The Scott Barstow Show

Brent Boekestein is the CEO of a brand new startup in the Bay area called Vintra.io. I wanted to have Brent on because I worked alongside him for a few weeks as he took his latest venture from concept to customer discovery and now into fundraising and early customers.

His process for testing new ideas, getting those critical early customer discovery meetings, identifying real opportunities vs. rabbit trails for the product and establishing early sales processes and discipline are top shelf.

Whether you're at idea stage or further down the path with your company, you're going to learn a lot from Brent.

Derick Thompson is the CEO and founder of Startup Runner, a virtual accelerator based in Austin, TX that helps identify repeatable, scalable customer channels that lead to sustainable, profitable growth.

Derick's one of the best minds in the startup community and a great friend. We have a shared mission of ridding the world of the excessive waste that dooms so many startups to the dustbin of history.

In this episode we talk through his methodology for building profitable businesses through disciplined customer discovery, acquisition and sales and marketing. You won't find a better resource on how to find and target your customers.

I hope you enjoy this episode, and as always, thanks for listening!

Chris Heivly was the founder of MapQuest, the company that brought mapping into the modern era in the 1990s. He's the co-founder of a startup incubator in Raleigh-Durham, NC called The Startup Factory, and he's the author of the book Build the Fort, which explores the journey of building a startup through the lens of how we built forts as kids.

In this episode Chris and I cover:

• The founding of MapQuest and how they built the company using Lean Startup stuff before that was a thing
• What it's like to start a company inside another company
• How to take and sift advice from others
• How to network your way into a community (invaluable advice here)
• What makes a good investor
• The top reasons startup fail
• How you as a founder prepare for the startup journey mentally, financially and physically
• and much more

Chris has great things to say and is a great story teller. I think you'll get a lot from this episode.

Aidan Cunniffe is the CEO of Dropsource. Imagine if you could design and configure your application, generate all of the required code for iOS and Android, as well as the backend services, and have it all working in less than a minute. Sounds too good to be true, right? This is the power of Dropsource.

In this episode, Aidan and I talk about

• The big idea behind Dropsource and how they got started
• The future of software development
• What makes a great developer
• The difference between a tech company and a company that uses technology
• Artificial intelligence and deep learning
• Complexity
• and Aidan's advice for new entrepreneur's just starting out

This show is packed with insights and great stuff from Aidan.

You'll find links to both Aidan and Dropsource in the show notes at scottbarstow.com/podcast.

Thanks for listening, as always, and enjoy my chat with Aidan Cunniffe

My guest for this episode is Ben Wiant, Business Development Manager for Kelaca. Ben's day job is recruiting for his clients, but to call Ben a recruiter doesn't really do him justice. Ben studied cultural anthropology and instructional design in college and has an extensive background in designing an implementing systems to maximize organizational performance.

In short, he gets how humans think and what makes a person a good fit for an organization. He thinks more holistically about humans and organizations than anyone I've met.

Ben talks about:

• How to assess cultural fit
• How to interview and how to ask great interview questions
• How to find and recruit people who aren't obviously looking for another job
• When and why to use a recruiter
• How to fire
• What culture is and what it's not
• How much influence the leadership has on an organization's culture

I wanted to talk to Ben because he's got great insights into the recruiting process, which we all have to deal with regardless of our roles in startups.

I hope you enjoy the show, and as always thanks for listening.

Jessica Mitsch is the Executive Director of Code Schools for The Iron Yard, one of the most successful programming boot camps in the world. She's been with The Iron Yard nearly since the beginning and has been responsible for launching some of their largest and most successful campuses.

We talk about

• The history and why of The Iron Yard
• How they serve tech startups in the markets where they have campuses
• Their commitment to diversity in tech, as well as working with K-12 students to raise up the next generation of developers
• Their most recent launch in Detroit and what's going on there as the city tries to rebuild
• and much more

I wanted to have Jessica on the show because I've had a bias against code schools as a way to put a dent in the developer shortage. However, after meeting a number of their graduates and seeing first-hand how they've been able to slot in to fast growing startups, I wanted to know more about them and how they work.

I hope you enjoy this episode, and as always thank you for listening!

My guest for this show is Gret Glyer, founder of Donorsee. DonorSee is a new app that connects donors and fundraisers using the power of story and feedback to make a direct impact on the world. Gret is also a missionary in Malawi, one of the poorest countries on earth, where he's building a girls school among other great projects.

In this episode, Gret and I discuss:

• How he got from Northern Virginia to Malawi
• Building homes for $800
• Why he's chosen to build and start a girl's school, and how he's working with the natives to make it happen
• The genesis of DonorSee and the lessons he's learned being a first-time founder without a tech background
• What it's been like to raise money for his venture
• Whether or not he can stay in Malawi and build the company
• and much more

Though he's still very early in his venture, there's a lot to learn from what he's gone through already, as well as his approach to life in general. I hope you enjoy it, and as always thanks for listening!

My guest for this show is John Saddington, CEO and founder of EVE.io.

John has been the founder or co-founder of a number of prior ventures, including The Iron Yard, the world's largest coding school.

In this episode, John and I discuss:

• What it's like to leave corporate America
• Why blogging has been so integral to John's life and how he uses blogging as he's building companies to create awareness
• Hiring at scale
• How to find a co-founder and sparring
• and much more

I hope you enjoy it.

My guest for this show is Matt Fiedler, CEO and co-founder of Vinyl Me, Please.

Vinyl Me, Please is a record of the month club unlike any other. Not only do you get an awesome, curated new vinyl record every month, but you also get a cocktail recipe and artist / label goodies you can't get anywhere else.

We cover a lot of topics in this show, including:

• How Matt and his co-founder Tyler came up with the original idea
• How they tested different permutations with early customers
• How they funded the company in the early going
• The trials and tribulations of partnerships
• How they found and hired key early employees
• How they survived a near-death experience as a company
• How he misjudged when to build out his technology platform
• and much, much more

Matt's brutally honest in this interview. You're going to learn a ton from it. I know I did.

I hope you enjoy, and as always thanks for listening!

My guest for this show is Allan Branch, co-founder of Less Everything, which is the parent company of Less Accounting and Less Films. Less Accounting is the accounting software for business owners who dislike bookkeeping. Less Films creates videos that help turn your web traffic into paying customers.

I first met Allan in 2013 at the most unusual conference I've ever been to, LessConf. I had the honor of speaking at the conference, but more of an honor was getting to hang around Allan and his partner Steve and the amazing group of people they had invited to the conference. We start this podcast by talking about the origins of LessConf because I think it speaks to who Allan is and what makes him unique.

Allan and Steve built Less Everything by bootstrapping the business with services work and by being maniacally focused on being profitable. Strange, right? The theme throughout this chat with Allan is that he does things his own way, and doesn't care what others think about it For fun, Allan builds the most amazing lamps and is in the process of refinishing a sailboat from the ground up.

He is truly one of a kind, and is a role model for me of how you can build great, sustainable businesses and not have to sell your soul to do it.

If you're offended by such things or have your kids in the car with you, there is the occasional cuss word in this episode. I don't edit the show unless it's absolutely necessary because I want you to hear these interviews as a conversation between friends.

Show Notes:

Less EverythingLess AccountingLess FilmsAllan on Twitter

Patrick Campbell at Pricing Intelligently

Amy Hoy on Twitter