This is Finding Founders, I’m Samuel Donner, and this is the story of Jason Stapleton. Initially we see Jason as a Blackwater mercenary in Iraq and this experience embodies a certain magnitude of intensity that he’s taken with him throughout all his endeavors. He’s been a sniper in the marines, a broke truck washer, a trader, and a wealth coach. Nowadays, he sits safely behind a microphone, hosting his libertarian podcast Wealth, Power and Influence. The though line of his life and his business ...
Sep 24, 2020•1 hr 12 min
How can you use emotion to structure goals? This is the Founder Wisdom. Where we’ll answer that question by distilling advice from our founders and the books they recommend. Then we’ll show you how we are applying that knowledge ourselves! I asked Masterclass founder David Rogier what book I should read if I’m trying to manage people more effectively. He recommended “The Man Who Lied to His Laptop by Clifford Nas. So I think a lot of us think about emotions as this wide ranging huge complicated ...
Sep 21, 2020•6 min
Today on the show we talk to Jen Sargent, founder of the entertainment news site HitFix, and current COO of Wondery, the largest independent podcast publisher. They have a whole hosts of podcasts and I imagine you’ve heard of at least a couple. Before the Cambrian explosion of podcasts we live in today, Jen tapped into a myriad of exciting ventures. From an engineering degree to a JP Morgan desk to work abroad to Harvard Business School, she’s done it all. But the one constant in her zig zagging...
Sep 17, 2020•51 min
So last week we went over the first pillar of team building which was ‘identification’, check out Founder Wisdom episode 2 if you want a refresh. This week we’ll go over the other pillar of team building which is interdependence. What is interdependence? This is a trait of teams that occurs when both of the following are achieved: The team members believe that their efforts and the efforts of other team members are integral to the success of the team The team members believe that achieving the g...
Sep 14, 2020•6 min
Today on the show we talk to Nick Loper, founder of Side Hustle Nation. Side Hustle Nation is a business podcast, but it’s also more than that. It’s a lifestyle, a way to break the chains of the typical 9-5. It doesn’t talk about giant VC backed startups trying to IPO, it’s a bit simpler and more attainable. But long before he became the side hustle guru, he based his identity around academia. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. ...
Sep 10, 2020•42 min
How can you build stronger teams using identification? This is the Founder Wisdom. Where we’ll answer that question by distilling advice from our founders and the books they recommend. Then we’ll show you how we are applying that knowledge ourselves! I asked Masterclass founder David Rogier what book I should read if I’m trying to manage people more effectively. He recommended “The Man Who Lied to His Laptop by Clifford Nas --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Lea...
Sep 07, 2020•3 min
Today on the show we talk to Barry Ritholtz, co-founder, chairman, and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC, Bloomberg columnist and host of the Masters in Business podcast. I’ll give you a bit of a heads up: you’re in for a wild ride with this one. Barry is an ebullient storyteller with an encyclopedic knowledge of just about everything, whether it be behavioral economics or science fiction literature. Ideas ding and flash around like a pinball. His breadth of knowledge an...
Sep 03, 2020•1 hr 8 min
You’ve probably been giving your team the wrong criticism. This is the Founder Wisdom. Where we’ll answer that question by distilling advice from our founders and the books they recommend. I asked MasterClass founder David Rogier what book I should read if I’m trying to manage people more effectively. He recommended “The Man Who Lied to His Laptop" by Clifford Nas. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Aug 29, 2020•5 min
Today on the show we talk to Sheera Goren, founder of Zygo. Zygo is the first underwater headset for streaming audio and live communication. I swam competitively for 15 years and always joked to my friends that swimming was the most boring sport imaginable. For hours on hours all I did was swim back and forth on the same stretch of pool looking at the black line below. But Zygo is bringing a little more fun to a sport that is too often dismissed as a monotonous activity for the old and frail...a...
Aug 27, 2020•43 min
Today on the show we talk to David Rogier, founder of Masterclass. Maybe you’ve seen the ads? Masterclass is an online platform where you can learn directing from Martin Scorsese, basketball from Steph Curry, singing from Christina Aguilera and everything in between from luminaries in their fields. Its founder, much like its intended audience, is an avid self learner who values education above all else. Education is David’s way of putting himself in the driver’s seat of his life. But as a kid, i...
Aug 20, 2020•51 min
Today we’re traveling to Germany to talk to Patrick Nathen, co-founder of the German aviation company Lilium. The company has won numerous awards and raised hundreds of millions in investment for an idea that at first seemed laughably unimaginable: flying taxis. While this may seem more in line with the fantasies told to WWII vets and the imaginary world envisioned on the Jetsons, Patrick and his team have proved that these innovations are closer than you’d think. Oh also, Elon Musk is a fan, bu...
Aug 13, 2020•47 min
Today on the show we talk to Dylan Jacob, founder of Brumate, a unique drinkware company to insulate alcoholic beverages. Dylan has brought in more than 50 million dollars and won Ernst & Young’s 2019 Entrepreneur of the year award. Initially, I thought, “How does a glorified beer koozie rack in tens of millions of dollars?” But in talking to Dylan I soon found a driven individual that is passionate about solving problems, has an incredible attention to detail, and a laser focus. Ever since ...
Aug 06, 2020•1 hr 18 min
Today on the show we talk to Sam Bakhtiar, doctor, author, podcaster, and bodybuilder extraordinaire. Sam is the founder of The Camp Transformation Center, which now has over 100 locations nationwide. The Camp is a radically different kind of gym; it pieces together components that catalyze weight loss and fitness goals, from community support and group training to health and nutrition. He’s dedicated his entire life to the art of bodybuilding, working his muscles in the gym and his mind in the ...
Jul 30, 2020•54 min
Jeremy Greene is no stranger to hard work. Growing up with an alcoholic single mom, Jeremey fought for himself for as long as he can remember. But it wasn’t until he discovered music that Jeremey found something to devote all of this hard-working energy to. Over time, he would soar to incredible heights of success, all to come crashing back down. His ego would follow these waves, as a flashy facade hid the lonely boy desperate to find some connection. These days, Jeremey heads Mojichat, a compan...
Jul 23, 2020•35 min
Today on the show we are doing something a little meta. I’m a podcaster who interviews entrepreneurs, and today I’m interviewing Casey Adams. I met Casey at an entrepreneurial run club in West Hollywood, shoutout to Grand AC, and learned that he’s an entrepreneurial podcaster who interviews entrepreneurs. Yes the interviewer has become the interviewee. The audio quality will be a bit different this episode as Casey will soon explain. We decided to proceed with the interview sans-mic, but Casey A...
Jul 16, 2020•1 hr 1 min
This is part 2 of the story of Chris Do, founder and CEO of The Futur. It may seem presumptive of Chris to name himself CEO of your future. But for so many, Chris may have at least some claim to the title. The Futur is an online education platform, dedicated to the mission of teaching one billion people how to be successful in a career they love. All too often, we segment professionals into those that utilize the right brain or use left brain. Artists and business people mix like oil and water, ...
Jul 09, 2020•33 min
This is part 1 of the story of Chris Do, founder and CEO of The Futur. It may seem presumptive of Chris to name himself CEO of your future. But for so many, Chris may have at least some claim to the title. The Futur is an online education platform, dedicated to the mission of teaching one billion people how to be successful in a career they love. All too often, we segment professionals into those that utilize the right brain or use left brain. Artists and business people mix like oil and water, ...
Jul 09, 2020•23 min
Today we’re talking to Ben Taft, co-founder of Mira Labs, a smartphone powered augmented reality company. But before your mind starts to wander to a Black Mirror-esque dystopia, let me extrapolate. Mira builds cost-effective technology solutions to improve everyday business functions. This technology is helping businesses right now overcome distance and circumstance. Workers that deal with complex engine assembly or navigate the depths of hazardous mine shafts, now can have remote experts direct...
Jul 02, 2020•42 min
So this episode is different from what we usually put out. It’s a live virtual summit on the Secrets of TikTok. It won’t have voiceover, music, or sound effects like our other episodes… but it should be pretty informative. Also if you are new here, I’d recommend listening to our recent episodes on Mac Davis and Immortality... some crazy stories in there! Anyway, we spent a few months prepping for this event and we gathered together a highly qualified group panelists to speak to our audience. The...
Jun 25, 2020•1 hr 51 min
Today we’re talking to Jinny Oh, founder of WANDR, spelled W-A-N-D-R, a product strategy and user interface design firm. Post Corona, working remotely is the norm for many of us, but Jinny was doing it before it was cool and a public health necessity. Bitten by the travel bug in her teenage years, she dreamt of traveling the world while doing what she loved. She’s achieved that dream, and while the firm is supposedly based in Los Angeles (according to its google address), her employees work all ...
Jun 18, 2020•45 min
We're back for part 2 of the Mac Davis' quest for immortality! (If you haven't listened to part 1 there are links below). In the second half of the episode we'll cover a near death explosion, revolutionary discoveries, mysterious deaths, incredible experiments, and the founding of a successful company: Minicircle. Listen to Part 1 Apple Podcasts Spotify Anchor --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Jun 11, 2020•49 min
Today on the show we talk to Mac Davis, founder of Minicircle, a company that aims to extend the length and quality of human life through gene therapy. Mac has an incredible story that starts out on a small island with a lone computer connected to the internet. From there he navigated through the dark underbelly of the web, unraveling its secrets which ultimately led him to a small fortune in bitcoin. That was just the beginning, Mac traveled the world seeking leaders in philosophy, came within ...
Jun 04, 2020•38 min
We started the episode a bit differently today, so hopefully you didn’t cringe too hard at my Jony Ive impersonation, but we wanted to set a particular framework for this episode. Today we’re talking to Roger Volodarsky, founder of Puffco, a company that creates the best cannabis concentrate vaporizers on the market. They pay particularly close attention to design, and basically it looks like if Apple made bongs. This attention to detail might seem ridiculous to the uninitiated, but as we tell R...
May 28, 2020•45 min
Today on the show we talk to Luciano Mazza, an international architect, and designer of H club in LA. The H.Club started as the brainchild of Paul Allen, global philanthropist and co-founder of a little company called Microsoft, and musician Dave Stewart. But Luciano, who’s been an architectural entrepreneur for the past couple decades, brought that idea to reality. Luciano currently is director of Hospitality Architecture at HKS Inc. in London, and his experience designing hotels and luxury res...
May 21, 2020•29 min
Usually, we interview an inspirational entrepreneur, but today we decided to break down User Generated Content, or UGC. It was brought up briefly on our episode with Jonathan Skogmo, founder of Jukin, and with Kevin Ramsey founder of Warren James, but UGC has a long rich history that continues to impact us today. Every day people post billions of pictures and videos of failures, triumphs, and all of life's most spectacular and ridiculously mundane moments. If you have ever posted a personal vide...
May 14, 2020•8 min
Today on the show we talk to Kevin Ramsey, founder of Warren James, a custom merchandising firm that specializes in the content creator ecosystem. I just threw a lot of words at you there so let me break down what we’re actually looking at here. A decade ago when people heard the term content creator, they thought of a bunch of teens with crappy webcams recording vlogs in their room for YouTube. Now, those teens are all grown up and have developed themselves into some of the most recognizable br...
May 07, 2020•26 min
The story of how Milt Larsen turned a century-old mansion into a world-famous, Hollywood cultural icon that brings magic lovers and magicians together form across the world. Countless celebrities have performed at the castle including Orson Welles, Johnny Carson, Steve Martin, Neil Patrick Harris, and many more. Together we'll dive into Milt's magical childhood, how he came to notoriety, and how the Magic Castle continues to stand as a pillar of the magical community to this day. --- Support thi...
Apr 30, 2020•31 min
This past Monday we held a Virtual Summit with Dalton Combs on the Future of Artificial Intelligence. We talked about the history of A.I., how it can massively improve our lives, and how it also might kill us! Don’t worry if you missed it because you can hear the full live event right now. If you don’t want to miss the next live event and the opportunity to interact directly with our community of founders go to our website, findingfounderspodcast.com , and subscribe to our newsletter, trust me… ...
Apr 25, 2020•1 hr 6 min
Today on the show we talk to Jonathan Skogmo. He’s the founder of Jukin which is an innovative media company that focuses on user-generated content. What is user-generated content? Well, it’s stuff like a video of a mom laughing hysterically while wearing a Chewbacca mask. That video is known as Chewbacca mom and the original video alone received over 140 million views. In fact, the video became so popular that this Chewbacca mask completely sold out around the world. Although the Chewbacca mom,...
Apr 20, 2020•42 min
Today we talk to Hollis Carter, co-founder of The Baby Bathwater Institute. Alright, I’m going to give you guys a second to close your eyes and listen to that name one more time: Baby Bathwater. Without restricting that creative mind of yours, try and guess what his company does. Alright, ready? If you guessed it was a group that hosts outdoor networking conferences with healthy food, unlimited booze, outdoor activities, and live music, then you are kinda close. Hollis would probably rephrase th...
Apr 09, 2020•37 min
