Due Diligence

Michael Maslansky is a communication strategist and language expert who teaches companies how to effectively connect with customers. As the CEO of Maslansky + Partners, his emotionally savvy coaching has helped numerous Fortune 500s like Pfizer, Starbucks, Bank of America and Microsoft find their footing in times of crisis.

His firm’s polling methodologies and in-depth focus groups have frequently been cited in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, 60 Minutes, Nightline and PBS’s Frontline, among others.

In this episode we discuss:

Recommended resources:

The Language of Trust: Selling Ideas in a World of Skeptics by Michael Maslansky

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt

Samyr Laine is an investor, Olympian, and operator with a background in sports & entertainment. He is currently GP of Freedom Trail Capital, SVP of The Creator Project at Raptive, former SVP of Operations & Strategy at Westbrook, and former Senior Director of Operations at Roc Nation. Prior to working on celebrity ventures for Will & Jada Pinkett Smith and Roc Nation, Samyr worked in the sports industry at Major League Soccer and Monumental Sports & Entertainment. He also competed in the London 2012 Summer Olympics in the triple jump representing Haiti after getting degrees from Georgetown Law & Harvard University.

Rich Antoniello is the founder and former CEO of Complex Networks, a youth culture brand and media company that was founded in 2002 and sold in 2015 to Hearst and Verizon and later in 2021 to BuzzFeed.

Find Rich on Twitter and LinkedIn

Mentioned in the episode:

Ahad Khan is the CEO of Kajabi, the leading knowledge commerce platform for creators to monetize their expertise.

Check out Kajabi

Ankur Nagpal is the founder of Teachable which he started in 2013 and sold for a reported $250M to HotMart in 2020. He is also the founder of Vibe Capital, an early-stage venture fund, and most recently Ocho, a fintech startup on a mission to help business owners and creators build wealth.

Brian Sugar is the co-founder and former CEO of PopSugar, a women's media company acquired by Group Nine (which was later acquired by Vox Media). He is now the Managing Partner of Sugar Capital where he invests in DTC brands like Feastables, Kinship, Caraway, Brightland, Omsom, Starface, and Kinship as well as tech companies enabling commerce like Archive, Bounty, EcoCart, Tydo, Fondue, and Cogsy.

Brian's Twitter

Sugar Capital website

Rebecca Minkoff is a designer and the founder of the iconic fashion brand Rebecca Minkoff. Ali Koplar Wyatt is an executive & operator with a background in media from Elle to Refinery29 to Goop and Girlboss. Together they are cofounders of The Female Founder Collective, a community & platform for women entrepreneurs.

Join Female Founder's Day on March 23rd in Los Angeles

Peter Brack is a Managing Partner at Hypothesis Ventures, an early-stage VC fund investing in mission-driven companies outside of Silicon Valley. Peter was previously a Venture Partner at Mucker Capital in Los Angeles and before that started & exited two media companies on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after starting his career in media at Time Warner and Time Inc. building the Asia operations. Peter is also a startup coach in addition to being an investor and advisor in startups.

Michaeline DeJoria is the CEO of John Paul Mitchell Systems, the largest privately-owned hair company in the world. She became CEO in 2021 to run the globally respected brand started by her father, John Paul DeJoria, in 1980 with just $700 and three products.

Tyler Tringas is the founder and general partner of Calm Fund. Prior to starting Calm to invest in software companies looking to grow sustainably & profitably, Tyler started and sold Storemapper. 

Find Tyler's Twitter here