Episodes
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With Bitcoin, it feels like a lot of the early adoption around that was as a counter to what was happening in the United States economically with the financial crash and fiat currency being used by the government to prop certain people up and not others. And I think when people are struck with a real sense of unfairness, they start to get motivated to take action --- Mike
SHOW NOTES
02:54 - Introduction and how the invisible hand of the market guided my IPO
06:02 - Bitcoin and the unfairness of capitalism
08:03 - The chaos of the early internet brought people together
13:01 - Are we not going to teach people philosophy?
17:05 - NFTs are certificates of authenticity for an idea
22:35 - DAOs are online Co-ops
27:00 - Growing up in a town of population 10
30:16 - Experiencing community after a decade of isolation
33:00 - Deconstructing the military machine
37:31 - Oregon, counter-culture and small businesses vs Walmart
41:49 - Plato and sandwich
43:43 - Daily routine
46:08 - Leveraging the wisdom of the crowds
49:38 - How to operate in the fringes of technology
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You can connect with Mike here (https://www.mike-merrill.com/)
My DMs are open for conversations (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
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What really makes me pause at this point is not that someone has that unique of a thought process, it's that they've been able to distill it in a really memorable way, like Dawkins memetics. Like the idea of being on your deathbed and having no regrets; that's a very basic concept. I feel like a lot of people throughout history have had that idea, but Jeff Bezos put it into The Regret Minimization Framework and that sticks. -- John Coogan
SHOW NOTES
03:32 - Introduction
04:40 - Big tobacco and the end of cigarettes
07:00 - Society needs Einstein's as well as generalists and those building different knowledge sets
11:10 - From high school rivals to co-founders
14:17 - Fake it till you make it in silicon valley
18:02 - Distilling complex ideas like Jeff Bezos and Paul Graham
21:30 - I had an empty calendar and read books for weeks in YC
24:57 - America should have a very high customer satisfaction rate
30:17 - At what point did Theranos become a fraud?
35:25 - The main Marxist critique is capitalists are well off than workers
40:16 - We don't have enough founders working on multi-decade problems
43:21 - The second-order effects of building tech infrastructure
45:21 - There's lack of fragmentation in the college education market
51:40 - 3 books that will have a huge impact on civilization-------------------------------------------------------------
You can connect with John here (https://twitter.com/johncoogan)
Check out his Youtube here --> https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnCooganPlus
My DMs are open for conversations (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
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Missing episodes?
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I've known Dave for a few months now and It was good to finally have him on the show. We talked about a bunch of stuff ( mentioned in the show notes ) from media in the past to where it's going and everything in between. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
SHOW NOTES
03:19 - Bleacher report became my lifeline when I was stuck in the drudgery of a full-time job
09:14 - Lessons from my failure at Inverse and building Audience Builders from first principles
12:40 - Building distribution networks in legacy media brands
17:47 - Deep work and blocking your calendar like Jerry Seinfeld
23:21 - People who shaped my worldview - Kubrick, Scorsese, Lucas, Jake Lodwick, Kevin Rose
29:00 - Taking advantage of platform growth mechanics while building an original voice
30:55 - Sam Parr is successful because he is a student of history
34:18 - Building a media empire like Pomp
37:31 - Self-censorship
41:02 - Great brands create an entire world to build deeper fan experiences
45:12 - The promise of the creator economy
49:30 - Creators will start to look more like media companies and media companies will become more like record labels
52:00 - Bringing novelty into interview podcasts
You can connect with Dave here (https://twitter.com/davenemetz)
My DMs are open for conversations (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
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Steal My Marketing is back after a long break of self-reflection and doubt. This conversation with Jonathan was recorded a few months back and has everything that I love about podcasting. It allows this 26-year-old to talk to someone I've never met about things I'm deeply interested in. The world is a fascinating place. It feels good to be back :)
SHOW NOTES
01:30 - The accidental entrepreneur
04:30 - Why I bought a 1-way ticket to China right after college
10:00 - Entrepreneurship in China in 1994
13:19 - Business schools teach you working for companies, not entrepreneurship
16:57 - How we rebuilt our business after the 2008 financial meltdown
23:10 - The markets are the same, the channels have shifted
25:20 - No country matches China's combination of infrastructure & efficiency
28:43 - The miracle of McDonald's is that fries taste the same in London or Beijing
39:24 - Untangled Coaching
46:15 - Why American capitalism will always triumph over Chinese capitalism
You can connect with Jonathan here (https://untangled-coaching.com/about-jonathan/)
My DMs are open for conversations (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
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Chris Hladczuk has interviewed billionaires, built a loyal following of thousands from his awesome Twitter threads, and built atomics habits like reading 365 days in a row, deep work, and sacred hours. In this episode, he shares his exact method of connecting and strengthening his relationship with billionaires, his sources for Twitter threads and how to craft threads that pick up millions of impressions, and building systems for success. It's the same mindset that brought him on the radar of Shaan Puri and other successful entrepreneurs. I loved how candidly he spilled all his secrets. Let him know what you learned from this :)
Here are the show notes :)
02:00 - How I started working with Shaan Puri and lessons on creating 100X content
08:06 - My schedule for writing tweet threads, engineering social proof, and why you should spend 50% of your time writing headlines
13:05 - How you can reach out to millionaires and billionaires
16:24 - Building a world-class network with ASS framework
18:43 - Crushing it on zoom calls with strangers
21:50 - How to strengthen your relationship with extremely busy people
24:07 - The exact system I use to keep track of my network
26:01 - How I built my atomic habit for reading daily, deep work, and my sacred hours
34:52 - Why First Principles is useless to most people - Michael Seibel
37:27 - How to never run out of tweet ideas again
42:25 - Why I've bookmarked Sam Altman's essay on how to be successful for the past 2 years
You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
Chris on Twitter (https://twitter.com/chrishlad)
Yale Speaker Series (https://open.spotify.com/show/0KUKSQ65nhZsB9fSFfD8Dv)
Chris' website (https://chrishlad.com/)
---
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Sachit Gupta is THE best super-connector I know. He started with nothing almost 8 years back and has since worked with Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, and Andrew Warner. His show Conscious Creators reached #1 in entrepreneurship last year and he led the On Deck Podcasting Fellowship. I wanted to bring him on the show to learn his strategies of finding third doors to network with the biggest names in any industry. He shared how he started working with Andrew, told a beautiful story of writing a letter to Tim Ferriss and the exact email he's going to send to Chris Sacca. He's also hosted a ton of poker nights for these influencers and shared his tips on hosting your own poker nights or dinners to increase your network. I also asked him how one could do these on Zoom. And he told us what you should do to connect with someone like Tim or Andrew if they're speaking at a conference. In short, he shared a TON of secrets.
Here are the show notes :)
05:08 - Cold emailing Mark Cuban, Chris Guillebeau, and Jonathan Fields
09:00 - How I’ll email Chris Sacca and lessons from 1000s of cold emails
14:18 - Standing out in the crowd of 100s of people trying to get attention from your heroes
19:34 - What I learned from Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss, and Andrew warner
22:12 - One starts to build an audience when one gives up the need to build an audience
23:55 - Conversations that are casual and intimate are functions of production, not editing.
27:27 - A cold outreach strategy that will change your life
32:10 - How to connect with your heroes hosting poker nights/dinners
36:44 - Writing a letter Tim Ferriss and a hack to connect with speakers in conferences
43:55 - How to reach out to big publications for collaborations
I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests as well as other stuff I find interesting in the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com)
You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
Sachit on Twitter (https://twitter.com/sachitgupta)
Conscious Creators Show (http://www.creators.show/)
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Danny Miranda is an inspiration and the host of the Danny Miranda podcast. He's gone from 0 to 55,000 downloads in the past 6 months, published 87 awesome conversations, and has shared countless stories of his hustle on Twitter. This conversation goes beyond what Danny has done with his podcast and captures his overall personality, his habits, and his worldview. He's done a lot in 6 months, but I cannot imagine the places he'll go in 6 years and beyond. Hope you can learn from him as much as I did.
Here are the show notes :)
02:14 - Getting a reply from Mark Cuban
03:32 - Tyler Cowen and my heavy focus on research
06:39 - 75 hard and how I started thinking long term
08:38 - Making friends on the internet is a superpower
09:46 - The role of my parents in my success
10:30 - Gary vee, Kanye West, and Rick Ross
11:50 - Failing in public and Shooting your shots
13:12 - Spotting trends and people early
14:09 - Consistency and my relationship with my audience
15:02 - Setting internal goals
16:39 - Podcasts are you reviewing a person
18:11 - I studied Larry king and Tim Ferriss to learn the skill of interviewing
19:25 - The radical Shopify course I made
21:05 - Happiness comes from struggle
23:11 - I'd love someone to help me with video clips
23:48 - Meditation is letting thoughts go through me
24:32 - My first million YouTube game
25:22 - Having phone calls with my 8k followers
28:39 - Sharing your authentic journey online
31:15 - 3 guests I'd love to interview in stadiums
I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests as well as other stuff I find interesting in the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com)
You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
Danny on Twitter (https://twitter.com/heydannymiranda)
The Danny Miranda Podcast (https://dannymiranda.com/podcast)
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This conversation is led by Bleacher Report founder Dave Nemetz, featuring Polina Marinova (The Profile Dossier), Jonathan Hunt (Complex), and Brian Morrissey (Digiday Media). The lessons compressed in this conversation are wide-ranging and if there's anything you need to learn about content-led growth, this is it. It was originally held on Clubhouse for Dave's awesome show, The Audience Builders, and I reached out to him requesting to post this on Steal My Marketing 2 days back. And BOOM. Enjoy the conversation :)
And btw, I spent last night reading through some of the best essays I've read in a while on Dave's blog. Tons of material on the early days of Bleacher Report. Check it out - (https://davenemetz.com/essays)
Here are the show notes :)
02:17 - How I scaled The Profile Dossier to tens of thousands of subscribers
08:51 - Convincing Morning Brew newsletter with 2.5 million subscribers to collaborate with me
10:44 - Complex: the convergence of culture and how we built a business around it
16:15 - Going full time with your creative projects and the systematic bias toward strong networks
20:44 - Substack severely lacks creator tools and how to improve it
27:16 - Retaining talent in the media space after they become stars
29:18 - Paid podcasts marketplaces in China and funding creators like startups
36:12 - Every couple of years, someone proclaims that websites are dead. They’re not.
40:35 - Why publishing everything at midnight gives Digiday a leverage
44:17 - Creating evergreen content and the power of long-tail
47:07 - Evergreen Profiles by Polina: Elon Musk and Charlie Munger
I write a few awesome emails a month here (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com)
You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
Dave Nemetz (https://twitter.com/davenemetz)
Polina Marinova (https://twitter.com/polina_marinova)
Jonathan Hunt (https://twitter.com/jonathan_h)
Brian Morrissey (https://twitter.com/bmorrissey)
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Darius Mirshahzadeh is a serial entrepreneur and a bestselling author. He spent his childhood in Iran and the US and learned the core principles of business from watching his dad run gas stations. I loved the stories of him selling candy in school to starting a nightclub business in college. Although the nightclub failed, it taught him valuable lessons. We also talked about Tony Hsieh ( and Holacracy), Elon Musk ( and luck), wresting (and staying in the game), and the interesting story behind his book.
Here are the show notes :)
02:20 - My Story
03:12 - Culture, Leadership and Navy Seals
06:07 - Tony Hsieh, Holacracy and why it failed
9:28 - Iranians being the Italians of the middle east and childhood
11:22 - Lessons from my dad
13:09 - Running a candy business in school and a failed nightclub business in college
16:47 - Why I'd never start a nightclub business
18:43 - A good market hides all the dead bodies
23:00 - Wrestling is a sport where you get your ass kicked until you're good
25:08 - Elon Musk - luck and staying in the game long enough
29:17 - A keynote that turned into a book and why books are a 5-year time investment
31:31 - The Greatness Machine and podcasting
I write a few awesome emails a month here (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com)
You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
Darius on Twitter (https://twitter.com/kingdarius)
Darius' Website (https://therealdarius.com)
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Austen Allred is the founder of Lambda School and one of the smartest entrepreneurs trying to fix education. We talked about Austen's fascination with reading history in the context of business, his deep interest in shareholder letters and internal memos of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, Disney, and other great companies, and his thoughts on first principles thinking. He also shared how a Mormon mission he went to at age 19 in Eastern Ukraine has shaped Lambda, how he built his network in silicon valley, and putting 100% of his net worth in Tesla. He put out his bear and bull case for Clubhouse and why he thinks it's a $400 billion company. I thoroughly enjoyed discussing topics like Peloton replacing religion in America, the death of silicon valley, democratizing angel investing, and raising a $30 million fund without even intending to do so. It was a fun conversation.
Here are the show notes :)
02:42 - Why I love reading biographies of The Wright Brothers and John D Rockefeller
04:56 - Amazon's shareholder letters are the best business writing ever
05:41 - Thinking in first principles can be taught
07:10 - Spending 2 years in Eastern Ukraine at the age of 19 and how that has shaped Lambda School
09:16 - I'm used to a lot less dopamine than most people
11:36 - People are way more open to cold emails than most people assume
12:46 - How I built my network in silicon valley from scratch
15:01 - How the world will look like if Lambda school succeeds
17:05 - Why I put 100% of my net worth in Tesla
18:38 - Clubhouse will be a $400 Billion company
21:06 - Twitter Spaces lacks the magical experience of Clubhouse and why it will fail
23:08 - Lambda school is priced low even though it feels high to a lot of people
25:25 - How I'd grow a podcast really, really fast
26:13 - If I wasn't doing Lambda School, I'd probably work for Roam Research
27:10 - Peloton is replacing religion in America
28:24 - CEO-COO relationship and the common thing among all great silicon valley companies
30:22 - Giving away free services for hyper-growth
31:36 - Why startups are now taking less than $5000 angel investments
34:30 - Silicon valley is dying
37:17 - Raising a $30 million fund without intending to
I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests as well as other stuff I find interesting in the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com)
You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
Austen on Twitter (https://twitter.com/austen)
Lambda School (https://lambdaschool.com/)
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Mubs has been making things since he was about 8 years old. Selected as ProductHunt's maker of the year for 2016, Mubs has worked on 100+ side projects. He's collaborated with Nathan Latka on Founderpath and done tons of cool things. We talked about some of his successful early projects, Product Hunt, podcasts, no-code, Nathan Latka, and more.
Here are the show notes :)
00:50 - My first side project tracking football games as a Liverpool fan
02:33 - It took weeks to set up servers back in 2000
04:07 - A side project that got 4 million pages views in its first week and others
10:01 - Looking for ideas and validating them
14:10 - How Product Hunt has evolved over the years
16:33 - An idea I thought would never get traction but is now used by corporations
18:53 - Why Podhunt is rethinking podcast recommendation systems
23:03 - Taking multiple small bets vs solving 1 big problem
24:55 - Working with Nathan Latka and what it's like
28:14 - Think of how your product serves the Product Hunt audience and how we did it with Founderpath
31:42 - Thoughts on no-code tools
33:56 - The most interesting people I've met on PH and Indiehackers
34:57 - Josh Pigford and my definition of success
36:22 - My advice to young entrepreneurs
I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests as well as other stuff I find interesting in the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com)
You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
Mubs' Twitter (https://twitter.com/mubashariqbal)
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I read Richa's Indiehackers story when it first came out and sent her a DM on Twitter. I was surprised by how much she knows about Youtube's algorithm and I've never met anyone who understands Youtube SEO to the core, as much as Richa does. We talked about how she left her job at Microsoft to start Coach Viva, meeting her cofounder, and their road to 6 figures. Along the way, Richa has mastered Youtube ( her main customer acquisition channel), copywriting ( their landing page converts at a mind-boggling 17%), and the psychological barriers that were stopping customers from trying out Coach Viva. We also talked about going from a 1-on-1 consulting agency to SaaS and a super-smart book summary startup idea. More in the show notes below :)
00:56 - Why I left Microsoft to start Coach Viva
03:17 - What holds your customers back is the psychological piece, not the strategic piece
04:25 - User interview to validate my idea
06:46 - Building an MVP with Facebook Messenger and Google Sheets
07:36 - Finding a cofounder
08:29 - Our first customers came from our personal network
09:18 - Youtube SEO as our main customer acquisition channel
10:44 - Moving from an agency model to a productized service
13:20 - Youtube wants it to be easy to categorize your videos
17:54 - The exact tools we use to nail Youtube
21:15 - Most marketing advice is geared towards companies that have some cash to burn
23:23 - Copywriting the landing page that converts at 17%
26:32 - Understanding the beliefs of your customer at an intimate level
28:44 - Our sales shot up when we started pitching our product in every video
32:00 - Selling to customers outside the tech crowd is very difficult the lean startup way
35:03 - Why you should share 'Why and What' content instead of 'How' content in emails
37:06 - Riding on keywords that people are already searching for
38:19 - A unique book summary idea and making unknowns into knowns
I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests as well as other stuff I find interesting in the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com)
You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
Coach Viva (https://coachviva.com)
Richa's Twitter (https://twitter.com/arichaprasad)
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I went into this episode thinking I'd learn about travel during covid and the tiny house movement. I came out learning about habits, reading books, journaling, meditation, engineering luck, and much more. Last year, Hector was working in a startup as the head of growth and getting burned out when he went to a 10-day silent retreat in the Himalayas. He returned to chaos. The latest round of funding had fallen through and half of the company was fired. That's when Hector decided to try his idea -> a 3-day experience in a cabin in the woods, with your phones locked away in a box, among birds and grass and books and binoculars. National media loved it, the customers are booked for all of 2020 and they're expanding. One of the joys of doing the podcast is talking to founders very early in their journey. This was one :)
SHOW NOTES
01:16 - Introduction
03:02 - The unplugged experience
04:13 - Locking away customers' phone
05:32 - Growing up in the countryside
06:50 - Joining a startup
08:17 - Failing in sales, product, and growth
10:44 - Learning from being around founders
12:23 - Expansion, distribution, and mistakes
14:54 - Quitting drinking, meditation, traveling to India and the birth of an idea
19:42 - Reading, Headspace, Transcendental meditation and changing bad habits
26:00 - Making peace with your mistakes
29:32 - Social Media and our relationship with our devices
31:30 - Journaling and how the trip to India changed me
37:05 - Tiny house movement and Unplugged
40:06 - Learning from customers and experimentation
43:24 - Cost of buying cabins and my first one
45:38 - First Principles and cultural nuances in your startup experience
49:38 - Expanding with the 2nd cabin and a subscription box
52:32 - Getting covered in national media and engineering luck
54:27 - Customer Demographic of Unplugged and reaching out to them
58:24 - Connect with me
I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests as well as other stuff I find interesting in the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com)
You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
Hector's Newsletter (https://unplugging.substack.com)
Hector's LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/hector-hughes-10082195/)
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Sid Jha started a weekly newsletter in May 2019, while he was in college, sharing his observations on books and academic papers, unique business stories, and a few niche parts of the internet. He sent the first few editions to his close friends and over time has built a base of 3000+ subscribers. He's since met some very interesting people like David Perell and Packy Mccormick and learned a ton of lessons. These days, 30% of his articles are based on stuff shared by his readers, which is quite amazing. Ever since I interviewed Dickie Bush a few weeks back, I wanted to interview someone in the newsletter space again and Sid is one of the most interesting people I've met online. His tips on starting a newsletter and building distribution into the content are really valuable. We talked about a lot of interesting things - more in the show notes below. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Happy Sunday :)
SHOW NOTES
01:40 - Introduction and College
02:48 - Sunday Snapshots and why I started writing the newsletter
04:01 - The habit of reading
05:41 - The American and Indian culture of entrepreneurship
07:07 - Entrepreneurship is an investment with unbounded upside
08:05 - Taking notes and breaking down the Starbucks loyalty system
10:48 - My process of writing and the value of consistency
12:55 - My process of crafting an edition of Sunday Snapshots newsletter
14:36 - When I realized people outside my friend circle had started reading the newsletter
17:05 - David Perell and Packy Mccormick
18:28 - Building a personal monopoly and the infinite leverage of the internet
20:15 - Accountability is underappreciated and why super-rich people are fit
21:27 - How I'm building my personal monopoly with observation-based writing on tech, history, or people
23:40 - How I'd grow a newsletter from scratch if I started today
26:31 - Building distribution into your content and why you should never write about Mark Zuckerberg
27:56 - Your Chief of staff would be an extension of your abilities and should complement you
30:30 - How I made sure my breakdowns of Lyndon B. Johnson's went viral
32:02 - Narvar and controlling the post-purchase experience of e-commerce
33:50 - LBJ book series and The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
34:43 - My favorite newsletters - The Generalist, Femstreet, Remains if the day, Sari Azout, Eugene Wei, and Venture Desktop
36:24 - Asking users to share my content and managing scale
37:36 - I'd rather have fewer subscribers than a low email open rate
39:04 - Success according to me
39:54 - Ideas I'm playing with for the next editions of the newsletter
40:57 - Start your newsletter today, set a deadline, and commit to it
I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests as well as other stuff I find interesting in the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com)
You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
Sunday Snapshots (https://sss.substack.com)
Sid's Twitter (https://twitter.com/sidharthajha)
Sid's Longform Essays (https://www.sidharthajha.com)
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Andy Bailey is the founder of NationLink Wireless (sold) and Petra Coach. As a kid, he'd climb trees, pull mistletoes and go door to door selling them. He'd sold candy bars, oil lamps, books, cut grass, and worked at a factory, all before graduating from school. In college, he started a landscaping business and a car phone installation business. While still in college, he started NationLink Wireless, which he grew into one of the top 200 fastest-growing privately-owned companies in the country.
Since selling NationLink, Andy has pursued his calling of helping other entrepreneurs scale their business. We talk about how Andy went $1.5 million in debt and clawed his way back, the stories behind the businesses he's started, helping founders find their purpose, climbing mountains, running a half marathon, writing a journal, and much more.
SHOW NOTES
02:02 - Introduction
03:57 - How I ended up with 2 software companies in the process of scaling Petra Coach
06:56 - Selling candy bars, mistletoes, and oil lamps in schools
08:27 - How a class on sales in college changed my life
11:17 - NationLink, and other businesses I started in the early days
14:25 - Going $1.5 Million in debt in the process of selling NationLink and lessons learned
18:52 - Building a business that you could sell for $0 and still be fine
21:30 - Selling time for money and building a business that makes money while I sleep
23:20 - There are very few points in a person’s life where we actually have the ability to design what we want next
25:09 - Every coach coaches the same damn sport in a different way
27:28 - Working on the business instead of working in the business
30:10 - How we helped a healthcare company find its purpose
34:24 - Why we don’t hire people who’ve never run a successful business
36:29 - Learning John D. Rockefeller’s habits from Verne Harnish
39:04 - Entrepreneur’s organization
41:32 - Writing a journal, gratitude, exercise, and reading 10 minutes a day
47:00 - Climbing mountains and why I ran a half marathon with a 20-pound weight on my shoulders
49:34 - Favourite books
51:55 - The most successful person according to me and re-setting my reading goals each year
53:35 - Entrepreneurship in Nashville
54:22 - The best place to reach out to me
54:50 - Make your passion profitable and then scale it
I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests as well as other stuff I find interesting in the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com/)
You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
Andy's daily video series (https://www.facebook.com/petracoach)
Petra Coach (https://petracoach.com/)
Andy's book "No Try Only Do" - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34895649-no-try-only-do
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Matthew Stafford was working for a government-backed program connecting investors and founders when he had an idea of conducting founders' dinners. 9 years back, almost to this date, he conducted the first 9others dinner in Central London. That dinner has led to 100s of other dinners in 46 cities around the world and has connected 4000+ entrepreneurs. It later led to Matthew's angel investments and laid the foundations for Dot Matrix Group.
But Matthew's entrepreneurial journey didn't start here. It started much earlier when he was in school selling recorded TV programs to his friends or selling t-shirts to pubs, right after college, or hosting a Y Combinator event in London which was never about to happen in the first place. Matthew's journey is the journey of hustle. When he was out of depth, he tried. When he was disappointed, he tried. When he failed, he tried. In many ways, it's a simple story. In other ways, it's an astounding journey of a boy who dreams.
SHOW NOTES
01:37 - Introduction
02:14 - How working for a government-backed program led to the idea of 9others and founders dinners
09:40 - Reaching out to investors and founders through networking events
12:09 - Why we kept 9others gatherings deliberately small, over a meal and paid sessions, and made sure it was valuable to all members.
17:27 - If you run a Saas company, talking to the guy who runs a coffee chain is the best thing you can do
20:28 - Expanding the network to other countries and helping billionaire Ryan Graves launch Uber in London
27:23 - Revenue structure of 9others
29:14 - Setting the rules of the game and why paid memberships work better for problem-solving events
32:56 - Reflecting on inspiring entrepreneurs I've met through 9others - Uber, Citymapper, What3words
38:10 - Growing up on a farm
39:27 - Starting a t-shirt company right after school
43:00 - Writing 100 letters a day to get my first customers
45:40 - Talking myself into a job, getting an MBA, and why everyone should try selling t-shirts online
49:06 - Hosting the coolest YC event ever
54:09 - Starting my own investment syndicate - Dot Matrix Group
58:56 - My investment philosophy and Founder - Product Fit
59:24 - Favorite Books
01:01:07 - The next decade will be about people realizing everyone can become an angel investor
01:02:50 - Why Chris Sacca is my greatest inspiration
01:05:22 - Think about what you can contribute - Give more than you take
01:06:27 - Connect with me
I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests as well as other stuff I find interesting in the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com/)
You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
Matthew's Twitter (https://twitter.com/mstafford)
Matthew's Newsletter (https://matthewstafford.substack.com/)
9others - https://9others.com
Dot Matrix Group - https://www.dotmatrixgroup.com
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This episode happened because I got lucky :D I was scrolling Twitter and saw Dickie’s tweet. He basically said he was available for 3 hours the next day and was looking for ideas. I asked him to come up on the podcast and within 24 hours, we were on call. The magic of the internet :)
Dickie has an interesting story. He started writing a curation of his favorite podcast episodes, book notes, and articles on his newsletter, Dickie's Digest, at the beginning of 2020. He started with 5 subscribers and now has 1000+ subscribers from 29 countries in just 10 months. He writes awesome tweet threads, read by Naval Ravikant, and Tim Ferriss, to name a few, and just started a community for writers last week that already has 100+ members the last time I checked.
SHOW NOTES
02:21 - Introduction
04:28 - Playing football for Princeton University
05:50 - Starting Dickie’s Digest newsletter and unlocking the leverage of the internet
08:22 - Business growth, people growth, and systems growth
09:17 - My first subscribers were my family and two roommates
10:20 - Most people don’t want to be told it’ll take them 30 weeks to reach 200 subscribers
11:43 - In content creation, there is something about credibility that is formed as a result of your consistency
13:00 - The most viral tweet thread I wrote and it went viral
15:37 - What I learned from Anthony Pompliano and David Perell
17:43 - Lessons from War of Art and beating the resistance
19:33 - Minimum Viable Action
22:03 - Intentional day planning, optimizing my days for flow and context switching
24:36 - The most marked-up books on my bookshelf
26:03 - Stoicism
28:26 - Lessons from best sports coaches - Nick Saban, Phil Jackson, Bill Belichick
30:27 - Why you should start writing a journal - 500 words a day for 500 days
32:13 - All things Dickie's Digest
33:48 - My entire process of writing Dickie's Digest
37:35 - Content aggregators that I look up to
40:33 - Anyone who wants to become a better writer should learn copywriting and the best books on copywriting
42:26 - Content creators who are killing it on Twitter
43:22 - How to write great Twitter threads and how I do it
46:17 - Writing a newsletter is the highest leverage thing you can do with an hour of your time
47:16 - My favorite podcasts
48:31 - If you’re optimizing for one thing in life, it should be for your energy levels
50:08 - Twitter has democratized access to some of the smartest thinkers on earth
52:27 - Why I believe Chamath Palihapitiya is the most successful person
54:07 - Rolling funds and how Shaan Puri and Anthony Pompliano raised their multi-million dollar funds from Twitter
55:42 - SPACs and why you should invest in one
59:20 - Connect with me
I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests as well as other stuff I find interesting in the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com/)
You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)
Dickie's Website (https://www.dickiebush.com/)
Dickie's Twitter (https://twitter.com/dickiebush)
Dickie's Digest (https://dickiebush.substack.com/)
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Corey Haines tells this crazy story of how he got his first marketing job, within 3 days, to propose to his girlfriend. Last year, he left his job as the head of growth of Baremetrics, to go bootstrapping full-time. He's since worked on Hey Marketers ( a job for only for marketers), Swipe Files (a curated library of the best marketing examples with detailed teardowns of what makes them great), Mental Models for Marketing (Mental models and frameworks have literally been a game-changer in being able to think about marketing as a whole) and Refactoring growth (how profitable software businesses systematically acquire and retain customers the hack-free, spam-free way). He also hosts 2 podcasts, writes on his blog regularly, and shares very valuable marketing tips on Twitter. It was through Twitter that I started exploring his content and was flabbergasted by the sheer amount of good content he produces. He has so much to share, and we're here to listen :)
SHOW NOTES
02:17 - Introduction
03:20 - A trip with friends that changed the trajectory of my life
05:30 - Podcasts that inspired me to explore marketing
07:10 - Took my first job to propose to my girlfriend
08:30 - How I started Hey Marketers
10:35 - Tips on creating your own job board
13:20 - The idea behind Mental Models for marketing
15:17 - How learning timeless frameworks and principles behind marketing was a game-changer for me
19:20 - We hire products just like we hire people
25:30 - Building an audience
28:10 - My stairstep approach to building an online business
33:00 - I had the idea of Swipe Files while trying to launch Baremetrics' affiliate program.
37:20 - My favorite Books and Podcasts
38:45 - Customer research is the ultimate competitive advantage
40:48 - Great resources on copywriting
43:03 - Why I'm documenting my entrepreneurial journey on my podcast
45:04 - Time management and juggling multiple projects together
46:14 - People I follow on Twitter for their awesome content
49:00 - Why I'd rather be Warren Buffett than Elon Musk
50:50 - The one thing I'm good at, that I'm not widely known for
52:42 - Leaving a legacy
54:25 - If you're already on some kind of trajectory, you don't need a mentor
55:40 - The best place to reach out to me
I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests on the newsletter as well as other stuff I find interesting (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com/)
Corey's Website (https://www.coreyhaines.co/)
Corey's Twitter (https://twitter.com/coreyhainesco)
The guide to validating startup ideas -> https://guide.opryshok.com/ (use code "stealmm" for $5 off)
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After being fired from his job at a local TV station, Arnie Malham founded CJ Advertising, to help law firms advertise on TV and built it into one of the largest ad agencies in the US. At its peak, they were doing more than $60 million in revenues. Along the way, he founded 2 other companies and has formulated the secret sauce of building a great culture inside organizations. At CJ, he offered his employees unlimited vacation, free food, sent their kids birthday presents, and paid them to read books. His book club was so successful that after selling his ads business, he built a platform where other companies could implement the book club inside their own organizations. BetterBookClub has rewarded more than $100,000 to employees for reading books. More than 100 companies are now using Arnie’s platform and I was honored when he invited me to join his Founder’s Circle Book Club. Here's his story, and how he did it.
SHOW NOTES
01:30 - Introduction
02:17 - Growing up in a small town in Arkansas and how my dad's lumber store influenced my entrepreneurial journey
04:42 - Leaving my job in banking for a job at a local TV station
06:40 - Getting fired and CJ advertizing
08:32 - No one wanted to work with law firms, we saw an opportunity.
10:52 - How advertising for law firms is different from advertising for McDonald's
13:00 - Helping clients grow their business
14:43 - Hiring my first employee and letting go of responsibilities
17:45 - Culture reflects Leadership
20:10 - Every change needs time, a champion, and a checklist
23:20 - Reading helped our team grow the business more than anything else we ever did.
25:29 - Rip off and duplicate great ideas
27:44 - The most successful ad campaigns were those where we were able to draw out the authentic personality of the lawyer
30:33 - In the early days, it was like a family. Everyone did everything.
33:15 - Our very unique hiring process and why we offer our employees 2 weeks' pay to leave, no questions asked.
36:57 - Why you should name and create a logo for your culture
39:50 - BetterBookClub and rewarding people for reading books
49:57 - Why I'm not a fan of book recommendations
52:33 - Hiring great Executive Assistants
55:54 - Sending birthday presents to kids of employees
58:24 - I want to think about my hardest problems in the morning
59:30 - How CJ's culture led to me writing my book "Worth Doing Wrong"
01:01:31 - My experience as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Belmont University
01:03:28 - Nashville's entrepreneurship scene is on fire
01:05:39 - The best place to connect with me
01:06:30 - Last thoughts for young entrepreneurs
For weekly updates on podcast episodes, subscribe to the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com/)
Arnie's Website (https://www.worthdoingwrong.com/)
Arnie's Twitter (https://twitter.com/amalham)
Arnie's Book (Worth Doing Wrong: The Quest to Build a Culture That Rocks)
Arnie's book recommendation for hiring employees (Who by Geoff Smart and Randy Street )
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Jesse Cole became the General Manager of the Gastonia Grizzlies baseball team and took it from losing $100,000 a year and $268 in the bank account to selling out games. After selling the team he bought the Savannah Bananas baseball team and went on from selling a single ticket in the first 2 months to sell a million tickets. He's turned baseball games into a circus, with grandma beauty pageants, choreographed dance routines by players, male cheerleading squads, and many more crazy, awesome ideas. In the process, he's made his company, Fans First Entertainment, one of the fastest-growing companies in America and has transformed many lives along the way. Here's his story, and how he did it.
SHOW NOTES
01:40 - Introduction
02:02 - Owning 2 baseball teams at a young age
03:50 - My dad loved baseball and taught me to follow my passion
05:35 - Sometimes you gotta try lots of things to find your passion
07:50 - One of the most dangerous things you can have is success
10:08 - It took 10 years of hard work to make Gastonia Grizzlies successful
11:10 - The toughest times in people's lives are short term
13:00 - COVID - What an amazing time to test new ideas
15:24 - Removing all ads from Savannah Bananas stadium
17:20 - Livestreaming baseball matches - Bananas Insider
18:16 - You have to be willing to be misunderstood at first
21:29- Offering an internship to Barack Obama
23:28 - Validating ideas
25:56 - Hiring employees looking at their FUTURE resumes
27:48 - Three-year vision for Savannah Bananas
31:06 - Mentors - Walt Disney, Bill Veeck, and P.T. Barnum
34:28 - Learning from brands outside the industry
38:35 - Books that have inspired me
40:12 - Paying employees to read books and learning together
43:00 - How a Thank You letter led to writing "Find Your Yellow Tux"
45:45 - The Thank You Experiment
48:31 - Miracle Morning and daily routine
51:39 - Favorite podcasts
53:22 - Why I started my podcast
54:20 - Connecting with Jesse
For weekly updates on podcast episodes, subscribe to the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com/)
Jesse's Website (https://findyouryellowtux.com/)
Jesse's Twitter (https://twitter.com/YellowTuxJesse)
Jesse's Book (https://www.amazon.com/Find-Your-Yellow-Tux-Successful/dp/161961846X)
Jesse's Podcast (https://findyouryellowtux.com/category/podcasts/)
The Savannah Bananas (https://thesavannahbananas.com/)
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