On today’s episode, we’re joined by my friend Manuel Saez! 

Manuel is a distinguished leader, industrial designer, and founder with a passion for elevating startups through emotional intelligence and strategic innovation. Over the past fifteen years, Manuel has founded two companies, brought over fifty products to market, and secured thirty-five patents. His groundbreaking designs have garnered global accolades and are recognized by the MoMA, including pieces in its permanent collection. Currently, Manuel focuses on coaching founders, emphasizing emotional intelligence to enhance decision-making. His work, celebrated by clients like Herman Miller and featured in Fast Company, showcases his commitment to creativity and efficiency. Manuel is from Argentina and resides in Brooklyn. He finds joy in fatherhood, writing, cooking, and restoring motorcycles, blending life's passions with professional excellence.

We talk about a lot on today’s episode including industrial design, the creative process, the emotional journey of fundraising, the story of Manuel selling his company, having empathy for ourselves, and managing our emotions.
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Timestamps: 

(0:00) Introduction

(1:30) World Cup Story

(4:39) Growing up in Argentina

(6:10) Giving advice to siblings

(8:25) Working as a lumberjack and moving to Europe

(10:57) Mindset working difficult jobs

(13:34) Studying industrial design

(14:57) Winning a design competition

(16:38) National Argentina gift to President Obama

(17:47) The creative process

(20:13) Argentinian hustle

(21:43) Thinking differently

(24:20) The origins of his company Beyond

(27:31) The emotional journey of fundraising

(28:39) Fundraising advice

(31:27) What would you change about the fundraising process

(34:52) Selling his company

(36:45) A company being part of your identity

(37:31) The importance of awareness and managing emotions

(41:41) Having empathy for yourself

(44:17) Advise Myself Newsletter

(48:28) When did the inner work journey begin

(49:08) Who is a role model to Manuel today

(49:40) A change in the definition of success
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Where to find Manuel:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/supermanuelsaez

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/supermanuelsaez/

Advise Myself Newsletter: https://www.advisemyself.com/

Where to find Chacho:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chachovaladez

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chachovaladez/

On today’s episode, we’re joined by my friend Erin Falter. Erin is the founder of Pink Skies, a boutique performance consultancy that focuses on brands in health, mindfulness and culture. In addition to Pink Skies, Erin leads growth for Mother Games alongside her sister, where they are building their first MMO title and are on a mission to create transformative experience through game play. She has a newsletter, WORKWORK, where she enjoys distilling the Inner and Outer Work she is learning as she goes.

We cover a range of topics in our conversation from religion, to growing up in a family of female entrepreneurs, branding, developing our values, how our inner work is connected to our outer work, regulating emotions, and the relationship we have with our thoughts.

I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Erin over the past year and always love our conversations. Happy to share this conversation with you today!
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Timestamps: 

(01:06) The story behind Notre Dame’s ‘Touchdown Jesus’
(02:27) Childhood
(04:00) Notre Dame Esteem Graduate Program
(05:13) Impact of a religious upbringing
(07:46) Growing up in a family of female entrepreneurs
(13:20) Working on a startup with her sister
(14:46) Naming companies
(18:19) Personal branding
(21:50) Protecting your mind from social media
(23:47) Developing Pink Skies values
(25:36) Origins of WORKWORK
(29:10) Distilling and practicing inner work 
(30:30) Writing process for WORKWORK
(33:40) Blending inner work and outer work
(36:30) Practices for regulation emotions
(40:16) Attachment to thoughts 
(43:07) Byron Katie’s 4 questions
(47:08) There’s a time for everything
(49:38) Where to start your inner work journey
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Where to find Erin:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/erinfalter

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-falter-4b454728/

WORKWORK: https://w0rkw0rk.substack.com/

Where to find Chacho:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chachovaladez

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chachovaladez/

Today we're joined by my friend, Harold Hughes, Founder and CEO of Bandwagon, a South Carolina-based live experience technology company. As a web3 builder and community leader, Harold published “A Kid’s Book About Blockchain.” to help educate people "from 6 to 60" about the revolutionary technology that Bandwagon specializes in. Additionally, he is an active angel investor, primarily investing in women, people of color, and Black founder-led companies.

We cover a range of topics in our conversation from public speaking and communication skills, the importance of empathy and emotional intelligence, managing emotions as a CEO, self-care, and work life prioritization.

Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast player. I’ll release episodes weekly and my focus is to change one thing in each episode to make it better than the previous one. 
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Timestamps:

(0:00) Introduction

(1:51) Relationship with alcohol

(5:54) Developing public speaking and communication skills

(9:24) How to improve public speaking

(12:15) The importance of empathy and EQ

(15:44) Introduction to technology and working at RadioShack

(20:08) Teaching his kids to solve problems through creativity

(21:45) How working in retail served him as a founder

(25:44) Building an investor and founder network from scratch

(28:21) The importance of social capital

(31:38) The questions he asked himself before starting Bandwagon

(33:27) What is Bandwagon?

(36:42) Receiving funding from Google and the State of South Carolina

(37:40) Managing emotions as a CEO and practicing self-care

(44:37) Work life prioritization vs work life balance

(49:44) What happens if everything goes right?

(54:22) Writing A Kid’s Book About Blockchain

(58:44) The best lesson Harold’s late father taught him

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Where to find Harold:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/OneBandwagonFan

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haroldphughes/

Where to find Chacho:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chachovaladez

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chachovaladez/

We have one of my favorite people on today’s show, Christie Pitts! Christie was one of my first bosses when I started working in venture capital. I’ve long considered her a mentor and good friend.

Christie is both an operator and investor, having invested in 200 companies led by underrepresented founders at Backstage Capital and having co-founded several organizations. Including running multi-level organizations in billion-dollar+ P&Ls. We cover a lot of ground in today’s episode ranging from motherhood, growing up in a religious home, starting a career in retail, career transitions, to navigating difficult conversations.

Last, be sure to subscribe to your favorite podcast player. I’ll release episodes weekly and my focus is to change one thing in each episode to make it better than the previous one.

In this episode, we discuss:

(2:00) A phrase that Christie lives by

(6:00) How growing up in a religious home shaped Christie as an adult

(15:25) The positive impact of Christie’s mom as she was growing up

(16:45) Growing up in the Bay area and exposure to the tech industry

(19:30) San Jose State University and Christie’s first pitch competition for eBooks

(20:20) Working at Verizon through school

(23:16) Advice for navigating the corporate world and a hard lesson to learn

(26:00) De-risking and deciding to leave Verizon Ventures for Backstage Capital

(28:44) How working in retail served Christie as a venture investor

(32:45) The story of nearly quitting Verizon before her 401k vested and the 90-day conversation she had with her dad

(36:28) Living in the present moment as a mom

(38:06) How to have uncomfortable conversations

(42:33) Oprah, Mr. Rogers, and Motherhood

(45:50) What Christie wants her kids to remember about the way she loves them

(47:12) Greatness and writing your own obituary

Hey, I’m Chacho, and welcome to my podcast, where we focus on the human side of startup success. I’m glad you’re here! As a startup investor, I am passionate about mental and physical health, psychology, building meaningful relationships, and how these aspects influence the process of building successful companies.

Every week, I have genuine conversations with thoughtful startup founders, investors, athletes, and thinkers. Together, we explore ways to leverage our minds to think differently, navigate challenging situations, and build stronger relationships. We aim to accomplish all of this without burning ourselves out.

Join me for inspiring stories, practical wisdom, and helpful tools to become the best version of yourself.