Startups, Sparks and Serendipity

Bryan is the founder of BW Missions, a company that works with mission-driven entrepreneurs, thought-leaders, and CEOs including Nir Eyal (Author Hooked & Indistractable), Rick Smith (CEO Axon/ inventor of the TASER), Denise Gosnell (Chief Data Officer at DataStax), Dan Berger (Former CEO of Social Tables, acquired by CVENT), Allen Gannett, and many more to develop and execute digital strategies behind book, product, and business launches.

His clients have been represented in Inc., Forbes, TechCrunch, Morning Brew, HBR, and Wired Magazine. Mike and I have known Bryan for a couple of years and he’s one of the best networked people we know and a person that truly cares about helping people carving their pathway.

This week we sat down with Bryan Wish to discuss carving paths and finding a sense of belonging. Bryan talks about his journey through finding the right path for him and paints a picture for listeners to better understand where belonging comes from, and how to focus on the right search. We then discussed how your inner-circle and broader network can be used for long-term benefit. We dive deeper into how to network and select the right people with whom to surround yourself. Lastly, we spoke about book publishing, and the reasons for, and intentions behind writing and publishing a book. This podcast episode deals with the challenges of finding your sense of belonging, keeping the right people around you, and all the thoughts that go into the choice of writing a book. We certainly enjoyed this episode, and hope you do too.

Recommendations:

To Read: The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel A. Van der Kolk

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Ben Zoldan is the founder and maker behind Storyleaders. A company that transforms organizations by the power of storytelling. Ben has helped organizations such as Salesforce, Tableau, Lightpath, Oracle and others to be leading organizations through storytelling in sales and is widely renowned through his expertise. He also is the co-author of one of the leading sales-books “What Great Salespeople Do”.

This week we sat down with Ben Zoldan to discuss a variety of topics including the serendipitous moments we have handed to us today and accepting them as opportunities and how to cope with the uncertainty of difficult times. Then we dive into sales through storytelling and nurturing emotional connections to have an overall better experience in business and in life. Ben takes us through his experience in developing loyalty to humanity, and realizing that through honoring systems that keep us human, we can avoid systems that take the human out of us, and still achieve the results and outcomes we desire.

Ben’s book: What Great Salespeople Do

Recommendations:

To Read: Parenting from the Inside Out by Dr. Dan Siegel

To Watch: My Octopus Teacher on Netflix

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This week, we have a nice conversation all about startups and the startup environment. We explore topics related to what startups focus on, including accelerating growth, sales and winning customers. Likewise, we discuss different ways founders fund their startups, such as through VC, loans and government grants. Do you consider your business a startup or a young company? What is the difference? Are you a unicorn or a zebra? Then we take a turn and discuss some recent developments in enterprise software and how the field has changed over time to become a greater area of investment for businesses of all sizes. New tech and software is becoming available almost weekly, and being on top of what is out there can make a big difference. Beware, however, as enterprise tech faces many challenges with bureaucracy and timelines for integration, so it is a good idea to start conversations sooner, rather than later.

Recommendations:

To Read: Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The Elephant vs. Mouse - Christophe Janz  https://christophjanz.blogspot.com/2019/04/five-years-later-five-ways-to-build-100.html

Persons of the Week:

Christian Busch: The Serendipitous Mindset

Dave Gerhardt: CMO of Privy

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This week, we dive into our tricks for productivity and planning ahead, setting routines, and retaining focus throughout the work week. We talk about how we use our time when traveling, and how, whether you’re on a train or a long distance flight, organizing your time could save a bunch of trouble. Then we dive a bit into managing our time organization and priorities between work, health and life. Are notifications a necessity or a distraction? Texting and Whatsapp conversations can be important, but how important is it to respond quickly when there is so much going on in the day? Finally, we discuss how creating a user manual for working with people can improve interpersonal functionality and organizational efficiency.

To Read:

You and Your Research by Richard W. Hamming

To Watch:

But What is a Neural Network? Deep Learning, chapter 1 Youtube Video By 3Blue1Brown

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This week we discussed dopamine and its many implications on people's lives. From understanding how dopamine can lead to addiction in drugs, we discuss similar effects from gambling to social media. We decided to open up a bit about ourselves and share coping mechanisms we use and what can help us get through to the next day. We also shared some tips on what is called “dopamine fasting” as a way to cleanse the brain of potential bad habits, and to start focusing on getting dopamine from positive sources to avoid addiction. We hope this episode helps you rethink how you interact with dopamine and build better, healthier habits for a better and more rewarding life.

Recommendations:

Books:

At Last A Life: Anxiety and Panic Free by Paul David

Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear

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This week we interviewed Jeff Gothelf about employability and entrepreneurship. Jeff talks about how he switched his job search model from a push model to a pull model where he attracts opportunities by building a platform of expertise and experience and broadly giving it away through content marketing. He talks a bit more about getting better with practice and implementing the Ikigai model (reason for being) in order to achieve a more fulfilling life and career.

Recommendations:

Books: Forever Employable by Jeff Gothelf

Tools:

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Micro-entrepreneurship is the new normal. Platforms such as Uber, Shopify, Food Delivery providers and others create completely new opportunities for entrepreneurial activity. What micro-entrepreneurship is and what is really behind it, you can hear in this podcast. 

Book: Go Giver: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1873060.The_Go_Giver

017 - A great founder handbook, better decision making and the power of not knowing something

This week we end the first season by reflecting on the past fifteen episodes and by hinting at what is to come in the next seasons. Additionally we ask you, our listeners to offer some feedback for what you want to hear in coming episodes. This is a short one, but we will be back next week with a new season and cool new topics!

Recommendations:

Books:

12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30257963-12-rules-for-life

Tools:

Rome Research

Macro.io

This week we met with our first guest, Christian Busch and had a special conversation about serendipity. What is serendipity? How can we actively manage situations to make them more serendipitous? Does luck favor the prepared?  How can we increase the surface area of luck? This episode gives a look into how to connect dots to access the serendipities in our lives and how reframing situations and looking at things from unexpected perspectives can make a huge difference.  One of our favorite takeaways this week is that we cannot always control the stimuli that may affect us. However we can control our response to it. If we can redefine key moments and reframe our perspective in relation to these stimuli, we can create enormous opportunities for serendipity.

About Christian: Dr. Christian Busch is the director of the Global Economy program at New York University's Center for Global Affairs, where he teaches on purpose-driven leadership, impact entrepreneurship, social innovation, and emerging markets. He is a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE) and the co-founder of Leaders on Purpose, an organization convening high-impact leaders, as well as the Sandbox Network, a global community of young innovators active in over 20 countries (Source: SerendipityMindset.com).

Recommendations:

Books:

The Serendipity Mindset by Christian Busch https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611516/the-serendipity-mindset-by-christian-busch-phd/

Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4069.Man_s_Search_for_Meaning

Tools:

A Serendipity Journal