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The Startup Story Each week you will hear the Startup Story of a high-profile founder who had to overcome major challenges to bring their startup to life.
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My guest this week is David Sellinger, founder of Deep Sentinel.David’s startup resume is remarkable and includes such h...
25/01/2022

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.

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.

You can hear the full episode on , Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or any other podcast platform in the known universe. Or, you can go old school and listen online via the link below

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/david-sellinger-founder-of-deep-sentinel

I'm a stickler when it comes to word usage. So often, a powerful word will be misused, and over time the significance of...
18/01/2022

I'm a stickler when it comes to word usage. So often, a powerful word will be misused, and over time the significance of that word is lost. For example, the word ENCOURAGE.⁠

When you hear the word ENCOURAGE, you probably think of some warm, fuzzy-feeling response you get when you receive a Hallmark card, which is not even close to the word's meaning. The prefix "en" means "in or within," and well, you should know what "courage" means. So when someone uses the word ENCOURAGE, it actually means "courage within." So if I were to encourage you, then I am actively placing courage inside of you. Whether it be my actions or my words, my encouragement is placing courage within you; not warm fuzzy feelings.⁠

With that said, our current episode featuring Clay Alexander, inventor and founder of , will inspire and encourage you!⁠

Clay grew up incredibly poor, 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, which I'm sure will deliver well beyond $1-billion in revenue when the story is over. I know this episode will quickly become one of your favorites, so make sure to hit up the link in our bio to queue it up. You can also access it on all major podcasts platforms when you subscribe to The Startup Story podcast, as well as online via the link below.

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/clay-alexander-founder-of-ember-6

Across my founder roster, there has not been a single episode that has featured someone from a 100-year-old brand. Well,...
04/01/2022

Across my founder roster, there has not been a single episode that has featured someone from a 100-year-old brand. Well, this week's episode becomes the very first. Within this episode, we discuss the opportunities that leading a globally recognized brand brings to a founder of a new technology startup.

My guest this week is Michael Werner, founder and CEO of HomeX. Until 2003, Michael served as President and Vice Chairman 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. HomeX is coming off a $90 million dollar capital raise, and things are about to get very interesting for Michael and the HomeX team.

You can hear his full episode on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or online via the link below:

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/michael-werner-founder-of-homex

When it comes to “which episode stands out (in my mind) from the others” it would have to be one of our very early episo...
28/12/2021

When it comes to “which episode stands out (in my mind) from the others” it would have to be one of our very early episodes. To be specific it would be my interview with Brandon “Monk” Munoz of Monkwood Studios. ⁠

The reason my interview with Brandon stands out is because of how incredibly eclectic his entrepreneurial journey is, and the fact that I have never laughed so hard throughout an interview like I did with him. He is an exceptional storyteller.⁠

Well, we have quite a few new listeners since the time when we aired Brandon’s episode and I thought it might be valuable to tap into the vault and bring back, not my favorite episode…because I love them all…but the one episode that will always stand out to me because of how authentic and transparent Brandon is with how he got to where he is today.⁠

You can hear Brandon's episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or online via the link below...

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/top-episode-brandon-munoz-founder-of-monkwood-studios

With so many new listeners I know that there are quite a few that probably have not made it through our top 10 episodes ...
21/12/2021

With so many new listeners I know that there are quite a few that probably have not made it through our top 10 episodes so I thought it would be helpful to play a selection of that list.

My guest this week is Randi Zuckerberg, founder of Zuckerberg Media. Randi’s episode was originally released on January 14th of 2020, which was pretty much our one-year anniversary of the show.

Today, Randi is a serial entrepreneur, an investor, best selling author, and Emmy-nominated tech media personality. Yet, like every startup story founder, we need to go back to the early days so that we can hear what life was like for Randi before Facebook LIVE, before the two best-selling books, and before receiving her two Tony awards. Because while her life today might look different than ours, her beginning is not really all that different…

You can hear her episode on all major podcast platforms as well as online via the link below.

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/top-episode-randi-zuckerberg-founder-of-zuckerberg-media

Next month will be the 3-year celebration of the Podcast! 🎉  🥳  🎉 It’s crazy to think that I have been releasing a weekl...
14/12/2021

Next month will be the 3-year celebration of the Podcast! 🎉 🥳 🎉

It’s crazy to think that I have been releasing a weekly episode every week for the past three years but it’s true…and we’ve had some amazing founder guests on the show. With that in mind, this week…and the next two weeks leading into 2022 I will be replaying some of our most listened to episodes.

My guest this week is Richard Garriott, video game pioneer and legend, as well as investor and private astronaut. Richard’s episode was originally released on November 10th of 2020 and I want to warn you…it is much longer than any other episode I have ever released.

We recorded for over two hours and every single minute was so incredibly compelling and it was so hard to cut anything.

For those that are not familiar with Richard’s significance within the gaming industry this episode is going to blow your mind. Especially because as a pioneer in anything there is not a single roadmap to work from. There’s no modeling your success off of another because there is no other. You're it, you're the front runner.

Richard’s story is not just about video gaming. His involvement in space is fascinating as well. In fact, it is his ties to space that really begin his Startup Story, and you can hear all of it via the link below.

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/top-episode-richard-garriott-video-game-creator-and-astronaut

How do the crossroads of reality television and entrepreneurship ever cross? Well, this episode will answer that questio...
30/11/2021

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 Serhant 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.

You can hear his complete episode on all major podcast platforms as well as online via the link below.

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/ryan-serhant-founder-of-serhant-and-star-of-bravo-s-million-dollar-listing-new-york

My guest this week is none other than Evan Goldberg, Founder & EVP of Oracle NetSuite. The Startup Story of NetSuite is ...
09/11/2021

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 has 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.

You can hear Evan's episode on all major podcast platforms as well as online via the link below.

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/evan-goldberg-founder-evp-of-oracle-netsuite

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...
26/10/2021

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 are 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!

You can hear the episode on all Apple podcast, Spotify, and I Heart Radio and so many more platforms. Just search for The Startup Story on your platform of choice, or visit the link below for easy access:

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/james-mckinney-founder-of-grindology-the-startup-story

Do you have a startup idea that requires technical expertise but you are not a technical person? Maybe you have a new se...
19/10/2021

Do you have a startup idea that requires technical expertise but you are not a technical person? Maybe you have a new search engine concept, or a mobile discovery solution idea, or even a new social media platform concept. Either way, what do you do if your product idea is technical, but you aren't? Well, that is exactly what we discuss in this week's episode.

My guest this week is Neil Shah, a co-founder of ThinkNimble. Neil is a serial entrepreneur and technology expert and 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.

You can hear this episode on all major podcast platforms like Apple Podcast and Spotify...as well as online via the link below.

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/how-non-technical-founders-can-launch-a-tech-startup

My guest this week is Eli Harris, is the co-founder of R-Zero. R-Zero is disrupting an archaic industry (disinfection), ...
12/10/2021

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 at 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.

You can access this episode on all major podcast networks as well as online via the link below.

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/eli-harris-co-founder-of-r-zero

How do you move forward with a startup concept that seeks to participate, or disrupt, a massively complex industry or re...
05/10/2021

How do you move forward with a startup concept that seeks to participate, or disrupt, a massively complex industry or require a tremendously complicated development of technology? If you find yourself in this segment, then this episode is for you. Joshua Wöhle, co-founder of Mindstone, is moving forward with his pursuit to democratize learning and to shift how self-driven learning is perceived by the Corporate & Career sector.

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.

You can hear Joshua's full story on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, and even online via the link below:

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/joshua-wohle-co-founder-of-mindstone

The entrepreneurial journey is incredibly eclectic, and today's episode is no exception. This week's episode features Be...
29/09/2021

The entrepreneurial journey is incredibly eclectic, and today's episode is no exception. This week's episode features Betsy Fore, co-founder of Tiny Organics, an early childhood nutrition company. Yet, before Betsy was slinging baby food she was designing toys for some of the most iconic children brands in the world.

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.

You can hear Betsy's episode on all major podcast platforms as well as online at https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/betsy-fore-co-founder-of-tiny-organics

How great would it be to hear the launch strategy of a clothing brand that has since exceeded half a billion in revenue?...
21/09/2021

How great would it be to hear the launch strategy of a clothing brand that has since exceeded half a billion in revenue? Well, my episode this week delivers that exact tactic. This week's episode features Jeff Abrams, founder of Rails. Not only does Jeff share his launch strategy, but he also outlines the key tactics used in the first 12-months that placed him in some key retail partners.

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.

You can hear Jeff's episode on all major podcast platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and even online at https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/jeff-abrams-founder-of-rails

Imagine launching a startup and within just a few weeks you find yourself processing thousands of orders every day. Bett...
07/09/2021

Imagine launching a startup and within just a few weeks you find yourself processing thousands of orders every day. Better yet, imagine if this incredible growth came because of your ability to navigate the Tik Tok platform. Well, this week's episode of The Startup Story is that very story.

My guest this week is Mia Plecic, the founder of the Slick Hair Company and the globally popular product, Slick Stick.

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. A link to that episode is in our show notes that you can access via the link below.

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.

I invited her back to the show so that she could share the lessons learned since 2019 and how her new startup might just be the success story she has been pursuing her entire life.

You can listen to her episode via the link below as well as on all major podcast platforms.

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/mia-plecic-founder-of-slick-hair-company

My guest this week is Vlad Magdalin, co-founder of Webflow. At its core, Webflow is a website-building platform, but it ...
03/09/2021

My guest this week is Vlad Magdalin, co-founder of Webflow. At its core, Webflow is a website-building platform, but it really is so much more.

Webflow is a platform that has enabled thousands of designers to act as a design and development agency because Webflow allows anyone to design masterfully, and develop online engagements without any need to know how to code. Webflow is far more than just a website builder. It is an entire web and software development platform that is democratizing how web design and development is achieved.

You are going to love this episode because it is so relatable! The startup story for many companies is not one continuous thread, sometimes it has many….many starts and stops…and Vlad’s was no different. Well, except for the part of his story where he and his family came to the United States as Russian refugees...but you're going to have to listen to his episode to hear the rest of that story.

You can access his episode on all major podcast platforms as well as online via the below link:

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/vlad-magdalin-co-founder-of-webflow

If you’ve been in the startup community for any length of time then you have heard the all too popular buzzword “automat...
24/08/2021

If you’ve been in the startup community for any length of time then you have heard the all too popular buzzword “automation.”

We’ve heard stories about people driving significant revenue growth by leveraging automation within their email retargeting flows. We’ve even heard stories about organizations accelerating their hiring, onboarding, and training programs with the help of automation.

We hear about automation all the time, and we know it’s critical if we want to scale our business, yet we are halted because we don't know where to begin. After years of running our business, it seems like a daunting task to start integrating new systems and processes.

This week we are joined by Chris Ronzio, founder of Trainual as he shares his thoughts on how best to leverage automation, as well as how to integrate it into our business.

You can access his full episode on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, and online at https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/chris-ronzio-founder-of-trainual

So, you have an idea for some disruptive piece of technology or some really cool product that has the potential to chang...
17/08/2021

So, you have an idea for some disruptive piece of technology or some really cool product that has the potential to change the world forever. But, you’re not a developer, or you realize that you have zero experience in the category of that really cool product idea you have. Do you just scrap the idea and move on because you have absolutely ZERO domain experience?

Of course not, but what should your next steps be?

Well, in this episode of The Startup Story we sit with Melanie Travis, founder of Andie to unpack how she built a global brand swim brand without any textile experience whatsoever.

You can access her episode online at: https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/melanie-travis-founder-of-andie

My guest this week is Robert Brunner, founder of Ammunition and Chief Designer of Beats by Dre. Yes, you read that corre...
10/08/2021

My guest this week is Robert Brunner, founder of Ammunition and Chief Designer of Beats by Dre. Yes, you read that correctly…the man who has designed every single Beats by Dre product is our guest this week on The Startup Story!

Robert has designed some of the most iconic products that you and I have integrated into our everyday lives. He built Apple’s very first internal design studio, designed the Ember mug which we featured The Startup Story of last month. Robert and the team at Ammunition, completely redesigned how we view retail point of sale systems when he designed the Square reader as well as the Square POS unit. He even led the design of the June smart oven and oh yeah…do you remember when Lyft started, their drivers had those fuzzy pink mustaches attached to their cars? Well, when Lyft wanted to evolve from the pink stache, they reached out to Robert and Ammunition and what resulted was the highly colorful LED amp and glowstache that sat on the dash of the Lyft driver’s vehicles.

Like I said, Robert has worked on so many iconic products that have impacted all of our lives and his startup story episode is AMAZING!

In this episode, we talk a lot about design and how every single entrepreneur needs to think about user-centric design regardless of what you are working on. Whether you have a technology solution, a consumer packaged good, a hardware product, or have a service-based industry…user-centric design…also known as User Experience, matters to all of us, and Robert shares his lifelong learnings with us today.

You can access his episode via the link below:

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/robert-brunner-founder-of-ammunition-and-chief-designer-for-beats-by-dre

Memberstack’s product launch strategy was singular in focus, and that focus was Product Hunt. For those who are unaware ...
04/08/2021

Memberstack’s product launch strategy was singular in focus, and that focus was Product Hunt. For those who are unaware of Product Hunt, It's a place for new product-lovers to discover and geek out about the latest mobile apps, websites, hardware projects, and tech creations. To be featured on Product Hunt isn’t easy, but if you make it to the top, it provides a tremendous amount of visibility to your brand; and Memberstack achieved just that. In fact, our guest this week is Duncan Hamra, Memberstack’s co-founder, and he shares exactly how they accomplished that incredible feat!

You can access his full episode via the link below.

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/duncan-hamra-co-founder-of-memberstack

Opportunities for innovation are all around us, and our guest this week exemplifies this truth! Our guest this week is L...
28/07/2021

Opportunities for innovation are all around us, and our guest this week exemplifies this truth! Our guest this week is Lindsay McCormick, the founder of Bite. Bite is an all-natural, zero-waste, tube-free, toothpaste tablet. Not only did Lindsay take something as common as toothpaste and make it more environmentally friendly by altering its shape and packaging. She also made it healthier for us as well, and we discuss all of this in this week's episode.

You are going to love Lindsay’s episode because she gets super tactical in discussing the early days of Bite as well as her preparation for her appearance on Shark Tank. So make sure to listen to her full episode. You can access it via the link below.

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/lindsay-mccormick-founder-of-bite

My guest this week is FX Rouxel, founder and inventor of Gardyn. Gardyn is re-envisioning how consumers like you and I l...
20/07/2021

My guest this week is FX Rouxel, founder and inventor of Gardyn. Gardyn is re-envisioning how consumers like you and I look at our relationship with food and its production. The Gardyn unit is amazing! It has a super small footprint and can fit anywhere in your home, apartment, or even your office. While the design of the unit is remarkable, the technology is truly groundbreaking.

The Gardyn technology is a cross between aeroponic and hydroponic technologies. In fact, they trademarked the term Hybriponic because it combines the benefits of both systems. This benefit allows you to swap plants in and out much like you probably already do with your k-Cups or nespresso pods for your morning coffee.

So if you are anything like me, your lack of green thumb will not be a hindrance at all.

What’s amazing about all of this is the amount of produce that can be grown within this small footprint…and we are going to cover all of this and more in this week’s episode.

You also have a chance to take one of these units home for absolutely FREE! They sell for $899 and they have made one of them available for FREE to a Startup Story listener! All you have to do is visit the link below, and scroll until you see the link for how to enter.

As if the chance to win one for free wasn’t cool enough, they are also providing a discount good for $150 the purchase of this unit. Just visit mygardyn.com and enter the promo code “startupstory” to receive this $150 discount. We also include a link in our show notes.

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/fx-rouxel-founder-of-gardyn

Wouldn't it be safe to say that all failed startups fail because of a lack of capital? Whether it's no capital due to in...
13/07/2021

Wouldn't it be safe to say that all failed startups fail because of a lack of capital? Whether it's no capital due to investment or because there was no product-market-fit. Either way, capital keeps the ship afloat!

That is why our guest this week might just be the capital partner you need to help obtain the investment capital you're pursuing. In this episode, Helena Murphy, the founder of Raising Partners, helps to demystify the fundraising process for startups everywhere.

Helena, and the Raising Partners team, boast a 98% success rate on fully managed campaigns. They have helped brands like Thread, Equipsme, Penfold and many raise about $41 million, or £30 millions for my UK listeners.

You can access her episode on all major podcast platforms as well as online via the link below.

https://www.thestartupstory.co/episodes/helena-murphy-founder-of-raising-partners

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