Built to Stay

On this episode of Built to Stay we interview Griffin Thall, one of the co-founders of Pura Vida, a lifestyle jewelry brand with 1.8 million Instagram followers. What started as a side hustle from a trip to Costa Rica, has turned into a multi million dollar business supporting 800+ artists from Costa Rica to India. Learn how he started his business, kept it running and is continuing its growth by harnessing the power of social media. 

• Griffin’s Story 1:17
• Biggest Challenge for Griffin 6:59
• Paid Social Media Advertising 10:18
• How did you expand your product lines? 12:50
• What would you do differently? 14:39

“I think it’s very important to have every brand owner know how to use a camera and use adobe light room to shoot and edit photos. The worst thing that you want to do is start a brand and have to outsource everything…”

On this episode of Built to Stay we interview Hector Lopez the creator of Instasize, an app that automatically cropped your photo for Instagram. He talks about how the company was started from the ground up and gives advice on how to help your business stay. Hector also talks about how he was able to keep the business through re-strategizing.

• Introduction to Hector and Instasize 1:20
• The Subscription Model 12:24
• Statistics of Social Media Users 21:55
• General Advice 25:29

"Try to find your audience and where the audience lives and see how you can interject yourself in their day to day life." 

On this episode of Built to Stay we interview Bill Macaitis. Bill has been instrumental in helping 3 of the fastest SAS companies of our time, most recently Slack. Bill talks about how he was able to propel these start ups from the ground up to the powerful companies that they are.

• Introduction to Bill 1:14
• Things that worked and things that didn’t 13:44
• What to focus on with your marketing team 19:17
• Shift from Slack to advising Startups 22:21
• What are the most common mistakes of start ups? 24:15

“You gotta start with just this customer centric philosophy where you delight people at every stage.”

On this episode of Built to Stay we interview Zack Oates. Zack has been a part of multiple start ups, winning multiple business competitions and gaining high publicity at a young age. Zack started Ovation which helps brick and mortar businesses to engage with, bring back, and receive real feedback from loyal customers.

• Introduction to Zack 1:22
• Ovation 12:29
• Engaging Customers to Brick and Mortar Businesses 15:03
• Mistakes that entrepreneurs make with customer experience 19:34
• How to capture feedback and turn a bad situation good 32:16

“These unhappy customers have the highest likelihood of becoming loyal customers. So if you have a dissatisfied customer, you have a 70% chance of turning that into a loyal customer if you can resolve that concern quickly.”

In this episode of Built to Stay we interview Kenny Nguyen owner of Big Fish Presentations and 368 a full service marketing and innovation agency. Kenny talks about what started these companies, the struggles of start ups and how to push through the start up phase, and his mindset on presentations. Kenny also speaks on the need for creativity in working on your business and encouraging creativity in your clients.

• What started Big Fish 1:08
• Tools Used in Presentations 6:31
• How to Sell to big Companies 8:33
• Challenges of moving from Start up to Big Business 11:32
• Need for Creativity in your business 16:08
• Top Mistakes People make in Presentations 23:10

“That's when I realized that we need to do something, cause if we don't rid the world of boring presentations, no one will listen. “

In this episode, Bart is joined by Janssen Bradshaw, an entrepreneur and business owner that has almost 13 years of experience with Blogs. In this episode, she delves into all aspects of blogging; including how she built her blog, advice to newcomers in the blogging world, monetization options for blogs, and how businesses can work with influencers and bloggers. Listen in to this episode to learn more about how to build a business through blogging and becoming an influencer, as well as how to work with influencers to support your business. 

1:06 How Janssen transitioned into being an entrepreneur. 

9:51 Advice for new bloggers. 

16:59 Janssen's second business - London Littles. 

27:01 Advice on how to work with influencers. 

As a medical school student, Steve Neeleman had an unpleasant yet enlightening experience with his health insurance provider. A few years later, during his residency, Steve founded Health Equity in hopes of reforming the health insurance industry. With a $4.8B market cap and healthy financials that have outperformed the S&P 500 for the past 5 years, Health Equity is undoubtedly built to stay. Today we'll hear Steve's story and advice for all business builders. Access exclusive content at builttostay.com.

Sydni Craig-Hart is a double agent of sorts. She helps small businesses grow and she helps large companies connect and drive engagement with those small businesses. She’s the CEO and Co-founder of Smart Simple Marketing, an award-winning digital content marketing agency and she’s a 4th generation entrepreneur. On today's episode, Bart and Sydni discuss common mistakes small businesses make and how you can avoid them. Visit builttostay.com for show notes and our print out "Small Business Marketing Strategy".

There’s more opportunity than ever before for financing your business, but the process and strategy are not easy. Today we’re breaking down venture funding with seasoned investor Jensen Warnock. Jensen is the managing director at Lumen Group and a Venture Partner at Mercato. In the next thirty minutes, you’ll learn the best time to seek funding and the best type of firms to work with. After the episode, download a piece to help you put into practice what you learned at Builttostay.com

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