Lessons via Leaders

I’m really excited for today’s episode as we have Andrew Quarrie,CEO/Founder of Urblandia and the Urbanism Summit, A platform and event serving as a catalyst for the future of conscious urbanization. 

Andrew has had an amazing career that has spanned over a decade as a multifaceted creative.  He’s worked on projects with both regional and national companies and now pours most of his energy into both Urblandia and Urbanism Summit. 

At the Urbanism Summit, Andrew is focused on helping people and the planet with action based discussions, shaping the sustainability narrative for the future of cities, their makers, and dwellers. 

At Urblandia, Andrew is focused on connecting Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) developers, urban planners, architects, designers, and community stakeholders with urban development projects and opportunities throughout the US.

In this episode, Andrew shares:

• How to uplift the community and ensure economic growth within your city
• The importance of inclusion when building value in a community
• Tips for running a successful and engaging community event
• Ideas about conscious urban development
• How to validate your project ideas through diverse engagement
• …and much much more

Stay tuned as Andrew reflects on his entrepreneurial journey and discloses the most significant lessons that he has learned.

Find Andrew Quarrie

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewquarrie/

Website: https://urbanismsummit.com

Urblandia: https://urblandia.com

Ethan Skolnick has covered South Florida sports for pretty much every major local newspaper and radio station in the area for nearly 25 years. Now, he is also the CEO and Chief Content Officer of Five Reasons Sports Network, which combines social media "fanalysts" with insider access on all the major teams.

He also hosts the Five on the Floor podcast on the Heat and NBA.

I’m really excited about this episode as I’ve been following Ethan for a number of years. As many of you know, I’m a lifelong Miami Heat fan, and during the Heat’s Big 3 Era (featuring LeBron, Wade, and Bosh), Ethan was one of the premier voices and also gave fans incredible access and insight to that team and to the NBA as a whole.

It’s an exciting time for Ethan as he now has his own company called 5 Reasons Sports (which we are a proud sponsor of!) which is a growing media company with a very unique approach. In this episode, Ethan and I talk about the Heat's Big 3 era (when he covered a team that was at the center of the sports world), leadership lessons from some of key figures he covered, his transition into leading his own company, and building a modern-day media business.

Find Ethan and 5 Reasons Sports:

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/EthanJSkolnick
https://twitter.com/5ReasonsSports

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1HgRSC0w_DnIZW6rN19low

Today, I am joined by my friend Brian Brackeen, who is the general partner at Lightship Capital. 

Brian and I go way back in the #MiamiTech scene together. 

Brian was the co-founder and CEO of a facial recognition company called Kairos, that really pushed forward the whole space with some incredible innovations. In particular, Kairos really broke-ground by making a stance to never sell their technology to government or law enforcement for surveillance purposes due to the ramifications that it could cause.     

Now after moving on from Kairos, Brian is the General Partner of Lightship Capital, a $50M venture capital fund that is focused on investing in minority-led startups.

In this episode, Brian and I discuss recent events and the importance of this moment. After the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis, there has been a huge demand to see real change across our nation, primarily with racism and the plight that Black American's across our country have to deal with on a daily basis. 

Racism exists in many forms and through many different communities. Unfortunately, Brian has first hand experience dealing with systemic racism in the startup and venture capital space, and he recently wrote an article called “Some Of My Fellow Venture Capitalist Are Racists. Here Is How You Fix It” which I thought was absolutely eye opening.

After reading that article, I asked if Brian would come onto the show to give more about his perspective as a Black founder turned venture capitalist, to have some difficult conversations about the racism that exists in those spaces, and what actionable steps we can do as a community to help.

I’m incredibly grateful for this conversation, and I hope you get as much value out of it as I did.

Find Brian Brackeen:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianBrackeen
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianbrackeen/
• Lightship Capital: https://www.lightship.capital/

Check out Brian's latest article: Some Of My Fellow Venture Capitalists Are Racists. Here is How You Fix It.

Today, I am excited to have the CEO of Very Big Things, Chris Stegner on the show today.

 Very Big Things is the crescendo of a journey that began after Chris’s first startup was acquired at the age of 13. Chris has been a serial entrepreneur, CTO, VC firm partner and also has been awarded “technology entrepreneur of the year” by the city of Miami. now, he is accomplishing some very big things at his new company: Very Big Things—an award winning digital products design and development agency.

In this episode, Chris Stegner dives deep into his background and explains why the best developers and entrepreneurs never give up and why they need to have sheer perseverance and determination to get far and overcome the most challenging problems. Then, Chris speaks about finding the perfect technical partner. 

Let's face it, any company you start is most likely going be a five to seven-year journey and you better make sure this partner is someone you really want to work with and Chris tells us what you should look for when making that decision.

Plus, Chris tells us common mistakes that entrepreneurs are making – and ones of those things is entrepreneurs is the BS that we tell ourselves. 

In this episode, Chris Stegner shares:

• Why perseverance and determination are the keys to success
• How to find the perfect technical partner
• Why every startup is a five to seven-year journey
• How to combat the common mistakes that entrepreneurs make
• Why nothing matters more than the team
• Personal stories on failure, lessons learned and overcoming adversity

Find Chris:

Very Big Things: https://verybigthings.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-stegner-30175825/

What does a community need to reach it’s fullest potential?

Our guest today, my good friend Raul Moas, thinks about this on a daily basis through his work as Program Director at The Knight Foundation.

At the Knight Foundation, Raul is working hard to strengthen connections between the local network of founders, investors, and talent to support learning, growth, and community. 

I have been fortunate to work with Raul on many different initiatives and I can tell you that you’d be hard-pressed to find someone that genuinely cares as about serving his community as much as he does. 

Every time I have the chance to talk to Raul I come away energized because he cuts through all the BS and gets right to the heart of what matters and that is evident in this episode, which I am excited to share with you all.

In this episode, Raul shares:

• His background and how he first got involved in the Knight Foundation
• Knight Foundation's focus and key initiatives in the Miami area
• How to effectively build communities and why it’s important for founders and entrepreneurs to lead
• The importance of authentic leadership
• His thoughts on Miami being a place where entrepreneurs can thrive
• and much, much more...

Get in touch with Raul:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rmoas

Email: [email protected]

Knight Foundation Miami: https://knightfoundation.org/communities/miami/

I’m really excited for today’s episode, because today we have a very special guest, my good friend Doug Viney from Benjamin Douglas, which is a recruiting and staffing firm here in South Florida. 

Doug and I go way back, I was doing a talk on a panel a few years ago and after I got off the stage, Doug approached me and handed me a metal business card (which of course, I couldn't forget). We then got to talking about startups, building business, recruiting talent and have stayed in touch ever since. 

And when it comes to recruiting and staffing, Doug is definitely the guy you want to speak to. He’s been doing it since 2004 and has a proven track record in placing professionals across The UK, Europe, Dubai and North America. Whether it is a Web Developer or a Program Director, Doug works on all opportunities with professionalism and confidentiality for a wide variety of clients ranging from SMEs to large multi-national businesses. Originally from Reading, England, today Doug resides in Miami with his wife and two sons.

In this episode, which is filled with amazing and practical tips, Doug dives deep into his background and describes what inspired him to become a recruiter. He then explains the importance of online presence and how you can best build your online profiles and personal brand to get noticed and have the best opportunities come your way.

Then, Doug describes why you need a recruiter. A lot of you might say, "why do I need a recruiter, I can do this on my own?". Trust me, I was in the same boat as you and once I started working with Doug I quickly realized what a great recruiter can do for you and how it’ll save an immense amount of time and money in the long run.

In this episode, Doug shares:

• The importance of your online presence 
• What you should do with your LinkedIn profile 
• Why you should hire a recruiter 
• The biggest mistakes made when hiring  
• Why you should apply for the job even if you don’t completely fit the requirements
• Why you shouldn’t hire based solely on a recommendation  
• Tips for candidates who are currently job seeking
• and much much more.... 

Find Doug Viney

Website: http://benjamindouglas.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougviney/