The Entrepreneur Ethos

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Hey everyone. I’m trying something new based on your feedback. Stay turned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening.

Now on to my guests today, Mark Amouzgar and Bita Ilahifar of Captain Well, a new app in femtech, one of the hottest areas of software development. This is a first for the show -- two guests a once.

Like many other entrepreneurs, Mark saw a problem and set about trying to solve it. He started developing the app in response to his wife’s experiences with severe menstrual pain. As he was already working in femtech, he decided to apply his knowledge to developing something that would help her and the millions of others who cope with similar issues. The app, an AI assistant called Anna, also includes information to help partners of the people experiencing the pain better understand their partners’ experiences. 

Bita, a former English teacher, works on business development and outreach, helping the company find investors and partners. As she has also coped with period pain, she is excited to be working toward offering personalized solutions. Mark and Bita see the technology as having the potential to help doctors working with patients suffering from endometriosis and fibroids. 

One of the major obstacles is not so much the technology as the taboos around discussing menstruation, especially in the developing world. Understanding how important education is to this project, the company donates 1% of its profits to NGOs focused on providing education for girls and women around the world. 

Now let’s get better together.

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Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

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Hey everyone. I’m trying something new based on your feedback. Stay turned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening.

Now on to my guest today, Dr. Steve Yacovelli, the “gay leadership dude.”

Steve started out in and quickly left academia, moving to doing training and communications work for corporations, including Disney. It was while he was working for Disney he started a side business with a coworker that eventually morphed into his full-time business, Top Dog Learning Group. A meeting with a publisher prompted him to write and publish a book on leadership for the gay community, in the process taking on the moniker “the gay leadership dude.” 

Steve provides training for leaders in corporations and large nonprofits to be better communicators, with a focus on fostering a more inclusive environment. He explains how anyone starting a business should give some thought to their core values so that you can then articulate those values to the people you work with, be they employees, partners, or customers. These values also can provide guidance for navigating difficult situations. He also urges the people he works with to purposely put themselves in uncomfortable situations where they will interact with people different from themselves. Among the many other recommendations Steve offers, he drives home the point that above all, empathy for others, no matter what their position or situation, should be paramount. 

Now let’s get better together.

I asked Dr. Steve what his advice is for new entrepreneurs. Here are some takeaways:

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Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

AudioBook: Audible| Kobo| Authors Direct | Google Play | Apple

Hey everyone. I’m trying something new based on your feedback. Stay turned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from the interview. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening.

Now on to my guest today, Mark Herschberg, experienced CTO, MIT lecturer, and author of the book The Career Toolkit. 

Mark graduated with an engineering degree from MIT and started working in startups. A mentor suggested he also do consulting work for corporations, and he soon realized he lacked some critical skills. He has made it his mission to teach these skills - which include networking, management, and leadership - as both a teacher and an author. His book, The Career Toolkit, offers some insight into what many colleges fail to teach. 

One of the biggest challenges for an entrepreneur, as well as anyone looking to advance in their career, is learning the “soft” skills of networking, management, and leadership that enable them to move from a worker to a manager and then a leader. Mark describes what managers do as supporting others, of anticipating barriers and getting them out of the way, of fostering collaboration and negotiating. Moving from a contributor - one who goes to work at figuring out how to make the product or service solve a problem - to a manager means helping others find solutions, ensuring a good flow of communication, and helping people work together more effectively. While learning these skills requires a shift in mindset, anyone can acquire them. 

Now let’s get better together.

You’ll probably want to check out Herschberg’s book and website, but here are some insights to start:

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Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

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Hey everyone. I’m trying something new based on your feedback. Stay turned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening.

Now on to my guest today, Dan Salehi, a patent lawyer who shares his observations about business growth, particularly about the new phenomenon of SPACs. 

Dan studied engineering in college but decided to switch to law, entering the world of patent law. He became curious about the big picture of why businesses choose to build what they built. He gradually transitioned to helping corporations close deals, but patent law remains an integral part of what he does. Dan explains that he never wanted to be one-dimensional and was always interested in understanding the bigger picture. In this episode Dan provides his insider view of SPACs - Special Purpose Acquisition Companies - which are an alternative to the traditional route of going public. He also talks about why patents are an important part of building a business when done correctly. 

Some of the questions Dan addresses are: 

You should also know that Dan and I both worked at Ion Torrent and then Life Technologies when Ion got bought by them. To all my Ion friends, I hope you enjoy this walk down memory lane.

Now let’s get better together.

Dan provides some advice for entrepreneurs who are ready to take the next steps in growing and scaling their businesses:

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Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

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Hey everyone. I’m trying something new based on your feedback. Stay turned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening.

For this part, remember one thing. All of your answers need to be in the form of a question.

I’ll take monumental achievements for 1,000 Alex.

Answer: The person that’s the 100th interview on the best podcast for entrepreneurs on the planet, at least according to the host.

Ding: Who is Shaun Gold?

That’s correct! Shaun Gold, you got your wish. You’re my 100th guest! 

Congratulations. Now, let’s hear a little bit more about Shaun.

Shaun mastered the art of networking as a nightlife promoter in Miami for 15 years, a time in his life he calls “a great experience he’ll never do again.” He met people of all kinds and learned how to talk to people and earn their trust. Many of those people, some of whom are business leaders and celebrities, are still part of his network. 

Shaun is a serial entrepreneur and has been an advisor for startups. He now focuses on writing and speaking, sharing lessons learned. Shaun believes you learn, grow, and eventually succeed by failing and never, ever, giving up. He cites the book Hagakure and its lesson on focusing and persistence. He encourages entrepreneurs to have the courage to step outside the box, to do the thing nobody else is doing, reminding us that AirBnB and Uber were once ideas others thought were crazy.  

Now let’s get better together.

Gold shares many words of wisdom, including: 

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Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

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Hey everyone. I’m trying something new based on your feedback. Stay turned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from my guest. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening.

Now on to my guest today, Angel Ribo of the CEO Confidant and founder of the nonprofit Wisdom for Kids. 

Six years ago, Angel had a spiritual experience that led him to leave corporate America and found both a business and nonprofit. Originally from Spain, Angel’s parents encouraged him to learn other languages, which led him to pursue a career that took him all around the world. He now helps CEOs and successful entrepreneurs expand their businesses on a global scale. 

Founded with friends in Mexico, Angel started Wisdom for Kids because he wanted to help the high numbers of kids living in poverty that he saw frequently in the course of doing business. Drawing on the insight gained from the work of one of his cofounders, a well-known professor of education in Mexico, and the work they subsequently did, he’s developed programs to connect with kids and help them build skills in entrepreneurship. 

Now let’s get better together.

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Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

AudioBook: Audible| Kobo| Authors Direct | Google Play | Apple

Hey everyone. I’m trying something new based on your feedback. Stay turned to the end of the interview where I’ll give you some actionable insights that I learned from the interview. These insights are also in the show notes. As always, thanks for listening.

Now on to my guest today, Sydney Wong of VenturX.

Sydney started by working in tech marketing after graduating from college. Curious to know more about the startup world, she moved to San Francisco to try to learn all she could about tech startups and entrepreneurship. Driven to help solve the problems startups face, when she returned to Montreal, she started VenturX, a platform that provides tools and support to startups and they also do their own angel investing. 

Sydney explains how VenturX is different from other platforms like Angel’s List in that it provides more analytics to help both startups and investors understand each other better. In the last year, during the pandemic, the company also started its own investing branch, which has given her even more insight into the startup funding journey, some insights which she shares here.

Now let’s get better together.

If you’re a startup thinking about finding an investor, you’ll want to keep in mind some of the best practices revealed in this conversation.

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Support the Show. Get the NEW AudioBook!

AudioBook: Audible| Kobo| Authors Direct | Google Play | Apple

Hey everyone. A couple things before we get going.

First, please take the survey to let me know what you think of the show. It’s on the top of the show notes. Second, stay tuned to the end and I’ll give you the actionable insights I learned from this episode. Thirdly, you can support the show by buying the audio version of the book, The Entrepreneur Ethos, narrated by David A. Conatser. Thanks so much for listening.

Now on to my guest today, Jacob Wedderburn-Day, cofounder of Stasher. 

Jacob and his cofounder were friends at Oxford, where they studied economics and brainstormed ideas for possible businesses. After moving to London, they came up with the idea for Stasher after seeing how people they knew were looking for places to put baggage temporarily while visiting and travelling. Inspired by Uber and Airbnb, they put up a website and started offering storage solutions in their own flats.

Eventually they found an investor, a storage company in the UK, which enabled them to build the business and form partnerships. Through SEO, partnerships with travel businesses, and online reviews, they were growing strong until COVID hit last March. 

With everyone in lockdown, Jacob and his cofounder decided to go into hibernation. They were able to keep their team and preserve their capital through a government furlough scheme which Jacob describes as going “on pause,” so they can be ready to start up again as soon as restrictions on travel are lifted. The support has been invaluable in enabling them to keep their team together and keeping the business viable until people are traveling again. 

Now let’s get better together.

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