The Founder Formula

If you’re not using video to communicate your message, odds are that you’re missing a huge array of potential investors, consumers, and users. And before you make excuses about your company not being exciting, or your product not sexy enough for video, take a listen to this episode of The Founder Formula.

This week we're talking to Evan Macmillan, CEO and Co-Founder at Gridspace, an AI-driven, voice automation company. Evan has an incredibly rich background. He was born in Silicon Valley, and his dad worked at Sun Microsystems and rubbed shoulders with legends like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

Listen to this and all of The Founder Formula episodes through your favorite podcast platform or Trace3.com.

When was the last time you or your company made a product video?

If you’re not using video to communicate your message, odds are that you’re missing a huge array of potential investors, consumers, and users. And before you make excuses about your company not being exciting, or your product not sexy enough for video, take a listen to this episode of The Founder Formula.

We’re talking this week to Evan Macmillan, CEO and Co-F ounder at Gridspace, an AI-driven, voice automation company. Evan has an incredibly rich background. He was born in Silicon Valley, and his dad worked at Sun Microsystems and rubbed shoulders with legends like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Evan went on to Stanford University at the same time as another famous alumni, Mark Zuckerberg. Evan even spent some time at Stanford's version of the Harvard Lampoon called the Stanford Chaparral

 Listen to this and all of The Founder Formula episodes at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website.

Last Episode we spoke with a man who has been called the Father of Video Games. Silicon Valley legend Nolan Bushnell. If you haven’t listened, make sure you go back and do so, because we talked all about his career up through his time at Atari, and ultimately the sale of Atari to Warner Media.

In part 2 of our interview with Nolan, we’re covering the second half of his career. With someone as storied and experienced as Nolan is, he wasn’t content to just sell Atari and fade into the background.

Listen to this and all of The Founder Formula episodes through your favorite podcast platform or Trace3.com.

Last Episode we spoke with a man who has been called the Father of Video Games. Silicon Valley legend Nolan Bushnell. If you haven’t listened to that interview, make sure you go back and do so, because we talked all about his career up through his time at Atari, and ultimately the sale of Atari to Warner Media. So again, if you haven’t listened to that episode, make sure to go back and do that.

In part 2 of our interview with Nolan, we’re covering the second half of his career. With someone as storied and experienced as Nolan is, he wasn’t content to just sell Atari and fade into the background.

The second part of our conversation centered around:

Listen to this and all of The Founder Formula episodes at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website.

For the 25th episode of The Founder Formula, we thought we’d pull out all the stops, and invite one of the most famous founders in Silicon Valley history on the show for a two part extravaganza. If you spent any amount of time in the 1970’s & 1980’s playing Atari, you have our guest, Nolan Bushnell to thank.

Nolan founded Atari, and brought video games to the home user, selling over 30 million units. As if changing the video game industry wasn’t enough, Nolan also went on to found Chuck E. Cheese, which at the height of its popularity, had over 200 locations. Not to mention the countless boards he sits on, advisory roles he’s taken, and incubators he’s founded.

Listen to this and all of The Founder Formula episodes through your favorite podcast platform or Trace3.com.

For the 25th episode of The Founder Formula, we thought we’d pull out all the stops, and invite one of the most famous founders in Silicon Valley history on the show for a two part extravaganza. If you spent any amount of time in the 1970’s & 1980’s playing Atari, you have our guest, Nolan Bushnell to thank.

Nolan founded Atari, and brought video games to the home user, selling over 30 million units. As if changing the video game industry wasn’t enough, Nolan also went on to found Chuck E. Cheese, which at the height of its popularity, had over 200 locations. Not to mention the countless boards he sits on, advisory roles he’s taken, and incubators he’s founded.

The first part of our conversation centered around:

- The history of Atari and what led to it’s founding

- The concept of “eat your babies” (Don’t worry, it’s not what it sounds like)

- Straddling the line between leading a company and inventing forward at the same time

- How the University of Utah & Silicon Valley had equal impact on his career

Listen to this and all of The Founder Formula episodes at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website

On this week’s episode of The Founder Formula, we talk with Renen Hallak, Founder and CEO of VAST Data. In 2019, he was honored for entrepreneurship by Goldman Sachs at their annual Innovator Summit. His company also recently made the news by raising $100M in Series C Funding — so it’s safe to say that Renen knows a thing or two about being a successful founder.

Our conversation was incredible, and we were fortunate that Renen was so generous with his time. We discussed, among other things:

The key differences between the hardware and software company and how those experiences differ greatly.

The journey to four successful fundraising cycles and why the most recent $100M cycle was so unique.

The complex decisions that go into selecting a board of directors for your company.

Making the company culture a foundation from day 1.

Listen to this and all of The Founder Formula episodes at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website.

On this week’s episode of The Founder Formula, we talk with Renen Hallak, Founder and CEO of VAST Data. In 2019, he was honored for entrepreneurship by Goldman Sachs at their annual Innovator Summit.

His company also recently made the news by raising $100M in Series C Funding — so it’s safe to say that Renen knows a thing or two about being a successful founder.

Our conversation was incredible, and we were fortunate that Renen was very generous with his time.

Listen to this and all of The Founder Formula episodes through your favorite podcast platform or Trace3.com.

On this week’s episode of The Founders Formula, we talk with Rehan Jalil. Rehan is a successful three-time founder, holds an AMP from Harvard Business School, has over 25 patents either granted or pending, and was named one of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year finalists.

It’s safe to say that Rehan knows a thing or two about the founder’s formula, and we were blown away with the wisdom and practical advice he had for us during this interview.

Listen to this and all of The Founder Formula episodes through your favorite podcast platform or Trace3.com.

On this week’s episode of The Founders Formula, we talk with Rehan Jalil. Rehan is a successful three-time founder, holds an AMP from Harvard Business School, has over 25 patents either granted or pending, and was named one of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year finalists.

So it’s safe to say that Rehan knows a thing or two about the founder’s journey, and we were blown away with the wisdom and practical advice he had for us during this interview. We discussed, among other things:  

- What to look for when assembling the winning founding team 

- The most important part of the pitch 

- The most gratifying moments for a founder 

- The lessons he’s learned along the way that all founders should keep in mind 

Listen to this and all of The Founder Formula episodes at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or our website.