Podcast appearances and mentions of Chris Sacca

Instead of building seawalls or dikes, Terranova has developed a new way to raise cities to protect them from sea-level rise. In addition, Chris Sacca's venture firm Lowercarbon Capital is raising a second fund to back nuclear fusion energy hopefuls, the VC said at the SOSV Climate Tech Summit on Thursday, as reported by Bloomberg. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What if you could know the true age of your brain—and start reversing it today?On this electrifying episode of Thrive LouD with Lou Diamond, recorded live at the Global Passion Project in Southampton, you'll get an insider's look at the breakthrough technologies—and bold thinkers—reshaping our future of health, longevity, and social impact.Lou sits down with a stellar lineup, including Dr. Ramses Alcaide, CEO of Neurable, who unveils how wearable brain-sensing headphones could soon make brain health measurements as common as step counters. Hear firsthand accounts from athletes concerned about cognitive decline, how new brain tech works for real users, and why investors like Peter Thiel, Chris Sacca, and Merck are betting big on brain longevity.Then, XPRIZE's Jason Bateman joins to pull back the curtain on the world's most audacious innovation prizes—from a $101M longevity award to wild carbon-capture ideas like artificial whale poop. Jason argues the biggest problems—like tribalism and the digital divide—need both competitive fire and courageous community to solve.The conversation turns to a dynamic panel with Dr. Jerome Corsi, Dr. Raj Kumar, Josh Rubin, and FDA legal expert Mike Druckman, who reveal how the pandemic, personal experience, and the hunger for systemic change are fueling a revolution in healthcare, data, and investment.If you're ready to meet the visionaries and game-changers shaping tomorrow—and learn what YOU can do about it—this is an episode you can't miss.Timestamped Overview:00:00 – Introduction Setting the scene for the Global Passion Project episodes01:01 – Dr. Ramses Alcaide shares how Neurable's brain-sensing technology is set to change healthcare (and everyday wearables)03:35 – Addressing privacy, safety, and real-world impact of brain data04:45 – Use case: Early detection of neurodegenerative conditions for athletes & those with family risks05:16 – Investors backing brain longevity and the growth of wearable brain tech06:15 – Partnering with the Department of Defense to protect soldiers' brain health07:27 – Scaling to military and commercial markets; 14 years of research brought to market 08:22 – What Dr. Ramses takes away from the Global Passion Project: Purpose, passion, and legacy09:09 – Where to find Neurable and connect with Dr. Ramses online09:50 – Jason Bateman of XPRIZE: Solving billion-scale challenges with multimillion-dollar prizes10:43 – Longevity, AI-driven education, space innovation, climate action, and wild ideas like artificial whale poop for carbon capture12:29 – The surprising origins of XPRIZE and how competition fuels innovation14:05 – Insights from the event: Harnessing capital, competition, and visionary philanthropy17:07 – Jason's biggest issue to solve: The digital divide and loss of empathy online18:50 – XPRIZE's next moonshots—like decoding the ovary's health signals21:49 – Jason's dream location: Bondi Beach, Australia22:30 – Panel intros: Dr. Jerome Corsi, Dr. Raj Kumar, Josh Rubin, and Mike Druckman reveal their personal missions and expertise26:43 – What's resonating at the event: Investment optimism and diverse passion for impact27:21 – Panel insights: Fusing expertise, diverse backgrounds, and hunger for change in healthcare28:20 – Dr. Raj's call to action: We need a little more anger and drive to change healthcare for all30:07 – Dr. Corsi: The role of global partnerships and funding to transform care30:56 – Panel contact details and their organizations for listeners and would-be collaborators34:27 – One-word summaries of the event: Inflection, Transformation, Loyalty, Spectacular 34:41 – Closing notes and where to connect with Thrive Loud and Lou Diamond

Chris Sacca went from getting fired as a lawyer to becoming one of the most successful venture capitalists ever.In this episode, we break down exactly how he pulled it off.Thanks to our sponsors!Ayrin Digital: https://go.ayrin.ai/rainmakersCollateral Partners: https://collateral.com/Sources:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aOr9nvi_FuDUux7nW6g0vIxEaYl4gknAD5IDTLmzIbs/edit?usp=sharing

Climactic is an early-stage venture fund investing in the energy, AI, automation, and robotics sectors to address climate change and its effects. It is backed by folks like Chris Sacca, Reid Hoffman, Mio Partners, and StepStone.Prior to Climactic, Josh co-founded Freestyle Capital, where he sourced or invested in the unicorns: Airtable, Patreon, Betterup, and Intercom. He was a pioneer in the early days of the Internet where he co-founded Spinner, the first Internet music startup, acquired by AOL for $320M, and Crackle, a viral video startup, acquired by Sony for $65M. Josh's commitment to the environment is long-standing; he started a nonprofit app in 2014 to connect influencers (NBA, Guns N Roses, Mark Ruffalo, Al Gore, Evan Williams) to the most important climate actions from the leading nonprofits. --Here are six topics we covered in the podcast:Origins with Rock Stars and PresidentsJosh Felser co-founded ClimateX, connecting users to 100+ environmental nonprofits with partners like Al Gore, Guns N' Roses, and the NBA.Why He Left Traditional VCAfter success at Freestyle Capital, COVID and a five-month role in California's government led Josh to shift from consumer tech to climate venture, realizing business's role in systemic change.Climactic's EvolutionJosh and Raj Kapoor launched Climactic as a B2B climate tech fund, later narrowing their focus to AI and automation for enterprise sustainability and profitability.Two Portfolio BetsClimactic invested in Grit (robotics for faster, cheaper solar installs) and Copper (battery-integrated induction stoves for apartment electrification).Climate Messaging in the MAGA EraJosh advocates re-framing climate language—e.g., using “conservation” over “environmentalism”—to resonate with conservative audiences without losing authenticity.Personal WellnessJosh finds balance through humor, avoiding the 5 AM club, emotional resilience, and grounding reminders like a Buddha statue at his Stinson Beach home.--

Man you cappin'. This week, DeepSeek shocks the AI industry (and the world) with its cheaper more efficient model. What comes next for the industry? The buyers line up for TikTok, but is the US Government playing favorites? And Substack is paying cash for TikTok creators to make the switch. Marketing winners include Timothee Chalamet and the TGL golf league. Rants and raves include Chris Sacca (on the Tim Ferriss pod), creating moments, and the return of Nike. ----- This week's news links: The Real DeepSeek Why Is Everyone Freaking Out Over DeepSeek? Trump, TikTok and Socialism White House In Talks with Oracle Substack Paying $20 Million The TGL Golf League Chalamet Goes Gorilla Chris Sacca on Tim Ferriss Nike's Destruction ----- This week's sponsor: With smaller budgets and sky-high expectations — growth is feeling pretty painful right now. But HubSpot just announced more than 200 major product updates to make impossible growth feel impossibly easy. Like Breeze — a suite of new AI-powered tools that help you say goodbye to busywork and hello to better work. With HubSpot, it's never been easier to be a marketer. Create content that breaks through and campaigns that drive revenue.   - Hubspot.com/marketers ------- Liked this show? SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on Spotify, Apple, Google and more. Catch past episodes and show notes at ThisOldMarketing.com. Catch and subscribe to our NEW show on YouTube. NOTE: You can get captions there. Subscribe to Joe Pulizzi's Orangeletter and get two free downloads direct from Joe. Subscribe to Robert Rose's newsletter at Seventh Bear.

In today's episode of Impact Theory, Tom Bilyeu is joined by Producer Drew as we dive into some of the most pressing and controversial topics shaping our world right now. From the impending disruption brought on by AI, as discussed by tech investor Chris Sacca, to the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency and regulation, as highlighted by David Sacks, we explore what the future holds. Tom and Producer Drew also delve into the societal implications of rapid technological advancements, the balance between globalism and individualism, and the philosophical questions about meaning and purpose in an age of uncertainty. Featuring candid discussions, speculative insights, and a look at where we might be heading, today's episode is a whirlwind tour of the forces driving change in our world. Buckle up for a thought-provoking conversation that tackles everything from AI-driven job markets to the rebirth of meme coins, and what these mean for our global economy and personal lives. Get ready, because it's going to be spicy, weird, and incredibly insightful. SHOWNOTES 00:00 Uncertain Job Market Fears 03:58 Age of Abundance With AI 06:41 "Facing an Ominous Future" 11:21 Trump's Crypto Regulatory Initiative 15:20 Blockchain: Enabling Virtual World Ownership 16:47 Innovation Through Regulation 20:59 Stock Market Gambling Benefits Capital Formation 25:04 Meme Coins: Escaping the Financial System 27:07 Crypto's Gambling Cultural Moment 30:05 "Presidential Ethics and Scrutiny!" 34:35 Rethinking Death's Motivation 37:23 "Eternally Driven to Continue" 41:18 "Cycle of Aggregation and Disaggregation" 45:38 Spiritual KPIs: Measuring Inner Peace 47:03 Chase Joy, Embrace Detachment CHECK OUT OUR SPONSORS Range Rover: Range Rover: Explore the Range Rover Sport at  https://landroverUSA.com Audible: Sign up for a free 30 day trial at https://audible.com/IMPACTTHEORY  Vital Proteins: Get 20% off by going to https://www.vitalproteins.com and entering promo code IMPACT at check out. Tax Network USA: Stop looking over your shoulder and put your IRS troubles behind you. Call 1-800-958-1000 or visit https://impacttheory.co/TNUSAJan  Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://shopify.com/impact What's up, everybody? It's Tom Bilyeu here: If you want my help... STARTING a business: join me here at ZERO TO FOUNDER SCALING a business: see if you qualify here. Get my battle-tested strategies and insights delivered weekly to your inbox: sign up here. ********************************************************************** If you're serious about leveling up your life, I urge you to check out my new podcast, Tom Bilyeu's Mindset Playbook —a goldmine of my most impactful episodes on mindset, business, and health. Trust me, your future self will thank you. ********************************************************************** Join me live on my Twitch stream. I'm live daily from 6:30 to 8:30 am PT at www.twitch.tv/tombilyeu ********************************************************************** LISTEN TO IMPACT THEORY AD FREE + BONUS EPISODES on APPLE PODCASTS: apple.co/impacttheory ********************************************************************** FOLLOW TOM: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tombilyeu/ Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tombilyeu?lang=en Twitter: https://twitter.com/tombilyeu YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TomBilyeu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Sacca is the co-founder of Lowercarbon Capital and manages a portfolio of countless startups in energy, industrial materials, and carbon removal. If it's unf**king the planet, he's probably working on it. Previously, Chris founded Lowercase Capital, one of history's most successful funds ever, primarily known for its very early investments in companies like Twitter, Uber, Instagram, Twilio, Docker, Optimizely, Blue Bottle Coffee, and Stripe. But you might just know him as the guy who wore those ridiculous cowboy shirts for a few seasons of Shark Tank. To purchase Chris's ranch, schedule a viewing at FivePondsRanch.com.P.S. This episode features a special, one-of-a-kind introduction that Chris recorded of yours truly. :) Sponsors:MUDWTR energy-boosting coffee alternative—without the jitters: https://MUDWTR.com/Tim (between 15% and 43% off) Helix Sleep premium mattresses: https://HelixSleep.com/Tim (Between 20% and 27% off all mattress orders and two free pillows)AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement: https://DrinkAG1.com/Tim (1-year supply of Vitamin D (and 5 free AG1 travel packs) with your first subscription purchase.)*For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsorsSign up for Tim's email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim's books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissYouTube: youtube.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, Margaret Atwood, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Dr. Gabor Maté, Anne Lamott, Sarah Silverman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Honestly with Bari Weiss ✓ Claim Key Takeaways  Prominent people are shifting to the right because they never signed up for the left's intellectual straight-jacketThe 2024 presidential election marked a collapse of liberalism and the Democratic Party; it is too narrow of thinking to blame it on a senile Biden or a goofy Kamala If the machine always wins, then you no longer have a democracy nor a democratic process: If Trump would have lost to the machine in 2024, who would have ever been able to defeat it?  If we are going to avoid World War III, we must learn the lessons of WWI and WWII; we cannot have excessive appeasement to dictators, but also, we cannot sleepwalk into armageddon On the elite Ivy League institutions: “Maybe they're good places for training conservatives. If you go to Yale Law School and you're one of five people in the class who are still conservative at the end, you'll be pretty good at understanding what's wrong with liberalism.” Populism and democracy may be a Russell conjugate: It is democracy when people vote the right way and it is populism when they vote the wrong wayBoth extreme dogmatism and extreme skepticism are incompatible with science If you make something into God, you make it into a scapegoat for all the problems too If you're addicted to the 140 characters on your shiny iPhone screen, you may not realize that the New York Subway and your decrepit apartment building are collapsing around you It matters what people do; there is room for human agency and human thought in the trajectory of the future Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgOn Tuesday night, president-elect Donald Trump announced that the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, along with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will head a new department in the Trump administration: the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE.” Aside from the very strange fact that internet meme culture has now landed in the White House—Dogecoin is a memecoin—more importantly, what the announcement solidifies is the triumph of the counter-elite. A bunch of oddball outsiders ran against an insular band of out-of-touch elites supported by every celebrity in Hollywood—and they won. And they are about to reshape not just the government but also the culture in ways we can't imagine. And there was one person I wanted to discuss it with. He is the vanguard of those antiestablishment counter-elites: Peter Thiel. People describe the billionaire venture capitalist in very colorful terms. He's been called the most successful tech investor in the world. A political kingmaker. The bogeyman of the left. The center of gravity in Silicon Valley. There's the “Thielverse,” “Thielbucks,” and “Thielists.” To say he has an obsessive cult following would be an understatement. If you listened to my last conversation with Thiel a year and a half ago on Honestly, you'll remember that Peter was the first guy in Silicon Valley to publicly embrace Trump in 2016. That year, he gave a memorable speech at the RNC, and many in his orbit thought it was simply a step too far. He lost business at Y Combinator, the start-up incubator where he was a partner. Many prominent tech leaders criticized him publicly, like VC and Twitter investor Chris Sacca, who called Thiel's endorsement of Trump “one of the most dangerous things” he had ever seen.  Well, a lot has changed since then. For one, Thiel has taken a step back from politics—at least publicly. He didn't donate to Trump's 2024 campaign. There was no big RNC speech this year. But the bigger change is a cultural one. He's no longer the pariah of Silicon Valley for supporting Trump. On the surface, Thiel is someone who seems full of contradictions. He is a libertarian who has found common cause with nationalists and populists. He likes investing in companies that have the ability to become monopolies, and yet Trump's White House wants to break up Big Tech. He is a gay American immigrant, but he hates identity politics and the culture wars. He pays people to drop out of college, but, in this conversation at least, still seems to venerate the way that the Ivy Leagues are an indicator of intelligence. But perhaps that's the secret to his success: He's beholden to no tribe but himself, no ideology but his own. And why wouldn't you be when you make so many winning bets? From co-founding the e-payment behemoth PayPal and the data analytics firm Palantir (which was used to find Osama bin Laden) to being the first outside investor in Facebook, Thiel's investments—in companies like LinkedIn, Palantir, and SpaceX, to name a few—have paid off big time. His most recent bet—helping his mentee J.D. Vance get elected as senator and then on the Trump ticket as vice president—seems also to have paid off. The next four years will determine just how high Thiel's profit margin will be. Today: Thiel explains why so many of his peers have finally come around to Trump; why he thinks Kamala—and liberalism more broadly—lost the election; and why the Trump 2.0 team will be better than last time, with antiestablishment figures who are willing to rethink the system. We talk about the border, trade deals, student debt, Israel and foreign policy, the rise of historical revisionism, the blurry line between skepticism and conspiracy, and his contrarian ideas about what we might face in a dreaded World War III. If you liked what you heard from Honestly, the best way to support us is to go to TheFP.com and become a Free Press subscriber today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Honestly with Bari Weiss ✓ Claim : Read the notes at at podcastnotes.org. Don't forget to subscribe for free to our newsletter, the top 10 ideas of the week, every Monday --------- On Tuesday night, president-elect Donald Trump announced that the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, along with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will head a new department in the Trump administration: the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE.” Aside from the very strange fact that internet meme culture has now landed in the White House—Dogecoin is a memecoin—more importantly, what the announcement solidifies is the triumph of the counter-elite. A bunch of oddball outsiders ran against an insular band of out-of-touch elites supported by every celebrity in Hollywood—and they won. And they are about to reshape not just the government but also the culture in ways we can't imagine. And there was one person I wanted to discuss it with. He is the vanguard of those antiestablishment counter-elites: Peter Thiel. People describe the billionaire venture capitalist in very colorful terms. He's been called the most successful tech investor in the world. A political kingmaker. The bogeyman of the left. The center of gravity in Silicon Valley. There's the “Thielverse,” “Thielbucks,” and “Thielists.” To say he has an obsessive cult following would be an understatement. If you listened to my last conversation with Thiel a year and a half ago on Honestly, you'll remember that Peter was the first guy in Silicon Valley to publicly embrace Trump in 2016. That year, he gave a memorable speech at the RNC, and many in his orbit thought it was simply a step too far. He lost business at Y Combinator, the start-up incubator where he was a partner. Many prominent tech leaders criticized him publicly, like VC and Twitter investor Chris Sacca, who called Thiel's endorsement of Trump “one of the most dangerous things” he had ever seen.  Well, a lot has changed since then. For one, Thiel has taken a step back from politics—at least publicly. He didn't donate to Trump's 2024 campaign. There was no big RNC speech this year. But the bigger change is a cultural one. He's no longer the pariah of Silicon Valley for supporting Trump. On the surface, Thiel is someone who seems full of contradictions. He is a libertarian who has found common cause with nationalists and populists. He likes investing in companies that have the ability to become monopolies, and yet Trump's White House wants to break up Big Tech. He is a gay American immigrant, but he hates identity politics and the culture wars. He pays people to drop out of college, but, in this conversation at least, still seems to venerate the way that the Ivy Leagues are an indicator of intelligence. But perhaps that's the secret to his success: He's beholden to no tribe but himself, no ideology but his own. And why wouldn't you be when you make so many winning bets? From co-founding the e-payment behemoth PayPal and the data analytics firm Palantir (which was used to find Osama bin Laden) to being the first outside investor in Facebook, Thiel's investments—in companies like LinkedIn, Palantir, and SpaceX, to name a few—have paid off big time. His most recent bet—helping his mentee J.D. Vance get elected as senator and then on the Trump ticket as vice president—seems also to have paid off. The next four years will determine just how high Thiel's profit margin will be. Today: Thiel explains why so many of his peers have finally come around to Trump; why he thinks Kamala—and liberalism more broadly—lost the election; and why the Trump 2.0 team will be better than last time, with antiestablishment figures who are willing to rethink the system. We talk about the border, trade deals, student debt, Israel and foreign policy, the rise of historical revisionism, the blurry line between skepticism and conspiracy, and his contrarian ideas about what we might face in a dreaded World War III. If you liked what you heard from Honestly, the best way to support us is to go to TheFP.com and become a Free Press subscriber today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Honestly with Bari Weiss ✓ Claim Key Takeaways  Prominent people are shifting to the right because they never signed up for the left's intellectual straight-jacketThe 2024 presidential election marked a collapse of liberalism and the Democratic Party; it is too narrow of thinking to blame it on a senile Biden or a goofy Kamala If the machine always wins, then you no longer have a democracy nor a democratic process: If Trump would have lost to the machine in 2024, who would have ever been able to defeat it?  If we are going to avoid World War III, we must learn the lessons of WWI and WWII; we cannot have excessive appeasement to dictators, but also, we cannot sleepwalk into armageddon On the elite Ivy League institutions: “Maybe they're good places for training conservatives. If you go to Yale Law School and you're one of five people in the class who are still conservative at the end, you'll be pretty good at understanding what's wrong with liberalism.” Populism and democracy may be a Russell conjugate: It is democracy when people vote the right way and it is populism when they vote the wrong wayBoth extreme dogmatism and extreme skepticism are incompatible with science If you make something into God, you make it into a scapegoat for all the problems too If you're addicted to the 140 characters on your shiny iPhone screen, you may not realize that the New York Subway and your decrepit apartment building are collapsing around you It matters what people do; there is room for human agency and human thought in the trajectory of the future Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgOn Tuesday night, president-elect Donald Trump announced that the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, along with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will head a new department in the Trump administration: the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE.” Aside from the very strange fact that internet meme culture has now landed in the White House—Dogecoin is a memecoin—more importantly, what the announcement solidifies is the triumph of the counter-elite. A bunch of oddball outsiders ran against an insular band of out-of-touch elites supported by every celebrity in Hollywood—and they won. And they are about to reshape not just the government but also the culture in ways we can't imagine. And there was one person I wanted to discuss it with. He is the vanguard of those antiestablishment counter-elites: Peter Thiel. People describe the billionaire venture capitalist in very colorful terms. He's been called the most successful tech investor in the world. A political kingmaker. The bogeyman of the left. The center of gravity in Silicon Valley. There's the “Thielverse,” “Thielbucks,” and “Thielists.” To say he has an obsessive cult following would be an understatement. If you listened to my last conversation with Thiel a year and a half ago on Honestly, you'll remember that Peter was the first guy in Silicon Valley to publicly embrace Trump in 2016. That year, he gave a memorable speech at the RNC, and many in his orbit thought it was simply a step too far. He lost business at Y Combinator, the start-up incubator where he was a partner. Many prominent tech leaders criticized him publicly, like VC and Twitter investor Chris Sacca, who called Thiel's endorsement of Trump “one of the most dangerous things” he had ever seen.  Well, a lot has changed since then. For one, Thiel has taken a step back from politics—at least publicly. He didn't donate to Trump's 2024 campaign. There was no big RNC speech this year. But the bigger change is a cultural one. He's no longer the pariah of Silicon Valley for supporting Trump. On the surface, Thiel is someone who seems full of contradictions. He is a libertarian who has found common cause with nationalists and populists. He likes investing in companies that have the ability to become monopolies, and yet Trump's White House wants to break up Big Tech. He is a gay American immigrant, but he hates identity politics and the culture wars. He pays people to drop out of college, but, in this conversation at least, still seems to venerate the way that the Ivy Leagues are an indicator of intelligence. But perhaps that's the secret to his success: He's beholden to no tribe but himself, no ideology but his own. And why wouldn't you be when you make so many winning bets? From co-founding the e-payment behemoth PayPal and the data analytics firm Palantir (which was used to find Osama bin Laden) to being the first outside investor in Facebook, Thiel's investments—in companies like LinkedIn, Palantir, and SpaceX, to name a few—have paid off big time. His most recent bet—helping his mentee J.D. Vance get elected as senator and then on the Trump ticket as vice president—seems also to have paid off. The next four years will determine just how high Thiel's profit margin will be. Today: Thiel explains why so many of his peers have finally come around to Trump; why he thinks Kamala—and liberalism more broadly—lost the election; and why the Trump 2.0 team will be better than last time, with antiestablishment figures who are willing to rethink the system. We talk about the border, trade deals, student debt, Israel and foreign policy, the rise of historical revisionism, the blurry line between skepticism and conspiracy, and his contrarian ideas about what we might face in a dreaded World War III. If you liked what you heard from Honestly, the best way to support us is to go to TheFP.com and become a Free Press subscriber today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Tuesday night, president-elect Donald Trump announced that the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, along with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will head a new initiative in the Trump administration: the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE.” Aside from the very strange fact that internet meme culture has now landed in the White House—Dogecoin is a memecoin—more importantly, what the announcement solidifies is the triumph of the counter-elite. A bunch of oddball outsiders ran against an insular band of out-of-touch elites supported by every celebrity in Hollywood—and they won. And they are about to reshape not just the government but also the culture in ways we can't imagine. And there was one person I wanted to discuss it with. He is the vanguard of those antiestablishment counter-elites: Peter Thiel. People describe the billionaire venture capitalist in very colorful terms. He's been called the most successful tech investor in the world. A political kingmaker. The bogeyman of the left. The center of gravity in Silicon Valley. There's the “Thielverse,” “Thielbucks,” and “Thielists.” To say he has an obsessive cult following would be an understatement. If you listened to my last conversation with Thiel a year and a half ago on Honestly, you'll remember that Peter was the first guy in Silicon Valley to publicly embrace Trump in 2016. That year, he gave a memorable speech at the RNC, and many in his orbit thought it was simply a step too far. He lost business at Y Combinator, the start-up incubator where he was a partner. Many prominent tech leaders criticized him publicly, like VC and Twitter investor Chris Sacca, who called Thiel's endorsement of Trump “one of the most dangerous things” he had ever seen.  Well, a lot has changed since then. For one, Thiel has taken a step back from politics—at least publicly. He didn't donate to Trump's 2024 campaign. There was no big RNC speech this year. But the bigger change is a cultural one. He's no longer the pariah of Silicon Valley for supporting Trump. On the surface, Thiel is someone who seems full of contradictions. He is a libertarian who has found common cause with nationalists and populists. He likes investing in companies that have the ability to become monopolies, and yet Trump's White House wants to break up Big Tech. He is a gay American immigrant, but he hates identity politics and the culture wars. He pays people to drop out of college, but, in this conversation at least, still seems to venerate the way that the Ivy Leagues are an indicator of intelligence. But perhaps that's the secret to his success: He's beholden to no tribe but himself, no ideology but his own. And why wouldn't you be when you make so many winning bets? From co-founding the e-payment behemoth PayPal and the data analytics firm Palantir (which was used to find Osama bin Laden) to being the first outside investor in Facebook, Thiel's investments—in companies like LinkedIn, Palantir, and SpaceX, to name a few—have paid off big time. His most recent bet—helping his mentee J.D. Vance get elected as senator and then on the Trump ticket as vice president—seems also to have paid off. The next four years will determine just how high Thiel's profit margin will be. Today: Thiel explains why so many of his peers have finally come around to Trump; why he thinks Kamala—and liberalism more broadly—lost the election; and why the Trump 2.0 team will be better than last time, with antiestablishment figures who are willing to rethink the system. We talk about the border, trade deals, student debt, Israel and foreign policy, the rise of historical revisionism, the blurry line between skepticism and conspiracy, and his contrarian ideas about what we might face in a dreaded World War III. If you liked what you heard from Honestly, the best way to support us is to go to TheFP.com and become a Free Press subscriber today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is a two-for-one, and that's because the podcast recently hit its 10-year anniversary and passed one billion downloads. To celebrate, I've curated some of the best of the best—some of my favorites—from more than 700 episodes over the last decade. I could not be more excited.The episode features segments from episode #79 "Chris Sacca on Being Different and Making Billions" and #729 "Legendary Actor Scott Glenn — How to Be Super Fit at 85, Lessons from Marlon Brando, How to Pursue Your Purpose, The Art of Serendipity, Stories of Gunslingers, and More."Please enjoy!Sponsors:Momentous high-quality supplements: https://livemomentous.com/tim (code TIM for 20% off)Shopify global commerce platform, providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business: https://shopify.com/tim (one-dollar-per-month trial period)AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement: https://drinkag1.com/tim (1-year supply of Vitamin D (and 5 free AG1 travel packs) with your first subscription purchase.)Timestamps:[00:00] Start [05:19] Notes about this supercombo format.[06:23] Enter Chris Sacca.[06:53] Traits of founders for whom success, at massive scale, seems predestined.[08:00] Travis Kalanick and Nintendo Wii Tennis.[09:55] Resources for cultivating investing chops, emotional intelligence, and general empathy.[18:37] Chris' evolving concept of success.[22:31] What Chris and his brother Brian's parents did right.[26:47] What Chris looks for when hiring.[29:23] The prophetic notebook.[31:29] Advice to aimless college graduates.[34:06] Two differentiators that shifted the nature of Chris' business[38:16] Enter Scott Glenn.[38:44] Idaho vs. Los Angeles.[44:59] Apocalypse Now, self-confidence soon after.[49:00] Burt Lancaster's movie star lessons.[54:41] The birth and death of Wes Hightower.[1:03:56] Catching the attention of James Bridges.[1:06:12] Scarlet fever.[1:07:57] From Marine to police reporter.[1:12:42] Berghof Studios and parental advice.[1:21:12] Converting to Judaism.[1:24:04] Lao Tzu: the ultimate mystic?[1:28:44] Letting go with Killer Joe.[1:33:20] "Crazy Whitefella Thinking."[1:38:53] Getting out of the way and Erwan Le Corre.[1:42:19] Lessons from the "morally phenomenal" Marlon Brando.[1:46:54] How Scott's childhood bout with scarlet fever informed his life's course.[1:49:33] Daily routines and exercises of an in-shape 85-year-old.[2:05:46] Securing a serendipitous skill set.[2:12:41] Thailand talk.[2:16:46] Increasing surface luck.[2:17:32] How Scott met and fell in love with his wife.[2:23:32] "Just dance."[2:24:14] Mistakenly calling Rudolf Nureyev Russian.[2:26:24] Poetry.[2:30:31] What Laurence Olivier knew about the value of tenacity.[2:32:09] Parting thoughts.*For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsorsSign up for Tim's email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim's books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissYouTube: youtube.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, Margaret Atwood, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Dr. Gabor Maté, Anne Lamott, Sarah Silverman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kayvon Beykpour was the longest-serving head of product at Twitter and was GM of Twitter's consumer division until the platform was acquired by Elon Musk. He originally joined Twitter in 2015 through the acquisition of his company, Periscope, the largest live video streaming platform at the time. Periscope pioneered technology that inspired Instagram Live, TikTok Live, Facebook Live, and other social networks' expansion into video streaming. In our conversation, we discuss:• The story of being let go from Twitter after Elon's acquisition• How he turned Twitter's stagnant culture around• Kayvon's thoughts on the limitations of frameworks like Jobs to Be Done• Why Periscope failed• Advice for building consumer products• When to copy, when to innovate—Brought to you by:• Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth• OneSchema—Import CSV data 10x faster• Heap—Cross-platform product analytics that convert, engage, and retain customers—Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/twitters-former-head-of-product-kayvon-beykpour—Where to find Kayvon Beykpour:• X: https://twitter.com/kayvz• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayvz/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Kayvon's background(04:31) Getting Elon up to speed at Twitter(11:34) The story of being let go from Twitter after Elon's acquisition(21:09) Changing the product culture at Twitter(29:44) Building the “hide replies” feature(32:02) Sacred crows, taking bold bets, and reigniting growth(34:28) Aquihires and their impact(42:40) Tips for successful acquisitions and staffing(47:00) The limitations of frameworks like JTBD(53:20) Signs you've gone too far with a framework(57:44) Lessons from building Periscope(01:00:41) Reasons why Periscope failed(01:07:24) The challenges of implementing video at Twitter(01:12:05) Copying ideas in good taste(01:17:58) How to get better at building consumer products(01:19:51) What Kayvon is building(01:20:31) Lightning round—Referenced:• Lessons on building product sense, navigating AI, optimizing the first mile, and making it through the messy middle | Scott Belsky (Adobe, Behance): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/lessons-on-building-product-sense-navigating-ai-optimizing-the-first-mile-and-making-it-through-t/• What it's like to sell your startup for ~$120 million before it's even launched: Meet Twitter's new prized possession, Periscope: https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-periscope-and-why-twitter-bought-it-2015-3• Walter Isaacson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/walter-isaacson-b8b81520/• Elon Musk on X: https://twitter.com/elonmusk• Parag Agrawal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parag-agrawal-5a14742a/• Jack Dorsey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-dorsey-a43b07242/• Blackboard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackboard_Inc.• Keith Coleman on X: https://twitter.com/kcoleman• Esther Crawford on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esthercrawford/• Twitter acquires Chroma Labs: https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/twitter-acquires-chroma-labs-story-aqvcRPAoYXqXJuAbefA6cN.html• John Barnett on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbarnettt/• Jobs to Be Done framework: https://jobs-to-be-done.com/jobs-to-be-done-a-framework-for-customer-needs-c883cbf61c90• Hot takes and techno-optimism from tech's top power couple: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/hot-takes-and-techno-optimism-from-techs-top-power-couple-sriram-and-aarthi/• Nike Is Unveiling the Kobe 11 Tomorrow Using Periscope: https://sneakernews.com/2015/12/13/nike-is-unveiling-the-kobe-11-tomorrow-using-periscope/• Chris Sacca's website: https://chrissacca.com/• Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/formedia/tools/facebook-live• Kevin Hart on X: https://twitter.com/KevinHart4real• Clubhouse: https://www.clubhouse.com/• Vine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vine_(service)• Paul Davison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davison/• Rohan Seth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohanseth/• Cryptonomicon: https://www.amazon.com/Cryptonomicon-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0380788624• Reamde: https://www.amazon.com/Reamde-Novel-Neal-Stephenson-ebook/dp/B004XVN0WW• The Name of the Wind: https://www.amazon.com/Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicle-Book-ebook/dp/B0010SKUYM• Star Trek official site: https://www.startrek.com/• Dune: part 2: https://www.dunemovie.com/• Oppenheimer on Peacock: https://www.peacocktv.com/stream-movies/oppenheimer• Tokyo Vice on Max: https://www.max.com/shows/tokyo-vice/e7d93204-7f98-4e62-ab52-6c1da053f942• Devs on Hulu: https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/devs• Nick Offerman on X: https://twitter.com/nick_offerman• 3 Body Problem on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81024821• Perplexity AI: https://www.perplexity.ai/• Particle: https://www.particle.news/• Crokinole board game: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/521/crokinole—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

From his first awkward pitch to investor Chris Sacca, to their acquisition by Spotify, Alex Blumburg has built one of the most influential companies working in Podcasts today. The company was founded in 2014 by Alex Blumberg and Matthew Lieber, who serve as the company's CEO and president respectively. In February 2019, Spotify announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Gimlet for $230 million. This podcast is brought to you by: Miro: Go to Miro.com/podcast and get your first three Miro boards free forever. Hubspot: Listen to The Science of Scaling wherever you get your podcasts. Gigantic: Learn more about Gigantic's Product Leadership course, Generative AI, Product Management course, Executive Leadership course & Web3 for Marketing course, AI Product Management Course, and Customer Research and Discovery Course at Gigantic.is Rocketship is brought to you by The Podglomerate. *** Previous Guests include Seth Goden, Christian Idioti, Ash Maurya, Dan Shapiro of Glowforge, Lolita Taub, Amy Hood of Hoodzpah, Amanda Goetz, Helen Tran, Ben Parr, Mac Conwell, Charli Marie Prangley of ConvertKit, Kandis O'Brian, Laura Roeder, Brenna Loury of Doist, Lopa van der Mersch of Rasa, Ken Norton, Randy Silver, Sanjiv Kalevar of OpenView Venture Partners, Dan Olsen, Jay Clouse, Melissa Perri, Dheerja Kaur of Robinhood, Rahul Vohra of Superhuman, Rich Mironov, Ben Foster, ChatGPT, Ron Weiner of Earth Class Mail. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy.  Since you're listening to Rocketship, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Creative Elements and Freelance to Founder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do iconic Valley investors Zachary Bogue and Chris Sacca have in common? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast.On today's show, we have a fascinating episode that combines the macro and the micro.Nimble Partners Founder John Burbank and Partner Ken Wallace come on the show to share their unique perspectives and discuss both the nuances and intricacies of investing in private markets and early-stage venture.Nimble Partners is a technology investment platform that invests into early-stage fund managers through their manager selection program and as well as direct and co-investments into breakout performers from their fund manager relationships.John and Ken have had illustrious careers in both public markets and private markets, investing in many of the biggest technology trends and many top early-stage managers over the past 15 years.John was a top macro investor from founding Passport Capital in 2000, where he was amongst the best hedge fund managers of his time. He's been investing into early-stage fund managers for the past decade. As a long-time macro investor, he has consistently focused on sectors and investments where technology can be disruptive and accelerate change. He's also an investor in the Golden State Warriors, the championship winning NBA team.Ken joined John to build Nimble after a stellar career at Industry Ventures, backing a number of emerging managers, most notably Chris Sacca's first-time Lowercase Capital fund, which at over 200x+ returns, was amongst the best performing venture funds in history. At Industry Ventures, he specialized in hybrid fund of funds strategy, originating, valuing, and managing primary fund commitments, early secondary LP investments, and direct co-investments.We had a fascinating conversation that spanned a number of topics:  Why this is not the end of venture capital — and why the winners are still to going to win and win big. How global macro impacts venture capital. The framework that John and Ken use to evaluate technology trends and emerging managers. How the “portfolio manager” model can be applied to venture capital. How information is a huge edge. Why duration is the most important thing an investor can have. Thanks John and Ken for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast to share your wisdom.

Chris Sacca is one of the most accomplished venture investors of the last half century. He founded Lowercase Capital in 2010 and made seed stage investments in Twitter, Uber, Instagram, Blue Bottle Coffee, and Stripe. Lowercase's first fund famously became one of the highest returning venture funds in history and landed Chris at #2 on the Midas List in 2017. After retiring together with his wife Crystal that year, they came back to the business to found Lowercarbon Capital to fund “kickass companies that make money slashing carbon emissions.” Lowercarbon manages in excess of $2 billion of outside capital, excluding its largest investor – Chris and Crystal. Our conversation covers Chris's humble upbringing, early entrepreneurial endeavors, and ups and downs in his early professional years. We cover his transition to Google, foundations of his investing philosophy at Lowercase, and work today at Lowercarbon. Along the way, Chris shares his sourcing of deals, evaluation of founders, and work with portfolio companies. He is a gifted storyteller and a walking case-study on grit. Show Notes 03:51    Early entrepreneurial endeavors 07:17    Ups and downs of early years 17:28    Early days at Google 21:38    Investing philosophy at Lowercase 28:33    Sourcing founders 30:06    Adding value to startups 35:16    Evaluating entrepreneurs 40:28    Retiring from Lowercase 41:58    Founding Lowercarbon 54:10    Investment process 57:23    Future opportunities 1:01:59 Closing questions Learn More Follow Ted on Twitter at @tseides or LinkedIn Subscribe to the mailing list Access Transcript with Premium Membership

Adam Besvinick is the Founder of Looking Glass Capital, a pre-seed-focused firm started in 2020. Before starting Looking Glass, Adam spent about 5 years at Deep Fork Capital and Anchorage Capital Group investing in pre-seed through Series C. Adam's portfolio across funds includes the likes of BigID, Transfix, NomNom, and Hone Health, to name a few.  In Today's Episode with Adam Besvinick We Discuss: 1. How Twitter Led to Founding a Venture Firm: How did Adam make his way into the world of venture through Twitter? What are 1-2 of his biggest lessons from working with the legend, Chris Sacca? What does Adam know now that he wishes he had known at the beginning of his time in VC? What do most young VCs misunderstand when it comes to reputation? 2. Raising Fund I: The Process: How many LP meetings did Adam have to close Fund I? What docs and materials did he have for the fundraise? How does he advise other managers on doing docs for fundraises? How do different LP profiles want different things in the managers they work with? How did Adam approach first vs final close? How does he advise others managers on closing? How did Adam instil a sense of urgency in LPs to move and commit to the fund? What are 1-2 of Adam's biggest pieces of advice to managers raising a first-time fund? 3. Looking Glass: The Very Disciplined Pre-Seed Strategy: How did Adam decide on the fund size? Why is it the optimal fund size? What is the desired ownership for Adam? What level of dilution does he expect across the lifecycle of the company? What is the average check size? What is the average entry price? How does Adam approach reserves and follow-on checks? How does Adam reflect on his own relationship to price? Why does Adam not like the majority of pre-seed micro-fund strategies? 4. The Market: Multi-Stage Firms Destroying Seed Does Adam agree that "multi-stage firms have destroyed seed rounds"? How does Adam advise founders when they have multi-stage offers and seed firm offers? Who will be the winners and losers in the next 10 years of venture? Why is it harder than ever to advise founders on fundraising rounds today?

Ben Casnocha (@bencasnocha) and Reid Hoffman (@reidhoffman) are co-authors of The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career. In the book, they look at the best of Silicon Valley startups and derive entrepreneurial principles that can transform the career of any professional across all industries. They revised and updated the book for the new world of work in 2022 and released a podcast series about it which you can listen to at thestartupofyou.com.This episode of the Village Global podcast shares a few select segments from the Startup of You podcast relevant to founders, investors, and anyone working in tech.They discuss:- Hustle, and investor Chris Sacca's creative way of getting his foot in the door when he was first starting out in his career.- Name dropping. Your network is a key part of your career. If you have a powerful person in your network you might be eager to let others know that, but they talk about how to let others know about your network thoughtfully and with tact.- Navigating status. Like it or not, status matters. We talk about how status dynamics play out in the workplace and how you can skillfully navigate them.Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.Check us out on the web at www.villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.Want to get updates from us? Subscribe to get a peek inside the Village. We'll send you reading recommendations, exclusive event invites, and commentary on the latest happenings in Silicon Valley. www.villageglobal.vc/signup

Super excited to share this with you. We've got someone who went to the same high school where Steve Jobs and Woz did back in the day. He then worked at Square on international expansion, went on to work with VC Legend Mike Maples, and eventually ended up as the Chief of Staff at Chris Sacca's, Lowercarbon Capital. We are talking about Shawn Xu. Shawn talked us through his journey to climate, what it takes to be a good VC, what they look for, the areas he's bullish on, and what he's working on now. I quite enjoyed this conversation (I say that a lot but I do mean it). Enjoy today's episode! Topics: 4:29 Intro to Shawn, his career journey, going to high school where Steve Jobs went and getting into VC11:37 Creating access and equity to the Silicon Valley mentality15:59 His climate journey24:38 The inside scoop on VCs - what skills do you need to developFinding 26:44Picking 27:54Winning 28:58Supporting 29:3131:54 Lowercarbon's Thesis34:29 The founders they look for36:49 Advice to Founders42:20 Areas he's bullish on44:42  His role at Lowercarbon Links: Connect with Shawn: The Lowercarbon Capital Website: Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners: Join the Slack Channel:  Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn: HMU on Twitter: @silasmahner__________We are proud to continue working with NextWave as our official show sponsor for this podcast. NextWave and all of its staff are highly motivated to advance the ClimateTech revolution and are constantly innovating ways that they can help affect that transition. From experts in the talent space to ESG experts, NextWave is taking on Climate and Social responsibility head-on and helping companies build great cultures that not only make the world a better place but also increase workplace satisfaction. Reach out to NextWave Partners today to learn more about how we might partner with you today. https://www.next-wavepartners.com/ / info@next-wavepartners.comSupport the show

TRIGGER WARNING: There's quite a bit of bad and/or sad news in this episode. We've done our best to remember the words of Robert Hunter, "...nothin' left to do but smile, smile, smile." Up this week:

Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon is doubling down on a startup that is racing to bring solar modules to rooftops in India.

Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon is doubling down on a startup that is racing to bring solar modules to rooftops in India.

Twenty Minute VC Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Check Out the 20VC Episode Page & Show NotesRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.org Chris Sacca is the Founder and Chairman @ Lowercase Capital, one of the best performing funds in the history of venture capital with a portfolio including Uber, Stripe, Twitter, Instagram, Twilio, Docker and many more. From interviewing some of the world's richest married couples, how did gaining wealth change their relationship and marriage? What does Chris do to actively ensure his children remain hungry and know the value of money? Chamath Palihapitiya is Founder & CEO @ Social Capital. Social's portfolio includes the likes of Slack, Yammer, Front, Intercom and Carta to name a few. What does Chamath mean when he says we need to think through the mindset of "infinite games" not finite games? How does this change how you think about money? How does Chamath think about his relationship to risk today as a result? Brad Gerstner is the Founder and CEO of Altimeter. Brad's notable deals that he has helped lead include Snowflake, Mongo, Bytedance, Gusto, Unity, Okta, dbt, Modern Treasury, EPIC Games, Hotel Tonight and Zillow. What is the most important thing parents can do to ensure that despite wealth, their children remain grounded and ambitious? Why does Brad, despite being a billionaire, still live in a modest house and not spend on the excesses of life? How does Brad embrace essentialism with wealth? Cyan Banister is one of the most successful and renowned early-stage investors in the last decade. Her portfolio includes the likes of SpaceX, Uber, Affirm, Opendoor Postmates, Niantic and Thumbtack to name a few. Why did Cyan used to hate money? Why was she "anti-capitalist"? How does Cyan approach risk management today? Why does she invest every dollar she makes back into the ecosystem? George Zachary is a General Partner @ CRV, one of the nation's oldest and most successful early-stage venture capital firms with a portfolio including the likes of Airtable, DoorDash, Dropbox, Niantic and many more. What did George learn about how the way people view you changes with your increasing wealth? Why does George believe rich people like to hang out with rich people? Biz Stone is best known as the Co-Founder of Twitter and Medium. Biz is also an investor in the likes of Slack, Square, Intercom, Beyond Meat and Blue Bottle Coffee. What does Biz mean when he says, "wealth only serves to amplify the person you are?"

Twenty Minute VC Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Check Out the 20VC Episode Page & Show NotesRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.org Chris Sacca is the Founder and Chairman @ Lowercase Capital, one of the best performing funds in the history of venture capital with a portfolio including Uber, Stripe, Twitter, Instagram, Twilio, Docker and many more. From interviewing some of the world's richest married couples, how did gaining wealth change their relationship and marriage? What does Chris do to actively ensure his children remain hungry and know the value of money? Chamath Palihapitiya is Founder & CEO @ Social Capital. Social's portfolio includes the likes of Slack, Yammer, Front, Intercom and Carta to name a few. What does Chamath mean when he says we need to think through the mindset of "infinite games" not finite games? How does this change how you think about money? How does Chamath think about his relationship to risk today as a result? Brad Gerstner is the Founder and CEO of Altimeter. Brad's notable deals that he has helped lead include Snowflake, Mongo, Bytedance, Gusto, Unity, Okta, dbt, Modern Treasury, EPIC Games, Hotel Tonight and Zillow. What is the most important thing parents can do to ensure that despite wealth, their children remain grounded and ambitious? Why does Brad, despite being a billionaire, still live in a modest house and not spend on the excesses of life? How does Brad embrace essentialism with wealth? Cyan Banister is one of the most successful and renowned early-stage investors in the last decade. Her portfolio includes the likes of SpaceX, Uber, Affirm, Opendoor Postmates, Niantic and Thumbtack to name a few. Why did Cyan used to hate money? Why was she "anti-capitalist"? How does Cyan approach risk management today? Why does she invest every dollar she makes back into the ecosystem? George Zachary is a General Partner @ CRV, one of the nation's oldest and most successful early-stage venture capital firms with a portfolio including the likes of Airtable, DoorDash, Dropbox, Niantic and many more. What did George learn about how the way people view you changes with your increasing wealth? Why does George believe rich people like to hang out with rich people? Biz Stone is best known as the Co-Founder of Twitter and Medium. Biz is also an investor in the likes of Slack, Square, Intercom, Beyond Meat and Blue Bottle Coffee. What does Biz mean when he says, "wealth only serves to amplify the person you are?"

Chris Sacca is the Founder and Chairman @ Lowercase Capital, one of the best performing funds in the history of venture capital with a portfolio including Uber, Stripe, Twitter, Instagram, Twilio, Docker and many more. From interviewing some of the world's richest married couples, how did gaining wealth change their relationship and marriage? What does Chris do to actively ensure his children remain hungry and know the value of money? Chamath Palihapitiya is Founder & CEO @ Social Capital. Social's portfolio includes the likes of Slack, Yammer, Front, Intercom and Carta to name a few. What does Chamath mean when he says we need to think through the mindset of "infinite games" not finite games? How does this change how you think about money? How does Chamath think about his relationship to risk today as a result? Brad Gerstner is the Founder and CEO of Altimeter. Brad's notable deals that he has helped lead include Snowflake, Mongo, Bytedance, Gusto, Unity, Okta, dbt, Modern Treasury, EPIC Games, Hotel Tonight and Zillow. What is the most important thing parents can do to ensure that despite wealth, their children remain grounded and ambitious? Why does Brad, despite being a billionaire, still live in a modest house and not spend on the excesses of life? How does Brad embrace essentialism with wealth? Cyan Banister is one of the most successful and renowned early-stage investors in the last decade. Her portfolio includes the likes of SpaceX, Uber, Affirm, Opendoor Postmates, Niantic and Thumbtack to name a few. Why did Cyan used to hate money? Why was she "anti-capitalist"? How does Cyan approach risk management today? Why does she invest every dollar she makes back into the ecosystem? George Zachary is a General Partner @ CRV, one of the nation's oldest and most successful early-stage venture capital firms with a portfolio including the likes of Airtable, DoorDash, Dropbox, Niantic and many more. What did George learn about how the way people view you changes with your increasing wealth? Why does George believe rich people like to hang out with rich people? Biz Stone is best known as the Co-Founder of Twitter and Medium. Biz is also an investor in the likes of Slack, Square, Intercom, Beyond Meat and Blue Bottle Coffee. What does Biz mean when he says, "wealth only serves to amplify the person you are?"

Mia Diawara is a partner at Lowercarbon Capital, where she invests in ambitious teams building needle-moving climate tech — always with her eye on equity and inclusion. Before Lowercarbon, Mia spearheaded decarbonization strategy across a portfolio of more than $90 billion in assets at TPG and advised companies across industries at Bain & Company. Previously, she assessed climate policy and market-based climate solutions at NRDC and RMI, respectively.Mia is also a poet and dancer who has performed professionally with the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Company. She chairs the Nominating & Governance Committee on the board of Robert Moses' Kin—a San Francisco-based dance company. Have a green jobs question for Yesh? Send it to her on Twitter @yeshsays. Use the hashtag #askyesh. Job hunting? Visit our comprehensive Green Jobs Hub for job listings, networking resources, skills and certification information and more.Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on green careers, upcoming episodes and more. Discover the solutions that are turning the tide on climate change. Subscribe to EDF's Climate Tech Brief. Each month, you'll hear diverse perspectives from business leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs working on climate tech solutions around the world. Subscribe today.  ResourcesThe Climate Draft, a member-supported coalition of climate tech startups and VCs on a mission to collectively bring more top talent, investment, and commercial opportunities into the spaceLowerCarbon Capital's extensive jobs boardClean Up on Aisle Earth — LowerCarbon Capital cofounder Chris Sacca's blog post on raising $350 million to invest in carbon removal. This is worth a read to learn about the ethos of this forward-thinking company. Twitter Space conversation about investing in climate techCarbon capture startups received a record $882 million in VC investments, Protocol, 9/16/2022An Inconvenient Truth – the trailerOn the fact that climate change disproportionately affects the global south: Temperatures in the Sahel region of West Africa will rise 1.5 times faster than the global average, according to this article by the Brookings Institution.TPG's Rise Climate fundNRDCRMIThe LowerCarbon Capital portfolio companies mentioned in this episode, and others, including: Carbon EngineeringLiving CarbonRunning TideZanskarCoda Pakistan floods: A health crisis of epic proportions, Al Jazeera, 9/13/2022Pakistan's Deadly Floods Pose Urgent Questions On Preparedess and Response, Center for Strategic & International StudiesJackson, Miss. residents struggle with basic needs as the water crisis disrupts life, NPR, 10/1/2022Giveaway To win a copy of Speed & Scale, rate and review Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser or  Spotify. Take a screenshot of your review and share it with us on Instagram @environmental_defense_fund. Use the hashtag #DegreesPodcast. We're giving away up to five books per episode!Who makes Degrees?Yesh Pavlik Slenk is Degrees' host. Amy Morse is our producer. Podcast Allies is our production company. Tressa Versteeg is senior producer; Rye Taylor is our audio engineer; Elaine Grant is CEO of Podcast Allies and Tina Bassir is project manager. Our music is Shame, Shame, Shame from Yesh's favorite band, Lake Street Dive. Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers is presented by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).  How to find YeshFollow Yesh on Twitter at @yeshsays, and stay up to date with us on Instagram @environmental_defense_fund. Share Degrees:TwitterFacebookLinkedInWebsite — Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers 

In this episode we will be speaking with Alex Laplaza, who is a Partner at Lower Carbon Capital, which is a leading Climate Tech venture capital firm that was founded by Chris Sacca. Alex brings wide-ranging expertise on scalable climate solutions across energy, agriculture, transportation, and industry. In this conversation, we talk about how the start-up investment process works and what technologies Alex is particularly excited for in the Climate space. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Alex Laplaza!

Alisha Fredriksson is the co-founder and CEO of Seabound, a company building carbon capture equipment for ships. They are the only way for existing ships to reduce up to 95% of carbon dioxide emissions and meet new global regulations. With ships emitting over 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas every year, companies like Alisha's have the potential to change the world, The team based in London was recently backed by Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon Capital. Connect with Seabound Website: https://www.seabound.co/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/seabound/ Connect with Homeroom Website: https://www.homeroompodcast.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/homeroomtalks/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/homeroomtalks

In Reid's first startup, he was told “No” by almost every VC he pitched. How do you get beyond that? How do you become relentlessly resourceful in your career? How can you master the art of the hustle without being perceived as a “hustler”?   On this episode of the Startup of You Podcast, Reid and Ben share lessons from Airbnb, Chris Sacca, and other companies and careers to show how to be stubbornly persistent, how to get creative when necessary, and how to cultivate serendipity.   Follow Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/ Follow Ben Casnocha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencasnocha/ Check out the Startup of You Website: https://www.startupofyou.com Please rate/review us on your favorite app – and be sure to follow or subscribe.   Thanks for listening. 

From political tech to frontier tech, Michael found you don't need a science background to make a big impact in climate tech.  Ep.#45 Michael Luciani, founder of Exponential Impact  - Tech4Climate Podcast by Startup basecamp PART 1: Meet the investor In today's episode, we are speaking with Michael Luciani, founding partner at Exponential Impact Rolling Fund.  Exponential Impact is a pre-seed and seed stage fund that backs frontier-tech founders developing technologies largely in the field of synthetic biology tech, deeptech or hardtech startups in order to provide radically effective solutions for  the Climate crisis .  I was excited to speak with Michael whose varied career path began with his domestic policy work in the White House to then join the Hilary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign. He then transitioned into the Tech sector when he founded Tuesday, a political-tech startup for advocacy organizations and nonprofits which has been backed by well-known Tech investors such as ​​Reid Hoffman or Chris Sacca, prior to being acquired in 2020. Despite not having a background in science, Michael found that he could still make a valuable contribution to the climate tech sector and founded Exponential Impact to support companies that have the potential to save the world (literally).  With Michael's interesting background, I was looking forward to getting his non-scientist  view on synthetic biology and its huge potential impact on the economy and the climate tech sector. During the show, Micheal gives an interesting overview of the synthetic bio landscape and who he sees are the major players, the regulatory challenges and opportunities, and the most exciting synbio tech applications that are currently cooking in the labs. He also shares more about his approach to climate tech funding, how he built Exponential impact, how he sources founders, what he offers them and how he measures their potential impact.  Part 2: My secret sauce: In the second part of the show, Michael gives his secret sauce for founders looking to pitch to investors and the criteria he uses to base his investment decisions along with a few examples of what works, what doesnt, and the red flags he notices when hearing pitches. Lastly, Michael gives us his main book recommendations for Entrepreneurs in Climate Tech. 

Twenty Minute VC Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Don't shield your kids from the world. Kids understand fairness and inequity; they will be better off having exposure to varying perspectives and experiences.Due to overexposure to monoculture and struggle-free lifestyle, “we have a surplus of assholes coming down the pike right now” – Chris SaccaParenting forces work/life balance and efficiency on youIt taught Ann Wojcicki how to delegate; she realized she didn't need to be a part of every meetingIn the words of Deena Shakir, kids give you “ruthless prioritization”Kids value presence over everything.Presence isn't physical, it's mental. Presence is your attention.“Once you have children, the art of being a good parent and the art of being a good leader are the same”– Ian SiegelPatience & Listening: You must be able to suppress your first reaction and think about the outcome you want to createYou can learn a lot about negotiation by becoming a parentDeena Shakir actually recommendsHow to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen by Joanna Faber and Julie King as a business book more so than a parenting bookMicromanagement is a poor strategy in both leadership and parenting. You want to model behaviors rather than enforce behaviors.Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org Chris Sacca is the Founder and Chairman @ Lowercase Capital, one of the best performing funds in the history of venture capital with a portfolio including Uber, Stripe, Twitter, Instagram, Twilio, Docker and many more. Why does Chris believe we have bred a generation of asshole kids? What is the right way to negotiate with children? How has that impacted how he manages his team? Anne Wojcicki is the Founder & CEO @ 23andMe, offering DNA testing with the most comprehensive ancestry breakdown, personalized health insights, and more. How did having kids change Anne's approach to time allocation and risk? Harley Finkelstein is the President of Shopify. Over the last 12 years, Harley has partnered with Tobi to the tune of building Shopify's revenue to over $4.6BN in 2021 and the team to over 10,000 employees.  Does Harley believe he has always been a good father? What changes has Harley made to be more present and there for his children? Why does Harley advise couples therapy as early in a relationship as possible? Deena Shakir is a Partner at Lux Capital, one of the leading firms investing in emerging science and technology ventures at the outermost edges of what is possible. What specific negotiation tactics from parenting can be applied to business? How can a parent show their children they listen, they understand and are there for them? Why does Deena believe children make you more productive and more efficient? Eric Liaw is a General Partner @ IVP, one of the leading later-stage venture capital and growth equity firms of the last decade with $8.7 billion of committed capital and a 40-year IRR of 43.1%. What have been the biggest challenges for Eric of managing family and work? What have been some of Eric's biggest lessons in terms of how he communicates about his work to his family? Scott Dietzen is Vice Chairman of the Board of Pure Storage and served as the Company's CEO from 2010 to 2017. Under his leadership, Pure grew to thousands of employees and completed an IPO in 2015. What can parents learn from nature programs? What core elements of parenting are directly transferrable to management?

Chris Sacca is the Founder and Chairman @ Lowercase Capital, one of the best performing funds in the history of venture capital with a portfolio including Uber, Stripe, Twitter, Instagram, Twilio, Docker and many more. Why does Chris believe we have bred a generation of asshole kids? What is the right way to negotiate with children? How has that impacted how he manages his team? Anne Wojcicki is the Founder & CEO @ 23andMe, offering DNA testing with the most comprehensive ancestry breakdown, personalized health insights, and more. How did having kids change Anne's approach to time allocation and risk? Harley Finkelstein is the President of Shopify. Over the last 12 years, Harley has partnered with Tobi to the tune of building Shopify's revenue to over $4.6BN in 2021 and the team to over 10,000 employees.  Does Harley believe he has always been a good father? What changes has Harley made to be more present and there for his children? Why does Harley advise couples therapy as early in a relationship as possible? Deena Shakir is a Partner at Lux Capital, one of the leading firms investing in emerging science and technology ventures at the outermost edges of what is possible. What specific negotiation tactics from parenting can be applied to business? How can a parent show their children they listen, they understand and are there for them? Why does Deena believe children make you more productive and more efficient? Eric Liaw is a General Partner @ IVP, one of the leading later-stage venture capital and growth equity firms of the last decade with $8.7 billion of committed capital and a 40-year IRR of 43.1%. What have been the biggest challenges for Eric of managing family and work? What have been some of Eric's biggest lessons in terms of how he communicates about his work to his family? Scott Dietzen is Vice Chairman of the Board of Pure Storage and served as the Company's CEO from 2010 to 2017. Under his leadership, Pure grew to thousands of employees and completed an IPO in 2015. What can parents learn from nature programs? What core elements of parenting are directly transferrable to management?

All-news show. First, we go over PitchBook's Q1 Venture Monitor report where VC fundraising is high, but portfolio exits are down (3:08). Then, we discuss how the incoming CNN CEO Chris Licht and Chris Sacca are both taking a Twitter break (33:35), and touch on Alex Jones' InfoWars filing for bankruptcy (44:33). Our startup of the day is new social app BeReal (53:55). (00:00) Jason and Molly intro today's news stories (03:08) PitchBook and the NVCA released Q1 2022 Venture Monitor, results are staggering (12:32) Notion - Get started for free at https://notion.com/thisweekinstartups (13:49) Q1 US VC funds raised combined $73.8B, more than half of 2021's total of $131.5B (23:13) Microsoft for Startups Hub - Apply in 5 minutes, no funding required, sign up at http://aka.ms/thisweekinstartups (24:30) Investing in supercycles (32:23) Wealthfront - Get your first $5,000 managed for free, for life at https://wealthfront.com/TWIST (33:35) Twitter breaks (44:33) Alex Jones' InfoWars filed for bankruptcy (53:55) Startup of the day: BeReal FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis FOLLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood

All-news show. First, we go over, PitchBook's Q1 Venture Monitor report where VC fundraising is high, but portfolio exits are down (3:08). Then, we discuss how the incoming CNN CEO Chris Licht and Chris Sacca are both taking a Twitter break (33:35), and touch on Alex Jones' InforWars filing for bankruptcy (44:33). Our startup of the day is new social app BeReal (53:55).

I feel like this interview was long overdue, as I've know Rob for a long time. I probably first met him at one of the tech events in Boston… maybe Web Innovators Group or something like that. It was during a resurgence of the tech industry in that region where a new crop of entrepreneurs were building companies and Rob's company, Backupify, was one of the hot companies in the Boston tech scene. Backupify raised funding from top investors like First Round Capital, Avalon Ventures, General Catalyst, Lowercase Capital and top angel investors like Dharmesh Shah, Chris Sacca, and Jason Calacanis. It was a big deal because he chose to build his company in Boston instead of Silicon Valley or NYC, which helped him make a splash coming from Kentucky. Since having a successful exit with Backupify, Rob has gone on to make a major impact to not only the Boston tech scene, but to the tech industry at large as both an entrepreneur and investor. His latest company is called Dianthus, the world's only AI-first eCommerce company which is acquiring small to medium sized brands and helping them grow faster with a common AI platform that includes not just new technologies, but new AI-centric workflows, processes, and ways of working. The company just announced $11.5M in seed funding led by PJC, Underscore, and Jason Calacanis. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The use of AI and the areas that Rob finds the most interesting in terms of use cases. * Rob's early professional career out of school and a look at how he got into blogging in the early days, including how it has helped him as an entrepreneur. * The story of Backupify, a backup cloud company that was started in 2008 for Salesforce and Google Apps and was acquired by Datto. * His experience as an investor - first as an angel, which includes some amazing advice on how to get started as an angel investor and then his experience as a Venture Partner at PJC. * A deep dive into the creation of his latest company, Dianthus and how they are leveraging AI as a competitive advantage. * Advice for hiring when building out your company. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Hey everyone, welcome to the MBIT Podcast in which we discuss tech and entrepreneurship. Today the 19-year-old startup founder Campbell Baron joins us to discuss his company Montra and how it makes it easier to create video courses. Formerly, Campbell was the host of "The Ones Who Succeed" podcast interviewing guests like Chris Sacca, the founders of Dollar Shave Club, and more. After his podcast, Campbell decided to educate the next generation on business news using TikTok. Then Campbell discusses his journey in the media space and how it lead him to start a company.Twitter of Host: @mbitpodcastTwitter of Guest: @campbelljbaronLearn More About Montra Here:https://montra.co/

Watch/listen to Stanford ETL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMJa231UfwY (19mins in)

Alongside his wife Crystal, Chris Sacca built Lowercase Capital into an extraordinarily successful VC firm, leveraging very early-stage investments in transformational technology companies like Twitter, Uber, Instagram, and Stripe. He retired in 2017, but came out of retirement to head up the science and investing team at Lowercarbon Capital, which is pursuing ambitious solutions to the climate crisis through innovation in energy, building materials, transportation, food, industrial chemicals, reforestation, and more. In this conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Ravi Belani, Sacca discusses how he found such success in early-stage investing, and explains why he thinks we're entering a golden age of tech-driven climate solutions.

Ron Schneidermann is the CEO of AllTrails, and has been building technology that helps people enjoy the outdoors for over 15 years. He's an accomplished entrepreneur and a hands-on leader who devours data and isn't afraid to veer from the standard startup playbook. Many of the folks listening know AllTrails as the outdoor app that helps you find the perfect activity for your preferences, and once you're there, you can take advantage all sorts of detailed maps to keep you on the trail, even when you're out of cell service. AllTrails has been around since 2010, and now hosts over 200,000 trail guides in 190 countries across all 7 continents, and has over 1M premium subscribers worldwide. This isn't Ron's first expedition as an outdoor technology leader. He co-founded Liftopia and built and ran the world's leading ski lift ticket booking tool for 8 years, backed by all-star investors like Marc Benioff, Chris Sacca, and First Round Capital. He also led Growth at Yelp before taking over the reins at AllTrails. In our talk, Ron shares his approach to covering the globe, lessons he's learned the hard way, and the questions he's still chewing on. Here's what we cover: Ron's experience taking AllTrails from 6 people to 100 people, and through a really tough transition period. Carving a non-conventional path as a startup. Going for profitability early, and deciding the early adopters were not the profile to build around. The inflection point that led to the focus on becoming a global company. The pros and the cons of using acquisitions to fuel growth. The pandemic experience - the explosion of hiking, helping people stay healthy, and growing the team during lockdown. How AllTrails approaches international expansion and coverage across all 7 continents. Translation vs. localization, and things that broke when going from one market to the next (even from the US to the UK). Machine translation - when to use it, when to avoid it. How to support one billion end users around the world, and the trade-offs between centralized vs. de-centralized teams. Ron's advice and hindsight for companies going global and maximizing momentum. Hindsight on acquisitions, and things NOT to do to avoid making users really angry and avoid bleeding eyes :). How best to structure your team to get the most out of each market, and to diagnose problems when markets aren't performing as hoped. The aspects of international expansion that are still up for debate at AllTrails, and most likely at many other growing companies.

* Bruce's Beach in Manhattan Beach, CA. The relatively unknown history of a black owned park (and the only beach with access for black people), the Ku Klux Klan, eminent domain and the return of the property to heirs nearly 100 years later. * Disproportionate pathways to college * Is college even necessary? * Suggested improvements to secondary school education. * Chris Sacca's path to success at Google. * The value of a smile. * How weird is Amit? * Is Dominic weirder? * The sad result of the Grand Jury's decision in the killing of Daniel Prude. * Because of Georgia's controversial voters' rights bill, Will Smith and Antoine Fuqua pull their project out of the state. #JusticeOverOrder #BeBetter #justice #bethechange #freedom #criminaljusticereform #awareness #civilrights #socialjustice #confederacy Explore the show's: * Website - www.theAIBshow.com * Instagram - www.instagram.com/theaibshow * Facebook - www.facebook.com/theaibshow * YouTube - www.youtube.com/channel/UCsLfGQJf8T7mBXzKCEfZsgQ

Sachit Gupta is THE best super-connector I know. He started with nothing almost 8 years back and has since worked with Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, and Andrew Warner. His show Conscious Creators reached #1 in entrepreneurship last year and he led the On Deck Podcasting Fellowship. I wanted to bring him on the show to learn his strategies of finding third doors to network with the biggest names in any industry. He shared how he started working with Andrew, told a beautiful story of writing a letter to Tim Ferriss and the exact email he's going to send to Chris Sacca. He's also hosted a ton of poker nights for these influencers and shared his tips on hosting your own poker nights or dinners to increase your network. I also asked him how one could do these on Zoom. And he told us what you should do to connect with someone like Tim or Andrew if they're speaking at a conference. In short, he shared a TON of secrets. Here are the show notes :) 05:08 - Cold emailing Mark Cuban, Chris Guillebeau, and Jonathan Fields 09:00 - How I'll email Chris Sacca and lessons from 1000s of cold emails 14:18 - Standing out in the crowd of 100s of people trying to get attention from your heroes 19:34 - What I learned from Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss, and Andrew warner 22:12 - One starts to build an audience when one gives up the need to build an audience 23:55 - Conversations that are casual and intimate are functions of production, not editing. 27:27 - A cold outreach strategy that will change your life 32:10 - How to connect with your heroes hosting poker nights/dinners 36:44 - Writing a letter Tim Ferriss and a hack to connect with speakers in conferences 43:55 - How to reach out to big publications for collaborations I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests as well as other stuff I find interesting in the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com) You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd) Sachit on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sachitgupta) Conscious Creators Show (http://www.creators.show/) --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/intellectual-software/message

In this episode of Supply Chain Now, Enrique Alvarez sits down with Brian York for an exciting interview as he shared his journey from finding his biological mother in Colombia to founding one of the most successful supply chain start ups in Latin America : Liftit (https://liftit.co/en/).  Brian is a serial entrepreneur, with a VC, accounting, and technology background as well as an early dream to become a professional football / soccer player for Barcelona's first team. He did audit and taxation in Los Angeles before becoming the CFO of a very famous fund (Lowercase capital) lead by a Shark Tank shark Chris Sacca. Working with Chris and his team allowed him to get a very intimate exposure to amazing start up companies like Uber and Instagram before they became unicorns.  Brian openly shares his experience, mistakes, and key ingredients for a successful start-up company as well as his vision for the future of Supply Chain, technology, and Latin America.   Upcoming Events & Resources Mentioned in this Episode: Subscribe to Supply Chain Now and ALL Supply Chain Now Programming Here: https://supplychainnowradio.com/subscribe Leave a review for Supply Chain Now: https://ratethispodcast.com/supplychainnow Connect with Enrique on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/enrique-alvarez-64332a2/ Connect with Brian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yupyork/ Supply Chain Now Ranked #3 Supply Chain YouTube Channel: https://tinyurl.com/yazfegov Download the Q3 2020 U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index: freight.usbank.com/?es=a229&a=20 Watch the Replay of The Connected IoT Supply Chain: https://supplychainnow.com/the-connected-iot-supply-chain Learn More about Liftit: https://liftit.co/en/ About Dark Stores: https://tinyurl.com/y68w669y Check Out News From Our Sponsors: U.S. Bank: www.usbpayment.com/transportation-solutions Capgemini: www.capgemini.com/us-en/ Vector Global Logistics: vectorgl.com/ Verusen: www.verusen.com/ This episode was hosted by Enrique Alvarez. For additional information, please visit our dedicated show page at: https://supplychainnow.com/episode-547.

In this episode, David Folwell, President of StaffingHub, and Caitlin Delohery, Editor-in-Chief, talk to Jake Wood. Jake Wood is the CEO of [Team Rubicon](https://teamrubiconusa.org/), a global nonprofit he co-founded in 2010. Team Rubicon serves communities by mobilizing veterans to continue their service, leveraging their skills and experience to help people prepare, respond, and recover from disasters and humanitarian crises. In this episode, we talk about Wood's forthcoming book, Once a Warrior: [*How One Veteran Found a New Mission Closer to Home*](https://bookshop.org/books/once-a-warrior-how-one-veteran-found-a-new-mission-closer-to-home/9780593189351), which has already received wide acclaim. Simon Sinek said it “will inspire you to want to be a better human being.” Chris Sacca, investor, self-made billionaire, and frequent co-host of Shark Tank, said "Ever notice that the best business books aren't business books? This is one of those books.” [To support the work Team Rubicon does, click here](https://teamrubiconusa.org/give/).

Today's guest set out to create a product to solve a problem in his bathroom sink, wound up with two utility patents, numerous copyrights and trademarks and went through lots of ups and downs along the way. This week we are having him on the podcast to recount the seller side of a two-part seller/buyer series on the build and sell process. It's always inspiring to hear stories of entrepreneurs who built something based on a need they uncovered. Nicholas Galekovic, the co-founder of Beard King had always been creative, going way back to the dawn of design in technology. He was active in the early days of the digital space, doing one-offs for brands and starting a small digital marketing agency. He had gotten used to seeing brands succeed and fail when he realized that it might be time to start building his own brand equity. Episode Highlights: Nicholas walks us through the process of jumping off the couch and creating the product. How the timing was a factor in the success of Beard King. The patent processes and how they played into the growth and eventual sale of Beard King. What Nicholas did that was outside of the box to make his product and brand different. How long it took him to pivot from US-based to overseas production. Why learning every day is part of the success equation. Nicholas's Shark Tank experience. Amazon's patent neutralization program and how it helps protect product builders. Nicholas shares his two must-dos for preparing the business for the exit. What his next adventure is and what he can now do with all that invaluable learning. Transcription: Mark: For those of you that are listening in your cars and not taking a look at the video that we have up on YouTube of this podcast. You can't see that Joe is actually supporting just the faintest hint of a beard. So Joe is this intentional or is it just the stress of Quiet Light getting to you. Joe: Oh my dear this is embarrassing compared to the guest on the podcast this week. His name is Nicholas Galekovic, there you go. I wasn't going to try saying that name. I know you aren't. But let's just call him the Beard King because that's his company's name or former company name. He developed a product to solve a problem, wound up with two utility patents, a couple of design patents, lots of copyrights, trademarks, and went through lots and lots of ups and downs as we talked about the podcast. He's essentially run up with his doctorate in product development, branding, marketing, things of that nature before he exited a couple of months ago. So this week we're going to have Nicholas on the podcast. He is the person who sold his business. So people get to hear about the process and what it takes. And then the following week we're going to have Raj the person who bought his business. So we're going to do a two-part series on who sold their business and who bought that business so people are going to see it on back to back. Mark: That's fantastic I love this series when we can do the buyer and the seller. Even if we can get just one of the parties on it's always super useful. I know I talked to somebody recently about the podcast and they told me that these are some of their favorite episodes. So we are going to try and get some more sellers on. I know I have a seller coming on here soon in the coming weeks of somebody who is going to tell their story as well. I'm excited about this because I love these products that come out of this practicality of I've experienced this, I had a problem, I solved it, I turned it into a business and not only just a little business but something pretty significant. Joe: Yeah, he's been on the Shark Tank, got an offer, got a deal, ended up turning it down rightfully so; intelligently so. He talks about utility patents, the Amazon program, and grants to patents, and talks about some of the great things he did right in terms of social media and video. He actually had Snoop Dogg who was tweeting about his product and brand which is pretty cool. And then he talks about some of the mistakes he made. You know things that if he looks back he does want to live, gone, I wish, I should have, I could have, I would have. But he points out directly what he thinks he did wrong and what he could do differently and just dropping some advice for folks that are following in his footsteps. Mark: That's fantastic. Let's go and listen to him. Joe: Hey, folks Joe Valley here from Quiet Light Brokerage and today I've got somebody that just sold their business. Well, I shouldn't say just because it was in late spring of this year which is 2019. It's August 29th, 2019, my wife and I's 21st wedding anniversary. Thank you very much. Nicholas: Congrats. Joe: Thank you, Nick or Nicholas. Folks we have Nicholas Galekovic on the line and I had to ask him how to pronounce his name. I've known him for almost a year now and I've always screwed it up so I wanted to get it right. Nicholas, how are you? Nicholas: Good, Joe. How are you doing man? Thank you so much and don't worry my whole life I've heard the mispronunciation of my last name. So I'm quite used to that. I bring that into the branding side but I'm definitely excited to be here. Thanks for having me today so I can share my experience with you guys. Joe: We were going tell it you folks he's down in Florida and there's a hurricane coming in and pardon the lightning and whatnot but instead, he had a light just fall but we're not going to cut that out because you still are great. You sound great and it's life in the podcast where we're not professional; well I guess we, I don't know. Nicholas: Yeah we are. Joe: I don't know if we're professional podcasters. Anyway, I was going to say that is one fine looking beard. You should be in the beard business. Nicholas: Absolutely and I think by accident, by default I became in that business. Joe: You did, didn't you? So why don't we tell the folks because you and I have that little inside joke there; why don't we tell them who you are and your background? I'm going to let you do it. Tell them a little bit of background about yourself. Nicholas: Sure, absolutely. So you know I've always been in kind of the creative field and I really started to hone in on my expertise about eight years ago and I was doing more graphic design for other clients and really started to hone in what technology I like to use. So obviously Photoshop being the main one, Adobe Illustrator, I really got used to the Adobe Creative Suite. So I would just charge clients to do a flyer or one-off. I mean back then the digital space wasn't as big. I mean it has always been big but this is back in like the MySpace thing. So I even started off designing MySpace pages before I created havoc. Joe: You're aging yourself right now. Nicholas: I mean you know but I'm going way back. So then I'll just fast forward a little bit here and I started to hone in on my skill set of design. So then from there at a company called Kovick and Kovick was what I call a brand tailor. We really focus on helping companies with their brand identity, their strategy, website design, logo design, you name it. So I had a small marketing agency where I really started to I would say have success in business in that regard. But I always had a designer mentality we'll call it which later on down the story you'll see how that soon fulfilled me. And then I started to see a lot of these companies fail as far as whether they're small big or whatever and I would put my heart and soul into these companies I was designing. But then I realized I'm building all this brand equity but for other people in a sense. I'm still an entrepreneur but I'm doing it for the sake of their brands; which is fine. So then Beard King came about when I was just simply solving a problem that I had on the day to day basis which was trimming my facial hair. You mentioned the glorious beard hair. So it wasn't always this long and glorious but usually when it's a beard like let's say you're a size or small-sized beard you make some mess all over this thing. Basically, I just came out with this product called a beard bib and we'll dive may be more into the story in detail here but that's kind of how Beard King came about for four and a half years ago. And then I met you Joe last here. And then here we are right now. Joe: You and I and I think Brad. Right? Nicholas: Yes. Joe: We had lunch or breakfast may be down in Miami before the Blue Ribbon Mastermind; shout out to the Blue Ribbon Mastermind members. Nicholas: Shout out to Ezra; yes. Joe: A heck of a group of entrepreneurs there for sure. Nicholas: Absolutely. Joe: So we've been through the process of doing the valuation of getting your business ready for sale of getting it under contract and going through and selling it. We're actually later in the month going to have Raj on the podcast as well. Raj is the gentleman that bought the Beard King. So we're going to go full circle with the buyer and seller and hear Raj's story about how it's been going since he purchased it. And you and Raj have got along great. You're good friends now. You might be doing some business together in the future outside of the Beard King which is always great to hear. Well let's talk about the process because you have something or had something; Raj has it now that was relatively unique. Nicholas: Yeah. Joe: 100 plus businesses in the last seven years and less than a handful have had a utility patent on them. Let's hear a bit of that story you were making a mess in the bathroom sink and created something called the beard bib. How did you develop the product? Did you create one? A prototype from an apron at home or what did you do? What was the first epiphany [inaudible 00:08:25.0] and where do you go from there? Nicholas: Of course, so I mean I used to use a T-shirt. So you could picture you're at home, you're about to trim, it's either A. use the sink. Let that be the catcher. Get the hair all over. Try to clean it up. We all know that's super tedious. And being in 20 19 and then when I invented it that's four or five years ago so still though we're in this age where there's always a solution, right? There's always a product that's been invented. Everything's been invented and now you're just creating a better mousetrap. But in this case, I usually just use my T-shirt but then I wouldn't get like the little hairs all inside the T-shirt. And I'm like there has to be something like; I don't even know if Amazon was huge back then as far as how big it is now. But I think I just did some basic Google searching, Amazon searching, and I didn't really find anything. So I'm like you know what I'm just going to draw something together for myself. And I remember being home one night, I had a few glasses of wine, just chilling and I'm like you know what let me get up and start grabbing whatever household materials I could find. So I grabbed; it wasn't necessarily like an apron but it was almost like one of those hair cutting capes. I didn't know how to sew so I just; what's a man going to do? We're going to use staples. So I was literally finding whatever I can. And it was hideous but it actually kind of worked. So if you can imagine a product like a bib attaches around your neck and suction cups to the mirror as simple as that. Some of the simplest solutions are ingenious. And in fact, as the story goes along a lot of our customers are like I wish I would have thought of that like one of those things. And actually part of the story is funny because I remember thinking to myself well there's nothing out there I'm just going to use this for myself. I know how to brand a business but I don't know how to operate and scale a business. So I kind of let it sit for almost six months. And I remember coming across the Norelco or Panasonic clippers that tried to solve the same issue but with like a vacuum seal. What I found was; what my goal was the death of this idea. Let me just go and buy this product. And I actually tested it out but it didn't really work. It may be caught 20% of the hairs. But not only that sometimes people try to solve simple problems with these extravagant solutions which is unnecessary. So after that, I'm like you know what let me try this again. So I actually ended up manufacturing. I live in Miami so there are tons of manufacturers around here but of course with that comes greater costs. So I just tried a few. And long and behold I'm realizing in my mind, okay I have a company or I have a product called a beard bib but that's very limiting and so the branding mind starts to kick in. So I started thinking bigger scale. And I tripped up on during my naming process. Since I have all these processes and I saw ease of how to create brands it was easy for me to kind of just bootstrap that portion of it which sometimes a lot of people pay a lot of money for that. And I came up with Beard King thinking bigger picture; beard oils, brushes, washes, all these things. So I kind of accidentally got into the beard market. I did just wake up one day and said I'm going to get into the beard niche. And it just so happens that it also started to trend big time many years ago. But the trend was going up and I think that was from some other companies kind of breaking through. And yeah that's kind of the initial process of how I came up with the invention, prototyped it, tested it before even scaling it. Joe: You got off the couch and you actually did it. People have great ideas all the time but don't act on it don't know what to do with it. I'm going to just put this out there and then maybe we'll edit it out but seriously this is like an alcohol-infused invention. You sit and grab whatever you could in the house and started stapling things together and as you said it was hideous but it worked. And after several prototypes and a lot of money you wound up with was it; remind me, was it two utility patents and two design patents? Nicholas: Yes. So we can talk about the intellectual property side of things and again mind you as an entrepreneur you have to be willing to learn. So I didn't know anything about intellectual property maybe besides a little bit of trademarking but the pat world is completely different. So, of course, I did the initial patent process. The name of not a utility, not design but what's the one right before that? Joe: I don't know if there is one before that I thought it was designing utility. Somebody is going to have to call us and help us out. Nicholas: Right. Well, basically it just gets your spot in line for a year. So it allows you… Joe: Provisional patent. Nicholas: There you go. Thank you, Joe. You see your lawyer; I know, but essentially the provisional patent is your spot in line so you can kind of tweak and work on it but you can't go so far outside the scope. I mean it was five years ago that I did it so I forgot the name of it. And they're also not strong; they're really just your place in line. But if you have something that you really know you'd go straight for the utility patent. And what I found was I mean it took almost three years to finally get the patents that were issued. So you have to remember during this process; yes it's great for exit, it was amazing and we'll talk about that of how it all kind of played into the whole Amazon patent neutralization program. But going back in time the product went viral. And of course there's going to be knock offs and whether you have a provisional patent, a patent pending in this cut-throat industry, in this fast-paced e-commerce business, people don't care. They're going to still sell it. So this is kind of gets into the pat IP side of where when you do have a viral product that never existed before we basically created a new market; this beard bib market that never existed before. So it was flattering on one hand but obviously very aggravating on the other. We're losing money left and right with the knockoffs. Joe: Yeah. And that was for a period of time that was just too darn long. Looking back do you think that you could have done anything differently with the provisional patent and patent pending? There's just simply no real protection there. Nicholas: Yeah I mean the only thing I could say that you could do different which I never really like to say I'd like to do all that over again it's more like what did I learn from this. Joe: Yeah exactly. Nicholas: Would be perhaps accelerating the patent process. I think we chose the route because of cost. Usually, that's always when you have a company you don't have the cash to infuse into intellectual property. So I think we did the slower one, not the accelerated patent. Also as you're waiting for the provisional patent it gives you kind of time to pick and choose what elements that you want to claim or drop. Also, it's extremely hard to get a patent because some of these patent examiners they're tough. I mean it's not like they know you personally but it's like every little thing and then prior arts. So that's where you get into the field of you might think you invented something new but when they start stacking you against prior art; for example bibs in general, that was one of the prior art cited against our patent. It's just so difficult. So we have to kind of adjust to what parts of the application we want to claim. Joe: I was curious about that because anybody that I know that's filed a patent has said that they're going to say no and then you've got to pivot and go back at them with this other unique feature to your patent. How many times did you have to go back to that examiner until they eventually said granted; you're right, here's your patent? Nicholas: I mean looking through the docket history; by the way I mean first of all get a great lawyer. I'm not a lawyer so if you try to do things yourself you don't really know the ins and outs but I believe we went through at least three rounds per se and we still by the time we were getting ready to sell the business we'll have to talk about that with Raj when you interview him but there was a design patent still pending. So it took about like I said three or four iterations for the first utility and then just the next utility fell right after that a month later. So I think we got the first one in September and the next one in November and then you know. Joe: It was falling quickly. You were getting them quickly as you were preparing the business to sell. Nicholas: Correct. Joe: But from beginning to end from the time you decided to file for the patent until you got that last one in November of 2018 how many months or years was that process for you? Nicholas: It was almost about like I said three and a half years because again provisional patent was in the first year but that kind of only hold your spot in place. And then when you file for utility that time clock starts all over again. So that was one of the takeaways I was saying that I might have changed is just either going straight to utility and or accelerating. That's how you can probably get it faster. But in hindsight also being able to enforce your patent you're going to need cash to also enforce. It's one thing to have a patent. That's great. That's amazing. You know I actually literally; you could see on the back my wall right here that's a little patent but it doesn't mean anything if it was sitting on a wall. You've got to have cash to enforce. So that was the second part of this strategy was being able to have cash to take down these people. And we can probably segway into the topic of Amazon's pattern neutralization program. Joe: Yeah, I do want to talk about that. You know what I'd like to hear first because though? [inaudible 00:17:44.5] your story and the success that you found at the very end and actually helped Raj your buyer and propelled the business. I mean it was taking off by the time he bought it which is just great timing for him. But you had some great successes along the way with the Beard King and the bib. Can you just highlight a couple of those points? What did you do that was a bit outside the box that your standard e-commerce entrepreneur or Amazon FBA entrepreneur may not have done? Nicholas: Yeah. I think the first thing would be the branding and the marketing. You know with the named Beard King I started to brainstorm on okay how can we treat our customers different? I think even when we first met I would say King Joe or Lord Joe or Queen Sarah or whatever. Joe: [inaudible 00:18:31.7] is what your email add. Nicholas: At a royal day was the signature. So I really thought to every touchpoint, every detail; whether it's a phone call, email, flyer, or whatever it might be; packaging, everything was based around royal theme. And that's important to stand out nowadays especially with Amazon businesses just kind of being one out products and you kind of forget about the brand you just want function but to have that little extra piece; the second piece of that would be the video content. So I did a lot of the storyboarding, scripting, and writing of these pieces. I think the first one we hired one of my buddies to shoot it. And that first video ended up being picked up by a huge Facebook account like 9Gag or Unilab. And then once those big Facebook accounts picked it up it just goes viral. So I think within the first six to eight months of business that first video we did went viral. If anything I was a little self-conscious about it because people were making fun of it. But good or bad PR doesn't matter; it's great. Joe: I think if I recall in the package we put together we shared some of those links and am I remembering it right that Snoop Dogg tweeted out; as it Snoop Dogg or somebody else? Nicholas: Oh yeah. I think the meme was; so that was the meme portion of it but I think it went along the lines like you know a pissed off woman invented this. Joe: Yes, that's what it is. Nicholas: And so basically Snoop Dogg, Usher, even besides those accounts the big accounts; Facebook was huge on video and you can go viral a lot easier than you can today. I mean I think we're in the 40, 50 million views collectively across social media platforms which of course infused fire into the sales and this was right before picture going Shark Tank. So I imagine we had okay sales and then one month I think we had $80,000 in sales. I'm like how am I going to fulfill these orders? Joe: Yeah. Nicholas: That's a good problem to have but… Joe: So moving along with a story there and you just mentioned Shark Tank but we'll get to that in a minute as well. You were manufacturing in the United States which was more expensive. How long did it take you to pivot and move your manufacturing overseas? Nicholas: I think… Joe: I think you did right? Nicholas: Yeah, we did. I mean I think another pain point of any business or entrepreneur is when you're kind of forced to grow. Some people just want to grow but then you grow too fast and you can't handle it. But for me these types of pivots; when you're almost forced to do something it's kind of like working out and you've got to go to that next level of weight to kind of grow. So for me, yes we were manufacturing in Miami for an insane amount of cost per unit. And I did that also on purpose which I suggest people do because you don't want to invest too much with too many units and then they don't sell. So I was willing to see proof of concept. That was my first thing. Joe: Especially for you, because you invented the niche, a lot of folks are finding a niche that's already selling well and they're just doing that branding of their own product. They know there's; they need to get eyeballs. They know the units are going to sell if I can get eyeballs. You know it only had to get eyeballs but you had to educate the people what the product was. Nicholas: Right. Joe: So the video was fantastic. That's a very visual product. Nicholas: Absolutely. Joe: So at one point you did pivot and you moved manufacturing overseas. Did you figure that out yourself? Did you hire a company? Nicholas: Yeah. You know actually that guy originally; so I'm kind of like Bob the Builder, right? I'll piece everything together and when we were manufacturing Miami I was sourcing the materials from China. You just buy; my natural gut feeling like let me source material there, ship it here, and then make it here. So the problem with that obviously is the fact that it's super expensive to be shipping a bunch of material. So the same guy that I ended up ordering a lot of the material from we established a nice rapport and relationship he ended up kind of telling me on the side hey look I'm going to go up my own manufacture let me know if you need anything. So essentially not only did I create a niche but for this individual, he ended up starting his own manufacturing facility almost really based off of our product. And we were like his number one customer. So we had a long relationship. He was basically the only guy I used for the entire time and I think to this day the new owner is actually still using him. Joe: [inaudible 00:22:53.9] loyal; that's the story. Good relationships like that are great. I'm going to throw out there to some of the folks listening there are companies out there that can help with the manufacturing overseas. I just did a podcast with Zach Leonard from Gembah and he's explaining what they do and it's the exact type of company that you probably needed at the time. It would've made your life a lot easier. They do all the importing and shipping, the [inaudible 00:23:22.1] industrial designers on the team. I know their company; I think in Gembah is Austin, Enventys is down in Charlotte. They've been around since 2002. They actually did some of the industrial design work for the Miracle Mop and other products like that; a really, really impressive company there as well. They actually; really interesting for proof of concept like your new invention, new category that you created, they will actually do all the industrial design work, do 3D printing, do a video of the product, and then put it up on Kickstarter there's interest. And then if it's a success they'll take the orders but then they'll go manufacturing. So brilliant idea. It's; I don't know, I wish everybody listening that's an entrepreneur now knew about these different companies. Nicholas: Of course, it would make it; I mean that's why I said in the beginning of the podcast you got to be willing to learn something new every day because I didn't have experience in sourcing or manufacturing but I learned. Joe: Yeah. Nicholas: So it's great to have those companies but with that also will come costs. So you do have to have a little money. I'm sure it's not free. Joe: Yeah, they probably don't work for free that's for sure. Nicholas: No, they probably don't. Joe: Let's talk about Shark Tank. You brought it up; you were on Shark Tank. How did you go through the process? What was it like? Was it the biggest joy in your life or very very difficult? Nicholas: I mean it's obviously very stressful in the sense that they leave it open-ended. Like literally; and I think when I heard one of the other guests on the show talk about how they never really guaranteed anything and that's super true. Actually, the whole process took a year. So from the year that you audition until; and it could be different in any case, but the year you audition or the beginning of it then you go through several funnels of interviews, face to face Skype calls or Xoom calls like this and then eventually you fly out to LA and you pitch in front of the producers and it's still not guaranteed. And then they'll call next. And if not you fly back. And then if they choose you, you stay another day or two and then you just wait for your spot to be filmed and then you're still not guaranteed to be airing. Now the airing of the show is kind of like the pivot for the company. And not only that if you do film and you get a deal that's huge because it adds a lot of value to that shark to then want to close the deal with you. So by the time that we auditioned, filmed, and then I think there was like a six-month gap in between due diligence and finally getting that air date which they only give it to you like a week or two in advance. So imagine that, it's like you're always on your toes like are we going to get it, are we're going to air, are we not; but they just say do your business as if Shark Tank doesn't exist. Joe: That's hard to manage your inventory level if you're going to get that extra 10,000 orders next week. Nicholas: Of course and you can imagine I like to call the Shark Tank effect this kind of trickle effect because let's say you do air. The amazing thing about it is as we all know nobody really watches TV live anymore, or at least I don't. So you get that initial spike from viewers that are viewing it live. Of course, you can advertise that; promote it, but then you're on Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, you're on all these things that you're kind of in the Shark Tank alumni books forever. So you still get spikes. I mean in fact we still re-air all the time; airports, I think it goes from ABC to CNBC. So that content is syndicated across all the platforms and it's great. So just to be on air alone the exposure is worth millions of dollars advertising. So it was a great experience. I definitely will go for it again if I can. And it was great. It was an amazing experience. Joe: I bet they would love to have you back with a second invention someday. That would be really; a good story for them too I could just see it really, really working. So we're going to fast forward a little bit. I just want to say one thing about Shark Tank I had another guest on that said that after you pitch a lot of entrepreneurs come pitch the same day they take them and they put them all in separate hotel. You have to go for an hour of council and then you go to separate hotels. Do you have to do the same thing? Nicholas: Yeah, that was absolutely true and I think I know the conversation that you were having with [inaudible 00:27:51.9]. Joe: So you had to go through an hour of counseling as well just to make… Nicholas: I was like alright can we go now? I'm good. But yeah it just depends. I mean it's very stressful you need to almost debrief because I mean I remember the call time was like let's say 6:00 a.m. but we didn't film until almost 12:00. And I was starving I'm like I literally pulled the producer and I'm like I got to eat I'm about to pass out. I imagine it's like the biggest pitch in your life. And that's another crazy thing to think about to kind of show anybody that's scared to pitch, public speak, to do anything like that. That was the first time I've ever even pitched a business. So it's like I never pitched a business in front of Joe or Bob or anybody. And then here I am in front of Mark Cuban, Lori Grenier, Chris Sacca, like all these major names that I'm like just doing my thing. And that's another cool tidbit of the show that I could probably add that you feel like you might be nervous and all that but not really because it's like having a conversation. They're intimidating, you're in there for like an hour, and then they condense it down to eight minutes. So it seems intense but it's TV guys. So just keep that in mind. Joe: Lots of editing. So the success on Shark Tank led to lots of knock offs. But you were working on the patent the entire time. And eventually, you were offered two utility patents, design patents, things of that nature. What did you do? We talked about this just as they started coming out and you mentioned the patent, the Amazon patent neutralization program, for those that are not familiar with it could you talk about that a little bit? Nicholas: Yes sure. You know this is Amazon's way of showing you know what guys we got to do something about this we know it's an issue and Amazon is such a huge platform. And I think that's why everyday people are kind of like well I want to do this too. And so sometimes dealing with some of these knock offs directly and strategically you realize they're just everyday people that didn't even know they were knocking you off. And then, of course, you have people that know that they're knocking you off and then they try to be slick and go around you whatever it might be. But the Amazon patent neutralization program is great for patent holders, inventors and it says look if you're selling this product you have a utility patent we're not going to be a lawyer but they hire a third-party law firm that instead of going through litigation which we could even touch on that quickly as I went through a litigation with a knock off that tried to sue me and here I am blowing cash which of course affects the bottom line; cash that I'll never see again. But circling back the program actually is instead of going through a long drawn out expensive process of patent litigation it brings in a third party and it says seller if you have a patent give us a list; I think it's 50 Asense at a time, we're going to reach out to all them. They have two weeks to respond. If they don't respond well then guess what? Automatically you get removed; the sellers that are knocking off. So it's kind of like they just said alright we bow out without saying anything. And then what we found was a small percentage of people opt-in. The opt-in process costs I think $4,000. I don't know if it's changed as of today. I mean it's only been a couple of months. So you opt-in with 4k, the other seller has now another two weeks to put in 4k and then you go through the process. I don't know what happens after that because I at this point in the business ended up selling it. And of course, this gave great hope for the new buyer because he's like wow we just got rid of 50 plus Asense, only two people opted in. I think this is great. So it just allows the inventor; because there's really nothing you could do for patents right now before that. You could do trademark claims and copyright claims but that portion of it what we found building our SOP's is that it's really outsourced. So it's crazy you could do the same trademark claim eight times and it doesn't get caught by the first seven agents so the eighth agent might pick it up and remove it but it's a game of Whack a Mole and man is it frustrating. Joe: Yeah. We'll talk to Raj about it. Nicholas: Absolutely. Joe: About the neutralization program and what it looks like competition-wise on Amazon now that they've got that program in there. Let's talk a little bit about preparing your business for sale and you've gone through this, you've got the benefit of hindsight. You did a lot of things right. Clearly, these folks have heard about Snoop Dogg tweeting about your product line, being on Shark Tank, and you got an offer but you ended up turning it down eventually. Just for clarification purposes that is the deal, right? You got the offer but you ended up not going with it. Nicholas: Yeah on Shark Tank we ended up doing a deal with Laurie. That's a funny piece; definitely watch as far as the way I close that deal. She was about to be [inaudible 00:32:38.0] I'm like why don't you make me an offer and she's like wait, what? Okay. So we got the offer but it was a rich 40% for 100k. Thank God I didn't take that deal. Looking back now I'm going to exit, imagine if I only owned 60% percent of the company. Joe: Yeah. So you did get an offer but you eventually turned it down because your business was exploding and growing. Nicholas: Financially it made zero sense but I wouldn't change it for anything. Joe: So then you're preparing the business for sale. We had a chance to meet again down in Miami at the Blue Ribbon Mastermind. So you've got that benefit of hindsight. To the audience that's listening now, that is running a business and may eventually exit or they never thought they could exit. What advice do you have for them in terms of the one or two things that they must do to prepare the business for sale and get them out? Nicholas: Well, first things first. I think having the benefit of hindsight is start a business to exit, right? Have an intent to exit because I don't think most people think about that. Even when I started Beard King I didn't think oh I wonder how this is going to end. I just thought it's going to always go up. And that's fine if you want to leave on a legacy or pass it to your kids or whatever it might be. But regardless I think you should always have an exit plan in the back of your mind and start there and then reverse engineer the business to always have a target to move towards. The second part of what I would suggest and probably would have changed for myself the beginning setting yourself up is the books. When you and I met back in January of 2019 you're like Nick look you got to get your books together. I mean obviously, if you're trying to sell an asset people need to see the numbers and the SDE based off of your last twelve trailing months isn't so strong. But you know what Joe I like how you said wait a little bit. Wait six months or and go get the valuation in the multiple that you want. So I think having your books in place, having the SOPs ready to be literally turn key is really the benefit to getting ready to exit your business. But if you do that from the get-go and you reconcile that every month it's much easier to do so literally in our case sell a business in two weeks. Joe: Yeah. The most difficult thing as a business adviser like myself, broker advisor is when someone comes to us and wants a certain value for their business and they ask is it worth this. And I can't tell because they don't have good clean financials. And by good clean financials, I don't mean that you don't run your personal stuff through the business. Most entrepreneurs do that. In fact a couple of things; I want to give a shout out first to Tyler Jefcoat at Seller Accuntant. So Tyler was great in this relationship; introduced us, good guy, you never hired him but he just gave you some advice and or did you hire him? I don't think you actually hired him to do the books, right? Nicholas: We ended up hiring him to do an audit sweep. Joe: There you go. Okay, so Tyler shout out to Tyler Jefcoat at Seller Accountant. The other thing is that there are generally four pillars; it's that risk, growth, transferability, and documentation. So if you do number one what Nick said was go into this with a plan to exit. Figure out what that exit process is like; figure out what the valuation process is like. Do you know audience what the definition of seller's discretionary earnings is? If you don't go to one of last three or four podcasts; Mark and I did an entire episode on what's a legitimate add back and it goes through that entire process. One of the benefits that you have now is that you've been there and you've done that. You've got that patent back there on your wall. You've sold a business. You've got the branding experience. You've got the manufacturing experience, the importing experience, the marketing experience; you've got it all. Now you just have to find that next great product and do it all again. And I see this every time; the first one you take some money off the table and the next one it's five to ten times bigger. And I'm hoping that's going to be the case for you. What is your next adventure? Do you have it sort of turning around back in your head or you're doing it or are you just taking some well-deserved time off from it? Nicholas: I'm sure like most entrepreneurs you could retire on a beach and then figure out what am I going to do with all this sand, right? You get bored. Joe: Yeah. Nicholas: You know taking a couple of weeks off to just reflect; your personal development I think is key to just kind of figure out your next move. And I think for me it's reflecting and learning from the mistakes and then creating an even stronger foundation even if it's from a corporate level, operational level, legal level; all these things that I learned on the fly. If you can set them up in the beginning with the intent to exit you're going to have a better shot at what you said; a higher multiple. I mean look selling Beard King was amazing but I think for me besides the liquid side of the asset I basically just purchased an MBA. I got a legal degree. Joe: At best you got your doctorate man; you learned so, so much. Nicholas: So much and I think it's that key takeaway of learning all those things hands-on versus just your standard education or self-taught on YouTube; it's invaluable. It's absolutely invaluable. Joe: I'm calling you Doc Galekovic from now on. Nicholas: I like it. Joe: [inaudible 00:37:54.2] because that's what you did for your own business. That's great. Nicholas: Absolutely. Joe: So listen we're running out of time, how do people find you if they want to reach out and talk to you about your story; maybe you can help them with their business or whatever the case is. It's always good to connect. How does somebody find you and reach out? Nicholas: Yeah, for sure. Definitely. You can reach out on Instagram. My handle is just my name so it's Nicholas Galekovic. I know that spelling is going to be tough but G-A-L-E-K-O-V-I-C, or you could shoot me an email directly. It's actually galekovic.nicholas@gmail.com. Joe: And we will put that in the show notes as well. Perfect. This has been fantastic. You're a good man. I appreciate you choosing Quiet Light Brokerage. It's been a pleasure working with you. I look forward to hearing about and helping you with your next adventure. Be sure to stay in touch [inaudible 00:38:43.1]. Links and Resources: Nicholas' Company Nicholas' Instagram Email Nicholas

15-year-old entrepreneur Campbell Baron continues his conversation with former venture capitalist and Shark, Chris Sacca. Get 2 Months of Skillshare For Free (Paid Promotion) ⇨ https://www.skillshare.com/succeed Youtube ⇨ http://tinyurl.com/y8nl7sjn Podcast ⇨ https://anchor.fm/the-ones-who-succeed/ See you next Tuesday!

Chris Sacca was an early investor in companies like Instagram, Twitter, Uber and Stripe and was a Shark on ABC's hit reality TV show Shark Tank. Then he quit being VC at the top of his game. 15-year-old entrepreneur Campbell Baron talks to Chris over a two episode miniseries, about his career as a venture capitalist and why he decided to leave it all behind. Get 2 Months of Skillshare For Free (Paid Promotion) ⇨ https://www.skillshare.com/succeed Youtube ⇨ http://tinyurl.com/y8nl7sjn Podcast ⇨ https://anchor.fm/the-ones-who-succeed/ See you next Tuesday!

Ron Schneidermann is the COO and CMO of AllTrails, a platform for off-road recreation. He co-founded and was CMO of Liftopia, and also served as the head of growth for Yelp Reservations. Ron joined Lauren and Ian in studio to talk about his background in marketing, why he serves as both COO and CMO, and what it was like to raise money from Chris Sacca. Marketing Trends is brought to you by our friends at Salesforce Pardot, B2B marketing automation on the world's #1 CRM. Are you ready to take your B2B marketing to new heights? With Pardot, marketers can find and nurture leads, close more deals, and maximize ROI. Learn more by heading to www.pardot.com/podcast. To learn more or subscribe to our weekly newsletter, visit MarketingTrends.com.

Every Wednesday, 17-year-old host Campbell Baron has conversations with world class entrepreneurs, investors, creators, and innovators. Previous guests include Mark Cuban, Chris Sacca, Scott Galloway and the founders of Gimlet Media, SoulCycle, Dollar Shave Club, StubHub, Headspace, Axios, Hootsuite, and Birchbox to name a few. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!