Just Go Grind

Krish Subramanian is the Co-Founder and CEO of Chargebee, a recurring billing and subscription management tool that helps SaaS and SaaS-like businesses streamline Revenue Operations. Chargebee integrates with the leading payment gateways like Stripe, Braintree, PayPal etc. around the world to let you automate recurring payment collection along with invoicing, taxes, accounting, email notifications, SaaS Metrics and customer management. Chargebee handles all your crucial workflows from lead to ledger with power-packed integrations that include Salesforce, Xero, Quickbooks, Avalara, Slack, among others. Some of the Topics Covered by Krish Subramanian in this Episode What Chargebee is and how Krish and his co-founders prepared to start the business Bootstrapping Chargebee in the beginning The framework they used to get Chargebee's first users How the business changed after raising capital and the "wandering phase" of finding their ideal customer Krish's advice for finding your ideal customers efficiently Realizing they were actually competing against homegrown solutions, not actual competitors How their pricing has evolved over time How to approach expanding features and improving the value of your product Which metrics to pay attention to How customer acquisition has evolved with the business Why Chargebee focuses on inbound sales Raising $105M in VC and Krish's advice for fundraising What problems Krish is trying to solve today as CEO of Chargebee Navigating the shift to remote work Some of Krish's recent reads How Krish recharges within the business Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Nicole Clark is the Co-Founder and CEO of Trellis, a state trial court legal research and analytics platform with AI-based insights on judges, opposing counsel, motions, dockets, and legal issues. They make state trial court data searchable and analyze it to give law firms insights into the way judges are ruling. Legal teams are able to "Google" search state trial court records and uncover key intelligence on opposing counsel, motions, rulings, dockets and other legal issues. Prior to founding Trellis, Nicole Clark was a business litigation and labor and employment attorney who handled litigation in both state and federal courts. She regularly represented multinational corporations in claims ranging from high-profile trade secret disputes to complex class-action litigation. Frustrated by sending internal emails and collecting anecdotes on judges in order to make strategic case recommendations, she built Trellis to solve her own need for access to data, information, and analytics at the state trial court level. Prior to law school, Nicole attended Bard College, beginning her college coursework at the age of sixteen. She graduated with honors from University of Massachusetts Amherst with a BA in Journalism, and received her Juris Doctorate from Rutgers School of Law in Newark, NJ. Nicole sat for the Bar Exam in California, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, and remains licensed to practice law in all three states. Some of the Topics Covered by Nicole Clark in this Episode What Trellis is Nicole's background as a litigator and the pain point that led to her start Trellis From validating the idea by using the tool as a litigator to building it into a company and eventually going full time with Trellis Deciding on and going through the Techstars accelerator Jumping directly from her law career into the new venture and accelerator Fundraising, from a friends and family round to closing a seed round and how the company evolved during the process How Nicole flipped her mindset around the friends and family round What keeps Nicole going through the "no"s of fundraising The importance of building a good team and how Nicole went about it for Trellis The evolution of the business model for Trellis Leveraging SEO and creating a freemium product Allocating resources to content creation and creating evergreen content How Nicole approaches expanding into new markets and how the service functions today The future of Trellis How Nicole views the competition How Nicole structures her days Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Joe Mahavuthivanij is the Co-Founder and CEO of Mythic Markets, an investing platform enabling anyone to buy, sell and trade fractional shares in alternative assets with enormous fandoms. Starting with pop culture collectibles, they are securitizing vintage comic books and collectible cards, allowing fans to invest in the things they love. Mythic Markets is a venture-backed startup based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Their team first met in San Diego, California, and since then have worked at places like Apple, Fandom, Google and Uber. Some of the Topics Covered by Joe Mahavuthivanij in this Episode What Mythic Markets is and how Joe started it Leaving investing to start his own company Building the team for Mythic Markets Navigating COVID and going remote Determining which products to put on Mythic Markets The future for this marketplace of alternative of investments The roles of evolving entertainment and escapism, especially during COVID Raising the Series Seed for Mythic Markets and their plans for a Series A How they approached going to market How they curate and price items for Mythic Markets Mythic Market's business model and their plans for the future to become a "Robinhood Gold" What has fueled growth for Mythic Markets What Joe finds really exciting about this work How Joe manages his time and how COVID has affected his work How Joe is navigating these challenging times Joe's podcast recommendations Being an investor vs. being a founder What Joe looks for in an investor The big picture for Mythic Markets: being the stock market for all kinds of fandoms Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Josh Snow is the Founder and CEO of Snow, a direct to consumer (DTC) leader in oral care and oral cosmetics. Snow produces premium oral care products including patent pending teeth whitening systems, premium floss, anti-aging lip care products, and more. The perfect storm of beauty, technology, and oral care. Snow® is proud to have over 1 million fans, and customers in 175+ countries around the world. Their videos have gone viral with over one billion views cumulatively. Snow has been featured on The Doctors, Wendy Williams, The Kelly Clarkson Show, VOGUE, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, InStyle, WebMD, Harvard Medical, and more, and is a top selling brand on Target.com, in Best Buy, Neiman Marcus, Bed Bath and Beyond and is now the most popular oral cosmetics brand on Instagram. In May of 2020, a Snow product was sold every 29 seconds. Some of the Topics Covered by Josh Snow in this Episode What Snow is How Josh became an entrepreneur at the age of 13 Josh's background in web developing, marketing and advertising How Josh developed the idea for Snow Disrupting the oral care industry Snow's MVP Developing a product in an area outside of your expertise Snow's go to market strategy Bootstrapping Snow and deciding to be a customer-funded business What has fueled growth for Snow Diversifying channels beyond Facebook and Instagram ads Influencer marketing Building a modern household name Being transparent and harnessing the power of your customers and followers Why Josh decided to become Josh Snow and the impact it had Josh's advice for building a brand Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Javier Marriott and Ruth Stedman Marriott are co-founders of A Pup Above, a company committed to changing dog food for good by using fresh real ingredients that dog parents can trace back to the source farm-to-bowl. On average, they deliver +70% more protein than other fresh dog food products in retail & online. Tired of not knowing what was really in their dog Lola's bowl, Ruth and Javier set out to make it effortless to know what's in your pup's bowl and to feel good knowing you're providing them a food that's both healthy and delicious. Their fresh pup meals are gently cooked sous-vide to deliver exceptional flavor, more nutrients and more protein in every bite. All of their ingredients are 100% human-grade and their packaging is 100% recyclable. About Our Partner This episode is brought to you Varia Search. Varia Search is a boutique legal recruiting firm that uses a bespoke approach to fill legal department roles from general counsel to paralegal. They have a particular focus on startups and growing tech companies. They are a boutique firm which allows them to provide individualized, in-depth attention to both their clients and to their searches. They focus solely on placing in-house candidates which allows them to give their clients a bespoke experience in filling their legal needs. Their matchmaking approach ensures that clients are paired with candidates who not only have great credentials but who are also a good cultural fit for a growing company. Learn more at variasearch.com. Some of the Topics Covered by Javier and Ruth in this Episode What A Pup Above is, and how Javier and Ruth's dog Lola inspired the company The gap they found in the dog food market The first steps Javier and Ruth took to start the company The sous vide cooking style and its benefits Finding a vet nutritionist to work with How they approached early customer acquisition, feedback and growth for A Pup Above Making the switch from a commercial kitchen to a USDA human-grade food production facility How they got into retail by starting local and eventually expanded Selling in retail stores versus online The challenges they've faced in scaling the business How they view competition and what sets A Pup Above apart How their product has evolved over the years How they handle the challenge of forecasting inventory How they've approached pricing as a premium product What has helped them grow as entrepreneurs The experience of co-founding a business with your spouse The decision to bootstrap A Pup Above Their advice for entrepreneurs Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Bryan Clayton is the Co-Founder and CEO of GreenPal, an online marketplace that connects homeowners with local lawn care professionals. GreenPal has been called the "Uber for lawn care" by Entrepreneur magazine and has over 100,000 active users completing thousands of transactions per day. Before starting GreenPal, Bryan Clayton founded Peachtree Inc., one of the largest landscaping companies in the state of Tennessee, growing it to over $10 million a year in annual revenue before it was acquired by Lusa holdings in 2013. Bryan's interest and expertise are related to entrepreneurism, small business growth, marketing, and bootstrapping businesses from zero revenue to profitability and exit. Some of the Topics Covered by Bryan Clayton in this Episode What GreenPal is and how Bryan started it How Bryan went from a high schooler mowing neighbors' lawns to building one of the largest landscaping companies in Tennessee, with over 150 employees and making $10M in revenue What brought Bryan out of retirement and how he came up with the idea for GreenPal Outsourcing the tech for the first version of GreenPal How Bryan connected with his co-founders and his advice on choosing a co-founder The myth of a work-life balance early on in starting your business How they taught themselves to build software The importance of making time to invest in yourself The importance of innovating around growth and distribution, not just product development, and how Bryan has fueled growth for GreenPal How Bryan decided to go all-in on organic search as a marketing strategy Ben Horowitz's advice of firing bullets then cannonballs Reid Hoffman's advice to double down on what's working Bryan's approach to creating content, the different types and purposes of diverse content and their role in a robust SEO strategy Why Bryan doesn't outsource content creation GreenPal's marketplace business model Why Bryan is passionate about GreenPal and who he sees as his true customer How they're avoiding platform disintermediation How Bryan has approached expanding markets and why it was slow to build momentum How they vet providers and why they prioritize reliability How bootstrapping has influenced decision-making and balancing long term vision and short term execution Asking "why" 5 times Why Bryan decided to bootstrap GreenPal and why he thinks self-funding is part of why they've survived as a business Bryan's advice on how to prepare for starting a business that requires a lot of capital How Bryan and his co-founders side-hustled to bridge the gap between their lack of technical knowledge and gaining the skills necessary to run a SaaS company Bryan's book recommendations How signing up for a marathon gave Bryan business insight and also enabled him to find a better work-life balance Bryan's advice for living a good life and how to apply it to your business Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Max Rofagha is the Founder and CEO of Finimize, the world's largest and most engaged finance community. Max previously co-founded one of the largest ecommerce players in Switzerland, which he sold with 200 employees to the largest Swiss media house. He was a Forbes 30 under 30 in 2016, and is a mentor at Techstars. Finimize is financial news for everyday people. They strive to demystify finance by making financial news easy to understand, succinct and relevant to their readers. By enhancing financial literacy, they're helping the Millennial generation make more informed decisions when it comes to their own money. The content on Finimize is produced by industry experts who previously worked at Barclays, Bloomberg and Forbes. Some of the Topics Covered by Max Rofagha in this Episode What Finimize is and how Max was inspired to found it The genesis moment and mission of Finimize How Max utilized email, blogs and personally reaching out to university students to expand Finimize's reach from friends and family to their first 10,000 users The evolution of Finimize from a newsletter to the app and what it is today How Finimize built their community organically Finimize's business model and how they prioritize revenue streams How Max has approached content creation for Finimize The importance of clearly defining your value proposition and core customers How Max defines community How they facilitate interaction and meaningful learning within the Finimize community How the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Finimize and the community they've developed How going virtual opened opportunities for the Finimize community What the post-COVID hybrid in-person and virtual interactions may look like What Finimize's community host playbook consists of How they've fueled growth for Finimize Why they decided to start using paid marketing How Finimize has been able to scale their user base through paid acquisition Finimize's referral program The lessons Max learned from running an e-commerce business before Finimize The importance of clearly-defining company culture How Max recharges and why it's so valuable Max's book recommendations Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Robert Krayn is the Co-Founder and CEO of Talkiatry, a company working to change the fact that mental health experiences are often intimidating and complicated for people who need help. Talkiatry makes finding and visiting a qualified professional simple. By combining technology with accessibility and comfort for patients and providers, they achieve the depth of a fully featured psychiatry and therapy network while having the immediacy of a clinic. Prior to the founding of Talkiatry, Robert was Vice President at MidOcean Partners, where he spent 5 years as a senior analyst. He oversaw a $300M portfolio of high yield bonds, equities, and derivatives in the consumer, retail healthcare and other sectors. His experience and understanding of these sectors helped him develop the proprietary business model for Talkiatry. Before joining MidOcean, he was an analyst at Guggenheim Partners in their Mergers & Acquisitions Group in New York as well as a credit analyst at the Bank of New York Mellon. Robert graduated Summa Cum Laude from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Science in Finance. Robert's passion for mental healthcare stems from personal experience. In December of 2016, just days before Christmas, he was assaulted by a neighbor during a home invasion in the New York apartment he shared with his fiancé. Struggling with feeling comfortable in his own home, he began seeking mental healthcare. The journey to get appropriate help only compounded the problem as he was forced to see a cash-pay out-of-network provider with a lengthy waitlist. Arriving at the basement-level psychiatrist's office, he was confronted with tape-covered doorbells with hastily scrawled names beneath them and no reception staff, a concept all-too-familiar to New Yorkers. Fast forward to 2019, after having spent over 5 years investing professionally in consumer and retail-health companies for a large asset management firm in New York, Robert decided he wanted his next career move to have an impact. He combined his passion and his previous experience to start a new venture, one that would expand the access and reduce the stigma of mental healthcare - Talkiatry. About Our Partner This episode is brought to you Varia Search. Varia Search is a boutique legal recruiting firm that uses a bespoke approach to fill legal department roles from general counsel to paralegal. They have a particular focus on startups and growing tech companies. They are a boutique firm which allows them to provide individualized, in-depth attention to both their clients and to their searches. They focus solely on placing in-house candidates which allows them to give their clients a bespoke experience in filling their legal needs. Their matchmaking approach ensures that clients are paired with candidates who not only have great credentials but who are also a good cultural fit for a growing company. Learn more at variasearch.com. Some of the Topics Covered by Robert Krayn in this Episode The problem Talkiatry is aimed at solving and how they're doing it The personal experience that prompted Robert to start Talkiatry How Robert approached market research before founding Talkiatry and the barriers he had to tackle How Robert ended up partnering with his co-founder Dr. Georgia Gaveras How Robert approached partnering with major health insurance companies Their strategy for onboarding senior-level psychiatrists Customer acquisition for Talkiatry and focusing on effective patient acquisition How Robert's financial background helped him bootstrap Talkiatry and why they are considering raising capital Robert's transition to becoming a founder How COVID-19 forced Robert and the Talkiatry team to be flexible How Robert invests in himself Robert's decision-making process What kinds of investors Talkiatry is looking to align with How Robert recharges and prioritizes his mental health The big vision for Talkiatry and the stigma and barriers to access they are working to dissolve Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

David Zeff is the Founder and CEO of Whistle, a marketing and sales agency that is designed to help companies acquire customers through setting best practice sales and marketing processes and strategies and deploying lead generation activities through highly qualified sales development representatives as well as via digital marketing channels. With over 10 years of selling technology to hundreds of SMB and Enterprise companies across multiple sectors, David has begun to wrap his head around the art of sales. He has been a part of two exits – one as a founder and the other as a founding team member. He's a people person who loves to connect, lead, share experiences, coach, strategize, and implement. He takes learning seriously and dedicates two hours per week to direct learning. David enjoys writing and sharing ideas and is a recognized thought leader in the SAAS community. He has built and scaled full cycle business units and as an individual contributor, has closed large enterprise deals with over 200 brands such as Coca Cola, The UC System, Hearst, US Legal Support, Globo, CheckPoint, Demandbase, Sisense, Squire Patton Boggs and more. Some of the Topics Covered by David Zeff in this Episode What Whistle is and how David started it David's 10-point "startup blueprint" for determining which ideas to pursue How the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the process of getting Whistle off the ground The current Whistle team and how David has strategically built it out Building a sales development team from scratch and David's tips for hiring SDRs How David tests different sales strategies Being "channel agnostic" and David's advice for channel prioritization How David has approached content development The way the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted how we connect David's advice for in-house hiring versus outsourcing What's next for Whistle Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Christopher Hussain is the Founder and CEO of RealKey, browser based mortgage process facilitator that centralizes and simplifies documentation collection and review to reduce touches with underwriting by getting the right information and data the first time, direct from the source through API integrations and OCR text recognition, while automating review of data through algorithms and text recognition, creating a clean loan submission that reduces time, effort, and frustration for all parties involved. Prior to founding RealKey in 2015, Christopher was the number one Mortgage Originator in the United States from 2010 to 2011 and personally funded over $2 billion in residential loans in all 50 states. A born entrepreneur, in 2013 Christopher also co-founded Sindeo, a San Francisco-based startup that raised $50 million to create a new mortgage experience. As a recognized business and thought leader in the mortgage industry, he has successfully scaled numerous mortgage loan companies. In his current role as CEO and Founder of RealKey, Christopher is leveraging his breadth of industry experience to transform and enable faster, more efficient mortgage loan processing. Christopher spends his free time advising for numerous startups and entrepreneurs on growth hacking, marketing, and operations strategy. He is also a 4th degree instructor in Taekwondo and rare beer collector. Some of the Topics Covered by Christopher Hussain in this Episode What RealKey is and the pain points it's trying to solve Christopher's background in mortgage technology and his entrepreneurial journey How Christopher built, grew, and sold Sindeo Christopher's family challenges that led to him founding RealKey Managing potential conflicts of interest for RealKey How the RealKey team has shifted over time Raising capital for RealKey and Christopher's advice for founders in the process Christopher's experience going through the Batchery incubator How they handled running out of capital in 2017 How and why they decided to pivot RealKey Integrating RealKey into the mortgage tech industry instead of creating friction within it User research and feedback for RealKey and the tools their team uses Their experience so far with The Flagstar MortgageTech Accelerator Program The 3-pronged approach to customer acquisition for RealKey The positive ways the COVID pandemic has changed the way the world does business and how RealKey has leaned into remote culture RealKey's business model and how they determined pricing What Christopher's day-to-day looks like and how he recharges How Christopher invests in himself Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Samara Mejia Hernandez is the Founding Partner at Chingona Ventures, an early-stage venture fund investing in the next generation of badass founders. Samara has over 15 years experience in investing, selling and advising on both public and private markets. She has a background in sales, operations and technology at Goldman Sachs. She was an early-stage investor with MATH Venture Partners and advisor to Angeles, Camino Financial and Chicago Blend. She studied engineering at the University of Michigan, and has her MBA from Northwestern University. Samara is a proud Mexican immigrant and mama to a toddler. About Our Partner This episode is brought to you Varia Search. Varia Search is a boutique legal recruiting firm that uses a bespoke approach to fill legal department roles from general counsel to paralegal. They have a particular focus on startups and growing tech companies. They are a boutique firm which allows them to provide individualized, in-depth attention to both their clients and to their searches. They focus solely on placing in-house candidates which allows them to give their clients a bespoke experience in filling their legal needs. Their matchmaking approach ensures that clients are paired with candidates who not only have great credentials but who are also a good cultural fit for a growing company. Learn more at variasearch.com. Some of the Topics Covered by Samara Mejia Hernandez in this Episode What Chingona Ventures is and how their name aligns with their mission and portfolio How Samara got involved in VC and why she started her own venture fund How Samara found an LP for the fund How Samara deals with imposter syndrome Deciding between starting an angel group and a venture fund How Samara advises different types of investors Being resourceful as a fund manager Building deal flow The role a fund's lifecycle plays in VC How Samara approaches investing geographically Evaluating founder-market fit The importance of value alignment Some of the companies Chingona Ventures has invested in that Samara is passionate and excited about How Samara prioritizes self-care and both her physical and mental health The stigma of therapy, particularly in the Latinx community How Samara views her way of making a difference Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Velocity Group provides top-tier executive coaching to startup founders, venture capitalists, and corporate executives with the goal of building lasting companies that impact the world in positive ways. Velocity helps leaders learn to tackle a range of issues that keep them from scaling even faster. These include building & sustaining high performing teams, hiring more effectively, founder chemistry & communication, leadership style and developing a corporate culture that reliably delivers bottom-line results. Their data-driven approach to coaching, training, and facilitation gives startup founders and corporate executives practical strategies for scaling their organizations. Velocity has 15 coaches in San Francisco, New York, & London who have worked with over 2,000 CEOs and executives at some of the most successful companies in history and at some of most promising start-ups of today. Edward has been coaching and advising start-up founders, Fortune 100 executives, and heads of state for over 15 years. His clients include executives from Google, Salesforce, Slack, and dozens of other fast-growth companies. He holds an MBA from Wharton and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. John Baird is the Chairman of Velocity Group. He has been considered one of the premier executive coaches in Silicon Valley for over 25 years, and built his career coaching in the C-Suite at companies ranging from Apple and Nike to start-ups like DoorDash and MasterClass. He earned a PhD in Organizational Leadership from Purdue University. Some of the Topics Covered by Edward Sullivan and John Baird in this Episode What Velocity is and the intention with which they started it Edward and John's background before Velocity and how they got into executive coaching Guiding founders from building products to building companies The value of authenticity, particularly in leadership How they help their clients understand their own leadership styles How they approach blind spots The danger of false harmony Velocity's 360-degree feedback approach Investor and board management Introverts vs. extroverts Navigating the co-founder relationship Growing Velocity organically John and Edward's upcoming book The Power of Insight How John and Edward invest in themselves Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Zack Teperman is the Founder and President of ZTPR, a full-service public relations agency representing every type of person or business with a passion for what they are doing. Originally from Toronto, Canada, and now based in Los Angeles, California, Zack studied marketing and broadcasting at Seneca College. Upon graduating, Zack turned his talents to becoming an on-air radio disc jockey, working across the country from Miami to Yellowknife to Toronto at such stations as the Fan 590, KISS FM, Y100, and Mix100. After leaving radio, Zack focused his expertise on public relations, helping lead many Canadian and American high-profile PR campaigns for fortune 500 companies, start-up/lifestyle brands, and celebrity talent. After making the move to sunny Hollywood, California, Zack served for years as the Operations Manager and as a Senior Account Executive at Lexicon Public Relations, helping to guide and advise many celebrities and companies to where they are now. With his years of media experience, social media / marketing strategies and his straight-to-the-point attitude, Zack founded ZTPR in 2014 and is bringing his personal touch and results to each client along with his diverse public relations team of hungry go-getters. Some of the Topics Covered by Zack Teperman in this Episode What ZTPR began as and what is has developed into today Why Zack started ZTPR in 2014 How and why Zack got his start in PR How Zack got his first clients From acquiring clients and customer discovery to long-term contracts to crisis management Some ways Zack goes about promoting his different types of clients The relationship-building element of PR and how Zack hustled early on in his PR career Why Zack manages his contacts the old fashioned way--on pen and paper PR 101 according to Zack and his advice for what goes into a good pitch How Zack manages his clients' expectations Growing ZTPR into different markets How Zack has approached building the ZTPR team and what he looks for in an employee How Zack manages his time day-to-day How Zack is trying to find a better work-life balance Zack's advice for outside the box PR How Zack approaches crisis management and avoiding crises to start with What's next for ZTPR Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Chris Hulls is the Co-Founder and CEO of Life360, the world's leading platform for keeping loved ones connected and protected outside the home. Founded in 2008, Life360's mobile app now provides millions of families in over 140 countries with services such as private location sharing, location history, drive details, crash detection, roadside assistance and help alerts through our free and paid membership subscription. Life360 has raised +$200M in funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, DCM, Fontinalis Partners, BMW iVentures, Allstate, Bullpen Capital, Founders Fund (FF Angel), Launch Capital, Kapor Capital, and 500 startups. They are currently publicly listed as 360 on the Australia Stock Exchange (ASX). Chris holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with Highest Honors from the University of California, Berkeley. He was previously an angel investor in or an advisor to a number of technology companies including Tile, Credible, Ring, Automatic, Honk, and Zendrive. He is also an Air Force veteran and served in Afghanistan. About Our Partner This episode is brought to you Varia Search. Varia Search is a boutique legal recruiting firm that uses a bespoke approach to fill legal department roles from general counsel to paralegal. They have a particular focus on startups and growing tech companies. They are a boutique firm which allows them to provide individualized, in-depth attention to both their clients and to their searches. They focus solely on placing in-house candidates which allows them to give their clients a bespoke experience in filling their legal needs. Their matchmaking approach ensures that clients are paired with candidates who not only have great credentials but who are also a good cultural fit for a growing company. Learn more at variasearch.com. Some of the Topics Covered by Chris Hulls in this Episode What Life360 is and the big vision for the company How the idea for Life360 was born and how Chris developed it and pivoted early Chris' lifetime journey in entrepreneurship Early customer acquisition for Life360 The challenges of being the first ever location sharing app How they leveraged a big news story into a growth hack that kickstarted the app's success How Chris and his co-founder navigated the early lack of traction The importance of customer retention From borrowing money from family members to raising a Series A How Chris has approached building and managing the Life360 team How Chris approaches hard conversations and having to let go employees Adapting the business model to create revenue Chris' professional growth and his experience with YPO and an executive coach The decision to go public in Australia and how Chris has leveraged the secondary market What fuels Chris and how he navigates the challenge of work-life balance Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Jack Hughes is the Co-Founder and COO of Syncify, a social podcasting app that is reimagining the digital landscape of connection. Syncify is reversing the current nature of social media. Instead of creating media about ourselves, they encourage connection around media by enabling users to listen together live with friends or easily catch up on the same content and then discuss it. Syncify is a great way to reduce isolation and loneliness and to learn more from what you listen to. Jack and his co-founder Sam Harris formed part of Techstar's London 2020 cohort. Some of the Topics Covered by Jack Hughes in this Episode What the Syncify experience is and the social media problem they're trying to fix How and why Syncify acquired the competition early on Jack's relationship with his co-founder Sam Harris and how they decided to start Syncify Bootstrapping Syncify Their experience applying for and participating in the Techstars accelerator How the COVID-19 pandemic played into the building of Syncify How Jack has approached customer validation, feedback and product-market fit for Syncify Jack and Sam's unique approach to hiring and building the Syncify team The business model and big vision for Syncify Jack's book recommendations Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Ebere Anosike is the Founder and CEO of ThankYouKindly, a company surprising & delighting your employees, clients, prospects & partners with unforgettable gifts on your behalf, sparking tears of joy with each & every one of them. The ThankYouKindly team is made up of a resourceful group of former Customer Success Directors, Sales Strategists, and Account-Based Marketing Enthusiasts who set out to build the service they always wished they had. Ebere identifies herself as scrappy, joyful, and passionate about AI, creating livelihoods & giving unforgettable gifts. Some of the Topics Covered by Ebere Anosike in this Episode What led Ebere to found ThankYouKindly and how she originally tested the idea and got the business off the ground The choice to go full time with ThankYouKindly Ebere's experience with Transparent Collective Ebere's fundraising journey with ThankYouKindly ThankYouKindly's business model and determining pricing How Ebere has approached identifying use cases and customer acquisition How the COVID pandemic affected ThankYouKindly How ThankYouKindly personalizes and sources their gifts Building out the ThankYouKindly team and how Ebere views technology and creativity How Ebere's role as founder and CEO has changed with the growth of the company Ebere's advice for scaling yourself and resources for first time founders Ebere's experience with the On Deck Fellowship Ebere's journey to becoming a founder What's next for ThankYouKindly Ebere's most impactful books Ebere's approach to separating her personal and professional lives Ebere's experience as an underrepresented founder Sign up for The Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Blanca is the co-founder and CEO of BB Imaging & Consulting. Over the course of 15 years, she has cultivated relationships with healthcare providers in Texas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma by delivering premium ultrasound services at their respective offices. Now, she is solely focused on making healthcare more accessible to women in rural communities around Texas using technology. BB Imaging allows her to follow her passion for increasing accessibility to healthcare. Ms. Lesmes is Austin-educated, having completed her undergraduate degree at St. Edward's University and later receiving her Master's in Business Administration from the University of Texas. In her free time, Blanca serves on the Board of DivInc, a pre-accelerator focused on diversity in tech. She also acts as an Entrepreneur in Residence at UT and she is on the Advisory Council for Women@Austin. But at home, she is most well-known for her caldo de pollo by her husband, and two kids, Squeaky (age 18), and Geena (age 16) and she even is willing to share some scraps with her Labradoodle, Luna. Some of the Topics Covered by Blanca Lesmes in this Episode What BB Imaging & Consulting is and what led Blanca to found it 15 years ago BB Imaging's original business model and how they've adapted it How they approached entering new markets and the slow growth process The importance of trust in the healthcare industry How Blanca navigated the 2008 recession with BB Imaging and how it made them more resilient Blanca's experience getting her MBA at UT and how she applied her growing knowledge to her business How they navigated having to layoff employees during the recession and the COVID pandemic How Blanca approaches company culture and the role it plays in difficult conversations What enabled BB Imaging to kickstart significant growth over the last 5 years and how they are approaching growth moving forward Shifting from bootstrapping to fundraising and the process of building an advisory board Transitioning from a service-based business to a technology solution The big vision for BB Imaging & Consulting How Blanca finds work-life balance and recharges How the mission of BB Imaging energizes and fuels Blanca Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Shubhra Srivastava is the Co-founder and CEO of GaragePlug, a cloud-based easy-to-use software providing an end to end digital platform for auto repair workshops and detailing centers. Shubhra started her career as a software developer in 1999 and worked for almost 18+ years in various multinational companies in different roles, starting as a developer and eventually leading various Global Programs and platform launches. She has worked in various domains such as telecom, engineering, cybersecurity, and instrumentation. In her 18 years of experience, she has learned the art of problem-solving and developing strong teams and organizations. Shubhra's journey with GaragePlug started in 2018 with little knowledge about business and industry, but she is now very confident about their business and the value they are generating, helping hundreds of automotive workshops to manage their entire business and customer journey on a single mobile-based platform. Some of the Topics Covered by Shubhra Srivastava in this Episode What GaragePlug is and how its 3 co-founders started it in 2017 GaragePlug's original MVP, getting their first customers, and early growth Shifting from the Indian market to going global Navigating pricing for GaragePlug's product GaragePlug's business model and customer acquisition Shubhra's current role in the business Transitioning into enterprise sales Deciding to join Upekkha and their experience in the program Expanding product features and managing customer feedback Building out GaragePlug's team and their onboarding process Shubhra's advice for SaaS founders How Shubhra recharges outside of work How the COVID pandemic has affected GaragePlug Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Andrew Jamison is the Co-Founder & CEO of Extend, a company that enables credit card sharing amongst non-cardholders via a simple and ubiquitous P2P platform. Extend enables banks, and their customers to capture more business spend on their existing card accounts by connecting account holders and their workforce. Some of the Topics Covered by Andrew Jamison in this Episode What Extend is doing today and why Andrew decided to start it The discussions in the earlier days between Andrew and his co-founders around creating Extend The go-to-market strategy for Extend How Andrew went about establishing strategic partnerships Bootstrapping for 6-8 months and getting the first money from institutional investors including Point 72 and FinTech Collective The initial product for Extend How Andrew has grown Extend over time How Andrew has invested in himself as a founder and how the experience compares to what he expected The unique team happy hours Extend does and the types of games they play each week How Andrew recharges The big vision for Extend Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Mehdi Maghsoodnia is the CEO of 1health, the leading testing as a service (TaaS) company. He is passionate about personalized healthcare and increasing access to testing in the U.S. 1health launched TaaS earlier this year by bringing to market the first FDA Emergency Use Authorized COVID-19 saliva test, in partnership with IBX (Previously RUCDR). Through these at-home saliva tests, 1health is responsible for the deployment of 1% of COVID-19 testing across the United States. Instead of asking people to go get tested in laboratories that are often crowded and have delayed results, Mehdi is driving his businesses to bring affordable, simple testing to the people, wherever they are. 1health partners with hospital systems, telehealth companies, corporations and government agencies, school systems, consumer brands, as well as public health departments around the country. Through its lab network, centralized platform, and health partnerships, now more than seven million Americans have access to the 1health COVID-19 saliva test. Mehdi is on the board of SpineZone and MedCorder, and previously served as CEO of Rafter, BookRenter.com, SVP of products at CafePress, COO at Actiance and SVP at Intellisync. He is also an industry fellow at UC Berkeley, where he teaches innovation and entrepreneurship. He holds a Master's of Science in EECS from Stanford, and a Bachelor of Science from UC Berkeley. Some of the Topics Covered by Mehdi Maghsoodnia in this Episode What 1health is doing and how it got started Why Mehdi chose to work on this particular problem and get involved in the healthcare industry What the initial product at 1health consisted of How Mehdi funding 1health Mehdi's thoughts around building a team Acquiring customers for 1health and how Mehdi looks at testing different channels How Mehdi thinks about pricing and GTM strategy The competitive landscape 1health is operating in Educating the market when you're creating a whole new market The ideal customer for 1health today Mehdi's experience investing in companies and some of the things he's looking for in companies he invests in How Vitagene came about from 1health What Mehdi's schedule looks like today Learning to say no and how to delegate The magic of exercise to improve your thinking Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Ethan Austin is the Chief Strategy Officer at Gig Wage, former Managing Director at the Techstars Western Union Accelerator, and the Founder of GiveForward. Gig Wage, a company that's raised more than $10M in venture capital, is a platform designed for innovators who want a simplified way of managing contractor payments so they can recruit and retain world-class 1099 talent and power modern contractor commerce. Some of the Topics Covered by Ethan Austin in this Episode What Ethan's role is at Gig Wage and what the company is doing Why Ethan decided to join Gig Wage How Ethan first got involved with startups Ethan's experience starting GiveForward How Ethan found his co-founder for GiveForward and his experience bootstrapping for 2 years Ethan's Techstars experience as a Founder and his fundraising experience Getting Naval Ravikant as an investor in 2012 The team behind GiveForward and how Ethan built a great culture at the company What Ethan did to grow GiveForward in the early years and after they raised funding How Ethan went from GiveForward to Techstars after losing 75% of their Facebook traffic in a year Why Ethan took a year off after GiveForward What Ethan's role entailed as the Managing Director at Techstars The experience of going through Techstars for a founder How Ethan thinks about being an investor vs. running a company Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

After studying Communications and Marketing, Antony worked in Advertising Agencies for many years as a Strategic Planner and later running his own agency. He noticed opportunities in the marketplace around a lack in tech-focused content distribution platforms for immersive experiences and sought to create one. Many years later, and with the help of some very talented people, Antony has lead the creation of Aura and has begun commercializing it during COVID with success. Some of the Topics Covered by Antony in this Episode What Unbnd does and how it got started Why Antony built a bar for cash flow to support Unbnd How Antony got a partnership with the NBA early on with Unbnd The various applications for Unbnd's tech and how they decided which to prioritize Building out the different functionality for Unbnd How Antony secured a partnership with Rakuten How long it took to create an MVP and then a full product for Unbnd Building the team behind Unbnd Where Antony's time is spent today in the business as a whole Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Steve Massey is co-founder and CEO of Prewitt Ridge, which was founded in 2019 to tackle the largest meta-problem in deep tech: systems engineering. They reduce friction in collaborative design efforts by connecting critical data elements between engineering teams and offering git-like tracking of project-wide changes. Prior to co-founding Prewitt Ridge, Steve was at Slingshot Aerospace for 2 years where he led the development of their real-time edge analytics pipeline working with USAF and defense contractor customers, and 5 years at SpaceX where he acted in a mission management and integration engineer role for multiple early Falcon 9 launches as well as led the avionics build for their Hyperloop pusher project. Some of the Topics Covered by Steve Massey in this Episode What Prewitt Ridge does and how it got started How Steve and his co-founder, Zeke Brechtel, decided to work together on Prewitt Ridge The timing behind Steve starting Prewitt Ridge How Steve decided on his ideal customer Raising funding for Prewitt Ridge and Steve's experience in Techstars Partnering with NASA JPL How Steve is thinking about customer acquisition for Prewitt Ridge The competitive landscape that Prewitt Ridge is operating in Building the team behind Prewitt Ridge What Steve learned while working at bigger companies like SpaceX and Slingshot Aerospace What the communication is like between Steve and his investors How Steve recharges Where Steve's interest in space came from Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Matteo Franceschetti has always been obsessed with performance. Athletic performance, business performance, and now sleep performance. An athlete from a young age—he was a competitive ski racer in his native Italy and played tennis and raced cars on the European stage—Matteo has always been focused on winning, and on winning in record time. That drive to succeed propelled him from sports podiums to the top tier of the international legal world and to start two clean-tech companies on two continents, all before age 30. Not surprisingly, sleepless nights were a way of life. It was Matteo's quest for more restorative sleep, in fact, that led him to quit his previous life and launch Eight Sleep, a New York-based company dedicated to fueling human potential through optimal sleep, and to turning the bed into a seamless health platform for improved health, performance, and longevity. The path he took to becoming CEO of Eight Sleep, however, is as circuitous as the tracks he raced in his youth. Some of the Topics Covered by Matteo Franceschetti in this Episode What Eight Sleep does and how they got started Why Matteo decided to use Indiegogo to launch Eight Sleep The initial version of Eight Sleep The team behind Eight Sleep The challenge in manufacturing and fulfilling the first 8,000 orders of Eight Sleep and why Matteo booked a one-way ticket to China What happened after the Indiegogo campaign and how Matteo grew the business Matteo's advice around getting through difficult times as a founder The product lineup today at Eight Sleep today The future for Eight Sleep The tech behind the complexities of the Eight Sleep product Matteo's approach to growing Eight Sleep today Matteo's health stack - sleep, nutrition, and exercise routine - and why he moved from 8 to 9 hours of sleep Why you should go to sleep at the same time each night Matteo's opinion around naps Using a regret minimization framework to guide your decisions How Matteo structures his days and weeks Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Deon is the Founder of Forethought. Previously, Deon built products and infrastructure at Facebook, Palantir, Dropbox, and Pure Storage. He has ML publications and infrastructure patents, was a World Finalist at the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, and was named to Forbes 30 under 30. Originally from Canada, Deon enjoys spending time with his wife and son, playing basketball, and reading as many books as he can get his hands on. Some of the Topics Covered by Deon Nicholas in this Episode What Forethought does and how it got started Where Deon's interest in technology came from The adjustment to being the CEO of a company Deon's experience at Techcrunch Disrupt and how Deon prepared for it How Deon acquired the initial customers for Forethought Deon's fundraising experience for Forethought What Deon did wrong while fundraising The differences in each stage of fundraising through raising a Series B How Deon thinks about who to bring onto his Cap Table Implementing flywheels and repeatable processes The business model behind Forethought and how Deon thinks about pricing Where the name for their AI, Agatha, came from How Deon thinks about product development Problems Deon faces as CEO How Deon invests in himself as a founder and why he started working with an executive coach How Deon recharges The importance of understanding yourself as a founder Deon's experience being a person of color in tech Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Emily Best is the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark, a platform that makes entertainment more diverse, inclusive, connected, and essential. Seed&Spark's platform and national education program have helped thousands of bold storytellers raise millions to bring to life entirely new stories, and Seed&Spark delivers those stories into workplaces for employee training, engagement, and intelligence through their proprietary Impact Screening Platform. They gather the qualitative and quantitative data essential for driving lasting structural change for inclusive and productive workplaces. An advocate for diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry, Best regularly speaks at conferences and events about leveraging entertainment to build equity and sustainability for everyone. She also runs workshops to help independent content creators successfully crowdfund, build an audience and pitch their projects. Best was named a 2013 Indiewire Influencer, a 2014 New York Business Journal "Woman of Influence", a 2015 Upstart 100 entrepreneur (Business Journals), received the Ivy Film Innovator Award in 2015 and in 2016, graduated from Techstars Boston, an elite accelerator program for the country's top entrepreneurs. Best has raised millions of dollars in traditional funding, equity crowdfunding, and rewards-based crowdfunding and has personally participated in more than 300 crowdfunding campaigns. Some of the Topics Covered by Emily Best in this Episode What Seed&Spark does and the big pivot they went through in 2020 Why Film Forward was created by Seed&Spark How Seed&Spark got started The story of building the Seed&Spark platform itself What went into the launch of Seed&Spark How Emily grew Seed&Spark through 120 live workshops per year The business model behind Seed&Spark What goes into a successful crowdfunding campaign The biggest challenges that go into creating a crowdfunding platform Why Emily has a love/hate relationship with accelerators How Emily recharges away from work Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Andrew Kline brings a broad background of professional sports experience, investment banking expertise, and industry knowledge to Park Lane. Kline has advised on M&A transactions in all of the major sports and also been fundamental in obtaining financing for many early-stage sports-based businesses. Kline is currently a member of the Stanford Executive Circle, Young Presidents Organization (YPO), the Association of Corporate Growth, the NFLPA, and the NFL Retired Players Association. In 2013, at the age of 36, Kline was named to The M&A Advisor's 40 Under 40 list. Kline was also named to SportsBusiness Journal's 2016 Power Players List in the Advisory category. Prior to founding Park Lane, Kline was drafted by the NFL World Champion St. Louis Rams, for whom he played center and quick guard. After retiring from the NFL, Kline became an active investor in the San Diego and Arizona real estate markets and brought sizable returns to investors in his fund. Kline also founded The Australian Surf Academy (sold to Surf Diva in 2004) and The Athletes Agency (sold 49% in 2005). Kline also served as the Chairman of the Athletes for Rudy Giuliani Coalition during Giuliani's bid for the presidency. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Navy SEAL Family Foundation and is very active in fundraising efforts for Special Forces and Special Operations Forces. Kline attended San Diego State University, where he majored in Psychology, and the Business Management & Entrepreneurship Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Kline has FINRA Series 7 and 63 registrations. Some of the Topics Covered by Andrew Kline in this Episode What Park Lane does and the different areas they're involved with Why Andrew decided to start Park Lane Starting a surfing company and real estate company Andrew's journey trying to buy the St. Louis Blues Helping sell Sidney's Kimmel's stake in the Miami Heat Building the team at Park Lane Navigating the 2008 financial crisis and how Andrew climbed out of the crash Managing a team of high-performers How Andrew looks at pursuing new opportunities for his business Time management and how Andrew manages his time What fuels Andrew today Andrew's experience playing for the St. Louis Rams The impact of twice-daily mediation on Andrew's performance Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Kalyan Varma is a co-founder and CEO at Almabase, a company that helps universities and high schools build lifelong relationships with their alumni and drive higher donations. Educational institutions do a poor job of maintaining a good relationship with their alumni after they graduate. Typically the only time alumni hear from their alma mater is when they are being asked to donate. This broken relationship leads to an extremely low alumni donation rate (~2%). Almabase's SaaS platform provides all the lego blocks to build a successful alumni program - one where all the stakeholders benefit. Kalyan co-founded Almabase with Sri Maneru in 2014. They were classmates in college from 2004 to 2008 and were personally impacted by a lack of scholarships. While they were in college, they started a nonprofit that raised money from alumni and funded scholarships for students. Through the journey of that nonprofit, they realized how broken this system was at every educational institution and decided to start Almabase. Some of the Topics Covered by Kalyan Varma in this Episode What Almabase does and how it got started How Kalyan got the early customers for Almabase The business model behind Almabase with an ACV of $8k - $10k The sales process for getting products to universities How Kalyan went about targeting universities outside of India and their unique GTM strategy in the United States Competition and how Kalyan differentiates Almabase Why Kalyan recently decided to have his platform take a fee from alumni donations Value-based pricing How Kalyan has funded Almabase The team behind Almabase, how Kalyan has grown this, and what's been most helpful for recruiting new team members Bootstrapping vs. raising venture funding How case studies fuel the growth of Almabase Hitting $100k in MRR and what the future looks like for Almabase How Kalyan recharges day-to-day How COVID-19 has impacted Almabase Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Melanie Stricklan is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Slingshot Aerospace, which applies advanced analytics, computer vision, and collaborative tools to data from earth and space, providing customers with clarity in complex situations. Melanie is a retired US Air Force Officer and combat-tested executive leader with expertise across battle management, space operations, and advanced technology development and previous experience in the development, acquisition, and operation of experimental spacecraft, space situational awareness, electronic warfare, countermeasures, and cyber technologies. She is responsible for the technical vision and strategy of an emerging space technology company revolutionizing data exploitation for defense and commercial applications. Melanie is recognized as one of Inc's Top 100 Female Founders Slingshot Aerospace delivers a situational intelligence platform that provides a customizable solution to quickly navigate, analyze, and leverage data from earth and space. The platform brings together data from different sources — such as satellites, airplanes, drones, and ground-based sensors — and applies advanced analytics and computer vision to provide clarity in complex environments. This means that government, commercial, and emergency management customers have the information they need in order to make an impact: Armed Forces can safely and strategically navigate critical missions; emergency management teams can dispatch aid quicker than ever; insurance companies can detect damage and process claims at a record pace when families need it most; and the government can track satellites in space and safeguard from those who try tampering with critical communications. Some of the Topics Covered by Melanie Stricklan in this Episode What Slingshot Aerospace does How Melanie's love for space began as a child Melanie's experience in the Air Force How Melanie started Slingshot Aerospace with her co-founders Why they chose to use an accelerator and their experience with Techstars LA Getting Boeing as their first client The process of expanding the use cases of Slingshot Aerospace What Slingshot Aerospace offers their customers How Slingshot Aerospace approaches data Melanie's role as Chief Strategy Officer and how she keeps her team focused How they've approached hiring for Slingshot Aerospace and how their process has evolved Developing Slingshot Aerospace's core values and principles The business model for Slingshot Aerospace and how it has shifted What the competitive landscape looks like for Slingshot Aerospace What Melanie is looking forward to in the space realm Making space operations more sustainable Melanie's advice for learning to run and grow a business How Melanie recharges away from work and finds balance Melanie's experience with an executive coach How Slingshot Aerospace has adapted to remote work during COVID19 Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Charles Hudson is the Managing Partner at Precursor Ventures, a classic seed-stage investment firm based out of San Francisco, CA. Precursor seeks to invest in a company's first round of institutional investment and focuses on investments in B2B software applications, B2C software and services, and connected hardware. Prior to launching Precursor, Charles Hudson was a Partner with SoftTech VC, one of the most active seed-stage investors in Internet and mobile startups. He focused on identifying investment opportunities in mobile infrastructure, mobile applications, and marketplaces. He was also the Co-Founder and CEO of Bionic Panda Games, an Android-focused mobile games startup. Prior to joining SoftTech VC and co-founding Bionic Panda Games, Charles Hudson was the VP of Business Development for Serious Business until the company was acquired by Zynga in February 2010. Prior to Serious Business, he was the Sr. Director for Business Development at Gaia Interactive, an online hangout and virtual world for teens. Prior to Gaia, Charles worked in New Business Development at Google and focused on new partnership opportunities for early-stage products in the advertising, mobile, and e-commerce markets. Prior to joining Google, he was a Product Manager for IronPort Systems, a leading provider of anti-spam hardware appliances that was acquired by Cisco Systems for $830 million in 2007. Charles was also the founder of the Virtual Goods Summit and Social Gaming Summit, two of the leading conferences in the free-to-play games space. Charles spent several years working at In-Q-Tel, the strategic venture capital group for the Central Intelligence Agency. While at In-Q-Tel, he focused on identifying investment opportunities that could deliver significant value to the CIA and the commercial market in both the short and long term. He holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.A. in Economics and Spanish from Stanford University. Some of the Topics Covered by Charles Hudson in this Episode The areas where Precursor Ventures is focused How Charles decided to focus on the very earliest stages of startup investing Charles experience raising his first fund as a single GP How Charles built the team at Precursor Ventures, brought on Sydney Thomas, and what it took for her to get promoted to Principal Charles views on the role of platform in venture capital How Charles organizes the insights from their portfolio companies The advice Charles has for founders around their pitch and the importance of storytelling What Charles looks for in companies he invests in How Charles looks at the brand for Precursor Ventures Why optimism is so important at the early stage of investing Why Charles wanted to be a venture capitalist How Charles invests in himself as an investor to improve at his job Charles' experience working with a coach on communication Getting honest feedback as an investor Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Lori Shao is a financial services veteran with deep expertise in payment technology and innovation. In April 2019, she walked away from her 17-year career in banking to build Finli, a vertical payment solution to power neighborhood schools and freelance instructors. Finli stands for financial lift and operates with the clear mission to financially lift communities through innovation and narrow the gap of accessibility, affordability, and outcome for all. Lori resides in Arcadia CA with her husband Derek and two children Ed and Ryan. Some of the Topics Covered by Lori Shao in this Episode What Finli is and why Lori left a career in banking to start Finli How Lori decided to quit her job to start Finli Lori's decision to join Techstars and how impactful the experience was for her Raising a small seed round of $1.5M after Techstars How Lori has helped small business owners affected by COVID Lori's experience fundraising for Finli as a mom and a solo, first-time founder The conversations Lori had with her husband as she was starting Finli Understanding what you actually want in a career How Lori has gone about building the team at Finli The unique way Finli does customer acquisition How Lori invests in herself and what a day consists of for her Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Josh Itano is the CEO and Co-Founder of CareCar, a supplemental benefit manager and market network platform for home care and medical transport. From his early career working on US Defense contracts to his work with healthcare startups, he's had one driving mantra: "Do well by doing good." That mantra has led him and his team at CareCar to grow 3x every year since inception, creating improved access to care for hundreds of thousands of people in need over the past 3 years. Josh is a former collegiate athlete and philosophy and neuroscience nerd, and when he's not hard at work you can find him playing water polo or speaking about his views on the intersection between philosophy, science, and business. About Our Partner This episode is brought to you by our sponsor WeAreNoCode. WeAreNoCode's mission is to empower non-technical founders. The problem is that if you don't know how to code, building your MVP or app idea is a frustrating process: Developers are expensive Looking for a perfect tech co-founder is time-consuming And learning how to code takes 3 years Their program is called, "The No-Code Startup" and it's a no-code accelerator program that teaches founders how to build, launch and monetize their startup without hiring expensive developers or waiting for a technical co-founder. No-code is a disruptive new way of building software products that allows users to drag and drop functionalities to build powerful solutions like Uber, Airbnb, Twitter and much more. They have founders in over 12 countries and partnerships with organizations like UCLA Accelerator, Startup Boost and Scale Health. If you want to learn more or find out if no-code is a good fit for your startup, visit them at www.wearenocode.com/justgogrind Some of the Topics Covered by Joshua Itano in this Episode What CareCar does and why Josh decided to start the company What the MVP of CareCar looked like and which customers they focused on initially The team behind CareCar and what it took to bring them on board Going without a salary and growing 3x each year How Josh closed the first deal for CareCar The three major user groups of CareCar's platform Expansion plans for CareCar moving forward How Josh invests in himself as an entrepreneur Josh's 1 on 1 experience with Chris Voss How Josh is approaching the fundraising process Books that have been useful for Josh How Josh manages the stress of running a startup Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Gregory Ugwi is the cofounder & CEO of Thinknum, KGBase and the Business of Business. Thinknum Inc has raised $12.6 million to date. Prior to founding Thinknum, Greg graduated from Princeton University with a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and worked at Goldman Sachs. Greg was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. Greg enjoys playing soccer and is an investor in New Amsterdam FC. You can find Greg on Twitter and Linkedin. Some of the Topics Covered by Gregory Ugwi in this Episode What Thinknum does and who the main users are How Thinknum got started after Greg was working at Goldman Sachs How Greg ended up finding his Co-Founder, Justin The initial version of Thinknum The types of datasets Greg was using early on How Greg chose to go through 500 Startups Getting the first customers for Thinknum What fueled the growth for Thinknum after getting their initial customers The business model behind Thinknum Raising a $11.6M Series A Why Greg started KgBase, a no-code knowledge graph tool Why Greg created a media team that can utilize their data Where most of Greg's time is spent today in the business How Greg looks at hiring and building culture How Greg decided to work at Goldman Sachs in the first place The mental strain of running a startup and putting ego aside Why Thinknum has been successful so far What's helped Greg grow personally as he's been running Thinknum Greg's favorite book and why it has been impactful for him What a day looks like for Greg now The big vision for Thinknum Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Gale Wilkinson is the Founder & Managing Partner of Vitalize Venture Group, a seed-stage fund and angel group based in Chicago and San Francisco. Gale previously started two businesses, both of which failed, teaching her valuable lessons about what does not work at the early stage. She loves helping founders with startup strategy and is currently conducting research on how to innovate on the legacy VC model. Vitalize Venture Group is an early-stage venture capital platform consisting of two funding entities: VitalizeVC and IrishAngels. VitalizeVC is a $16MM fund that invests in scalable software companies, and IrishAngels is an angel network of 270 investors that invests in B2B and B2C tech as well as some products. Vitalize Venture Group has invested in over 60 companies, deploying $40MM in capital since its launch in 2012. Some of the Topics Covered by Gale Wilkinson in this Episode What Vitalize Venture Group is focused on today (Angel Network + Fund) How Gale started an Angel Network out of 2 failed businesses and the entity structure What Gale did to source deals in the early day of the angel network The importance of writing checks early The diligence process How Gale decided to start a fund and how long it took to raise the $16M fund they closed Gale's experience as a Kauffman Fellow How the Angel Network and the fund fit into the greater Vitalize Venture Group The diversity committee Gale created for Vitalize Venture Group and what it entails How the deal sourcing looks today for Vitalize Venture Group The value add of working with Vitalize Venture Group How Gale spends her time today at Vitalize Venture Group and what the team consists of Some of the mistakes Gale sees early-stage founders making Gale's advice around equity splits and founder agreements for founders How Gale began teaching a course around investing at Notre Dame Creating a brand for a VC firm What founders should think about before raising venture capital What founders should ask VCs when having meetings with them Hiring for culture add vs. culture fit The future plans for Vitalize Venture Group The books Gale is reading now How Gale recharges outside of work Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Josh Clemente, Founder of Levels, is a mechanical engineer and CrossFit-L2 trainer. At SpaceX, he led a team to develop life support systems that sustained astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on their May 2020 trip to the International Space Station aboard Dragon Endeavor: the first new crew-carrying spacecraft since 1980. Josh has also spent time designing and building Hyperloop technology and leading engineering for a company providing vehicle-based rescue systems for emergency response teams. Josh enjoys the outdoors, functional fitness training, technology, coffee, and restoring motorcycles. About Our Partner This episode is brought to you by Pivot CMO. Whether you're a startup and you've just launched your product or a larger business, accelerate your growth with performance marketing solutions from our partner, Pivot CMO. Pivot specializes in performance marketing solutions that have helped countless companies double or even triple in the first few months of working with them. They're boutique, extremely data-driven, and launch and iterate quickly. 84% of their clients double their revenue. Pivot CMO is focused on digital marketing channels like Facebook/Instagram, Google, Pinterest, and TikTok. Their founders are involved with every account so you don't get a low-level account manager, but instead a highly skilled and experienced, outsourced CMO. They've helped a number of Y Combinator and venture-backed companies along with fortune 500 companies, so no matter the size or stage of your company, use Pivot to help with all of your marketing and growth needs. Some of the Topics Covered by Josh Clemente in this Episode What Josh is doing with Levels today and why he started it How your metabolism affects how you process food The working environment at SpaceX and why Josh got burnt out How Josh decided when the timing was right to quit his job to start Levels How to build a world-class team The product Josh and his team created at Levels The educational component of Levels and how that's led to a waitlist of 50,000 people The competitive landscape in this space What's been helpful for Josh around leading the company The importance of transparency Fundraising for Levels What Josh's schedule looks like today Why Josh is doing more endurance training in his own workouts now To book a free consultation visit pivotcmo.com. Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Ranbir Arora is the Co-Founder and CEO of Dorm, a hypercasual learning app that aggregates and curates the world's audio content to provide a seamless learning experience that fits into your day and makes your downtime more gratifying. Previously, Ranbir was the Chief Growth Officer at Sweatcoin, which he grew to 50M users. Some of the Topics Covered by Ranbir Arora in this Episode What Dorm is and how it got started The business model behind Dorm Why Ranbir chose audio as the way to educate people at Dorm How Dorm creates the free audio courses their users consume The unique design of Dorm itself and how they came up with it How Ranbir thinks about user acquisition for Dorm Getting to 35,000 users What the customer validation process included for Ranbir and how they creatively beta-tested Dorm How Ranbir used influencers to get 50M users for Sweatcoin when he was the chief growth officer How Ranbir thought about an equity split and role split with his Co-Founder, Taras Ranbir's process for raising his $1M Pre-Seed round What Ranbir is focused on today The actual experience of using Dorm Where Ranbir thinks Dorm will be a few years from now Books and podcasts Ranbir enjoys Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Chris Bennett is the Co-Founder & CEO of Wonderschool. Wonderschool's mission is to ensure every child has access to early education that helps them realize their potential. Wonderschool programs are diverse in structure and approach, but they all combine engaged teachers, thoughtful education design, and the warmth of an in-home program. So far, Wonderschool has helped thousands of parents find quality in-home care, and our network is growing every day. Wonderschool is hiring! https://angel.co/wonderschools About Our Partner This episode is brought to you by Hawke Media. Hawke Media is a full-service Outsourced CMO based in Santa Monica, CA, providing guidance, planning, and execution to grow brands of all sizes, industries, and business models. Hawke Media was recognized by Inc. as the country's fastest-growing marketing consultancy and is proudly one of Glassdoor's "Best Places to Work"​, 2019 #893 on the Forbes 5000 list, UpCity Top Los Angeles Digital Marketing Agency. Hawke's collaborative process, à la carte offering, and month-to-month fee structure give clients the flexibility they need to boost digital revenues and marketing ROI. Hawke Media The company has serviced over 1500 brands of all sizes, ranging from startups like Tamara Mellon, SiO Beauty and Bottlekeeper to household names like Red Bull, Verizon Wireless and Alibaba. Listen to our interview with Erik Huberman, Founder and CEO of Hawke Media, in episode 23 of the Just Go Grind Podcast. Some of the Topics Covered by Chris Bennett in this Episode What Wonderschool does and how it got started What Chris learned from the early days of building Wonderschool starting with the first program they started How long it took to go from idea to their first enrollment The founding team of Wonderschool How Chris thought about growth for Wonderschool in the early days How people find out about Wonderschool today What goes into ensuring the quality of the teachers at Wonderschool Geographic growth for Wonderschool The fundraising process and getting top investors involved Going through 500 Startups Understanding the culture and expectation around raising each round of funding Chris's experience raising a Series A round of funding The approach Chris takes to hiring The Wonderschool business model The impact COVID had on Wonderschool Working with a coach, what it entails, and why Chris started writing a lot Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Joel is a serial technology entrepreneur, with a love for building consumer-facing products. Joel previously co/founded four venture-backed technology startups and brings a lifetime of experience building and operating technology companies to RepairSmith. As a technical founder, Joel has served as CEO, COO, and CTO for his previous companies, having raised over $100M in venture financing and scaled multiple businesses nationally. Joel began programming at age 10, started college at 16, and founded his first technology company upon graduating at 21. He holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from Queen's University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. Joel is a member of the Forbes Business Council and named Executive Hero of the Year for Effective Leadership During COVID-19 by the Consumer World Awards. He is also an angel investor, advisor to numerous startups and active in the Southern California startup community. Joel has been featured on Forbes, Fox Los Angeles, ABC Los Angeles, CBS Los Angeles, KIIS-FM, and more. Joel is passionate about the NBA champion Raptors and super convenient car repair. About Our Partner This episode is brought to you by our sponsor WeAreNoCode. WeAreNoCode's mission is to empower non-technical founders. The problem is that if you don't know how to code, building your MVP or app idea is a frustrating process: Developers are expensive Looking for a perfect tech co-founder is time-consuming And learning how to code takes 3 years Their program is called, "The No-Code Startup" and it's a no-code accelerator program that teaches founders how to build, launch and monetize their startup without hiring expensive developers or waiting for a technical co-founder. No-code is a disruptive new way of building software products that allows users to drag and drop functionalities to build powerful solutions like Uber, Airbnb, Twitter and much more. They have founders in over 12 countries and partnerships with organizations like UCLA Accelerator, Startup Boost and Scale Health. If you want to learn more or find out if no-code is a good fit for your startup, visit them at www.wearenocode.com/justgogrind Some of the Topics Covered by Joel Milne in this Episode What RepairSmith does and why Joel joined The massive impact RepairSmith can have What Joel was thinking about working on while he had time off between companies Why Joel decided to kill off a dating app he developed The first things he did after starting RepairSmith How Joel went about building his team and defining the culture at RepairSmith Mastery, autonomy, and purpose Expanding into new markets and the decision process behind it Why RepairSmith is not a marketplace Why there hasn't been much innovation in this space so far The logistics behind executing RepairSmith's business model The actual experience of using RepairSmith as a customer Joel's previous experience fundraising and his advice around raising capital How Joel has seen the LA tech scene evolve since 2009 How RepairSmith has responded to the global pandemic and why they donated $100,000 in free car repair Some of Joel's favorite books How Joel manages his time day-to-day and why he wakes up early now What Joel does to recharge Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Santi Bibiloni is a Silicon Valley-based technology entrepreneur and co-founder & CEO at COR, an AI Management Software that serves Worldwide top Agencies and Consultants. Prior to COR he founded Balloon Group, one of Argentina's fastest-growing digital agencies, among other businesses. Today he also mentors on Sales & Fundraising in 500 Startups. Some of the Topics Covered by Santi Bibiloni in this Episode What COR is and how it got started Going after a $50T market Some of the questions Santi asked to evaluate the problem he wanted to solve in the early days Building a software platform How Santi got Marcos Galperin as an Angel investor Why Santi decided to go through 500 startups Raising a $2.5M seed round Santi's customer acquisition strategy early on for COR and why he made a massive pivot in his business model How Santi thinks about pricing for COR Santi's advice around sales for a B2B startup Why Santi created a video show with industry-leaders How Santi recharges and why he wrote a document on how to work with him Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Amit Mishra is the Co-Founder and CEO of iMocha, a company providing AI-powered digital skills assessments. iMocha enables tech hiring managers and learning and development professionals with the ready-to-use, latest, and most comprehensive online skills assessment solution, offering 2000+ skills tests. About Our Partner This episode is also brought to you by Hawke Media. Hawke Media is a full-service Outsourced CMO based in Santa Monica, CA, providing guidance, planning, and execution to grow brands of all sizes, industries, and business models. Hawke Media was recognized by Inc. as the country's fastest-growing marketing consultancy and is proudly one of Glassdoor's "Best Places to Work"​, 2019 #893 on the Forbes 5000 list, UpCity Top Los Angeles Digital Marketing Agency. Hawke's collaborative process, à la carte offering, and month-to-month fee structure give clients the flexibility they need to boost digital revenues and marketing ROI. Hawke Media The company has serviced over 1500 brands of all sizes, ranging from startups like Tamara Mellon, SiO Beauty and Bottlekeeper to household names like Red Bull, Verizon Wireless and Alibaba. Listen to our interview with Erik Huberman, Founder and CEO of Hawke Media, in episode 23 of the Just Go Grind Podcast. Some of the Topics Covered by Amit Mishra in this Episode What iMocha does, how it got started, and some aspects of their customer discovery What the product looked like in the early days of iMocha Going from $500/year ACV to $30K/year ACV How Amit was acquiring customers in the early years for iMocha Amit's experience in the Microsoft Accelerator Going from $15K MRR to $200K+ MRR The importance of focusing on the right customer segment and use case How increasing pricing helped the business grow Building the 60+ person team at iMocha The land and expand strategy Why Amit raised $600K in 2020 How Amit looks at using content to grow revenue for iMocha Rebranding from Interview Mocha to iMocha How iMocha's live coding platform came about 6 months early How Amit and his team are choosing which skills to focus on The path for iMocha to $50M ARR in 5 years Amit's experience as an entrepreneur so far Amit's advice for other entrepreneurs Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Harsh Vathsangam is the Co-Founder and CEO of Moving Analytics, Inc. ( https://www.movinganalytics.com/ ) He is driven by a passion for taking technological solutions and applying them to benefit people's lives. He received his PhD from the University of Southern California working at the intersection of big data and mobile health. He holds an undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Harsh is also one of the inventors of iGest, an alternative communication device for children with cerebral palsy and winner of the NASCOMM award for social innovation. Moving Analytics provides Movn - a virtual cardiac rehabilitation service that patients can do from the comfort of their home. They work with over 25 health systems and several payers to increase access to rehab. Movn is based on over 5 randomized clinical trials and clinical validation on over 70,000 patients showing equivalency to current standards of care. Contact Harsh if you want to implement virtual cardiac rehab in your organization! www.movinganalytics.com About Our Partners This episode is also brought to you by Hawke Media. Hawke Media ( https://hawkemedia.com/ ) is a full-service Outsourced CMO based in Santa Monica, CA, providing guidance, planning, and execution to grow brands of all sizes, industries, and business models. Hawke Media was recognized by Inc. as the country's fastest-growing marketing consultancy and is proudly one of Glassdoor's "Best Places to Work"​, 2019 #893 on the Forbes 5000 list, UpCity Top Los Angeles Digital Marketing Agency. Hawke's collaborative process, à la carte offering, and month-to-month fee structure give clients the flexibility they need to boost digital revenues and marketing ROI. Hawke Media The company has serviced over 1500 brands of all sizes, ranging from startups like Tamara Mellon, SiO Beauty and Bottlekeeper to household names like Red Bull, Verizon Wireless and Alibaba. Listen to our interview with Erik Huberman, Founder and CEO of Hawke Media, in episode 23 of the Just Go Grind Podcast. Some of the Topics Covered by Harsh Vathsangam in this Episode What Moving Analytics does and what the experience with patients entails How Moving Analytics got started Questions Harsh asked early on with potential customers How Harsh got his first customers for Moving Analytics Harsh's fundraising experience for Moving Analytics and what he would've done differently How Harsh approached equity splits with his Co-Founders Building rapport with investors What fueled the growth of Moving Analytics the past few years Managing cash-flow as a startup How Harsh has built his team of experts at Moving Analytics Delegation and how Harsh approaches this How Harsh invests in himself as a CEO Impactful books in Harsh's journey as an entrepreneur How Harsh recharges outside of work Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Myles Hunter is the Co-Founder & CEO of TutorMe. TutorMe ( https://tutorme.com/ ) is a revolutionary online education platform that provides on-demand tutoring and online courses. They believe there are more teachers in the world than are actually teaching so they want to empower more people to learn from each other. Their platform enables thousands of tutors to share their knowledge with students around the globe. Whether you need help with high school algebra or you want to learn how to program in Python, they have a perfect tutor for you. At TutorMe, they want to change the way you learn. Some of the Topics Covered by Myles Hunter in this Episode What TutorMe does today and how it got started initially How Myles got an Angel Investor early on for TutorMe The founders behind TutorMe and how they came together The pitch that went into getting a co-founder to join the team Building the business in Russia and Bali early on The go-to-market strategy behind TutorMe The initial product that Myles launched with Why Myles and his team built TutorMe from the ground up The growth for TutorMe after the initial customers How Myles figured out the pricing and business model for TutorMe Raising a $1.3M round of funding The LAUNCH accelerator and why Myles decided to join Competition Myles' advice to other entrepreneurs around fundraising Remote work How Myles and his team finds new tutors for the platform Getting acquired by Zovio in 2019 The big vision for TutorMe moving forward The importance of having good legal counsel Myles' incredible experience with the Lyft ambassador program Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Magnus is CEO and co-founder of Sanity.io, the American-Norwegian Content Platform company that is reinventing the content space with its unique customizable and collaborative approach. Having worked in investment banking and private equity, Magnus started coding at age 35 and left his finance career, and later joining Sanity.io as co-founder. Sanity now has almost 40 employees and serves more than 4 billion API calls per month. Magnus is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of the Topics Covered by Magnus Hillestad in this Episode What Sanity does and how it got started What Sanity was trying to do differently from other CMS systems early on Why you should think about content as data How Sanity was acquiring customers in the early days and why it lends itself to a bottom-up business model Having a global perspective Why Magnus decided to move to the United States How Magnus and his Co-Founders decided to work together even after Magnus initially said no to joining the team Magnus' advice around selecting Co-Founders and setting up founder agreements correctly The fundraising experience for Magnus, raising a $1M Pre-Seed, $2.4M Seed, and a Series A Why Magnus and his team raised their Series A when they had $2M ARR How Magnus recharges and why his team pays part of having a private personal trainer for everyone in the company Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Eytan deeply believes that the success of the small business sector is one of the most important causes of our time. It has the potential to reduce income inequality, empower immigrants, and provide disproportionate leadership opportunities for female and minority businesspeople. Creating a banking service that is as modern as these companies is why Eytan started NorthOne. Prior to NorthOne, Eytan was a Sr. Engagement Manager for McKinsey & Company. He served many wonderful clients in Financial Services industry, usually on the topic of digital customer experience and financial inclusion. Prior to that, he earned his JD/MBA from McGill University and was called to the New York Bar in 2010. Some of the Topics Covered Eytan Bensoussan in this Episode What NorthOne does and why Eytan decided to start it Why Eytan dove in full-time to NorthOne The first things Eytan did to start NorthOne and what he learned from a hundred customer interviews in the early days How Eytan decided on which potential customers to talk with How Eytan chose what the initial version of NorthOne Funding NorthOne in the early days and Eytan going a year without a salary What kept Eytan going through the low point in his business How Eytan got customers early on for NorthOne The hoops you have to go through to start a business bank The unscaleable things Eytan did early on to get exposure to businesses How Eytan convinced people to join his team in the early days Where NorthOne was at when they raised their Series A and how Eytan approached fundraising at that point How COVID impacted NorthOne How Eytan came up with the business model for NorthOne Why NorthOne waived their fees for all their customers in badly hit states and industries during COVID Eytan's favorite book Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Jeff Annison and Paul Scanlan are Co-Founders of Legion M. Founded by serial entrepreneurs with an Emmy Award for Innovation, Legion M is a first-of-its-kind entertainment company built from the ground up to be owned by fans. Legion M is uniting fans together to invest in and/or produce a diverse slate of original projects in various stages of development, including the critically acclaimed Colossal, starring Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis, the cult hit Mandy starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Panos Cosmatos, Bad Samaritan starring David Tennant, a new feature film and comic book Girl With No Name in development, plus multiple original television series including "Evermor," "Airship Cowboys," and "Malice;" and a VR project called "ICONS: Face to Face" starring Stan Lee and Kevin Smith. About Our Partner This episode is brought to you by our sponsor WeAreNoCode. WeAreNoCode's mission is to empower non-technical founders. The problem is that if you don't know how to code, building your MVP or app idea is a frustrating process: Developers are expensive Looking for a perfect tech co-founder is time-consuming And learning how to code takes 3 years Their program is called, "The No-Code Startup" and it's a no-code accelerator program that teaches founders how to build, launch and monetize their startup without hiring expensive developers or waiting for a technical co-founder. No-code is a disruptive new way of building software products that allows users to drag and drop functionalities to build powerful solutions like Uber, Airbnb, Twitter and much more. They have founders in over 12 countries and partnerships with organizations like UCLA Accelerator, Startup Boost and Scale Health. If you want to learn more or find out if no-code is a good fit for your startup, visit them at: www.wearenocode.com/justgogrind Some of the Topics Covered by Jeff and Paul in this Episode How Legion M got started How the investors (The fans) are able to influence the decision making of Legion M The Film Scout game that Legion M developed and how it gives them an advantage in choosing movies How the first crowdfunding campaign went for Legion M The response from Hollywood around Paul and Jeff crowdfunding for an entertainment company How Legion M makes money and the business model behind them The types of projects Legion M gets involved with The unique marketing behind the successful crowdfunding of Legion M How Jeff and Paul have been so successful with Legion M Investing in startups and the benefits of equity crowdfunding

Passionate about mobile and technology, Vivek leads the Marketing and Customer Operations at Datability. At Datability, they are building iZooto - an owned audience marketing platform that helps publishers build, engage, and retain their owned audience using web push notifications. iZooto is the World's First Owned Audience Marketing Platform that helps media publishers and retailers to own, build, and engage their audience using web push notifications. Over 15,000 marketers push over 18B notifications every month to engage their audience and drive repeat traffic. Some of the Topics Covered by Vivek Khandelwal in this Episode What iZooto does and how Vivek decided to start it after 4 pivots at his previous company How Vivek and his team acquired their first customers for iZooto Some of the early feedback Vivek was getting from customers and why it was misleading How Vivek narrowed down who his ideal customer actually is The importance of building a product your customer actually needs The iZooto product itself How companies are leveraging iZooto to grow their businesses What iZooto's customer acquisition strategy looks like today How Vivek looks at building content for iZooto to drive inbound leads and educate his potential customers The four founders behind iZooto and how this dynamic works at iZooto Growing to 60 people at iZooto in about 5 years Vivek's advice around hiring and onboarding The traction iZooto has achieved so far and getting to a $3-5M run rate How Vivek thinks about pricing for iZooto Vivek's advice for other B2B SaaS founders Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Danny Shader founded PayNearMe, Inc. in 2009 and currently serves as CEO. PayNearMe processes billions of dollars annually for over 5,000 clients in lending, property management, and more. PayNearMe originated as a real-time electronic cash transaction network, and today supports every form of payment – cards, ACH and mobile-first payment systems including Google Pay and Apple Pay, in addition to cash through our expanding network of over 27,000 retail stores. Previously, Danny led Good Technology, Inc., which Motorola acquired in 2007 and Accept.com, the first consumer-to-consumer payment service, which Amazon.com acquired in 1999. Danny earned a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. To learn more, visit PayNearMe https://home.paynearme.com/ Some of the Topics Covered by Danny Shader in this Episode What PayNearMe is doing today to help businesses How PayNearMe got started in 2009 Why 7/11 became a partner in Danny's business How Danny's previous entrepreneurial experience influenced what he's done with PayNearMe Why PayNearMe bought and sold Prism How Danny looks at growing PayNearMe now after processing billions of dollars of payments per year Danny's approach to hiring and the 4 traits he looks for Danny's experience working with Bill Campbell, the legendary silicon valley How Danny decides which businesses to pursue Danny's advice to his younger self Danny's experience working with Jeff Bezos when his company was acquired by Amazon The swimming group that Danny started in his 40s and how it has impacted his life The importance of building a team with people who are smart, hard-working, have integrity and grit Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

​​Chai Mishra is the Founder & CEO of Move, which is based on a simple idea — modern commerce is not as good as it can be. They work directly with award-winning producers to make their own brand of products. And they deliver these products straight to their members. By cutting out the middlemen, they're making a retailer that's more efficient, ethical, and enjoyable. Invest in Move: https://wefunder.com/move Learn more about Move: https://shopmove.co/ About Our Partners This episode is brought to you by Pivot CMO. Whether you're a startup and you've just launched your product or a larger business, accelerate your growth with performance marketing solutions from our partner, Pivot CMO. Pivot specializes in performance marketing solutions that have helped countless companies double or even triple in the first few months of working with them. They're boutique, extremely data-driven, and launch and iterate quickly. 84% of their clients double their revenue. Pivot CMO is focused on digital marketing channels like Facebook/Instagram, Google, Pinterest, and TikTok. Their founders are involved with every account so you don't get a low-level account manager, but instead a highly skilled and experienced, outsourced CMO. They've helped a number of Y Combinator and venture-backed companies along with fortune 500 companies, so no matter the size or stage of your company, use Pivot to help with all of your marketing and growth needs. To book a free consultation visit pivotcmo.com. Want to raise funding through Wefunder? Through Just Go Grind, you can receive a discount on Wefunder fees when fundraising for your company. Head over to https://wefunder.com/raisemoney/justgogrind Some of the Topics Covered by Chai Mishra in this Episode How Move works and why Chai wanted to work on this particular company Chai's story of growing up in India in the early 1990s and how it influenced him The growth of direct to consumer brands How Chai decided to go through Y Combinator Chai's fundraising experience Why Chai spent 2+ years just figuring out the supply chain for Move Chai's experience testing their own brand name product early on What Chai looks for in the producers he works with for Move The massive waitlist (135,000 people) Move has and why they limit the number of people they allow on the platform How Chai decided to crowdfund through Wefunder The big vision for Chai and Move for the next 10-20 years and why Chai believes he can 10x the number of members in the next year How a community of thousands of people votes on every decision at Move Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Gary Skulnik is a senior executive and strategic thinker who has been a leader in developing the clean energy market in Maryland and Washington, DC, through innovative marketing and sales, partnerships, community building, business management, and legislative advocacy. Founder of two entities focused exclusively on marketing clean energy, a for-profit and a non-profit, which collectively helped more than 17,000 consumers and businesses switch to clean power. Currently, Gary is the Founder and CEO of Neighborhood Sun, exclusively focused on the fast-growing community solar space. Some of the Topics Covered by Gary Skulnik in this Episode What Gary and Neighborhood Sun are doing with community solar How Neighborhood Sun got started and the importance of community solar The regulatory hurdles Gary had to overcome How community solar makes solar power available to lower-income households The difficulties in getting the first 100 customers for Neighborhood Sun How Gary has been able to keep his customer acquisition cost so low Why Gary decided to do equity crowdfunding for Neighborhood Sun Why Gary chose Wefunder for Neighborhood Sun How the fundraising process itself went for Gary The benefits of choosing equity crowdfunding over venture capital The biggest challenges of equity crowdfunding The team behind Neighborhood Sun Where Gary and his team are looking to grow next with Neighborhood Sun How Gary thinks about building a brand, especially in a competitive market What the process of expansion looks like for Neighborhood Sun How Gary sees the solar industry evolving moving forward The incredible potential of other clean energy projects like offshore wind Lessons Gary took from his first startup and has applied to Neighborhood Sun Books that have been impactful for Gary How Gary recharges away from work Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Zach Adamson is the Founder of DIVERTbrands, the parent company of two subsidiary companies, both of them with one unified purpose, breakdown the barriers to Action Sports for at-risk inner-city youth as a platform for creativity, self-discovery and passion in order to help them "Achieve their I'mpossible." The first is DIVERTcity/sessions, a mixed-use Action Sports Facility currently under development in cities across the country that brings Surfing, Skateboarding, Snowboarding, and Lifestyle Educational Programming to the inner-city. They have an all-star team, city support, and are on the path to a successful operation. They envision a brighter future where people have a platform to unleash their unique creativity through the powerful medium of Action Sports and all the lifestyle components associated with it. Through constant inspiration, they will encourage those that associate with DIVERT to achieve what at first they thought was impossible. This is the essence of all Action Sports and a valuable life lesson. Some of the Topics Covered by Zach Adamson in this Episode The origin of DIVERTsessions What the initial concept of DIVERT looked like and why the big vision is critical while figuring out what the minimally viable version is Why Zach decided to go the route of equity crowdfunding for DIVERTsessions What allowed Zach to continue with his idea through COVID-19 The preparation that went into raising $500K in 10 days on Wefunder Why Zach decided to use Wefunder for their crowdfunding campaign How Zach has gone about building the team at DIVERT The unique terms of DIVERT's Wefunder campaign and why they chose them How Zach looks at selecting new markets for DIVERT Revitalizing distressed real estate Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/