Entrepreneurship, "NextGen HQ" │ Dylan Gambardella & Justin Lafazan, Co-Founders

Wise Millennial

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Dylan Gambardella and Justin Lafazan, Co-Founders of "NextGen HQ" sit down remotely to discuss “The Momentum Movement”, their global business hub supporting entrepreneurs to "fire them up and chase their dreams", their journey from meeting at a high school party to attending Duke and Wharton, respectively, founding their first startup "Students4Students", before founding NextGen in 2014. We discuss the importance of freedom and momentum (and what kills it), Why entrepreneurship is so tough? And how to break past that?, Constant validation/dealing with negative feedback, Importance of a co-founder, If and when to accept failure (secret: never), How to monetize and measure TAM and KPI’s, and their Vision for the future of entrepreneurship.

JOIN THE MOVEMENT AND SIGN UP FOR THEIR NEWSLETTER, CLICK "GET MOMENTUM" ON THEIR WEBSITE: https://nextgenhq.com/
INSTA: @nextgenhq
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:

• Can you briefly explain to the audience what exactly is NextGenHQ and NextGen summit?
• Why were you so resistant to going into the traditional corporate world?
• Shifting gears to nextgen. Why do you focus on momentum as the primary focus for nextgen? Why is momentum so difficult to obtain? Or can you boil it down to simply a lack of self confidence and negative self talk? And related, how have you struggled with momentum in your professional lives?
• Do you think our generation needs constant validation?
• Is it important to have a cofounder? Does that help solve the momentum problem?
• You also recognize that many startups fail. You talk a lot about supporting the entrepreneur’s journey, as opposed to an incubator. What was the opportunity you saw which didn’t exist?
• Do you guys not accept idea of failure? I mean it’s one thing to be energized and talk yourself up, and don’t get me wrong, that’s a crucial ingredient to potential success. I mean, at what point do you say to yourself, “I’ve been doing this for X number of years. I spent X number of dollars. This just isn’t working. It’s not the right idea, or it’s not the right timing”?
• Talk to me about monetization and your business model (which may be changing with covid). How did you come to a conference-based monetization strategy? Why not charge dues or create a private membership model instead of just a free facebook community? Or is the model more of a freemium model, to ramp up user engagement first, then start charging for services later?
• What are your KPI’s and internal metrics that define success for you? Is it number of tickets sold? Number of facebook group members? The reason I ask is because you guys are working double time, not only are you trying to grow your network of users, but at the same time you’re trying to convince enterprise companies of your legitimacy and leveraging your community strength in hopes they’ll sponsor or partner with you.
• Let’s talk about Gen Z and Millennials. I’ve noticed though that a large majority of your core user base is Gen Z. I’m wondering if you can shed light on why that is, and the differences you’ve learned between these two generations?
• What’s your biggest challenge to growth? Is it just awareness?
• What is something you wish someone had told you five years ago, or you had told yourself, that you had to learn on your own? But would have made life so much easier had you known?
• What is the best way for listeners to get more involved?