Episodes
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As the Austin Fire Show wraps up, I was asked by a few to field some questions myself, and we had some great questions. So, without further ado, here’s my friend, Chad Stith.
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Today, I’m sitting down with Cam Doody, CEO of BellHops, and Andy Tryba, CEO of RideAustin. These are two separate interviews in one episode, and the common theme is the pressure and ambiguity you have to deal with in a startup.
My biggest take-away from this: You will mess up. You will be stressed. You will not know what you’re doing, but that’s the price you must pay while pursuing something worthwhile. And it is worthwhile.
If you like or hate this episode, please leave a review on iTunes, because apparently that’s what I’m told I should ask you guys for. If you want to yell at me, I can be reached at [email protected]
As always, enjoy. -
Episodes manquant?
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Today, I’m sitting down with Gordon Walton, President on ArtCraft Entertainment Inc and a pioneer in the video game industry, who;s worked on games such a Sims Online and Star Wars: the Old Republic. His company, ArtCraft, is currently working on Crowfall, which is MMO breaking many of the rules in the MMO industry. MMO are massively multiplayer online games, such as World of Warcraft.
I love doing this episode because I learned a ton:
How a veteran looks at an industry and assesses a product, consumer, and market risks in order to make a strategic decision.
The bonds and relationships that are made by sharing experiences virtually, whether those experiences are joyful, sad, angry, or stressful
And then, an idea I’m curious about since it drives a lot of ambition I see in myself is, the idea of personal heroism and how we think we perceive ourselves as the protagonist in our stories.
As always, enjoy. -
Whenever most think about freelancing, the image that pop up in their mind is someone on a beach, sipping a Corona (this is not an ad😉), and generally having the time of their lives. That’s really not the case. Being able to monetize a rare and valuable skill independent of location is difficult, and doesn’t begin on Day 1. But how does one get to that point?
Today, I’m sitting down with Emily Leach, a freelancer for 20+ years and Founder/CEO of Freelance Conference, to talk about that very topic, and more. She’s one of the pioneers in the US Freelancing community, having founded The Freelance Conference, where she helps freelancers get educated on the business side of the work, get connections with companies and other freelancers looking for someone to work with.
Also, if you’d like to attend the Freelance Conference, it’s in Austin on Sep 7-Sep 8, and you can use the code austinfireshow for a $60 discount.
Enjoy. -
Today, I’m sitting down with Sujan, one of the people I know who I consider operate their life, business, and relationships at a fast, high-performing, yet thoughtful, level.
Sujan’s an entrepreneur - suprise! - marketer and friend. He is a growth marketers who runs multiple SaaS business, writes for Inc Magazine, and, from what I’ve seen, lives life to the fullest he can.I really enjoy conversations like the one you’re going to listen to, and I get to record them and push them out as a podcast.
In this conversation, we’re talking about the levels one must go through in life to get to where one wants, how work-life balance works when you’re hustling, and staying at the top of your field.You can reach out to Sujan on Twitter @sujanpatel.
Enjoy. -
As you know, Amazon bought Whole Foods recently. If you don’t, I’d love to get you on the show and learn how you develop such a low-information diet, especially if there is an organic option that can be delivered in two hours - no, I’m not kidding.
Back to the skin of the matter. Why did Amazon buy Whole Foods? What are the strategic implications of the purchase? Is Amazon close to having monopolistc power on online retail?
Today, I’m sitting with Patrick Badolato, an accounting professor at the University of Texas McCombs school of business, and a few more things:
PHD in Accounting from Duke
Teaches in the MBA, MSTC, MPA and MSF programs at UT
Worked with and consulted for Harvard Business School and Harvard Business Publishing on various accounting materials
His teachings focus on Financial Accounting, and Financial Statement Analysis, and he was actually my professor at the MS Tech Commercialization this summer.
We’re discussing:
Performance of Whole Foods over the years
Whole Food’s First-Mover Advantage vs. Sustainable Competitive Advantage
How has Amazon changed over the years?
How would you weigh the convenience of online vs. the experience of online shopping?
Disclaimer: This is not stock recommendation. This is a conversation. -
In this episode, we’re talking tactics to help you plan taking your product to market.
To be specific, the tactics you need to employ once you know what you want to do, but need to take your product or service to market and have questions such as:
- What if I have a business. Should I find a partner? How do I do so?
- What conversations should I be having with my customers?
- Once I have a partner, what’s the next step?
- How do I estimate the cost of building a product?
- What should I be doing while my product is being built?
- What’s the next step when I have a few customers? How do I scale?
Today, I’m sitting down with Sloan Foster, Principal of Envisage Associates and Chief Marketing Officer of Pitch-A-Kid, to answer questions like those.
Sloan has been working with companies to go to market for more than 20 years, in multiple industries, and across various types of technologies. She designs both short and long term strategies to generate revenues at the right time to maximise customer value, which is what people pay you for.
Sloan can be reached at [email protected] or on twitter @sloanfoster -
Sometimes I fantasize that all I own fits into one suitcase, and I have a remote job that I can do from anywhere.
It seems like a nice, free, life, full of possibility.
It also seems super stressful.
But I don’t know anything about it. My friend, Todd, does.
In 2010, Todd and his wife Alison sold everything they owned, packed up the remainder in 7 suit cases, and moved to Mexico.
For 5 years.
After 5 years, he’s back to the US, this time settling down in Austin, TX, where he’s running his own marketing agency.
But that’s not why I’m talking to him today.
Todd is on the show because he just completed 50 episodes of his podcast, Go Hunt Life, where he interviews people who’ve made drastic switches in their careers, learning how they did it, what they were or were not expecting, and how others can do the same.
In this episode, I talk to Todd about how HE did it, what exactly people can do to get to a point where they can leave their jobs and live the life they want (spoiler: it’s not easy), and the best moments from his podcast.
What’s my favorite part of this episode is that within 30 minutes of talking to Todd, I realized, oh my god, this life is possible for me.
And it is for you as well.
If you’re interested in this sort of life, check out Todd’s podcast, and these books
4-hour work week by Tim Ferris
Vagabonding: The Art of Long-Term Travel by Rolf Potts
Go Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport
Oh, and if you want to talk to Todd, you can contact him at [email protected].
Enjoy.
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What if you're a startup business that’s just getting to market and needs to build street cred? What if you’re not Gary Vaynerchuk or Tim Ferriss who’ve dominated Twitter from the beginning? How do you stand out amongst the crowd and get a chance to be heard?
That’s where sales comes in.
Today, I’m sitting down with Kenan Rappuchi, Founder and Chief Revenue Accelerator of Sellerant, a B2B sales accelerator. They partner with tech startups to setup their complete sales toolkit and process, then research, contact and qualify sales leads to create deal pipeline and acquire new customer revenue wins that are critical to survival and progression to growth stage.
In this episode, I quiz Kenan on what to do if you have zero sales experience, where and how to find and connect with your audience, and how to pave a path to revenue. If you’re a startup selling technology products or services, social media and ads won’t create growth quickly enough. You must deeply understand your customers and their business problems, then reach out to them directly and at high volume to build relationships that ultimately create qualified sales opportunities.
Kenan can be reached at [email protected] or sellerant.com.
I hope you get some tangible value, and most importantly, tactics you can start working on today, from this episode.
Enjoy. -
2.2 Billion people play video games.
I got a C- in Calculus in college, but I can take a guess - that's a TON of people.
Like, a third, you know, of the world, dude.
Whenever I hear video games discussed in a serious context (taking about your Kill/Death ratio in Black Ops doesn't count), some questions pop up in my head.
Add VR to the mix, and I have no idea where the industry is going.
Until now.
At a MediaTech Ventures event hosted by my friend Paul OBrien (you might remember him from EP #8 on this show), I got a chance to sit down with some Video Game + VR experts and, as usual, asked my stupid questions.
It was fun. Here are some questions I asked that you might be interested in:- Are video games just for fun?- How do you make a successful video game?- Where can I go to learn more about doing so?- Do video game technologies present opportunities to build on the strength of the interaction strength of the medium to build applications in other industries?- Is VR a trend?- What is the future of VR?- How scared is every one of VR horror games? (spoiler: I'm NOT going to try them, unless someone pays me to do so)
In this episode, I have people from various parts of the Video Game Industry. CEOs, Directors, Teachers, Community Organizers.
Here's who you're listening to on EP 20:- Mike Panoff, co-founder of Edge of Reality + Founder/CEO of App Jar- Frank Coppersmith, Chair Austin Video Game Dev Association + President BlankMediaGames - Elijah May, Managing Partner at the Experience Firm- Joe Blancato, COO of Double A Events- Karen Snyder, Transmedia producer at Trans Seven Studio + Lecturer of Digital Media With the University of Houston -
Today, I'm sitting down with Vi Nguyen, co-founder and CEO of Homads, a market network for rentals of 30+ days that lets you find, talk, and rent with people in your community.
In this episode, we talk about the anxiety that comes along with doing new things and how Vi deals with it, the self-awareness that has to go into relationships and your work, and most importantly -- what you have to give up as an entrepreneur -
If you want to start a business, the first question you ask yourself is this: Where do I start?
And the questions keep snowballing.Should I tell people my idea?How do I know my idea is good or not?If I don’t have an idea, what should I do?What the hell is a coworking space, and why should I go there?How do I do market research?How do I find my first customers?How do I find co-founders, partners?
If you have these questions, regardless of whether you have already started, or want to start, a business, this episode is for you.
Today, I’m sitting down with Marc Nathan. That’s Marc with a C, not a K.
Marc does a lot of things, but most relevant to this conversation is his role as a mentor for startups. With years of leadership experience in tech, finance, creative marketing, he is an expert on pitching, customer development, angel investing, ad marketing at scale -- especially for early-stage tech-based startups.
He’s got a knack for connecting people, and knows pretty much everyone in town. In fact, as I’m writing this, I’m reminded that I need to send him my wish-list of interviewees in Austin, so he can introduce me to them.
Marc is also VP of Client Strategy in the Emerging Technology and Venture Capital practice group at Miller, Egan, Molter & Nelson LLP, a law firm (Marc’s not a lawyer) that provides experienced, flexible and responsive legal rep for tech-based businesses. Outside of mentoring startups, he runs T-squared agency, which does a weekly newsletter about all things startup in Texas.
Enjoy. -
Today, I’m sitting down with Jordan Sterling, entrepreneur, creative, and smartass. Let’s list some of what he does.
VP of Sales at Data-infiniti, which is a data startup. Co-founder at Silicon Jungle, which is a startup studio. And most relevant to this conversation, co-founder of Alibi X, a platform to showcase the narrative of what it means to be a black millennial.
We’re having an open and frank discussion about race, and asking some important questions -- what is his definition of blackness? How is he affected by pre-conceived ideas that others have about him because of the color of his skin? Do we talk about race enough?
At the core of it all, is one idea - we must join the narrative of the part of the world we live in, so that others can look at us and say -- hey, that person looks like me. I can do the things they do. I can follow that career path. I can be who I want to be, shedding the ideas of others and myself about how I should act like.
Check out some of Jordan’s stuff: www.alibix.coYou can also follow him on twitter: https://twitter.com/J_Sterl -
Humans have come to this point in technology, social order, and internet memes because of the ability to exchange ideas, cooperate, and build systems. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. It all comes down to how we design everything we do -- whether it's a website, whether it's our outfit, whether it's the government. Meet John, the co-founder and CEO of Handsome. You know that nice glass-walls building you pass by on east 6th? That Handsome.
I really enjoyed this interview, because John pulls out examples and observations from a lot of his past experiences -- discovering the internet in high school, his time in the military, and his 4-5 years being a digital nomad around the world. -
Dating can be hard. It can also be wonderful. This Valentine's Day, sit back and listen to 23 Austinites recount their first dates -- ones that never had a second one, ones in which they knew they had found the one, ones people wish they had never went on.
Some highlights:Marrying that personBeing shown WalmartStanding ovation after slapping someoneHair catching on fire Showing up to a date in sweatpantsThreat of Murder
Enjoy, and be glad you've ever found the one. If not, know that there's someone out there for you. - Montre plus
