Idea to Startup

There's a mystery company that is one of the 10 best performing stocks since 2010. You've heard of them. You've eaten (hint) their product. You'd never in a million years guess who they are.   They've grown because of two mental models, and we break down how you can leverage them for your startup.

Ashley Merrill, the founder of premium sleepwear brand Lunya, stops by and delivers a masterclass on how to build a brand in the DTC era. She talks about the earliest days, about what differentiation in a crowded space really looks like, about pricing and business model, brick and mortar, focus and prioritization, and self-doubt.   If you're a startup founder interested in brand, or trying to start a DTC company, get a notebook ready. This is packed with insight.

Hot Ones is a show on Youtube that you've probably heard of. A host interviews guests while they each eat 10 progressively hotter hot wings. The growth is preposterous - episodes routinely get over 10 million views. Hot Ones structure is brilliant - it creates and drives the growth - and it's something you can (and better) implement in your startup.

Marc Merrill, founder of Riot Games, joins the podcast to talk about building League of Legends into a cultural phenomenon (with over $20bn in revenue).

We discuss the early days - how he built a complex product for customers with high expectations, fundraising, managing people, growth, prioritization, and more. It's an amazing conversation with one of the sharpest and most thoughtful people I've met. Enjoy!

Fewer new businesses were started in 2019 than in 1970. That's terrible. We look at the two cognitive biases holding you back, and lay out a framework to help you overcome them and start your startup.

Fewer companies were started in 2019 than in 1970. That’s preposterous. This is the single best time in human history to start a company - so why aren’t more people doing it? Season Two of Idea to Startup digs into why. Brian speaks with successful founders about how they navigated the tricky early stages, and delivers solo episodes on tactics founders can implement to start something in 2020. This is the year to start your company, and this is the podcast to help you do it. See you January 8th.

Dave Idell is the founder of Croissant, a flexible coworking company beloved by freelancers and entrepreneurs around the world. We talk about the early days - how he tested the idea, how they grew with some counter-intuitive and aggressive decisions, and how he thinks about growth. We also talk through his thoughts on early stage founders and the stuff they should nail down early. Enjoy!

Rich and Vicki Fulop built Brooklinen after realizing there wasn’t an easy way to find and buy high quality sheets. There were no strong brands, no transparency into manufacturing - nothing they valued in a product.

This interview is about how two founders turned that core insight and little else (no textile background, no knowledge of the bedding industry, etc.) into a global brand and the sheets I happily sleep on every night (and would whether Rich came on the podcast or not). Hope you enjoy! 

People probably won’t remember your startup, but they’ll remember a story. Today we lean on Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling to help you tell a story that breaks through to your customer and changes behavior. 

Today, we’re speaking with Kim Kaupe, the founder of Superfan. Superfan was built to give fans unparalleled opportunity for engagement. Superfan works with clients like the Red Sox, Shawn Mendes, Carrie Underwood, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Buffett, and way more.    Kim has built Superfan over the past eight years with $0 in funding. Additionally, she’s built a powerful personal brand that has her LinkedIn startup videos amassing 10s of thousands of views, and has placed her on all sorts of 30 under 30 lists. She talks about where personal brand is important for founders, how to build a startup without funding, how to make tough decisions, team building, and more.