The Startup Story

About this episode My guest this week is David Sellinger, founder of Deep Sentinel. David’s startup resume is remarkable and includes such highlights as: * Being an early employee at Amazon working directly under Jeff Bezos and co-inventing Amazon Advertising which now generates BILLIONS of dollars in revenue * Co-founding the real estate brokerage RedFin (now a multi-billion company) * Revolutionizing the shopping experiences for major brands like Macy’s and Office Depot with his RichRelevance startup. * Inventing the next HUGE advancement in home security with Deep Sentinel. Deep Sentinel brings artificial intelligence to the home protection industry. With the Deep Sentinel the technology can identify threats in real time and once a threat is identified a live guard is engaged to notify and warn off the threat. The Deep Sentinel hardware is not just a camera but a sleek yet incredibly intimidating piece of technology that allows the Live Guards to engage while police are on their way. In this episode, you'll hear: How being raised by two immigrant parents shaped his ambition and value of opportunities His learnings about organizational culture from the founding brothers of Dutch Bros. coffee. Lessons learned from Jeff Bezos as it relates to data-informed decision making About the next evolution in home security How important it is to speak honestly about your mental health Resources from this episode FREE Access to Grindology: https://www.grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Deep Sentinel Website: https://www.deepsentinel.com/ Deep Sentinel “STOPPED” YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPrVzjHFY6Acoy54iYvo21RW5xjpWNf8m Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Clay Alexander, the inventor and founder of Ember. Ember is a temperature control brand that seeks to disrupt how the world eats, drinks and lives. Their very first product was a Travel Mug and was launched in 100 Starbucks locations. Since their launch they have expanded to other product lines. Clay has an incredible founder story that I hope more people discover because I think it brings encouragement and inspiration to so many. Let me be clear, when I say "encouragement" I am not talking about the type of fuzzy-feelings you get when you receive a Hallmark card. I'm talking about the actual meaning of the word "encourage", to place courage inside of. That is what Clay's story will deliver to you, courage to keep moving forward despite the obstacles or challenges you might be up against. See Clay grew up incredibly poor, in fact to use his words "dirt poor." Aside from his economic challenges he was diagnosed with ADD and dyslexia, and he still is. Yet despite all these challenges he has founded two amazing companies and invented numerous patented products, that I'm sure when the story is over will deliver well beyond $1-billion in revenue. I know this episode will quickly become one of your favorites but like all other founder episodes we need to start at the very beginning. In this episode, you'll hear How Clay's upbringing was not one where entrepreneurship was an inevitable journey for him. In fact, everything about his upbringing would have pointed towards obtaining a steady 9-5 job to help simply put food on the table. About how his creative and inventive mind was at work from a young age and how he even replicated the famous Inspector Gadget bicycle, including switches for smoke screens The journey through college helped set the stage for him to refine his lighting expertise and led to his inventing the brightest LED bulb in the world The steps he took to negotiate a licensing deal with GE for that very bulb he invented How cold scrambled eggs became the catalyst for the first temperature controlled coffee mug on the planet The reason why the Ember mug, iPhone, Macbook Pro, and Apple iPad all look so good together Why any inventor or entrepreneur should never accept the answer of "No" as final and complete Clay unpack the future of Ember and the various industries that will benefit from his many temperature control solution ideas Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Ember website: https://ember.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Michael Werner, founder and CEO of HomeX. Until 2003, Michael served as President and Vice Chariman for his family's 100 year old business, Werner Ladders. The Werner Company continues on today and is now a $1 billion dollar global brand…but Michael has moved on and launched a technology startup within a $500 billion market. HomeX is the first of its kind home services platform for both homeowners and service providers that is radically improving the complex and fragmented home services industry. One of the many things that peaked my curiosity about having Michael on the show was that I am just not a handy individual. Despite the fact that I could watch a YouTube video of how to change my garbage disposal I would much rather have an expert walk me through the process, or just do it for me. Well, that is one of the consumer solutions that HomeX is bringing to the marketplace, direct access to industry experts to guide you through the solution or enable you to hire the expert to come and take care of it for you. HomeX is truly changing the game for homeowners and service providers. And having just come off a $90 million dollar capital raise, things are about to get very interesting for Michael and the HomeX team. In this episode, you'll hear: The importance of reiventing an industry. The nuance of leading a legacy brand. Why global manufacturing is critical to business success. The importance that small business plays to our economy and communities. Resources from this episode Grindology: https://www.grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → ExpressVPN.com/StartupStory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory HomeX for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.homex.lightning&utmsource=web&utmmedium=cta&utm_campaign=newcta HomeX for iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/app/homex-we-got-this/id1505761821?utmsource=web&utmmedium=cta&utm_campaign=newcta Use the code "STARTUPSTORY25" to receive 25% off your first Remote Assist session. Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode Whenever I’m asked which episode of The Startup Story has been my favorite, I truly can’t give an answer. I enjoy every single episode because of how much value every entrepreneur brings to the table and how much I learn from them. However, if I were to be asked which episode stands out the most in my mind, it would have to be one of my earliest episodes: my interview with Brandon “Monk” Muñoz from Monkwood Studios. Out of all of the interviews I’ve held, I’ve only hosted two founders who were woodworkers. Brandon is one of them. His episode stands out because of how incredibly eclectic his entrepreneurial journey has been. Brandon was both extremely transparent and vulnerable about his story and amazing at telling it. He explains how both he and his startup, Monkwood Studios, got to where they are today. If you want to learn from a talented and hilarious entrepreneur, tune into this conversation with Brandon “Monk” Muñoz. In this episode, you'll hear: How Brandon got into woodworking as a kid. The mentor and friend that taught him how to build furniture. Why he was inspired to go out on his own. How much he failed and learned from his mistakes at the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey. Why how you make something is more important than what you make. Brandon’s experience doing ministry in London and building the unique startup of a church. Why he became an entrepreneur by need, not by choice. How he finally niched his business down and began specializing in wooden desks. The connection he feels with the people who purchase his desks. The risk all creative entrepreneurs have to take. Resources from this episode Grindology: https://www.grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → ExpressVPN.com/StartupStory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Brandon in Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monkwood_/ Monkwood Studios: https://monkwoodstudio.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode This week we are featuring Randi Zuckerberg, founder of Zuckerberg Media. If her last name sounds familiar, it should. It’s also the last name of her little brother who had a startup about a book of faces or Facebook or something like that. Randi Zuckerberg is an entrepreneur, investor, best selling author, and Emmy-nominated tech media personality. She is the founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media, with the mission of supporting current and future entrepreneurs through investment, mentorship, and media. Growing up she wanted to be a Broadway actress, yet while in college she had to pivot from that dream to pursue a career in advertising. But what I love about the stories of many of the founders this show highlights, is that we always find our way back to our passion, in one form or another. Like every Startup Story founder, we need to go back to the early days to find out what life was like for Randi before Facebook LIVE, before two best-selling books, and before receiving two Tony awards. You’ll soon hear how her beginning wasn’t all that different from others who have come before her. This is Randi’ Zuckerberg's startup story. In this episode, you'll hear: Her aspirations of becoming an actress and how those dreams got crushed early on About creating her first ad campaign for the Special Olympics The transition from working in an ad agency to working for Facebook and becoming the creator of Facebook LIVE About the time she received a call from the producers of the Broadway musical Rock of Ages and the start of her Broadway career How her experiences have taught her that none of us have just one calling and there are so many chapters and phases of our lives, each with different callings Her realization that her best skills were on the production side of the entertainment and Broadway industry; and how she began to apply those skills as an entrepreneur The founding of Zuckerberg Media and Randi’s hopes and ambitions for her venture Resources from this episode Grindology: https://www.grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Zuckerberg Media: https://www.zuckerbergmedia.com/ Michael Littig, Zuckerberg Institute: https://www.thestartupstory.co/zuckerberginstitute Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode As a pioneer, there is not a single roadmap to work from. There’s no way to model your success off of another because there is no other--you’re it. You’re the front runner. There must be an internal competition established within your brain to be constantly improving. Richard Garriot has experienced all of this throughout his time in the gaming sector. Richard is an investor and private astronaut as well as a pioneer and legend. What drew me to him was his role within privatizing space travel as well as his experience as a video game entrepreneur. However, I had no idea how rich his background in the gaming sector was. Tune into this episode to hear how iconic he truly is and how he reached this level of success. In this episode, you'll hear How entering science fairs prepared Richard to be a great independent competitor. How he published his first product. His experience as a freelance game creator looking for publishers. What caused him to start a company with his brother. Why packaging was important to him even before building a brand. His experience losing the faith of everyone he worked with and making up his own philosophy from scratch. How he navigated his business with the emergence of the internet. The period of time when he took a break from gaming and pursued space travel. His vision for space and the future of space travel. The power of being multidisciplinary. The key things he learned from his failures. Resources from this episode Grindology: https://www.grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → ExpressVPN.com/StartupStory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Richard on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RichardGarriott Richard’s website: http://www.richardgarriott.com Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Second, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to share your favorite Startup Story episodes with your friends and on social media. Tag or mention @thestartupstory.co so we can give you a virtual high five and a thank you! Lastly, share the podcast on LinkedIn. The Startup Story podcast is for entrepreneurs. Don’t underestimate the power of sharing on LinkedIn so other entrepreneurs can discover us. With your support, we hope to further our reach in encouraging and inspiring the founders of today and tomorrow. Thank you!

About this episode My guest this week is Matt Meeker, Co-founder of Bark, and while the Bark’s name itself might not cause your ears to perk up in excitement for what's to come in this episode. Bark’s various product lines are household names. Their flagship product being BarkBox, with over 1.7 million active BarkBox subscribers, BarkBox is the Premier subscription dog toy and treat service. In addition to BarkBox, Bark has various product lines that can be found in over 23,000 retail outlets. Matts entire episode is chock full of value because his journey and his experiences are so extensive. To start with Matt was one of the digital advertising pioneers, and we discuss what digital advertising was like long before the days of Facebook ads. Matt was also a Co-founder of Meetup, which eventually sold the WeWork for $156 million in 2017. And now in 2021, Matt and the Bark leadership team are navigating the SPAC landscape to bring Bark to the public markets. As I said, Matts episode covers quite a bit of ground and I'm super pumped to bring it to you. But with that said while I know, you're excited to hear his insights into SPAC’s and all things subscription-related we need to start at the very beginning. In this episode, you'll hear: How he grew up in a small town in Iowa with his parents who were very different. His father was a conservative accountant and his mother a rebel who encouraged him to form his path. How he was entrepreneurial from a young age, at school he had many side hustles like running the schools poker games and selling red cups to buy beer. How he played Racquetball competitively and went on to play at the National Tournament. Matt went to the University of Minnesota but only lasted one quarter as he only went because everyone expected him to go. How Matt dropped out of college and joined the Navy and became a weather observer. Matt went back to university and paid his way through in cash. After college he joined a Digital Ad Agency in March 1997, the company focused on getting traffic from the website to the store. They had big companies like Disney, Capital One and Discover. Matt explains what digital advertising was like in 2000. He shares that the Ad company was very successful but he did sell it, with this he joined forces with one of the companies investors to start a new company. Matt explains that his next company wasn’t successful and it was all down to the execution of the business. The company had more money they knew what to do with and hired big names in the business world but never made a real product or spoke to a customer. Matt shares how the founder of the Ad agency Scott started talking about the next business venture. Matt shares how Scott and himself started Meetup, a company trying to encourage people to get out of their house and meet people online. They also wanted to change the negative narrative of meeting people online. How Matt and Scott hired their CTO for Meetup from a listing they put on Craigslist. Matt shares that he left Meetup because it was getting too big with 45 employees and he didn’t want the stress of it. Matt founded Barkbox in September 2011 and never thought it would grow to over 735 employees. Matt shares that he started Barkbox as he was living in New York with his Great Dane Hugo, when they went into a pet shop there was nothing for big dogs. He shares that Groupon brought in half of their customers in the first year. Matt shares how BarkBox has further developed into different sections like SuperHuman, Bark Bright, Bark Eats and Bark Home. How BarkBox developed its own dog food as they wanted dogs to be fed as an individual. Resources from this episode Grindology: https://www.grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Sponsor Movo: https://movo.cash/ Bark HQ: https://bark.co/ BarkBox: https://www.barkbox.com Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode My guest this week is Ryan Serhant, star of Bravo’s hit series Million Dollar Listing New York, Best Selling Author, and founder of Serhant. How do the crossroads of reality television and entrepreneurship ever cross? Well, this episode will answer that question very clearly for you. My guest has been the star of Bravo’s hit show, Million Dollar Listing New York for the last 10 seasons as well as launching one of the fastest growing Real Estate brands in the nation. Ryan is an absolute branding genius and he shares his expertise on that very topic, as well as his take on how resilience plays into the startup journey. In this episode, you'll hear: Childhood lessons that shaped his entire life’s journey How hand modeling helped stabilize his income while building his empire The power of action-taking and not action-thinking How Real Estate is just like improvisational acting Why you should plan out what “future you” looks like How the hardest moments in our life can shape our entire future going forward How he started selling real estate by leveraging YouTube How naivete can be of value to launching your business How selling is the foundation of any business The importance of branding, regardless of your industry Resources from this episode Grindology: https://www.grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Ryan’s Brand Building Course: https://ryanserhant.com/thestartupstory Sell it Like Serhant: https://amzn.to/3r6hHSH Big Money Energy: https://amzn.to/2ZidbVQ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Sean Cannell, founder of Think Media. His episode was originally released on February 11th of last year. Just 45 days before everything started to unravel from COVID. Sean is an incredible human being and entrepreneur as well as a best selling author, YouTuber, speaker, and absolute digital marketing mogul that has centered his mission on helping entrepreneurs and creatives build their influence with online video. Sean’s various YouTube channels have over two million subscribers, his videos have been viewed over 50 million times and he has been featured as one of the “20 Must Watch YouTube Channels That Will Change Your Business” by Forbes. The stats I just read are incredibly impressive, but what is really impressive is that Sean, and the Think Media team are on a mission to help 10,000 people create a living, doing what they love to do, utilizing online video. That is what I love about Sean’s story, is that it is grounded in helping others achieve something more for themselves. In this episode, you'll hear: How Sean’s childhood needed a complete redemption story in order to move forward. Lessons learned from key mentors in his life. The power of YouTube and why it should not be overlooked. About the marathon of entrepreneurship and how to avoid burnout. Why your brand NEEDS to utilize video. Resources from this episode Grindology: https://www.grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory YouTube Secrets: https://amzn.to/31YHpOz Think Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGxjDWAN1KwrkXYVi8CXtjQ Sean Cannell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seancannell/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is none other than Evan Goldberg, Founder & EVP of Oracle NetSuite. The startup story of NetSuite is amazing because Evan and Larry Ellison spent 5 minutes on the phone discussing the idea of selling software from the cloud (which wasn’t called the cloud back in 1999) and then one year later they were selling to customers. NetSuite is the market leader in small business cloud-based ERP solutions and have over 27,000 customers across the globe. Within my full interview we discuss how he handled the failure of his first software startup, what it was like to build a startup and navigate an IPO as well as a corporate acquisition. We even discuss the fact that Evan had to lead NetSuite through not one financial crisis, but two. The dot com bust of 2000 and the 2008 market crash…and then a third with the COVID pandemic just last year…but we don’t spend any time talking about that because there just wasn’t enough time! I’m telling you…you are going to love this episode. In this episode, you'll hear: How Evan recovered from the failure of his first startup. How the origin of a company valued at over $9 billion began from a 5-minute conversation. How to handle distractions as a startup founder. The early customer acquisition strategies for a multi-billion-dollar SaaS company. Learnings from the transition as an independent company to being owned by a corporation. How startup founders need to capitalize on a down market to improve their business and be prepared for the rebound. Resources from this episode Grindology: https://www.grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/ Evan’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-netsuite/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode About six weeks ago one of our past guest experienced a life-changing event with regards to his startup. On September 13, 2021 it was confirmed that Mailchimp had been acquired by Intuit for $12 billion in cash and stock. Because of the recent headlines that have hit the mainstream tech sites, regarding this acquisition, I thought it would be nice to counter the false “overnight success” narratives with an honest discussion about how Ben Chestnut, co-founder of Mailchimp, really helped to build Mailchimp to where it is today. Until now, Ben’s story hasn’t received a ton of articles published about the savvy way in which Ben and his co-founder built this billion dollar enterprise without any venture capital. But now that they have been acquired for $12 billion…you are seeing them everywhere. This is the REAL startup story! In this episode, you'll hear: Ben’s early days and what led him to start MailChimp. Ben’s thoughts on bringing capital into the business. How he stayed the course despite competitor noise. Tactics Ben used to acquire his first 10,000 users. How to determine pricing and consumer tolerance in a SaaS product. Ben’s key steps to build a $12-billion startup. Ben’s advice to any entrepreneur who feels stuck. Resources from this episode Grindology Magazine: http://grindologymagazine.com/ Grindology on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/grindology ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Ben’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/benchestnut My LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmckinney1/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode In the past month or so, I’ve had a few newer listeners reach out to me asking me when I would share a bit more about my story and how I got to the point of bringing The Startup Story to market. Well, as I responded to each of those listeners, I realized that it has been almost two years since my startup story episode has been released. What I also realized is that, when we did release that episode we were sitting at around 30,000 listeners…well we are now close to 100,000 listeners so it seems like it might be advantageous to replay my story for our newer, and much larger audience. This is also the only episode of the show where I am not the host. I could not tell my Startup Story without having my wife be part of the telling because so much of what I’ve been through has also been part of her story; and that is just the reality of marriage. There is no compartmentalizing things when you are married. As an entrepreneur, your startup plays an enormous role in your marriage…and that is why I had to have her join the show to ask me the questions that I probably wouldn’t naturally share had she not asked me. This episode is incredibly raw! In this episode, you'll hear: How I watched my dad grow his side hustle into a multimillion-dollar enterprise, and how it shaped my future Some of my early side hustles, dating all the way back to elementary school About being kicked out at the age of 16, living on my own, and how my dad delivered discipline in an intentional way How learning lessons of hard work and determination affected me as I continued to grow My focus and what I wanted to do with my life and how and why I joined the Marines About building and growing a promotional product business and recalling on the day I lost it all, and how it affected my wife Resources from this episode Grindology Magazine: http://grindologymagazine.com/ Grindology on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/grindology Larry Namer, founder of E! Entertainment Television: https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/larry-namer-founder-of-e-entertainment-television Ben Chestnut, co-founder of Mailchimp: https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/ben-chestnut-co-founder-of-mailchimp Christina Stembel, founder of Farmgirl Flowers: https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/christina-stembel-founder-of-farmgirl-flowers ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory My LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmckinney1/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode My guest this week is Neil Shah, a co-founder of ThinkNimble. Neil is a serial entrepreneur and technology expert and ThinkNimble is a software development agency that helps startups and socially-focused companies grow and scale. As the show has expanded its reach, the demographic that we reach has shifted some as well. Within the last few months I have had some very early-stage founders reach out to me with some very specific questions, and many of them have been tactical in nature. Questions like: * What does product-market fit really look like? * Are Facebook Ads still as beneficial to the startup as they used to be? * Are subscription-based businesses as great as they sound? * How can I acquire my first 1,000 customers for my SaaS solution? Yet, despite the various questions I receive is some variation of “How can I launch a technical startup if I’m not a technical person?” Well, that is the exact question that Neil and I discuss in this week’s episode. In this episode, you'll hear: The reality of thinking that you are “non-technical” Common misconceptions that non-technical founders get hung up on How to think about your budget when building a technical solution Can no-code solutions help you get to market How you can move forward on your technical solution Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory ThinkNimble: https://www.thinknimble.com/ Neil’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-shah-85909714/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode My guest this week is Eli Harris, is the co-founder of R-Zero. R-Zero is disrupting an archaic industry (disinfection), and in doing so - creating a category around health security + biosafety technology. Eli and his co-founders recognized that the COVID pandemic was going to present a massive shift in health security, much like 9/11 did for physical security. The opportunity for Eli and the R-Zero team is enormous and we discuss this societal shift in great detail within this episode, but let me be clear…Eli’s story is not one of success without failure. R-Zero is Eli’s second startup and his first is now valued over $1 billion dollars. You read that correctly, his first startup reached the elusive “Unicorn” status. Unfortunately though, he does not get to share in that success because a little over two years ago he was pushed out and let go from the very company he built. Within this episode we unpack how he processed that moment to get to a place where was capable and emotionally ready to begin building what, from all external signs, looks to be another Unicorn startup story. In this episode, you'll hear: How Eli put in tremendous work to become fluent in Mandarin Chinese and how that work led to various opportunities in mainland China. The origin of his first startup, and how it reached a valuation of $1 billion. The events that led to him being pushed out from that startup. How he processed and leveraged that traumatic experience to strengthen him for the next chapter of his startup journey. Historical perspective of the security changes brought on my the events of 9/11, and how the COVID pandemic has created a similar opportunity. About the future growth opportunities for R-Zero and their recent acquisitions.. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory R-Zero: https://rzero.com/ Eli’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eli-harris-6a262164/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. There are three ways you can help. First, the most powerful way you can support this podcast is by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

About this episode My guest this week is Joshua Wöhle, CEO & co-founder of Mindstone. Mindstone is an online platform that creates the best learning pathways from the best content available online. Imagine aggregating and curating all the best articles, podcasts, videos, and anything else, to help you learn faster, remember more, and develop your skills and expertise on that given topic of interest. In a world with unlimited access to information and resources, Joshua and the Mindstone team want to provide anyone, anywhere in the world, with the tools, confidence, and motivation to take ownership of their own learning. The mission of Mindstone is incredibly ambitious and complex. If you are one of those startup founders, or wantrepreneurs, that find yourself a bit stuck on how to move forward because you too have a massively complex road ahead of you because of industry or technology then this is the episode for you! In this episode, you'll hear: How being raised by a Pastor and a Philosopher has shaped how he pursues understanding of complex questions. Why he dropped out of University twice before he was able to complete a degree program. What drove him to launch a startup that was centered around making the internet safe for kids, yet he had no kids. Why he thinks solving a problem based on personal need is not the only way to sustain passion and fullfillment during the entrepreneurial journey. Why he would leave his first startup after a massively successful exit with a globally recongnized brand. Why the current cultural foothold held by larger institutions needs to be disrupted. How Joshua, and the Mindstone team, seek to democratize learning and shift how self-driven learning is perceived by the Corporate & Career sector. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Book: “How we learn” by Benedict Carey - https://amzn.to/3DgB5zt Mindstone: https://www.mindstone.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Betsy Fore, co-founder of Tiny Organics. For those that might not be aware of Tiny Organics, they are an early childhood nutrition company that focuses on introducing our little ones to their first 100 flavors to kickstart a lifelong health oriented palate. In fact, Betsy says that Tiny Organics mission is to help shift the palate or our children from being sweet oriented to savory oriented. As a dad, what I heard when she described her startup this way was “Tiny Organics is going to help raise less picky kids!” Betsy, and her co-founder Sofia, recently announced their $11 million series A so in the coming months you are truly going to see some big things out of Tiny Organics. Betsy’s journey to Tiny Organics is incredibly diverse as it starts on a Tribal reservation and travels through the toy-making industry. Like I’ve said many times, the entrepreneurial journey is incredibly diverse. In this episode, you'll hear: How her indigenous roots have played a role in how she seeks to serve all those she engages. The relevance that toy making has to childhood nutrition. How an unsuccessful pet hardware startup provided some necessary data points for a future nutrition initiative. What Betsy wants to do to bring increased visibility to other indigenous founders. How we, as parents, can capitalize on the 4-7 month window in our child’s development, to increase the desirability of nutritious foods. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Betsy’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/betsyfore/ What I learned when I failed: https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/james-mckinney-founder-of-the-startup-story Tiny Organics: https://www.tinyorganics.com/ Use the code “tinystartupstory30” to receive 30% off of your first Tiny box purchase! Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Jeff Abrams, founder and Creative Director of Rails. For those that might not be aware of what Rails is what product they provide, allow me to enlighten you. Rails is a global lifestyle clothing brand that has an incredibly robust women’s and men’s collection. The brand started in 2008 with just a $5,000 investment and Jeff has since grown Rails into a brand that is sold in over 40 countries through 1,500 retail partners. Since 2008, Rails has surpassed half a billion in revenue and accumulated some massively popular celebrity fans like Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Gisele, and many more. In fact, his first celebrity fan was Matthew McConaughey…but I will let Jeff share that story. In this episode, you'll hear: The exact steps he took to bring Rails to market and how he secured his first 40 retail partners His strategy for expanding his product catalog How he managed capital to keep Rails bootstrapped Why he thinks brick & mortar retail stores are a necessary channel even with a robust web presence How he kept going in the face of repeated rejection Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindologymagazine.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Rails Clothing: https://www.railsclothing.com/ Use the code “STARTUPSTORY” to receive 15% off of your purchase Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Danny Wajcman, co-founder of Lucky Orange. For those that might not be aware of Lucky Orange, this episode will be an absolute treat for you because Lucky Orange is one of the most dynamic website analytic tools available to help you truly optimize the customer journey to increase your conversion. Most people think of Google Analytics when it comes to website analytics, but Lucky Orange fills some in the gaps that Google Analytics doesn’t address. Google Analytics is phenomenal at telling us how a site visitor comes to our site and how they leave our site, but Lucky Orange informs us on their entire journey across our site. Lucky Orange is truly a powerful tool for conversion analytics. In this episode, you'll hear: The influence that his Grandparents, who survived the Holocaust, had on his life How Danny saw a need to understand user behavior on a website, beyond just numerical metrics About the significance and power of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) What distinguishes an entrepreneur and a leader How ego can impact the entrepreneurial journey and how to keep it in check Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Lucky Orange: https://www.luckyorange.com/ Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode My guest this week is Mia Plecic, founder of the Slick Hair Company and branding genius who brought the Slick Stick to market in the midst of a global pandemic. Mia is no stranger to the show and was actually our featured founder for episode 19, so she has been part of The Startup Story family from very early on! I highly encourage you to listen to her initial episode because she gets incredible raw with us as it relates to how she processed various startup failures that have occurred along her journey. Her latest venture, the Slick Stick, is actually her 7th startup and her 6th e-commerce startup. In fact, when she was 22 she launched her first e-commerce startup and reached $30,000 in daily revenue within 6 months. But Mia’s journey was not met without challenge. In this episode, you'll hear: What Mia has learned coming off of her third startup failure, and what she will do differently as she builds Slick Stick. How Tik Tok had an immediate, five-figure, daily impact to her business and brand. Specific steps take to launch a white-labeled product with a very disciplined, and bootstrapped, approach. How to navigate an expanded product catalog without needing investment capital. What the future of Slick Hair Company looks like. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Mia’s very first episode of The Startup Story: https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/mia-plecic-founder-of-her-organics Purchase a Slick Stick today: https://www.slickhaircompany.com Use the code “startupstory” to receive a 10% discount on your order Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!

About this episode This week's episode features an interview with Vlad Magdalin, co-founder of Webflow. For those that may not be aware, Webflow (at its core) is a website building platform, but yet it is so much more. Webflow is a platform that has enabled thousands of designers to act as an design and development agency because Webflow allows anyone to design masterfully, and develop online engagements without any need to know how to code. In fact, just a few weeks ago we had Duncan Hamra, cofounder of Memberstack on The Startup Story. In his episode we discovered that Memberstack was built ontop of Webflow. So the reality is that Webflow is not just a website builder but an entire web and software development platform that is democratizing how web design and development is achieved. Vlad is an incredible storyteller and you're going to love his full episode. But for me, one of my favourite aspects of his entrepreneurial journey. Is the fact that both he and his brother (who is also his co-founder) are refugees from Russia and who grew up in the Shadows of Silicon Valley. Having immigrated to the US only days before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Vlad knows quite a bit about starting over from scratch. And aside from overcoming many personal struggles as he adapted his life to try and fit in within the United States. It also took him and his brother four separate tries to get their now two-billion-dollar company up and running. Vlad’s story is so incredibly relatable because the startup story for many companies is not one continuous thread, sometimes it has many starts and stops and Vlad was no different. In this episode, you'll hear: Vlad shares how he was born in the USSR and his parents took the massive risk to move him and his siblings to America in 1991. He shares what it was like growing up in American from the age of 9 and how he struggled with his identity and he tried to hide that he was from Russia. When Vlad was looking to go to college his parents said he should do a computer course like his brother. He did this for one term then dropped out to go to art school to do 3D animation as he aspired to work at Pixar. While he was at college Vlad had his first entrepreneurial venture. Vlad was using Quickdot to chat with his friends but the app crashed. So picked up a book on programming and started writing a clone of Quickdot but developed it and started ChatterFox. Here he fell in love with programming. Vlad shares how he first came up with the idea for Webflow when he was an intern at a design agency. He accidentally saw how the company was charging their clients hundreds of thousands of dollars while Vlad was getting paid $7 an hour. This sparked his entrepreneurial flair and he wanted to fix the problem he saw and make it better for everyone involved. Vlad shares how he pushed back starting Webflow for 6 years and experienced many ups and downs with this. He almost gave up until one day he randomly receives a trademark certificate for Webflow, that he applied for it over 5 years ago. He took this as a sign to keep going. How he went viral on Hacker News. In less than 24 hours it was the number 1 post and went viral on Twitter. Vlad shares the posting on hacker news drove over 20,000 sign ups. When Webflow launched only 30 people out of the 20,000 paid to use the software. Vlad shares that with those first 30 customers they started a group chat, to hear direct complaints, suggestions and requests they were making. How they think Webflow hasn’t even scratched the surface yet of what’s to come for the website and with their Series B round completed they are on to developing Webflow. Resources from this episode Join Grindology: https://grindology.com/ ExpressVPN: Get 3 Months Free → https://www.expressvpn.com/startupstory Get Emails: https://app.getemails.com/referrals/newaccount?ref=R18HWW5 The Startup Story Inner Circle: https://www.thestartupstory.co/vip The Startup Story on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thestartupstory The Startup Story is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/jamesmckinney The Startup Story on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestartupstory Webflow Website: https://webflow.com/ Webflow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/webflow/ Webflow Twitter: https://twitter.com/webflow Webflow Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/webflow/ Bret Victor, Investing On Principle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUv66718DII Share the podcast The Startup Story community has been so incredible in sharing our podcast with others, and we thank you! We do have more stories to tell and more people to reach. So please keep sharing!