Founder's Journal

Episode 2: Today, hosts Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista), Sophia Amoruso (@sophiaamoruso), and Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) kick off with a discussion of Jamie Dimon’s recent economic predictions and how a possible recession will impact startup founders. Then, we jump into the aspects of Spirit Halloween’s business model that have helped it become wildly successful, the team’s own experience of going from founder to CEO, and finally, for Startup AMA we answer a listener question about how to pay yourself as a founder.

00:27 - Jamie Dimon’s prediction about the markets

06:06 - Intro

06:41 - The Rundown

09:58 - Discussion of Spirit Halloween’s wildly successful business model

14:02 - Businesses that have capitalized on under-used inventory/resources

18:28 - How Spirit Halloween uses licensing to their advantage

20:15 - The team discusses their own experiences of going from founder to CEO as their businesses grew

20:53 - Jesse’s experience as CEO over the course of his career

23:48 - Sophia’s experience as a CEO over the course of her career

28:33 - Alex’s experience as CEO 

32:40 - Startup AMA - How should you pay yourself as a founder?

33:08 - Sophia’s bank statement in 2010, 3 years into starting Nasty Gal

Links:

Episode 1: Welcome to the FIRST EPISODE of The Crazy Ones, hosted by fellow friends, founders, and builders, Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista), Sophia Amoruso (@sophiaamoruso), and Jesse Pujji (@jspujji). Today, we talk about the rise and the insane $700M evaluation of Liquid Death, then we get into how to make your pitch deck UNDENIABLE to investors, and finally the truths that you need to know as a tech entrepreneur.

1:03 - Liquid Death’s $700M Valuation

8:15 - Sophia Amoruso on Nasty Gal, her $100 Revenue Business, Girlboss & Business Class

8:53 - Jesse Pujji on building the biggest FaceBook marketing business, his venture studio Gateway X

11:57 - Bootstrapping as a state of mind vs. Raising money from Venture

15:03 - Jesse’s pitch on his e-commerce business Kahani

24:38 - Jeff Bezos’ Flywheels on how to make a “defensible” business

26:25 - The #1 Question Entrepreneurs need to Ask In A Pitch

32:35 - Jesse on the idea of “unfair advantage” for entrepreneurs

39:10 - Executive Coaching as a ‘pyramid scheme’ to make $1M in a year

41:20 - Startup AMA

Links Referenced:

Announcing the launch of Morning Brew's newest podcast, The Crazy Ones! Hosts Alex Lieberman, Sophia Amoruso, and Jesse Pujji, will be delivering the sharpest insights and unfiltered opinions about the issues affecting founders today, and the information you need to know to build a better business. Episodes release every Tuesday, starting October 11th.

After more than 300 episodes, Founder’s Journal is taking a little hiatus. We are making some changes to level the show up to create the best possible podcast for business builders. There are really exciting things in the works and I cannot wait to share it with you all.

Check out full episode transcripts at https://foundersjournal.morningbrew.com to learn more, and if you have any ideas for our show, email me at [email protected] or my DMs are open @businessbarista.

In this classic episode, I break down the different types of leverage you need to understand to make smart career decisions.

Check out full episode transcripts at https://foundersjournal.morningbrew.com to learn more, and if you have any ideas for our show, email me at [email protected] or my DMs are open @businessbarista.

This week’s miniseries theme is Mental Models. In this episode, I break down why every great entrepreneur, investor, or employee must learn how to become a great second order thinker.

Check out full episode transcripts at https://foundersjournal.morningbrew.com to learn more, and if you have any ideas for our show, email me at [email protected] or my DMs are open @businessbarista.

In this classic episode, I talk about why it is essential to understand the mental model known as Inversion

Check out full episode transcripts at https://foundersjournal.morningbrew.com to learn more, and if you have any ideas for our show, email me at [email protected] or my DMs are open @businessbarista.

In this classic episode, I talk about why it is essential to understand mimetic theory and how it impacts the choices you make every single day.

Check out full episode transcripts at https://foundersjournal.morningbrew.com to learn more, and if you have any ideas for our show, email me at [email protected] or my DMs are open @businessbarista.

In this classic episode, I'm discussing the steps you should take to properly set yourself up at work before taking time off.

As mentioned in the episode, check out two of my previous episodes, How to Unplug From Work and How To Get Your Shit Together, for more helpful tools related to PTO.

Check out full episode transcripts at https://foundersjournal.morningbrew.com to learn more, and if you have any ideas for our show, email me at [email protected] or my DMs are open @businessbarista.

In this classic episode, I talk about a concept that I call Builder’s Block, what I do to remedy it, and why I think Builder’s Block is a good thing.

Check out full episode transcripts at https://foundersjournal.morningbrew.com to learn more, and if you have any ideas for our show, email me at [email protected] or my DMs are open @businessbarista.