The Startup Ideas Podcast

Today Greg is answering burning questions from the audience. 

►►Subscribe to Greg's weekly newsletter for insights on community,
creators and commerce.You'll also find out when new and exclusive
episodes come out from Where it Happens. And it's totally free.

https://latecheckout.substack.com

FIND ME ON SOCIAL:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg
Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@gregisenberg

LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Production Team:
https://www.bigoceanpodcasting.com/

Today Greg is joined by DTC marketing legend Nik Sharma. In this episode, Nik and I look at the best and worst DTC brands on the internet. 

►►Subscribe to Greg's weekly newsletter for insights on community,
creators and commerce.You'll also find out when new and exclusive
episodes come out from Where it Happens. And it's totally free.

https://latecheckout.substack.com

FIND ME ON SOCIAL:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg
Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@gregisenberg

LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Production Team:
https://www.bigoceanpodcasting.com
Nik Sharma:
https://www.nik.co/
https://twitter.com/mrsharma

SHOW NOTES:
0:00 - Intro
6:17 - What The Honest Company is getting wrong
10:25 - A DTC brand that is getting it right (Cadence)
29:37 - Nik's favorite creator-led DTC brand (Rare Beauty)

Today Greg is joined by Harley Finkelstein, the President of Shopify. In this episode, Greg and Harley talk about growing up in a predominantly immigrant neighborhood in Canada, getting mentors and finding joie de vivre.

►►Subscribe to Greg's weekly newsletter for insights on community,
creators and commerce.You'll also find out when new and exclusive
episodes come out from Where it Happens. And it's totally free.

https://latecheckout.substack.com

FIND ME ON SOCIAL:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg
Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@gregisenberg

LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Production Team:
https://www.bigoceanpodcasting.com
Harley Finkelstein:
https://www.shopify.com/
https://twitter.com/harleyf

SHOW NOTES:
0:00 - Intro
5:49 - Growing up in Montreal as a Jewish Canadian
10:56 - Finding peers that inspire you
18:29 - The benefits of non-obvious mentors
26:06 - How to DM your heroes

Today Greg is joined by JT Barnett, a digital creator and founder of BarnettX and CreatorX, where he helps SMBs and Fortune 500 companies create content. In this episode, Greg and JT talk about viral growth versus slow growth, tools and workflows, and creators you should be following. 

►►Subscribe to Greg's weekly newsletter for insights on community,
creators and commerce.You'll also find out when new and exclusive
episodes come out from Where it Happens. And it's totally free.

https://latecheckout.substack.com

FIND ME ON SOCIAL:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg
Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@gregisenberg

LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Production Team:
https://www.bigoceanpodcasting.com
JT Barnett:
https://barnettx.com/jt
https://www.tiktok.com/@jtbarnett

SHOW NOTES:
0:00 - Intro
0:47 - TikTok trends vs TikTok storytelling
5:26 - How to think about branding
19:23 - Creators to watch
28:04 - Tools and workflows for short-form content
35:11 - JT's favorite creators and why

Today Greg is joined by Dave Rogenmoser. Dave is the co-founder of Jasper, a Y Combinator-backed, generative AI platform for business that helps teams create content 10X faster. In this episode, Greg and Dave talk about why AI isn't enough to be a business on its own. You still have to talk to customers, find a niche, and solve a problem. Find out how in this episode. 

►►Subscribe to Greg's weekly newsletter for insights on community,
creators and commerce.You'll also find out when new and exclusive
episodes come out from Where it Happens. And it's totally free.

https://latecheckout.substack.com

FIND ME ON SOCIAL:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg
Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@gregisenberg

LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Production Team:
https://www.bigoceanpodcasting.com
Dave Rogenmoser:
https://twitter.com/daverogenmoser
https://www.jasper.ai

SHOW NOTES:
0:00 - Intro
2:34 - Should founders be paying attention to noise on Product Hunt, Twitter, etc?
15:26 - How to get started using AI tools
25:49 - Non-obvious niches to apply AI-first products
32:55 - Dave takes questions from the community

Today Greg is joined by Jackson Greathouse Fall, a designer and the creator of HustleGPT, an entrepreneurial AI. In this episode, Greg and Jackson talk about the tweet that changed Jackson's life overnight. And how to turn a 24-hour viral moment into a lifelong mission. 

►►Subscribe to Greg's weekly newsletter for insights on community,
creators and commerce.You'll also find out when new and exclusive
episodes come out from Where it Happens. And it's totally free.

https://latecheckout.substack.com

FIND ME ON SOCIAL:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg
Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@gregisenberg

LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Production Team:
https://www.bigoceanpodcasting.com
Jackson Greathouse Fall:
https://twitter.com/jacksonfall

SHOW NOTES:
0:00 - Intro
6:37 - Why this experiment went viral
12:06 - Current limitations to ChatGPT
22:17 - Making the most of a viral moment

Today Greg is joined by David Spinks, the founder of CMX and author of The Business of Belonging: How to Make Community Your Competitive Advantage. In this episode, Greg and David talk about sabbaticals, bots as community managers, and having a personal board of advisors.

►►Subscribe to Greg's weekly newsletter for insights on community,
creators and commerce.You'll also find out when new and exclusive
episodes come out from Where it Happens. And it's totally free.

https://latecheckout.substack.com

FIND ME ON SOCIAL:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg
Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@gregisenberg

LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Production Team:
https://www.bigoceanpodcasting.com
David Spinks:
https://davidspinks.com
https://twitter.com/DavidSpinks

SHOW NOTES:
0:00 - Intro
0:50 - Sabbaticals: Why you should take one
7:55 - AI community managers
23:55 - Ethics around bots in communities
31:30 - What's next for David Spinks
34:50 - Advice from Seth Godin, Ryan Hoover, Scott Heiferman and others (sort of)

Today Greg is joined by Trung Phan. Trung is the co-host of the Not Investment Advice podcast and writes the SatPost newsletter. He was formerly the lead writer for the Hustle. In this episode, Greg and Trung talk about working at The Hustle, owning your distribution, and how to get the most out of ChatGPT.

►►Subscribe to Greg's weekly newsletter for insights on community,
creators and commerce.You'll also find out when new and exclusive
episodes come out from Where it Happens. And it's totally free.

https://latecheckout.substack.com

FIND ME ON SOCIAL:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg
Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@gregisenberg

LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Production Team:
https://www.bigoceanpodcasting.com
Trung Phan:
https://bearly.ai/
https://twitter.com/TrungTPhan

SHOW NOTES:
0:00 - Intro
7:45 - Meet Trung Phan
14:50 - How Greg sold 5by to StumbleUpon
24:17 - Why you need a through line in your work/life
28:15 - The story behind Bearly.ai
35:30 - Competition vs. opportunity in AI
41:58 - How Greg used ChatGPT to get paid $109K
49:30 - Should TikTok be banned?

Today Greg is joined by Josh Dorkin, the founder of Bigger Pockets, a community helping millions of members learn how to invest in real estate. In this episode, Greg and Josh talk about Josh's (sometimes) cautionary tale about the grind of building a community out of nothing.

►►Subscribe to Greg's weekly newsletter for insights on community,
creators and commerce.You'll also find out when new and exclusive
episodes come out from Where it Happens. And it's totally free.

https://latecheckout.substack.com

FIND ME ON SOCIAL:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg
Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@gregisenberg

LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Production Team:
https://www.bigoceanpodcasting.com
Josh Dorkin:
https://www.biggerpockets.com/
https://twitter.com/jrdorkin

SHOW NOTES
0:00 - Intro
1:00 - The story behind Bigger Pockets
12:40 - Building an audience vs. Building a community
15:45 - Biggest challenges of running a community
18:18 - Protecting your brand
23:00 - Responsible monetization
28:44 - Creating products
32:57 - You don't need to be an expert
41:32 - Stop comparing 
47:47 - Josh's cautionary tale

Today Greg is joined by April MacLean, Late Checkout's community designer and fountain of wisdom on all things community. In this episode, Greg and April talk about 3 community-based products that have it figured out.

►►Subscribe to Greg's weekly newsletter for insights on community,
creators and commerce.You'll also find out when new and exclusive
episodes come out from Where it Happens. And it's totally free.

https://latecheckout.substack.com

FIND ME ON SOCIAL:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg
Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@gregisenberg

LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Production Team:
https://www.bigoceanpodcasting.com
April MacLean:
https://www.aprilmaclean.com/
https://twitter.com/mizmaclean

SHOW NOTES
0:00 - Intro
2:00 - Building a product community for nerds: Lomography
10:33 - Building a community-first product: View from My Window
13:14 - Facebook Groups. Yes or No?
31:10 - Community as the product: Common House
42:42 - Communities of practice