There’s one skill that every founder has to master in order to build a successful startup.

I’m talking – of course – about sales. But – there are a lot of misconceptions out there about what sales is and what it isn’t.

Today’s guest – Stephen Steers – has mastered the art of Startup Sales and codified it into a method he calls Contact Sales.

During our discussion, we talked about the importance of story – and why it’s critical to help your prospect see themselves in the story.

We talked about how to eliminate the pressure of closing – and help your prospect from the same side of the table.

We talked about how to structure your sales call for maximum effectiveness – and a lot more.

It was a value packed discussion – and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

To learn more about Superpower Storytelling & Stephen:

https://www.stephensteers.com/

The modern startup ecosystem has been evolving for decades – since the evolution of Silicon Valley from farmland to the hardware companies of the 60’s and 70’s – to the modern tech startup space of today.

But – even after all of these years, a founder looking for support can still feel like they’re living in the wild west. 

At the elite levels, accelerators like Y-Combinator and Techstars certainly offer transformational support. But outside of the top 1% or so – the rest of the space can be a bit confusing.

Today’s guest, Jonny Boyarsky is looking to help founders cut through the noise and get better advice.

His company, called “Literally Helping Startups” – is, wait for it – literally helping startups make sense of the journey.

We had a great in depth conversation around all of the challenges founders face today, what they can do to make more sense of the world – and what Literally Helping Startups is doing to help move things forward.

We’ve talked a lot on the podcast about the importance of asymmetric upside – or luck – in helping to drive entrepreneurial success.

Today’s guest, Vlad Mkrtumyan, has made stacking the deck into a science in his ventures.

In his first company, he launched an app featuring Drake quotes that got 2,000 downloads in week 1 - then he rinsed and repeated the process into hundreds of thousands of downloads.

He then turned what he learned into a method he uses for evaluating and executing new opportunities to make sure he and his agency’s clients are constantly in the flow of asymmetric upside.

We had an amazing discussion going deep into a whole bunch of rabbitholes – peeling back the layers of the onion and finding new insights on what makes founders win – and getting dangerously close to solving puzzles around success in general.

I had a blast talking to Vlad – and I hope you enjoy our discussion as well.

Every startup needs to make money – but some startups are architected with a much bigger purpose in mind.

Today’s guests, Mike Mills and Nick Spoors of Infinitary Fund – have found a unique way to fund their mission.

Their core innovation has enabled them to sell a product today that gives them cashflow and runway to build the business – while also funding a Think Tank that is going after some pretty amazing breakthroughs.

Their runway business keeps the lights on – and their think tank enables them to shoot for the moon.

I can’t even imagine how much innovation could be unlocked if more companies were designed this way.

We had a fascinating discussion going deep on this new model for doing business – and I hope you find it as inspiring as I did. 

Timing is one of the hardest challenges for founders. 

Execute an idea too soon – and you’ll run out of runway before someone gets there when the time is right.

Execute it too late – and you face still competition from the incumbent that got there first.

Today’s guest, Ace Bhattacharjya of MedicalRecords.com gives us a masterclass on how to stay true to a timeless vision while also leveraging timing to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.

Over 20 years, he’s built multiple successful iterations of the business – while also being poised to pounce on huge trends as they’ve emerged.

Ace & I always have fascinating conversations – and I’m super excited to be sharing this one with you. 

I hope you gain as many takeaways from our conversation as I did.

One of the common themes I see with top entrepreneurs is that they find a way to get experience from multiple viewpoints within the startup ecosystem.

Today’s guest, Stephane Nasser of Open VC is no exception – having had stints from the large corporate world building software for startups, then working within accelerators to help startups get launched, then – of course – working as an entrepreneur, and finally landing in the venture capital side of the world.

During our talk, we did a lot of deep dives around all of these angles while also pulling out the common themes that apply across all of them.

I gained a lot of great insights from his wide range of experiences across the startup world – and I hope you are able to get some gems out of our conversation as well.

You can learn more about Stephane and Open VC here:

OpenVC: https://openvc.app
Stephane: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanenasser/

Today’s guest, Peter Mann, found out that he had autism in a late diagnosis as an adult. But – buried in this so called diagnosis was actually the operator’s manual for his supersuit.

While working a full time 8-5 at Dell, Peter was able work another 8 hours per day launching his first side hustle – and he was able to find flow and focus throughout these long days.

What might be exhausting or cause burnout for others – actually lit Peter up with motivation and purpose.

Over several decades, he has turned this drive into multiple successful businesses – including his current venture, Oransi, which he decided to start when his son had trouble breathing and he wanted to find a better way to solve the air purification problem.

We had a fascinating conversation about how Peter has been able to apply his hyper-focus to methodically build and grow several successful businesses. 

There are a lot of paths into the world of entrepreneurship, but today’s guest has one of the most fascinating ones I’ve found yet. While running a popular Miami nightclub, Shaun Gold had front row seats to a parade of some very interesting and diverse people. 

By being curious – and making connections – Shaun built a network that would take him on a whirlwind through the entrepreneur world. From startup founder, to investor, to the world of Hollywood and screenplays, and even a stint on jeopardy – Shaun’s ability to connect with varied people have taken him on some pretty amazing adventures.

During our talk, we discussed the common thread that ties all of these experiences together – and also how they apply to the current environment for funding and launching startups.

I’ve gotten to talk with a lot of amazing founders on the show over the past 6 months.

In today’s episode, I had the chance to speak to an expert with a unique vantage-point and mix of experiences.

Elad Granot is a serial entrepreneur, the Dean of the Boler College of Business at John Carroll University, an active investor in startups, and also host of the Bottom Line podcast.

From his unique vantage-point as the dean of a business school – and an investor – Elad is able to keep his pulse on what upcoming entrepreneurs are thinking about – and then apply that knowledge to his ongoing funding thesis.

We had a great conversation talking about what things have changed over the past 3 decades, and what principles have stayed the same.

And we also how the major disruptions of the day – like Artificial intelligence – are increasing the pace of change in the startup world.

It was a super fun talk – and I hope you learn as much from it as I did.

One of the themes that keeps re-appearing on the show is that industries that look like they have been locked down for years or even decades – can suddenly go through a renaissance and lead to a new jump ball.

Today’s guest is taking advantage of a massive shift that’s happening in the online selling space.

As influencers flock to sell items on the multiple prominent marketplaces, they’re stuck with the challenge of managing listing across 4 or 5 networks for every product they sell.

With SellStuff, David Brown is building a platform to tackle this issue head on. 

We had a fascinating discussion on how he leveraged his experience at big tech firms to conceive of and now launch his new app which will enable influencers to enter their information once – and list across the marketplaces.

Beyond removing friction – he sees the opportunity to help transform the marketplaces themselves – and the community of influencers that sell on them.

I got so many gold nuggets out of our discussion – and I hope you learn as much as I did.