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:
Thank you to our sponsors:
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http://www.JoinSpace.co
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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:
Let us know what you think on Twitter, I'm @bzaidi and she's @lexilewtan
Timestamps:
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:
Timestamps:
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:
Ana's Fab Friday Newsletter:
https://afabrega.com/
Book Recommendations:
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:
In part 2, "behind the mind" (starting at 48min) Nick & Bilal discuss:
Timestamps:
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:
Timestamps:
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:
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:
Part 2, the live Q&A is in the next episode (look in your podcast feed)
Timestamps:
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:
TIMESTAMPS:
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:
Watch the full interview on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/IifuGSaEkkU
In this conversation, we discuss:
Timestamps:
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:
Timestamps:
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:
Full show notes on creatorlab.fm
In the conversation, you'll learn about:
Timestamps:
Lessons From The Profile:
Courtland founded Indie Hackers, one of the leading entrepreneurship communities on the internet.
Indie Hackers was acquired by Stripe in 2017. He's a Y Combinator alum & graduated from MIT.
This conversation is broken up into two parts.
In part one, we discuss:
Part Two - Business Idea Framework (starts at 1hr mark):
Timestamps:
Part Two: Business Idea Framework:
Tim Urban is one of the internet's most popular writers.
His blog, Wait But Why, attracts millions of visitors including famous fans like Elon Musk. His talk on procrastination is the #1 TED talk on YouTube with 33mil+ views.
Subscribe + Watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/tl2a6H1E7DU
Let us know what you think on Twitter:
@bzaidi
@waitbutwhy
FIVE THINGS YOU'LL LEARN:
SHOW NOTES + TRANSCRIPT:
https://www.creatorlab.fm/tim-urban-wait-but-why-podcast/
TIMESTAMPS:
Let me know what you think on Twitter: @bzaidi
Subscribe + watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/jWYhsGaK3Qk
Chris Kuenne started Rosetta & grew it to become the largest independent digital agency in the world before selling to Publicis for $575mil.
Now he runs Rosemark Capital, investing in companies with revenues of $30–60mil. Chris teaches high-tech entrepreneurship at Princeton University.
In this conversation, we discuss:
TIMESTAMPS:
Matteo Franceschetti is the founder of Eight Sleep, the sleep fitness company at the forefront of sleep tech.
They’ve raised more than $70mil, came out of Y Combinator and are one of the leading companies at the forefront of sleep technology.
Time magazine named their product one of the best inventions of 2018 + 2019.
Watch + subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/vd3wXxYaAxc
Let us know what you think on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/bzaidi
https://twitter.com/m_franceschetti
In this conversation, you'll learn:
TIMESTAMPS:
Shaan Puri is an entrepreneur, investor & top 50 podcast host. He was the CEO of Bebo when they sold to Twitch (Amazon) where he's now a senior director of product.
He invests in startups + recently raised $2.5mil for his "rolling fund" in 11 days, just from a tweet.
Watch + subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/6Hoo38Fr07g
Let us know what you think on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/bzaidi
https://twitter.com/ShaanVP
In this conversation we discuss:
Timestamps
Steph Smith leads Trends at The Hustle. She’s a serial indie maker, writer + marketer.
She’s been a nomad since 2016 & has traveled to 50+ countries while working, learning to code + creating.
Watch + subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/qQtciVUeOMU
Let us know what you think on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/bzaidi
https://twitter.com/stephsmithio
What You'll Learn:
Timestamps
Mubashar Iqbal aka Mubs is a prolific creator. He was Product Hunt’s “maker of the year” + has built 90+ products including Pod Hunt + Founderpath
Watch + subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/CHYNoO6jRiY
Let us know what you think on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/bzaidi
https://twitter.com/mubashariqbal
Five Things You'll Learn:
Time Stamps
Pomp is a partner + co-founder of Morgan Creek Digital.
He hosts a top 10 podcast, has an audience of ~400k followers on Twitter + writes a daily letter to 80,000 investors.
Watch + subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/stlcZjTawvs
Let us know what you think on Twitter:
@bzaidi @creatorlabfm
@apompliano
Five Things You'll Learn:
Timestamps:
Dr. Emily Anhalt is a psychologist, co-founder + chief-clinical officer of Coa, a mental fitness platform + community.
She’s conducted research with prominent psychologists + entrepreneurs on how leaders can improve their emotional fitness.
She's collaborated with companies like Google, Asana, TEDx, NASDAQ, Bloomberg, + True Ventures
Watch + Subscribe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/8n4F_mS79gs
Let us know what you think on Twitter:
@bzaidi @creatorlabfm
@dremilyanhalt @joincoa
FIVE THINGS YOU'LL LEARN:
(1) how to be proactive about your mental health + emotional fitness
(2) identifying + dealing with anxiety
(3) actionable tips to deal with imposter syndrome
(4) dealing with co-founder breakups
(5) survivor guilt, sublimation + other psychological concepts that may impact your life
TIMESTAMPS
Sam Parr is the founder & CEO of The Hustle, an 8 figure media business. They have 1.5mil people subscribed to their daily email newsletter + are on track to hit 8 figures in revenue with their paid newsletter, trends.
Sign up for trends here: https://trends.co/?ref=11694
Five Things You'll Learn:
Let us know what you think on Twitter:
@bzaidi @creatorlabfm
@thesamparr
Timestamps:
Jack Butcher is the founder of @VisualizeValue, a Twitter/Instagram account he's grown to 100k+ followers in less than 2yrs.
His business brings in $100k+ month with 99% profit margins.
Five Things You'll Learn:
Let us know what you think on Twitter:
@bzaidi @creatorlabfm
@jackbutcher @visualizevalue
Timestamps (YouTube)
Who is Josh?
Josh Clemente is the founder of Levels. He’s a mechanical engineer, CrossFit L2 trainer + previously leads teams at Hyperloop + SpaceX where he developed life support systems for astronauts going into space.
In this conversation, we discuss the importance of optimizing your metabolic health, how software can drive behavior change + the future of health tech.
Full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3B1RJvlff74
Topics We Discuss
Full Time Stamps (YouTube)
Subscribe + watch on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/42U2VfWp2Go
Let me know what you think on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/bzaidi
Who is Jim?
Jim McKelvey is an entrepreneur, glass-blowing artist + philanthropist.
He’s most well known as the co-founder of Square, the financial payments company he started with Jack Dorsey (founder of Twitter). Jim also co-founded the non-profit “Launch Code” and he’s an independent Director of the St. Louis Federal Reserve
Jim’s book, The Innovation Stack, is available for purchase. Or sign up to the email list at the bottom of this post to win 1 of 5 copies we’re giving away to listeners
Topics We Discuss:
Book Giveaway
We’re giving away 5 copies of Jim’s book to email subscribers, details here:
https://www.creatorlab.fm/jim-mckelvey-square-co-founder/
Timestamps (YouTube)