How Lorenzo Thione Is Scaling Support For Diverse Founders With Gaingels
Lorenzo Thione is the Managing Director of Gaingels, a leading LGBTQIA+/Allies investment syndicate and one of the largest and most active private investors in North America. He is also the co-founding Chairman of StartOut, Chairman of the Board at Social Edge, and previously co-founded Powerset, a natural-language search engine startup sold to Microsoft for $100 million in 2008.
Lorenzo Thione, Managing Director of Gaingels
We sat down with one of the most influential people in tech, Lorenzo Thione, who shares his very inspiring journey and how that led him to be where he is today.
Lorenzo grew up in Milan, Italy and had a technical background at an early age. He completed his studies at the University of Texas at Austin, from which he holds a M.S. in Computer Engineering.
He is now the Managing Director of Gaingels, a leading LGBTQIA+/Allies investment syndicate and one of the largest and most active private investors in North America. He is also the co-founding Chairman of StartOut, Chairman of the Board at Social Edge, and previously co-founded Powerset, a natural-language search engine startup sold to Microsoft for $100 million in 2008.
Lorenzo is named one of the most influential LGBT people in tech in 2014 and 2018 and his dedication in supporting and elevating leaders of the LGBTQ+ in the venture startup is amazing.
As the Managing Producer at Sing Out, Louis! Productions, he is also a Tony-Award winner (Hadestown, The Inheritance). He produced and co-created the Broadway musical, Allegiance starring George Takei and Lea Salonga. He is currently working in a new original musical, Indigo, as well as The Elephant Whisperer.
We covered a lot of ground in this episode, including:
Topics Discussed:
Where his passion comes from and how Lorenzo found entrepreneurship.
Helping others to build a diverse company by providing more than just funding.
The different companies that he had a part in building.
His mark on Broadway.
How your descent can make a difference in your future and your thinking.
How the model of angel groups is evolving to syndicates and SPV’s.
The role of a “Platform” strategy to help Gaingels portfolio companies.
What does Lorenzo think about the future of Venture Capital.
Quote of the Episode:
“Strategic Value, what is all being brought to the table”
The Greatest Piece of Advice:
His mentor told him to, “ be obsessive, about how you can add value, to your own network and relationships”
Links & show notes from this episode:
Ambition Today Is Proudly Independent & Supported By:
Finta - Finta’s end to end fundraising management platform enables you to manage your investors throughout their entire lifecycle in a single streamlined flow.
A-List: After every episode of the Ambition Today podcast we record an exclusive bonus clip, where we ask each guest to tell us the best advice they have ever received. Hear first-hand stories from over 30 entrepreneurs and investors in these exclusive bonus clips.
Listen to Ambition Today now:
Thank you for listening!
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! 🤗
Millennial Investing Podcast Episode: Venture Capital Investing With Kevin Siskar
Last month I had the opportunity to sit on the opposite sit of the podcaster’s table to be a guest on the Millennial Investing Podcast! Where hosts, Robert Leonard and Clay Finck interview successful entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors to help educate and inspire the millennial generation.
Kevin Siskar, Millenial Investing Podcast
Recently, I had the opportunity to sit on the opposite sit of the podcaster’s table to be a guest on the Millennial Investing Podcast! Where hosts, Robert Leonard and Clay Finck interview successful entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors to help educate and inspire the millennial generation.
I hope you enjoy the episode. Listen here!
Host Clay Finck chats with Kevin Siskar about venture capital investing, the types of companies emerging in the venture capital space, how studying human behavior can help you as an investor, the differences between working at a large corporation vs a smaller company, how you can shift yourself to have a growth mindset, how luck has played into the companies Kevin has worked with, and much, much more!
Topics Discussed:
· What types of companies 43North looks to invest in.
· Why tech incubators should be everywhere, not just in Silicon Valley.
· What types of industries are currently most exciting from Kevin’s point of view.
· How studying human behavior can help you as an investor.
· What Kevin wishes he could tell his younger self about investing in startups.
· The differences between working at a large corporation and working at a smaller company.
· How people can shift from a worker mindset to a growth mindset.
· How luck has played into the companies that Kevin has worked with.
· The importance of a strong network and how Kevin maintains such a wide network.
· And much, much more!
How Jordan Levy Left His Mark On The Venture Capital Industry
In the fall we sat down with one of the godfathers of Venture Capital, Jordan Levy, who shares his very inspiring founder story and how that led to his career as an investor.
Jordan Levy | SEed Capital Partners (SBNY)
In the fall we sat down with one of the godfathers of Venture Capital, Jordan Levy, who shares his very inspiring founder story and how that led to his career as an investor.
Jordan co-founded Software Distribution Services which was acquired by Ingram Micro, before going on to be a Partner on the early-stage investing team at SoftBank Capital (SBNY) for 16 years.
Jordan has served on the boards of BuzzFeed, TalkSpace, Work Market, ACV Auctions, and many others. Using his upbringing and religion to pay it forward (Tzedakah) to the community that he grew up in, in Buffalo, New York. Jordy also co-founded Z80 Labs, a startup incubator in Buffalo, and 43North, an accelerator that hosts an annual startup competition, investing $5M per year in Buffalo, NY. We cover a lot of ground in this episode, including:
Topics Discussed:
Building Software Distribution Services in the early days of venture capital.
How to think about the private vs public markets.
The intricacies of SPACs vs the IPO.
Lessons learned from decades of investments.
Betting on the first days of the internet and what has changed since.
Investing through the dot com boom and bust.
How ACV Auctions re-defined the auto market.
The importance of investing in people over markets, trends, and other aspects of the business.
Quote of the Episode:
“You invest in the people and I will always believe that” and “if you don’t think someone can take this company to the promised land, then don’t invest in them.”
The Greatest Piece of Advice:
As his grandmother passed down to him, “never go to bed angry with your wife.”
Links & show notes from this episode:
Ambition Today Is Proudly Independent & Supported By:
Finta - Finta’s end to end fundraising management platform enables you to manage your investors throughout their entire lifecycle in a single streamlined flow.
A-List: After every episode of the Ambition Today podcast we record an exclusive bonus clip, where we ask each guest to tell us the best advice they have ever received. Hear first-hand stories from over 30 entrepreneurs and investors in these exclusive bonus clips.
Listen to Ambition Today now:
Thank you for listening!
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! 🤗
Scott Wayman's Plan for Kangarootime to Support the $648 Billion Care Economy
From a 6 year old calling around on car repairs for his mother, to a thriving CEO of Kangarootime, our next guest Scott Wayman gives us insight on how he got to where he is today. Scott was the oldest son of 24 kids (18 of which were adopted).
Scott Wayman | Kangarootime
Scott Wayman's shares his very inspiring founder story. His passion for Kangarootime is next level and the company is currently focused on winning the childcare management software space for daycares and preschools. With plans to expand to the larger “care economy” which includes not only early education & childcare but also elder & senior care. A $648B TAM in the U.S. Alone according to Melinda Gate's Pivotal Ventures.
The Kangarootime team brilliantly positioned themselves throughout COVID19 as leaders in the space, by taking time to host educational sessions about how their customers can best adapt their centers, as well as quickly shipping new features such as contactless check-in/out, health checks, and more. I have personally watched Scott relentlessly grow this company from their early days at Founder Institute, through several investments from 43North, and was very excited to sit down with him for this episode.
Topics Discussed:
A unique upbringing with 18 adopted siblings.
Building his sales chops with Enterprise Rental Car.
Why you need passion to succeed in your startup’s vision.
Kangarootime’s origin story.
The role of psychology in startups.
How Kangarootime seized a leadership role by helping their daycare centers through COVID19.
The future of the $648 Billion Care Economy.
Quote of the Episode:
“Working in a center and living the life of our customers… was crucial to finding product-market fit”
The Greatest Piece of Advice:
Check out the podcast’s backchannel, The A-List , where you can listen to free exclusive audio clips containing the single greatest piece of advice each guest has ever learned!
Links & show notes from this episode:
Ambition Today Is Proudly Independent & Supported By:
Finta - Finta’s end to end fundraising management platform enables you to manage your investors throughout their entire lifecycle in a single streamlined flow.
A-List: After every episode of the Ambition Today podcast we record an exclusive bonus clip, where we ask each guest to tell us the best advice they have ever received. Hear first-hand stories from over 30 entrepreneurs and investors in these exclusive bonus clips.
Listen to Ambition Today now:
Thank you for listening!
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! 🤗
43North's $1 Million Investment Opportunity
Now in its seventh year, the competition offers eight new startups a chance to secure up to $1 million in funding and land a spot in 43North’s next cohort. I have joined the team to help select this year’s companies, and we are currently accepting startup applications for $500k to $1m in investment until July 19th! Investing in founders with deep domain expertise and early traction for their high-growth startup!
Being born and raised in Buffalo, NY, I have always loved my hometown city. If you are curious about why, I recommend you check out “The Incredible History of Buffalo, NY In 5 Minutes”, which I shared in the Huffington Post a few years ago.
Scott Wayman of Kangarootime, after winning 43North in 2017
In 2014, Buffalo started 43North, investing $5M per year to attract and retain high-growth companies in Buffalo, NY. Fast forward to 2017, and after meeting Scott Wayman, the founder of Kangarootime, at a Founder Institute event in Silicon Valley, I recommended the company to 43North. Kangarootime ran with it and crushed it. First, securing an initial $500k investment from 43North, and then subsequently more follow on funding. They have since grown a significant presence in Western New York and continuing to build a great company!
Then in 2018, one of my Founder Institute New York portfolio companies, Teddy Mozart, received a large purchase order from QVC. A massive break, but they needed help financing the inventory to fill the QVC order. Carlton, the founder, told me he found Kickfurther, which secures inventory funding via their marketplace of investors. Through Kickfurther, Teddy Mozart managed to get the funds needed to fill the QVC order in less than 72 hours! I told this story while helping to deliberate the final investment decision in 2018, and I like to think it helped play a role in Kickfurther joining the 43N portfolio that year!
Now in its seventh year, the competition offers eight new startups a chance to secure up to $1 million in funding and land a spot in 43North’s next cohort. I have joined the team to help select this year’s companies, and we are currently accepting startup applications for $500k to $1m in investment until July 19th! Investing in founders with deep domain expertise and early traction for their high-growth startup!
If you or someone you know might be a good fit, visit 43 North to apply, or feel free to text me at +1 (646) 907-6669 if you would like to connect directly about the opportunity!
Creating Data-Driven Founding Sales Leaders With Peter Kazanjy
Pete Kazanjy is Ambition Today’s new guest from Southern California. He is sitting in San Francisco, CA right now as we speak, enjoying Alamo Square. He is a serial founder and seasoned early stage Saas executive, advisor, and investor.
Peter Kazanjy | Co-Founder of Atrium
Pete Kazanjy is Ambition Today’s new guest from Southern California. He is sitting in San Francisco, CA right now as we speak, enjoying Alamo Square. Peter Kazanjy is a serial founder and seasoned early stage Saas executive, advisor, and investor. Pete has cofounded many companies including TalentBin, Modern Sales, and Atrium. He is also an author of “Founding Sales”.
He went to Stanford where he learned English and Philosophy. Pete is still going strong and has a lot to offer his clients, be sure to read his book “Founding Sales”, a Startup Sales Handbook. In this episode of the podcast, we go deep into how best to optimize early sales for startups companies.
Topics Discussed:
Go-to-Market and Marketing Strategies
The difference between founding sales and normal sales.
Why sales are so critical to early growth.
The best tools for sales, revenue, and accounting
Maintaining work-life balance as an entrepreneur
Quote of the Episode:
“Three main rules: focus, focus, focus”.
The Greatest Piece of Advice:
Check out the podcast’s backchannel, The A-List where you can listen to exclusive audio clips containing the single greatest piece of advice each guest has ever learned!
Links & show notes from this episode:
Ambition Today Is Proudly Independent & Supported By:
Finta - A secure, cloud-based, deal room platform. Companies quickly set up a deal room and have a blazing fast tool for raising capital. We make sharing company information with investors secure, simple, and automated.
A-List: After every episode of the Ambition Today podcast we record an exclusive bonus clip, where we ask each guest to tell us the best advice they have ever received. Hear first-hand stories from over 30 entrepreneurs and investors in these exclusive bonus clips.
Listen to Ambition Today now:
Thank you for listening!
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! 🤗
Jack Greco Helps Build A Unicorn Company In Buffalo, With ACV Auctions
From growing up on a dairy farm, to a successful entrepreneur with hundreds of employees, meet our next guest, Jack Greco. Greco co-founded ACV Auctions, an online auction dealer platform, which was last valued at $1.5B.
Jack Greco | ACV Auctions
From growing up on a dairy farm, to a successful entrepreneur with hundreds of employees, meet our next guest, Jack Greco. Greco co-founded ACV Auctions, an online auction dealer platform, which was last valued at $1.5B. He never thought that he would be the person to co-found Buffalo’s first unicorn startup in 2014. The great part is the story behind his success. He later reveals to Kevin that he has been fired from every job before he became a founder, and what kicked him in gear, was learning that he had a baby on the way. Every success story is different, and I think this is great for our audience to hear, and prove to you, never give up, or think that you are not worth something because you got fired! Pick your feet up and move on!
As of 2018, Greco left ACV Auctions and is now an angel investor. To date, he has invested in over 50 companies and is trying his hardest to maintain a quality work-life balance for his son.
Topics Discussed:
A little background on Jack Greco
Unicorn Start-Up
Angel investing in 50 companies
Working with others
Covid effects on the world
Work-life balance
Mental Health
Having a coach is so important
Buffalo Bridge
Quote of the Episode:
“This [ACV Auctions] is a great learning experience, and it will shape who I am going to be as an investor, a mentor, executive, father, for the rest of my life.” - Jack Greco
The Greatest Piece of Advice:
Checkout the podcast’s back channel, The A-List where you can listen to exclusive audio clips containing the single greatest piece of advice our guests have ever learned!
Links & show notes from this episode:
Ambition Today Is Proudly Independent & Supported By:
Finta - A secure, deal room platform for early-stage companies. Quickly set up your company and you’ve got a blazing fast tool for organizing your fundraise and securing your sensitive company information. House your pitch deck, secure your legal documents, organize your cap table, notify target investors, and close deals faster! Finta allows you to raise more, save time, and increase your efficiency.
Listen to Ambition Today now:
Thank you for listening!
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! 🤗
News Roundtable: Future of American Cities and Working From Home
Kevin Siskar and Tim Shisler are at it again, discussing the current news in our world today.
Kevin Siskar and Tim Shisler are at it again, discussing the current news in our world today. Each person brings one topic to the table and they talk about them both.
The Future of American Cities:
Kevin starts by discussing how he lived in NYC for almost a decade and how he has seen the cost of living increased significantly during that time. Witnessing how commercial real estate investors have increased their rent so much that small shops are no longer able to handle the cost. 50% of all restaurants in NYC are going to close due to COVID 19, with 12,000 being closed already. So many people think big cities might be dying, but looking at the next few years, Tim and Kevin discuss will the city economies be able to come back?
The Rise of Remote Work:
Tim talks about how it was hard for him to transition to remote work once COVID-19 forced a lot of the world’s workforce to remote. Making it work is a lot about having a plan and being diligent about time and how you carve it out. Routine is key. There is a fine line between work life and home life, the separation needs to be balanced. Should you be working at 8pm when you have a significant other? When working in an office, the commute is there to help you shift out of work mode, what do you no longer have that transition time while working from home. This is also the time where it really shines on the people that really care about their work, vs. the people that were just working to have a job. This is a big topic right now, because working from home is definitely not for everyone.
Ambition Today Is Proudly Independent & Supported By:
Finta - A secure, deal room platform for early stage companies. Quickly set up your company and you’ve got a blazing fast tool for organizing your fundraise and securing your sensitive company information. House your pitch deck, secure your legal documents, organize your cap table, notify target investors, and close deals faster! Finta allows you to raise more, save time, and increase your efficiency.
The A-List - Join the podcast’s backchannel for exclusive access to learn the single greatest piece of advice each guest has ever learned! Plus additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more.
Listen to Ambition Today now:
Thank you for listening!
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! 🤗
Bringing Back Jeff Wald To Discuss The End Of Jobs
Our next guest is so amazing, we had to interview him a second time! He was on nearly 5 years ago on Episode 8! Jeff Wald is an entrepreneur who has started three technology companies, with his latest company, WorkMarket, being sold to ADP.
Jeff Wald | Author | The End of Jobs
Our next guest is so amazing, we had to interview him a second time! Jeff Wald was on Ambition Today nearly 5 years ago on Episode 8 and we are bringing him back for episode 62!
Jeff Wald is an entrepreneur who has started three technology companies, and since we last spoke with Jeff, he sold his latest company, WorkMarket, to ADP. Jeff is also a Board Member on the following boards: Steel Connect, Costar Technologies, TransfrVR, Peerless Systems, and Register.com. During this episode we catch up with Jeff and talk about his new book, “The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations”. Tune in to hear all about his book as well as statistics regarding the workforce in 2020:
Topics Discussed:
His experience selling the company.
The impact of remote working.
How to create “social squads” in your company.
The importance of defining the goal of any meeting.
The steps of technological change, mechanization, electrification, computerization and what comes next with robots and AI.
Quote of the Episode:
“Every time {we revolutionize} we ended up with more jobs, at a higher standard of living, with working fewer hours, that is definitively clear through history.” - Jeff Wald
The Greatest Piece of Advice:
Checkout the podcast’s back channel, The A-List where you can listen to exclusive audio clips containing the single greatest piece of advice our guests have ever learned!
Links & show notes from this episode:
Ambition Today Is Proudly Independent & Supported By:
Finta - A secure, deal room platform for early-stage companies. Quickly set up your company and you’ve got a blazing fast tool for organizing your fundraise and securing your sensitive company information. House your pitch deck, secure your legal documents, organize your cap table, notify target investors, and close deals faster! Finta allows you to raise more, save time, and increase your efficiency.
Listen to Ambition Today now:
Thank you for listening!
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! 🤗
Ambition Today's News Roundtable: R.I.P. to RBG and Facebook
In this new and exciting podcast, Kevin Siskar and Tim Shisler talk about the current events in our world today.
In this new episode, Kevin Siskar and Tim Shisler discuss the current news in our world today. Each week, each person brings one topic to the table.
This week Tim chose to talk about the sad passing of former Associate Judge, Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 18, 2020. She passed away after complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer.
And brought Facebook to the table. There are real issues with Facebook. Everything from the false advertising that Facebook is not taking responsibility for, mental health issues stemming from addiction to Facebook, and now election interference! On September, 3rd Facebook came out with their plan on tackling the Election campaigns on their platform.
Tune in to hear what Tim and Kevin have to say about this week’s topics!
Ambition Today Is Proudly Independent & Supported By:
Finta - A secure, deal room platform for early stage companies. Quickly set up your company and you’ve got a blazing fast tool for organizing your fundraise and securing your sensitive company information. House your pitch deck, secure your legal documents, organize your cap table, notify target investors, and close deals faster! Finta allows you to raise more, save time, and increase your efficiency.
The A-List - Join the podcast’s backchannel for exclusive access to learn the single greatest piece of advice each guest has ever learned! Plus additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more.
Listen to Ambition Today now:
Thank you for listening!
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! 🤗
Join The Bandwagon With Harold Hughes
Imagine being on a cruise with friends and a good business idea comes to mind, then months later, your idea is now being distributed in Walmart’s around the world! Today’s guest, Alexis Beechen was enjoying her time partyin’ and thought, putting wine in a can would be much easier to casually drink.
Harold Hughes I Founder of Bandwagon
Our next guest on the show, is the amazing Harold Hughes. He is the founder of Bandwagon, which helps companies discover the identity of their fans in order to increase attendance, offer personalized services, and increase revenue.
Growing up, Harold made his first dollar selling AirHeads for cheaper than the school sold them at their cafeteria until he got caught! He went to Clemson University where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics, before going back for his Masters's degree later. It was then, while he was taking his strategic management course that he realized it was a lot like being a fan at a sports event.
Harold loved playing sports when he grew up, and he loved that it didn’t matter your families financial status was or where you lived, you just loved to play the game. That is where Bandwagon all started. Now Harold has expanded Bandwagon from just preventing ticket fraud for fans, too also being a fan identity and data analytics company. Tune in to hear more about Harold’s story and experiences going through the ups and downs of being a CEO.
Quote of the Episode:
“Service to others is the rent for your time on earth”
Gauntlet:
Listen in for Harold’s amazing tips from his experience growing his business:
Branding/Design
Go-to-Market
Product Development
Hiring
Revenue and Accounting
Fundraising
The Greatest Piece of Advice:
Join the podcast’s backchannel, The A-List where members can listen to exclusive A-list bonus clips and get the single greatest piece of advice our guests have ever learned!
Links & show notes from this episode:
Ambition Today Is Proudly Independent & Supported By:
Equity Token - Helping early stage companies raise capital faster. Set up your company and fundraising deal once to build your company’s deal room. Then share it anywhere. Let Equity Token take care of the rest.
Audible - Visit www.audibletrial.com/AmbitionToday to download and keep any audiobook for free. Download your free book now!
The A-List - Join the podcast’s backchannel for exclusive access to additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more. Plus, Learn the single greatest piece of advice each guest has ever learned!
If you are already a member of the A-list then you can easily access your bonus content from right here!
Listen to Ambition Today now:
Thank you for listening!
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! 🤗
Alexis Beechen Drops Some Knowledge From Building Her Wine Empire
Imagine being on a cruise with friends and a good business idea comes to mind, then months later, your idea is now being distributed in Walmart’s around the world! Today’s guest, Alexis Beechen was enjoying her time partyin’ and thought, putting wine in a can would be much easier to casually drink.
You are on a cruise with friends and a good business idea comes to mind. Fast forward a few years later and your idea is now very much real and being distributed in Walmart’s around the world!
Alexis Beechen I Founder of The Drop
That’s what happened to today’s guest, Alexis Beechen. She put wine in a can making it much easier to casually drink and enjoy. Alexis and her team created The Drop, which is now at concert venues, small wine stores, and as of late last year, in Walmart’s all around.
An entrepreneur by heart, Alexis made her first dollar selling her mom’s gently used clothes when she could barely drive. Her dad, an entrepreneur himself, had his own legal firm, and her mom was the first person that talked to her about branding yourself and establishing trust with people. Alexis went to Georgetown for Marketing and eventually landed a job with Havas where she maintained Dos Equis account while helping to create the Most Interesting Man in the World. Although she loved her job with Havas, she decided to go back to Columbia for business school. During her schooling is when The Drop was born. Today, she is working on another business that she is passionate about, Hunterz.io which helps startups with connections they need to grow their business. Listen in to hear more in-depth about Alexis’ awesome story!
Quote of the Episode:
“You can only make as much money as the hours you build”
Gauntlet:
Listen in for the best tips, tricks, and tools that Alexis used growing her business:
Branding/Design - Fiverr
Go-to-Market – Hunterz.io
Product Development – feedback from customers
Hiring - LinkedIn
Revenue and Accounting - QuickBooks
Fundraising - Carta
The Greatest Piece of Advice:
Join the podcast’s backchannel, The A-List where members can listen to exclusive A-list bonus clips and get the single greatest piece of advice our guests have ever learned!
Links & show notes from this episode:
Ambition Today Is Proudly Independent & Supported By:
Equity Token - Helping early stage companies raise capital faster. Set up your company and fundraising deal once to build your company’s deal room. Then share it anywhere. Let Equity Token take care of the rest.
Audible - Visit www.audibletrial.com/AmbitionToday to download and keep any audiobook for free. Download your free book now!
The A-List - Join the podcast’s backchannel for exclusive access to additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more. Plus, Learn the single greatest piece of advice each guest has ever learned!
If you are already a member of the A-list then you can easily access your bonus content from right here!
Listen to Ambition Today now:
Thank you for listening!
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! 🤗
Automating Indoor Agriculture with Dan Nelson's Grow Computer
Packing for a nice relaxing vacation, you look around, and realize, you have these beautiful plants that you have worked so hard in growing, and you wonder, are they going to be thriving when you get home?
Dan Nelson I Founder of Grow Computer
Packing for a nice relaxing vacation, you look around, and realize, you have these beautiful plants that you have worked so hard in growing, and you wonder, are they going to be thriving when you get home? Our amazing guest today, Dan Nelson thought just that as he prepared for his honeymoon a few years back. There has to be a better way than having dead plants when you get back from vacation! This is the event that gave him a new chapter in life. After countless hours of studying under his belt, he helped create Grow Computer as it is today!
Dan didn’t always have the ambition to help automate agriculture, he grew up in Long Island where his father and grandfather instilled his great work ethic in him. He would help with the latest house project by wheelbarrowing supplies to them when needed. He had great hardworking role models and followed in their footsteps. Nelson graduated with a Masters Degree in accounting and an undergraduate in Economics at the University of Michigan. Before Grow Computer, he had many jobs, with one of his favorites being a virtual CFO because he has always loved helping people build better businesses. He even created a tool called Start of Economics 101. Tune in to this episode to hear more about Dan and his tips and experience in building his own company.
Quote of the Episode:
“If it [computer system] doesn’t talk to each other, it adds layers, complexity, transaction costs and stress and hassle, and reduces the efficiency in any business”
Gauntlet:
Listen in for the tips, tricks, and tools that Dan shares with us!
Branding/Design
Go-to-Market
Product Development
Hiring
Revenue and Accounting
Fundraising
The Greatest Piece of Advice:
Join the podcast’s backchannel, The A-List where members can listen to exclusive A-list bonus clips and get the single greatest piece of advice our guests have ever learned!
Links & show notes from this episode:
Ambition Today Is Proudly Independent & Supported By:
Equity Token - Helping early stage companies raise capital faster. Set up your company and fundraising deal once to build your company’s deal room. Then share it anywhere. Let Equity Token take care of the rest.
Audible - Visit www.audibletrial.com/AmbitionToday to download and keep any audiobook for free. Download your free book now!
The A-List - Join the podcast’s backchannel for exclusive access to additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more. Plus, Learn the single greatest piece of advice each guest has ever learned!
If you are already a member of the A-list then you can easily access your bonus content from right here!
Listen to Ambition Today now:
Thank you for listening!
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! 🤗
Taylor Jacobson Shares How Focusmate's Virtual Coworking Creates Distraction-Free Productivity
Welcome to Season 3 of Ambition Today! My guest today is Taylor Jacobson. He is the founder of Focusmate, the app that helps you focus and in return be more productive. In this episode, we discuss with Taylor what in his personal life lead him to the idea of needing a solution like Focusmate, as well as his personal take on a lot of procrastination issues.
Taylor Jacobson I CEO of Focusmate
After a summer break, we are back with a brand new season of Ambition Today!
Season 3 brings with it some fresh new changes to the podcast, coming to you from our brand new podcast studio in the heart of New York City!
We have some exciting guests coming up and I can’t wait to share all of the great conversations & new questions with you! I hope you enjoy Season 3, now on to the episode!
Who struggles with procrastination? Did you know that studies show up to 95% of people struggle with procrastination!
My guest today is Taylor Jacobson. He is the founder of Focusmate, the app that helps you focus and in return be more productive. In this episode, we discuss with Taylor what in his personal life lead him to the idea of needing a solution like Focusmate, as well as his personal take on a lot of procrastination issues.
As Taylor developed Focusmate, he found three major aspects of being more productive. One, you perform better when you need to complete a task in the presence of someone else. Two, if you commit to another person that you are going to do something, it is highly likely that you will complete it. And three, you are likely to increase productivity if you reflect on your work afterward. You know that you are going to have to review the job that you did, so in the moment of work, your actual focus becomes stronger. Focusmate is now helping thousands of people with all of these aspects! Tune in to hear more about Taylor and his company, Focusmate!
Quote of the Episode:
“These are the people {Co-workers} that have my back to grow into my best self”
Gauntlet:
This is a new section of my podcast for season 3, where I will ask my guest a tip or tool that they recommend for their business in each of the following categories. Listen in to hear Taylor’s answers:
Branding/Design
Go-to-Market
Product Development
Hiring
Revenue and Accounting
Fundraising
The Greatest Piece of Advice:
Join the podcast’s backchannel, The A-List where members can listen to exclusive A-list bonus clips and get the single greatest piece of advice our guests have ever learned!
Links & show notes from this episode:
Ambition Today Is Proudly Independent & Supported By:
Equity Token - Helping early stage companies raise capital faster. Set up your company and fundraising deal once to build your company’s deal room. Then share it anywhere. Let Equity Token take care of the rest.
Audible - Visit www.audibletrial.com/AmbitionToday to download and keep any audiobook for free. Download your free book now!
The A-List - Join the podcast’s backchannel for exclusive access to additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more. Plus, Learn the single greatest piece of advice each guest has ever learned!
If you are already a member of the A-list then you can easily access your bonus content from right here!
Listen to Ambition Today now:
Thank you for listening!
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! 🤗
Crafting A Killer Startup Story For Your Fundraising Pitch
Your company narrative is hiding inside the walls of your company’s brain, it’s a matter of drawing it out. Now let’s outline the steps and process, including all of the specific techniques used to arrive at your company’s killer narrative.
Co-Authored with Ryan F. Salerno, Technical Co-Founder at Equity Token.
Earlier this year, in response to the question “What are the most common mistakes founders make when they start a company?”, Justin Kan, the Founder of Twitch & Atrium, responded with the following:
“Mistake 1: Underestimating the importance of narrative when fundraising:
I firmly believe that investors invest in (and employees join, and journalists write about) compelling stories, and your pitch deck is really just a vehicle for telling the story you want to tell. So, start first with the narrative and build the deck after you have it nailed.”
Finding Your Killer Company Narrative:
You need a killer company narrative for your startup pitch. Wether you are telling your family about your company or speaking with investors while fundraising, how you communicate your company’s narrative matters.
From a pure story perspective, how do you do that? Let’s quickly introduce two frameworks we will be using.
Framework 1: Story of Stories
With this question in mind, I was recently reading a series of new posts called The Story of Us from one of my favorite authors, Tim Urban. In it, he breaks down the specific characteristics required for a normal story to become a story virus. Those characteristics are:
Simplicity
Unfalsifiability
Conviction
Contagiousness
Accountability
Comprehensiveness
Framework 2: Startup Focus
Jonathan Greechan, Co-founder of the Founder Institute, has a presentation on Startup Focus. According to Jon, your startup must do the following:
To arrive at your killer company narrative, you need a startup story that is simple and unfalsifiable, while also fitting the “Solve One Problem for One Customer” framework.
Here’s an example company narrative if Stripe were to go through this exercise.
Securely collecting credit and debit card payments is hard for developers. With the Stripe Checkout Product, developers can embed a payment form that costs $0.30 per transaction.
Your narrative is hiding inside the walls of your company’s brain, it’s a matter of drawing it out. Now let’s outline the steps, including all of the specific techniques used to arrive at a killer company narrative.
Step 1 - Prepare:
Over the course of a few days start brain dumping any and all talking points you currently associate with your company into your notepad.
Schedule a “Narrative Day” with your whole team. Find a conference room and book a day on the calendar with no other meetings, so you can focus on this project.
Buy the following supplies before the meeting and be sure to bring them with you:
Post-it Super Sticky Wall Easel Pad, 20 x 23 Inches ($30 on Amazon)
Different Color Sticky Post It Notes ($6 on Amazon)
Color Coding Stickers ($5 on Amazon)
Markers
As I mentioned above this process was inspired by Tim Urban’s “Story of Stories” framework. I highly recommend having your team read this post in advance of your company’s narrative revision meeting.
Step 2 - Brainstorm:
Stick up five sheets of the sticky wall easel pads around the room. Going left to right label each of them as follows:
Original Company Vision
Current Narratives
Goals For New The Narrative
New Potential Narratives
Target Customers
Hand out the sticky post-it notes to your team. If you want, you can give each person their own color so you can later easily see who contributed what ideas.
Start with the first board “Original Vision” by having each person on your team write down a sentence (small enough to fit on a sticky note) that describes your company’s original vision. Originally, when your company was an idea over beers, what was the initial pie in the sky dream for the vision?
Each person should write as many as they can think of in a few minutes. After time is up, everyone puts up their stickies on the wall and someone reads them out loud.
Step 3 - Vote & Sort:
Next, use the dot sorting technique. Give each person on the team a bunch of the green and red dot shaped stickers. It is now time to upvote and downvote the Original Vision board to determine which company narratives are resonating with your audience / customers.
Each person should place a green sticker on the ideas they want to upvote as resonating with your audience / customers.
Each person should place a red sticker on the ideas they want to downvote as resonating with your audience / customers.
Now rearrange the post it notes so the ideas with the most upvotes are on top, and the idea’s with the most downvotes are on the bottom!
You now have a clear and glanceable look at what is working and what is not with regard to your original vision for the company.
Step 4 - Repeat For Each Section:
Repeat this process for the remaining boards. Letting every team member contribute ideas and then helping to vote them up/down.
Current Company Narratives
What does the website say right now? If you asked someone else to describe your company back to you, what would they say? Write down an honest depiction of the current narrative.
Goals For New The Narrative
What do you want to achieve, given this new narrative? Hiring more employees? Signing up more customers? Getting more revenue? Getting more funding? A better brand? Whatever it is, write out all the goals.
New Potential Narratives
Brainstorm as many new potential narratives as you can think of. At this point there are still no wrong answers, so don’t filter yourself. Let the ideas flow and allow the dot voting take care of bringing the strong ideas to the top.
Target Customers
Who are going to be your initial target customers? Get as specific as possible. E.g. Startup founders running companies from Seed to Series A.
With the completion of each board, you will see a pattern start to emerge. Granting you a more focused and evolving clarity into how you need to structure your communications going forward.
Step 5 - Forcing Focus:
Remember those frameworks we introduced above. We are now going to apply them as filters to the narratives we just defined.
Sharing two more slides from Founder Institute Co-founder Jonathan Greechan’s presentation around focus for startups:
Put another sheet of the sticky wall easel pad on the wall and add the following to it, with room to write in answers under each:
One Problem
One Customer
One Product
One Killer Feature
One Revenue Stream
This template may seem obvious at first but as any founder can attest; the large magnitude of possible product features you can build, conflicting feedback, and more can sometimes feel burdensome. No body wants a bloated startup pitch. This structure is going to help you focus in on your specific startup’s niche.
Step 6 - The Story of Stories:
In Step 5 you defined your Focus, and now in Step 6, make sure your focus fits all of the criteria of being a killer company narrative.
This is where we come back to the Story of Stories. In the post Tim defines few necessary characteristics of a viable story virus:
Simplicity. The story has to be easily teachable and easily understandable.
Unfalsifiability. The story can’t be easy to disprove.
Conviction. For a story to take hold, its hosts can’t be wondering or hypothesizing or vaguely believing—the story needs to be specific and to posit itself as the absolute truth.
Contagiousness. Next, the story needs to spread. To be spreadable, a story needs to be contagious—something people feel deeply compelled to share and that applies equally to many people.
The story, once believed, needs to be able to drive the behavior of its host. So it should include:
Incentives. Promises of treats for behaving the right way, promises of electroshocks for behaving the wrong way.
Accountability. The claim that your behavior will be known by the arbiter of the incentives—even, in some cases, where no one is around to see it.
Comprehensiveness. The story can dictate what’s true and false, virtuous and immoral, valuable and worthless, important and irrelevant, covering the full spectrum of human belief.
Some great examples of strong story virus include Santa Claus and Catholicism. It is important you have an understanding around these characteristics as we are going to apply them as filters in the next step.
I recommend writing these characteristics down on another sticky wall easel pad so everyone in the room can clearly see the criteria that needs to be met.
Step 7 - Fill In The Blanks:
So we know have all of the following information at our disposal:
Original Company Vision
A understanding of what our company set out to do in the first place.
Current Narratives
What is currently working and not working.
Goals For New The Narrative
How we want to improve the company’s narrative pitch.
New Potential Narratives
The best candidates for our startups’ new story.
Target Customers
Defined segment of target customers.
Knowledge around what makes a good story in the first place
A solid template to force focus.
The next step is to fill in the blanks on the Problem, Customer , Product, Killer Feature, Revenue Stream template board.
The key here is to keep your answers for each to only a few carefully chosen words and to ONLY fill in the blanks with words that meet all of the requirements of the story virus.
String each of the answers together to form one sentence! Just like that Stripe example above.
Securely collecting credit and debit card payments is hard (PROBLEM) for developers (CUSTOMER). With the Stripe Checkout Product (PRODUCT), developers can embed a payment form (KILLER FEATURE) that costs $0.30 per transaction (REVENUE MODEL).
You now have your company’s new narrative!
Step 8 - Go Spread The Gospel
Start pitching your new startup story and see if it is resonating better than before. This process can help immensely when your company is fundraising. If you are like any of the companies I have seen use this process so far, then you should immediately start to see the benefits from this one day team exercise. Remember:
“Genius is the ability to put into effect what is on your mind.”
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
Other Founder Guides you might find helpful:
More on Tim Urban:
You may know Tim Urban from his famous TED Talk “Inside the mind of a master procrastinator”. On his website, Wait But Why, his articles tend to break down complex topics such as Artificial Intelligence, Elon Musk’s Neuralink, Religion, E-mail, Marriage, and so much more, to very simple explanations. So when Tim didn’t publish anything new for 3 years, many readers wondered what he was possibly working on. The answer was a new series of posts titled “The Story of Us”. If you have read and loved Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, then I recommend you check out The Story of Us: Full Series!
How To File 83(b) Election With The IRS
I will keep it short on why you might want to file a 83(b) Election with the IRS and focus more on how to file it, since that is likely why you are reading this. This article from Cooley Law does a pretty good job explaining in much greater detail why making an 83(b) Election with the IRS can be beneficial, as well as this explanation from Wealthfront. Now on to the how to file your 83(b) election instructions.
In the last five years I have helped almost 150 founders through the incorporation process. Time and time again I keep seeing one step of that process, create mass confusion for founders and early employees. Filing the 83(b) Election with the IRS within 30 days of receiving a stock grant or stock options.
I will keep it short on why you might want to file a 83(b) Election with the IRS and focus more on how to file it, since that is likely why you are reading this. This article from Cooley Law does a pretty good job explaining in much greater detail why making an 83(b) Election with the IRS can be beneficial, as well as this explanation from Wealthfront.
In short, an 83(b) election means you will be taxed on the value of your stock at the time of the grant, rather than as it vests. For founders & early employee’s of new company’s, whose stock is usually priced at $0.0001 per share at incorporation, it can make a lot of logical sense to pay upfront tax while the price of the company is still very low. Now on to the how to file your 83(b) election instructions.
IMPORTANT 83(b) Election Deadline: You must file your 83(b) Election with the IRS within 30 days of receiving your stock grant or stock options! The filing is officially deemed to have been made on the date the 83(b) is mailed from the post office; i.e. the postmark date.
If your stock is not subject to vesting, then you can ignore this process and move on with your day. 83(b) Elections are not required for those without a vesting schedule.
Steps To File Your 83(b) Election
Start with gathering the required 83(b) form documents:
If your lawyer has provided you with 83(b) election forms you may use those. If not, then print four copies of page 9 from the 83(b) Election IRS form here.
You also need to include a cover letter to the IRS, a template of which can be found here: IRS Cover Letter Template.
Complete and review all four copies of the 83(b) election form, review, date, manually sign and insert the taxpayer identification number for the taxpayer (and spouse, if applicable).
Look up where to send the completed forms by finding your state on the "Where to File Paper Tax Returns With or Without a Payment” page of the IRS website.
Enclose the following in an envelope to be mailed:
Two copies of your completed 83(b) election.
Completed cover letter.
A return self addressed envelope with stamps. The IRS will keep the first copy of your election and stamp the second copy. The self addressed envelope will be used to mail back to you the second stamped copy of your election, so you can keep it on file in your records.
Mail the enclosed envelope with 2 completed copies of your 83(b) election & cover letter to the IRS via USPS certified mail and request a return receipt.
Send another completed 83(b) election to your company.
Keep another completed 83(b) election for your personal records.
Thats it! Be on the lookout in the mail to receive that second stamped copy back from the IRS. And as always, be sure to keep your records someplace safe like a fireproof lock box.
Other Founder Guides you might find helpful:
Disclaimer: I offer this post only as helpful guidance as I am not a lawyer or certified accountant. You should still research on your own and consult your accountant or lawyer if you are uncertain of the process.
If You Could Automate One Thing In Your Business?
I started to wonder if it was possible to take a pulse of where the biggest difficulties still exist for startups in 2019 and came up with this little experiment I would love for you to participate in. I want to know your answer to one question. If you could wave a magic wand and automate one thing in your business, what would it be?
Building a company is hard, and honestly that can be a great thing! It is the very reason why you will be able to build something that numerous other people will simply give up on out of difficulty. That being said, the amount of tools and resources available to startup teams has grown dramatically over the past decade. Much of what used to be hard manual work, can now be automated.
So I started to wonder if it was possible to take a pulse of where the biggest difficulties still exist for startups in 2019 and came up with this little experiment I would love for you to participate in.
I want to know your answer to one question:
If you could wave a magic wand and automate one thing in your business, what would it be?
It’s up to you if you want to answer anonymously or not. And completing this questionnaire should take no longer than one minute. If you are interested in the results, simply let me know when asked below and I will be sure to share them with you!
Bryan Janeczko Is Helping Entrepreneurs Gro
Bryan Janeczko has a colorful portfolio of businesses including: NuKitchen, a food preparation service that helped people eat healthier, which was later sold to Nutrisystem. Gro Academy, an on-demand startup academy, Loeb, a new-approach to launching startups. Now, his latest venture that is currently in the seeding stage is Nunbelievable Foods, a baked goods company that turns their profits into feeding the homeless. Bryan was also recently named Top 23 LGBTQ people in Tech.
Bryan Janeczko
Bryan Janeczko was recently named one of the Top 23 LGBTQ people in Tech, along side other notable figures such as Tim Cook, Peter Thiel, and more. He has built a strong track record for building great businesses including: NuKitchen, a food preparation service that helped people eat healthier. NuKitchen was later sold to Nutrisystem and pioneered the market long before Blue Apron or Plated even existed.
Now Bryan is the Founder of Gro, an on-demand startup academy. As part of the Loeb.NYC family, a venture studio in the heart of New York City, Bryan is helping founders at all stages. In a new partnership between Tony Robbins and Loeb, they have also launched Nunbelievable Foods, a baked goods company that turns their profits into feeding the homeless.
Bryan grew up in Milwaukee, started a candy selling business in High School where he would at times bribe the teachers with a candy bar in order to sell more candy bars at the beginning of each class to his fellow classmates. It was such a popular business, that he started having distributors, which eventually had the principal pulling the plug on his first entrepreneurial experience. However, that didn’t stop his entrepreneurial spirit! After school, and a summer abroad in England, Bryan decided to make the big move to NY! He had a place to stay for one week and a credit card, and the rest is history! Tune in to hear more of Bryan’s story:
Learning resourcefulness early on
His life changing trip to England
Starting and selling his company, NuKitchen
Co-founding Startout
His time as the Director of Founder Institute New York
Working with Loeb NYC
Founding Gro Academy
Working with Tony Robbins and Nunbelievable Foods
Quote of the Episode:
“Every founder brings their unique set of traits and many of us become entrepreneurs because we may not make it in more traditional jobs…”
Ambition Today Question of the Day™ :
”What advice can you give an entrepreneur at the beginning stages of building their first business?”
The Single Greatest Piece of Advice:
Members of the "A-list" can listen to exclusive A-list bonus clips here! If you are not a member yet be sure to join the Ambition Today A-list!
Links from this episode:
Listen to this episode now:
The A-List
Join the shows A-list backchannel for exclusive access to additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more. Plus, Learn the single greatest piece of advice this guest has ever learned!
If you are already a member of the A-list then you can easily access your bonus content from right here!
Thank you for listening!
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…
Transcript:
You can find the full transcript of this episode here.
Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:
Skip Hop's Michael Diamant Innovates Baby Products
From being forced to layoff his whole staff, to selling his company for $140 million, our next guest, Michael Diamant, has great insight on how he became successful. Michael Diamant created a well-known brand with his wife, called Skip Hop, which was sold to Carter’s for $140 million.
Michael Diamant
From being forced to layoff his whole staff, to selling his company for $140 million, our next guest, Michael Diamant, has great insight on how he became successful. Michael Diamant created a well-known brand with his wife, called Skip Hop, which was sold to Carter’s for $140 million. It all started with a diaper bag in 2003. Michael and his wife wanted a diaper bag that was fully functional, however, also appealed to a fashion savvy crowd. The company continued to grow for 15 more years creating several more innovative baby care products before they were bought by Carter’s. Now both Michael and his wife continue to work with Carter’s to help grow the brand Skip Hop.
Before Michael created a very successful brand, he had a great career and started multiple companies. He has a background in advertising and was a happy employee at MTV. Tune in to find out more about how Michael became successful…
Growing up
The world of advertising
Working at MTV, and the impact it had on Michael
His first company – T3 Media
How he was able to start iClips
How it felt to have to lay off 35 employees
His Skip Hop Journey
Ambition Today Question of the Day™ :
What advise would you have for other entrepreneurs who are trying to find product market fit?
The Single Greatest Piece of Advice:
Members of the "A-list" can listen to exclusive A-list bonus clips here! If you are not a member yet be sure to join the Ambition Today A-list!
Links from this episode:
Listen to this episode now:
The A-List
Join the shows A-list backchannel for exclusive access to additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more. Plus, Learn the single greatest piece of advice this guest has ever learned!
If you are already a member of the A-list then you can easily access your bonus content from right here!
Thank you for listening!
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…
Transcript:
You can find the full transcript of this episode here.
Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:
Australia's Benjamin Chong Helps Startups Excel With Right Click Capital
Today, my guest is a fellow Founder Institute Director, Benjamin Chong. Benjamin has been the director of Founder Institute in Australia since 2011 and is also well known as a partner at Right Click Capital.
Benjamin Chong
Today, my guest is a fellow Founder Institute Director, Benjamin Chong. Benjamin has been the director of Founder Institute in Australia since 2011 and is also well known as a partner at Right Click Capital. Right Click Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups. He is an active technology startup community member that has served as a mentor and guest speaker at many different entrepreneurial programs in Sydney, South East Asia, and the United States.
Benjamin Chong grew up in Australia and says his life-changing entrepreneurial moment was when he was in a program called Young Achievement in High School where a few select students from multiple schools got together and created a business, they had to sell stock, and make it profitable, which was a success. He graduated from the University of South Wales and has been unstoppable. Listen in to learn more about Benjamin’s successes…
Early years in Australia
Young Achievement program in High School
Working at PWC
Co-founding iMega
Directing Founders Institute since 2011
Is startup life different in Australia
How important mental health is
Ambition Today Question of the Day™ :
What was it like to make the switch from Founder to Investor?
The Single Greatest Piece of Advice:
Members of the "A-list" can listen to exclusive A-list bonus clips here! If you are not a member yet be sure to join the Ambition Today A-list!
Quote Of The Episode:
“Relationship in businesses are critical, it takes time to build relationships…”
Links from this episode:
Listen to this episode now:
The A-List
Join the shows A-list backchannel for exclusive access to additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more. Plus, Learn the single greatest piece of advice this guest has ever learned!
If you are already a member of the A-list then you can easily access your bonus content from right here!
Thank you for listening!
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…
Transcript:
You can find the full transcript of this episode here.