The Bacon Bits 'n' Bytes Podcast

Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries: Beverly Hills Chairs, the leading seller of refurbished Herman Miller Aeron chairs in the country; Custom Tobacco, a one-of-a-kind e-commerce platform where customers can create fully customized, private-label cigars in real-time; and Veloz Solutions, a technology consulting and software development practice. Adam is a also a nationally acclaimed thought leader, writer and speaker on topics including leadership, entrepreneurship and management. Adam is the creator and host of the podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where each week he goes one on one with one of the most successful people in the country on how they got to the top and how listeners can too.

Adam shares how he got into entrepreneurship and provide valuable advice on leadership, bootstrapping your business, as well as going into business with a family member.

This interview was recorded back in May when we were still in lockdown, so we were also talking about how much we missed lifting weights and it wasn't the same with just resistance bands.

Follow Adam:

Site: https://www.adammendler.com/

Instagram: @adammendler

Twitter: @adammendler

Note: This conversation with Steve Hoffman (aka Captain Hoff) was recorded back in May when there were still many restrictions in place during the lockdown. He shares his insights on how the pandemic has affected both startups and investors and how he has never been busier, tackling the many things on his to-do list

Steve considers himself to be someone who was always innovating on his life, likes challenges and doesn't like routine (Something that many of us can relate to, including me!).

He held various roles as a moviemaker, game developer and helped found 3 venture-led startups before launching his own startup innovation hub in San Francisco. From there it has grown to an international network of incubators, entrepreneurs and investors with over 50 partners in 22 countries.

Key takeaways

- That taking something offline and trying to shoehorn it online doesn't work as well

- That a combination of leadership, curiosity and stamina are what makes a great CEO

- Don't sweat the small stuff, it won't matter a year, 6 months or even 3 months from now

Follow Founders Space on Social Media Twitter: https://Twitter.com/FoundersSpace/ Instagram: https://Instagram.com/FoundersSpace/ LinkedIn: https://LinkedIn.com/in/FoundersSpace/ Facebook:: https://Facebook.com/groups/FoundersSpace

Book

Make Elephants Fly: https://www.amazon.com/Make-Elephants-Fly-Process-Innovation/dp/0349418837/

Site and Online Program Founders Space: https://FoundersSpace.com Online Program: https://FoundersSpace.com/online/

*Note: This episode contains explicit language*

In this episode, we're talking about the F-word. Failure or as others like to call it "A fuckup". I chat with Marsha Druker, the Founder and Director of Fuckup Nights Toronto about the importance of sharing the failure, especially for entrepreneurs and why children need to be educated about failure at a young age so they learn how to deal with it early on. She also shares a few of her own fuckups when first launching Fuckup Nights Toronto.

Learn more: fuckupnightsto.ca

Instagram: @fuckupnightsto Twitter: @FuckupNightsTO

Entrepreneur and cybersecurity expert Tawana Anderson tells her story of growing up in a rough neighbourhood and becoming a teen mom. She shares these experiences in her book, Bruised and Broken To Shine, available on her website and Amazon.com.

We also discuss how being broken is not necessarily a bad thing, in that you have to go through things sometimes in order to let that light shine through.

Connect with Tawana:

IG: @tawana_shine

FB: Tawana Anderson Shine

Due to self-isolation and the current social distancing rules, it's no doubt that people are spending even more time online on social media, surfing the net, streaming shows and listening to podcasts.

This is the time where you may want to consider pitching yourself to journalists and to podcast hosts. Media expert Christy Laverty shares tips for entrepreneurs on how they can get visible in a big way with media coverage by being mindful in your approach during these unprecedented times.

Follow Christy on Twitter: @ChristyALaverty

and Instagram: @ChristyALaverty

Learn more: http://christyalaverty.com/

Arlan Hamilton is the incredible woman who built Backstage Capital from the ground up while homeless. Backstage Capital is a fund that is dedicated to minimizing funding disparities in tech by investing in high-potential founders who are people of color, women, and/or LGBT. Started from scratch in 2015, Backstage has now raised more than $10 million and invested in more than 130 startup companies led by underestimated founders. In 2018 Arlan co-founded Backstage Studio which launched four accelerator programs for underestimated founders in Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and London. Arlan was featured on the cover of Fast Company magazine in October 2018 as the first Black woman non-celebrity to do so, and her new book "It's About Damn Time", published by Penguin Random House was released on May 5, 2020. You can purchase the book and enroll in her fundraising masterclass at itsaboutdamntime.com

Follow Arlan on Twitter and Instagram : @arlanwashere

Interesting fact: This episode was recorded the day before the COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by WHO. In addition to discussing diversity in tech, Danielle Meadows-Stinnett of Octane Designs and I were also chatting about how education and the way people are learning is evolving. And now there is a surge in not just people taking e-courses but the consumption of online content overall.

Instagram: octanedesigns

Listen to some of the bloopers from recording Ep.018 with some of the team members from 6initiative.

The entrepreneurial journey has many ups and downs, sometimes on the same day- which is why it's so important to find a community that can support you along the way.

In this group interview, I chat with some of the members from the 6initiative team, an entrepreneurial community platform that provides resources, connections and guidance to side hustle/small business owners.

We chat about what makes their events so successful and how they've been engaging their community during the pandemic.

Tune in to learn about why working from home (if you're able to do so) can be beneficial, what their binge-reading and watching and what their definition of success is.

Connect with them on Facebook: @6initiative

Instagram: @6initiative

Site: https://www.the6initiative.ca/

There have been many misconceptions of competitive gaming, also known as Esports, but it is a billion-dollar industry with millions of people playing it around the world. In this episode, I chat with Arwina Mogul, (Yes, that is her real last name), the CEO of the online gaming community platform, Beam.gg.

She shares how her love for gaming began when she was a child. In high school, Arwina became even more serious about gaming. She would go to internet cafes, study the other players and ask questions on how they did certain moves/how long it took them to execute a move.

Her journey into entrepreneurship began with her first esports company she started on the side while she was working as a social worker. Beam.gg is her second esports company - where clients can use their platform to engage their customers through the power of gaming.