Startup Therapy

By Startups.comBusiness

Startup Therapy episodes

January 09, 2023Founders, How to Tell the Board "I Need a New Deal"
In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss how founders can talk with the board about their compensation. If you’re a founder and your company is earning a lot of money but you can’t even touch the profit – then maybe it’s time to have that conversation with the board. But how can you even do this without being turned down?

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Resources:
Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For
00:00 Intro
02:47 How to have this conversation?
04:50 Situations when you need to change the deal
08:54 Reset expectations
10:29 Make it a binary decision
12:28 When there’s still a glimmer of hope
15:07 The business will become what it needs to be
17:04 When you can’t touch your profit
19:45 Figure out where you’re going to take your binary decision to
23:30 The levers that we need to pull
29:43 The board meeting should be nothing but a formality
32 min
December 12, 2022Founders, Failure is Just One Chapter in Life
In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss why founders should stop thinking that failure is forever. Sometimes, when we experience hard times in our lives, we feel like this will never get better again – but that’s not true. Your whole life is a book with different chapters and each has its own challenges and you will get over them. Once you finish a bad chapter, just quickly get started on to the next one, because remember, failure is just one chapter in your life.

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Resources:
Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For
00:00 Intro
01:38 We keep projecting bad things into the future
02:27 Things can only fail at a finite number of times
04:05 Lay-offs
05:50 This pain won’t last forever
07:54 It’s just one chapter
11:22 You will barely even remember it
13:09 Start the next chapter as fast as possible
16:16 A startup is a chapter but our life is the book
17:40 Don’t get lost in the feeling
20:01 Nobody will remember it
21:32 There’s lot and lot of chapters
25 min
December 05, 2022What If I Want To Work Forever?
In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss what it would be like if you want to work forever. For founders, a lot of us might wonder if this would be something you’d like to do for a long time. But here’s a thought – is your Startup a work you love doing or does it feel like a work that you feel forced to do every day? If your answer to the last question is yes, then you might have to rethink if you’re willing to do it forever or find something that you would want to do for the rest of your life.

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Resources:
Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For
00:00 Intro
01:51 How long should you be working?
03:17 Founders can create their destiny
05:26 You need a break
08:54 Loving what you do
11:09 Alignment of what you love to do and what you actually do
12:58 Chip off things you don't want to do
14:30 Figure out what you want to do forever
15:55 Stepping back
19:12 The longer you do something, the higher of knowledge and experience you get
23:12 You have more years to grow
25:03 The older ones are still relevant
26:58 How do you stay relevant
31:34 This a perpetual journey
36 min
November 28, 2022Should Founders Worry About Quiet Quitting?
In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss if founders should worry about quiet quitting. This may sound like a new term to a lot of founders BUT this has been around for many ages now and we should be alarmed about it. So how can you see if your team is actually checked in or out of work?

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Resources:
Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For
00:00 Intro
00:17 When did this start?
01:50 What is quiet quitting?
02:55 How working from home changed how we operate
04:14 This is nothing new
05:56 Internet in an office is a distraction
10:56 How to know if your team is checked in or checked out
13:40 Good players never shut up
17:23 There’s a pattern of behavior
19:50 Micro KPIs
22:41 Everything is measurable
27 min
November 21, 2022If a Startup Sinks, Founders Go Down With It
In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss what will happen to the founder when the Startup company goes down. When a company starts to wind down, you might be shocked how everything maps back to the founder, from office leases to subscriptions, and now all of a sudden these company liabilities become your personal liabilities. How can you avoid this from happening to you?

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Resources:
Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For
00:00 Intro
02:50 You’re stuck with the liabilities
08:27 Who pays the wind-down entity?
10:58 Filing for personal bankruptcy
14:14 Everything maps back to you
16:48 Adding more liabilities
19:37 Creditors will follow you
21:18 Can you sign under the company’s name?
23:59 How safe are you inside the corporate veil?
28:52 Buying the good stuff only
32:15 Typical timeframe for winding down a company
33:42 The personal liability is the scariest part
36:32 Be mindful of what you sign and don’t keep adding liabilities
38:09 Treat those liabilities as your own
40:05 You can renegotiate
41:36 No long term agreements
47 min
November 14, 2022The Downfall of Becoming Internally Focused as Founders
In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss when a founder’s focus starts to shift from managing externally to managing internally. When a company grows, there’s a huge possibility that as a founder your focus might change from managing customers and shipping products to hiring staff and doing reports – which could lead to a stall in your skills and growth as a founder. So as you motivate your people, keep motivating yourself as well!

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https://www.startups.com/newsletter

Resources:
Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For
00:00 Intro
01:24 From leading externally to managing internally
02:39 Offense vs. defense
04:35 When focus shift internally
07:00 Staying safe in a growing company
08:35 Measurement of performance is important
11:24 Being okay with not focusing externally
14:00 Leaders providing incentives
16:39 How to avoid having unmotivated staff
18:50 Leadership vs. management
23 min
November 07, 2022Founders, we earn our wins. This isn't the Powerball.
In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss if founders deserved their wins and successes or did they just get lucky? Sometimes, founders feel guilty of their own success to the point that they don’t want to reward themselves and enjoy their hard-earned money. Most of the time, these founders hear people say “You’re just lucky!” disregarding the years and years of their hard work. But always remember that for you every win you earned and deserved your wins.

Sign up for the Startups Newsletter
https://www.startups.com/newsletter

Resources:
Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For
00:00 Intro
02:14 Good luck vs. good fortune
08:16 The process doesn’t really feel lucky
09:48 You should share your luck
12:11 Guilt investments
16:50 Enjoy your money
20:36 No one will share in your losses
25 min
October 31, 2022All Founders are Beloved In Good Times
In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss what happens to founders during the tough times. When things are going well, when you just got funded, and when you’re finally getting that high revenue, everybody loves you. But when things go south, no one is around. Sure, you feel emotionally betrayed at this point because you trusted them right? But is there a way you can avoid this in the beginning?

Sign up for the Startups Newsletter
https://www.startups.com/newsletter

Resources:
Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For
00:00 Intro
02:51 No one will love you during the bad times
03:59 Raising capital is like the first date
05:43 Creating more liabilities
07:25 You haven’t proven anything yet
09:45 People will surround you because you have money
13:49 Staffing up is your most ignorant time
22:44 Feeling emotionally betrayed
23:35 Fake metrics & early projections
27:11 We get fooled during the good times
29:32 Nobody wants to lead when things get tough
30:51 Your team’s values get measured during bad times
34:45 The character of a founder
38 min
October 24, 2022Our Startup Culture of Entitlement
In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss what founders are entitled to when their business takes off. There is danger in expecting too much from our Startup, when we think we should get additional funding because the business is growing, when we think that business growth will merit us more opportunities. Reality check: things don't work this way. Things take time to grow and every growth is exponentially different.

Sign up for the Startups Newsletter
https://www.startups.com/newsletter

Resources:
Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For
00:00 Intro
00:20 You’re entitled to nothing
02:29 From being optimistic to being hubris
06:19 Why did I not get funded?
08:07 The path outside of funding
09:33 Success doesn’t happen quickly
12:25 The short-term mentality
14:45 Providing value first
16:19 Create realistic expectations
18:40 Enabling or accelerative?
21:13 Startup exit
23:46 What are you & not entitled to?
26:28 We’re conditioned to getting a reward after work
27:34 Maintain an appropriate level of optimism
29:53 Believe in yourself but have humility
34:17 Startups are built on beliefs and blind optimism
37:20 We use other founders as a baseline
40:26 Do I need additional funding?
44:53 We’re too focused on crossing the finish line
48 min
October 17, 2022The Bulls#!t Case for Raising Capital
In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss whether you need to raise a huge capital in order to have a successful Startup. How much money do you actually need to scale your business? Do you need to raise money quickly in order to scale up quickly? The thing is, having lots of capital does not mean success right away. There are some cases where Startups raised a lot of money in the beginning but ended up getting bankrupt. You see, it’s not all about having a lot of financial resources. You gotta have skills, connection, and the right amount of luck too!

Sign up for the Startups Newsletter
https://www.startups.com/newsletter

Resources:
Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For
00:00 Intro
02:56 The best companies raised capital
07:32 Where does scaling quickly come from?
10:40 Lots of capital is not equal to sure success
15:32 You can’t create artificial growth
18:15 Betting someone else’s money
20:58 The walking dead of the funded
28:06 Seeing things from the bootstrap side to the funded side
31 min

About Startup Therapy

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The "No BS" version of how startups are really built, taught by actual startup Founders who have lived through all of it. Hosts Wil Schroter and Ryan Rutan talk candidly about the intense struggles…