Work The Problem: Advice From An Astronaut

Last year I read An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth by Chris Hadfield. In it he talks about the NASA strategy of working the problem. This very technique ended up aiding Commander Hadfield when he went blind in space. Here is an excerpt from Chris Hadfield's book that offers you a brief explanation of what exactly working the problem means is in his own words: 

“Working the problem” is NASA-speak for descending one decision tree after another, methodically looking for a solution until you run out of oxygen. We practice the “warn, gather, work” protocol for responding to fire alarms so frequently that it doesn’t just become second nature; it actually supplants our natural instincts. So when we heard the alarm on the Station, instead of rushing to don masks and arm ourselves with extinguishers, one astronaut calmly got on the intercom to warn that a fire alarm was going off – maybe the Russians couldn’t hear it in their module – while another went to the computer to see which smoke detector was going off. No one was moving in a leisurely fashion, but the response was one of focused curiosity; as though we were dealing with an abstract puzzle rather than an imminent threat to our survival. To an observer it might have looked a little bizarre, actually: no agitation, no barked commands, no haste."

Chris Hadfield - Excerpt from An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth

This work the problem NASA mentality of descending down one decision tree after another until you reach your solution is something I learned and practiced first hand during my time as a Fireman and EMT. The main reason I think the idea of working the problem has stuck with me so much over the years though is because it is so similar to entrepreneurship. With each problem you conquer there will be a new one that arises. And just like the the limited oxygen supply in space, with entrepreneurship you can be limited by the year, month, or week of runway you have left in your business.

Applying this work the problem mentality to problem solving in business can be extremely useful. I was solving a problem recently, but was not really making any progress toward a solution. I stopped, took a step back, and realized I found myself too fixated on the problem. I was analyzing the problem over and over again as if some magic answer was just waiting to reveal itself to me. It can be so easy to get caught up on the problem when problem solving. I wasn't working the problem toward a solution like I needed to be one decision at a time. While it is important to understand a problem you are facing, once you have extracted the main knowledge you need to move forward there is often very little value remaining.

During the New York City blizzard this weekend I watched The Martian with Matt Damon (I promise no spoilers). Being as it is a film about Mars filled with teams of astronauts the strategy of working the problem is a common theme throughout the movie. It reminded me of the lessons learned over the years. After the movie I revisited the problem I was stuck on and solved it. 

Work the problem is a good tool to keep around, whether you are an astronaut or not. Remember, no matter what the problem is you are facing, whether it be with your company or in your life, take the time to understand the problem and then be done with it. Take your new found knowledge and focus it, descending one decision tree after another until you reach you solution. Work the problem!

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The Future Is Empathy

Merriam Webster simply defines Empathy as:

"the feeling that you understand and share another person's experiences and emotions : the ability to share someone else's feelings"

Empathy requires a deeper level of realism than sympathy. It requires the ability to look from another persons perspective, not to it from your own perspective. 

Monday of this week started with honoring Dr. Marin Luther King Jr. and his dream.  Dr King was able to lead during his lifetime because he had a deep empathy for the other people in this world going through similar struggles. The greatest leaders of our time use empathy to gain followers and with those followers collectively solve large problems.

Today Macklemore and Ryan Lewis released a new song about the role white privilege has played in their life. The song chronicles Macklemore's recent experiences marching in Black Lives Matter protests and being a part of the hip hop community. The song shows an understanding and empathy of both sides of the table. The greatest artists of our time use empathy to create great and relatable work. 

Steve Job's knew empathy in design was the path to creating groundbreaking new products. The best product designers know their customers because they are their customers. Empathy guides the creation of the product. The greatest products of our time were built by founders who had the ability to empathize with the customers they are helping.

Last week I stood in the middle of a field in Africa while a plane flew overhead and dropped bags of food to the ground. Myself and others began to run, grab as much as we could, and carried home what we had picked up to feed our families. I experienced this shockingly first person perspective while wearing a $20 Google cardboard Virtual Reality headset in my living room. I was amazed at how real it felt. You should have seen the look on my Grandfather's face when I had him try it too. 

Technology enabled me and the others who tried it, to in that moment empathize immediately in a way that reading text simply never could do as powerfully or effectively. Empathy is an incredibly powerful ability. With constant new technology and the increasing free flow of information on the internet I expect empathy to grow to be a more naturally occurring and common part of society. The earliest test of this theory is and will be the attitude of Millennials as they have had the greatest exposure to new technologies and open information. In the next few years we will see if I am right, but I believe an open mind and empathy are the way of the future.  

Ambition Today: Justin Dombrowski Uncovers The Power Of Curiosity, History, Bitcoin, & Education In Life

Break out your pen and paper and get ready to take notes because you will be tested on this episode! Justin Dombrowski, Principal at Historiocity teaches some incredible lessons during Episode #11 of Ambition Today. 

One of my favorite quotes from this episode perfectly embodies Justin's strong curiosity from a young age: 

"I was trying to figure what kind of things best explained the world that I was interested in."

Justin has more degrees than you can count from institutions such as Columbia and Oxford. The real question though is why? Listen in to find out what Justin thinks of his personal experience with the formal education he has received and how he compares it to the world of entrepreneurship. 

Through all his education Justin has become an expert on world history. We talk about what the past can teach us and ask the question: does history repeat itself? In his post academic life Justin now applies his intellect as an expert in the world of Cryptography, Bitcoin, and Financial Technology. Episode 11 of Ambition Today is packed with the following: 

• The power of curiosity.

• How to manage curiosity.

• How the access to information is changing education.

• The value of formal education in the modern world.

• How to use history to understand today.

• Does history repeat itself?

• How core human behavior is the golden thread unifying history across centuries.

• Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?

• What is the future of Bitcoin.

• How will Bitcoin impact the world.

• The importance of living life.

Ambition Today Question of the Day:

What kind of education is most valuable?

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS and on Stitcher for Android. 

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Links from this episode: 

• New York Startup Founder 101

• Audible

• Justin Dombrowski on Twitter

• Columbia

• Oxford

• Founder Institute

• Satoshi Nakamoto

• Coinbase Wallet for Bitcoin

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…

Listen to this episode now: 

Ambition Today Podcast Sponsors:

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Don't Forget To Look Up

The irony is that I am about to ask you to look at screen in order to tell you to "Look Up". You have 2 options as I see it. You can put your technology away right now and go experience the world. Or you can watch this video, and then go experience the world. Either way, get out there. This is your friendly reminder, do not forget to look up. 

Time Management For Entrepreneurs

I believe there is tremendous value in optimization. Increasing effectiveness even by a slight amount can have exponential effects as a result. Since taking a step back and thinking about planning my life in 2016 I have been working on ways to optimize life. One of those is time management, which I feel is something that can have a profound impact on most entrepreneurs. 

I value time as the most important asset in my life. It is finite. The fact is that there is no Department of Time to print more hours, days or years like there is a Department of Treasury to print more money when the supply runs low. 

There are 24 hours in a day. That is all you get. Make sure you spend each one of those hours wisely. We have been given the gift of time and it is our duty to make the most of it. Those 24 hours will be spent on either sleep, work, exercise, family, fun or free time.

I was originally going to elaborately detail my own day for this post but I have really liked the way Casey Neistat broke down his daily routine using the painted domino's visually in the below video. I have skipped ahead to the good part of the video (3:32) so you can jump right in. My routine in 2016 has been very similar to the image above. The major difference being that I swap vlog time with blog and podcast time. Also a night or two a week family time gets swapped for me with running event's in the evening around New York. 

I like the balance that routine brings to the day in order to allow for more productivity in the long run. It also helps reduce burn out, which can be a real issue for entrepreneurs if not addressed. I look forward to continuing to maximize each day to the fullest potential I can. Let me know if you have a routine or any suggestions on maximizing the day. Feel free to put them in the comments below. 

I Dream That Society Comes Together To Solve Global Problems

I have a dream that before I die I am able to give back to this world and society in a way that it is as much a better place as I can make it during my lifetime. Knowing that about myself I find social entrepreneurship a very attractive ideal and nobel venture. The ability to help others improve the world through manifesting there own visions is also one of the core reasons I am involved with the Founder Institute New York.

As mentioned before, remembering to be thinking 10X and the idea of investing in Moonshoots can be a tough mindset to stay locked into. Sometimes you have to think bigger than what you think big is. I have been making sure to remind myself to think exponentially as best I can for the past few months. One of the biggest problems I see is how can we get society to work together to solve problems. Giant problems. Global problems. Hell, maybe even within our solar system problems (I see you Mars).

January 18th, 2015 celebrates the day that a man named Martin Luther King Jr. saw a problem so large it divided a country and defined other nations. He then attempted to solve it and along the way brought the world closer to a one day resolution. He had a dream to make the world a better place and pursued that dream. I am motivated by that greatness.

There is still more work to be done to resolve racial inequality. There is more work to done to cure cancer. And to turn back climate change, help drug addiction, find clean water, and aid in poverty. The list goes on. All important issues that all need to be solved. Ideally in our lifetime.

The simple fact is that someone or some group of people has to solve them. Nature won't resolve these issues on it's own. I believe that we have the power in 2016 to build tools using technology to help advance progress in each of these specific areas. We as a society have a duty to put the Netflix down and work toward that brighter future. That is why I have started to collect the largest problems we need to improve as a society. Visit here to see the first problems I have collected and also propose any existing solutions you know of for those global problems we face. Feel free to submit anything you feel as missing is as well. Comment below if you have any other ideas on how to tackle such a large endeavor. After all, the world has problems, somebody has to solve them. 

Yahoo's Katie Couric Features Buffalo In "Cities Rising: Rebuilding America"

Katie Couric recently paid a visit to Buffalo New York for her new series "Cities Rising: Rebuilding America". Since visiting the region she now states that "Buffalo Is Back!" with part 1 of her new series. The goal of this six part series is to highlight key cities in America that were once thriving, then fell on hard times during the last 100 years, and are now being rebuilt into the 21st century.

I am really proud of all the great people in the Buffalo region working hard to improve the local startup ecosystem. Some of the people in the Buffalo startup community that I been working to make an impact in the last year include:

• Steve Poland
  • Managing Director of Z80 Labs
• Michael Serotte
  • Immigration Legal Partner at Unshackled Fund
  • Founding Partner at Serotte Law
• Dan Gigante
  • Digital Director, Partner at 19 IDEAS,
  • Founder & President at You and Who
  • Director of Founder Institute Buffalo
• Jon Spitz
  • Director of Development at 43 North
  • Director of Founder Institute Buffalo
• Peter Burkowski
  • Director of Marketing at 43 North
• Oscar Pedrosa and David Brenner
  • Thimble
• And Many More

I know I have written about the surge of entrepreneurship in Buffalo before as well as its incredible past history, but I really am excited for the future of my hometown Buffalo, NY. I am proud to say I am from Buffalo. Be sure to watch part 1 on Buffalo in Katie Couric's series "Cities Rising: Rebuilding America" above.

Build Online Websites Like Offline Real Estate

The real estate industry is a much older industry then the current technology industry most of us interact with everyday via our phones and computers. Tonight I heard an interesting perspective from David Karp, the Founder of Tumblr, connecting the two industries in regards to how we should think when building digital real estate (online platforms & communities) within the technology industry.

Tumblr as you know was acquired by Yahoo for $1.1 Billion and the community at that time was reported around 300 million monthly unique visitors. That is a pretty big chunk of virtual land. The analogy David made was comparing the similar way an online community of people hang out on their favorite website to the way an offline community of people hang out at their favorite bar.

Let's play this analogy out and throw in a main character here. We can call the main character in this analogy Ted. Now say Ted goes to MacLaren's Pub every week to meet up with his friends. For the sake of adding a bit more realism to this story, let's give Ted's friends names too. We can call them Marshall, Robin, Barney, and Lily. I just came up with those on the fly, pretty good right? Now, each time this group of friends comes to MacLaren's Pub they sit in their favorite booth. They get drinks, order food, and good times are had whenever visiting MacLaren's Pub. This is their bar. This is their community. 

Then one day the owner of the bar decides it's time to move some furniture around. He bought some fancy new tables and chairs which will increase the revenue per square foot of the pub. In comes the new tables and chairs and out goes the booth. It gets thrown out. 

The next day Ted, Robin, Marshall, Lilly, and Barney all come back to visit their favorite booth at MacLaren's Pub to find that it is now gone! The food is as good as it was before, the drinks are the same temperature, the walls are the same color, but now their favorite booth is gone. And the first thought that crosses the mind of Ted, Robin, Marshall, Lilly, and Barney is the thought: "They can't do this to us, this is our bar! This is our community!"

Now re-read the above HIMYM metaphor and replace MacLaren's Pub with a website and the friends with that website's users. I really like this analogy. It makes you always remember that there are humans making up the loyal online community of most websites. It can be easy to forget this at times when just viewing click maps, analyzing Google Analytics, checking cost per user acquisition models, and judging conversion data. Just like re-arranging the furniture in your house, you need to always be thinking about how that change will affect the people who spend the most time in that space. So next time you are thinking about pushing a big release to your website or product that could alter the way your community uses it, make sure you think carefully about how you do so or your visitors might just go to another bar.

Learning How To Learn

Prior to getting my degree from the University at Buffalo in Cognitive neuroscience. which if you don't know is the analytical combination of Neuroscience, Philosophy, Psychology, Linguistics, and Artificial Intelligence, I was pursuing a degree in Nursing. I had heard from friends and family that anesthesiologist made a decent amount of money and also helped people. 

At the same time I was a Fireman and EMT with the Swormville Fire Company. I had spent my fair share of time in the back of ambulance's responding to emergency calls and delivering people to the Emergency Room. A degree in nursing seemed like a natural progression for the path I was on. 

But something about it didn't seem right. I was too curious. I wanted to know more about the world than a degree in nursing was telling me. I began to search for another option. I remember asking around to see if any Universities offered a degree in "life". I wanted to know and understand all there was about the world and the people in it. Then I remember seeing the description for the Cognitive Science degree at UB. It was: 

Cognitive Science is the study of how the mind works. It investigates thought and consciousness, the senses and emotions, the structure of language, cultural patterns, neural organization, and the computational analogs of mental processes. It examines how these areas interact, how they develop in the growing human, and how they appear in other animals.

It sounded perfect. While the range of knowledge Cognitive Science pulled together was awesome I especially loved the classes that focused on Neurology. I enjoyed them so much I actually made Neuro the core focus for the major. Finally I had found something that provided a deeper understanding of how people think which scientifically complemented my minor in Philosophy perfectly. I was beginning to form an understanding holistically of how the world worked. 

Through my degree in Cognitive Neuroscience I learned how to scientifically form and ask the right questions. I learned how to apply the philosophy of logic to understand the answers I got to those questions I was asking. I learned how people think. I learned which of the neurons drives different instinctual human characteristics. From my minor I learned to appreciate the philosophical differences those characteristics can take across numerous cultures and ideologies.

While I didn't pursue a career in the Cognitive Science field after graduation the biggest take away I got out of my time at University was that I learned how to learn. I think this is one of the most important investments a person can make in themselves. The earlier you make this investment the more compound interest you will get as a result across your lifetime.

I did this before the time that I started taking an interest in learning about startups. Again, as a way to satisfy my intense curiosity for understanding the world and how new ideas manifest themselves into reality. Being armed with the tools to learn thanks to my degree was a massive help in learning and understanding the world of startups over the next several years. 

The key take away here is that I think there are two types of learning. One, you can learn how to learn. This is a skill and ability that everyone can nourish and grow. If done first it sets a solid foundation for you to then go learn and have a complete understanding around a specialized field much better than skipping ahead to only learning a specialized field. It is a small distinction but an important one in my mind. Tim Ferris is a great example of this. He is a man who has perfected the art of learning how to learn and because of that he can pick up new things almost overnight and quickly understand them. His new series in the iTunes store, The Tim Ferris Experiment along with his books, are a testament to this. So next time you are struggling to learn and understand something new. Take a moment and think if there is some foundational work you can teach yourself first, that will help you with achieving your current goals. Learn how to learn.  

Spireworks & The Value Of Exclusivity: How An Invite Only App Controls New York’s Skyline

From almost anywhere in New York City you can see the colored antenna's on top of One Bryant Park and Four Times Square. They are a definite part of the New York City skyline and every few moments they change color.

I recently heard a story from a friend of mine who was at a party in New York City. The host of the event he was at pulled his phone out of his pocket and instructed my friend to pick a color on the screen. He pressed purple. The host then instructed him to look up toward the top of an actual skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan. The antenna at the top of One Bryant Park had changed to the color purple. There was a moment of disbelief. 

The idea that the hosts phone was actually controlling the colors at the top of real world skyscrapers seemed unreal. Could you imagine the ability to carry with you a button in your pocket that could at any moment you see fit, alter the colors of the New York skyline for all to see from New Jersey to the Bronx, to Long Island. 

Believe it or not, that app exists and it is called Spireworks. It was made by The Durst Organization who developed and owns several office towers in New York City. The Spireworks app has been in beta and invite only since it's live launch in 2010. All in all only a few hundred people are rumored to have access to the Spireworks app. Now I am going to go out on a limb here and guess that after hearing that story you want a Spireworks invite. I know I did. 

While I patiently waited for the day I could bet strangers that the top of a sky scraper is going to change to a specific color and then be right, the real lesson here lies in the value of exclusivity. The Spireworks app is a real world example of that. So is the English Royal family abroad, the Navy Seals here in the United States, and all the Country Clubs I bartended at in order to put myself through college. A lesson that startups should use to their advantage.

The best part is that when you release a new product you can actually create and then apply this value in order to use it to your advantage. You will turn what should be an inherent weakness in your offering, the fact that no one has access to your product yet because they simply do not know about it, into an advantage whereas the new reason no one has access to your product is because they simply haven't been invited yet. This changes the dynamic of the normal relationship people have with products. In the exclusive scenario the responsibility to "get" the product falls on the end customers ability to chase after it via tracking down an invite code.

A few companies have done a great job at this recently. Regardless of the end story, the Google Glass Explorers Program did a tremendously successful job at fostering early adoption even though the price was over $1,500. Beme launched it's new app with user referral unlock codes that created a frenzy to the point where people were selling the unlock codes for cash online. Most recently the new game @getstolen, where can own your friends Twitter profiles, tweets out one unlock code for only 500-1,000 people each day.

🔑🔑🔑they don't WANT u 2 have a #StolenCode, so we gonna GIVE you a code -> "MADLUV" FAN LUV BLESS UP 🔑🔑🔑

— Stolen! (@getstolen) January 10, 2016

Creating and leveraging the power of exclusivity can be a powerful tool. Spireworks invite only system is one of the best examples of that. Creating exclusivity gives you the ability to throttle the number of early users while still ironing out your core product. It turns a weakness around awareness into a strength. Also, it can result in increased promotion via word of mouth virality of your product. Lastly it attracts higher quality and more engaged users of your product which will be exponentially more useful to your initial product iterations and refinement.

Plan Your Life In 2016

We are almost 2 weeks into 2016. Can you believe that? Now about those resolutions... Is 2016 the year you start a new company, write a book, do your first Tough Mudder (you should because Tough Mudder's are awesome, finishing a 2nd race is a goal of mine for 2016), or maybe you just want to go to the gym more. Well in order to accomplish your goals this year you are going to need to change things up a bit. Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is:

"Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

- Albert Einstein

So you know its time for some changes and in order for them to be long lasting you are going to need to work them into your daily routine and be honest with yourself. Though that self work can seem like a lot at times, I have found something to make it a bit easier. Recently I stumbled upon "The Best Life Planner for 2016" on Product Hunt by @melissajoykong. Just like a Product Manager sets the roadmap for a company's future product developments, Melissa says she created the Best Life Planner to help you: 

1. Reflect on the past year with a 2015 Annual Review
2. Identify the intersection between your strengths and passions
3. Discover your unique purpose for the year ahead
4. Change 12 key habits in 2016
5. Optimize how you spend your time every day
6. Create seasonal roadmaps to turn your big goals into actionable plans
7. Learn how to build a morning routine that will change your entire day

You can supercharge your focus on your achieving your goals in 2016 with the Best Life Planner 2016 here. And if you need to add some extra Ambition added to your day while you fill it out, I have you covered for that too. 

Ambition Today: John Federico, Co-Founder Of Event Hero On The Future Of Podcasting, Marketing, and Superman

What an event episode ten of Ambition Today is as Jon Federico, co-founder of Event Hero and @GadgetBoy himself comes on the show all the way from warm and sunny Austin, Texas. 

Ever wonder why most podcasts are sponsored by Audible.com? Today we a speaking with John Federico who years ago worked at Audible and invented the podcast affiliate program. Through the years he also worked at Advance Internet, Blog Talk Radio, and more. He is now the co-founder of Event Hero which is the first integration Platform-as-a-Service for event technologies. He also hosts the EventTech Podcast is all about event technologies where John interviews EventTech company CEO’s and product managers, industry thought leaders and event organizers. If you are a new startup founder and want to better understand the world of podcasting, audio, and marketing this episode is for you. 

• How an economic crash can influence you years later.

• Why the medium of audio matters.

• Recognizing when life deals you an opportunity and capitalizing on it.

• Understand the world of podcasts.

• How John created the Audible Podcast Affiliate program at Audible.com.

• Making the leap from employee to entrepreneur.

• How to re-brand your company.

• Who would win in a fight: Batman or Superman?

• The future of podcasting.

• Using content marketing such as blogging or writing a book to grow your brand.

• Winning the battle for people's time and attention.

Ambition Today Question of the Day:

What is the optimal work life balance that let's you enjoy success and make all the time and energy worthwhile?

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS and on Stitcher for Android. 

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Links from this episode: 

• John Federico @GadgetBoy on Twitter

• Event Hero Powercore

• Event Tech Podcast

• Audible.com

• Bossy Pants by Tina Fey

• Traction by Gabriel Weinberg

• The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday

• Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff

• Eventbrite Superpowers Revealed! book by John Federico

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…

Listen to this episode now: 

Ambition Today Podcast Sponsors:

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Watch The World In 2016

I feel it is important to take time to understand global trends and events in order to keep clear the lens through which we view what is happening in our own lives. So take a few minutes and get ready for the world in 2016.

The 2016 Summer Olympics will be in Brazil this August. In November the United States will elect a new President. Meanwhile, Europe will continue to experience one of the largest human migrations in decades. El Nino will continue to disrupt normal weather patterns for months in to the new year. Toxins from oceanic plastic pollution will continue to enter the human food chain as fish that we eat digest the small plastic particulates from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Virtual reality will begin to displace other forms of mainstream media consumption. Anxiety disorders will begin to be discussed openly as they now affect 40% of the population. The amount of global wealth belonging to the top 1% is expected to become greater than the amount of global wealth belonging to the other 99% combined this year. 2016 also commemorates 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare and this special anniversary year will be sure to inspire many Shakespeare related themes throughout the year. See for your self below what the Economist predicts for "The World In 2016".    

Happy Holidays To You!

We'll I don't know about you but my inbox is full of a lot of Holiday promotions this week from companies trying to sell me stuff I don't want. So, this isn't one of those. There is no purpose for this post other than to simply wish you a Happy Holidays! I want to thank you for keeping up to date with what I have been up to, listening to my new podcast, and just being a great person in general. 

Happy Holidays To You! 

So sit back, relax, and enjoy this Holiday Season! To help you level up this time of year I have pulled some Christmas albums from Spotify that I listed below, enjoy! 

Jackson 5 - Ultimate Christmas Collection

*NSYNC - Home For Christmas

Justin Beiber - Under The Mistletoe (Deluxe Edition)

Adam Sandler - The Chanukah Song, Part 4  

Michael Buble - Christmas  

Mariah Carey - Merry Christmas

Ambition Today: Rob Principe, Founder & CEO of Scratch On Partnering With Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C., The Future Of Music, And The Rise Of The DJ

Rob Principe, CEO of Scratch Music Group

Episode nine of Ambition Today finds us with the King of the DJ's, Rob Principe, the Founder & CEO of Scratch Music Group.

Young Rob Principe with Run-D.M.C.

Growing up on Long Island as a child Rob loved music, especially Run D.M.C.  One day the popular music group happened to sit down next to him on a plane as he was traveling to a tennis tournament. Afterword he took a picture with the group. Fast forward years later Rob had founded Scratch Music Group and after some hustle, Rob would show this very picture to Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C. in a greenroom at the Letterman Show in New York City while pitching him his vision. Jam Master Jay was in and together they co-founded the Scratch DJ Academy. I found Rob's story to be pretty incredible. During this episode we go over the history of Scratch as well as: 

• What is it like meeting your childhood hero's.

• How Rob and Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C. co-founded the Scratch DJ Academy.

• The importance of building credibility when building your initial startup's team.

• Recognizing that defining inspirational moment in your life that changes the path your on.

• How Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C. came to collaborate on "Walk This Way".

• The moment when your startup becomes and feels real to you as the founder.

• Converting your initial traction into a paid business model.

• The importance of moving the chains over and over during the early years of your startup.

• The future of DJ'ing and Music

• How Music Festivals became so popular.

Ambition Today Question of the Day:

Do you think childhood plays a role in defining who people become?

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS and on Stitcher for Android. 

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Links from this episode: 

• Scratch Music Group

• @Rob_Principe on Twitter

• @princee09 on Instagram

• Herbie Hancock - Rockit

• Run-D.M.C. & Aerosmith - Walk This Way

• Kid Capri

• Run-D.M.C.

• Forbes DJ List

• A-Trak

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…

Listen to this episode now: 

Ambition Today Podcast Sponsors:

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Careers Of The World's Best Founders

So you want to be the next Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, or even Colonel Sanders. Ever wonder where do the best founders come from? Well consider your self covered thanks to this new collection of careers of the world's best founders.

The journey to greatness is not always just sunshine and rainbows. It is a journey and along the way there are plenty of successes, failures, new ventures founded, and lessons to be learned. You hear some of those stories on Ambition Today. If you are wondering about societies late great founders of the past though, then here you go. Fleximize answers the following questions:

• How did the greatest entrepreneurs start out?
• What were their biggest successes?
• What failures did they have to overcome along the way?

Here are the answers all packed into one charted collection of the careers of 33 inspirational company founders, showing that there’s more than one path to success.

3 Minutes Of Your Time: I Dare You To Watch This Entire Video

We all know its happening. It started somewhere between 2005-2010 when you bought your first smartphone. Over the next year, the way your brain worked began to change.

You probably noticed that your brain had a new friend through out the day, dopamine. Constantly fueled by Angry Birds, E-mail, the internet, Facebook, etc. Unfortunately, around that time you also stopped using your imagination in the same way. Unless you worked in a creative industry, you didn't need it anymore. If you had a burning question about life or that meal you just ate you could simply reach in your pocket and Google it. Voilà, the answer and some more dopamine are a mere reach away! No more waiting for and wondering what the answer could be. No more using your imagination to come up with creative solutions to the questions in your mind. I am not quite sure what the long lasting loss of imagination will be on society as a whole, but I don't imagine it could be too good. 

That being said, the mass granting of access to information has been a powerful movement since web 1.0, but it has been a few years now. We need to ask ourselves is the knowledge we soak up like a sponge from the internet everyday the best use of our time, the most precious resource we are ever given. We must remember to protect our time.

So how bad have you gotten and how bad is your old friend dopamine affecting you today? Let's find out. I recently watched a video from Adam Conover who is the host of TV's Adam Ruins Everything, a pretty brilliant show if you haven't checked it out yet. In this video Adam asks for 3 minutes of your time. 3 minutes of your focused, attention, distraction free time. The best part of this video isn't actually the video itself, it is the self awareness that is created with every little lunge for your phone, browser tab you think to open, or fear of boredom you experience while you are watching. So give it a shot. I dare you to watch this entire video.

State of Startups Report: 2015

State of Startups 2015 from First Round Capital

First Round Capital has released their 2015 State of Startups Report. They asked the question "What does it mean to be a startup entrepreneur in 2015?".  The report was designed to share meaningful insights into what it's like to run a startup today. The full report is above. 

The key takeaways from the First Round Capital State of Startups Report 2015 include: 

1. Most think it won’t get easier to raise funding.
2. 73% say we're in a tech bubble.
3. No one has a clue about the IPO market.
4. Women-led companies are more diversity focused.
5. Founders see power shifting from entrepreneurs to investors.
6. Hiring the right people and revenue growth top the list of founder concerns.
7. Co-founder relationships change with age.
8. Bitcoin is overhyped while autonomous vehicles are underhyped.
9. Founders fear long-term failure, but not the short-term mistakes that lead to it.
10. Elon Musk is the far-and-away most admired leader in technology.

If you are a startup founder let me know on Twitter or in the comments below what you think some of the biggest lessons learned from running your startup in 2015 is. 

Tomorrowland: The Companies Building a Better Future

There is a reason the header image of the Siskar.co website is a futuristic city where anything seems possible. It is Tomorrowland. At the dedication of the first Tomorrowland Walt Disney declared it as: 

"A vista into a world of wondrous ideas, signifying Man's achievements... A step into the future, with predictions of constructed things to come. Tomorrow offers new frontiers in science, adventure and ideals. The Atomic Age, the challenge of Outer Space and the hope for a peaceful, unified world."

— Walter E. Disney, July 17, 1955

I wasn't alive post World War II when the greatest generation was building and believing in anything they put their minds too. When society as a whole believed in the future and that anything was possible. I would have loved to have experienced that level of optimism in society and technology. This is the future Walt Disney believed in and was inspired by. 

I think we could be returning to that time.  A great example of the potential of this mentality is what Mark Zuckerberg did this week with his pledge to give away 99% of his Facebook shares to charity.  

Even if all of society isn't on fully on board yet, there are some incredible individuals already building great new companies in order to make the future and tomorrow a better place. There is an infinite number of ways and methods to use your life to contribute back to the world. Over the past few years I have been working with some of these companies. I now feel it is time to share them with you. Hopefully, they inspire you to also help with building a better Tomorrow.