What Is My Brain? by Zlatko Bijelic

Justin shares his journey in the tech world, starting with the creation of a bike share system at UC Berkeley and eventually founding Jump Bikes, which was acquired by Uber. He discusses the challenges and successes he experienced along the way. Justin also talks about his transition to family life and his current venture, Ascend Labs, which focuses on helping early-stage companies with their go-to-market strategies. He emphasizes the importance of building a community and leveraging AI in scaling the business. In this conversation, Justin discusses his approach to building a custom GBT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) for writing assistance. He emphasizes the importance of fine-tuning the GBT to meet specific needs and provides insights into the training process. Justin also shares his daily routine and the challenges of building his agency, studio, and community. He highlights the idea of capturing compelling, authentic content through a recording studio at conferences. The conversation concludes with a discussion on collaboration and building a lifestyle-driven business.

• Building a successful business requires solving a big problem with a simple solution.


• Hardware startups can be challenging due to the complexities of manufacturing and maintenance.


• Finding your passion and focusing on early-stage companies can lead to more fulfilling work.


• Creating a community and fostering relationships can be a valuable asset for a business.


• AI can be leveraged to automate processes and scale a business more efficiently. Building a custom GBT can greatly enhance writing assistance by fine-tuning it to meet specific needs.


• Creating a hyper-specific and focused GBT for different tasks and clients can yield better results.


• Time boxing and task prioritization are essential for managing daily routines and ensuring productivity.


• Building an agency, studio, and community involves testing, shaping product offerings, and adapting to market needs.


• Setting up a recording studio at conferences can provide evergreen content and enhance brand awareness.


• Collaboration with experienced individuals can bring valuable insights and help in the early stages of building a business.


• Ascendlabs.co offers support and resources for early stage companies in developing their go-to-market strategies.

Check out https://www.zlatkobijelic.com

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Follow Justin on X: https://www.x.com/ascendlabs_co

Follow Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ascendgrowth

Follow Justin on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ascendlabshq

00:00 Introduction and Background

02:08 Starting Social Bicycles

08:39 Transition to Jump Bikes and Acquisition by Uber

19:35 Family Life and Starting Ascend Labs

26:33 Building a Community and Agency

34:54 Utilizing AI in the Business

40:39 Building a Custom GBT for Writing Assistance

42:18 Daily Routine and Team Size

44:48 Challenges of Building the Agency, Studio, and Community

47:11 Launching a Recording Studio at Shop Talk

49:40 Collaboration and Lifestyle-Driven Business

51:44 Invitation to Early Stage Companies

53:19 Closing Remarks