Founder's Journal

Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) talks about EOS, an operating system for running & scaling your business successfully. In 2019, Morning Brew used EOS to scale the business from 15 people and $3 million in revenue to 300 people and $75 million in revenue. Michael Girdley is an entrepreneur and content creator who has a holding company of 12 businesses that do $100m in annual revenue. Michael is an EOS expert, having read Traction (which is the Bible of EOS dozens of times) and applied EOS to all of his portfolio companies. By the end of this episode you’ll understand how EOS works, have tools to apply it to your business, and understand if it’s a framework you want to understand more deeply. Links: Traction by Gino Wickman: https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Get-Grip-Your-Business/dp/1936661837 EOS Tools: https://www.eosworldwide.com/eos-tools — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) takes you through an exercise to recalibrate and focus on his zone of genius. The zone of genius is work that you do that brings out the best version of yourself. Follow this super easy, super quick 3-step process to find your own zone of genius. — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s read is by one of my favorite startup creators, Lenny Rachitsky. The essay, How To Kickstart & Scale a Consumer Business, breaks down the seven proven strategies to acquire your first 1,000 users as a B2C startup. I’m going to read through each of the strategies, share some examples that Lenny provides, and provide some of my own thoughts on early growth. Original essay: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/consumer-business-find-first-users — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1995, Charlie Munger gave a speech called the Psychology of Human Misjudgment, which contains 25 psychological tendencies by humans that can lead to bad decision making & bad outcomes. Today, Alex shares his 13 favorite & provide examples of how they impact your abilities and success as an entrepreneur. Link to the original speech: https://fs.blog/great-talks/psychology-human-misjudgment/ Link to Poor Charlie’s Almanack: https://www.amazon.com/Poor-Charlies-Almanack-Charles-Expanded/dp/1578645018 — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Founder’s Journal, I teach you how to crush a quarterly meeting. V/TO: https://www.eosworldwide.com/blog/whats-in-your-v-to Rocks 101: https://www.eosworldwide.com/blog/creating-the-best-rocks — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I share my experiences with imposter syndrome and some techniques I use to cope with it. — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let’s face it…most meetings suck. Even when they’re set up with all the best intentions, they often end up being a waste of everyone’s time. So what can be done? Alex Lieberman has 7 important lessons to keep your meetings under control. By incorporating these lessons, you’ll know when a meeting is needed or not (Hint: most of the time, it’s not). — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex hands the mic to Josh Reeves, co-founder & CEO of Gusto. Josh walks us through major milestones in the first 12 months of building a multibillion dollar people platform. — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex does a Founder's Journal variety show, covering some of his favorite topics from the week: - Building one company vs. many - The power of channel partnerships - Pet psychics exist? - AI audio business idea - Great product thinking — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex talks about raising a preseed round for Distro & some takeaways from the process thus far. — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex talks about his startup heroes and why they've changed over time. — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex tells the story of a wrecking ball he recently hired. What a wrecking ball is, why they're so valuable, and what it looks like in practice. — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex shares his thoughts on quitting your business & how he thought about it while building Morning Brew. — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex takes you through his 7 tips for pitching early stage investors on a preseed round. — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex talks about why agencies are underrated especially in the age of AI. He shares why agencies are considered unsexy (relative to software businesses) & why that's about to change. — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex walks you through his new, 5-step process for interviewing potential employees & how he's using AI to improve his approach. — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex breaks down the different levels of motivation for entrepreneurs. He shares what motivated him early in his journey (while building Morning Brew) and what motivates him today. — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex walks you through his process for building an employee influencer program. — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex breaks down seedstrapping. What it is, why it's in vogue, what the internet thinks, and how you should think about it in the context of your business. — Show Notes: (0:00) A note from our sponsor (4:26) Intro to seedstrapping (6:20) Why seedstrapping is in vogue (9:15) Founder take on seedstrapping (12:40) VCs views on seedstrapping (14:00) My take on seedstrapping — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Show links: • HackerNews on seedstrapping: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36508471 • VC on seedstrapping: https://x.com/nikunj/status/1908155930690359437 • Josh Payne Linkedin post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jnpayne_when-i-started-my-first-company-in-2011-activity-7292920969323503617-JJKk?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAuMh6ABe5yrIF2I6gDHnZ3Fpixhetg9Rfg • Zapier CEO interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ36aQDjcC4&t=906s&pp=ygUSd2FkZSBmb3N0ZXIgemFwaWVy0gcJCYQJAYcqIYzv Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex pitches you on Codex, his AI prompt database idea. He gives you the elevator pitch & likely questions a venture investor would have. — Show Notes: (0:00) A note from our sponsor (2:28) Welcome back to Founder’s Journal (4:00) What is Codex? (4:20) Two truths in prompting (6:05) Elevator pitch (8:50) Biggest investor questions (13:05) Conclusion — Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Gusto. Head to www.gusto.com/alex — Check Out Alex’s Stuff: • storyarb - https://www.storyarb.com/ • growthpair - https://www.growthpair.com/ • distro - https://youdistro.com/ • X - https://x.com/businessbarista • Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-lieberman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices