The Startup Different Podcast

For the season finale of season 1 we opted to run right at explaining the Lean Startup's MVP process and how we used it to iterate and improve the Startup Different Pod. Rather than talking about an abstract business concept, learn how we built, measured, and learned key concepts for podcasting.

As a founder, you'll have an idea about where you'll want to highlight your product to prospective customers. Whether that's social media, trade shows, or inbound tactics, you'll have a hunch as to the how and where you'd like to meet your customers in the market. Here's the thing though: What's best for you isn't always what's best for your prospective customers.

We thought we could be like NetFlix. Or at least, we wanted to be one of the most disruptive businesses out there. We wanted to build a winning culture, when really what we needed to do was build a culture around how we wanted to work. It was a painful learning moment. Avoid our mistakes, and learn how to build a great startup from day one in this episode.

I know. You want to believe you can do this all yourself. Maybe you've got industry experience, maybe you know how to build a product - hell, maybe you could do it by yourself. But do you want to? In this episode we'll discuss the pros and cons of co-founders. We'll also discuss some of the unique challenges and benefits of starting a business with a sibling.

Some companies think that strong customer service means great people that a very polite and respond to requests quickly. Wrong. People do not equal (!=) customer service. To scale your business, you need to add customers without adding more people. And besides, if a customer needs to reach out to your customer service team, you've already let them down.

If you're running a B2B SaaS company, you'll inevitably land a "big deal" that requires your team to step up and go above and beyond your current product offering.  In this episode, we'll give you some tips to keep those projects from going off the rails and sinking your company.

Have you ever heard someone say “I don’t work hard, I work smart.”  What a load of garbage.  Everybody tries to work smart, that’s a given.  What you need to understand is that to get a business off the ground you’re gonna have to do both. You need to work smart, and you’re going to need to work hard by putting in a lot of hours and doing the tasks that nobody else wants to do (or can do) to make your company happen.

There are countless successful celebrities who will tell you to “follow your passion”.  I’m certain you’ve seen speeches by famous people at Ivy League commencement ceremonies that bestow the virtues of following your passions. Simply put, this is terrible advice. In this episode we're going to talk about how passion for your product or industry doesn't need to exist at the beginning, but will come as you keep working on your startup.

It's a proven fact that people work best when they have a consistent routine.  For your startup, this can be an incredibly powerful tool to create a highly productive team.  In this episode, we'll talk about how we used Scrum to build a cadence to our team and their work that helped us stay on track.

Office space is an important part of any business.  It's how you attract new hires, it helps you create a company culture, and oh yeah, it's where your team is going to come up with your next big breakthrough.  The pandemic has dramatically changed the office concept, but in this episode we're going to talk about how to create an in-person office experience that your team will love.