Podcast Archives - Page 5 of 5

14: Coach Burt Explains How To Be A Winning Entrepreneur

MICHEAL J. BURT represents the new age leader: the Zebra and the Cheetah. Part coach, part entrepreneur, and all leader, Coach Burt is the go-to guy for entrepreneurs who want to become people of interest, salespeople who want to be superstars, and managers who want to be coaches. He is a former championship coach and the author of nine books. His radio show, Change Your Life Radio, can be heard globally on iheart.com (WLAC). Follow Coach Burt at www.coachburt.com. His client list ranges from small entrepreneurial firms to multi-billion dollar companies such as Dell, INC., State Farm Insurance, National Health Care, Vanderbilt University, TRICOR, FirstBank, and many others.

13: Alex Lawrence Talks Building Startup Teams, Gaining Investors, & Growing Companies

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Alex Lawrence has been launching and growing successful companies for more than 20 years. His most recent partnership, Lendio, ranks #34 on the Inc. 500 list. He is also the Vice Provost of Innovation and Economic Development as well as the Interim Director of the Entrepreneurship Program at the John B. Goddard School of Business and Economics, both at Weber State University, where he teaches real-world strategies that are based on cutting edge, proven approaches used in todays business. He also is a regular contributor on Entrepreneurship for Forbes Magazine. and been featured on TechCrunch, 40 under 40 Top Entrepreneurs, V100 Top 100 Technology Entrepreneurs, E-50 Top 50 Social Entrepreneurs, WSU Entrepreneur Alumni of the Year.

12: Monica Selby Tells Startups How To Get PR

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Monica Selby is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Nibletz Media, Inc. She is a Mississippi native and got her start in the Memphis startup scene. A proud graduate of Ole Miss, Monica’s writing as been featured in publications like Under30CEO, Young Entrepreneur, and Fast Company. Now, as editor-in-chief, she is passionate about the potential of startups outside Silicon Valley. When she’s not working or parenting, you can find her with a book and a glass of wine (or two).

11: Josh Davidson Talks Tech Startups & Having 6 Flags As A Client

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Joshua is the CEO and Founder of Chop Dawg, full service company lined up with leading designers and developers that take ideas from concept and turn them into reality. Chop Dawg helps create startups for inspiring entrepreneurs by providing them with a wide range of services including web and mobile development, branding and marketing strategies.

While most teenagers are busy getting their drivers license, he founded Chop Dawg at the ripe age of 16. Shortly after, at the age of 20, he went on to launch his second company, Subtle.

10: Jon Bradford Of Techstars Explains Silicon Valley, Shifts In Investor Mindset & How To Be Successful

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Part 2 of our interview with Jon Bradford where he talks about major shifts in the startup accelerator world and how to gain traction.

Jon is Managing Director of TechStars London and has previously founded and worked on startup accelerators around the globe. He’s co-founder of F6S.com which has grown into one of the most important startup program platforms in the world, and has recently cofounded tech.eu to feature startup and tech news across Europe.

Episode 9: Jon Bradford of Techstars Says How To Get Into Accelerators

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Jon is Managing Director of TechStars London and has previously founded and worked on startup accelerators around the globe. He’s co-founder of F6S.com which has grown into one of the most important startup program platforms in the world, and has recently cofoundedtech.eu to feature startup and tech news across Europe.

Our interview had so much great content we decided it was worth 2 episodes rather than cut out such valuable knowledge. In part 1, Jon explains:

How to get into accelerators
What investors are looking for
How to build a good team
Shifts in startup accelerator models
How to use crowdfunding to your advantage

How things got started

Jon shares with us how he went from being a “bored accountant” at a major firm to launching his first startup (made a ton of money) becoming a VC, joining Techstars and being part of the growth of the tech startup world.

We then dive into his opinion on the changes in how startups can get off the ground, how to get into accelerators, and what people like him (the decision maker) are looking for when making those decisions.

Don’t miss Part 2! You can contact Jon at jon at techstars dot com

Episode 6: Jon Ferrara Explains How To Build Your Startup Without Marketing Capital (Part 1)

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Jon Ferrara is an American entrepreneur and the founder of Nimble LLC, his most recent venture. Ferrara is best known as the co-founder of GoldMine Software Corp, one of the early pioneers in the Sales Force Automation (SFA) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software categories for Small to Medium sized Businesses (SMBs).

Our conversation with Jon covered so much great insight into success we turned decided to create two episodes. In part one, he talks about:

Growing your startup without marketing capital
Importance of relationship building
Gaining income and investment capital
Long term sales logic
What is social selling

Importance of relationship building

Jon had lots of great quotes but one that epitomized importance of social selling and relationship building came from Mae West: “Out of sight is out of mind, and out of mind is out of money honey!”

Insight into the startup journey

Just like so many entrepreneurs Jon got frustrated with sales options in his early days, decided to jump ship and get started on his own with Goldmine which revolutionized the CRM concept. Built, grew, sold and is now on to doing the same with Nimble.

John and Ledge hear this story in every interview. The urge to start is so overwhelming that we just can’t help chasing down that idea and starting a company! Leave us a comment if you’ve ever felt that way and followed it. If you haven’t followed the feeling, why not?

What is social selling?

Jon explains the growth of the internet and its use in sales and business development over the past 20 years, with amazing insight into how social selling has become the new way to grow companies, build relationships and achieve success as an entrepreneur. We also discuss how social media is becoming common place and will likely begin to fade into a standard business practice from today’s “hype”.

How to get in touch

Make sure you follow Jon on Twitter and check out Nimble, a fantastic platform that enables you to manage all your social platforms in one place from a business perspective.

Episode 3: David Meerman Scott (Part 2)

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In this packed episode with David Meerman Scott we covered such a broad list of topics that we had to cut it into two episodes. Start with the first one and then jump in here.

Here’s a quick rundown of what we discuss throughout the two episodes:

How and why getting fired from his corporate gig was a gift
How going on your own is less risky than working for a single corporate entity
Why job #1 is creating content assets no matter where you are in your career
How content marketing is largely free and gives you a huge advantage
Who you should hire (personnel and staff) to tell your story
Whether experienced business people from industry are better entrepreneurs than scrappy 20-somethings
Why you should say “no” to the wrong investor
Is a self-employed consultant a “real entrepreneur?”
How to setup with an advisory role at another company

Episode 2: David Meerman Scott (Part 1)

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David Meerman Scott is an internationally acclaimed strategist whose books and blog are must-reads for professionals seeking to generate attention in ways that grow their business. David speaks on Real-Time Marketing & PR Strategy, Agile Selling, Spreading Ideas, Generating Attention, Growing Business, New Communications Strategies, Entrepreneurism, and Social Media. He’s spoken to business audiences on every continent, including recently in Antarctica. He is an advisor to several marketing and sales SaaS companies including Hubspot.

David was so gracious with his time that we got two episodes out of this interview, which covers these topics:

How and why getting fired from his corporate gig was a gift
How going on your own is less risky than working for a single corporate entity
Why job #1 is creating content assets no matter where you are in your career
How content marketing is largely free and gives you a huge advantage
Who you should hire (personnel and staff) to tell your story
Whether experienced business people from industry are better entrepreneurs than scrappy 20-somethings
Why you should say “no” to the wrong investor
Is a self-employed consultant a “real entrepreneur?”
How to setup with an advisory role at another company

If you could go back in time and change something, would you?

“I wouldn’t have made any large changes at all. I love the place I’m in right now. All of the big changes I wouldn’t have done differently. There are some little things like the stupid name of my blog [WebInkNow.com]. I should have chosen a better name. I still have this stupid name 10 years later. The big decisions I wouldn’t change at all. I’d tell myself to have fun, enjoy it, and don’t stress so much.”

Episode 1: John Lee Dumas, the EntrepreneurOnFire

John Lee Dumas is the Founder and Host of EntrepreneurOnFire, a business podcast that interviews today’s most inspiring and successful Entrepreneurs 5-days a week. EntrepreneurOnFire is a top-10 business podcast generating over 450,000 unique downloads a month in over 140 countries, and his lineup includes Barbara Corcoran, Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss, Gary Vaynerchuk, Guy Kawasaki, and hundreds more.

Episode 4: Eric Dobson, Angel Capital Group (Part 1)

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Eric Dobson is the CEO of Angel Capital Group. Since growing two companies to more than $4M in investment as an entrepreneur, he now manages the portfolio of 25 companies in which ACG has already invested. Eric plans to increase ACG’s investments to one per month in 2014 as ACG activates its crowd funding initiatives.

We talked to Eric for so long that we had to make two episodes (here’s part 2). You don’t want to miss the incredible information Eric shared with us, including:

knowing your exit before you start,
how to appeal to companies who want to acquire your startup
how the word “exit” means different things to different groups of people,
why entrepreneurs do what we do,
the right way to use outsourcing, and
how to build a founder team.

Specifically regarding working with investors, Eric tells us:

what to expect as a realistic time line to getting funded from pitch to check,
how important it is for founders to have skin in the game, and
whether or not to ask for money capital than you need.

How to Use and Share Wisdom

Eric says, “Wisdom should be hard won and freely given.” These two episodes are chock full!

The Overwhelming Urge to Start!

Eric jumps right in by explaining to us how he, “got fed up with watching great commercial opportunities cross my desk [in academia.] I wanted to do something, so I started a company to follow some of those ideas.” That company turned into two companies, and two exits.

As CEO of Angel Capital Group, Eric has made a full move from “the begging side of the table to the giving side.” He thinks “it’s much more fun on this side of the table.”

If you could go back and change anything, what would it be?

“I definitely would have done at least a business minor [in college]. Computer science was a leg up in everything I have done in life and I believe a business minor would have done the same thing.”

Also…

“I over-valued my first company very badly [while raising money]. You can’t back track fast enough if you do that.” Doing so makes working with investors very difficult.

Don’t miss Part 2! You can contact Eric at eric at angelcapitalgr dot com or apply for funding today.

How things got started

Key advice to entrepreneurs

How To Learn More About Jon

Importance of relationship building

Insight into the startup journey

What is social selling?

How to get in touch

If you could go back in time and change something, would you?

How to Use and Share Wisdom

The Overwhelming Urge to Start!

If you could go back and change anything, what would it be?