Ramon is a Dutch immigrant who dropped out of high school before finding an entrepreneurial path. 

Most recently he acquired a DTC dog ramp business (Alpha Paw) for $300k + which he's grown to $35mil+ in sales.

Previously, he grew a soap opera blog to 30mil+ monthly pageviews before selling it for $9mil.

In this conversation you'll learn:

– why buy vs build
– buying a company with little money down
– growth levers to ramp up a DTC ecom business
– growing through paid acquisition, influencers, whitelisting, seo + affiliates 
– creating a healthy channel mix + managing platform risk
– benefits of in-house vs 3rd party logistics

Watch + Subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/2DzHRUyI28Q

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Snippet
• 0:02:27 - Intro + Selling $35mil Worth Of DTC Dog Ramps
• 0:04:07 - Highschool dropout, business philosophy + 10 figure exit
• 0:13:04 - Finding Direction
• 0:16:01 - Finding A Buying An Existing Problem
• 0:21:35 - Pet Industry
• 0:23:15 - Finding A Good Business To Buy
• 0:29:44 - 3PL vs In-House
• 0:40:02 - Growth Levers To Look Out For When Buying
• 0:49:23 - Smart Due Diligence
• 0:52:18 - What To Look For In Google Analytics
• 0:55:37 - Amazon vs Shopify Split
• 0:58:40 - Paid Acquisition, Apple Update + Platform Risk
• 1:07:20 - Budget Allocation + Testing Channels
• 1:10:17 - Working With Affiliates
• 1:13:19 - Working With Influencers
• 1:18:23 - When You Should Work With An Agency
• 1:21:27 - Whitelisting Strategy
• 1:24:05 - Partnering With Investors + Funding An Acquisition

Ramon's original thread:
https://twitter.com/ramonvanmeer/status/1448022919901335552?s=20

Thank you to our sponsors:

AppSumo - the marketplace entrepreneurs trust to buy and sell the products that grow small businesses into name brands:
https://social.appsumo.com/creatorlab

Nord VPN:

Grab NordVPN’s Cyber Month Deal. Go to nordvpn.com/clab or use code CLAB to get up to 73% off your NordVPN Plan + a bonus gift

In this conversation, we explore:

• Eric's approach to writing a book entirely made up of Naval's words
• philosophy around wealth + happiness
• eastern vs western approaches
• permissionless leverage + ownership
• why desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy
• freedom to vs freedom from

Watch the full episode on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/J7j-5sgDkxQ

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Snippet
• 0:01:50 - Intro + Figuring Out Transitions
• 0:08:54 - Who Is Naval Ravikant?
• 0:15:08 - Unique Approach To Writing This Book
• 0:21:08 - Process Of Writing A Book
• 0:30:17 - Not Letting The Tools Get In The Way
• 0:33:12 - 80/20 Of Naval’s Philosophy on Wealth + Happiness
• 0:39:36 - The Older The Problem, The Older The Solution
• 0:41:10 - Eastern + Sufi Philosophy, Imam Ali + Nahj al-Balagha
• 0:45:06 - Western vs Eastern Philosophy - Meditation Example
• 0:46:49 - Seek Wealth, Not Money or Status
• 0:51:59 - Ownership, Wage Work + “Do not fear work that has no end”
• 0:55:51 - Types of Leverage
• 1:00:17 - Sponsor Break - Nord VPN
• 1:01:20 - Permissionless Leverage, Gatekeepers + DeFi
• 1:12:33 - Creative Work For Its Own Sake
• 1:14:33 - A Year To Decide, And A Day of Acting
• 1:18:58 - Antigoals + Sacrificing Today For An Imaginary Tomorrow
• 1:25:49 - Background on Creator Lab
• 1:27:48 - Buddha Was A Prince
• 1:32:56 - FIRE Community + Knowing How Much Is Enough?
• 1:40:43 - Direction vs Speed
• 1:44:10 - Happiness = Not Suffering
• 1:49:19 - Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy
• 1:56:38 - Losing Motivation + Hunger
• 1:59:47 - Happiness is peace in motion, and peace is happiness at rest
• 2:03:07 - Healing Old Wounds
• 2:05:38 - Freedom To vs Freedom From

Thank you to my sponsors:

AppSumo - the marketplace entrepreneurs trust to buy and sell the products that grow small businesses into name brands:
https://www.appsumo.com

Nord VPN - https://nordvpn.com/clab 
Coupon code: CLAB

Bilal breaks down the secret sauce that makes Google + YouTube two of the greatest businesses of all time. 

We discuss the ad auction, how Google understands intent better than anyone, the future of advertising + compare YouTube, Netflix + live TV.

Subscribe + listen to the full episode on "Not Investment Advice":

https://linktr.ee/notinvestmentadvice

Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/not-investment-advice/id1563288568?itsct=podcast_box_link&itscg=30200&ls=1

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/0Pogh5lcyKxmZVKQnao8zT?si=DSuMCklFTM-mOV9WbltZkg&dl_branch=1

YouTube:
https://youtube.com/notinvestmentadvice

Join our groupchat on Telegram:
https://t.me/notinvestmentadvice

Let me know what you think on Twitter: @bzaidi

Thank you to my sponsors:

AppSumo - the marketplace entrepreneurs trust to buy and sell the products that grow small businesses into name brands:
https://www.appsumo.com

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Mary Grove is Managing Partner of Bread and Butter Ventures. She brings nearly two decades of leadership experience in technology, early-stage investing, and startup ecosystem growth. 

She began her career working on the Google IPO, and went on to lead new business development partnerships, negotiating early-stage product and technology deals worldwide. 

She was the founding director of Google for Startups, leading the company’s global efforts to support entrepreneurs in over 100 countries.

Let us know what you think on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/bzaidi
https://twitter.com/marygrove

Watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/t52IaNs2IYE

Timestamps: 

• 0:00:00 - Preview
• 0:01:52 - Google IPO Team, Google For Startups + VC
• 0:09:05 - What Changed After Google IPO?
• 0:12:36 - Figuring Out Your Next Career Step
• 0:15:03 - Career Mistakes
• 0:17:19 - Knowing When To Move On
• 0:20:27 - Google For Startups
• 0:24:04 - International Startup Hubs
• 0:29:13 - Only 65% Of The World Has Internet Access
• 0:31:22 - Thesis To Invest Outside Of The Coasts
• 0:36:10 - Investing In A Distributed + Remote Work World
• 0:39:58 - Health Tech, Food Tech + SaaS
• 0:44:33 - Investing In Clipboards + Fax Machines
• 0:45:14 - Solo Capitalists + Creators Becoming Investors
• 0:49:22 - Learning How To Be A Good Startup Investor
• 0:53:36 - What Their Team Looks Like
• 0:54:38 - The Funnel of Dealflow To Get To 15 Startup Investments
• 0:56:38 - Being Proactive About Diversity In LPs, Founders + Hiring
• 1:01:26 - Close

Learn more about Bread & Butter Ventures:

• https://www.breadandbutterventures.com/
• https://medium.com/bread-and-butter-ventures

Thank you to our sponsors:

AppSumo - the marketplace entrepreneurs trust to buy and sell the products that grow small businesses into name brands:
https://www.appsumo.com

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Ryan Berckmans is an ex-Amazon + fintech startup engineer. He's been involved with the Ethereum community for many years + invests in the crypto space.

He recently published a bullish thesis for investing in ETH at:
ethereumcashflow.com

Watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/u3IGTSBzwOk

Let us know what you think on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/bzaidi
https://twitter.com/RyanBerckmans

In this conversation you'll learn about:

• blockchains, bitcoin + ethereum
• difference between ethereum + ether (ETH)
• ETH 2.0 + the transition from proof of work to proof of stake
• how to earn 6-20% yield from ETH "staking"
• applications of DeFi, peer-to-peer lending, smart contracts + NFTs
• alternatives like Solana + what could still go wrong
• side chains (Polygon) + layer 2 rollups (Arbetrum)

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Snippet
• 0:01:18 - Intro To Ryan + What We’ll Cover
• 0:05:57 - Explaining Blockchain, Bitcoin + Ethereum
• 0:08:25 - Decentralization
• 0:13:57 - Difference Between Bitcoin Blockchain, Currency + Example Transaction
• 0:19:55 - Game Of Monopoly Example
• 0:21:50 - Ethereum Is Like The App Store + Uniswap Example
• 0:26:52 - What’s Being Built On Ethereum? ENS domains, Defi + NFTs
• 0:30:02 - Smart Contracts
• 0:31:24 - Decentralized Lending Through Code vs Banks
• 0:32:37 - “An App That Can’t Lie”
• 0:34:39 - Individuals Earning Yield Like The Banks
• 0:36:17 - Eco Is Like A Decentralized Venmo
• 0:37:26 - Ethereum Cash Flow Thesis
• 0:39:04 - Transition From Confidence To Cashflow Based Investment
• 0:42:06 - Replacing Basic Lawyer Tasks With Smart Contracts?
• 0:43:15 - Complimentary To Bitcoin
• 0:45:01 - ETH 2.0
• 0:47:03 - Consuming Less Energy + Impact On Environment
• 0:48:00 - Proof Of Work vs Proof Of Stake
• 0:51:10 - Solving For Scarcity
• 0:52:41 - EIP 1559 - Destroying ETH Tokens + How Fees Work
• 0:58:01 - How To Earn Yield By Staking ETH
• 0:58:50 - 3 Rewards As A Validator
• 1:03:34 - Staking Through Lido Without 32 ETH Minimum
• 1:05:11 - What % Yield Can You Expect From ETH? Why Will It Change?
• 1:09:56 - Currently 8 Day Wait To Be A Validator
• 1:12:29 - Why Yield Will Go Up + Down
• 1:14:16 - Summary Of ETH Bull Case
• 1:15:09 - What Could Go Wrong? Bear Case For ETH
• 1:17:25 - Why Can’t We Do This All On Bitcoin Instead?
• 1:22:29 - Network Effects + Head Start
• 1:23:15 - Promise Of Solana As An Alternative?
• 1:29:16 - Other Alternatives: DOT, Cardano, Binance Smart Chain
• 1:30:24 - Polygon/Matic + Side Chains
• 1:32:57 - Scaling Solutions + Rollups
• 1:34:48 - How Ryan Is Investing
• 1:39:41 - Do Your Own Research + Understand Risks And Downside
• 1:41:40 - Advanced Levels Of Yield Farming

Thank you to our sponsors:

AppSumo - the marketplace entrepreneurs trust to buy and sell the products that grow small businesses into name brands:
https://www.appsumo.com

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Bilal Zaidi is joined by Jack Butcher, Trung Phan & Alex Cohen to discuss the latest in business, technology & memes.

Listen to the full convo on "Not Investment Advice":

Apple:
https://pod.link/notadvicepod.apple

Spotify:
https://pod.link/notadvicepod.spotify

YouTube:
https://youtu.be/t1MmZk6aWnI

Let us know what you think on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/bzaidi

http://twitter.com/trungtphan

http://twitter.com/jackbutcher

http://twitter.com/anothercohen

Lenny writes the #1 business newsletter on Substack (Lenny's Newsletter) and previously sold his company, Localmind, to Airbnb.

He then spent 7yrs at Airbnb leading product + growth teams and now angel invests + works as a full-time creator.

Watch + subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/aogsYWWnq60

Get every episode + giveaways sent to your inbox: https://www.creatorlab.fm/subscribe/

Let us know what you think on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/bzaidi​

https://twitter.com/lennysan

In this conversation you'll learn about:

– the racecar growth framework:
growth engines, turbo boosts, lubricants + fuel

– core growth engines:
performance marketing, virality, content + sales

– examples from Airbnb, Zapier, Superhuman, Wish, Casper + others

– benchmarks for user retention + types of virality 

– 3 steps to getting early users

– growing a newsletter + the differences in approach for creators vs companies

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Snippet + What We Cover
• 0:01:28 - Sponsor Break
• 0:02:17 - Lenny Intro + Background
• 0:07:38 - Scale of Newsletter
• 0:09:17 - Questions To Ask Yourself When Figuring Out Your Next Step
• 0:12:18 - Energy + The Struggle Of The Content Treadmill
• 0:13:31 - Early Days Of Airbnb
• 0:15:09 - Creating Something Remarkable
• 0:17:22 - Racecar Growth Framework - Who Is This For?
• 0:18:20 - Early vs Late Stage Growth
• 0:19:48 - Engine, Turbo Boosts, Lubricants + Fuel
• 0:20:05 - Growth Engines - virality, performance marketing, content, sales + bonus examples
• 0:24:11 - “1st time founders focus on product, 2nd time founders focus on distribution”
• 0:28:09 - Becoming The Best In The World At 1 or 2
• 0:28:38 - Airbnb vs Booking
• 0:29:16 - Performance Marketing
• 0:30:51 - Wish + Casper - Built On Performance Marketing
• 0:31:42 - Feasibility When Bootstrapping
• 0:32:31 - If You Should Be Performance Marketing Driven: 1) Generating Revenue From Users 2) Not Something Users Are Looking For
• 0:34:01 - Growth vs Brand Marketing
• 0:35:37 - When To Expand To The Next Engine + S Curve
• 0:36:56 - Examples Of Virality - Word-of-mouth, referrals, inviting friends, etc
• 0:40:22 - Bottoms Up vs Top Down Virality
• 0:41:31 - Knowing When You’re Going Viral - K Factor vs % of people who came in thru referral
• 0:42:33 - % Benchmark To Aim For
• 0:43:24 - Companies Who Are Suited To Viral Growth
• 0:43:48 - Clubhouse + FOMO
• 0:45:17 - User Generated Content Loop
• 0:47:29 - Data Driven SEO - Zapier + Thumbtack
• 0:49:11 - Editorial SEO + Figuring Out Content Strategy
• 0:50:31 - Superhuman Example
• 0:51:13 - Desired Outcomes, Primary + Secondary KPIs
• 0:52:43 - Sales Channel
• 0:55:19 - Turbo Boosts + Lubricants
• 0:56:52 - Power Of Events
• 0:58:37 - Retention + Conversion
• 1:00:41 - Activation: Using Product For Its Core Purpose
• 1:02:03 - Superhuman , Creators + The Customers Who Care
• 1:05:38 - User Retention Benchmarks
• 1:07:44 - Common Pitfalls
• 1:09:36 - Getting First 1000 newsletter subscribers
• 1:11:20 - 3 steps to getting early users
• 1:14:45 - Creators vs Companies - Finding Core Users
• 1:19:27 - Would You Still Be Doing This With 1000 Subs?
• 1:20:55 - 5 “Jobs To Be Done” Of Content
• 1:21:49 - Newsletter Discoverability
• 1:23:42 - What Gives You Energy
• 1:25:23 - Airbnb Job vs Creator Life
• 1:26:22 - Tim Urban on Content That Spreads
• 1:27:18 - Creators: Value vs Support
• 1:29:22 - Decision To Stay On Substack
• 1:31:31 - Knowing What To Write About
• 1:35:57 - Longer-Term Plan

Thank you to our sponsors:

AppSumo - the marketplace entrepreneurs trust to buy and sell the products that grow small businesses into name brands:
https://www.appsumo.com

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Subscribe to "Not Investment Advice":
https://pod.link/notadvicepod

Watch + Subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/_pqfAU92ZGw

Let us know what you think on Twitter:

@bzaidi
@jackbutcher
@trungtphan

Jack Butcher, Bilal Zaidi & Trung Phan discuss the latest in business, technology & memes.

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Snippet + What We Cover
• 0:01:40 - Best Bad Investments + The Surprise Gap
• 0:05:27 - Anti-Life Portfolio - Trung’s 20s In Vietnam
• 0:08:33 - Bilal’s 401k Mistake
• 0:12:33 - Paper Hands
• 0:15:34 - Immigrants + Property
• 0:17:21 - Jack’s 20s + Working On Brands
• 0:18:32 - Working on Ferrari
• 0:20:57 - “You’ll Never Work In This Town Again”
• 0:22:40 - Anti Warren Buffet Portfolio
• 0:27:43 - European Super League
• 0:39:03 - Meme School On The Blockchain
• 0:48:46 - Trung’s Comedy Script (Preview)
• 0:50:29 - Audience Question: Life 5yrs Ago Vs Now
• 0:54:14 - Jack’s 180
• 0:56:30 - Trung 5yrs ago vs now
• 0:59:18 - Useless Dads + Super Moms
• 1:02:08 - What Changed After Becoming A Dad

Ben Tossell is the founder of Makerpad, the leading online community for No Code. 

His company was recently acquired by Zapier, a $5bil+ tech company. Ben is also an educator + investor in the no code space.

In this conversation you'll learn about:

• what it was like to get acquired by Zapier
• developing the maker muscle by starting + launching projects
• what it takes to build a paid learning community + knowing when to monetize
• 80/20 of learning no code
• evolution of learning + membership models

Watch + subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/ONh66pmDUwk

Get every episode + giveaways sent to your inbox: https://www.creatorlab.fm/subscribe/

Let us know what you think on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/bzaidi​
https://twitter.com/bentossell

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Snippet + What We Cover
• 0:01:12 - Sponsor Break
• 0:02:00 - Ben Intro + Time In China
• 0:06:21 - Getting Acquired By Zapier
• 0:13:06 - Before Makerpad - 50+ Projects
• 0:17:11 - Knowing When To Move On From Projects
• 0:21:26 - Role Of Fear
• 0:25:02 - Motivation, Parents + Buying A Yacht
• 0:29:20 - Zapier - Expectation vs Reality
• 0:33:02 - Working With Someone Who Built A $5bil Company (Wade)
• 0:36:00 - No Code + Paid Learning Communities
• 0:39:57 - Size Of Makerpad + 10k Community Success Stories
• 0:46:12 - Reforge + Membership Models
• 0:48:21 - Evolution Of Learning
• 0:50:44 - Shishir (Coda) + Unbundling
• 0:51:58 - Masterclass, Edutainment + Netflix
• 0:54:03 - Paid Products - Make You Money Or Save You Time
• 1:02:36 - Knowing When To Charge
• 1:04:16 - Other Projects Ben Considered
• 1:07:16 - Types of entrepreneurs
• 1:16:09 - 80/20 of growing Makerpad
• 1:19:06 - Paid Acquisition
• 1:19:44 - Hiring Good People
• 1:22:17 - Working In vs On The Business
• 1:25:09 - Starting In 2021 - What Would You Do Differently
• 1:26:05 - “Hope No Code Isn’t A Thing In 5yrs”
• 1:30:15 - 80/20 of learning no code
• 1:33:31 - What’s Missing In No Code

Thank you to our sponsors:

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Micro Acquire - the largest startup acquisition marketplace, join 50k+ others and buy or sell your startup:
http://www.microacquire.com

Watch the full episode on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/ZNFxICgbkuY

Let us know what you think on Twitter:

@bzaidi
@jackbutcher
@trungtphan

This is an experimental episode w/ Trung Phan & Jack Butcher discussing the latest in business, technology & memes.

Expect a raw & uncut convo, mostly filled with silly, fun banter.

You'll hear us discuss:

• behind the scenes look at Jack's recent NFT success & crowdsourced Figma experiment
• Balaji's convo w/ Tim Ferriss
• The Future Of Online identity:  pseudonymous vs anonymous vs real names
• Coinbase going public
• WeWork documentary
• Difference between Fyre Fest + Tesla
• Potential for decentralized social networks + Bitclout
• The mechanics of memes + what it's like to write a daily newsletter to 1.7mil people
• Why Jack dubbed Trung "Fiat Phan"

Time Stamps:

• 0:00:00 - Snippet + What We Cover
• 0:03:08 - Start
• 0:03:25 - Intros - Trung, Jack + Bilal
• 0:04:53 - ROI On Jack’s Tweets
• 0:06:26 - Inside Look At Jack’s NFTs
• 0:16:48 - NFTs Explained - Visualize Value
• 0:18:06 - Meme Mechanics + The Roast Of Jack Butcher
• 0:19:49 - Selling An NFT For $150k
• 0:20:49 - Trung’s Theory
• 0:23:03 - Jack’s Opinion On NFTs
• 0:29:13 - From Nations To Nodes
• 0:30:16 - Crowdsourcing Creativity On Figma
• 0:32:24 - What Goes Into Writing A Daily Email To 1.7mil People?
• 0:34:53 - “Give Me That Dopamine Son!”
• 0:37:26 - Ideas From Balaji’s Tim Ferriss Podcast
• 0:38:38 - “2020 is the year the internet starts”
• 0:40:23 - Pseudonymity + The Future Of Identity Online
• 0:49:03 - Bitclout + Moving Beyond Rented Platforms
• 0:51:59 - “Can I Get A Dollar Son”
• 0:54:58 - Bitclout, legit or scam?
• 0:56:15 - “Not Financial Advice”
• 0:58:36 - Fiat Phan
• 1:01:33 - US, China + Bitcoin
• 1:05:40 - Coinbase Going Public
• 1:12:04 - WeWork Documentary
• 1:15:57 - Reality Distortion Field
• 1:20:49 - Difference Between Fyre Fest + Tesla

Kevin is the co-founder + CEO of Rally,  a platform that allows creators to launch their own digital currency + build independent economies with their communities.

He's also Chairman of Gen.G, an esports enterprise bridging Asia and North America. Previously, Kevin co-founded Kabam, a top mobile gaming company that grew to $400M/yr in revenue, 500+ million players and sold for nearly $1 billion.

Watch + subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/mlSl5q_n9xU

Get every episode + giveaways sent to your inbox: https://www.creatorlab.fm/subscribe/

Let us know what you think on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/bzaidi​
https://twitter.com/kevinchou

In this conversation you'll learn about:

• emerging waves like AI, crypto, climate change + biotech
• evolution of the gaming industry + its business models
• rise of social gaming, esports, live streaming + where we're today
• gartner's hype cycle + how this applies to crypto
• how Rally is empowering creators to develop their own economies
• why there's a need for decentralized alternatives

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 – Preview Of Convo
• 0:02:19 – Sponsor Break
• 0:03:08 – Intro + Kevin’s Interest In Gaming
• 0:07:00 – 50 Games + 500mil Users
• 0:08:23 – Moment You Understand Ownership
• 0:14:59 – Hype Cycles + “Finding Something New”
• 0:20:57 – Other Waves: AI, Climate Change, Biotech
• 0:23:11 – What Is Rally?
• 0:24:02 – How Creator’s Use Rally
• 0:31:02 – What Are The Alternatives?
• 0:33:22 – NFT vs creator coin + creating an economy
• 0:37:49 – Why is it beneficial for a game to have its own currency?
• 0:46:04 – Kabam – Building A Billion Dollar Gaming Company
• 0:48:39 – Evolution Of Gaming Industry – 2.5bil People Playing Games
• 0:52:06 – Impact Of Social + Mobile On Gaming
• 0:53:38 – Gaming Business Models – Virtual Goods, Micro Transactions, Ads
• 0:56:04 – Fortnight
• 0:57:24 – Psychology Of Buying Virtual Goods
• 1:00:31 – Streaming – Watching People Play Games
• 1:04:54 – Rise of esports
• 1:09:33 – esports vs traditional sports
• 1:12:25 – NFTs + Vectors Of Opportunity
• 1:13:16 – Crypto Transcends Nations
• 1:16:56 – Digital Gold + Oil
• 1:18:44 – Problems with government money printing, dollars are worthless
• 1:23:31 – Price Volatility + Stable Coins
• 1:25:59 – Putting Bitcoin On Your Balance Sheet
• 1:29:43 – What does a decentralized alternative look like
• 1:33:37 – Decentralized social networks?
• 1:34:43 – “there is no corporation who runs email”
• 1:37:07 – Investing
• 1:39:34 – How to participate in crypto

Thank you to our sponsors:

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Micro Acquire - the largest startup acquisition marketplace, join 50k+ others and buy or sell your startup:
http://www.microacquire.com

Get every episode + giveaways sent to your inbox: https://www.creatorlab.fm/subscribe/

Let us know what you think on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/bzaidi​
https://twitter.com/noahkagan

Subscribe to Noah's YouTube channel & Podcast:
https://sleek.bio/noah

Watch & Subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/mAnOqgH0OgA

Noah Kagan is the founder of AppSumo, an 8-figure business bringing in an estimated $70mil+ in 2021.

He was employee #30 at Facebook, #4 at Mint.com and his popular YouTube channel has over 140k subscribers.

In this conversation, you'll learn:

• the 80/20 of succeeding on YouTube
• what he's learned from popular YouTubers like Mr. Beast and Ali Abdaal
• how Noah tests topics, thumbnails + behind the scenes look at the master doc his team uses to manage his channel (watch screen share on YouTube.com/creatorlabfm)
• growing through partnerships, newsletter swaps + ads
• we get personal and talk relationships, his formula for freedom + how he invests

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Snippet + What We Cover
• 0:02:12 - Sponsor Break
• 0:03:01 - Intro + Booyakasha
• 0:03:32 - Number 30 Employee At Facebook
• 0:08:17 - What Is AppSumo? $70mil Revenue Business
• 0:10:15 - AppSumo’s Impact
• 0:13:19 - Is Noah 11/10 energy all the time?
• 0:16:27 - Inputs vs Outputs + Craft vs Metrics
• 0:19:01 - Formula For Freedom
• 0:20:26 - Knowing When To Stop vs Keep Going
• 0:24:16 - Finding What You’d Do For Free + As A Kid
• 0:27:51 - Understanding What Gives You Energy
• 0:37:09 - Rethinking Old Mental Models Of Money + Happiness
• 0:41:53 - What Will You Think About On Your Deathbed
• 0:44:40 - Tale Of Two Lives
• 0:50:15 - Growing To 140k+ YouTube Subscribers
• 0:53:34 - Investing $500k Into YouTube
• 0:56:07 - Who Is Doing YouTube Well?
• 0:58:42 - 80/20 of YouTube
• 1:00:41 - Mr Beast, 100 staff + treating it like a business
• 1:02:06 - His YouTube Creation Process
• 1:02:30 - Topic Selection
• 1:03:54 - Testing Topics, Thumbnails + CTRs
• 1:06:36 - Balancing What You Want To Make vs What Audience Wants
• 1:08:36 - Tools To Help With Topic Selection
• 1:09:18 - Screenshare - Noah Shares “Weekly Video Ideas” Planning Doc
• 1:14:32 - Partnerships + E-Mail Swaps
• 1:16:29 - Paid Ads
• 1:20:53 - Audience Questions
• 1:21:56 - Asymmetric Bets, Relationship With Money + Investing
• 1:26:29 - Wealth in Concentration, Preserve Through Diversification
• 1:28:08 - Where Do You Have An Advantage
• 1:28:50 - Why Noah Is Still Working

Thank you to our sponsors:

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Micro Acquire - the largest startup acquisition marketplace, join 50k+ others and buy or sell your startup:
http://www.microacquire.com

Alex Lieberman is the co-founder & CEO of Morning Brew. They're a leading new media startup with over 2.7mil newsletter subscribers, making them one of the largest daily newsletters around.

Alex & his co-founder sold a majority stake in the business to Insider Inc for a reported $75mil in Oct 2020.

After listening to this conversation, you'll understand:

• growing from a newsletter to a full-on media business
• 3 step audience funnel: rented, owned + monetized
• hub + spoke model
• how they got their first 1000 subscribers by doing things that don't scale
• growth stages: from 1k to 10k, 100k and 1mil+ subscribers
• how to grow through email swaps, paid ads + partnerships
• a framework to reinvent old formats like Shark Tank or QVC

Let us know what you think on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/bzaidi
https://twitter.com/businessbarista

Watch with visuals referenced on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/12KYBLPvEIg

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Preview + What You’ll Learn
• 0:02:17 - Sponsor Break
• 0:03:08 - Interview Start
• 0:03:44 - Grandma Likes Morning Brew
• 0:04:59 - Growing From Newsletter To Media Brand
• 0:07:23 - Acquired For Reported $75mil By Insider Inc
• 0:08:21 - Scale of Morning Brew: 2.7mil subscribers
• 0:11:28 - Audience Building Done Well
• 0:14:02 - Audience Funnel: Rented, Owned, Monetized
• 0:17:39 - “Who Is This NOT For?”
• 0:21:47 - Audience ≠ Distribution
• 0:25:25 - Unwritten Contract With An Audience
• 0:26:27 - Focus vs Breadth of Interests
• 0:29:05 - Ask Yourself Why 3x
• 0:33:14 - Hub & Spoke Model For Audience
• 0:38:23 - Getting First 1000 Subscribers + Growing Through Referrals
• 0:41:10 - Stages of Growth From 1k to 100k to 1mil
• 0:43:42 - When To Grow Through Paid Ads
• 0:47:20 - Growing Through E-Mail Swaps + Paid Ads
• 0:49:28 - Programmatic E-Mail Ads
• 0:50:43 - Snapchat Ads, YouTube Influencers + Channels That Worked
• 0:53:23 - Cross Promotion + Strategic Partnerships
• 0:55:59 - Signals Of Consumer Intent From E-Mail Clicks
• 1:00:13 - Multimedia + How To Grow A Podcast
• 1:02:11 - Re-Inventing What Worked In Legacy Media Business
• 1:05:05 - Macro + Micro Of Promotion
• 1:08:07 - 3 Types Of Content That Work Well For Podcast
• 1:08:38 - Timely News Hooks
• 1:10:26 - Evergreen “Service Content” - Solve Problem or Passion
• 1:13:35 - Vulnerable Content + Imposter Syndrome
• 1:19:04 - Future Of Monetization
• 1:24:14 - Talent vs Learned Skill
• 1:26:00 - Jay-Z, Mr. Beast + Ownership
• 1:30:03 - Building A Writing Habit + Ship 30 For 30
• 1:32:13 - Accountability
• 1:35:11 - Business Idea: Shark Tank For The Digital Age
• 1:39:09 - Re-inventing old formats: QVC + who wants to be a millionaire
• 1:42:51 - Dealing With Bad Times + His Dad’s Loss
• 1:48:01 - Survivor Guilt

Thank you to our sponsors:

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Micro Acquire - the largest startup acquisition marketplace, join 50k+ others and buy or sell your startup:
http://www.microacquire.com

Dru Riley is the founder of Trends.vc, a community + newsletter that helps 35,000 entrepreneurs discover new markets + ideas.

Trends makes tens of thousands of dollars/month in subscription revenue + was ranked "Product of The Month" on Product Hunt.

In this conversation you'll learn about:

– the meta-trends behind what Dru writes about, the things that don't change, after studying the things that do change

– democratization, positive-sum networks + fractional ownership

– trends he's excited about including: DeFi (decentralized finance) + DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) and NFTs (non-fungible tokens)

– the 80/20 of his research + editing process, including how he processed 172 podcasts for 1 recent report

– we go behind the mind & discuss some of his rules for life, we touch on incentives, stories + courage

Let us know what you think on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/bzaidi
https://twitter.com/DruRly

Watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/q5rdqLzy-Gw

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Preview
• 0:02:46 - Intro To Dru + Trends
• 0:04:57 - Scale of Trends
• 0:05:39 - Software Engineering Background + Knowing When To Leave
• 0:08:14 - Starting Books In The Middle
• 0:11:46 - Making First $15 after saving up $250k
• 0:21:00 - Rejecting An Offer Of Investment
• 0:22:22 - Decision Dilution + Stakeholder Types
• 0:25:14 - Content vs Trust Treadmill
• 0:26:01 - Refining Like A Standup Comedian
• 0:28:34 - Signals To Look For In Feedback
• 0:31:37 - Meta-trends
• 0:33:45 - Democratization
• 0:36:18 - Ability To Build Smaller
• 0:38:06 - Coders vs Builders - “Code Is Being Commoditized”
• 0:40:57 - Decentralization
• 0:43:06 - Positive Sum Networks
• 0:45:26 - What are DAOs (decentralized autonomous orgs)
• 0:46:53 - Fractional Ownership
• 0:48:45 - NFTs
• 0:51:41 - Direct To Consumer
• 0:52:44 - Research + Writing Process
• 0:54:57 - Processing 172 Podcasts
• 0:59:10 - Podcast Speed + Dopamine Hits
• 1:02:15 - Edit - “How Many, How Much”
• 1:03:52 - Filtering Feedback
• 1:05:49 - Constraints
• 1:08:34 - Starting From Scratch Today
• 1:11:37 - Behind The Mind - 100 Rules To Live By
• 1:12:15 - Hard choices easy life. Easy choices hard life.
• 1:13:05 - Think Grey, Not Black + White - Annie Duke
• 1:14:09 - Stories vs Insight
• 1:16:59 - Incentives
• 1:17:56 - “Life Is Short, Not Fair”
• 1:19:27 - Don’t Try To Change Someone’s Worldview
• 1:21:20 - “It’s Not About The Bag”
• 1:23:24 - Memento Mori
• 1:24:29 - Life Is Not Baseball - Play Asymmetric Games
• 1:25:23 - Courage

Thank you to our sponsors:

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Micro Acquire - the largest startup acquisition marketplace, join 50k+ others and buy or sell your startup:
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Lexi Lewtan the founder of Centered, where she's building the Masterclass for Mental Health.

Previously she ran operations for AngelList's Talent Platform, scaling it from zero to $20m
in revenue.

She has a deep background in the startup world, previously working at Hired & betaworks.

In this conversation you'll learn:

• lessons in recruiting & the 80/20 of hiring
• the business model behind AngelList Talent & Hired
• tools to help you deal with focus, anxiety, depression & work stress
• the difference between CBT & DBT
• why depression feels like playing life on "hard mode"

Let us know what you think on Twitter, I'm @bzaidi and she's @lexilewtan

Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Preview
• 00:02:12 Lexi Intro – Betaworks, Hired, AngelList, Centered
• 00:03:36 Hired Raised $150mil – What Went Wrong?
• 00:07:23 Moving to AngelList
• 00:09:34 Superpower
• 00:12:24 Experiments at AngelList
• 00:15:50 Hiring Pricing Model – 15% of salary vs flat fee
• 00:21:30 Lessons In Recruiting
• 00:23:54 Scraping & Growth Hacking
• 00:26:57 80/20 Of Recruiting
• 00:29:35 Advice To New Grads
• 00:33:46 Centered Origin Story
• 00:35:57 CBT vs DBT
• 00:40:17 Tools For Mental Health
• 00:42:54 Focus: Planned Obsolescence
• 00:44:45 Motivation + Values
• 00:48:04 Tool for managing anxiety – “shut the door”
• 00:49:28 Managing Depression
• 00:51:00 Inner Child Exercises
• 00:53:37 Journaling
• 00:56:08 “Life Becomes Hard Mode” - Defining Depression
• 00:59:55 Future Of Mental Health

Thank you to our sponsors:

Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio:
http://www.JoinSpace.co

Micro Acquire - the largest startup acquisition marketplace, join 50k+ others and buy or sell your startup:
http://www.microacquire.com

Jake Gibson is the co-founder of NerdWallet & Founding Partner at Better Tomorrow Ventures, a $75mil venture fund, investing in the future of Fintech alongside Sheel Mohnot.

He's been involved in fintech for over a decade. Prior to NerdWallet, he studied math and quantitative finance at MIT and traded interest rate derivatives at JPMorgan.

Let us know what you think on Twitter: @bzaidi & @iamjakestream

Full video with timestamps on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/s-Tcuootl7s

In this conversation we discuss:

• NerdWallet's business model + growing to a $500mil+ valuation
• the transition from founder to investor + the 80/20 of investing
• mental models to figure out your next step
• why "everything is fintech" + examples of this thesis
• DeFi, NFTs, stock market highs & ideas from a global fintech market

Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Preview
• 00:02:20 Intro To Jake + Nerdwallet
• 00:06:57 Nerdwallet Deep Dive + $500mil Valuation
• 00:15:02 Opportunity: Nerdwallet Model In Other Verticals
• 00:18:40 Audience First Business in 2021
• 00:22:24 Trend: Audience Business Selling To Software Companies
• 00:26:09 Founder To Investor
• 00:31:12 Mental Model For Thinking About Next Step
• 00:35:29 "I want to be rich" - more context
• 00:39:48 Finding Motivation In Struggles
• 00:42:43 Role of Luck, Golden Handcuffs + Lifestyle Creep
• 00:48:51 80/20 of investing
• 00:51:31 "Everything Is Fintech" - Raising A $75mil Fund
• 00:56:04 Starting A Neo Bank
• 00:57:48 Fintech Opportunity In Ridesharing, Tesla & Airbnb
• 01:02:37 Facebook + Whatsapp Payments
• 01:03:06 Asia Market + WeChat Model
• 01:05:24 Problem vs Product…Verb vs Noun
• 01:10:54 Jake's Take on DeFi
• 01:16:40 NFTs + NBA Top Shots
• 01:20:59 Tesla's Balance Sheet
• 01:23:00 Elon + Chamath: Meme Masters
• 01:23:19 Global Market Ideas
• 01:29:09 Why Do We Have Stock Market Highs?
• 01:31:54 Investing Advice To A 25yr Old

Ana Lorena Fabrega is an EDUpreneur and former teacher known by little ones as Ms. Fab.

She's currently the Chief Evangelist of Synthesis School, an innovative online enrichment club started by the director of Elon Musk’s experimental school at Space X.

Synthesis helps students build decision-making & problem-solving skills through games.

Let us know what you think on Twitter:
@bzaidi & @anafabrega11

Watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/Fo_CM01BNTQ

After listening to this conversation, you'll understand:

• why the current education system needs an overhaul
• the skills we should be developing in kids
• unlearning & the future of education
• the role of technology in learning
• forest schools, micro-schools & alternatives for parents to consider
• how games can be good for your kids
• the lindy effect & ideas that will stick around in education
• remote vs online education
• recommended books for kids

Ana's Fab Friday Newsletter:
https://afabrega.com/

Book Recommendations:

• Wonder by R.J. Palacio: https://amzn.to/3pNfneZ
  
  
• The Man Who Walked Between The Towers by Mordicai Gerstein: https://amzn.to/3qSvnh3
  
  
• The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires:
  https://amzn.to/3pStkbu
  
  
• Fantastically Great Woman who Changed the World by Kate Pankhurst: https://amzn.to/3dG3nd3
  
  
• Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Keaty and David Roberts: https://amzn.to/3uuPZyk
  
  
• What do you do with an idea? By Kobi Yamada: https://amzn.to/3qXaqSk
  
  
• Zero and One by Kathryn Otoshi: https://amzn.to/3dKezoM
  
  
• Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg: https://amzn.to/3bC898H

Nick Huber is a real estate entrepreneur, self-storage owner & operator.

His commercial real estate portfolio is approaching $30mil in assets (as of 2021) & he's built a name for himself by championing "sweaty startups" aka unsexy businesses.

Nick has built a 100k following on Twitter by transparently sharing the lessons learned from his time in business & by simplifying concepts in the real estate game.

Let us know what you think of this convo on Twitter:
@bzaidi and @sweatystartup

Watch and subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/s9Wgw1GN9-k

After listening to part 1, you'll understand:

• the equation for getting wealthy in the real estate game
  
  
• the difference between creating vs growing wealth
  
  
• categories of real estate beyond what 99% of people invest in, from self-storage, to cemeteries & tiny homes - you'll learn about niche opportunities with less competition
  
  
• how real estate investors can make millions & legally pay little in taxes with depreciation, bonus depreciation & 1031 exchanges
  
  
• Nick's unique approach to finding upside from day one in commercial real estate
  
  
• why 100% occupancy rates aren't always a good thing & what Nick looks for in deals

In part 2, "behind the mind" (starting at 48min) Nick & Bilal discuss:

• tribes, relationships & what truly matters in life
• growing up, dealing with bullying & insecurities
• choosing who you compete with
• unique ways to connect with aging parents
• why having kids is underrated & the importance of a supportive spouse

Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:03:41 Who is Nick Huber?
• 00:11:00 What is a Cash-Out Refinance?
• 00:13:26 Growing Up in a Small, Rural Town
• 00:14:28 Having A Chip on Your Shoulder
• 00:18:28 Building vs Growing Wealth
• 00:20:31 Alpha vs Beta In Real Estate
• 00:21:02 Initial 700k Nest Egg
• 00:25:03 Initial Investment - Rule Of Thumb
• 00:27:25 Real Estate Investing On The Side
• 00:29:24 Nick's Real Estate Framework
• 00:33:55 100% Occupancy Isn't Always Good
• 00:36:45 Zero Income Tax With Depreciation & 1031 Exchanges
• 00:44:22 Conservation Easement
• 00:46:35 Real Estate Professional Status
• 00:47:52 Capital Gains
  
  
• 00:48:32 Part 2: Behind The Mind
• 00:51:02 Is Chasing Your Passions A Bad Idea?
• 00:55:35 "I Wanted To Call My Mother And Cry In Her Arms"
• 00:59:20 Giving Up Is Often The Best Choice There Is
• 01:01:38 Miami + Austin
• 01:02:48 "Nobody Cares About You Apart from A Handful Of People"
• 01:05:23 Google Maps Trick - Connecting With Parents
• 01:07:20 Dad's Twitter Post Went Viral
• 01:09:42 Having Kids is Underrated
• 01:12:29 The Tribe Makes The Place
• 01:15:04 Virtual Communities
• 01:19:48 Dealing With Bullying + Racism
• 01:23:43 The Importance of a Supportive Spouse
• 01:25:44 Advice For A Successful Relationship
• 01:28:13 Being An Opportunist
• 01:31:22 Wrap-Up

Anne-Laure Le Cunff is the founder of Ness Labs, a community for knowledge workers to be more productive and creative while taking care of their mental health.

She's an ex-Googler and holds a MSc in Neuroscience from King's College London. Her work has been featured in WIRED, Rolling Stone, and more.

Let us know what you think on Twitter:
@bzaidi
@anthilemoon

In this conversation, you'll learn about:

• focused vs diffused learning
• common misconceptions about the brain
• networked thought + idea sex
• the Feynman technique
• lucid dreaming + psychedelics
• how to build a thriving community as an individual creator

Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:03:49 Who is Anne-Laure Le Cunff?
• 00:06:49 Ness Labs Revenue Breakdown
• 00:09:18 Transition From Consulting
• 00:12:09 French Dad + Algerian Mother
• 00:13:36 London
• 00:15:31 Knowing When To Leave Your Job
• 00:17:34 Ness Labs Flywheel
• 00:20:28 If Starting From Scratch Today
• 00:22:54 Introvert vs Extrovert
• 00:25:24 Monetization
• 00:27:38 Part 2: Behind the Mind
• 00:27:50 Focused vs Diffused Thinking
• 00:31:42 Sleep + Learning
• 00:32:40 There's No Such Thing as "Learning Styles"
• 00:35:35 Tackling Procrastination
• 00:37:10 Chunking
• 00:37:56 Process vs Product
• 00:41:01 The Feynman Technique
• 00:45:07 Lucid Dreaming
• 00:50:38 Neuromyth 1: Using 10% of Your Brain
• 00:53:18 Neuromyth 2: Left Brain vs Right Brain
• 00:54:37 Neuromyth 3: IQ Tests
• 00:58:36 Networked Thought
• 01:00:16 Roam Research
• 01:03:25 Idea Sex
• 01:06:50 6 Factors of Happiness
• 01:09:16 Wrap-Up

Watch the full convo and Q&A on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/gSVQHw-da5s

This is part 2, the Q&A of the live convo with Jack Butcher from Visualize Value. Listen to the previous episode to hear our live convo on the evolution of the creator economy & unique ways to monetize.

Who Is Jack Butcher?

Jack is the founder of Visualize Value, a company that builds content, community & courses for building independent income on the internet.

His Twitter + Instagram accounts have grown to 400k+ followers in 2yrs & his business earned $1mil+ in 2020.

This was Jack's second appearance on Creator Lab. This time, Jack & Bilal co-hosted a live recording with a virtual audience.

To join the next one, sign up at:
https://www.creatorlab.fm/live

Let us know what you think on Twitter:
https://www.twitter.com/bzaidi
https://www.twitter.com/jackbutcher

Q&A Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:00:40 "A Niche Picks You"
• 00:02:55 Personal Brand vs Company Brand
• 00:04:21 Repurposing Across Platforms
• 00:13:21 Photographer - How To Productize a Service
• 00:15:23 "Why should I care?"
• 00:20:23 Music Industry example
• 00:21:00 Minimize Risk
• 00:24:07 Tactics To Get Momentum On A Project
• 00:26:11 Social Proof
• 00:28:32 Managing Relationships At Scale
• 00:32:53 Jack-of-all-trades
• 00:39:11 Wrap-up

Watch the full convo and Q&A on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/gSVQHw-da5s

Jack Butcher is the founder of Visualize Value, a company that builds content, community & courses for building independent income on the internet.

His Twitter + Instagram accounts have grown to 400k+ followers in 2yrs & his business earned $1mil+ in 2020.

This was Jack's second appearance on Creator Lab. This time, Jack & Bilal co-hosted a live recording with a virtual audience.

To join the next one, sign up at:
https://www.creatorlab.fm/live

Let us know what you think on Twitter:
https://www.twitter.com/bzaidi
https://www.twitter.com/jackbutcher

After listening to this conversation, you'll understand:

• the evolution of the creator economy from 1000 true fans to 100 true fans
• importance of "1 true fan"
• content/product machine + "the factory is the product"
• why an audience is like a stem cell
• unique examples of creator monetization
• the importance of packaging, owning phrases & outcome-based marketing
• Jack's 2020 revenue breakdown

Part 2, the live Q&A is in the next episode (look in your podcast feed)

Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:04:26 What is the Creator Economy?
• 00:07:49 Succeeding With A Smaller Audience
• 00:08:39 1000 vs 100 True Fans
• 00:10:03 Jack's 2020 Revenue Screenshare
• 00:11:38 1 True Fan + Hedging
• 00:14:51 The Permissionless Apprentice
• 00:22:25 Audience ≠ Distribution
• 00:27:49 Concentration vs Diversification Of Focus
• 00:34:34 Downsides of Building a Public
• 00:36:41 "The Factory is the Product"
• 00:40:41 Employee = 1 Customer
• 00:44:00 Packaging + Owning Phrases
• 00:47:52 Outcome-Based Marketing
• 00:49:47 Unique Examples of Creator Monetization
• 00:50:45 Audience is like a Stem Cell - Shaan Puri Example
• 00:51:54 Investing As A "Knowledge Influencer"
• 00:55:35 Reps, Consistency + A-Side Tracks
• 01:01:18 The Value of Services vs Ads
• 01:06:37 Social Impact + Charity
• 01:10:22 Strategic Partnerships + Distribution
• 01:13:55 Choosing Partners Is Like A Marriage
• 01:16:51 SMS + New Channel Experiments

Mikael Cho is the co-founder and CEO of Unsplash. The world's leading image asset platform that boasts 100 million image downloads & 20 billion views per month.

Unsplash is used more than Flickr, Getty, and Shutterstock combined.

Let us know what you think on Twitter: @bzaidi and @mikaelcho

Watch the full convo on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/vtIGAEKxC0w

In this conversation, you'll learn:

• how Mikael built Unsplash from a series of failed experiments
• balancing focus with experimentation
• how to create a growth flywheel
• why good ideas are still undervalued
• how to create a "superpower org chart" & find undiscovered talent
• how to get a large scale advertising business off the ground

TIMESTAMPS:

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:02:32 What is Unsplash?
• 00:06:17 Scale
• 00:09:24 Failed Experiments + A Side Project
• 00:10:15 Starting Crew
• 00:13:46 When Side, Becomes Main
• 00:17:20 Selling Crew to Andrew Wilkinson (Dribbble)
• 00:18:42 Balancing Experimentation + Focus
• 00:21:03 Competing With Adobe + Shutterstock
• 00:22:55 Creator Economy's Middle Class
• 00:25:37 Develop A New Advertising Model
• 00:28:29 Unsplash = Internet Real Estate Company
• 00:31:51 Simplifying Product
• 00:34:52 Aligning Your Team
• 00:37:09 Product Design Changes That Surprised Mikael
• 00:39:39 "Wow" Moments
• 00:41:46 Unsplash Growth Flywheel
• 00:43:56 API + Partnerships
• 00:45:01 Future of Unsplash
• 00:46:18 Mikael's Business Philosophy
• 00:48:29 Validate With No Code
• 00:49:41 Ideas vs Execution
• 00:53:27 Knowing When to Stop A Project
• 00:56:18 Recruiting Key Employees
• 01:00:24 Finding Undiscovered Talent
• 01:02:32 Superpower Org Chart
• 01:07:04 Life Design Philosophy
• 01:11:23 Incorporating Physical Health into Company Culture
• 01:15:43 "Inbox Zero is a Waste of Time"
• 01:19:11 "Text Edit is One of the Greatest Apps Ever Made"
• 01:21:25 Writing Like You're Texting A Friend
• 01:24:52 Proactive Actions
• 01:31:33 Wrap-Up

Gagan is the co-founder & former President of Udemy, an online education company that's worth more than $2bil.

He later co-founded Sprig, a food delivery startup & went on to become the interim head of growth marketing at Lyft.

Gagan recently announced a new education startup with Wes Kao. They've raised $4.3mil from investors like First Round Capital, Naval Ravikant & Li Jin.

Let us know what you think on Twitter:

@bzaidi
@gaganbiyani

Watch the full interview on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/IifuGSaEkkU

In this conversation, we discuss:

• lessons in building Udemy + Sprig, from high-highs to low-lows
• why cohort-based courses will play a major role in the future of online education
• what it was like being fired by a co-founder
• the impact of financial struggles & the unique pressure of being the child of immigrants
• perspective gained from traveling to all 7 continents

Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:02:47 Who is Gagan Biyani?
• 00:05:20 Udemy Origin Story
• 00:10:54 Starting Up a Business When You Have A Work Visa
• 00:12:57 Setting A Timeline
• 00:16:54 Parental Pressure + Traditional Careers
• 00:20:53 Struggles
• 00:26:54 How Do You React To Financial Troubles?
• 00:29:27 Living Within Your Means
• 00:30:34 Being Content
• 00:33:27 Getting Fired By A Co-Founder
• 00:42:20 The Rise & Fall of Sprig
• 00:44:05 Chamath: "You're Going to Fail"
• 00:50:07 Failure + Cognitive Dissonance
• 00:52:40 3 Years of Travel
• 00:57:20 Finding Hidden Gems
• 00:59:24 Figuring Out What's Next
• 01:00:59 Naval's Advice
• 01:04:51 Evaluating Business Ideas
• 01:07:28 Gagan's New Startup: Cohort-Based Courses
• 01:13:37 Opportunities In Online Education
• 01:17:29 Formats That Work Best
• 01:21:19 Wrap-Up

Andrew Wilkinson is the co-founder of Tiny. He owns 30+ companies, including Dribbble, Metalab, Girlboss & Castro. Collectively, these businesses bring in $100mil+ in annual revenue.

Andrew took WeCommerce public the week of this interview, with the most recent market cap hitting $800mil Canadian dollars (Jan 2021)

He's a leading expert in buying, starting & growing online businesses.

Let us know what you think on Twitter: @bzaidi & @awilkinson

Watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/QRIl2aGmzMc

In this conversation, you'll learn:

• why Warren Buffet + Charlie Munger's approach inspired Andrew to create the Berkshire Hathaway of the internet
• how mental models like "inversion" can help you think more effectively
• the 4 types of entrepreneurs + understanding which type you are
• how to hire key employees + a CEO to replace you
• the importance of incentives + how to align employees around a shared vision

Timestamps:

• 00:00:00 Snippet
• 00:03:32 Who is Andrew? Buying, Building + Growing Companies
• 00:07:41 Mental Models: Studying Warren Buffett + Charlie Munger
• 00:10:22 Inversion
• 00:12:12 Make A Few Good Decisions A Year
• 00:13:54 The New Zealand Approach
• 00:15:30 Fishing Where The Fish Are
• 00:22:11 Controlling Emotions
• 00:24:50 When Deals Don't Go To Plan
• 00:26:07 How 2020 Changed Andrew's Strategy
• 00:27:40 The Value Of Service Businesses
• 00:32:08 Incentives
• 00:34:09 4 Types of Entrepreneurs
• 00:37:13 How to Hire a CEO
• 00:40:21 Working With Recruiters
• 00:41:42 Lessons on Firing
• 00:43:35 Incentivizing CEOs
• 00:46:20 Creating A Shared Vision
• 00:50:39 The Art of Delegation
• 00:53:33 "Twitter should be milking money"
• 00:56:38 Lessons From Shareholder Letters
• 00:58:49 The Future of Local News
• 01:00:39 Wrap-Up

Polina Marinova Pompliano is the author of The Profile, a newsletter that profiles the world's most successful people.

She spent five years at FORTUNE, where she was the author + editor of Term Sheet, an industry-leading newsletter on dealmaking.

Polina has interviewed some of the most influential dealmakers in the world, including: Melinda Gates, Steve Case, Chamath Palihapitiya and others.

Watch & Subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/XFIPkG0rbvU

Let us know what you think on Twitter:

@bzaidi
@polina_marinova

Full show notes on creatorlab.fm
In the conversation, you'll learn about:

• the rise of independent writers + the creator economy
• evolution of the media landscape
• future of media monetization
• her writing process + the art of the edit
• actionable lessons from The Profile, featuring: Malcolm Gladwell, Charlie Munger, Anthony Bourdain, Ira Glass, Elon Musk + more

Timestamps:

• 2:47 Intro
• 5:03 "Oprah is not JUST Oprah"
• 9:54 Leaving Fortune Magazine
• 15:44 Background On The Profile
• 19:09 Expectations vs Reality
• 23:43 Why Polina Uses Substack For Her Newsletter
• 27:13 Evolution of Monetization in New Media
• 36:20 Writing Process: Summarizing 128 Books
• 40:53 The Art of The Edit
• 44:13 Building Your Initial Audience
• 45:50 Growing An Audience

Lessons From The Profile:

• 48:30 Gladwell: "3 Hours of Thinking for 1 Hour of Writing"
• 51:55 "Interesting, Not Perfect"
• 53:54 How To Find Meaning In Your Work
• 55:32 Ira Glass: "Great Stories Happen To Those Who Can Tell Them"
• 58:00 Charlie Munger: Inversion + Avoidance of Stupidity
• 59:29 Survivor vs Victim
• 1:00:46 The Bourdain Principle
• 1:05:46 Lessons From Shonda Rhimes
• 1:09:02 "I'm No Longer Looking For An Enemy..."
• 1:11:23 Guy Raz: Stories We Tell Ourselves
• 1:13:32 Elon Musk: The Chef vs The Cook
• 1:16:34 Thinking From First Principles
• 1:19:04 Unconcious Bias
• 1:20:25 Human Hardware vs Software
• 1:22:16 Wrap Up