Whisper Ideas
If you ever find yourself whispering your startup idea at a coffee shop, this podcast is for you. We dig in on what a good startup idea actually looks like and how to find the right idea for you.
Oct 15, 2020•12 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Idea to Startup
A podcast for people working on startup ideas. We have 15-minute tactical episodes and occasional interviews with people who did the early things exceptionally well. We've helped launch hundreds of startups worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and these are the building blocks.
"This is, without a doubt, the best podcast for people trying to build startups out there."
"If you aren't listening to this podcast and you're considering building a business (or you're already building one), what are you doing?"
"Must listen for first-time entrepreneurs - excellent storyteller."
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Episodes
How to test a startup idea in 7 minutes
You’ve got startup ideas. You want to pursue them. You want to take them seriously. But what, exactly, does that mean? This episode dives into what it looks like to take your startup idea seriously. How to give it a fair shake and see if it’s worth investing some time into. We use an example of a Jackfruit company that’s out to make Jackfruit the plant-based alternative for people removing meat from their diet everywhere. Leadpages Unbounce Otter.ai...
Oct 08, 2020•18 min•Season 3Ep. 2
How to get a customer to choose you (and bagels)”
On the first episode of season 3 we talk through the paradox of choice, how to facilitate decisions in your customers, how to build a brand, and bagels. We touch on Dan Ariely’s book Predictably Irrational, digging in on how architecting the environment for your customers will drastically increase your chances at conversion. We also talk about the two bagel shops that were next to each other in NYC, and why each wound up with a far stronger brand because the other existed.
Sep 30, 2020•15 min•Season 3Ep. 1
INTERVIEW: Daina Trout on building Health-Ade from a kombucha-making operation in her kitchen to one of the fastest growing beverage brands in the U.S.
Health Ade
May 20, 2020•53 min•Season 2Ep. 16
How to lose $1.8 billion dollars in 10 days
Quibi Tacklebox Virtual Cohort 23 starts June 15th, apply at www.gettacklebox.com
May 13, 2020•24 min•Season 2Ep. 15
INTERVIEW: Jennifer Goggin on building Startle, a tech studio that bridges the gap between research and impactful companies.
Startle
Apr 16, 2020•50 min•Season 2Ep. 14
INTERVIEW: Marc and Ashley Merrill on building Riot Games and Lunya, the role of a leader during times of uncertainty, and their perspectives on how to build a business.
League of Legends Riot Games Lunya Lahgo Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
Apr 08, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Season 2Ep. 13
INTERVIEW: Christoph Bertsch on building Vejo (and multiple other startups) and how to manage the long-game of entrepreneurship.
Christoph Bertsch, founder of Vejo among multiple other startups, stops by in what is one of my favorite conversations yet. He talks through what it really takes to start a company, the differences between b2b and b2c, fundraising vs. not, supply chain management, and team building. This is a wonderful, fun conversation that'll brighten your day. Heads up for some curses - they flow pretty freely from Christoph :)
Mar 25, 2020•40 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Ladders and Lobsters
"Chaos isn't a pit, chaos is a ladder." Coronavirus is an inflection point that will change all sorts of behavior and create all sorts of opportunity for startups. This podcast looks at the opportunities that'll be created and how you should approach them within the startup world.
Mar 18, 2020•14 min•Season 2Ep. 11
INTERVIEW: Agatha Kulaga on building Ovenly, turning your creative outlet into a scalable business, and baking the best cookies I've ever tasted.
Agatha Kulaga - co-founder of Ovenly, an award-winning retail and wholesale bakery with a global footprint - stops by to talk through the early days. How do you turn your creative outlet into a business? How do you scale high quality? How do you build a distinct brand as a wholesaler? A great conversation with a very smart and talented founder.
Mar 11, 2020•56 min•Season 2Ep. 10
How to Evaluate a Startup Idea
What should it look like when you have a startup idea? What do you do first? How do you know if it's a good idea for you? We go through seven archetypes of innovation, then go through a framework to understand if you're uniquely positioned to pursue that idea. We then apply it all to a startup idea Brian has. This is the first of a few episodes testing out an idea Brian has in the food space.
Mar 04, 2020•16 min•Season 2Ep. 9
INTERVIEW: Brian Linton on building United By Blue, removing millions of pounds of trash from the ocean, and scaling a purpose-driven brand.
Brian Linton, founder of outdoor apparel and accessory brand United By Blue , stops by to tell the story of how he built a purpose-driven brand that's removed over 2 million pounds of trash from the ocean. He talks through the earliest days - how driving up and down the east coast selling t-shirts gave him the foundation to build an omni-channel brand - and the tradeoffs necessary to build a profitable brand that also has a clear philanthropic North Star....
Feb 26, 2020•52 min•Season 2Ep. 8
The Selfish Score: How to build a great customer acquisition funnel
To build a great company, you need to build a healthy customer acquisition funnel. You need a consistent flow of customers coming in the top, tactics to keep them engaged as you build your brand and story, and urgency to get them to pull the trigger. The way to measure how effective your company can be at this is to measure how selfish you can be with your customers. How often can you contact them before they get pissed? The Selfish Score measures the potential for your company to have a solid g...
Feb 19, 2020•17 min•Season 2Ep. 7
INTERVIEW: Rob Petrozzo on building Rally Rd, how to test startup ideas before you quit your job, storytelling, leveraging personas for brand and marketing, raising money, and differentiation.
Rob Petrozzo, co-founder of Rally Rd, stops by for an awesome interview that at it's core is about storytelling. Rally Rd is growing incredibly fast, but the early days were tougher to navigate. Rob talks through how building storytelling into the DNA of the product laid the groundwork for future growth, and how early stage founders can do the same. We touch on personas, customer segmentation, fundraising, growth, team building and composition, design, and more. Enjoy!
Feb 12, 2020•58 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Two mental models that'll make or break your startup + a mystery company that can't stop growing because of them
There's a mystery company that is one of the 10 best performing stocks since 2010. You've heard of them. You've eaten (hint) their product. You'd never in a million years guess who they are. They've grown because of two mental models, and we break down how you can leverage them for your startup.
Feb 05, 2020•13 min•Season 2Ep. 5
INTERVIEW: Ashley Merrill on building Lunya, the beauty of capital-constrained businesses, true differentiation, and self-doubt
Ashley Merrill, the founder of premium sleepwear brand Lunya, stops by and delivers a masterclass on how to build a brand in the DTC era. She talks about the earliest days, about what differentiation in a crowded space really looks like, about pricing and business model, brick and mortar, focus and prioritization, and self-doubt. If you're a startup founder interested in brand, or trying to start a DTC company, get a notebook ready. This is packed with insight.
Jan 29, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 4
The Secret Formula to Hot Ones' Success
Hot Ones is a show on Youtube that you've probably heard of. A host interviews guests while they each eat 10 progressively hotter hot wings. The growth is preposterous - episodes routinely get over 10 million views. Hot Ones structure is brilliant - it creates and drives the growth - and it's something you can (and better) implement in your startup.
Jan 22, 2020•17 min•Season 2Ep. 3
INTERVIEW: Marc Merrill on building Riot Games (League of Legends), prioritization frameworks, and focused growth
Marc Merrill, founder of Riot Games, joins the podcast to talk about building League of Legends into a cultural phenomenon (with over $20bn in revenue). We discuss the early days - how he built a complex product for customers with high expectations, fundraising, managing people, growth, prioritization, and more. It's an amazing conversation with one of the sharpest and most thoughtful people I've met. Enjoy!
Jan 15, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Season 2Ep. 2
You Should Start a Startup in 2020
Fewer new businesses were started in 2019 than in 1970. That's terrible. We look at the two cognitive biases holding you back, and lay out a framework to help you overcome them and start your startup.
Jan 08, 2020•17 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Idea to Startup Season 2: Build Your Startup in 2020
Fewer companies were started in 2019 than in 1970. That’s preposterous. This is the single best time in human history to start a company - so why aren’t more people doing it? Season Two of Idea to Startup digs into why. Brian speaks with successful founders about how they navigated the tricky early stages, and delivers solo episodes on tactics founders can implement to start something in 2020. This is the year to start your company, and this is the podcast to help you do it. See you January 8th....
Dec 16, 2019•3 min•Season 2Ep. 15
INTERVIEW: Dave Idell on building Croissant, a flexible coworking company competing with giants.
Dave Idell is the founder of Croissant, a flexible coworking company beloved by freelancers and entrepreneurs around the world. We talk about the early days - how he tested the idea, how they grew with some counter-intuitive and aggressive decisions, and how he thinks about growth. We also talk through his thoughts on early stage founders and the stuff they should nail down early. Enjoy!
Aug 22, 2019•46 min•Season 1Ep. 14
INTERVIEW: Rich Fulop on Building Brooklinen, the Internet’s Favorite Sheets
Rich and Vicki Fulop built Brooklinen after realizing there wasn’t an easy way to find and buy high quality sheets. There were no strong brands, no transparency into manufacturing - nothing they valued in a product. This interview is about how two founders turned that core insight and little else (no textile background, no knowledge of the bedding industry, etc.) into a global brand and the sheets I happily sleep on every night (and would whether Rich came on the podcast or not). Hope you enjoy!...
Aug 08, 2019•43 min•Season 1Ep. 13
How to Leverage Storytelling Archetypes for Your Startup
People probably won’t remember your startup, but they’ll remember a story. Today we lean on Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling to help you tell a story that breaks through to your customer and changes behavior.
Jul 31, 2019•16 min•Season 1Ep. 12
INTERVIEW: Kim Kaupe on Building Superfan with No Funding
Today, we’re speaking with Kim Kaupe, the founder of Superfan. Superfan was built to give fans unparalleled opportunity for engagement. Superfan works with clients like the Red Sox, Shawn Mendes, Carrie Underwood, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Buffett, and way more. Kim has built Superfan over the past eight years with $0 in funding. Additionally, she’s built a powerful personal brand that has her LinkedIn startup videos amassing 10s of thousands of views, and has placed her on all sorts of 30 under 30 ...
Jul 03, 2019•54 min•Season 1Ep. 11
INTERVIEW: Leo and Oliver Kremer on Building a Burrito Empire at Dos Toros
Today, we’re talking burritos. Leo and Oliver Kremer founded Dos Toros in 2009 because they couldn’t find the Mission-style burritos they grew up with on the west coast anywhere in NYC. However, they weren’t cooks and had never been in the restaurant or food space. We talk to them about the early days - about validating the need, creating the supply chain, getting into brick and mortar, creating a culture, and growth. It’s an awesome, helpful, and inspiring conversation. Enjoy!
Jun 20, 2019•53 min•Season 1Ep. 10
How Do You Find Founder/Startup Fit?
You need two things to build a great startup: specific knowledge and a lever to amplify that knowledge. On today’s pod, we’ll start a CBD startup with specific knowledge and leverage mind, and hear how Tejas, founder of Via, (a Tacklebox founder) was able to build a great business on the back of a mental model.
Jun 12, 2019•17 min•Season 1Ep. 9
INTERVIEW: Elizabeth Yin, founder & GP @ Hustle Fund, where they invest in “hilariously early founders”
Elizabeth Yin is a founder and general partner at Hustle Fund, where she invests in “hilariously early founders.” Prior to Hustle Fund, she ran the accelerator program at 500 Startups, started Launchbit (acq. 2014), and she writes my favorite VC blog @ http://elizabethyin.com . We cover a lot of ground, including who should and shouldn’t raise funding, how to build a customer base pre-product, how to find angel investors, and how to prioritize during the early stages of your startup....
Jun 05, 2019•48 min•Season 1Ep. 8
How to Prioritize as an Early-Stage Startup
Entrepreneurs can do anything, but they can’t do everything. How do you prioritize early on? How do you differentiate? This episode presents a framework that’ll ensure you work on the things that give your startup its best chance at success.
May 31, 2019•23 min•Season 1Ep. 7
INTERVIEW: Ben Conniff on Building Luke’s Lobster
Ben and Luke, the founders of Luke's Lobster, knew how to make a killer lobster roll when they decided to start Luke’s Lobster, a lobster shack in the East Village in 2009. They didn’t know much else. Ben talks through how they were able to build an incredible company with locations all over the globe while keeping sustainability as a top priority. We focus on the early days, discussing tactics and learnings that will be extraordinarily helpful for our early stage founders.
May 22, 2019•49 min•Season 1Ep. 6
How to Choose the Right Customer
There’s one decision that early stage founders make that can drastically tip the tables in their favor. This is a tactical episode, helping you push through the critical question of what customer segment to target first. We delve into a framework to help you identify and evaluate customer segments as your startup evolves.
May 16, 2019•18 min•Season 1Ep. 5
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