From Founder To CEO

Alexis Dean is a highly successful Founder who was left feeling disappointed that the entrepreneurial events and conferences she attended rarely had successful female founders up on the stage. So, she decided to change that. Here's what you will learn from this candid interview:

• Why do female founders need their own conference?
• What was it about Alexis' own discovery about herself as a leader that led to launching her business?
• Why is it important for Founders to see themselves in other successful Founders?

After founding Varsity Books, going public, and then selling the company, Eric Kuhn knows the ups and downs of startup life. That's why he started FoundersCard. He wanted to created a community and membership platform that served entrepreneurs. Eric shared some powerful stories and nuggets of wisdom in this longer than usual version of the podcast. Eric talks about:

• How his purpose-driven business has driven profits
• How leading VarsityBooks was different than leading FoundersCard
• What he considers to be the best use of your time as a Founder
• How he has changed a leader and things you need to consider as you mature as a Founder and CEO

Regina and her team are bringing together tech, in-home services, and professional consultation at scale for women of color looking to simply their lives. This former Macy's leader is bolding going where no one has really gone before. And, and along the way she has learned many lessons that she shares with you in this revealing interview:

• Why being an expert marketing professional hindered her, at first
• What she learned about the best timing for public relations services
• Why doing the things that don't scale...in the beginning...helps to scale later

My favorite quote: "The path to pretty should be easy for everyone."

Larry is one of those guys you can hang out and talk with forever. He is a walking fountain of wisdom with such rich stories and experiences that you find yourself drawn in to hear more. I really enjoyed interviewing Larry. He shares some very interesting points about:

• How reading everyday changed his life
• How customer service made his business
• How he managed expectations around funding
• The surprising discovery of whom became a customer and whom did not
• Why he named his company with his name
• The extent with which he invests in his people and the huge rewards for doing so

My favorite quote: "I'm not a startup, I'm a kick-start."

What a treat it was to interview Seth Godin. We cover a lot of territory over a short time period:

• Why he started his altMBA program
• How he sees Founders leading
• The difference between management and leadership
• His personal story about leadership transformation
• How he has structured his business
• Why his April 1st blog entry caused such a ruckus

My favorite quote: “The act of forward motion is not how do I make the fear go away, it’s how do I dance with the fear?”

Obviously Seth is a wealth of knowledge, wisdom, and insight. Let me know what you thought of the interview.

If you have spent an even a little bit of time on LinkedIn, you have seen Tom Goodwin. Tom has been awarded "#1 Voice in Marketing" on LinkedIn 2017 & 2018 with over 550,000 followers. He is a self-described marketing provocateur who asks great questions about how tech is enhancing and detracting from our lives. He is sort of an "anti-guru" who really captures the attention of any audience he is in front of.

Bouzha is full of wisdom. She and her team have worked with fast-growth Founders for many years. And, she details the pitfalls you should and can avoid as you pass through the 4 Phases of Growth.

After a big exit with his French company, Ludovic has another hit with Shapr. He really is an inspiring Founder. His optimism is infectious. And, his story and advice about what to do when you lose confidence in yourself is quite helpful.

In our previous episode I spoke about the three questions Founders must answer. The first one had a lot to do with you and your self-awareness and self-management. This week's episode was born out of this first question.

We all have leadership fears. Nathan Chan and the team at Foundr Magazine asked me to write about this for their platform and I thought you would like to hear it. These are the 6 actions YOU can take to overcome your fear of leadership. Let me know what you think.

This is our three year anniversary. Yep, three years of of the honor and privilege to be with you week after week. I am so grateful to all of your for your continued support. And, I am grateful to all our Founder guests who have allowed us to peer into their lives and more deeply explore their personal leadership transformation from Founder to CEO.

In celebration of our three year anniversary, I had wanted to attempt to distill all the insights and wisdom that so many of our guests have shared over the years. Truthfully, I struggled with this task.

But, as you will hear in this episode of the podcast, some great colleagues and friends helped me come up with The 3 Questions All Founders Must Answer In Order To Grow. I invite you to share your thoughts about these questions. Send me an email, and I promise to respond.