Founder Breakthroughs

Like all of us, today’s guest had to face the hardships brought on by the global pandemic in 2020 – one of which was having her children learn at home instead of in school.But for her and her kids, something peculiar happened – and they actually thrived in the online experience.She later learned that other parents and their kids did not, unfortunately, thrive to the same degr

The startup journey is full of twists and turns – but it can also present new opportunities as you go down the path.Today’s guest, Katelyn Alberts started her journey with the idea of building a marketplace – and quickly transformed it into something even greater than that.During our talk, we covered some really timely topics for any founder:- How Katelyn, as a nontechnical f

Starting and building companies is an amazing rollercoaster of ups and downs – and for many founders, achieving a successful exit at the end of the process is the ultimate goal.I’ve been fortunate enough to experience 2 major exits in my founder career – and I learned a ton from both of them. Today’s guest, Mac Lackey – has gone through a total of 6 major exits in his sta

We’ve all seen products over the years that fizzle out or go sideways – and other products in the same category that achieve explosive growth and quickly scale to millionsLikewise, we’ve seen companies enter red oceans with tons of competitors – only to quickly go viral there and dominate. Google did this in the crowded search space of 1998. Facebook did this to Myspace.But

If you’re involved in selling – and especially B2B selling for a SaaS business, then you’re going to love today’s episode. In the last episode, we talked with Stephen Steers about how storytelling is important to sales. Today’s guest – Matt Wolach – shares a masterclass on another aspect of B2B sales that will help you massively increase your close rate.In sales, it c

There’s one skill that every founder has to master in order to build a successful startup.I’m talking – of course – about sales. But – there are a lot of misconceptions out there about what sales is and what it isn’t.Today’s guest – Stephen Steers – has mastered the art of Startup Sales and codified it into a method he calls Contact Sales.During our discussion, we

The modern startup ecosystem has been evolving for decades – since the evolution of Silicon Valley from farmland to the hardware companies of the 60’s and 70’s – to the modern tech startup space of today.But – even after all of these years, a founder looking for support can still feel like they’re living in the wild west. At the elite levels, accelerators like Y-Combina

We’ve talked a lot on the podcast about the importance of asymmetric upside – or luck – in helping to drive entrepreneurial success.Today’s guest, Vlad Mkrtumyan, has made stacking the deck into a science in his ventures.In his first company, he launched an app featuring Drake quotes that got 2,000 downloads in week 1 - then he rinsed and repeated the process into hundreds

Every startup needs to make money – but some startups are architected with a much bigger purpose in mind.Today’s guests, Mike Mills and Nick Spoors of Infinitary Fund – have found a unique way to fund their mission.Their core innovation has enabled them to sell a product today that gives them cashflow and runway to build the business – while also funding a Think Tank that i

Timing is one of the hardest challenges for founders. Execute an idea too soon – and you’ll run out of runway before someone gets there when the time is right.Execute it too late – and you face still competition from the incumbent that got there first.Today’s guest, Ace Bhattacharjya of MedicalRecords.com gives us a masterclass on how to stay true to a timeless vision while