ENTREPRENEURISM

Ritesh Patel shares an entrepreneurial journey that started with coding as a child, building software as a teenager, and hacking together DIY livestreams for club nights long before that was mainstream. In this episode, he explains how those early instincts grew into Ticket Fairy, a company that began by applying ad-tech and gamification to event growth and is now expanding into working capital, AI-powered workflows, and banking infrastructure. He also shares why better software alone was not enough to win in a crowded market, how he and his brother make a co-CEO model work across continents, and what founders can learn from focusing on product, customers, and real sources of competitive advantage.

Show Notes

• [00:00] Teaser: Ritesh recounts rigging a DIY livestream for a club event in 2000.
• [00:53] Show Intro
• [03:27] Early entrepreneurial wiring: coding at 9, building products at 13, and incorporating a company at 16.
• [05:02] Bristol, house parties, club nights, and the leap from student events to real audience-building.
• [09:24] The original Ticket Fairy concept: turning ticket buyers into affiliates using ad-tech logic, attribution, and fan rewards.
• [11:26] Bootstrapping, repeated VC rejection, landing Justin Kan as an early investor, and then getting into Y Combinator.
• [13:32] Building software for independent promoters by encoding best practices they could not afford to build themselves.
• [15:13] Why the co-founder relationship worked better as co-CEOs than as separate conventional titles.
• [19:35] How the co-CEO model works in practice across a distributed company split between San Francisco and Dubai.
• [22:45] A deliberate “build year” and the strategic work streams that converged into a new growth phase.
• [24:45] The real reason competitors won deals: access to working capital, not just product strength.
• [27:05] Launching a capital product through private credit to compete for larger, more established clients.
• [27:58] Moving beyond ticketing into AI agents, workflow automation, and banking rails.
• [31:11] Quick Fire: book recommendation, tool/app, grounding habit, and startup advice.
• [35:53] Show Outro

Quick Fire Resources

• Book: Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts — Amazon
• Tool/App: Claude Code

Morgan O’Hara didn’t found The Hutong, but over 16 years he helped shape it, scale it, and ultimately become its largest shareholder. In this episode, he talks candidly about joining the company in its earliest days, bringing structure to a highly creative business, and helping steer its evolution from a Beijing cultural space into a leading educational travel company working with schools across Greater China and Southeast Asia. The conversation also explores leadership growth, culture-building, pandemic survival, and what it really takes to rise inside a company you believe in.

Show Notes

[00:00] Show Teaser & Intro

[02:03] Morgan’s unconventional path begins

Fresh out of his MBA, Morgan lands in China during the financial crisis, visits a hutong courtyard on a school trip, and decides to stay in Beijing rather than head home.

[04:59] Early days at The Hutong

He joins a tiny team, wears many hats, and starts bringing structure to a business that was initially more experimental and community-driven than operationally defined.

[06:34] From cultural courtyard to educational travel business

What began as events, workshops, and community programming gradually evolved into a focused B2B educational travel company serving international schools.

[08:19] Spotting the real growth opportunity

Morgan and the team realize their real edge is in designing and delivering experiential learning programs, then begin expanding from Beijing into Shanghai, Hong Kong, and beyond.

[10:26] Earning equity, not inheriting it

Morgan explains how performance, sweat equity, and reinvestment created his path into ownership — and how a revenue milestone helped formalize the partnership.

[13:02] Morgan’s real entrepreneurial focus

Rather than claiming a “superpower,” he points to two enduring obsessions: building a great place to work and relentlessly protecting program quality.

[14:18] Turning mistakes into learning

Morgan shares an internal mantra — “turning negatives into positives” — and the role that positivity plays in entrepreneurial resilience.

[17:30] The pandemic nearly breaks the business

For a company built around in-person experiences, Covid was existential. Morgan reflects on hard choices, preserving the team as long as possible, and leading through uncertainty.

[18:42] How The Hutong survived

By shrinking to a core team, operating opportunistically in open markets, and developing localized programs where restrictions allowed, the company made it through and came out stronger.

[20:59] Morgan’s evolution as a leader

He describes the shift from intense operator to steward of the company — and the growing importance of lifting others up rather than staying at the center of everything.

[22:22] Escaping founder-style bottlenecks

Moving to Hong Kong forced Morgan to step back from day-to-day details and operate with more perspective, which helped the company scale.

[24:29] Hiring, values fit, and leadership development

Morgan explains The Hutong’s approach to hiring, why bringing in senior outsiders is not always the answer, and how they develop leaders from within.

[25:40] The management forum

One of the standout practices in the business: a recurring learning forum built around management principles and shared leadership development.

[28:13] Quick Fire: book recommendation

Morgan recommends Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish, now more widely associated with Scaling Up.

[28:44] Quick Fire: morning routine

He starts early, makes coffee, plans the day, and tackles high-focus work before the family gets up.

[29:17] Quick Fire: tool he can’t live without

Morgan names Asana as both a team project-management tool and a personal reminder system.

[29:37] Quick Fire: habit that keeps him grounded

Exercise — running, swimming, biking, or the gym.

[29:50] Quick Fire: best business advice

“Nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems.”

[31:19] Final advice for ambitious employees

If you love the business you’re in, prove your worth, make yourself indispensable, and create the kind of value the company cannot ignore.

[33:00] Show Outro

Quick Fire Resources

Book: Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish

Tool/App: Asana

Related hiring book mentioned by Scott: Who: The A Method for Hiring by Geoff Smart and Randy Street

Roberta Lipson (李碧菁) walks us through a rare founder story: spotting a gap in China’s healthcare market, persuading stakeholders that a foreign-invested hospital could work, and then financing the first facility through an early-stage IPO that many would have advised against. We explore the practical realities of building trust—first with top doctors, then with patients—how a mission-driven culture becomes operational, and why the “right” capital market for a business like hers is the one closest to its patients.

• [00:00] Teaser — Catching the moment: why the early IPO mattered and what “conventional wisdom” would have missed.
• [00:40] Show Intro (no summary)
• [02:12] Welcome & framing — Roberta’s arc: China, healthcare, and building something that didn’t exist yet.
• [03:29] Early fascination with China — From studying Chinese history/language to deciding she wanted to “do things,” not just study them.
• [05:07] Landing in Beijing — The trading-company job that became a platform for opportunity exploration.
• [05:33] First entrepreneurial wedge — Importing U.S. medical equipment into Chinese hospitals; learning the market from the inside.
• [06:15] Founding the company (1981/82) — Building a business by sourcing relevant technology and convincing U.S. firms China could be a real customer.
• [07:46] Insight from hospital floors — Seeing both the “beautiful things” and the systemic gaps: overcrowding, underpaid doctors, limited tools.
• [08:22] The unmet customer need — Watching expats leave China for care and realizing a local solution could be built.
• [09:00] Creating the category with regulators — No clear rulebook: “crossing the river by feeling the stones.”
• [09:56] The winning narrative — Healthcare as part of China’s ability to attract foreign investment and experts (alongside education).
• [10:23] The capital panic — Approval seemed close, but where would the funding come from? No usable capital markets in China then.
• [10:54] The “mini IPO” (1994) — Why going public early unlocked the first hospital—and first-mover advantage.
• [11:13] The first hospital — Small beginnings: 26 beds, 11 doctors, ~60 nurses; initially almost 100% expat clientele.
• [12:40] Market evolution — Over time, the patient base shifts heavily local; growth across major eastern cities.
• [14:33] Founding partnership — Why complementary skills and shared values with Elyse Silverberg mattered (and still did years later).
• [17:24] Operating rules for China — Persistence + legality: don’t “take no” easily, but treat compliance as essential.
• [18:43] Mission as a management system — “In the heart” culture: hiring for belief, not just capability—especially in healthcare.
• [21:07] Founder struggles — Financing/valuation challenges and the difficulty of communicating the real value proposition to U.S. investors.
• [21:48] Privatization lessons — The shift from distant shareholders to hands-on investors; what changes operationally when investors are “in your life.”
• [23:09] Back to public markets (2019) and re-privatizing (2021) — Why “the right” public market should be near patients.
• [24:20] The personal trade-offs — Work–life balance, raising kids while scaling, and the role of an unusually supportive partner at home.
• [26:46] Frugality vs. professionalism — Early scrappiness, then learning when to invest (“spend money to make money”).
• [28:04] Digitalization, AI, and automation — Why the organization made the bet—and why she’s glad they did.
• [29:11] Trust-building playbook — Start with doctors (credibility), then deliver exceptional patient experiences (childbirth as an early trust engine).
• [32:00] Quick Fire — Books, habits, tools, and founder advice.
• [35:32] Show Outro (no summary)

Books (Roberta):

• The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down — Anne Fadiman
• God’s Hotel — Victoria Sweet
• Transforming Health Care: The Virginia Mason Medical Center’s Story — Charles Kenney

Apps/Tools (Roberta):

• Feishu (飞书 / Lark)
• ChatGPT

Habit (Roberta):

• Exercise (when she does it, her day goes much better)
• Checking in with family (husband/children)

Advice (Roberta):

• Follow your heart; don’t be discouraged; don’t take “no” for an answer.

In this episode of ENTREPRENEURISM, Scott interviews Minesh Pore, Co-Founder & CEO of BuyHive and Founder & CEO of SourcingGPT.ai, exploring how he's leveraging AI throughout his business. Minesh shares how he went from Yellow Pages ad sales to leading global sourcing teams, then bootstrapping BuyHive through the chaos of COVID by focusing relentlessly on revenue. He then reveals how SourcingGPT was born from thousands of hours of on-the-ground sourcing expertise, and how vertical AI agents can automate RFQs, supplier discovery, and landed-cost calculations—freeing people to focus on judgment, relationships, and growth. The conversation wraps with a founder’s playbook for starting AI-native businesses, failing fast, and making sure you’re actually solving real customer problems.

• [00:00] Teaser – Minesh describes how AI can write RFQs, find suppliers, and calculate shipping and duties in seconds, replacing “mundane tasks” with dashboards.
• [01:05] Show Intro – Scott introduces ENTREPRENEURISM and the show’s focus on the tensions and superpowers of real entrepreneurs.
• [02:37] Guest Intro – Scott welcomes Minesh Pore, highlighting his roles at BuyHive and SourcingGPT and his new book Everyone Is a Builder Now.
• [04:10] Early entrepreneurial roots – Minesh recalls selling Yellow Pages ads to every kind of small business and how discomfort and global moves (India, US, Taiwan, China, Europe) built his entrepreneurial mindset.
• [07:31] Leaving corporate and founding BuyHive – He explains selling his previous company to Blackstone, the shift to balance-sheet management, and why he left to build BuyHive as a network of on-demand sourcing experts.
• [09:31] Bootstrapping through COVID – With supply chains breaking and funding drying up, Minesh focused the team on one thing—revenue—using sales margins instead of venture capital and breaking even within eight months.
• [12:23] Choosing not to chase hyperscale – Minesh explains why he’s comfortable with steady 15–20% annual growth at BuyHive and doesn’t want investor pressure in a traditional industry.
• [13:11] Birth of SourcingGPT.ai – Collecting data from 3,000+ sourcing experts led to the idea of encoding their expertise into an AI tool that can save ~250 hours per SKU by automating supplier discovery, RFQs, duty and freight calculations, and compliance.
• [14:27] Why write a book on AI for non-technical people – After speaking at events and seeing fear and misinformation about AI, Minesh decided to show practical ways AI can make life more efficient—not replace people—and free time for higher-value work and family.
• [17:02] Where founders should start with AI – He urges entrepreneurs to honestly list the tasks and SOPs that don’t add real value (the “mundane tasks”) and target those first for automation.
• [18:13] Why 80–85% of corporate AI projects fail – Minesh cites top-down “we must do AI” initiatives, consultant-driven blue-sky ideas, and a lack of ground-level input on actual frustrations as key reasons many AI investments miss the mark.
• [19:22] Real examples: Amazon warehouses & sourcing workflows – From warehouse robotics to SourcingGPT’s automation of RFQs and supplier search, he illustrates how AI should target repetitive, low-value work.
• [20:40] Why you still need a human in the loop – Minesh stresses that AI should improve efficiency, not replace people; humans still provide brand context, aesthetic decisions, tech packs, and real-time judgment on changes like warehouse locations.
• [23:11] From individual productivity to organizational leverage – Scott and Minesh explore how freeing sourcing teams from grunt work lets them focus on content, new product development, and new business lines instead of headcount cuts.
• [25:27] Quick Fire: Entrepreneurial Hacks
  • Book every entrepreneur should read: The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz.
  • Morning habit: constantly asking, “How can I simplify today?”
  • Tools he can’t live without: ChatGPT and Manus for automating browser-based work.
  • Grounding habit: daily debriefs with his six-year-old daughter, whose simple stories reframe what really matters.
  • Best business advice received: “Fail fast”—treat failure as learning and iterate honestly and quickly.
• [31:09] How to design an AI-native company in 2025 – Minesh, a non-technical founder, explains how no-code/low-code tools and AI copilots (like Manus, ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, Lovable) let you ideate, build MVPs, and go to market fast without large teams.
• [33:18] Start with the problem, not the tech – He argues that in an AI-enabled world, your edge is understanding customers and solving their problems fastest; technology is widely available but customer insight is not.
• [34:46] Talking to 500 users before building – Minesh shares that he spoke one-on-one with about 500 early signups for SourcingGPT to deeply understand their challenges before locking in product direction.
• [35:56] Wrap-up & key takeaway – Scott closes on Minesh’s reminder that AI can help founders fail faster and build faster—but only if they’re solving real human problems.
• [36:05] Show Outro – Scott thanks listeners, invites feedback and shares the core message: entrepreneurship is about disciplined action, not just spotting opportunities.

Books

• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers – Ben Horowitz Amazon+1

Apps / Tools

• ChatGPT – AI assistant from OpenAI used for everyday problem-solving and idea exploration. ChatGPT
• Manus – An autonomous AI agent that can operate directly in your browser to execute multi-step tasks and automate workflows. Manus+1

Vanessa Hendriadi, CEO and Co-Founder of GoWork, has done what many founders only talk about: she deliberately stepped back from running the day-to-day and handed operational control to a GM—while staying firmly in the CEO seat. In this conversation, she shares how her engineering mindset, love of systems, and experience merging companies and surviving COVID laid the groundwork for a more scalable leadership model. Vanessa explains why delegating ownership (not tasks), embracing radical transparency, and framing her leaders as the “first team” in the company were critical to making the transition work. She also dives into the inner game: stoicism, daily movement, journaling, and protecting her energy “like equity” so the business now fits into the life she wants, not the other way around.

[00:00] Cold Open – Delegating Ownership, Not Tasks

• Vanessa’s philosophy: “If I delegate the task it will die, but if I delegate the ownership, it will grow.”

[00:35] Show Intro

• Scott introduces ENTREPRENEURISM and the core tension of entrepreneurial life: opportunity, focus, and the struggle of scaling without becoming the bottleneck.

[02:06] Meet Vanessa & GoWork at Scale

• Scott introduces Vanessa’s role as CEO & Co-Founder of GoWork and outlines the scope of the business: premium workspaces across Indonesia, strategic merger, funding through Series B, and surviving COVID while many competitors exited.

[03:41] From Chemical Engineer to System Builder

• Vanessa recounts her path: studying chemical engineering in the U.S., MBA, early career roles, and returning to the family business.
• Realization that the existing culture “wasn’t hers” and that she wasn’t meant to inherit a system but to build one.

[05:45] Connecting Real Estate ‘Hardware’ with Startup ‘Software’

• How exposure to her family’s real estate investments and her husband’s startup world led to the insight that someone had to connect the two.
• Founding Rework (later GoWork) in 2016 as an enablement platform for founders, corporates, and landlords—not just a co-working brand.

[07:19] Superpower: Resonance and Human Systems

• Vanessa describes her superpower as “resonance”: connecting, absorbing, adapting, and amplifying what she learns from people.
• Scott connects this to the idea of culture and human systems as the true leverage for scaling.

[09:49] Early Struggles: Motherhood, FOMO, and Overwhelm

• Building her first company while her second son was nine months old and the Indonesian startup ecosystem was exploding.
• Watching other founders grind 20-hour days and dealing with FOMO and the realization she couldn’t—and shouldn’t—try to do everything herself.

[11:59] You Can’t Do Everything: The Seeds of Delegation

• The awareness that she needed to empower others instead of being the single point of failure.
• Moving from personally hiring every employee to “cloning” leaders who can make similar quality decisions.

[13:16] The Decision to Install a GM

• Vanessa walks through the year-long emotional and strategic process of deciding to hand day-to-day operations to a GM.
• Balancing what’s good for her and what’s good for the company—refusing to optimize for only one side.

[15:05] Transparency, Shared Ownership & Over-Communication

• Using the same radical transparency that helped GoWork survive COVID to lead this transition.
• Bringing the entire leadership team into the process early: “I don’t know exactly how to do this, but I need your help, and I’m going to involve you in every step.”

[16:04] What’s in It for Them: Elevating the Leadership Team

• Explaining the “why” to her team in terms of their growth: more empowerment, higher levels of delegation, fewer dependencies on the founder as the safety net.
• Her ownership vs. task delegation philosophy and how she set clear lanes, metrics, and decision rights.

[18:06] Shadowing, Step-by-Step Authority Transfer

• The GM initially shadows Vanessa; now Vanessa shadows the GM.
• Why this isn’t about stepping out but about everyone—CEO, GM, and managers—stepping up and taking real responsibility (including risk).

[19:19] Humans, Not Machines: Leadership as Art and Science

• The challenge of leading “non-engineerable” humans with different limits and stress responses.
• Ensuring people feel supported and not siloed; emphasizing the leadership team as each manager’s “first family” in the company.

[20:44] The Leadership Team as Team #1

• Scott reinforces the idea that the leadership team must be the #1 team, not just a working group.
• Vanessa explains how aligning this “first family” unlocks accountability across departments.

[21:08] Visionary CEO + Integrator GM

• Scott frames Vanessa’s new structure using the “visionary and integrator” language from Rocket Fuel.
• Vanessa describes defining lanes between herself, the GM, and the rest of the leadership team to avoid confusion and disempowerment.

[22:05] Pre-Mortems and Leading with Questions

• Vanessa uses pre-mortems to anticipate failure modes of the transition (e.g., saying the GM owns decisions while she still intervenes).
• Instead of telling people what to do, she leans into questions—shifting from directive leader to coach-like leader.

[23:33] Soft Stuff Is the Hard Stuff

• Scott reflects on the messy people equation and how coaching helps entrepreneurs become better coaches themselves.
• Vanessa underscores the importance of support systems—for leaders and for teams.

[24:11] Quick Fire: Book Every Entrepreneur Should Read

• Vanessa recommends Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.
• She describes it as a “mental pressure valve” that reminds entrepreneurs how tiny most problems are in the grand scheme of things and helps them stop overreacting and start leading.

[25:14] Quick Fire: Morning Routine

• Vanessa moves her body every morning: sometimes cardio, VO₂ max work, strength, or swimming—choosing based on how she feels.
• Movement is how she “unclogs” her mind and sets the tone for the day.

[26:06] Quick Fire: Tools & Apps She Can’t Live Without

• Admits WhatsApp (and for many, WeChat) runs half her company, life, and “drama.”
• Shares her Oura Ring as a key longevity tool—tracking sleep, steps, and stress; she checks the dashboard multiple times a day.

[27:11] Quick Fire: Daily Habits – Journaling & Affirmations

• Journals every morning in the Day One app: three prompts—wins from yesterday, something new she learned, and at least five items of gratitude.
• Often pairs journaling with short meditation or daily affirmations focused on positivity and gratitude.

[28:15] Quick Fire: Best Business Advice

• “Build our life so that the business fits into it and not the other way around.”
• Explains how systems, empowered leadership, and protecting energy like equity helped her stop trying to be the hero and made the business run better.

[30:28] Advice to Early-Stage Entrepreneurs

• Don’t believe you are “the answer” to everything; build a strong second layer and support system from the start.
• Life happens—family, health, unexpected events—so you must design a company that can survive even when the stars don’t align.

[31:39] Show Outro

• Scott closes the conversation, thanks Vanessa, and reinforces the importance of disciplined action in entrepreneurship.
• Reminder to subscribe, share, and continue exploring the complexities of entrepreneurism.

• Book – Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
  • Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Marcus-Aurelius/dp/0812968255/
• App – Day One (Journaling)
  • Official site: https://dayoneapp.com
• Tool – Oura Ring (Sleep, Recovery & Readiness Tracking)
  • Official site: https://ouraring.com
• App – WhatsApp (Primary Communication Platform)
  • Official site: https://www.whatsapp.com

In this dynamic episode, Jaeson Ma—serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and cultural bridge builder—unpacks his unlikely path from street-smart hustler to spiritual missionary to serial founder shaping the intersection of media, tech, and faith. Named to Variety’s 500 Most Influential Leaders and part of the Milken Institute’s Young Leaders Circle, Jaeson reflects on what drives him: purpose, persistence, and the power of belief. Scott and Jaeson explore what it means to bridge East and West, to define success through calling, and to stay grounded while creating global impact.

[00:00] Jaeson’s opening reflection on purpose and authenticity

[02:23] Scott welcomes Jaeson Ma to the show

[03:06] The Paris Hilton + Musical.ly story and how Goodwater Capital landed a unicorn deal

[09:20] From humble beginnings: selling candy in San Jose to support his family

[13:19] Early lessons in fearlessness and persuasion

[15:03] From street hustler to missionary—learning to “sell the gospel”

[16:08] Mentorship under MC Hammer and lessons in faith, media, and venture capital

[18:54] Missionary years across 40 countries and how they shaped his worldview

[20:19] Discovering his life’s purpose: bridging East and West through culture and technology

[21:13] The rise of Shanghai as the East-West nexus and what changed post-COVID

[25:36] How geopolitics disrupted global collaboration—but why dialogue still matters

[28:35] Defining success through calling, not comparison

[33:23] Jaeson on his superpower: being a catalyzer who spots what’s about to blow up

[36:02] Why he’s betting on OpenWav and the next evolution of the music industry

[38:08] Quick-Fire Entrepreneur Hacks: Books, habits, mentors, and advice for founders

[41:27] Jaeson’s closing words: “The only failure is not trying.”

[42:56] Show outro

• Book: The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino — Amazon link
• Tool: ChatGPT — for creativity and productivity
• Habit: Daily gratitude and prayer
• Mentor Mentioned: MC Hammer — for faith-based leadership and entrepreneurial example

From bootstrapping during the 2008 financial crisis to building a global clean energy business with associates in 15 countries, Andy Klump’s 17-year journey with Clean Energy Associates is a case study in resilience and intentional leadership.

In this episode, Andy shares how he turned early chaos into structure with the help of an executive coach, built a culture that transcended borders, and led a values-driven team through exponential growth and a successful exit to Intertek in 2022. His reflections on culture, coaching, and personal sustainability make this one of the most actionable playbooks for founders looking to scale without losing their soul.

• [00:00] Early mistakes & realization that he was “his own worst enemy.”
• [03:40] Starting young — “Handy Andy’s Lawn Care” and early grit.
• [05:00] From Trina Solar to founding CEA in 2008 amid the financial crisis.
• [07:15] Spotting an opportunity in solar factory quality control and building an on-the-ground team in China.
• [10:00] Finding product-market fit and pivoting to focus on supply-chain and QC services.
• [11:25] Discovering culture as the true growth lever through EO and executive coaching.
• [13:20] The ‘WUB’ culture framework — We are Family, Have Fun, Unending Curiosity, Be Humble, Do the Right Thing, Results Matter, Own It, Perform Above and Beyond.
• [14:35] Scaling from 50 to 120 people through values-driven leadership.
• [15:40] Implementing Rockefeller Habits and the Scaling Up methodology.
• [17:10] CEO superpowers — bridging cultures and building trust across China and the West.
• [19:40] Realizing you can’t be both CEO and Head of Sales.
• [21:25] The threefold CEO focus — team, culture, strategy.
• [23:40] Growing across 15 countries and maintaining one culture.
• [28:00] Navigating a difficult exit and why “a little bit of humility” mattered most.
• [35:07]

• Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family — Amazon
• The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations — Amazon
• Hyper Sales Growth: Street-Proven Systems & Processes by Jack Daly — Amazon
• Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends on It by Al Ries — Amazon
• Positive Intelligence: Why Only 20% of Teams and Individuals Achieve Their True Potential by Shirzad Chamine — Amazon

• Positive Intelligence App — supports daily mental fitness and mindset practice
• Gratitude Journal — Andy’s daily ritual for focus and positivity

• Morning Routine: Meditation + gratitude journaling
• Daily Habit: Prioritizing sleep and exercise for sustained leadership energy

• Bootstrap for as long as possible — “Keeping equity early gives you freedom later.”
• “There will always be a culture—if you don’t shape it deliberately, it will shape you.”
• Focus one-third of your time on each: team, culture, and strategy.

• [43:25] Final reflection — invest in culture and team early.
• [45:00] Show Outro.

David Steele embodies the spirit of the parallel entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of OneWealth Advisors, an independent registered investment advisory firm managing well over $1B in assets. In parallel, he is Executive Chairman of a restaurant group with 300 employees and also owns multiple yoga studios. In this conversation with Scott Pollack, David reflects on the grit it took to cold-call 500 prospects a day in his early years; the discipline of systems and financial prudence; and the principle that people simply want to feel loved and valued. He shares candidly about his ongoing battle with self-limiting beliefs, and why systematic behavior is the foundation of sustainable entrepreneurship.

• [00:34] Show intro with Scott Pollack
• [02:06] Guest introduction: David Steele, founder/CEO of OneWealth Advisors ($1B+ AUM), restaurateur, and yoga studio owner
• [02:51] Starting out as a dishwasher → transition to Wall Street → first restaurant success
• [05:14] Balancing finance and hospitality; the “parallel entrepreneur”
• [07:20] Discovering his leadership role as nurturer, strategist, and coach
• [08:34] Entrepreneurial superpower: building shared ownership of culture and strategy
• [13:07] Biggest struggle: overcoming self-limiting beliefs
• [18:34] Universal principle: people want to feel loved and valued
• [23:50] Why systematic, disciplined behavior beats “hockey stick” fantasies
• [25:42] Cold-calling 500 dials a day: early sales discipline
• [27:05] Quick-fire entrepreneur hacks
  • Book: How to Win Friends and Influence People (Amazon link)
  • Tool/App: Calendar
  • Habit: Exercise (90–120 minutes daily)
  • Advice: “If you’re not in the service of others, you won’t be happy.” (from his mother)
• [33:10] Closing reflections on venture capital, founder struggles, and staying grounded
• [33:34] Show outro

Rich Robinson—globetrotting entrepreneur, educator, comedian, and ecosystem builder—shares how travel shaped his entrepreneurial mindset and why being a "curious connector" has been his lifelong superpower. To date, Rich has been a co-founder and/or senior exec in eight startups (three of which exited to public companies), and he has served as an investor, board member, advisor, or mentor to dozens more. From founding China’s first mobile gaming company to teaching at Peking University and now leading initiatives in AI, blockchain, and robotics, Rich offers candid stories of successes, failures, and the power of resilience. His philosophy: failure is just feedback, and entrepreneurship is one of the best ways to become your best self.

Show Notes

• [00:00] Stoicism, resilience, and why only reaction and action are in your control.
• [02:10] Introducing Rich Robinson: globetrotting serial entrepreneur, educator, comedian.
• [03:40] How travel set Rich on fire and shaped his entrepreneurial worldview.
• [06:05] The China Internet dragon takes hold: fascination with China + the Web.
• [07:30] Cycling across Africa: the entrepreneurial metaphor of highs and lows.
• [09:18] Moving to China in the early Internet days.
• [11:20] Rich’s first startup—MiG Mobile Interactive Games—and hard lessons in funding.
• [13:34] Why a $40M exit didn’t benefit him as founder.
• [15:03] Discovering his superpower through Ray Dalio’s PrinciplesYou test.
• [18:07] Building communities and ecosystems across Asia.
• [20:06] Today’s focus: the trifecta of blockchain, AI, and robotics.
• [22:19] Why being a “curious connector” is a superpower anyone can cultivate.
• [23:04] Failures as gifts: how rejection, awkwardness, and mistakes fuel growth.
• [27:50] From China speed to Bali balance: redefining success and energy.
• [30:43] Quick-fire entrepreneur hacks.
• [38:06] Gratitude and storytelling as the engines of entrepreneurship.

Quick-Fire Recommendations

• Book: The Great CEO Within: The Tactical Guide to Company Building by Matt Mochary — Amazon link
• Morning Routine: Meditation + journaling (Vipassana / Transcendental Meditation, TM.org)
• Tool/App: Freedom (site blocker) — freedom.to
• Daily Habit: Gratitude practice
• Best Advice: “Sales cures everything. Every entrepreneur must learn how to sell.”

Michele Ferrario didn’t set out to become an entrepreneur. From McKinsey to private equity, Rocket Internet, and Zalora, his path built confidence until the right problem—and the right partners—pushed him to co-found StashAway in 2016. In this episode, Michele reflects on serendipity, culture, leadership style, and the delicate balance between empowerment and control. A consistent theme in his journey is that frugality buys freedom—less reliance on capital markets, more control of the company’s future.

• [00:40] Show intro
• [02:11] Guest welcome: Michele Ferrario, Co-Founder & CEO of StashAway, South East Asia and the Middle East's largest digital wealth manager
• [03:10] Career journey from McKinsey to Rocket Internet to Zalora
• [05:13] Discovering a personal pain point with wealth management
• [07:12] Finding co-founders Nino and Freddie through a series of coffees
• [11:08] Navigating disagreements and building consensus as a leadership team
• [15:22] Entrepreneurial superpower: attracting and empowering talent
• [18:13] Struggles in balancing empowerment with control
• [21:11] Building a resilient leadership team over nine years
• [23:39] Avoiding key-man risk in a financial institution
• [27:07] Transparency through including the C-suite in board meetings
• [27:15] Quick-fire entrepreneur hacks
• [34:43] One lesson if starting StashAway over: why frugality buys freedom
• [36:35] Show outro

Books

• Radical Candor by Kim Scott → Amazon
• The 3HAG Way by Shannon Byrne Susko → Amazon
• The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt → Amazon
• Good to Great by Jim Collins → Amazon
• Great by Choice by Jim Collins → Amazon

Tools/Apps

• Gemini (Google AI)
• Google Calendar

Daily Habits

• 15–20 minutes of morning exercise
• Dedicated time with his four children to stay grounded

Advice

• From Oliver Samwer (Rocket Internet): If every day you make two steps forward and one step backward, you’re fine—you’re going in the right direction.