00059. How Mike Townsend Raised $23 Million with HomeHero, and Is Now Bootstrapping a Crypto Gift Card Exchange Called Redeeem
Description
On today's episode of Gritty Founder, Mike Townsend talks about his journey as an entrepreneur and how he built Redeeem. Mike shares valuable advice on finding cofounders, hiring, and building long term relationships.
Mike is a serial entrepreneur, and host of Around the Coin fintech podcast. He raised $23 Million with his last startup HomeHero, and is now bootstrapping a crypto gift card exchange called Redeeem.
Some Questions Mike Answers:
- What influenced you to become an entrepreneur? (5:55 )
- Walk us through all the companies you’ve started? (9:13 )
- How have you been able to find success building a team? (27:42 )
- What do you think is the most important ingredient for a founder? (33:24 )
- If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself? (35:56 )
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
- About Mike’s background and how he became an entrepreneur (4:20 )
- How Mike started Redeeem (20:27 )
- Advice for finding cofounders (32:01 )
- You need an eagerness to put ideas into reality as a founder (33:38 )
- Invest in long term relationships (36:13 )
- About Mike’s podcast, “Around the Coin” (38:48 )
- Mike’s thoughts on public funding for education (41:08 )
- Why we shouldn’t have government programs to put solar panels on top of houses (43:05 )
Connect with Mike Townsend:
Also Mentioned on This Show...
Mike’s favorite quote:
“When you consider that man is a little germ that lives on an unimportant rock ball that revolves about an insignificant star on the outer edges of one of the smaller galaxies — what a put-down that [is]. But, on the other hand, if [I] think about that for a few minutes, I am absolutely amazed to discover myself on this rock ball rotating around a spherical fire. It’s a very odd situation.” —Alan Watts
Mike’s book recommendation:
Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss