Startup Stories - Mixergy

I’m excited to talk to the entrepreneur I have here today. In a world of AI and VR and web3, there is room for simple, offline business that are still innovating in the physical world. That’s the story behind PODS and it’s newer incarnation Red River. Today I welcome Peter Warhurst, the founder of both of these companies. Peter Warhurst is the founder of PODS and Red Rover, moving and storage solutions that are more affordable and convenient than traditional options. Sponsored byOrigami – If you’ve heard about DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and you want to find out how to set one up for yourself, go to JoinOrigami.com. Even if you’re just interested in how these things work and want to learn more, the Origami blog is a great place to start. Lemon.io – Why squander time and money on developers who aren’t perfect for your startup? Let Lemon match you with engineers that can transform your vision into reality — diabolically fast. Go to Lemon.io/mixergy for a 15% discount on your first 4 weeks with one of their devs. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Arnaud Castillo got $1.5 million in prepayments from customers who think he found a way to make accurate predictions about financial markets…the weather…venture capital…and anything. Arnaud created CrunchDAO, which holds online tournaments in which data analysts compete to see who can create the best predictive models. Skeptical? He might remind you of the Netflix Prize, the $1 million tournament in which a team of outsiders improved Netflix’s recommendation algorithm by 10.05%, or his entrepreneurial track of proving skeptics wrong. Arnaud Castillo is the founder of CrunchDAO, which is building the future of asset management. Sponsored byOrigami – If you’ve heard about DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and you want to find out how to set one up for yourself, go to JoinOrigami.com. Even if you’re just interested in how these things work and want to learn more, the Origami blog is a great place to start. Lemon.io – Why squander time and money on developers who aren’t perfect for your startup? Let Lemon match you with engineers that can transform your vision into reality — diabolically fast. Go to Lemon.io/mixergy for a 15% discount on your first 4 weeks with one of their devs. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Joining me is Seth Godin, one of the first entrepreneurs I interviewed back in 2008. He is a marketing legend and author of multiple books. He’s coined phrases that have become parlance for startup founders today and he’s back on Mixergy with a forthcoming book about leadership. Some of the concepts are non-obvious but some of them seemed obvious to me–I wanted to ask him why he included them and find out what I’m missing. Seth Godin is a dot com legend and author of 20 bestselling books. Sponsored byOrigami – If you’ve heard about DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and you want to find out how to set one up for yourself, go to JoinOrigami.com. Even if you’re just interested in how these things work and want to learn more, the Origami blog is a great place to start. Lemon.io – Why squander time and money on developers who aren’t perfect for your startup? Let Lemon match you with engineers that can transform your vision into reality — diabolically fast. Go to Lemon.io/mixergy for a 15% discount on your first 4 weeks with one of their devs. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Joining me for a repeat visit is Derek Flanzraich. Last time I talked to him he was running the content site Greatest. Greatest was all about health and Derek became like a guru to my friends who were in the content space. He built it up, he sold it, and I kind of lost track of him. Today he’s launching a new credit card. It’s a big swing. It’s called Ness. It’s gonna give people all kinds of health benefits. We’re going to find out what happened with the Greatest exit and why he’s taking such a big risk with this next company. Derek Flanzraich is building Ness, a health-first credit card company. Sponsored byOrigami – If you’ve heard about DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and you want to find out how to set one up for yourself, go to JoinOrigami.com. Even if you’re just interested in how these things work and want to learn more, the Origami blog is a great place to start. Lemon.io – Why squander time and money on developers who aren’t perfect for your startup? Let Lemon match you with engineers that can transform your vision into reality — diabolically fast. Go to Lemon.io/mixergy for a 15% discount on your first 4 weeks with one of their devs. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Joining me is a friend whose businesses I have grown to appreciate so much more over the years. He’s recently written about the experience of building a profitable businesses while prioritizing family. The book is The Family First Entrepreneur. I’ll ask him about that and his businesses in this interview. Steve Chou is an entrepreneur and author of The Family First Entrepreneur. Sponsored byOrigami – If you’ve heard about DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and you want to find out how to set one up for yourself, go to JoinOrigami.com. Even if you’re just interested in how these things work and want to learn more, the Origami blog is a great place to start. Lemon.io – Why squander time and money on developers who aren’t perfect for your startup? Let Lemon match you with engineers that can transform your vision into reality — diabolically fast. Go to Lemon.io/mixergy for a 15% discount on your first 4 weeks with one of their devs. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

When I talk to entrepreneurs, they talk about how they use data but I think for a lot of people, looking at analytics is just not something they want to do. It’s much easier to focus on customer support or new product features. That’s why I’m happy to have today’s guest on the podcast.  Amit Prakash is the co-founder of ThoughtSpot, an AI powered analytics company. They help users make the most of their data. Amit Prakash is the co-founder of ThoughtSpot, AI-Powered Analytics. Sponsored byOrigami – If you’ve heard about DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and you want to find out how to set one up for yourself, go to JoinOrigami.com. Even if you’re just interested in how these things work and want to learn more, the Origami blog is a great place to start. Lemon.io – Why squander time and money on developers who aren’t perfect for your startup? Let Lemon match you with engineers that can transform your vision into reality — diabolically fast. Go to Lemon.io/mixergy for a 15% discount on your first 4 weeks with one of their devs. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

I was super excited to talk to today’s guest because he is the founder of Clearbit, a software that would magically take an email address and then tell you about the person behind the email address. I didn’t expect to talk about his new company but shocked to find out how powerful and big it’s gotten already. Alex MacCaw is the founder of Clearbit and Reflect, which helps users keep track of thoughts, books, and meetings. Alex MacCaw is the founder of Clearbit and Reflect, which helps users keep track of thoughts, books, and meetings. Sponsored byOrigami – If you’ve heard about DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and you want to find out how to set one up for yourself, go to JoinOrigami.com. Even if you’re just interested in how these things work and want to learn more, the Origami blog is a great place to start. Lemon.io – Why squander time and money on developers who aren’t perfect for your startup? Let Lemon match you with engineers that can transform your vision into reality — diabolically fast. Go to Lemon.io/mixergy for a 15% discount on your first 4 weeks with one of their devs. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Joining me is somebody who has pivoted so freaking much that my notes were out of date just after a few months. I admire how he’s been able to adjust and pivot and keep growing his business and today he’s got a success. Shane Kovalsky is the founder of Glue. It is end-to-end employee engagement and connection platform for distributed teams. I don’t freaking know what that even means. We’ll find out in this interview. Shane Kovalsky is the founder of Glue, an end-to-end employee engagement and connection platform for distributed teams. Sponsored byOrigami – If you’ve heard about DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and you want to find out how to set one up for yourself, go to JoinOrigami.com. Even if you’re just interested in how these things work and want to learn more, the Origami blog is a great place to start. Lemon.io – Why squander time and money on developers who aren’t perfect for your startup? Let Lemon match you with engineers that can transform your vision into reality — diabolically fast. Go to Lemon.io/mixergy for a 15% discount on your first 4 weeks with one of their devs. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Many of the people who I’ve interviewed were lifelong entrepreneurs. They sold things as kids or had lawn mowing services. But joining me today is someone who went a different path. He’s a scientist who got a great job, made his parents proud, and then decided to become an entrepreneur. He built something that he thought was incredible, but the people didn’t seem to see his full vision. But he didn’t let that stop him. Josep Solá is the co-founder of Aktiia, a continuous blood pressure monitor. I invited him here to find out why he did this, how well it’s doing, and how he thinks this can change the world. Josep Solá is the co-founder of Aktiia, a continuous blood pressure monitor. Sponsored byOrigami – If you’ve heard about DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and you want to find out how to set one up for yourself, go to JoinOrigami.com. Even if you’re just interested in how these things work and want to learn more, the Origami blog is a great place to start. Lemon.io – Why squander time and money on developers who aren’t perfect for your startup? Let Lemon match you with engineers that can transform your vision into reality — diabolically fast. Go to Lemon.io/mixergy for a 15% discount on your first 4 weeks with one of their devs. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

If you’re in SaaS, you know that you get revenue on an ongoing basis, which is really nice. But maybe you’ve been afraid to go into physical goods because you don’t get that kind of business model where you have a consistent set of revenue that comes in month after month. Well, joining me is a guest who said, “It doesn’t have to be that way. Physical products can be sold on subscription or recurring basis.” Dileepan Siva is the founder of Upscribe. They enable Shopify stores to have recurring revenue. I invited him here to talk about how to do it. Dileepan Siva is the founder of Upscribe, subscription software for fast-growing eCommerce brands. Sponsored byOrigami – If you’ve heard about DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and you want to find out how to set one up for yourself, go to JoinOrigami.com. Even if you’re just interested in how these things work and want to learn more, the Origami blog is a great place to start. Lemon.io – Why squander time and money on developers who aren’t perfect for your startup? Let Lemon match you with engineers that can transform your vision into reality — diabolically fast. Go to Lemon.io/mixergy for a 15% discount on your first 4 weeks with one of their devs. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Joining me today is someone with multiple exits on his record. I thought his story was success, success, success but turns out that there was one big setback in there that knocked it all out and put him in the hole for a million dollars. He came out of it with his latest business, which he recently sold for just shy of $70 millions. Travis Steffen is the founder of multiple companies including GrowFlow, a B2B SaaS serving licensed cannabis businesses. Travis Steffen is the founder of GrowFlow, a B2B SaaS serving licensed cannabis businesses. Sponsored byOrigami – If you’ve heard about DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and you want to find out how to set one up for yourself, go to JoinOrigami.com. Even if you’re just interested in how these things work and want to learn more, the Origami blog is a great place to start. Lemon.io – Why squander time and money on developers who aren’t perfect for your startup? Let Lemon match you with engineers that can transform your vision into reality — diabolically fast. Go to Lemon.io/mixergy for a 15% discount on your first 4 weeks with one of their devs. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

I thought today’s guest was making a mistake by getting into podcast hosting. I thought, why does the world need another one of these platforms? I was wrong. Find out why in this interview. Justin Jackson is the founder of Transistor, podcast hosting and analytics. Justin Jackson is the founder of Transistor, podcast hosting and analytics. Sponsored byOrigami – If you’ve heard about DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and you want to find out how to set one up for yourself, go to JoinOrigami.com. Even if you’re just interested in how these things work and want to learn more, the Origami blog is a great place to start. Lemon.io – Why squander time and money on developers who aren’t perfect for your startup? Let Lemon match you with engineers that can transform your vision into reality — diabolically fast. Go to Lemon.io/mixergy for a 15% discount on your first 4 weeks with one of their devs. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Today’s guest is a systems guy. He founded Leverage, a growth agency that also does operations, which means they do all the stuff that you think about for growth– SEO, paid social, et cetera. But they also help teams organize their Slack channels, their CRMs, and even get to Inbox Zero. I invited him here to talk about how he systemizes and how he does this for clients. He also has a book on this topic. It’s called Come Up for Air: How Teams Can Leverage Systems and Tools to Stop Drowning in Work.     Nick Sonnenberg is the founder of Leverage, an operational efficiency consultancy that is reinventing the way work gets done. Sponsored byOrigami – If you’ve heard about DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and you want to find out how to set one up for yourself, go to JoinOrigami.com. Even if you’re just interested in how these things work and want to learn more, the Origami blog is a great place to start. Lemon.io – Why squander time and money on developers who aren’t perfect for your startup? Let Lemon match you with engineers that can transform your vision into reality — diabolically fast. Go to Lemon.io/mixergy for a 15% discount on your first 4 weeks with one of their devs. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Linden Tibbets is the founder of IFTTT, which runs online digital automation platforms it offers as a service. It makes all your tools more powerful by creating automations between them. I want to find out how he built it and how to get the most out of automation. Linden Tibbets is the founder of IFTTT, which runs online digital automation platforms it offers as a service. Sponsored byOrigami – If you’ve heard about DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and you want to find out how to set one up for yourself, go to JoinOrigami.com. Even if you’re just interested in how these things work and want to learn more, the Origami blog is a great place to start. Lemon.io – Why squander time and money on developers who aren’t perfect for your startup? Let Lemon match you with engineers that can transform your vision into reality — diabolically fast. Go to Lemon.io/mixergy for a 15% discount on your first 4 weeks with one of their devs. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

Usually I interview software founders but today’s guest created an in-person experience. Erik Anderson is the founder of Scissors and Scotch. It’s basically a 1920s style barbershop, modernized with a cocktail bar in it. I just discovered it here in Austin and so I invited him here because I’m fascinated by how the business has grown. Erik Anderson is the co-founder of Scissors and Scotch, a barbershop chain. Sponsored byOrigami – If you’ve heard about DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) and you want to find out how to set one up for yourself, go to JoinOrigami.com. Even if you’re just interested in how these things work and want to learn more, the Origami blog is a great place to start. Lemon.io – Why squander time and money on developers who aren’t perfect for your startup? Let Lemon match you with engineers that can transform your vision into reality — diabolically fast. Go to Lemon.io/mixergy for a 15% discount on your first 4 weeks with one of their devs. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint