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Phil with F30
Phil with F30 episodes
- 003 | "From Sleeping in Car to Building 25M Value For Visually-Impaired" (Mladen at BindiMaps)
Today’s guest on the “Phil with Forbes 30” podcast is Mladen Jovanovic – CEO of BindiMaps
-- Forbes List: Asia
-- Year: 2020
-- Category: Social Entrepreneurship
After winning the Startup World Cup in 2017, my guest, Mladen Jovanovic, met his professor Dr. Wright, and together they founded BindiMaps.
BindiMaps is an indoor navigation tool for people who are blind or visually-impaired. His professor, Dr. Wright, conceptualized the idea after being diagnosed with a rare eye disorder where she was destined to go blind.
BindiMaps restores independence to people who are blind, or vision impaired by allowing them to safely and independently navigate indoor spaces.
Since launching in 2019 in Australia Bindimaps has assisted over 1,600 people to safely reach over 2,000 destinations and have raised over $1.5M, with another $5M to be closed soon, valuing the company at $25M.
In this episode, Mladen Jovanovic shares his incredible story:
Mladen Jovanovic and Phil have a lively discussion starting with:
- Phil notes how Mladen uses “Person-First” terminology to address those with a learning difference or physical difference in abilities.
- Mladen talks about migrating to Australia from Serbia and not being the brightest student.
- Mladen shares his obstacles, challenges and stresses on his journey to success; building his confidence by winning the Startup World Cup in Australia and then Denmark.
- He takes the next steps after reading about a woman’s disappointment in university because she was blind. He contacts her and asks how life can be better. The “aha” moment comes to Mladen that he can change a person’s life instead of just making money for a company.
- They continue with the development of BindiMaps; by creating an accessible solution compatible with iOS devices for voiceover mode. The app gives a complete description of an environment along with prompts, so the user gets a complete assessment along with encouragement to engage with the environment.
- BindiMaps examples are given, explaining how environments are presented in great details. Example – “the juice bar is on the right, it has this and that and this special offer.” Example – “the restrooms are this shape with cubicles on that side and this is how the taps work.”
- They both share their book reading tips, taking notes and how to organize those notes.
- Mladen explains the early days of the startup with how they bumped up analytics with sending out their team members using the app in various places.
- Phil sited it’s a tactic used by everyone from Reddit to Sarah Blakely.
“Under 30 Seconds Round”
1. What is the book you’ve gifted more often than any other book, and why?
-- The Success Principles by Jack Canfield
2. What’s one of the best investments and one of the worst investments you’ve ever made and why?
a. Best - Investment in my first startup which was a failure, but got me to where I am today.
b. Worst - An expensive stand up desk and I never stand up.
3. Favorite Cheat Meal?
-- Extremely cheesy, extremely cheesy, deep pan pizza with a kilo of cheese.
4. Pretend you won the Peter Thiel Fellowship and you were going to get money to start a business instead of go to college, what’s the very first thing you’d do to start a new business?
-- I would definitely go towards the automotive industry as I don’t think there’s a lot of innovation in that space
5. What’s something you never knew you needed?
-- NURA headphones. They calibrate how your ears hear music.
GUEST INFO: Mladen Jovanovic – CEO of BindiMaps
CONTACT: on Instagram @themladenjov
WEBSITE: http://www.bindimaps.com/
HOST INFO: Phil Michaels
SOCIAL MEDIA: @iamphilmichaels
YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/philmichaels
PODCAST WEBSITE: www.philwithforbes30.com
PHIL’s WEBSITE: www.iamphilmichaels.com
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56 min - 002 | "Mobile WiFi That Works in Every Country" (Alyona at Nommi)
Today’s guest on the “Phil with Forbes 30” podcast is Alyona Tkachenko – Founder & CEO of Nommi
-- Forbes List: Asia
-- Year: 2019
-- Category: Consumer Technology
Alyona Tkachenko is the founder and CEO of a hardware-as-a-service startup, Nommi, that focuses on providing a global secure infrastructure for remote workers, a mobile WiFi hotspot that runs on eSIM that works at home or remotely.
Nommi is one of the most successfully crowdsourced projects in Kazakhstan, raising $142,000 from it’s campaign on Indiegogo and followed with a $435,000 seed round. They recently signed corporate agreements with PWC and Mars.
She has 9+ years of experience in marketing and is originally from Kazakhstan. She’s also leading the largest STEM initiative in the country called “Hour of Code” as a part of her social responsibility effort.
In this episode, Alyona shares their incredible story:
- The culture of Kazakhstan and the Sasha Baron Cohen's “Borat” movie.
- The reason to visit Kazakhstan with untouched and diverse nature; it’s close to Malaysia and in spirit to New Zealand and Australia.
- Both Kazakhstan and the company embraced the changes that need to be made in the new COVID-19 remote workforce reality.
- Her love of science fiction at an early age and liking math and physics. Her desire to do “something” on a global scale.
- After working in large Corporations, she moved to the start-up area with a technical cofounder.
- The company started with crowd funding and aimed for the largest market – the USA.
- Alyona’s previous global vision started with co-founding Hour of Code. The program grew from 80,000 students to now serving 400,000 students in every school in Kazakhstan.
- Personal philosophy - To tell everyone that you're going to do something and then you should do it.
- Mentors – people including a partner who thinks differently from her. Proctor & Gamble manager who taught her about being in the customer’s shoes and building relationships.
- Alyona expands on the different relationships with B2C and B2B customers.
- She expands how Nommi technology works and how it serves customers.
- She shares the behind the scenes start-up creativity of buying foreign SIM cards and using airline attendants who inadvertently became company sales reps.
- Future goals – the New York and California markets.
“Under 30 Seconds Round”
1. What is the book you’ve gifted more often than any other book, and why?
-- Surely you’re joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard P. Feynman
-- The Innovators by Walter Isaacson
2. What’s one of the best investments and one of the worst investments you’ve ever made and why?
a. Best-All investments in people are always the best ones
b. Worst-Worrying about the future, because the future is totally different from what you expect it to be.
3. What’s your guilty pleasure or favorite cheat meal?
-- On the guilty pleasures, it’s stargazing and skygazing. I can waste a lot of time doing this.
4. Pretend you won the Peter Thiel Fellowship and you were going to get money to start a business instead of going to college, what’s the very first thing you’d do to start a new business?
-- Find a partner
5. What’s something you never knew you needed?
-- Nommi
In the REVIEW SECTION, please let me know…
- The city / country you’re tuning in from!
- How Alyona’s story has inspired you! And, your favorite part of this episode!
- Tell me the questions you’d like me to ask future Forbes 30 Under 30 Members!
GUEST INFO: Alyona Tkachenko – Founder & CEO of Nommi
CONTACT: on instagram @all.ona42
WEBSITE: https://nommi.net/
COUPON CODE DISCOUNT for audience 20% OFF with CODE “PhilWithForbes30”
HOST INFO: Phil Michaels
SOCIAL MEDIA: @iamphilmichaels
YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/philmichaels
PODCAST WEBSITE: www.philwithforbes30.com
PHIL’s WEBSITE: www.iamphilmichaels.com
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38 min - 001 | "From Dyslexia To Reading 800 Words Per Minute" (Cliff at Speechify)
Today’s guest on the “Phil with Forbes 30” podcast is Cliff Weitzman – Founder of Speechify
-- Forbes List: USA
-- Year: 2017
-- Category: Education
My guest, Cliff Weitzman, is the founder of the Speechify App, Text-to-Speech software. It’s the 10th highest grossing productivity app on Apple's App Store and the 3rd ranked app in Apple's Newspapers category. It’s used to read more than a billion words every month.
At 22 he was one of the youngest people named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list. He is a dyslexia advocate, listens to 100 books a year, & has the first chapter of Harry Potter memorized.
I admire my guest Cliff because he has a passion to help 70 percent of the world’s population who have dyslexia. Cliff’s personal dyslexia challenge led him to develop his text-to-speech software that now helps others learn and achieve.
In this episode, Cliff shares his incredible story:
- How his remote teams carry on as business as usual through Covid-19
- His interviewing techniques
- The dyslexia struggle – from Hebrew to English with the help of Harry Potter
- Why his struggle led to the creation of Speechify
- How to use Speechify
- Goal setting and backflips!
- Mentors and pivotal people in his life
- Relationship building methods and people who inspire
- Advice - Build a pipeline for your product and test it
- Goal setting for next year
“Under 30 Seconds Round”
1. What is the book you’ve gifted more often than any other book, and why?
The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
2. What’s one of the best investments and one of the worst investments you’ve ever made and why?
a. Best - Hiring young hungry engineers.
b. Worst - Not hiring the right people. I hired a senior engineer from Snapchat and a senior engineer from Apple.
3. What’s your guilty pleasure or favorite cheat meal?
No guilty pleasure, only good pleasures: Vega protein powder with frozen blackberries and blueberries, as well as vegan chocolate cake
4. Pretend you won the Peter Thiel Fellowship and you were going to get money to start a business instead of go to college, what’s the very first thing you’d do to start a new business?
I'd explore a bunch of different areas; validate demand and invest time in finding really good people to work with.
5. What’s something you never knew you needed?
Ostrich Travel Pillow
In the REVIEW SECTION, please let me know…
- The city / country you’re tuning in from!
- How Cliff’s story has inspired you! And, your favorite part of this episode!
- Tell me the questions you’d like me to ask future Forbes 30 Under 30 Members!
GUEST INFO: Cliff Weitzman – CEO & Founder of Speechify App
CONTACT: on instagram @cliffweitzman
WEBSITE: https://www.getspeechify.com/
HOST INFO: Phil Michaels
SOCIAL MEDIA: @iamphilmichaels
YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/philmichaels
PODCAST WEBSITE: www.philwithforbes30.com
PHIL’s WEBSITE: www.iamphilmichaels.com
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49 min - Trailer 000
Welcome to the Phil with Forbes 30 Podcast, hosted by Phil Michaels, Forbes 30 Under 30 Entrepreneur and Performance Coach!
Every year, Forbes names the top 30 young Entrepreneurs, Leaders, and Stars in the world, and each week Phil gets one of them to share their story, to help you level up in your life and business!
From sports superstars like Lebron James, to celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Cardi B, to entrepreneurs with companies like Door Dash, Instagram and YouTube, you’re sure to learn from the list!
It’s time to level up!
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2 min
About Phil with F30
From the publisher's feed
Welcome to the Podcast where Phil interviews Forbes 30, hosted by Phil Michaels, Forbes 30 Under 30 Entrepreneur and Performance Coach! Every year, Forbes names the top 30 young Entrepreneurs,…
Leaders, and Stars in the world, and each week Phil gets one of them to share their story, to help you level up in your life and business! From sports superstars like Lebron James, to celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Cardi B, to entrepreneurs with companies like Door Dash, Instagram and YouTube, you’re sure to learn from the list! It’s time to level up! *Opinions expressed by Forbes 30 Under 30 members, including Phil, are their own. Phil is a Forbes 30 Under 30 member. The podcast, website, and himself are not endorsed, nor affiliated with Forbes Media, LLC, but rather, this is a podcast exclusively interviewing Forbes 30 Under 30 members.