Virtuosity

I interviewed Ethan Austin, founder of Outside VC, former Managing Director of Techstar's Western Union Accelerator, and co-founder of GiveForward. At Outside VC, Ethan invests in fintech and web 3 startups building fintech for the 99% and led by founders who are outsiders of the traditional venture capital ecosystem. At GiveForward, Ethan pioneered the medical crowdfunding industry as co-founder, one of the industry's first crowdfunding platforms. GiveForward raised 7 million from tier 1 VCs, processed 200M on the platform, saved an estimated 10k lives and was acquired in 2017 by GoFundMe.

In this episode, we talk about: 

0:00-1:10: intro

1:10- 3:54: user acquisition during bootstrapping

3:54 - 6:38: maintaining motivation after a year of little to no revenue

6:38- 8:30: user acquisition after hitting some scale and raising capital

8:31-10:38:  how GiveForward navigated user churn by creating scalable network effects in non traditional networks

10:38- 13:22: the future of fintech: tapping into underserved market segments (e.g Square, and Stripe)

13:22-15:50: managing and thinking through risk profiles in traditionally underserved segments in consumer fintech

15:48 - end: why and how fintech will replace existing financial infrastructure (e.g banking) 

I interviewed Billy Samoa Saleebey (award-winning filmmaker and former Tesla Exec) who sits down with the world’s most remarkable people (world changers, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders) to uncover their life-changing insights on the Insight Out Podcast.  In this episode, we talk about: 

0:00- 2:12

What it was like working Elon Musk: his security detail and event planning 

2:12-5:18

What makes Elon Musk so successful: first principles thinking and asking the right questions

5:18-7:10

why Billy started podcasting, and how being a sales director translated into podcasting

7:10 - 9:45

How Billy brought on world class guests, and the value proposition of podcasting

9:45 - 13:01

Billy’s principles for creating great podcast content: leveraging emotion, peaks, deep preparation, and flexibility

13:01 -  15:44

Favorite Insights: debunking commonly held beliefs, thinking in versions, and assuming positive intent

15:44 - 18:41

Billy’s award winning film, creating an atmosphere for success and nailing details

18:41- 20:14

Why you don’t need to niche down to be successful, and why you need to launch early

20:15 - end

Billy’s advice to take advantage of every moment in life:

I interviewed Chris Orlob, formerly Director of Sales and Go-to-Market for new products at Gong. Today, Chris is building a stealth start up designed to address problems in the hiring process in sales.

Chris specializes in scaling SaaS startups into IPO-able unicorns toward 1B ARR in a clearly defined, and two part framework. First, Chris grows the company from 0-100 million by building demand via thought leadership, sourcing and training A+ sales talent, and building a scalable and repeatable sales process that can run autonomously. Second, Chris implements new growth vectors by helping companies go-multi product and build multiple 100M+ ARR businesses, head up market and close 7-8 figure deals, and increase net dollar retention to enter the upper quartile of SaaS companies.

In this episode, we talk about: 

0:00-1:06: intro

1:06- 3:55: Crafting thought leadership campaigns at the early stages:  optimizing market selection and common mistakes

3:55-5:29: Chris’ initial thoughts on creating  markets that typically don’t consume thought leadership

5:29-8:45: when sales processes should start to become scalable, and how to begin to build scalable systems by defining exit criteria

8:45 - 11:10: Common mistakes in building systems around exit criteria: ignoring pain driven selling

11:10- 13:00: how to help reps transition to pain driven selling: eliminating ambiguity

13:00-15:05: how companies should about ambiguity in the sales for reps across stages of growth

15:05- 17:28: how thought leadership and content should shift as companies scale

17:28- End: transitioning to growth: when to launch new products, what it looks like to transition to the enterprise and go up market

I interviewed Tejaswi (Teja) Gautam, VP of Consumer Platforms at InMobi, a unicorn start up that enables brands, developers and publishers to engage consumers through contextual mobile advertising. Unlike most people building products, Teja does not have a degree in computer science. He started out by failing programming classes in college, and his first job after college was on a factory floor. After working in sales and operations at other companies, Teja worked his way up to being the Head of Delivery in North America at InMobi and eventually transitioned to building products. Now, Teja is building an innovative future of work community, #1 rated substack page for his category (future of work), and novel tools to support his community.

In this episode, we talk about: 

- how Teja went from flunking programming courses to building products at InMobi (0:00-12:30) 

- how Teja stays motivated and how he thinks about succeeding in high risk, 0 to 1 situations (12:30-16:10) 

- what Teja thinks may have carry over for founders (16:10-19:12)

-the future of work: what's not working, and what role DAOs can play in fixing broken processes (19:12-end) 

Check out Teja's substack (which is #1 on the future of work category) here: Future of Work, Future of You | Tejaswi Gautam | Substack

disclaimer: Teja is only sharing his personal views which do not neccesarily reflect those of InMobi. 

I interviewed Alex Johnson, creator of the fintech takes newsletter and podcast which is a subsidiary publication of Workweek. Workweek is a media company with a 10-million-dollar venture capital arm managed by its creators. Prior to becoming a full-time content creator, Alex experienced almost every single side of the industry in major enterprises, and smaller companies. Alex, for example, was formerly the Director of Fintech Research at Cornerstone Advisors, and prior to Cornerstone, Director of Portfolio Marketing at FICO.

In this episode, we talk about:

- the fintech bloodbath and how companies like Robinhood can navigate the crisis 2:42-5:52

- innovations in fintech that can provide sustainable value during the downturn 5:52-8:51

-what sector of fintech startups Alex would work for, and why 8:51- 11:58 

- how Alex would hack getting smart on Fintech as junior VC or founder 11:58-14:22

- common mistakes in building and maintaining motivation 14:22 -end

Landon is the host of a top rated business podcast called InTheir20s where he interviews influential business leaders and extraordinary 20-somethings to talk about their 20s.

Currently, Landon is a Chicago GM at Drive Capital, a venture capital firm with 1+ billion AUM. Formerly, Landon was an executive at Inside, a media company that produces value-driven newsletters, events, and podcasts for over 250,000 business leaders, founders, and entrepreneurs. Investors include Elon Musk, Mark Cuban, and Sequoia Capital. Inside was founded by Angel Investor Jason Calacanis.

time stamps:

0:00-1:35

Day 0 of InTheir20s

1:36-3:55

Guest acquisition, and phases of InTheir20s (0 to 1 and growth)

3:56- 5:44

what motivated Landon building from day 0 to 1

5:44- 7:36 

Common Threads / Insights from guests of InTheir20s

7:36- 9:50 

Figuring out your 20s, finding direction and your passions

9:50- 10:27

What’s fun about the hard days for Landon

10:50 - end

What’s most important for founders, and venture capitalists

I interviewed Jonathan Aberman. Jonathan is a highly respected and valued thought leader on entrepreneurship and innovation. He is a Managing Director at Amplifier Ventures, a seed and early stage venture capital fund specializing in high technology resulting from government investments, partner at Ruxton Ventures, Dean of Marymount's School of Business and Technology, host of What's Working in Washington, a podcast and weekly radio show on Federal News Network’s WFED (AM 1500) examining innovation in one of the least understood business communities in the country, and former columnist on innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development for the Washington Business Journal.

Jonathan has unique expertise in the melding of national security and entrepreneurship with technology commercialization, and has worked on this issue with a broad range of national security agencies and universities on these matters, including DOD Laboratory establishment, DARPA, the Air Force, the Army, the Department of Homeland Security, George Mason University and the University of Maryland, at College Park. His activities regarding entrepreneurship and national security resulted in the formation of Tandem National Security Innovations, a national innovation community that has helped national security entities such as DARPA, DHS, SOCOM, and JSOC, and others locate and engage with nontraditional sources of innovation.

He was referred to in Forbes Magazine as the “unsung hero” of the attraction of Amazon HQ2 to the Greater Washington region. He is often quoted in national publications including Axios, Bloomberg, CNN, Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He is also an active and regular participant on panels involving innovation, entrepreneurship and technology as well as a keynote speaker at similar events.

Timestamps: 

0:00-1:11: Introduction 

1:12-3:25: Consulting with organizations like DARPA 

3:25-7:32: Insight into innovation clusters, defense technology, and building a career in venture capital 

7:32-9:57: emerging AI technology, innovations in healthcare, and a new way to map government organizations 

9:57-13:58: how commercializing government technology from instutions like DARPA works 

13:58-17:56: how Joanthan and Ruxton Ventures support entreprenuers commercializing government technology 

17:56-21:5: Jonathan's radio shows, and writings for the Washington post, including highlights from Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Stanley Mcchrystal

(highlights from 19:25-21:50) 

21:54-23:00: Producing High Quality Journalism 

23:10- End: tips for young professionals, or anyone who wants to get smarter 

Today, I interviewed Shaun Gold. As Microsoft pointed out in MSN when they featured his content venture called YouTopian Journey, Shaun is the true definition of a polymath.

He is a lifelong entrepreneur, best-selling author, international speaker, advisor and super connector to start-ups and standouts, Jeopardy contestant, and screenwriter.

Formerly known as “the nightlife Ninja,” Shaun has been recognized for his non-traditional strategies to promote and enhance nightlife, superstar performances, media events, and luxury product launches with major brands and companies.

As a super connector with a large and varied network, he collaborates with everything from publicly traded companies to startups in order to help develop and amplify deeply engaging products and services that resonate with a new generation of consumer.

In this 40’ episode, Shaun and I talk about building companies from 0 to 1, maintaining motivation and responding to failure, some of his most impressive failures including losing on Jeopardy, and how he thinks about building and iterating through new products along with advice for founders, GPs, young people, and anyone who wants to build something new.

Some rough time stamps:

0:00-12:00 – what it’s like building 0 to 1, maintaining motivation and responding to failure as a founder

13:26-17:37 – some of Shaun’s most impressive failures like losing live on Jeopardy

20:00- end – how Shaun thinks about entering new industries, and tips for founders, young people, or anyone who wants to build something new

If you'd like to learn more about how you can work with Shaun, connect with him on LinkedIn here: Shaun Gold | LinkedIn

Today, I interviewed Shamus Madan, the 16-year-old host of the MBIT Podcast. The MBIT podcast is in the top 2% of podcasts globally and was just featured on Business Insider. Today it has 2,000+ listeners with 3 million+ social Impressions/Year. And just 18 months ago, the MBIT Podcast had only 8 listeners.

Shamus’ guests include a rolodex of absolute legends like Mark Cuban and Tim Draper just to name a couple.

Shamus and I talk about:

-       Building MBIT from 0 to 1, and scaling to new heights (0:00-9:22)

-       Insights from guests such as Mark Cuban and Timothy Draper (9:22- 13:09)

-       Creating and distributing content tailored for a Gen Z audience at scale (13:09- end)

I spoke to Cameron Porter, Founder & Managing Partner of Sophon Ventures and former Head of Crypto at AlleyCorp, a venture studio responsible for founding companies like MongoDB and Business Insider. Prior to AlleyCorp, Cameron was a professional athlete with Major League Soccer (MLS) and studied Computer Science at Princeton.

As always, if you want to get involved with the show, reach out to me on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/neil-feldman-92877a19a, or by email at [email protected]