular platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and even LinkedIn. As you can imagine their business blew up in a huge way in 2020 as events all over the world were being cancelled, and brands were trying to figure out had a move their engagement online. Well, they responded to the demand successfully and in 2021 they completed the sale of the business to Hopin for around 250 million in cash and stock. There are various online articles that speak about the acquisition and one of them from TechCrunch actually shares that the time of acquisition Stream Yard has scaled itself to 30 million in annual revenue and they had zero external capital. That is an amazing accompanishment and Geige will unpack his journey in this episode. In fact, the StreamYard journey is a very quick one, because it was just three to four years from concept to acquisition. So for anyone who has tried to launch a technical solution that timeline has to impress you, and so will his entire startup story journey. In this episode, you'll hear: How Geige didn't grow up around entrepreneurs. Instead he followed his fathers path and pursued math and science. This led him to do an electrical engineering degree. Geige explains that he didn't like his degree but did enjoy the internship they were sent on, especially his internship at Intel where he met his Co Founder Dan. These Internships provided them with their first entrepreneurial experience. Together they built a music visualizer but the major flaw in their product is that they didn't speak to customers. Geige explains how they came up with StreamYard, he shares how they did loads of market research and user testing before writing a single line of code. How Geige and his co-fonder focused on ensuring that StreamYard was always customer-centric. To the point that every week they would livestream so they could directly to their customers. Geige explains how they weren't planning on selling their company but the partnership with Hopin was perfect. He explains that in a 3 to 4 year window the idea was conceived, the solution was developed, the business was scaled and the acquisition was negotiated. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/ Hopin: https://hopin.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode My guest this week is Elizabeth Stein, founder of Purely Elizabeth. Purely Elizabeth is one of the top natural food brands in the United States. In fact, they are the Premier granola brand in the Natural Foods Category and Top 10 Granola in all categories. Purely Elizabeth is a really big deal and aside from the brand's significance, Elizabeth's entrepreneurial journey is significant because it's so relatable to every single one of us. Elizabeth never thought her side hustle would turn into her full time job, let alone become a multi-million dollar company. That said, within this episode, Elizabeth shares with me four really important considerations that we all need to be aware of when launching a CPG brand. But let me be clear, these are not about product packaging design, or logistics, or even how to reach out to buyers. You can find that info all over the internet and even in some of my past videos and podcast episodes. No, the things Elizabeth shares in this video are considerations that I have never heard before as it relates to launching a CPG brand. In this episode, you'll hear: Elizabeth shares how she always had a desire to build a business or lead a large organization. This influence came from her watching her Dad and Grandad run their own businesses and later observing her mother starting her own company. When she was in college, she identified that there was a health and wellness problem and a lack of healthy products in America. This sparked her curiosity but she left it for a few years. While working for a handbag company, she started running marathons. This allowed her to practice goal setting. With this new hobby she continued on her path of health and wellness and went back to school to study holistic nutrition. She learned how food is medicine for the body. While she was studying holistic nutrition she started helping clients cook with amazing nutritious ingredients like Coconut salt and Chia seeds. She then went on to promote her nutrition service at the Westchester Triathalon. To promote her services she made a batch of blueberry muffins that sold out and everyone was asking where they could buy more. At the end of the day she switched from trying to sell her nutrition service, to creating a mailing list that would provide where they could get the muffins next. In 2008 she launched Purely Elizabeth, a food company creating products with the most innovative and rich ingredients and making taste number one. Their mission is to help people thrive on their wellness journey through granola, oatmeal, and pancake mix. She returned to the triathalon in 2009 with the Purely Elizabeth muffin and pancake mix and sold out. The Daily Candy reached out and wrote a feature in their newsletter of the company and in a few hours she received $10,000 in orders. She even shares how she accidently came up with their signature Granola mix which went on to be the Premier granola brand in the natural foods category and top 10 granola and all categories. Key points of consideration when developing a CPG brand Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Purely Elizabeth: https://purelyelizabeth.com/ Grindology shoutout: https://rmstechspa.com/ Ember Giveaway: https://www.thestartupstory.co/ember Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode My guest this week is Clay Alexander, the inventor and founder of Ember. Ember is a temperature control brand that seeks to disrupt how the world eats, drinks and lives. Their very first product was a Travel Mug and was launched in 100 Starbucks locations. Since their launch they have expanded to other product lines. Clay has an incredible founder story that I hope more people discover because I think it brings encouragement and inspiration to so many. Let me be clear, when I say "encouragement" I am not talking about the type of fuzzy-feelings you get when you receive a Hallmark card. I'm talking about the actual meaning of the word "encourage", to place courage inside of. That is what Clay's story will deliver to you, courage to keep moving forward despite the obstacles or challenges you might be up against. See Clay grew up incredibly poor, in fact to use his words "dirt poor." Aside from his economic challenges he was diagnosed with ADD and dyslexia, and he still is. Yet despite all these challenges he has founded two amazing companies and invented numerous patented products, that I'm sure when the story is over will deliver well beyond $1-billion in revenue. I know this episode will quickly become one of your favorites but like all other founder episodes we need to start at the very beginning. In this episode, you'll hear: How Clay's upbringing was not one where entrepreneurship was an inevitable journey for him. In fact, everything about his upbringing would have pointed towards obtaining a steady 9-5 job to help simply put food on the table. About how his creative and inventive mind was at work from a young age and how he even replicated the famous Inspector Gadget bicycle, including switches for smoke screens The journey through college helped set the stage for him to refine his lighting expertise and led to his inventing the brightest LED bulb in the world The steps he took to negotiate a licensing deal with GE for that very bulb he invented How cold scrambled eggs became the catalyst for the first temperature controlled coffee mug on the planet The reason why the Ember mug, iPhone, Macbook Pro, and Apple iPad all look so good together Why any inventor or entrepreneur should never accept the answer of "No" as final and complete Clay unpack the future of Ember and the various industries that will benefit from his many temperature control solution ideas Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Ember website: https://ember.com/ Ember Giveaway: https://www.thestartupstory.co/ember Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. 1. The most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. 2. Tell another entrepreneurial friend of yours about the podcast. Word of mouth is EVERYTHING to a startup! 3. Share your favorite episode link on your LinkedIn profile.

About this episode Jason Y Lee is the founder of Jubilee Media, which launched in 2010 with a goal of creating a movement of empathy and connection. While most media brands play for entertainment and devisiveness, Jubilee is desiring to swim against the current for human good. In this episode, Jason shares openly and honestly about the personal journey he went through to understand what it was that he knew he was supposed to be doing with his life. He had an incredible job working for Bain Capital at the time, and his original co-founder of his first venture, that preceded Jubilee Media, was his brother who was a staffer for President Obama. To make a career decision like leaving those positions, he had to be all-in on his pursuit and purpose. Yet like so many entrepreneurs you never really learn how all-in you are, until it all starts unraveling, and Jason shares all of it in this episode. In this episode, you'll hear: Jason was born and raised in America by his Korean parents who immigrated to America. His partners pushed his brother and himself into traditional careers to provide job security for when they were older. Jason shares how he stumbled into entrepreneurship while he was working as a consultant at Bain Capital. They were being shown pictures of the disastrous earthquake in Haiti. Jason wanted to raise money as quickly as possible so went and busked. This sparked his idea of creating video content to raise awareness and the Jubilee Project was launched as a non-profit organization. Jason explains how he convinced his brother to leave his job, as a staffer for President Obama, to cofound Jubilee Project with another friend who dropped out of Harvard to join as well. This path lasted for a few years before it all unravelled. Jason shares his journey and process he went through to figure out a path forward after his cofounders left. Jason's story is one of understanding your personal value proposition and clarity of mission. Most founders truly do believe they are fully dedicated to their mission, until it all "hits the fan". It is in that moment you will see who is "in it to win it" Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ Ember Giveaway: https://www.thestartupstory.co/ember ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Jubilee Media: https://www.jubileemedia.com/ Jubilee Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJjSDX-jUChzOEyok9XYRJQ Jubilee's Tribeca Submission: https://tribecafilm.com/films/accepted-2021 Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode My guess this week is Borya Shakhnovich, co-founder and CEO of airSlate. AirSlate is a no-code business automation platform. The term ‘no-code' is incredibly popular right now, and to be honest, I think it is completely misunderstood. I mean there is an actual startup out there that has ads speaking about being able to build another Airbnb platform using no-code. It only takes some preliminary research to know that claim is a bit of an overstatement. Well in Borya's episode, we discuss what no-code is; what are the limitations and even what economic shifts can no code platform like airSlate bring to the world. In this episode, you'll hear: He shares how his lifelong desire to work on something that had a real impact in the world led him to founding airSlate. He shares how important marketing is for a company, as it isn't true that ‘if you build it they will come'. With this he combined his first company's marketing platform with pdfFiller's product. With this they grew the business to 80 million users, with 30 million monthly users and bootstrapped it to 18 million and then got 40 million in Series A investment. airSlate was launched in 2020 at the start of the pandemic under the same company as pdfFiller. Borya wanted to cut the costs of API and management for small businesses without making them write code. airSlate creates hundreds of different bots that can do an array of possibilities to cut down on time and money without writing a single line of code. He shares how he believes technology that creates an economy upon its platform always wins. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Ember Give Away: https://mailchi.mp/thestartupstory/ember airSlate: https://www.airslate.com/ pdfFiller: https://www.pdffiller.com signNow: https://www.signnow.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode My guest this week is Ariela Safira, founder and CEO of Real. Real is a mental health care company, building a new therapy model. Real offers a digital membership for $28 a month, which gives members access to a suite of mental health products and services. In addition to the monthly mental checking, it's a pretty remarkable story so make sure to visit join – real.com. Ariela shares that she started Real because a close friend attempted suicide. In this episode of course we talk about her journey to founding Real but we also talked a lot about what mental health is, and why is the US so Illiterate when it comes to mental health. In this episode, you'll hear: She shares how the perserverance and influence of her immigrant parents helped shape her curiosity and work ethic How the suicidal attempt of her friend had a lasting impact on her life and her desire to shape the mental health industry How the impact of COVID forced a shift in her launch plans in order to meet the increased demand for services Why the US is so illeterate when it comes to mental health and how we, as a culture, can make real change She shares her own battles with mental health as a founder What success looks like to her Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Ember Giveaway: https://www.thestartupstory.co/ember Sponsor Movo: https://movo.cash/ Real: https://www.join-real.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode If you've been around The Startup Story for any length of time, then you probably know that many times I ask my founder guests something along the lines of "If we were doing a where are they now episode in 3 to 5-years, where would your brand be?" Well this episode is kind of like our first "where are they now episodes". It has only been a year, but I think we can all agree the last year felt like 5 years all rolled into one. I'm so excited to bring this update episode featuring Christina Stembel the founder of Farmgirl flowers. I am such a fan girl of Christina and it's because her story is truly one of resilience, grit, and excellence in execution. For those who might not know her story, she pitched more than 100 investors and every single one of them told her no. Yet she continues on, and has now built the business that is marching towards the $100 Million in revenue mark. It's an amazing story! But we're not going to go into her backstory in this episode. In this episode we talk about the last 12-months of her business, all the lessons she learned about herself, the team, the brand, and what adjustments she had to make in order to survive. In this episode, you'll hear: What her profit margin is like at her various revenue milestones. Christina tells us that she gave the company one year to increase profitability and get up to 10% net. She explains how February (before the pandemic hit) was extremely challenging as she and her husband got a divorce. Christina shares that luckily just before the pandemic she had just launched Ecuador and was able to transfer the orders to her South America team. She shares how she first thought the company wouldn't make it through to the pandemic and estimated that they would last eight weeks in any scenario. When she came to this conclusion this kicked in her fight-or-flight mentality and she knew she was going to fight her way through the pandemic. In 2020 she opened additional 2 distribution centers in Ecuador and Miami. With orders being moved to Ecuador she had to give a 2 day crash course to train the employees (who usually plant flowers) on how to make bouquets, all in spanish. She shares how she opened 4 fulfillment centers, where they trained the farm's workers how to ship the flowers for them. Since then they have opened 5 more. Christina shares how she keeps her head and heart straight despite the varying stress that she walks through. She shares how the shipping partners they used for Farmgirl Flowers used covid as an excuse to not honor their money back guarantee. This put her company in jeopardy. She shares how she started creating video to connect with the customers, as it was the most efficient and direct way to communicate. She also created weekly video updates and video tutorials of flower arranging to give back to her community. Christina shares how Farmgirl Flowers is not great at marketing but great at brand, which means she only spends 1% on marketing and PR. She shares how she is transparent to her community about everything that goes on behind the scenes. Christina shares how her team is over 70% women and she would like to get on site childcare. She shares the struggles of being a female founder, and how people don't extend the same level of respect to her as they do her male founder counterparts. Resources from this episode Secure your Q2 issue of Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Christina Stembel, Founder of Farmgirl Flowers: https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/christina-stembel-founder-of-farmgirl-flowers Farmgirl Flowers: https://farmgirlflowers.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode My guest this week is Matt Meeker, Co-founder of Bark, and while the Bark's name itself might not cause your ears to perk up in excitement for what's to come in this episode. Bark's various product lines are household names. Their flagship product being BarkBox, with over 1.7 million active BarkBox subscribers, BarkBox is the Premier subscription dog toy and treat service. In addition to BarkBox, Bark has various product lines that can be found in over 23,000 retail outlets. Matts entire episode is chock full of value because his journey and his experiences are so extensive. To start with Matt was one of the digital advertising pioneers, and we discuss what digital advertising was like long before the days of Facebook ads. Matt was also a Co-founder of Meetup, which eventually sold the WeWork for $156 million in 2017. And now in 2021, Matt and the Bark leadership team are navigating the SPAC landscape to bring Bark to the public markets. As I said, Matts episode covers quite a bit of ground and I'm super pumped to bring it to you. But with that said while I know, you're excited to hear his insights into SPAC's and all things subscription-related we need to start at the very beginning. In this episode, you'll hear: How he grew up in a small town in Iowa with his parents who were very different. His father was a conservative accountant and his mother a rebel who encouraged him to form his path. How he was entrepreneurial from a young age, at school he had many side hustles like running the schools poker games and selling red cups to buy beer. How he played Racquetball competitively and went on to play at the National Tournament. Matt went to the University of Minnesota but only lasted one quarter as he only went because everyone expected him to go. How Matt dropped out of college and joined the Navy and became a weather observer. Matt went back to university and paid his way through in cash. After college he joined a Digital Ad Agency in March 1997, the company focused on getting traffic from the website to the store. They had big companies like Disney, Capital One and Discover. Matt explains what digital advertising was like in 2000. He shares that the Ad company was very successful but he did sell it, with this he joined forces with one of the companies investors to start a new company. Matt explains that his next company wasn't successful and it was all down to the execution of the business. The company had more money they knew what to do with and hired big names in the business world but never made a real product or spoke to a customer. Matt shares how the founder of the Ad agency Scott started talking about the next business venture. Matt shares how Scott and himself started Meetup, a company trying to encourage people to get out of their house and meet people online. They also wanted to change the negative narrative of meeting people online. How Matt and Scott hired their CTO for Meetup from a listing they put on Craigslist. Matt shares that he left Meetup because it was getting too big with 45 employees and he didn't want the stress of it. Matt founded Barkbox in September 2011 and never thought it would grow to over 735 employees. Matt shares that he started Barkbox as he was living in New York with his Great Dane Hugo, when they went into a pet shop there was nothing for big dogs. He shares that Groupon brought in half of their customers in the first year. Matt shares how BarkBox has further developed into different sections like SuperHuman, Bark Bright, Bark Eats and Bark Home. How BarkBox developed its own dog food as they wanted dogs to be fed as an individual. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Sponsor Movo: https://movo.cash/ Bark HQ: https://bark.co/ BarkBox: https://www.barkbox.com Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode This week's episode my guest this week is David Barnett the inventor and founder of PopSockets, now I know you know what a PopSocket is because they just sold their 200 millionth grip. The brand PopSockets are so much more than just the accordion PopGrips they launched with. PopSockets now have an entire catalogue of products that are all designed to increase the functionality of our devices. In fact, this past March Fast company honored PopSockets as one of the most innovative companies in the world. Now here's the crazy part about the PopSocket story, did you know that it all started while David, who was a philosophy professor at the time, got tired of having his earbud cord get tangled. In fact, he first tried to solve his problem by gluing buttons on the back of his iPhone 3. But before we can even get to the part where he glues buttons on his iPhone 3, we need to start about 20 years earlier to fully understand where his journey begins. In this episode, you'll hear: David shares how he was not raised by entrepreneurs but did take to being an entrepreneur at the early age of 12. How at the end of High school he turned to having fun and had no big plans apart from business in the future. He took philosophy course at collage then went to physics as he enjoyed it. David share that he was working as a Philosophy Professor when he stumbled across a problem with his iPhone earbuds that kept on tangling. This sparked his entrepreneurial flare to start PopSockets. He explains how he first tried to solve this problem by sticking buttons to his phone case. David shares that when he showed the product to people they laughed and dismissed him but this only drove him to want to do it more. David shares how he wanted his Kick Starter Campaign to stand out so he made a dance video. How he launched his company in 2014 and it had a lot of traction. How he had many issues with the manufacturer, who would change the pattern of the design without tell him and deliver the wrong product. He shares how as the company was growing it changed from just being a side business to being his full-time job. How the impact of celebrities and middle school children were pushing the rapid growth of the product. How he didn't have a buyer persona and everyone with an iPhone was his customer. He shares how he did no marketing or advertising and the business at the begining was very scrappy. David shares how he would go to consumer market shows and pitch to everyone walking past. This got his foot in the door with Sam's club,Best Buy and T-Mobile. He shares that his first big break was T-Mobile, which had a huge operational impact of the company. David shares how he sold their 200 millionth grip the 7th year of business and was names the 2nd fasted growing company with a growth of 72,000% David shares how trade shows really helped his success and got him on the map. He shares the positive impact of influencers and the companies first influencer was Jenna Marbels How he hired people in the beginning with no business experience but people who could solve problems David shares how Plant based PopGrips are currently being made. These pop sockets will be 100% decomposable and the ingredients they use to create them are grown by them He shares the technology side of Pop Sockets with their app. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Sponsor Movo: https://movo.cash/ Pop Socket website - https://www.popsockets.com Pop Socket app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/popsockets-make-print-art/id1455513437 Kickstarter video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35CFb9q1rJw Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode This week's episode my guest this week is Renae Bluitt, creator of the “She Did That” platform that produces the “She Did That" podcast, as well as she, did that documentary, of which Renae was the executive producer. “She Did That” focuses on telling the stories of brands and businesses that are founded by black female founders. The “She Did That” documentary can currently be found on Netflix, but it's going away soon so try to view it there. But if you don't get there in time you can also be found on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Vimeo, and YouTube. It is a remarkable documentary that speaks to some challenging topics that are unique to the black female founder experience. A few of those topics are topics that we get to unpack in good detail on this episode. Topics like whether the consumer behavior of black consumers contributes to the venture capital challenges that black founders face. But long before she even conceived the idea of the “She Did That” platform, her entrepreneurial journey began in an Indiana funeral home. In this episode, you'll hear: Renae shares how she grew up in Indiana, in her family funeral business. As she grew up she saw her the highs and lows of her Grandfather and Father's entrepreneur journey. When she went to Illinois State University and it was there that she knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur. Moved to Chicago after college and worked in PR. Started her own PR firm Crush Media where she worked with beauty brands. Started the “In Her Shoes” blog, where she told the stories about many incredible Black Female entrepreneurial stories and gave people the chance to walk the women's shoes. Renae shares how black female entrepreneurs have fewer opportunities in business but, in particular, with getting Venture Capital. She shares how black-owned businesses are highly supported by the black community. Renae shares how the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs is Black female entrepreneurs. How black women in corporate position are helping younger black women get into those roles. Renae explains that she wanted to create the documentary to tell the Black female narrative. She shares that she started thinking about filming the documentary while she was living in New York and she had people around her to produce the film. Renae explains that they took the documentary on a tour all around the country. She Screened it in Ghana Africa, for a large group of black female entrepreneurs. Renae shares how Ghana is the 2nd largest country for black female entrepreneurs. Renae shares the lack of funding for black owned businesses and what she is doing to stop this. She shares the future of "She Did That" platform. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Live Founder Q&A: https://live.grindology.com/ Sponsor Movo: https://movo.cash/app She Did That documentary (Netflix): https://www.netflix.com/title/81194454 She Did That documentary (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud95UtT61xw She Did That Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/she-did-that/id1556261212 She Did That Website: https://shedidthatfilm.com In Her Shoe's Blog: https://inhershoesblog.com Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode This week's episode my guest this week is Renata Black, co-founder and thong slinger of EBY. I reached out to her as her entire founder story and the origin of EBY is based on micro-financing women businesses across the globe. So while the underwear might be super-hot and sexy, it was the fact that she was redirecting the power of seduction to empower female entrepreneurship. And that is what makes this story amazing. So with that said, Renata's story has a lot of interesting layers to it. Including partnerships with Sophia Vergara and Deepak Chopra. We even discuss her time studying under a Nobel Peace Prize winner, as well as organizing luxury lingerie shows. But despite the intrigue that those bullet points might arouse, Renata's story has an origin like no other founder story we have ever told before. In this episode, you'll hear: How her parents were killed in a plane crash when she was a baby and was left with her Grandma who neglected her. She shares how her Aunt and Uncle kidnapped her from Grandma and took her to America to provide her with a better life. How in high school she had an identity crisis and wanted to return to Columbia to find roots. She lived by herself in Columbia at 15, when she was there she realized her Aunt and Uncle made the best decision for her moving to American and she asked herself “what is the best use of my life” She shares how she saved all her money to go back to America and studied really hard and got a scholarship to college. After college, she went travelling around the world and would volunteer. She shares that when travelling she found out the people she was helping didn't want the free products, they wanted to learn and be able to make their own money. Renata shares how she met Muhammad Yunus and he shows her how they were helping women through microfinance. How she lived in India for 2 years building the Seven Bars Foundation, providing women with the microfinance program. Renata shares how she wanted to redirect the power of seduction. She shares how The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra was very inspirational for her, and when she heard he was looking for a foundation to help she wrote to him and he came and spoke at one of her shows. She shares how the former CEO of Victoria's Secret Grace Nichols, heard what she was doing and wanted to support you and took her to the factory and taught her everything she knows. Renata shares how in 2017 she lived in the factory for 3 months, as she needed to really understand the whole production. How EBY Launched 2018 in really small stores and she would go and watch to see how women shopped for underwear to understand her customers buying habits. Renata shares how Sophia Vergara helped Co-found EBY. Renata shares how when the pandemic hit America she asked her customers what they needed and wanted from the company, and EBY pushed forward to deliver on those needs. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory The Startup Story Live event: https://live.grindology.com/ Light Ray Solutions website https://lightraysolutions.com/thestartupstory/ Join EBY: https://shop.join-eby.com/ Discount code 20% off: startupstory The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra: https://amzn.to/3sSNNP9 Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode This week's episode my guest this week is Michael Sharon, Co-founder of Taika. Taika is a stealth health brand that is looking to take CPG products that are consumed by millions of people every day and redesign them to be delicious and truly healthy for you. The brand has tremendous opportunities within many product categories but they're starting with coffee. They take 5 adaptogenic herbs that they bring to you in the coffee and it helps deliver focus and energy to your daily life. What stood out to me was their packaging, but Michael's story is incredible! His story unpacks how he moved from South African and made his way to New York only to discover just how far behind our mobile technology was in 2002 especially as compared to the rest of the world. This prompted Michael to launch his first mobile start-up. Now you might be asking ‘how does a mobile technology expert get to a place with launching a coffee brand?', and well that is a great question and one that finds its answers through the halls of Facebook's headquarters in Silicon Valley but much like every start-up Story we need to start at the very beginning and Michael's beginning is not like any other story that we have ever unpacked before. In this episode, you'll hear: How Michael was born in Israel then moved to South Africa as a child to a cult How by the age of 10, he opted out of the cult when he found his love for video games and computers. But kept the vegetarian lifestyle until he was 38. Michael shared how growing up he didn't have a clear idea what his future would be, but he knew it would be related to computers. How Michael went to University in South Africa and originally studied Computer science, mathematics, English literature and Astronomy. But he lost interest in computer science as it wasn't challenging enough and ultimately, switched his degree to a degree in psychology and law but kept English literature. While at University he was in a Band and after he graduated he started a production studio to create jingles to fund the production of his album. How he went to work at Trigger as a brand strategist, this is where he had his first opportunity to sit down with the CEO and tell them the potential of their company. Michael shares how he was let go from Trigger and used the opportunity to begin a graduate program. In April 2002 he received a scholarship to NYU, his friends tried to persuade him not to go but he saw an opportunity in New York and wanted to take it. While at University he was writing about mobile technology. Michael shares how South Africa was a lot further ahead with mobile and bank technology compared with America, this sparked his entrepreneurial flare. In 2005 he founded a Startup called Socialight, a location-based mobile social network. Another reason why he co-founded the company was that no one would hire him as he wasn't an American citizen, so he hired himself. How Socialight was ahead of its time and didn't accompany the mobile technology at the time. Michael shares how he joined Facebook as the Mobile Product Manager in 2008. He could take all of the ideas he had for Socialite and develop them on Facebook. After 8 years he took a step back and assessed what he wanted to do. Michael shares how he found the problem to Taika when at Facebook. Due to the high levels of stress, he was dealing with 5 to 6 cups of coffee a day, which wasn't agreeing with him. So he went searching to understand how to create coffee that has the correct adaptative in it. How he launched Taika in 2019 and tested it by adding a phone number on the front of it and changing its packaging every two weeks. Michael explains the importance of creating a community through their CPG company Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory LIVE Founder event: https://live.grindology.com/ Light Ray Solutions website https://lightraysolutions.com/thestartupstory/ Taika Website: https://taika.co 15% Discount Code: startupstory Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode This episode we are going to discuss the topic of product-market-fit. Using different examples and strategies to understand what would work for your startup. This is the 120th episode of The Startup Story and in almost every episode our featured founder has had one startup failure in their past and each failure can be attributed to numerous factors. Factors like team makeup, marketing challenges, financial limitations, and sometimes the failure is a result of technical challenges. With all the various reasons a company might fail, the most prevalent reason was their failure to find product-market-fit. Is product-market-fit so elusive? Is it something that can only be discovered by venture-backed firms? No, those aren't true at all of product-market-fit. The greatest thing about product-market-fit is that most of the work in finding product-market-fit can happen cheaply and at a very early stage in the startup lifecycle. The challenge is that we begin to drink our hype kool-aid and don't try to assess product-market-fit until we hit hurdles much later on, and after thousands…and sometimes, hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent. Smart startup founders front-load the work to determine product-market-fit. It truly is foundational for any and all startup projects…especially if you want to succeed. Your sole purpose, when you are in the idea to MVP stage, is to validate your assumptions and to prove that people want what you are making. Everything…and I mean, everything else is secondary. In this episode, you'll hear: How to find product market fit. How to validate your idea and prove that it will be successful. How to validate your assumptions and prove that your product will work - using platforms like Reddit and Medium. How to find a vast amount of customers that have a want or need for the product- that solves their problem How to keep up with the ever-changing market and keeping your product up to date by looking at the market from a high or low altitude. A basic process to find product fit - choose target market, find the problem in it, define your unique value (especially your unique MVP) and the test for product market fit. Shares the ideology that more people that are excited by the product reflects how successful the product will be. How to not waste money on mockup products. Shares different ways to test your product - using things like pre-sale and A/B testing Resources from this episode FREE 3-Day Livestream Event: https://live.grindology.com/ Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory BOOK- Eric Ries Lean startup - https://amzn.to/3sdC1yi Mockup Tool - https://moqups.grsm.io/tss Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favourite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don't underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you! EPISODE CREDITS This episode was made possible due to the support of our sponsor Grindology. Visit https://grindology.com/ to obtain founder-direct tactics and strategies.

About this episode This week's episode my guest this week is Bill Glazer Co-founder of Outstanding Foods. Bill is a serial entrepreneur with numerous successful exits. And in this episode, we get to hear about some critical decisions he made in bringing outstanding foods to market. Tactics that if you're bringing a product to market in this category you might want to listen very intently on. The Startup Story continues to deliver the founder's direct guidance and this week's episode is no different. Yet, despite all of the massive successes that Bill has experienced his journey had to start somewhere, and oftentimes that origin Storey isn't too far off from our very own. Yet, it's the many subsequent decisions that make all the difference. In this episode, you'll hear: How his father wanted to be an entrepreneur and loved the freedom it. How Bill has always had an entrepreneurial flair and from the age of five would either sell products o sell his service like mowing the neighbour's lorn to make his pocket money. After Bill graduated college he was offered a good job as an investment banker but turned it down the day before, because like his father wanted the freedom of being an entrepreneur. Bill started his first company at 23, due to finding a gap in the market of US flags made in America. In 3 weeks he generated a 1 million dollar's worth of purchases orders but his product wasn't up to standard and lost everything. Bill has had a plant-based diet for over 30 years and wanted to create a product that will allow customers to easily incorporate more plant-based foods into their diet. Bill explains that creating plant-based snacks allowed him to ‘reach the most amount of consumers and without having to change any of (their) habits. Bill explains how he attracted a wide range of celebrities and influencers like Snoop Dogg, Rob Dyrdek and Emily Deschanel to promote his company. He explains how companies are always going to have obstacles, challenges and opportunities and it's all about your outlook. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory The Startup Story Live event: https://live.grindology.com/ Outstanding Foods: https://outstandingfoods.com Book Think and Grow Rich: https://amzn.to/3wu2R8P Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favourite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don't underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you! EPISODE CREDITS This episode was made possible due to the support of our sponsor Grindology. Visit https://grindology.com/ to obtain founder-direct tactics and strategies.

About this episode My guest this week is Ryan Lewendon, partner at the Law Firm Giannuzzi Lewendon. We will be talking about all things CPG…and Ryan's experience in this space is immense! He has worked on deals with Vitamin Water, Pirate's Booty, Pretzel Crisps, Siggy's Yogurt, Vita Coco, Essential Water, and even Schmidt's Naturals which you might remember from our interview with Jaime Schmidt shortly after she sold her brand to Unilever. All that to say, Ryan knows a thing or two about the CPG space and that is the knowledge sharing that is going to take place today. This entire episode is all about the CPG…so let's get started! In this episode, you'll hear: How plant-based diets are changing from being something you do to survive to now thrive. Ryan shares how people are looking to unwind particularly in the pandemic, but wanting to avoid the after effect of alcohol. Ryan shares how he thinks the next big trend is going to be personalized wellness, as more people are looking for efficacy in multifactor products that will get them the most for their money. How using data and analysis to develop products that are narrowly tailored to the consumers. Ryan shares how the next generation of targeted ads are going to be more personal to the consumer through the amount of data that is collected online. Ryan explains the importance of launching your company from a strong foundation and the things you need and don't need when starting a CPG company. How founders should build a team that compliments their weaknesses. How you should build contracts slowly to avoid a little mistake could cripple your business and reputation. Ryan shares how Founder burnout is real and maintaining a work life balance is important to avoid this. Ryan explains that founders should remind themselves of why they started their business when times are hard. How founding a company is a marathon not a sprint. Ryan explains why it is important to do a self diagnostic about the company before selling it, as you can fix problems to be more desirable to buyers. Understand why it is important to Identify the founder's involvement to help a smooth transition. How you can identify who you want to buy your company. Ryan explains what makes a brand a high target value for an acquisition. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Giannuzzi Lewendon: https://gllaw.us Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favorite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don't underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you! EPISODE CREDITS This episode was made possible due to the support of our sponsor Grindology. Visit https://grindology.com/ to obtain founder-direct tactics and strategies.

About this episode My guest this week is Elizabeth Grojean, founder of Baloo Living. Baloo living is an ecommerce brand that launched with a singular product…a weighted blanket. Within a few months of her launch the Baloo blanket was on every single Holiday Shopping Guide as “the blanket of the holidays”. Her story is remarkable for a few reasons and I'm super pumped to bring it to you. First, her business launch didn't start from a product or service…it started from a channel. Elizabeth knew that she wanted to build an ecommerce brand…she just needed to figure out what category. Secondly, in this episode she shares with us the tactics she used to discover what category to enter based on her Amazon data analysis. You are going to want to make sure to listen to this full episode with pen and paper in hand because she unpacks each step just for you! But before we get to the success story…we need to make sure we understand the full journey because every single chapter of our journey contributes to where we are today…ESPECIALLY Elizabeth's entrepreneurial journey. In this episode, you'll hear: How Elizabeth grew up in Houston with her dad who was entreperial. She moved to Texas when she was young as her Dad opened a RV Park. When leaving high school she felt very confused about her future, so thought that doing a marketing degree would open multiple doors for her. After graduating she still didn't have an understanding of what she wanted to do, so went and worked for her dad at an Architecture engineer firm. This was a good experience but yearned to move to New York. She shares how she felt like a failure in her mid twenties because she hadn't found what she wanted to do in her life. She shares how she seeked help to understand what was holding her back mentally. Elizabeth shares how she wanted to work in a startup and ended up working at Casa Dragones as the executive assistant for Bertha Gonzalez Nieves. This experience taught her many valuable lessons that she took forward when running her own business. How she used her savings and went to Bali to clear her head, this allowed herself to be vulnerable and not hide behind a label of a job title. Returning from Bali to New York she wanted to find a job that fitted around her new lifestyle. Elizabeth explains how becoming an entrepreneur she found her passion but now was searching for a product to sell. How she used E-commerce to find a product to sell, the power in Keyword Volume analytics, brought her to find her weighted blankets. Elizabeth explains that using a weighted blanket for the first time was a religious experience and she built her brand around expressing that feeling. She explains that her Dad offered to fund the company, at first she turned down the offer but then accepted it as she knew he believed in her and the product. How she went back to Bail and launched the company from there. How using a PR company opened doors for the company and in her first launch she sold out. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Baloo Website: https://balooliving.com/ Jungle Scout: https://www.junglescout.com Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favorite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don't underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you! EPISODE CREDITS This episode was made possible due to the support of our sponsor Grindology. Visit https://grindology.com/ to obtain founder-direct tactics and strategies.

About this episode My guest this week is Keith Eshelman, co-founder and CEO of the Parks Project. The Parks Project is a social commerce company in that they have created some of the most comfortable clothing you will ever wear AND they have donated over 50% of their profits to over 50 partners such as Yosemite Conservancy, Sierra Club, the National Park Foundation, and many more. After a weekend volunteering in the Santa Monica Mountains in 2014, Keith and his co-founder, both TOMS employees at the time, were struck by the challenges facing America's underfunded and underappreciated National Parks. They set out to harness consumer power to help support the enormous backlog of underfunded projects within the national parks system ​by creating collections of apparel and accessories that would further connect consumers with the parks they love. Within this episode you will hear quite a bit about the influence that Blake Mycoskie, the founder of TOMS, had on Keith's journey. And that's the beauty of entrepreneurship…it's not a solo journey. It's also not an overnight journey, and more times than not…it's decades in the making. In this episode, you'll hear: How Keith was born in northern California and grew up around career professionals. He had a conventional path pursing education that would lead him to a successful job. He shares as a child he wanted to be a doctor and went to UC San Diego Medical School but left after sophomore year as he couldn't consume the detailed information required for med school. He graduated with a management science degree, minor in Spanish that allowed him to travel. He shares his love for Brands, but not only for their products but the whole company, and how he wanted to help companies that were making a difference. Before he joined Toms, we worked in London with Puma and OMD, usually in product marketing. When working at TOMS he experiences how a purchases can not only for fill the customer but help people and charities in need. Like Toms theory of purchasing a pair of shoes can give another child a pair for shoes. Keith shares how TOMS allowed him to have his first taste of entrepreneurship by being allowed to run popup shops. Keith explains his passion for recycling plastic in clothing like board shorts and wanted the product to have its own story. He shares how he found his problem and why he pursued founding Parks Project, and what he is doing to fix it. How he started his company from his garage and has been growing his team ever since. How Parks Project is empowering the next generation, and their mission is to leave it, as you found it. Keith shares how his company is here to build and innovate the product with useful recycling. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Park Project https://www.parksproject.us Hint Water Give Away https://mailchi.mp/thestartupstory/hint Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favorite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don't underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you! EPISODE CREDITS This episode was made possible due to the support of our sponsor Grindology. Visit https://grindology.com/ to obtain founder-direct tactics and strategies.

About this episode My guest this week is Kara Goldin, founder and CEO of Hint Water. For those that may not be aware of Hint Water, Hint is an unsweetened flavored beverage. In fact, when Kara launched Hint she actually launched a brand new category. Prior to Hint there was no unsweetened flavored water beverage out there. Everything had chemicals and sweeteners. What is really interesting about Kara's story is that her background was technology and media, yet here she is leading a multi-million-dollar global beverage brand. I love Kara's story because she didn't allow “what she didn't know” to stop her from moving forward with bringing a product, she created to improve her own health, to the larger market. The reason the doubts and doubters didn't phase her is because she knew the consumer needed this solution…again…there was nothing else out there when she created Hint. It was her determination and mission that allowed her to silence the noise and focus on what had to be done in order to build the business and the brand the way she wanted to. As inspiring as she might sound solely based upon my introduction, you can't forget that NO success story happened overnight…in fact…most success stories start far earlier than many thinks. In this episode, you'll hear: She shares her first taste of being an entrepreneur while watching her old brother would fix up old Volkswagen and sell them. She also talks about the other side of being an entrepreneur growing up her father was a ‘frustrated entrepreneur', constantly being stuck under management. At the age of 15 years, she moved away from home and lived with her sister in her college dorm. This taught her how to be independent and responsible from a young age. She finished collage with a Major in Journalism and a minor in finance. How she fell into a job at Time Magazine in subscriptions, the lessons she learnt from this first job she uses today in Hint. She got a call from CNN to work there, then moved to Silicon Valley to find a job with Steve Jobs. Moving away from the corporate world, Kara wanted to spend more time being a parent. With this she realized she hadn't shifted the baby weight after having children and started to explore different diets. This is where she found the solution to her problem. Drinking water is boring and adding fruit to it will spice it up but this is time consuming so creating an unsweetened water will cut down on time. She did market research and found out that every drink has sweetener in it and so she created the first unsweetened drinks company. With creating Hint, Kara not only created a new category of favored drinks but is the largest company for unsweetened water. She calls herself an accidental entrepreneur. She explains how she had a meeting with Coke Cola and the person dismissed her company and told her Hint will never be successful. She shared how turning down a job opportunity with Google landed Hint their largest landing Facebook as their next biggest customer. Resources from this episode GIVEAWAY: https://mailchi.mp/thestartupstory/hint Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Kara Goldin's Book ‘Undaunted: Overcoming Doubters & Doubters': https://amzn.to/2N0L6MA Kara Goldin Podcast https://karagoldin.com/podcast Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favorite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don't underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you! EPISODE CREDITS This episode was made possible due to the support of our sponsor Grindology. Visit https://grindology.com/ to obtain founder-direct tactics and strategies.

About this episode My guest this week is Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic. In this episode, you are going to hear from the creator of the platform that powers over one-third of the entire internet. Yes, you read that correctly! Wordpress powers one out of every three websites that is accessible online. There are many unique elements to Matt's story and we cover many of them within this episode. Two main topics that we unpack is the broader discussion around open-sourced software and the economy behind it, as well as his thoughts on the distributed workforce. Both of which, Matt is (without argument) the defacto expert on. As brands all over the world are scrambling to adjust to a remote workforce, Matt has built his business on this model from day one. As of today, Automattic has a distributed workforce of around 1,300 employees. We discuss why he built it this way, how he has done so successfully, and what other people need to consider if they want to move in this direction. There is a tremendous amount of value in this episode and I cannot wait for you to hear Matt Mullenweg's startup story. In this episode, you'll hear: How he grew up in Houston in a household that was on the lower end of the middle class, watching his hard-working parents constantly pushing themselves to do more and picking up any extra work they could find. From a young age he always had an entrepreneurial flair, starting his first company as a window cleaner, then went onto build computers at high school. How he originally wanted to be a Jazz musician coming out of high school, but through competing in a high school challenge called ‘Federal Reserve Challenge' Matt found his love for microeconomics. With competing he was able to travel to Washington DC and experience his first taste of the intellectual business world. How the first 25 years of his life was very modelled after his dad, until he broke away and started to create his own path. Matt shares his love of Rap music, due to it being the most popular among the Jazz students growing up and he would trade CD's on and get excited by it. His views on the Qwerty keyboard layout and how thinks it more functional to use the Dvorak keyboard instead. Matt explains how he come up with Wordpress and the problem he was solving. He unpacks the back end of open-source platforms and how to monetize them. Why he created his other company Automattic Matt's advice on remote working The importance of communication and always communicating with intention and honesty. How Matt defines success, working alongside people who he love and respects doing the best work of their Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → ExpressVPN.com/StartupStory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Matt's Twitter: https://twitter.com/photomatt Matt's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/photomatt Matt's Tumblr: https://photomatt.tumblr.com Matt's podcast - Distributed: https://distributed.blog Matt's interview with Jack Dorsey - https://distributed.blog/podcast/ Matt's about page: https://ma.tt/about/ Nonviolent communication Book: https://amzn.to/3kB1gIN Search Inside Yourself book: https://amzn.to/380jxKr Black Swan Book: https://amzn.to/3b5QfME Predictably Irrational: https://amzn.to/3kHRAfO Waking up app - https://wakingup.com Calm app - https://www.calm.com Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favorite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don't underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you! EPISODE CREDITS This episode was made possible due to the support of our sponsor Grindology. Visit https://grindology.com/ to obtain founder-direct tactics and strategies.

About this episode Today, I am the guest on the podcast. I've had a few people reach out and ask how things are going with the startup of Grindology. One friend, in particular, challenged me when I shared with him some of the obstacles I was going through. He mentioned that I constantly talk about how messy entrepreneurship is here on the show, yet I don't often talk about my own entrepreneurial journey. That truth hit me. I never want to make this podcast all about me. I want it to be filled with content that supports you in your entrepreneurial journey. However, if many of you are going through the same challenges that I am going through, I want to discuss them. I am still right in the thick of this journey towards founding and growing Grindology. Today I am sharing some of the lessons I have learned thus far. It'd be much easier to wait until I've mastered these lessons, but I don't want to wait to serve and support you. So, tune in to hear me unpack my Grindology journey and everything I've learned throughout the development of this startup. In this episode, you'll hear: What Grindology is. Why I decided to found Grindology. How focusing on your needs led me to the concept of Grindology. The power of receiving mentorship and guidance from entrepreneurs who have been through the startup process. Some of the challenges I've faced in building Grindology. Why we cannot minimize the importance of timing. Why we must understand our cash flow and not only focus on profitability. The adjustments I would have made in my business plans looking back. All about my current struggle of trying to balance cost and quality when leveraging freelancers and outsourcing talent. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → ExpressVPN.com/StartupStory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Episode with Chris Brownridge, founder of GawkBox: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chris-brownridge-founder-of-gawkbox/id1448729937?i=1000454435661 Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favorite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don't underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you! EPISODE CREDITS If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Contact him today at https://emeraldcitypro.com/startupstory

About this episode So can change in a year. That's certainly been true for this podcast. Some opportunities were missed in the tumultuous year of 2020, but amazing things happened around here, too. For one, we've built up an extremely rich episode vault. I want to take some time to share some of those episodes again. This week we're bringing back the episode with Christina Stembel, founder of Farmgirl Flowers. You may recognize Christina from the national Capital One campaign, where she gets to quote the known slogan, "What's in your wallet?" And if you couldn't guess, Christina's story is unique on many levels, including her challenging upbringing. Christina was born in a small Indiana town where she was raised with the idea that young girls did not have the same future or potential as young boys. For most of her childhood, she felt like an outsider. She was a young girl with big dreams, and that was not the norm in her town. Despite any of the challenges Christina faced, her childhood was influential and helped her get to where she is today. She's often asked what's the secret sauce to her success? She immediately points back to the most important lesson of her life, and that is where we begin her story. This is Christina Stembel's startup story. In this episode, you'll hear: About how she grew up in a small town in Indiana with religiously conservative parents. And how she was continually asking questions and bucking against that system. Though entrepreneurs didn't surround her, she did learn the value of hard work. How and why she made a move to New York City after graduation. And later, moving to Chicago, taking classes at Columbia College, and working in a hotel. Christina shares how she eventually ended up in hotel management in San Francisco. And later, she details her exit from the hotel business. She describes her time working at Stanford University, first in their catering department, and then with Alumni Relations. Her time planning events for Stanford helped her recognize the amount of money being spent, and in her opinion wasted, on the decor. She was able to save the university money by buying flowers and making the arrangements herself, rather than buying finished pieces. Christina could see the gaps in the flower industry but knew she didn't want to be doing events. She researched the e-commerce side of flowers and felt there was something better she could be doing to improve it. That led to Farmgirl. Early Farmgirl had limited product options with excellent customer service and a minimal marketing budget. Christina shares some of the unique marketing she explored in the early days of her startup. Some of the frustrations are getting financing in Silicon Valley and her experiences. The growth of Farmgirl Flowers, including her desire for early regional growth, subsidizing shipping costs, and working on company culture. Why Christina believes anyone willing to work for it can be an entrepreneur. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → ExpressVPN.com/StartupStory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Farmgirl Flowers: https://farmgirlflowers.com/ Christina Stembel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-stembel/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favorite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don't underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you! EPISODE CREDITS If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Contact him today at https://emeraldcitypro.com/startupstory

About this episode This week's guest is Tom Fairey, the founder of Stakester. Stakester is an entertainment platform that gives gamers a platform to add monetary pride to the online gaming community. Through proprietary technology, Stakestir acts as the third partner in gaming challenges to ensure payouts are handled correctly. The technology that Tom and the rest of the team over at Stakester uses is truly remarkable. However, the circumstances from which Stakester was born are even more amazing. Tom once got cheated out of his winnings when sparring with a massive Russian; that is where his entrepreneurial journey began. To hear about the dynamic story of Tom's major loss and eventual startup of Stakester, tune in. Throughout our conversation, you will also hear how he raised over a half-million dollars using a cold email outreach strategy. This entrepreneur accomplished tremendous feats through unprecedented tactics and he is sharing all about it right here. In this episode, you'll hear: The 3 things you must sell when you start out as a founder. How to get great people on board with your startup to help solve your problems. What Stakestir is. How Tom losing money in a Jujitsu match gave him the idea for Stakestir. Tom's first startup experience. What was so appealing to Tom about startups. The role of resilience in entrepreneurship. Why it's so important to focus on the minimum value you provide to your customers. The first few steps to take to get your startup going. What you as the founder should do and what you should hire someone else to do. How to balance your messaging to the 3 core sectors you must communicate to as a founder. Tom's funding strategies at the beginning. The 3 rules he used to send the cold emails that got him tons of investments. How to define your buyer persona and why that is so integral to your growth. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ Tom's Cold Email Template: https://medium.com/swlh/a-5-step-guide-to-raising-angel-investment-during-the-crisis-3af4ece58258 ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → ExpressVPN.com/StartupStory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Tom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasfairey/ Tom's podcast, The Back Yourself Show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-back-yourself-show-with-tom-fairey/id1485236149 Stakester: https://www.stakester.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favorite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don't underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you! EPISODE CREDITS If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Contact him today at https://emeraldcitypro.com/startupstory

About this episode My guest this week is Eric Girouard, the founder of BRUNT Workwear. BRUNT Workwear is slowly becoming the workwear brand for those who build the things we see and rely on every day. It is a D2C brand that seeks to serve one of the most underserved demographics out there: tradesmen. If you think about it, how many entrepreneurs begin their business with the target audience of a welder, crane operator, construction worker, or pipeline contractor? Not many startups are geared towards that market. Entrepreneurs are missing a huge opportunity here. Tradesmen are some of the most loyal customers out there. How have they been ignored for so long? In this episode, Eric Girouard is sharing his thoughts on that question with us. He grew up in that demographic but paid no attention to it when he helped build various other startups. This huge, better-than-average income demographic has been so neglected. Tune in to hear how Eric's entrepreneurial journey led him to start a company that serves this loyal segment of consumers. In this episode, you'll hear: How Eric was shaped by being raised in a blue-collar family with extremely hard-working parents. How he got into entrepreneurism. His journey from Babson College to BRUNT Workwear. Why he quit a sales job he loved to enter the startup world. The key learnings he got from working with serial entrepreneur Ben Fishman. The importance of learning from those who are ahead of you in business. Why Eric decided to hold off on founding his own startup. Why he used a business model where he built more than one brand. Why a marketplace business takes a unique skill set and is actually very challenging to build. The passion that led Eric to finally start BRUNT Workwear. All about the tradesmen market and why they're the backbone of the country. How Eric came up with the BRUNT Workwear slogan. The pushback he received during the launch of the startup and how he addressed and solved those problems. How he navigated inventory and decided to build the company very lean. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → ExpressVPN.com/StartupStory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Eric on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-girouard-8b58159/ BRUNT Workwear: http://www.bruntworkwear.com Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favorite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don't underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you! EPISODE CREDITS If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Contact him today at https://emeraldcitypro.com/startupstory

About this episode Whenever I'm asked which episode of The Startup Story has been my favorite, I truly can't give an answer. I enjoy every single episode because of how much value every entrepreneur brings to the table and how much I learn from them. However, if I were to be asked which episode stands out the most in my mind, it would have to be one of my earliest episodes: my interview with Brandon “Monk” Muñoz from Monkwood Studios. Out of all of the interviews I've held, I've only hosted two founders who were woodworkers. Brandon is one of them. His episode stands out because of how incredibly eclectic his entrepreneurial journey has been. Brandon was both extremely transparent and vulnerable about his story and amazing at telling it. He explains how both he and his startup, Monkwood Studios, got to where they are today. If you want to learn from a talented and hilarious entrepreneur, tune into this conversation with Brandon “Monk” Muñoz. In this episode, you'll hear: How Brandon got into woodworking as a kid. His history with music and art. The mentor and friend that taught him how to build furniture. Why he was inspired to go out on his own. How much he failed and learned from his mistakes at the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey. Why how you make something is more important than what you make. Brandon's experience doing ministry in London and building the unique startup of a church. Why he became an entrepreneur by need, not by choice. How he finally niched his business down and began specializing in wooden desks. His experience making a desk for James Hetfield. The connection he feels with the people who purchase his desks. The risk all creative entrepreneurs have to take. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → ExpressVPN.com/StartupStory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Brandon in Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monkwood_/ Monkwood Studios: https://monkwoodstudio.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favorite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don't underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you! EPISODE CREDITS If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Contact him today at https://emeraldcitypro.com/startupstory