Creator Coffee Hour

Sunk cost fallacy impacts our decision-making processes much more than you think. How can we make better decisions and prevent personal biases from creating long-term errors in our professional lives?

Click this link for the full essay: 

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Send in an audio message: https://anchor.fm/sulmahmood/message

Ruslan Nikolaev is the co-founder of Journal Technologies. At Journal, Ruslan is disrupting the current CDN financial services & corporate credit card environment. Journal removes the friction from the corporate card application process and offers features that aren't available from others in the market.

We talk about building your first prototype and iterating, how to land your first customers, VC-backed startups vs going bootstrapped, Learning vs Education, differences between Canadian and American VC space and the future of Fintech

Ruslan graduated from the UWaterloo/Wilfrid Laurier CS & BBA double degree program where he was an international case competitor for JDCC Laurier as well as a Software Lead on UW's Hyperloop team. He also has worked at Shopify and Uber.

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References discussed:

Medium Article — How to Generate Drake Lyrics using a Machine Learning Algorithm: https://towardsdatascience.com/generating-drake-rap-lyrics-using-language-models-and-lstms-8725d71b1b12

Velocity Incubator: https://velocityincubator.com/

Tim Ferriss Podcast: tim.blog/podcast/

Jason Calacanis Twitter: twitter.com/Jason

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Where to find Ruslan:

Twitter: twitter.com/nikolaevra

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nikolaevra

Medium: medium.com/@nikolaevra

Journal Twitter: twitter.com/tryjournal

Journal Website: www.tryjournal.com

Marwah Abbas is the co-founder of ADAE Jewelry. Marwah launched her brand in November 2020 alongside her two sisters and their team has seen great amounts of e-commerce growth since their start. Their brand is centralized on the core values of diversity & inclusion, minimalism, philanthropy and accessibility - where they then provide high-quality and ethical jewelry pieces at accessible prices.

We talked about the process she and her team went through to launch ADAE — analysis paralysis, perfectionism & taking action — merging your personal values into your work — as well as relying on systems and self-discipline over motivation.

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References discussed:

Google Analytics Certification: https://analytics.google.com/analytics/academy/

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Where to find Marwah:

ADAE Jewelry: https://adaejewelry.com/

ADAE Instagram: www.instagram.com/adaejewelry

ADAE Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@adaejewelry

ADAE Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/adaejewelry/

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marwahabbas

Personal Twitter: https://twitter.com/marwahtweets

This week, a continuation of my conversation with Matt Black, the co-founder and CTO of Atomic.Finance.

We talk more in-depth about the importance of Bitcoin, why you should be paying attention to Bitcoin and Crypto as a whole, the future of BTC as an asset, comparing the different ways of Bitcoin ownership and how to learn more about the Crypto environment.

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References discussed:

Bitcoin Hardwallet Guide: https://bitcoinsecurity.guide/

The Pomp Podcast: https://anthonypompliano.com/podcast/

Stephen Livera Podcast: https://stephanlivera.com/episodes/

Marty Bent (Tales from the Crypt) Podcast: https://talesfromthecrypt.libsyn.com/

The Bitcoin Standard (by Saifedean Ammous): https://g.co/kgs/H6Am4u

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Where to find Matt:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/matthewjablack

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-j-black/

Tony Cai — Matt's co-founder: https://twitter.com/TonyCai_

Atomic.Finance: https://twitter.com/atomicfinance

Matt Black is the co-founder and CTO of Atomic.Finance. Having launched two startups in the past — Anotiv and Starspeak — this is Matt's third foray into the entrepreneurial world. Atomic.Finance is focused on the exciting world of decentralized finance and specifically creating financial tools & applications within Bitcoin.

We talk about the greatest lessons he learned from his first two startups, the importance of starting with why, having true conviction and belief in your ideas as well as how he raised over 3 million dollars in seed capital.

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Crypto-related terms & jargon:

Bitcoin: The first cryptocurrency to successfully record transactions on a secure, decentralized blockchain-based network, the largest cryptocurrency measured by market capitalization. Is scarce, finite amount exists.

Custodians: Financial intermediaries — A middle-man that may hold your assets in electronic or physical form. Examples of custodians are banks, exchanges (Binance, Coinbase). The reason for not allowing custody of your assets is the chance that the custodian may lose/steal/take your assets if something happens. Matt wants to create non-custodial financial tools for Bitcoin specifically.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi): Blockchain (crypto) form of finance that does not rely on central financial intermediaries (custodians) such as brokerages, exchanges, or banks to offer traditional financial instruments, and instead utilizes smart contracts on the Ethereum/Bitcoin blockchains.

Ethereum: Second largest cryptocurrency. Has some properties that make it similar to Bitcoin however, has a focus as a transactional token with codability for "smart contracts" that facilitates operations on the Ethereum network

Token: Tokens are created on existing blockchains such as Ethereum. Raised through ICO and acts as shares. Value of token is derived from ICO creator's work and not the inherent properties of the cryptocurrency network it exists on.

Vitalik (Vitalik Buterin): Founder and creator of Ethereum.

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References discussed:

WeAreYQQ (startup community Matt was a part of): https://liftstartups.ca/

Destination Imagination: https://destinationimagination.ca/

Daniel Moll (Matt's former co-founder): https://ca.linkedin.com/in/daniel-moll

Initialized Ventures (lead for Atomic.Finance seed round): https://initialized.com/

Anthony Pompliano (Pomp): https://twitter.com/APompliano

Simon Sinek — Start With Why Ted Talk: https://cutt.ly/2cQq0OG

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Where to find Matt:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/matthewjablack

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-j-black/

Tony Cai — Matt's co-founder: https://twitter.com/TonyCai_

Atomic.Finance: https://twitter.com/atomicfinance

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Where to find Creator Coffee Hour:

https://www.instagram.com/creatorcoffeehour/

This week, Lauren Desouza and Ian Saunders dive into what they've learned from launching both agencies and product-based businesses as well as some of the essentials to know before launching a new venture. Whether that be going through the ideation process, finding a cofounder, or maintaining a positive mentality and staying resilient. We discuss how they discovered entrepreneurship as an option, how their environment moulded them and taking part in the Next36 Canada entrepreneurship initiative.

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Content Creator that Sul Mentioned: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KSI_(entertainer)

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Content Recommendations from Lauren & Ian:

Books — https://www.amazon.ca/Monk-Who-Sold-His-Ferrari/dp/0006385125, https://www.amazon.ca/Factfulness-Reasons-World-Things-Better/dp/1250107814, https://www.amazon.ca/Meditations-Marcus-Aurelius/dp/048629823X

Audiobooks — https://www.audible.ca/pd/The-Revisionaries-Audiobook/B08KHD1C6V

Naval Ravikant — https://twitter.com/naval

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Ian's socials:

Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/iansaunders_/

LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/saunders-ian/

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Lauren's socials & Ace Interview Prep:

Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/laurendesouzaa/

LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/desouzalauren/

Ace Interview Prep — https://www.aceinterviewprep.io/

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Where to find Creator Coffee Hour:

https://www.instagram.com/creatorcoffeehour/

This week, Sean Cornelius breaks down his entrepreneurial journey through the world of content marketing. We discuss how he built and scaled his first marketing agency, the importance of learning from rejection, being resilient and how he managed & curated his team of employees.

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Content Recommendations from Sean:

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Inspiration that Sul & Sean mention:

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Sean's socials:

Get to know the team behind the podcast, what Creator Coffee Hour is all about, as well as the overarching purpose and inspiration of the project.

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Resources Mentioned:

The book about Genghis Khan that Sul mentions is called Genghis Khan and the Making of Modern World by Jack Weatherford. He heard about the book from the Tim Ferriss Show episode with Dax Sheppard.

Each week, listen to the host, Sul Mahmood, take a deep dive into the minds of young entrepreneurs and creatives, with a refreshing early-stage glimpse of what it's really like to start a business or project. Learn their underlying philosophies, tactics and the purpose that drives them. And how you could be up next. From starting as first-year students to launching their first start-up, conversations will cover their wins, losses, what inspires them and everything in between.

Whether you're an aspiring leader, entrepreneur, executive, creator or you simply want to learn more about the creator economy or what you need to start your entrepreneurial journey to further your self-development -- this podcast is for you!