Podcast appearances and mentions of max nussenbaum

Episode Notes In this episode, we discuss Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" with special guest Max Nussenbaum of the On Deck Writer Fellowship. The On Deck Writer Fellowship is an eight-week remote program for internet writers who want to improve their writing and grow an audience. The On Deck Writer Fellowship will be hosting "Drafted," a day-long writing & learning event on March 22, 2021 at 11 am EST. Hear from amazing speakers, meet other incredible writers, and learn how writing can accelerate your career online. Register for free. On Deck is currently offering special early-bird pricing of $1,990 for our third cohort, which kicks off April 17. Apply here. If you liked this episode, please leave us a review! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out to us on our website. Or, if you would like to read and listen to more of our work, go to www.athwart.org. Image by Jeremy Yap via Unsplash. Music courtesy of yn00001 via Musopen Note: This episode of Phronesis is sponsored by On Deck.

This week, we had Max Nussenbaum on the show as our first ever guest! Max currently runs the Writer Fellowship over at On Deck and writes a weekly newsletter called My Super Secret Diary. As an ex startup founder, we also got Max's takes on the tension (and similarities) that exist between being a founder and an artist. We also talked about writing, creativity, and career choices.

Erik is joined on this episode by Max Nussenbaum (@maxnuss), who runs the writing fellowship at On Deck, Kyla Scanlon (@scanlon_kyla), who runs the blog Data Data Data, and Jake Singer (@jakesing_), who runs the blog The Flywheel. They discuss:- The benefits that writing has brought to them.- How they got started writing.- Their advice on how you can get started.- How to create a flywheel in your own writing.- The highest leverage ways to improve your writing.- What the fellowship will look like and why it’s valuable to write with a community.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

Max Nussenbaum is an author and entrepreneur who currently runs the On Deck Writing Fellowship, a new Silicon Valley take on modern education and career acceleration. We talk about how On Deck is helping writers become entrepreneurs; how Max bought a mansion in Detroit when he was 23; why JFK is overrated; what cults teach us about community building; and optimal strategy for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (which Max was on).

Today, I'm talking with Max Nussenbaum, the former CEO of Castle, a property management startup in Detroit that was using technology to change the game. At their peak, they had raised $4 million from investors and grew to be Michigan's second-largest PM company, but in January of 2018 they winded down the business. In this interview, Max shares the lessons he learned from his time at Castle, where things went wrong, how he would do things differently, and shares lessons that will help you avoid some of the same mistakes.

This week we're talking to a world class entrepreneur out of Detroit, Michigan.  His name is Max Nussenbaum and he is the founder of Castle, a new property management startup that's looking to change the industry. In this interview, Max shares their unique approach to the market and how they're building the property management company of the future.

Max Nussenbaum, co-founder of Castle and a Venture for America fellow based in Detroit. Max and his co-founders are revolutionizing property management in one of America’s most opportunity-rich property markets. Tune in to hear what Max is doing differently, why he defends splitting equity evenly with his co-founders, and why you should be investing in Detroit. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Anything You Want What CEO do you follow? — Henry Ward Favorite online tool? — Instapaper Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — Relax a little bit Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:27 – Nathan’s introduction 02:04 – Max is based in Detroit 02:20 – Castle manages rental properties for owners - they find tenants, collect rent, and coordinating repairs 02:29 – They make money by charging a flat fee of $79 per month per rental unit 03:00 – They want to simplify the pricing structures associated with regular property managers 05:30 – Founded in late 2014 and launched in 2015 05:47 – Currently managing 530 units, all in the Detroit area 06:10 – “Our target market is the regular-person property investor” 06:43 – First year revenue was around $100k last year 07:14 – The metric Max focuses on is MRR - the subscription model is similar to SaaS 08:12 – Raised around $3 million, most recently $2 million in a seed round 09:17 – Team of 10 people 09:35 – “Structurally we’re a lot like a SaaS business” 10:00 – Monthly RPU is $174, as the average customer has 2.2 units 10:35 – Switching costs are very high in terms of time and energy, so monthly churn is only around 1% 11:51 – “The bottom line is that we just don’t know lifetime value yet...we haven’t even been around for 2 years” 12:18 – They consider acquisition costs on a per-unit basis - and they’re willing to spend around $200 to acquire a unit 12:55 – Most customers are investing less than $1 million in property in Detroit in their lifetime 14:30 – There are a lot of cheap properties in Detroit - but generally you can’t get a mortgage for them 15:50 – The percentage of properties that have been vacant for more than 30 days is around 5% 17:17 – “There are still 700k people in Detroit and they’re regular people who just need places to live” 21:45 – Connect with Max on Twitter 20:04 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Don’t stress too much when you’re young. There’s plenty of time in life. If you can simplify a complicated process, there’s a good chance you’ll make money You don’t have to be bullied away from splitting equity evenly with co-founders - what each of you brings to the table is less than what you achieve working as a team Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

This week I sit down with Max Nussenbaum and Barry Conrad of Castle. We chat about their time at Y-combinator in California, company financial updates, their latest round of funding, and more. This is a start up heavy podcast. Show Quote of the Week: "It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting." -The Alchemist Castle: http://EnterCastle.com @EnterCastle http://rebirthrealtydetroit.com Renegade Detroit Investors http://RenegadeDetroit.com http://MeetUp.com/RenegadeDetroitInvestors http://Facebook.com/DetroitInvestmentClub http://Twitter.com/JeremyBurgess http://Youtube.com/user/DetroitWholesalers http://SoundCloud.com/RenegadeDetroitInvestors http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/renegade-detroit-investors

Max Nussenbaum of EnterCastle.com talks about building Castle with his friends and about the journey they took from the founding all the way up to being accepted into Y Combinator, an incubator in Silicon Valley. Max also talks culture, how to start your own company and advice on raising capital. https://medium.com/@maxnuss

This week I sit down with Max and Tim of Castle Property Management, a Detroit startup, about their no holds barred take on property management in the 21st century. The Show Quote: "Let him who would first move the world move himself." Socrates The 2 books Tim mentioned: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman Landlording: A Handymanual for Scrupulous Landlords and Landladies Who Do It Themselves by Leigh Robinson Connect with Max Nussenbaum and Tim Scott: http://EnterCastle.com team@entercastle.com http://rebirthrealtydetroit.com/ http://facebook.com/DetroitInvestmentClub http://meetup.com/renegadedetroitinvestors http://twitter.com/jeremyburgess http://youtube.com/user/detroitwholesalers http://RenegadeDetroit.com Show Note Resources https://www.gv.com/lib/how-google-sets-goals-objectives-and-key-results-okrs (OKRS) https://youtu.be/mJB83EZtAjc (OKRS) http://ventureforamerica.org/ (VFA) http://amzn.to/1Rl46MF (Joe’s Apartment Movie) http://amzn.to/1Vthp3g (Only Lovers Left Alive Movie) http://www.alwaysbrewingdetroit.com/ http://driftercoffee.com/ http://sisterpie.com/ http://www.maxnuss.com/ https://www.biggerpockets.com/ http://www.twoplustwo.com/ Books/Videos: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman http://amzn.to/1Rl3bfb Landlording: A Handymanual for Scrupulous Landlords and Landladies Who Do It Themselves by Leigh Robinson http://amzn.to/1Rl3k22