The best innovators are the people who are experiencing a problem. What’s the connection between legendary founders and passion? What is the difference between finding investors on the East and West Coast? After cash flow, what is the next thing companies have to care about? Here are the three top things we learned from Matt Straz of Namely.

The only person in the company that’s expected or hopes to scale infinitely is the founder. -Matt Straz

3 Things We Learned  

There’s a correlation between legendary founders and inexperience

When you unpack legendary innovators and entrepreneurs, they are the people experiencing the problem. Passion around the problem is the real thing that makes them unstoppable, not experience in the space. The entrepreneur that has the pain and the insight, is capable of way more than someone who knows all about the space.

At a certain point, people and talent start to get more important than financials.

When a company has between 10 and 50 employees, cashflow is king. Your finance system is your major and primary system of record because you have to stay in business. Once you get over a certain size, it’s actually the talent that will decide how much bigger you will grow.

Without the ability to measure the data, and evaluate performance you can’t be sure you have the best talent.

In every company, almost everyone is supposed to get on and off at a different point

The people you work with can only scale to a certain amount, so it’s normal for people to get on and off the bus because they are more tuned to one stage than the other. The only problem with people is that getting off the bus makes them angry, but we should accept that businesses go through stages. If we are all self-actualized we won’t take offense, because we are clear on our strengths and weaknesses.  

What makes the most impact is having passion around a problem and finding its solution. The entrepreneur that has the pain and the insight will go further than someone who knows everything about industry. The world needs more entrepreneurs who bring a new energy, and this expands our world, because if there are no entrepreneurs there’s no economic or innovation growth. We should be self-actualized enough to know what our strengths and weaknesses are and know that the people who get a company off the ground won’t usually be the same people to scale it. Remember that leaders are evaluated by the talent around them.

Guest Bio

Matt Straz is the founder and CEO of Namely, the HR and payroll platform for the world's most exciting companies. Go to http://www.namely.com/ for more information and find him on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattstraz/.

What’s it like to step into the octagon in front of tens of thousands to defend your world title? How do you bounce back after devastating defeat? How do you focus and train every day for just 2 or 3 performances in a year? Here are three things we learned from former UFC Middleweight Champion and two-time world champion mixed martial artist, Luke Rockhold.

"We don’t have quarters, we don’t have another inning. We have to show up and everything has to be perfect. No mistakes." - Luke Rockhold

Take Time Away in Order To Grow Faster

As much as Luke dedicates himself in training for each fight, he still takes the time to get out of the gym on a regular basis. “I grew up in Santa Cruz, so I enjoy the outdoors,” Luke explained. “So I have to get out of the gym. For me, my time away from the gym gives me perspective and fuels the fire, so when I go back in the gym I can absorb more information.” Luke pointed out that fighters who don’t leave the gym often plateau, unable to process all the new information being thrown at them with fresh eyes and a fresh mind.

Test Yourself Against the Best

Luke has consistently trained with two of the best fighters of all time, Cain Velasquez and Daniel Cormier, going toe to toe with them in the gym every day. He also tests himself by taking on the best fighter in any gym he walks into around the world. Testing yourself against the best forces you to focus more deeply, increase your speed and grow your skills faster.

Create the Space to Attack

In mixed martial arts, inches can be the difference between victory and defeat. Luke gives an example from his ‘ground game’ skillset, “Every inch you can create distance, you can create that much more velocity in your shots.” So Luke works on this aspect of his skillset consistently, turning it into a major advantage. Often opponents cannot “feel” him like they’re accustomed to, and Luke is able to land shots they don’t expect.

In a world where many fighters never come back from a major defeat, how do you come back stronger and reclaim your place? According to Luke, the key to bouncing back is to stay confident in yourself. Put the defeat behind you and refuse to fight scared. “If you hesitate for one second, the other guy’s going to beat you to the punch. Unexplainable things happen in fighting, but in that cage it’s a different world. You have to let go and have confidence that you’re going to beat them to the punch.”

Guest Bio

Luke Rockhold is a mixed martial artist and former UFC Middleweight Champion. A two-time world champion, Rockhold has been ranked the #2 middleweight and #12 official pound-for-pound fighter by the UFC and other publications like Fight Matrix and Sherdog. A native of Santa Cruz, CA, Luke is also an avid surfer and skateboarder.

Why is entrepreneurship so critical for young people in our world? According to Jeff Hoffman, billionaire and serial entrepreneur, it’s because the heart of entrepreneurship is problem solving. Jeff believes the key to having the life you dream of is being an effective problem solver. “If you can solve a problem in the world, you become valuable to the world.” Here are 3 things we learned from Jeff on getting results, why entrepreneurship matters, and how to earn the right to enjoy your life.

Entrepreneurship is not the goal, it’s the toolset. Jeff Hoffman

Why is entrepreneurship so critical for young people in our world? According to Jeff Hoffman, serial entrepreneur and billionaire founder of Priceline.com, it’s because the heart of entrepreneurship is problem solving. Jeff believes the key to having the life you dream of is being an effective problem solver. “If you can solve a problem in the world, you become valuable to the world.” Here are 3 things we learned from Jeff on getting results, why entrepreneurship matters, and how to earn the right to enjoy your life.

Write Your Own Funeral Summary

After a difficult time in which he lost several people very close to him, Jeff started to ask himself, “If today was my funeral, what would the summary be? What would I want people to say if this was my funeral right now?” Jeff knew he wanted to be known more for making an impact than for the businesses he started. These 2 questions drove the point home - he needed to get busy. “For whatever the rest of my time is here in this life, I want to spend as much of it trying to teach people a skillset that will improve their lives.”

Earn the Right to Enjoy Your Life

You are not entitled to a comfortable, happy life. You have to go out and earn it by building something worthwhile. “You gotta earn it first. My focus was always, let’s get something done. And when it’s done and we can proud of it, then let’s enjoy it. You earn the right to be someone in a good mood because you’ve paid your dues.”

The Only Thing That Matters is Results

“I love being around winners,” Jeff said, “People who just find a way to get it done and stop complaining about it.” One of the reasons Jeff enjoyed running travel businesses is his belief that travel is the enemy of prejudice. The more we get to know other groups, other cultures, other perspectives, the more open-minded we become. This leads to focusing on the right things. “When I hire people, I never see race, ethnicity, gender, age or any of those things. I see only one thing...contribution.”

Whenever you find yourself saying, “I wish they would fix that!” stop yourself and remember, “There is no THEY.” Focus on your solving problems, not on being busy. Jeff points out, “You can be as passionate and determined about winning as you want, but if you don’t go out there and actually outscore the other guys, i

We all have moments of truth in our lives. For some, it’s a moment of self-discovery. A time to stay true to ourselves. For others, our moment of truth becomes a turning point, where we choose to transform ourselves into something more. For Will Little, the first moment of truth came when he was sentenced to prison for 3rd degree murder, at a time when his girlfriend was 2 weeks pregnant with his first child. The second came the day he left prison, where he had a choice between staying true to himself or slipping back into his old lifestyle. Here are the 3 things we learned from Will Little on personal transformation, the power of purpose, and how to handle your moment of truth.

"The streets lied to me." - Will Little

You May Not Control Your Circumstances, But You Always Control Your Response

When Will was sentenced, he chose not to be a victim. “I wanted to become a man, even though I never had an example of a man in my life...My whole mission was to do positive things.” Instead of following the example of the inmates around him, Will determined that he would not be ruled by his environment. ”When I began to transform my life,” Will explained, “I started reading more in prison and educating myself, and I just started thinking differently.” As part of his self-education, Will completed his GED, read books and speeches, studied Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, and even studied the dictionary to expand his vocabulary.

The Only Way To Know If You’ve Truly Changed is to be Tested

As Will transformed his character, he focused on controlling his anger in the moment. Will traces his anger issues back to the lack of mentors and role models in his childhood, “My anger came from living in the world and not knowing what to do. I was really alone the whole time during my childhood.” After one key incident in prison, in which he averted a violent altercation with a prison gang leader through a short conversation, Will resolved that he would stop and think more logically in heated moments. But Will points out that “You never really know you’ve changed until you’re tested.” Whether it’s someone cutting us off in traffic or trying to start a fight, it’s in those times that we truly learn about ourselves and our level of self-control.

Once You Have Transformed Yourself, You Can Choose to Never Go Back

Prison conditions have improved to the point where the threat of returning to prison isn’t much of a deterrent for many former inmates. On top of that, with Wall Street getting into the prison business, a whole cottage industry has sprung up in which everyone benefits from overflowing prisons except the inmates. So rather than focusing on rehabilitating inmates, the prison system keeps the gravy train running and inmates often end up right back in prison. Will refused to be a statistic again. “I knew the day I walked out of that prison, and took that last look at the prison walls and the mountains, that I was never coming back. And I would do anything in my means not to come back.”

We all have a purpose, and itR

Welcome back to Part 2 of this legendary dialogue with Will Little, gang member and convicted murderer turned youth mentor and public speaker. Will's first moment of truth came when he was sentenced to prison for 3rd degree murder, at a time when his girlfriend was 2 weeks pregnant with his first child. The second came the day he left prison, where he had a choice between staying true to himself or slipping back into his old lifestyle. Here are the 3 things we learned from Will Little on personal transformation, the power of purpose, and how to handle your moment of truth.

"I had a purpose. Once I discovered that purpose...mainly to teach people how to live life, for those who didn’t know how to navigate our way." - Will Little

You May Not Control Your Circumstances, But You Always Control Your Response

When Will was sentenced, he chose not to be a victim. “I wanted to become a man, even though I never had an example of a man in my life...My whole mission was to do positive things.” Instead of following the example of the inmates around him, Will determined that he would not be ruled by his environment. ”When I began to transform my life,” Will explained, “I started reading more in prison and educating myself, and I just started thinking differently.” As part of his self-education, Will completed his GED, read books and speeches, studied Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, and even studied the dictionary to expand his vocabulary.

The Only Way To Know If You’ve Truly Changed is to be Tested

As Will transformed his character, he focused on controlling his anger in the moment. Will traces his anger issues back to the lack of mentors and role models in his childhood, “My anger came from living in the world and not knowing what to do. I was really alone the whole time during my childhood.” After one key incident in prison, in which he averted a violent altercation with a prison gang leader through a short conversation, Will resolved that he would stop and think more logically in heated moments. But Will points out that “You never really know you’ve changed until you’re tested.” Whether it’s someone cutting us off in traffic or trying to start a fight, it’s in those times that we truly learn about ourselves and our level of self-control.

Once You Have Transformed Yourself, You Can Choose to Never Go Back

Prison conditions have improved to the point where the threat of returning to prison isn’t much of a deterrent for many former inmates. On top of that, with Wall Street getting into the prison business, a whole cottage industry has sprung up in which everyone benefits from overflowing prisons except the inmates. So rather than focusing on rehabilitating inmates, the prison system keeps the gravy train running and inmates often end up right back in prison. Will refused to be a statistic again. “I knew the day I walked out of that prison, and took that last look at the prison walls and the mountains, that I was never coming back. And I would do anything in my means not to come back.”Today Will Little is an inspiring example of determination, personal transformation and the power of purpose.

Guest Bio

Will Little is a former gang member and convicted murderer ...

What’s it like to stare down 300 competitors and build a legendary company in an exploding category? For endurance athlete and entrepreneur Joe De Sena, it was a challenge he met with the same relentless tenacity that compelled him to run the Iditarod (and we mean run, as in no dogs, no sleds). Here are the 3 things we learned from Joe, starting with his first business cleaning pools for New York mobsters, to losing a half million dollars on his first obstacle event, to building a global brand with over 1 million participants a year.

I think I’m actually normal, everyone else is abnormal. - Joe De Sena

One Sentence Can Change Your Life 

One of Joe’s turning points came early in life while watching his mother buy a new car. As they stood in the Chevy dealership, he eyed the BMW’s next door. “I said, I want one of those. My mom turned to me and said, ‘You gotta work. If you work, you get one of those.’ That one sentence was like a vice grip on my head that would transform my life.” Joe explained that from that point on, he defined himself as a worker, and soon started the pool business in which he learned his first real entrepreneurial lessons. That business grew to over 700 customers, of which Joe estimates some 200 were members of New York crime families.

Overcome Rejection Early Because Everything Is Selling

Joe puts such a high value on overcoming rejection early in life that he encourages and funds his children’s entrepreneurial ventures, such as selling t-shirts on the beach. When people ask him why he put his kids through that, or why he would allow them to hound other parents with their sales pitch, Joe’s response is insightful. “I want them to get rejected 5,000 times, and figure out what they said differently that got the guy to buy that shirt. Because you’re going to be selling your whole life. You’re always going to be selling.“

When You’re Relentless, Even the Pope Can’t Stop You 

The same relentless mentality that attracted Joe to endurance racing still serves the business side of Spartan Race today. Joe and his team once arrived for an event in Italy, only to discover they had been shut down by the Pope himself. Turns out their race area had been cordoned off for a ceremony anointing a new saint. Joe described their grueling setup process, “We are a mini-city in a way, and we have 7 days to do it, we have 5 tractor-trailers that roll in. It’s a serious project.” They had to wait out the shutdown, but Joe and his team pulled off the event successfully, compressing 7 days of setup into just 14 hours.

Joe is the ultimate example of years of hard work culminating in an “overnight success.” After Joe’s first event cost him half a million dollars and nearly cost one event worker his life, Spartan Race is in 35 countries, running 275 events with 1 million + participants worldwide. Along the way they’ve had to face 300 competitors in a category that has exploded in popularity. Superior funding, execution and marketing prowess have all contributed to the success, but at the heart of Spartan Race is Joe himself and the relentless mentality

What’s it like to stare down 300 competitors and build a legendary company in an exploding category? For endurance athlete and entrepreneur Joe De Sena, it was a challenge he met with the same relentless tenacity that compelled him to run the Iditarod (and we mean run, as in no dogs, no sleds). Here are the 3 things we learned from Joe, starting with his first business cleaning pools for New York mobsters, to losing a half million dollars on his first obstacle event, to building a global brand with over 1 million participants a year.

I think I’m actually normal, everyone else is abnormal. - Joe De Sena

One Sentence Can Change Your Life 

One of Joe’s turning points came early in life while watching his mother buy a new car. As they stood in the Chevy dealership, he eyed the BMW’s next door. “I said, I want one of those. My mom turned to me and said, ‘You gotta work. If you work, you get one of those.’ That one sentence was like a vice grip on my head that would transform my life.” Joe explained that from that point on, he defined himself as a worker, and soon started the pool business in which he learned his first real entrepreneurial lessons. That business grew to over 700 customers, of which Joe estimates some 200 were members of New York crime families.

Overcome Rejection Early Because Everything Is Selling

Joe puts such a high value on overcoming rejection early in life that he encourages and funds his children’s entrepreneurial ventures, such as selling t-shirts on the beach. When people ask him why he put his kids through that, or why he would allow them to hound other parents with their sales pitch, Joe’s response is insightful. “I want them to get rejected 5,000 times, and figure out what they said differently that got the guy to buy that shirt. Because you’re going to be selling your whole life. You’re always going to be selling.“

When You’re Relentless, Even the Pope Can’t Stop You 

The same relentless mentality that attracted Joe to endurance racing still serves the business side of Spartan Race today. Joe and his team once arrived for an event in Italy, only to discover they had been shut down by the Pope himself. Turns out their race area had been cordoned off for a ceremony anointing a new saint. Joe described their grueling setup process, “We are a mini-city in a way, and we have 7 days to do it, we have 5 tractor-trailers that roll in. It’s a serious project.” They had to wait out the shutdown, but Joe and his team pulled off the event successfully, compressing 7 days of setup into just 14 hours.

Joe is the ultimate example of years of hard work culminating in an “overnight success.” After Joe’s first event cost him half a million dollars and nearly cost one event worker his life, Spartan Race is in 35 countries, running 275 events with 1 million + participants worldwide. Along the way they’ve had to face 300 competitors in a category that has exploded in popularity. Superior funding, execu

What does it take to solve big problems? What if we don’t consider ourselves creative? How do we get un-stuck when we finally get a BIG idea? We sat down with Dr Tina Seelig, Stanford professor, best-selling author and creativity expert, to find out how to encourage our natural creativity and problem-solving ability. Here are the three things we learned from this legendary leader.

Creativity is a natural state, but our school and work systems beat creativity out of us as children. - Dr Tina Seelig

Creativity Is Our Natural State

Some people are naturally more creative than others, just like athletes. Michael Jordan is a great example of someone who overcame a lack of physical gifts with sheer hard work. Children start off with incredible creativity. Creativity is a natural state, but our school and work systems beats creativity out of us as children. All we have to do is reshape and reframe our environment to encourage creativity instead of squashing it.

Framestorm Before You Brainstorm

It’s very easy to get attached to a particular approach to solving a problem. One of the biggest missed opportunities in problem solving is reframing. Dr Seelig explained, “I’m a big fan of framestorming. Framestorm before you brainstorm.” Fall in love with the problem first, and brainstorm different “frames” for the problem before you start brainstorming solutions. We can even practice framestorming in our everyday life. “I keep reminding myself, when people are doing something that doesn’t make sense to me...I’m going to assume the best as opposed to the worst.”

When You Have a Big Idea, Do Something Little

When people have a big idea, they often get bogged down with the question, “What do I do now?” Dr Seelig’s advice is to do something very small. Just take the first step. Do tiny little experiments to see if you’re heading in the right direction. When one of your little experiments goes well, it gives you the energy for bigger experiments and bigger steps toward your big idea. 

Some people look at the world as one right answer, where certain pieces fit in a certain place to produce a certain result. But one piece goes missing, and puzzle-builders get stuck. On the other hand, quilt-makers define success for themselves, start small, and if there’s a missing piece, they fill it in with something else and keep moving toward their goal. As a result, those with a quilt-maker mindset become much more successful. Be a quilt-maker, not a puzzle-builder.

Guest Bio

Dr. Tina Seelig is an award-winning educator and best-selling author of 17 books, including her latest, Creativity Rules. Dr Seelig is Professor of the Practice in the Department of Management Science and Engineering (MS&E) at Stanford University. She is also a faculty director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at Stanford University's School of Engineering. Dr Seelig has received the SVForum Visionary Award, the Gordon Prize from the National Academy of Engineering,  the 2014 MS&E Award for Graduate Teaching,

Everything around podcasting is growing, from number of shows to the number of active listeners, and ad dollars are starting to flow where the ears are. What does this mean to you? In this episode we continue our roundtable conversation with 2 podcasting experts, Tom Schwab of Interview Valet, and Matt Johnson, founder of Pursuing Results, the podcast production company that powers Legends & Losers.

The more inane, inconsequential, irritating BS there is in the world...there seems to be a huge part of the world that’s craving something real, authentic, that isn’t holier than thou. - Christopher Lochhead

Podcasting Is the New Blogging

Podcasting in 2017 is very similar to blogging years ago, as it tipped from a niche strategy into the mainstream. With the right production team, it’s much easier to produce a podcast episode than to write a blog post. And podcasting goes hand-in-glove with the trend away from written content and toward video and audio on social media. Big names like Tony Robbins, Slack, Shopify, Andreessen Horowitz and GE have all jumped into the podcast game with professionally produced shows as part of their marketing strategy, with many more to come.

Podcasting is the Only Medium for Raw, Authentic Dialogues

In the words of blind adventurer and L&L guest Erik Weihenmayer, “The world doesn’t need more bull$#%!.” Where else can you eavesdrop on unfiltered, freeform conversations with people like General Stanley McChrystal, Ann Miura-Ko or Judge Kelvin Filer? If any of these incredible people were profiled on 60 Minutes, you might get 8 minutes of content, mostly interview sound bytes and reporter fluff. Podcasting is the only medium that gives you a real sense of who they are, the struggles they’ve overcome, and lessons you can take away from their experience.

Podcasting Allows You To Reach Far More People Than You Can Speak To Live

If you’re an aspiring thought leader, and you want to perpetuate your “thoughtness,” you probably wouldn’t pass up the chance to speak in front of 200 of the right people. And it would take you around half a day, between scheduling, preparation and travel, to reach those 200 people. Contrast that with podcasting, where the average show gets 200 downloads, but you can reach those people from your home with minimum time invested (possibly without even putting on pants).

Trends are like tidal waves. There are two ways to position yourself for a tidal wave; let it carry you, or let it bury you. Podcasting is one of those tidal wave trends. Soon the question won’t be, “What’s a podcast?” it will be “What’s your podcast called?” 

Guest Bio

Tom Schwab is the CEO and founder of Interview Valet, which helps connect thought leaders and experts to podcast hosts to grow their business through podcasts. Tom has been featured on over 1000+ podcasts, unofficially the world record holder for podcast interview appearances. Learn more about Tom and Interview Valet, which handles all Christopher Lochhead’s podcast interviews (among many others) visit http://interviewvalet.com/why-choose-interview-valet/.

Matt Johnson is the CEO and founder of Purs