How Adeo Ressi Empowered 2,700+ People To Become Startup Founders
Over the summer we sat down with Adeo Ressi, the CEO of the Founder Institute, a startup accelerator program that operates in nearly 200 cities worldwide.
Adeo Ressi
Over the summer we sat down with Adeo Ressi, the CEO of the Founder Institute, a startup accelerator program that operates in nearly 200 cities worldwide. Throughout his time as a founder, Adeo has pioneered innovations in the protection of founder rights, the raising of early-stage capital and the scaling of new businesses.
Previous to the Founder Institute, Adeo has helped to create nearly $2 billion in shareholder value by founding or running nine businesses, including TheFunded, Game Trust, Xceed and Total New York. Adeo previously served on the Board of the X Prize Foundation to pursue his interests in space exploration and techniques to motivate human achievement. Throughout this episode it is clear that Adeo is passionate about mentoring Founders, space exploration, inspiring people to achieve their greatness, and more which includes:
The personality traits of the best founders
How The Funded improved transparency in the VC industry
The role fluid intelligence plays in entrepreneurs
How Adeo helped 2,700 plus founders grow through the Founder Institute
Managing your investors and protecting your equity
How to build startup ecosystems
Why maintaining focus and avoiding distractions is mission critical
How do you give meaning to your life's work
Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"What is the end game? Where do you see Founder Institute and all your life’s work going?"
Quote Of The Episode:
"There are a lot of shiny things in the sand, that look very appealing to you and may be a cause for you to think about pivoting or adjusting the business model. I can tell you that most of the shiny things in the sand are not diamonds, they are knives waiting to kill you. You have to be very, very, very diligent to remain focused on your core mission"
Links from this episode:
Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…
You can find the full transcript of this episode here.
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Why The Senate's Plan To Tax Employee Options At Vesting Is Bad For Startups
At this moment there are new Tax Reform plans proposed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The current proposal in the Senate plans to tax employee stock options at the moment of vesting, instead of when they are exercised, as is currently done.
Startups are the envy of the world for how innovative and fast moving they can be. However, they often lack the amount of cash in the bank required to pay employees a salary that is competitive with the top tech companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. To compensate for this, they give their employees an equity ownership in the company. Typically that equity vests monthly or quarterly over the span of four years. Here is a quick primer for anyone that wants to get brought up to speed on how "Startup Equity & Vesting" works.
When an employee is given stock options, those options are illiquid. Meaning they can not be sold or transferred for money until the company has a liquidable event (e.g., an exit such as an acquisition or going public). So when employees receive options they usually have to wait years before being able to turn them into cash.
At this moment there are new Tax Reform plans proposed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The current proposal in the Senate plans to tax employee stock options at the moment of vesting, instead of when they are exercised, as is currently done. The House of Representatives has already removed this provision from their proposal.
What is the tangible effect? If passed, startup employees would be forced to pay taxes on these equity options, regardless of any realization of actual value.
As Fred Wilson said, "Taxing equity compensation upon vesting makes no sense. If this provision becomes law, startup and growth tech companies will not be able to offer equity compensation to their employees. We will see equity compensation replaced with cash compensation and the ability to share in the wealth creation at your employer will be taken away."
Passing this law will make it extremely difficult for startups to compete with bigger corporations for high-quality talent. I am personally signing on to a letter addressed to Sen. Orrin Hatch, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, to oppose the proposed new plan and ask that Section III(H)(1) be removed from the Senate bill. If you would like to speak up as well (with your local representative), you can find your senators here and your representative here, along with the phone number to their office.
How To Send Your Monthly Investor Updates
The single most powerful tool we have as humans is the ability to communicate. So it makes sense that this is one of the skillsets that all great founders need to master.
The single most powerful tool we have as humans is the ability to communicate. So it makes sense that this is one of the skillsets that all great founders need to master. Sending monthly investor updates is one of the best ways for a founder to maintain their existing connections and strengthen their new ones.
Long-term relationships are built with friends, family, and colleagues by staying close and in touch over long periods of time. It is so important that you still keep in contact with the people you want to stay close too, even when you think you don't have value to add or need something in the exact moment. One of Founder Institute New York’s mentors, Matt Rodak talked about the importance of sending monthly updates while building his startup company, Fund That Flip on an Ambition Today episode recently.
Benefits of Sending Investor Updates Frequently:
While this may seem overly simple at first glance, I assure you that many people take basic communication for granted and avoid the little bit of work it involves each month. For those that do send monthly updates, there are several non-obvious benefits aside from your company's business updates.
Being Top Of Mind:
Even if you don't get a response, it keeps you on top of people's mind. That next meeting your investor has, they might bring you up while you are fresh on their mind.
Creating Stronger Relationships:
Mark Suster has famously been quoted as saying people "Invest in Lines, Not Dots". Keeping in touch is how you build a long-term and enduring relationship. It's been that way since the caveman days and hasn't changed. It's human psychology.
Assuring Company & Personal Health:
Most of the time that investors don't hear from a founder they assume their startup company is dead or well on its way. Or worse, they just forget about you entirely. You just fade away from their memories, replaced by fresher memories of other startup founders. Before the internet, this was a given. In the world of social media though, we take this for granted as many feel that "online presence" is enough. I assure you, that unless you are Mark Cuban, it is not.
Gaining Insights & Reflection:
The process is insightful. Taking a moment to send someone an update on your life or business forces you to take a moment and reflect on the progress you have made in the last 30 days. In our busy lives, it is critical to make that time. As an additional bonus, you will be more productive and make better-informed decisions in the coming month as well.
Formatting:
So what should you include in your startup’s investor updates? You can find plenty of investor update examples and how-to articles that already exist when you google “Monthly Investor Updates." I am going to include links to many of my personal favorites below! There are many different styles of monthly investor updates, but most involve the same essentials.
Dear Kevin,
I hope you had an excellent August! For us it has been a mixed month, but we’re happy to report these developments.
Cash: Money in Bank and Monthly Expenses
Highlights:
KPIs:
Customers Update
Useful Graph, Image, or Screenshot
Employees/Team Changes
The Good:
The Bad:
Asks
Thank You's
Thank you,
Kyle
CEO, ACME Corporation
Monthly Investor Update Templates & Examples:
There are so many great investor update examples and investor update templates from some really amazing investors and founders: I collected some of the best investor update templates below for you:
A “Fill-In-The-Blank” Investor Update Template for Busy Founders - Micah Rosenbloom
13 Investor Update Emails That Turned Our Dots Into A Line - Reza Khadjavi
The Why and How Of Updating Your Angel Investors - Dharmesh Shah
What Should I Include In My Monthly Investment Update? - Jason Calacanis
So at the end of this month take even just one hour to send a monthly update. You should keep your update short and to the point. Think about what you have accomplished in the last month and what you need help achieving in the next month. Think about the people in your life that mentor and guide you. Hopefully, you already have them on a mailing list. And then send your update. You will be AMAZED at the compounding effects you will receive from putting monthly updates out there!
Andrew Weinrich Is Predicting Our Future
On this episode Andrew Weinrich sits down with us at his offices in Brooklyn New York. Andrew is the founder of Andrews Roadmaps and the host of the new "Predicting Our Future" podcast.
Andrew Weinrich
On this episode Andrew Weinrich sits down with us at his offices in Brooklyn New York. Andrew is the founder of Andrews Roadmaps and the host of the new "Predicting Our Future" podcast.
As a serial entrepreneur, Andrew created the first ever social network called, Six Degrees. At its height, SixDegrees had around 3,500,000 fully registered members before being bought by YouthStream Media Networks in 1999 for $125 million. In more recent years, Andrew has sold 2 more businesses including Xtify and Meet-Moi. He is currently the co-founder and Chairman of Indicative, a data analytics startup. He also hosts Predicting Our Future, a podcast about the next revolutions in technology. Andrew shares many incredible lessons from his experience over the last 20 years, such as:
- How the first social network, Six Degrees, was created
- What it was like to exit a company for over $100 million
- How Social Networking has changed over the last 20 years
- The future of Social Media
- What ties all of Andrew's companies together
- How to ride the "wave" of new technologies as they emerge
- How he is Predicting Our Future
Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"What advice do you have for people who are obsessing over getting rich and making a large amount of money to solve all of their problems?
Quote Of The Episode:
"You want to be a critical thinker. Investors assume first and foremost, that whatever plan you have is wrong. That whatever you launch won't be right, it will require pivoting. The question is are you someone who is capable of pivoting? If you're a critical thinker, you will be capable of pivoting."
"Entrepreneurs take advantage of moments in history. They are not determinative of those moments."
Links from this episode:
- Andrew Weinrich on Twitter
- Andrew Weinrich Linkedin
- Andrew's Roadmaps
- Predicting Our Future podcast
- SixDegrees.com
- Founder Institute New York
- Toptal
- Audible
Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…
Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today on iTunes Store Apple Podcasts for iOS, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android.
Listen to this episode now:
Protecting The United States International Entrepreneur Rule
After being officially passed in January, the "International Entrepreneur Rule" was set to take effect July 17th, 2017 in the United States. This week though, the new rule was delayed by the Department of Homeland Security.
Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Elon Musk, Arianna Huffington, Sergey Brin, Vinod Khosla, And Phil Libin
After being officially passed in January, the "International Entrepreneur Rule" was set to take effect July 17th, 2017 in the United States. This week though, the new rule was delayed by the Department of Homeland Security.
The International Entrepreneur Rule is a critical effort to ensure that the best and the brightest foreign-born entrepreneurs could more easily grow the companies that will create American jobs here in the U.S. while expanding our economy. The delay by the DHS is unquestionably a setback for the United States in the global race for talent. We should be encouraging innovators to bring their new ideas, expertise, and unique skills to our country, rather than incentivizing them to put their talents to work for our competitors abroad.
As the Managing Director of the Founder Institute in New York I can say from first-hand experience the proposed International Entrepreneur Rule would be a big step forward for America. Time after time I have watched as prospective international founders come to Founder Institute New York to start a high-growth tech-enabled company, only to be stopped from incorporating and progressing the new company by the limitations of current immigration laws.
With an estimated 3,000 international entrepreneurs expected to apply per year to start companies within the US, the impact of this reform will have an immediate positive impact as well as create a long-term attraction for global entrepreneurs to build their companies right here in America.
A reform to immigration such as the proposed International Entrepreneur Rule will undoubtedly increase the amount of technological innovation, job creation, and economic value in the United States of America.
Starting now, people can submit public comment on the Federal Register's site. I strongly encourage you to use it as an opportunity to send a strong message to the administration that people are paying attention and we are not happy about the decision to rescind the International Entrepreneur Rule.
Dennis Mortensen Is Hyper Focused On The Future Of Artificial Intelligence With X.ai
From the brand new Fulton Center in downtown Manhattan we bring you Dennis Mortensen. He is founder and CEO at X.ai, an artificial intelligence driven personal assistant named Amy who schedules meetings for you.
Dennis Mortensen
From the brand new Fulton Center in downtown Manhattan we bring you Dennis Mortensen. He is founder and CEO at X.ai, an artificial intelligence driven personal assistant named Amy who schedules meetings for you.
Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs in Denmark, Dennis initially strove to be a game engineer at IBM. He soon failed to resist the call to entrepreneurship though as he started and sold three of his first four companies. Dennis is now changing the way people interact with artificial intelligence by pioneering it's future. After raising $30+ million and growing the team to 93 people, he is hyper focused on building X.ai to rescue people's time. It is clear that focus is something he excels at from some of the unique lessons he shared:
- Growing up in Denmark in a family of entrepreneurs
- Difference between being a serial entrepreneur and a first time founder
- The impact immigrants can have creating jobs in the United States
- Importance of doing one thing really well
- Keeping a clear mind is one of the keys to success
- Why this wave of artificial intelligence is different from any before it
- Where the future of Artificial Intelligence is going
Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"As a serial entrepreneur how do you manage your life and prevent burnout?"
Quote Of The Episode:
"I take pride in the mental freedom Inbox Zero provides me every day. You can start to think again, and really good ideas come with that"
Links from this episode:
Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…
Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android.
Listen to this episode now:
Protecting Your Time
Both for better and for worse, the way we work in the new digital age is changing fast. The freedom to work anywhere is causing us to work everywhere. But are we really being productive (getting shit done) or creative (having original ideas), both of which are essential to building a strong business.
Both for better and for worse, the way we work in the new digital age is changing fast. The freedom to work anywhere is causing us to work everywhere. The result is that too often we find ourselves being pulled from email to meeting, to text message, to social media notification, to lunch meeting, to viral meme of the day, to phone calls, and so on. In what feels like the blink of an eye 8:00 am becomes 8:00 pm. We end the day having been incredibly busy. But are we really being productive (getting shit done) or creative (having original ideas), both of which are essential to building a strong business.
Time is the scarcest personal resource in existence. Unlike money, which every year the government prints more of, your time is finite. You can never get more time than the amount you were born with and therefore it is priceless. It is your duty to protect it.
Protecting your time so your mind has time to actually think and your body has time to actually get shit done is something which can be a bit tricky. I recently blew up my calendar to make some lifestyle changes in the pursuit of being more efficient, better focused, and having a greater clarity in the way I work. I have been finding these new changes very effective, so I thought I would share them with you.
Monday:
After the weekend it is important to start the week organized. Aside from one global call with the Founder Institute Directors from all over the world, Monday is reserved for E-mail and getting organized. Reaching inbox zero each Monday allows the peace of mind later in the week to know I am not missing anything urgent that may have come up this week. While answering and archiving e-mail, the action items from them get moved onto my to-do list for the week.
Tuesday:
Starting Tuesday with the peace of mind that my inbox is in great shape is incredibly refreshing. Especially because there will not be much time for e-mail today. Tuesdays are for meetings! I try to schedule all my meetings and coffees exclusively on Tuesdays. Back to back meetings can make for an exhausting day, but I have found I am able to give much more attention to being present & attentive during meetings, as I am not thinking about e-mail throughout the day. Again, the action items from my meetings get moved onto my to-do list for the week.
Wednesday, Thursday & Friday:
With the bulk of e-mail and meetings behind me for the week, it is now time to get shit done. It's time to throw on my headphones, a great playlist, and to start crossing tasks off of my to-do list. I use Todoist, which provides karma insights into how productive I am being week to week. I have seen a big uptick in the amount of actual productive work I have been getting done.
This time is also for getting your creative brain power flowing again. I have been finding that around Thursday afternoon I have usually accomplished enough tasks that the original ideas start to come flowing naturally again. These moments are essential if you want to actually innovate on your business in unique ways, as opposed to just doing what everyone else is.
Weekend:
Spend time with family and friends. Taking the time to maintain your personal relationships is vital to playing the long game of life. It will be a lonely and difficult journey without them. Many an entrepreneur have missed the mark here and you need to make sure you're not one of them.
Be bored! I mean it. To clarify though, watching Netflix is not being bored. That's just called relaxing. I am talking about actually letting your mind wander. This is when the best original ideas come to you. For you, this might be while in the shower. For me, this is at the gym, while I am driving, or while I am walking around New York City. You need to give creativity the room to strike you.
More:
- Over-ear headphones make a difference. I love my Apple Airpods while walking around the city, but they do a lousy job preventing you from hearing distractions like side conversations while you're working. Getting even a cheap $20 pair of over-ear headphones will help you focus.
- Work to accomplish tasks within specific blocks of time. We have a shot clock style timer in the office we set when doing work. You may not always get your tasks done within the set amount of time, but regardless it will give you self-awareness into how long tasks are taking and how much you are actually getting done.
- Tracking your progress is the only way to know how you're getting better. You can use services such as Escape or RescueTime to track how often you're getting distracted. And a to-do list app such as Todoist to track how many tasks you're accomplishing.
- Set up something to block websites you traditionally find distracting. There are many to choose from but I have recently been using one called "Go F**cking Work" because I liked its motivational tone.
- If you really need help pulling away from the addiction of technology then be sure to use Onward. A new app which helps you change your overuse behavior in 1 minute per day to achieve tech-life balance!
Obviously, this is a pretty rigid schedule that can be hard to maintain. And yes, there are weeks where meetings happen on a Monday, work happens on the weekends, or e-mails get answered on a Thursday, but think of this more as a goal. When you find what works best for you and you start to constantly follow it effectively, I promise you will start to get some of your brain power back for yourself. Allowing you to dictate your future as opposed to everyone else dictating it for you.
Startup News Essentials
At the start of every new cohort of Founder Institute New York I like to share some of my favorite news sources with the founders. I am going to share them here too!
At the start of every new cohort of Founder Institute New York I like to share some of my favorite news sources with the new founders. For many founders starting out, consuming the right news from the right sources can really help to plug you into the global startup and tech community.
If the old saying, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” is true, then one of the incredible advantages of the internet is the fact that you can customize whose opinions and knowledge you decide to spend the most time with.
The below list could easily be hundreds of links, but for the sake of simplicity I am going to focus on the core recommendations of what I read everyday. I am also going to focus mostly on news sources. I might do another post on the topic of specific blogs and which individuals to follow in the future. Feel free to add any more news sources that you love in the comments below and up vote the best ones!
For Everyone:
Nuzzel - This is my favorite news source! Nuzzel's algorithm finds trending articles from your personal network. And even better, they make it really easy to see the trending articles in influencer's networks as well.
Techmeme - If you want to know what the whole industry is talking about on any given day, then this is your one stop! The essential tech news of the moment curated by a mix of editors and an excellent algorithm.
Launch Ticker - Efficient tech news broken down to the most important three sentence summary of the original article. Really good at extracting the most important, essential, and relevant information from news to save you time.
Hacker News - Social news website focusing on computer science, tech and entrepreneurship.
Axios Pro Rata - Dan Primack's daily newsletter breaks news about deals and dealmakers from Wall Street to Sand Hill Road.
Fortune Term Sheet - Fortune's daily newsletter about venture capital deals and dealmakers.
Product Hunt - Because it is one of the most fun sites on the internet! And because Product Hunt is a curation of the best new products, every day. You will almost always leave the site with something new and exciting to check out.
Angel List - It is quickly becoming the case that if you want to "exist" in the startup world then you need to be active on AngelList. You can find trending companies, make a hire, invest in a syndicate, connect with other founders, and more. They recently acquired Product Hunt too!
For New Yorkers:
Digital NYC Voices - Tips and thoughts from the leaders in NYC business and government.
AVC - The only blog on this list because Fred Wilson's insightful posts have become daily reading. The comments from the community are often just as good as the original content.
NYC Innovation Collective - A semi-monthly newsletter that is the byproduct of over 70 NYC startup accelerators, incubators, innovation programs coming together to share resources and news!
Gary's Guide - Weekly collection of all the startup and tech events happening in New York. Gary does an excellent job curating the information each week, and oh by the way he wears a red tie you can advertise on IRL!
Charlie O'Donnell's Weekly Newsletter - A curated list of NYC innovation community events each Monday morning.
Gothamist - Never miss a NYC meme again. From breaking news on the cronut, to mayoral soda tax scandals, to changes in the subway system, to Banksy's central park popup stand, the Gothamist constantly has you covered!
Joe Fairless' Journey From Madison Avenue To An $85 Million Real Estate Portfolio
In keeping with last weeks' real estate theme, Episode 25 of Ambition Today finds us across the table from Joe Fairless, Real Estate Investor and Host of the Best Real Estate Investing Advice Ever Show.
In keeping with last weeks' real estate theme, Episode 25 of Ambition Today finds us across the table from Joe Fairless, Real Estate Investor and Host of the Best Real Estate Investing Advice Ever Show. Joe set his roots in advertising after a bit of soul-searching during his undergrad years at Texas Tech. Fighting complacency, he left Madison Ave. for the allure of real estate investing and entrepreneurship, and was met with incredible success, with due credit to his persistence and work ethic.
Owing his early sense of drive to his start in landscaping, Joe Fairless has always had an entrepreneurial mindset. After leaving his teenage lawn-mowing business, J&J Landscaping, Joe tried to cling to his high school football career by attending a junior college near his home town of Dallas. After transferring, he went on to graduate with a degree in advertising and quickly rose through the ranks of executive marketing, while investing in real estate as a side project and finding passion in that venture. Joe applied his trademark tenacity to his newfound love of investing and now controls approximately $85 million worth of rental property. Kevin digs into the factors behind Joe's success, and much more:
The seemingly hidden on-ramp of landscaping as a teenage job to eventually invest in real estate.
Exploring passions during college to find what interests you.
Applying lessons from the corporate world to an entrepreneurial startup.
Leaving a comfortable job to pursue your real dreams.
How to break into the shark-infested waters of commercial real estate.
The 75/25 rule of listening/asking when approaching mentors.
Acknowledging your strengths.
Acknowledging your weaknesses and surrounding yourself with people who help make up for them.
The grit of making your ambition come to life.
Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"As a thought leader, how does ambition play a role in your life?"
Quote Of The Episode:
"Don't get caught up trying to be everywhere at once, find the platform that makes sense for your skill sets and what you enjoy doing. Then own it." - Joe Fairless
“Be different before being incrementally better.” - Joe Fairless
Links from this episode:
Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…
Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android.
Listen to this episode now:
Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:
Toptal
Audible.com
Founder Institute New York
How Matt Rodak Plans To Fund Every House Flip In America with Fund That Flip
Any amount of research into the seemingly eternal-growing market of real estate investment will almost surely make one familiar with Matt Rodak, Founder and CEO of Fund That Flip.
Matt Rodak
Any amount of research into the seemingly eternal-growing market of real estate investment will almost surely make one familiar with Matt Rodak. The 2007 John Carroll grad is the founder and CEO of Fund That Flip, a company which allows anyone to apply for fast and affordable funding in the rehabilitative real estate investment business. The New York based startup had already raised $2 million by April 2016, shortly after graduating from Manhattan's Entrepreneur Roundtable Accelerator in the summer of 2015 and Founder Institute New York prior to that. Fund That Flip finds its niche by bridging the gap between accredited investors and vetted real estate rehab projects in the U.S.
On this episode of Ambition Today, Matt Rodak discusses his seemingly inevitable entrepreneurial roots (despite his "best efforts") as the son of a business owner. He explains how his relationship with his father, and him owning his own company before and during college, led to Matt's on-again, off-again kinship with business ownership. Today, Matt capitalizes on the experiences of his youth by taking action to solve the problems he notices in his industry, such as streamlining the loan application process for prospective "flippers". We hear about his journey to where he is, his advice on how to get there, and much more:
Maturing in an entrepreneurial-spirited family.
Paying for college by advancing a teenage lawn-mowing gig to a profitable business that he was able to sell during his sophomore year at JCU.
Being introduced to the real estate market through his early exposure to landscaping.
What to study in college vs. what to leave to education via real-world experience.
Bringing an entrepreneurial spirit to a non-entrepreneurial position at a large business.
Using lessons from upper management to implement starting a business.
Creating a business to streamline and eliminate the fallacies of market norms.
Employing the JOBS Act to capitalize on a brand-new industry.
Ownership vs. Accountability in life.
Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"How do you align the ambitions of your team with the ambitions of the company?"
Links from this episode:
Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…
Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android.
Listen to this episode now:
Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:
Toptal
Audible.com
Founder Institute New York
Lessons Howard Love Learned While Sitting On Both Sides Of The Table
Over the last 30 years Howard Love has founded 15 companies and invested in over 50 early stage startups. His new book "The Startup J Curve" organizes his experience into the 6 phases startups go through as they grow. Howard also is the Founder & CEO of LoveToKnow, a digital publishing firm with over 30 million monthly visitors.
HOWARD LOVE
Over the last 30 years Howard Love has founded 15 companies and invested in over 50 early stage startups. His new book "The Startup J Curve" organizes his experience into the 6 phases startups go through as they grow. Howard also is the Founder & CEO of LoveToKnow, a digital publishing firm with over 30 million monthly visitors.
With coal magnates and aviators as his ancestors, entrepreneurship has been in Howard's bloodline for generations. In this episode, Kevin speaks to Howard about what he has learned from sitting on both sides of the table, both as a founder and an investor. We also discuss the 6 phases all startups go through according to Howard's new book The Startup J Curve. We also hear about the value of getting a formal education versus learning directly from the real world and much more:
Growing up in a family that encourages and breeds entrepreneurial spirit.
Dropping out of college to get real world experience.
Being resourceful in the startup space.
The grit it takes to get your company off the ground.
The knowledge and insight gained from writing a book.
Advancing the dialogue of startup culture through understanding of the J-curve.
The phases of a company: create, release, morph, model, scale, and harvest.
Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"When you think about the younger version of yourself, how do you reconcile where you are now, and where you thought you would be?"
Links from this episode:
Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…
Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android.
Listen to this episode now:
Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:
Toptal
Audible.com
Founder Institute New York
Kelly Roach, From NFL Cheerleader To Million Dollar Brand
Kelly Roach is the founder of Kelly Roach Coaching and host of the Unstoppable Success Radio podcast. With a resume of NFL cheerleader, fitness enthusiast, and mother, Kelly doesn’t exactly fit the usual business coach profile.
Kelly Roach
Kelly Roach is the founder of Kelly Roach Coaching and host of the Unstoppable Success Radio podcast. With a resume of NFL cheerleader, fitness enthusiast, and mother, Kelly doesn’t exactly fit the usual business coach profile. In Episode 22 of Ambition Today Kelly gives us some great insight into how she leverages her unique experience to grow her businesses, how she published an internationally bestselling book, and why she started the Unstoppable Success Radio podcast.
Growing up in a financially struggling family, Kelly learned the value of hard work at a very early age while working for the NFL before she was 20. With an unparalleled work ethic she quickly climbed the ladder of success in Corporate America. Soon after she then realized her passion for aiding others in pursuit of their dreams. We cover how Kelly now does just that and more on this episode of Ambition Today:
Going out and working for what you want at an early age.
Applying her degree in Communications to create productive interactions in the business environment.
The importance of travel in shaping a healthy lifestyle mentality.
Lessons learned from holding multiple positions on an NFL team.
Appreciating the value of lesser jobs to build knowledge before having your dream job.
The inherent ebb and flow of startups.
Lifestyle building via business development.
Why building a personal brand is so important now.
Publishing her bestselling book & starting a podcast.
The necessity of human contact in growing your business.
Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"What does Ambition mean to you and how do you satisfy your personal ambition each day?"
Links from this episode:
Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…
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Pioneering The Social Media Frontier With Jonathan Abrams, Founder & CEO of Nuzzel
The godfather of social media, Jonathan Abrams, joins us on this episode of Ambition Today. He is now the founder & CEO of Nuzzel, a new platform to discover the top news from your friends and influencers.
Jonathan Abrams
The godfather of social media, Jonathan Abrams, joins us on this episode of Ambition Today. He is now the founder & CEO of Nuzzel, a new platform to discover the top news from your friends and influencers. Letting users cut through the muddle of content on social media to emphasize only their most relevant content. Previously, Jonathan has founded several other companies; Socializr, HotLinks, Founder's Den and most notably Friendster. He is also a top-rated mentor at The Founder Institute and has been extensively involved in the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial community for over ten years.
After growing up in Canada and working for Nortel he became an employee at Netscape during it's prime. Abrams went on to found Friendster in 2002 before the wider adoption of, at the time newcomers; MySpace (2003), Hi5 (2003), Facebook (2004) and other social networking sites. Friendster was one of the first of these sites to attain over 1 million members. In 2012, Abrams recognized a fallacy in the market of social news readers, when the programs of the time weren’t what he was looking for: fast, easy-to-use, and social. Today Jonathan talks about his solution to this problem with his new company Nuzzel, his appearance on Chelsea on Netflix, and much more:
Navigating the seemingly minuscule Canadian computer science marketplace.
Being a first-time entrepreneur during the dot-com boom and bust.
How Friendster competed with Facebook in the developing market of social media.
Using social curation to launch Nuzzel.
Trying to reach a wide audience with relevant information.
The future of Nuzzel.
Why e-mail remains king in the world of social media.
Surviving in Silicon Valley by not getting ahead of yourself.
The future of the social landscape.
Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"What does Ambition mean to you and how do you satisfy your personal ambition each day?"
Links from this episode:
Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…
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Jesse Middleton Talks Building WeWork Labs And Investing With Flybridge Capital
Over the years WeWork has grown to become an $16 billion empire of co-working office spaces that are disrupting the traditional real estate markets all over the world. Our guest today, Jesse Middleton, joined the team as the founder of WeWork Labs, the company’s startup focused community. Since then he has helped the company grow into the giant it is today. Recently he has just joined the venture capital firm Flybridge as a General Partner.
Jesse Middleton
Over the years WeWork has grown to become a $16 billion empire of co-working office spaces that are disrupting the traditional real estate markets all over the world. Our guest today, Jesse Middleton, joined the team as the founder of WeWork Labs, the company’s startup focused community. Since then he has helped the company grow into the giant it is today. Recently he has just joined the venture capital firm Flybridge as a General Partner.
Early on with entrepreneurial parents, Jesse learned that he did not have to take the traditional path in life and that he could forge his own future. He started to do just that, as he founded his first company before even going to college. Fast forward to Fast Company magazine once comparing Jesse to Jack Dorsey, then onto his time building WeWork Labs, and now his time as a VC at Flybridge. Jesse has a great story full of many lessons, such as:
Recognizing at an early age the ability to create your own path in life.
The importance of keeping a clear focus at the early stages of a new company.
How Jesse founded WeWork Labs.
Just get started and go.
The lessons from actively helping grow a $16 billion company.
Why long term vision is so important for the founders of companies.
What is next for WeWork Labs.
The intersection of community building and being an investor.
The future of Venture Capital.
Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
“What does Ambition mean to you and how has it driven you?”
Links from this episode:
Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…
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Swallow The Frog 🐸
“If you know you have to swallow a frog, swallow it first thing in the morning. If there are two frogs, swallow the biggest one first.” -Mark Twain
"Swallow The Frog."
I heard that phrase recently. It wasn't the first time I heard it and apparently Mark Twain originally said it quite some time ago. His original Swallow The Frog quote was:
“If you know you have to swallow a frog, swallow it first thing in the morning. If there are two frogs, swallow the biggest one first.” -Mark Twain
As human's we are all guilty of procrastination. In fact, it is actually programmed in us to do so.
Making sure you swallow a frog on your todo list each day is so important for progress in one's life and especially in entrepreneurship.
For some reason when Matt Rodak reminded me of the swallow the frog meaning in a recent conversation, it stuck with me. I woke up the next day, looked at my Todo list in ToDoist and starting swallowing some of the larger frogs on my list! I completed the items that I really hated doing normally and that had this stench of anxiety around completing. And I felt great afterword!
The best part about swallowing the frog earlier in the day is you don't spend the whole rest of the day thinking about it. It's done. It's gone. The progress is made and you can now use your brain power in other productive ways. And if you do the worst part of your day first thing in the morning then when bad things happen the rest of the day, they are quickly put in perspective as not that awful.
One little productivity hack I started to use that I think you might find useful is this. When I caught myself snoozing an item on my todo list or I found myself feeling anxiety around an item to work on, I started adding the frog emoji 🐸 in front of the task's name. That way the next time I looked at my todo list, I knew exactly which I item's I needed to accomplish first that day.
So tomorrow wake up and Swallow The Frog. Ensure you get the tasks you dread the most, done first each day! And if you have to swallow more then one frog each day (as most startups founders do) then make sure you swallow the ugliest and wart-iest first! And if you still need help, someone even wrote a swallow the frog book, which might be helpful.
Paul Polizzotto Transforms Advertising Into Real World Positive Social Change With CBS EcoMedia
Serial Social Entrepreneur Paul Polizzotto, who is one of the most passionate and dedicated entrepreneurs I know, joins us for episode 19. Paul is the founder and CEO of CBS EcoMedia, which harnesses the power of advertising and transforms it into a powerful engine for positive social change.
Paul Polizzotto (Eric J. Smith / CBS EcoMedia)
From the CBS EcoMedia office’s in New York City, Serial Social Entrepreneur Paul Polizzotto, who is one of the most passionate and dedicated entrepreneurs I know, joins us for episode 19. Paul is the founder and CEO of CBS EcoMedia, which harnesses the power of advertising and transforms it into a powerful engine for positive social change.
Paul’s personal philosophy and actions around social entrepreneurship over his lifetime have created an incredible story thus far. His journey started in California when he was younger and used to surf the then polluted waters of Santa Monica Bay. Paul noticed that the existing companies in the contract cleaning industry were improperly discharging contaminated water into the storm drains, which then drained into the bay that his friends and him surfed in. His first company Property Prep helped to improve those conditions through a solution that properly disposed of the contaminated water. He now works to improve the world through his most recent company CBS EcoMedia, which was acquired by CBS and funds the most effective non profit companies that are taking on the most urgent social issues of our time. In this episode we also discuss:
Seeing opportunity around you in the world everyday.
How surfing and risk taking has influenced Paul as an entrepreneur.
What happens at the intersection of art and engineering.
Difference between working hard FOR an idea and working hard ON an idea.
How to be receptive to the right ideas in your life.
Paul’s 4 criteria for knowing if an idea is worthwhile to pursue.
How Paul created the national Adopt-A-Waterway Program in the United States.
Using existing business models to transform other industries.
The partnership with CBS that led to EcoMedia being acquired.
If you get exactly what you want, will you have the courage to follow through with it to meet your goals.
Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
How should a person take an idea they have and navigate it into reality?
Links from this episode:
Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…
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Founder Institute New York
Amir Salihefendic Grew The Todoist App From Solo Project To Millions Of People
The most ambitious people “Get. Sh*t. Done.” and that is what today’s guest Amir Salihefendic specializes in. Joining us from Portugal, Amir is the founder of Doist, the company which makes the very popular Todoist app
The most ambitious people “Get. Sh*t. Done.” and that is what today’s guest Amir Salihefendic specializes in. Joining us from Portugal, Amir is the founder of Doist, the company which makes the very popular Todoist app. With millions of users, Todoist is one of the top to-list apps in the Apple App Store & Google Play Store.
Amir grew up in an entrepreneurial family in Denmark after his family moved from Bosnia. Starting projects seems to have been in Amir’s blood from an early age. When he was fifteen he sold his first website and invested the money he made in a new Macbook in order to start a new business building and selling websites. Later he went on to build Plurk, and fast forward to today, Amir has built Todoist. The to-do list app started as a personal project for just himself, but when he released it on his personal blog to only 300 people, he saw there was immediate demand for it. Todoist has since grown to millions of users. Throughout this episode we discuss how Amir built his company with remote teams, scaled to several million dollars annually in revenue, and also:
How having entrepreneurial parents influenced Amir.
Why scaling too fast can hurt your company if you are not ready for it.
How to keep your life organized and efficient.
Why you should make powerful product features, simple.
The impact that mission, passion and culture can have on a company.
The best characteristics for employee's joining remote teams and where to find them.
How your employees are your biggest investments.
The importance of constantly investing in yourself across all the skill sets you need.
Focusing on high impact work and actively working to avoid distractions.
How to make the most of your To-do list and optimize it.
Why you need to "swallow the frog" at the start of every day.
Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
How do you define success?
Links from this episode:
Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…
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David S. Rose Explains How The New Startup Crowdfunding Rules Affect You & His New Book The Startup Checklist
On this episode of Ambition Today David S. Rose explains his new book The Startup Checklist, how the new startup crowdfunding rules affect you & angel investing 101.
David Rose, The Startup Checklist
On this episode of Ambition Today David S. Rose explains his new book The Startup Checklist, how the new startup crowdfunding rules affect you & angel investing 101. A third generation serial entrepreneur, David's new book The Startup Checklist which is now a New York Times Bestseller. David is also the author of the Angel Investing: The Gust Guide to Making Money and Having Fun Investing in Startups, as well as the Founder and CEO at Gust.
A man of many titles: Entrepreneur, Angel Investor, Mentor, and Author; David has had an incredible career starting several businesses. Crain's New York Business has called David "the father of angel investing in New York".
Today we learn about how he got started as a founder, became an angel investor, and where he is now as an Author and CEO. We cover the basics of how angel investing in startups works and unpack what the new SEC crowdfunding rules actually mean for startups, your friends, your family and you. We also learn about:
How an Urban Affairs degree enhanced David's views on business.
Why he started Angel Investing.
How NY Angels was created.
How do you set the foundation for a great startup company.
Angel Investing 101.
What is an Accredited Investor.
How Title 3 of the JOBS Act impacts startups and you.
What the new SEC crowdfunding rules mean if your income or net worth is below $100k.
What the new SEC crowdfunding rules mean if your income or net worth is above $100k.
If a founder decides to fundraise from non-accredited civilians, what do they need to know?
What platforms are enabling crowdfunding right now?
How can you invest in startups now.
Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
Why does success matter in the first place? Why not just live a simple life in a fishing town?
Links from this episode:
Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…
Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android.
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Founder Institute New York
How Jeff Stewart Helps Loan Money To Strangers All Over The World With Lenddo
Lend an ear as we interview how NY Serial Entrepreneur Jeff Stewart founded numerous companies, including his most recent business, Lenddo.
Lend an ear as we interview how NY Serial Entrepreneur Jeff Stewart founded numerous companies, including his most recent business, Lenddo.
Jeff was a pioneer in the early days of the internet. He started Square Earth in the mid 90's and it eventually got acquired. His second company Mimeo was started in 1998 and is still operating today. Now he is the Founder and Chairman of Lenddo, which uses non-traditional data such as your social media profiles to provide credit scoring and verification to economically empower the emerging middle class around the world. To hear about the rest of Jeff's business ventures and life lessons be sure to check out the whole episode, including:
How Dale Carnegie's writing influenced Jeff's early years.
The advantages of understanding the technology within your products.
How Jeff watched the internet double in size in one day.
Jeff's experience guiding Mimeo through the financial dot com crash.
The parallels between the dot com crash and the 2015-2016 "tech bubble".
What is an Entrepreneur in Residence?
The power of having customers before you have a company.
The pains of being too early to market within an industry.
How do you verify a person's identity?
The importance of having the right team.
How to find the a great advisor!
Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
How important is being the right location to achieving one’s goals?
Links from this episode:
Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…
Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android.
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Patrick McGinnis Tells You How To Be A 10% Entrepreneur And How He Coined The Meme F.O.M.O.
You are not going to want to miss out on this episode! Patrick McGinnis, Author of the 10% Entrepreneur joins Ambition Today for episode fifteen. We talk about the unique ways in which people can engage in entrepreneurship on the side, how to travel the world, and how Patrick coined the term F.O.M.O. (Fear of Missing Out) on the internet.
Patrick McGinnis, Author of the 10% Entrepreneur
You are not going to want to miss out on this episode! Patrick McGinnis, Author of the 10% Entrepreneur joins Ambition Today for episode fifteen. We talk about the unique ways in which people can engage in entrepreneurship on the side, how to travel the world, and how Patrick coined the term F.O.M.O. (Fear of Missing Out) on the internet. Patrick went from growing up in the small blue collar town of Sanford in Maine to visiting over 70 countries, investing in several companies with AIG Capital, co-founding his company Real Influence, and now publishing his book.
Leaving Maine, Patrick went to Georgetown for International Economics which eventually lead to an entire year being paid for to live in Argentina. After his time abroad he came back to work in Latin American investment banking on Wall Street in New York City. When his position was dissolved he then re-evaluated his role in finance and went on to Harvard Business School before joining AIG Capital. At AIG Capital Patrick focused on investing in early stage startup companies. He later founded, Real Influence, a company which enabled branded video partnerships for early Youtube stars. That experience taught Patrick the lessons he shares now in the 10% Entrepreneur. From Patrick’s life we also explore:
Overcoming the local hometown mentality when leaving your hometown.
The value of traveling the world and living abroad.
What to do when you find yourself in a life threatening situation.
How Patrick went from Wall Street analyst to Venture Capitalist.
The impact being at AIG during the 2008 financial crisis had on Patrick’s life.
What stress can do to the body long term when you let it build up.
Overcoming Turrets syndrome and what other people think.
Making the leap from investor to founder.
Selling something for the first time.
What does it mean to be a 10% Entrepreneur.
How partnering with people can expand yourself outside your comfort zone.
How do you get a book deal.
Coining the word term F.O.M.O. (Fear of Missing Out) on the internet.
Learning resilience at an early age.
Ambition Today Question of the Day:
What was the gold standard “norm of jobs” when you were growing up that your friends and family accepted as a good job to have, but you didn’t?
Links from this episode:
Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…
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