Jon Nastor's Hack the Entrepreneur

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My guest today, began her career in the U.S. Department of State working in the Bureau of Counterterrorism and in the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues.

This position brought her around the world and gave her a glimpse into the economics of what she calls the broken fashion industry and in this she was presented with an opportunity to instigate change and build a business.

Jane Mosbacher Morris is the Founder and CEO of TO THE MARKET, which uses technology to help retailers and brands provide transparency in the supply chain and manufacture products that are socially and environmentally responsible at competitive pricing. Since 2014, they have built a growing network of more than 100 suppliers in over 20 countries.

Jane has devoted her career to creating economic opportunities for vulnerable communities around the world, and she loves to share her passion and insights on how we, as consumers, big brands or business owners, can create positive change too.

Now, let's hack...

Jane Mosbacher Morris

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Dwayne J. Clark is that rare and unique entrepreneur, filmmaker, author, and playwright. But today we are talking to the entrepreneur in him.

Following a brief career in criminal justice, he discovered assisted living for the elderly, and his path was changed.

Nearly 20 years ago, after working at two companies in the industry, he co-founded Aegis Living, one of the most sought-after assisted living facilities in the country.

Under his leadership as CEO, Aegis has grown to more than 30 locations in the Western U.S., employs more than 2,000 staff members, and to date has served more than 25,000 residents.

In this conversation, we cover:

• Why you need to believe in yourself as an entrepreneur (but not be stubborn)
• The 3 pillars that became the foundation of Aegis
• Why you should branch out into other businesses (and markets)

Now, let's hack...

Dwayne J. Clark.

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My guest today has had a burning desire to start and grow businesses since he was in grade school. Then a few years ago, he stumbled across an idea that was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

After doing some preliminary research and searching for reasons to NOT start, he founded Momentous, the highest-quality protein powder available on the market, period.

This is a fascinating conversation about his journey from founding his company to heading to Harvard to get a degree, and later dropping out to jump in full-time as the CEO of Momentous.

Now, let's hack...

Matt Wan.

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My guest today started his first "real" business almost 15 years ago at the age of 21 and equipped with a stack of homemade flyers and his Mom's SUV. This company is Junkluggers, a junk removal and dumpster rental company -- with a twist -- that contributes to the communities they serve and the environment by donating, recycling, and supporting local causes.

What started as a side hustle in 2004 has grown from a one-person show to an Inc. 5000 company serving 60 markets in 13 states. Since their inception, Junkluggers has also become an emerging franchise brand, with a quickly growing number of franchise partners opening around the country.

Josh Cohen and Junklugger have been ranked as one of the fastest growing companies for the past three years on the Inc. 5000 list and featured in many top media outlets including Inc, Huffington Post, Forbes, Kiplinger's, Franchise world, Esquire and more.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Avoiding overwhelm by trying to not do too many things yourself
• Why working with business coaches has been crucial to Josh's success
• The true value of utilizing an integrated marketing approach

Now, let's hack...

Josh Cohen.

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Back in 1997, my guest and his brother co-founded a small software company called Urchin. During the next 8 years, they grew their company and developed the software that later became Google Analytics.

In 2005, Urchin was acquired by Google, where Brett spent 9 1/2 years as the Director of Product Marketing for Chrome, Gmail, Docs, and Drive.

In 2014, he decided it was time to throw his hat back into the ring with another company, and became the Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of PeerStreet, a platform for investing in real estate backed loans. He crafts the company's strategy, product and messaging.

Now, let's hack...

Brett Crosby.

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Back in 2013 Alex McClafferty was searching for an idea –– a project he could dive headfirst into and turn it into a business.

Then from California, he came across Dan Norris working away in Australia on a newly created service called WP Live Ninja. Alex loved the idea, and saw that Dan had $478/month in revenue and was struggling to acquire customers. So he reached out to Dan to see if he wanted to partner up -- and from this conversation WP Curve was born.

Alex and Dan ran with the idea and In 2013 and by 2015, they'd built a remote team around the world and grown revenue to $1MM annual recurring revenue. Then in December 2016, GoDaddy acquired WP Curve and Alex joined GoDaddy as the Director of Product Management, where he stayed until October of 2018.

Today, Alex has joined the ranks of the digitally nomadic as he travels the world with no set schedule or destination. While at the same time, he has started a private consulting company for CEOs looking to scale their productized companies the same way he did with WP Curve.

Now, let's hack...

Alex McClafferty.

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Barry Turner is a former competitive bodybuilder, but to American Gladiator fans he was known as "Cyclone." As cool as that is, he's here today because he has built a successful business, sold it, bought back half of it, and sold it again!

Along with his business partner, he helped create the baked nutrition category back in 1993 while eating after a workout – they asked "Why can't we put the protein from this chicken breast… into that muffin?" This was the birth of Lenny and Larry's.

They didn't have a business plan or any experience, but that didn't stop Barry or his partner. They launched the company with only $1,400 doing almost everything themselves to get rolling -- right down to designing their iconic logo. Gold's Gym was its first client.

Today, Lenny and Larry's products are available almost anywhere you can buy food -- from Walmart to Whole Foods, and Target to Publix.

The effect of Lenny and Larry's products have rippled across the natural foods space. Protein-infused snacks are everywhere as consumers are beginning to understand the importance of high-quality protein to their overall health and nutrition.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Finding an idea and taking immediate action
• Enjoying the chaos around you
• Why it's better to show someone than to tell them

Now, let's hack...

Barry Turner.

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In today's episode, we talk to the founder of AWeber, the company that invented what we now know as autoresponder emails. Tom Kulzer founded AWeber back in 1998 and has since bootstrapped the company from a side hustle into a team of 100 employees and more than 120,000 users worldwide.

In this conversation, we discuss the invention of email autoresponders, poking holes in your beliefs, and never accepting what is presented to you as the best solution to a problem.

Much of AWeber's impressive growth can be attributed to their six core values that have become the foundation of everything they do. These core values are:

1. Create remarkable experiences.

Anyone can say they're remarkable. But how many companies will, say, knock your socks off with awesome email marketing... and then send you a new pair of socks in the mail?

2. Execute with passion.

There's a lot that goes into creating remarkable experiences. Once they commit to a project that enables them better help customers, their team is quick to plan and execute with passion.

3. Foster respect and cooperation.

AWeber has created and nourished a culture of respect and cooperation. It doesn't come from policy, it comes from treating people like people -- the way everyone should be treated. Teams openly collaborate to solve problems and work together to make sure their service is the best it can be.

4. Listen to what people say about us. Invite feedback.

Throughout AWeber, every team has their own way of incorporating customer feedback on a daily basis -- and that helps the entire team to decide what feature, marketing channel, or product to focus on next.

They believe that every team member's opinion matters and they encourage everyone to share feedback and listen to suggestions from one another.

5. Learn. Educate. Innovate.

Being the company who invented autoresponder emails, AWeber knows all about innovation and they aim to keep it at the forefront of their thinking.

Constant education is a big part of that. They encourage team members to keep learning by attending events and conferences or continuing formal education in their field.

6. Don't take ourselves too seriously. Have fun!

As serious as AWeber is about helping people succeed with using email, they strongly believe it's all about loving what you d, and having fun while doing it.

Now, let's hack...

Tom Kulzer.

Paul Jarvis is a veteran of the online tech world, and over the years has had such corporate clients as Microsoft, Yahoo, Mercedes-Benz, Warner Music, and even Shaquille O'Neal.

Today, he teaches online courses, writes, and runs several software businesses, his latest being a simple and privacy-based website analytics platform called Fathom. Plus, he does all of this from his home on an island on the West Coast of Canada.

His latest project is his brand new book Company of One, your official guide to building around the idea that staying small and avoiding growth can be more durable and even more enjoyable.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Why you should constantly be challenging the ideas of others
• When is enough finally enough?
• Understanding success as a personal metric that can (and should) change

Now, let's hack...

Paul Jarvis.

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What if you could run a successful software company with your significant other, have you are your team of 30 people work just 32 hours per week, build houses on the side, and be a loving and caring parent?

Natalie Nagele has done just that. For the past 14 years, she has been the co-founder and CEO of Wildbit. Wildbit is the parent software company of Beanstalk, Postmark, Conveyor, and Deploybot which they sold in 2017.

Wildbit builds software that enables developers to get out of the weeds and focus on what they do best -- which is to design, code, and ship brilliant software.

In this conversation we discuss:

- Why focusing on your team is more vital than focusing on your products - How to solve really big pain points for a really small audience - Making space to enable your team to get into deep work

Now, let's hack...

Natalie Nagele.