Best Insparation Podcasts (2024)

1
How freeCodeCamp Is Creating Thousands Of Programmers With Only 12 Employees 31:05

3+ y ago31:05

31:05

When a founder decides to build an impact driven organization, at some point they have to make an important decision on whether to structure it as a for profit entity or a non-profit. While a for-profit can maximize financial upside to the founding team and shareholders, a non-profit by definition can focus more of its effort on the impact it wants…

1
How An Engineer Turned Himself Into A Master Marketer And Successful Entrepreneur 49:44

4y ago49:44

49:44

Kevin Urrutia decided to teach himself to code while in college so that he could turn all the different business ideas he had into reality. Little did he know that after years of building apps and websites and trying idea after idea, he would need to completely change his mindset about how to get ideas off the ground to have his first entrepreneuri…

1
What’s Next For The Mentors 7:03

4y ago7:03

7:03

In today's episode we're sharing an update on what's been happening with our own entrepreneurial venture, School16, and how our publishing schedule for The Mentors will change going forward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1
How a SpaceX Engineer Launched a Rapidly Growing Consumer Health Startup 54:49

4y ago54:49

54:49

This week we got the chance to interview a former SpaceX Engineer and founder of biohacking startup Levels as part of a special podcast recording hosted by School16 in front of a live audience. In this episode, Josh Clemente told us about how he pushed his way into getting an opportunity to work at Tesla and then SpaceX, where he ended up leading t…

1
What You Should Learn Before Starting A Company 11:10

4y ago11:10

11:10

This is one of the most common questions we get from aspiring entrepreneurs. The answer, however, is less about what you should learn and more about how you should do it. Entrepreneurs come from almost every background imaginable, but one of the biggest contributors to founder success is previous experience with working on highly talented teams. Le…

1
The Power of Small Actions and an update to The Story of A Homeless Neuroscientist 9:15

4y ago9:15

9:15

This is a follow up to our recent episode titled The Story of A Homeless Neuroscientist and how one small act eventually resulted in a job offer. We often come up with reasons not to do something or to delay acting on an idea because of fear of failure or simply because we feel like we have other more important things to do. Entrepreneur Naval Ravi…

1
How To Impress Important People (Rebroadcast) 11:02

4y ago11:02

11:02

This rebroadcast episode was inspired by the growing opportunity to connect with sought after individuals that are more accessible than ever before as more people are working remotely in 2020. Finding a good mentor is hard but the real work is in keeping them. In today’s episode we talk about how you can impress important people in your life, be th…

1
How To Have A Strong Sense Of Self Worth 12:30

4y ago12:30

12:30

Our sense of self worth is constantly in flux, but it's important to learn how to control it to stay productive. This is in part because failure is a big part of the process and if you tie your worth to success or failure it's bound to become debilitating. Instead of worrying about outcomes that are outside of our control we should focus on actions…

1
The Story Of A Homeless Neuroscientist 7:58

4y ago7:58

7:58

When faced with a challenge remember that you don't have to endure it alone. In this week's 5 Minute Pick Me Up we wanted to share a story of Brianna Austin, a homeless neuroscientist that we learned about on LinkedIn and why we were compelled to reach out to our network in an effort to help. In this episode you will learn: Why sometimes it's valua…

1
How To Keep Pushing Even If You're Uncomfortable (Rebroadcast) 9:32

4y ago9:32

9:32

This is a rebroadcast episode that was inspired by a recent class in our Sales Module at School16. We decided to give you an inside look into a recent phone call we recorded where we ask a high school principal for a speaking budget. For many people, asking someone what they might be willing to pay is the most uncomfortable part of any sales or bus…

1
How Andrew Clark Turned A Small College Into A $120 Million Online Learning Public Company, Zovio 37:42

4y ago37:42

37:42

Online education has been around since the 1990s but when Andrew Clark decided to start a fully remote accredited college, students weren't yet used to the idea of going to a school without a campus. His solution? Raise money to buy a small liberal arts school with a central campus that students could choose to visit any time, with the option to co…

1
How Great Entrepreneurs Learn To Be Great Writers 8:09

4y ago8:09

8:09

Great business leaders come from all sorts of backgrounds but the one skill that all of them prioritize developing over time is learning how to write effectively. The reason for this is clear - as a creator you're communicating through the written word all of the time - by writing speeches, landing page copy, job descriptions, thought-leadership co…

1
The Fastest Way To Resolve Conflict 9:51

4y ago9:51

9:51

Almost all sources of conflict stem from someone feeling like they're not being heard. Sometimes this is knowingly perpetuated by two sides that are proactively unwilling to make concessions but other times we unknowingly ignore warning signs that a conflict is escalating. In this episode we discuss two cases - a prisoner of war negotiation highlig…

1
Why There’s No Growth Without Delegation 12:30

4y ago12:30

12:30

Many entrepreneurs prioritize building a great product that people want but fewer prioritize building a great team that allows your business to grow. In this episode we talk about the importance of developing a business that's designed to work even when you're not working on it. The only way to achieve this is to move away from being an individual …

1
Why Starting Over In Your Career Can Be A Good Thing 8:53

4+ y ago8:53

8:53

Most of us assume that taking a step back in our career can be a fatal move but in reality it can actually help you skip several steps quickly. This week we decided to feature a story that was shared by sales influencer Kevin Dorsey (KD) during a live class at School16 about how taking a pay cut and a demotion in title ended up catapulting his care…

1
How To Decide When You Have Too Many Options (Rebroadcast) 12:03

4+ y ago12:03

12:03

One of the greatest misconceptions about career progression is that the consequences of our choices should always be predictable and linear. It’s this thinking that creates risk averse decision making for fear of irreversible outcomes, potentially closing you off to opportunities that could lead to something you can not yet foresee. Over the last f…

1
How Real Change Happens 6:27

4+ y ago6:27

6:27

This week we decided to address two important yet seemingly unrelated events that went on over the weekend in the United States. The mass protests that spread across most major cities in America, and the first manned launch into space between a government institution (NASA) and a private company called SpaceX. We discuss the idea that major changes…

1
Why Your Competition Matters Less Than You Think 9:20

4+ y ago9:20

9:20

When you're just starting out it's easy to get caught up in what your competition is doing because naturally they're further along than you. But once you learn that your competition isn't perfect and that there's likely a lot about their business that could be improved upon, start focusing on the opportunity instead of fixating on your relative pos…

1
Why We Need To Approach Our Careers Differently In Uncertain Times 10:10

4+ y ago10:10

10:10

An indisputable character trait of every successful person is their willingness to stay persistent even when it feels uncomfortable. In this episode we discuss the growing importance of persistence in today's increasingly uncertain economic climate and how we should all get more comfortable with asking for help. A good way to remove negative self t…

1
From Running Three Companies At Once To Finding A Singular Passion With Michael Fenchel Of Paradox Ventures 55:30

4+ y ago55:30

55:30

Entrepreneurship is hard, but one of the basic tenets of being a creator is knowing that you can build something completely on your own terms. For Michael Fenchel, a young physics major out of Wisconsin who loved being a creator, that meant starting companies - three of them at once, to be exact. All three of those ventures ended up being successfu…

1
How To Overcome Limiting Beliefs and Labels 8:41

4+ y ago8:41

8:41

From a young age we're asked - "what do you want to be when you grow up?" - implying that we have to be just one thing. Our natural curiosity may take us in unexpected directions but all it takes is an expression of doubt from someone else to stop us in our tracks. In this episode we discuss the importance of questioning self-imposed limitations an…

1
How To Handle Self Doubt As An Entrepreneur 11:22

4+ y ago11:22

11:22

All ambitious people, even the ones that have already experienced measurable success, feel self doubt at certain times. Knowing how to move past those feelings is critical in getting to the next stage of your journey. In this episode we discuss: 1) The importance of positive outcomes (wins) and other external validators 2) The value of working on w…

1
Should You Be Fundraising During The Pandemic? 15:05

4+ y ago15:05

15:05

All entrepreneurs have been forced to rethink their entire strategy over the last 30 days, and many are uncertain about their ability to secure funding during an unstable economic environment. In this episode we discuss what changes we're seeing in the market and how founders should approach the fundraising process now that investors are more caref…

1
How A College Dropout Ended Up Running A Sales Team At Google 15:31

4+ y ago15:31

15:31

Creating a successful career is very similar to building a successful company - your outcomes are directly correlated with your execution. This week we reflect back on a story shared by Daisy dePaulis, Head of Sales at Google Cloud, who was recently featured in a free online class at School16. Daisy worked at a restaurant after going to community c…

1
How Darrell Silver Of Thinkful Taught Himself How To Build Companies Part II 25:57

4+ y ago25:57

25:57

Being an entrepreneur means that you get to decide what you want to be an expert in each time you start a new venture. One famous example is Richard Branson, who started off running a student magazine, then a record company, followed by a successful airline and a spaceflight company. Darrell Silver made a similar move with his second company, Think…

1
Finding Focus During A Time Of Crisis 9:41

4+ y ago9:41

9:41

"Keep busy at something. A busy person never has time to be unhappy" -Robert Louis Stevenson. Today's episode is inspired by a message from Naval Ravikant, prolific entrepreneur and investor. His observation states that the physical spaces that we, typically, navigate to and from every day - be it the office, school, church, etc. - are primarily th…

1
How Darrell Silver Of Thinkful Taught Himself How To Build Companies Part I 29:46

4+ y ago29:46

29:46

Most successful founders will tell you that you can’t build a company for the purpose of selling it, yet some entrepreneurs are able to successfully find acquirers for their ventures time and time again throughout their careers. After all, that’s one of the most common exit scenarios for founders and shareholders. In this two part series we had the…

1
What Can Happen When You Set Audacious Goals 11:50

4+ y ago11:50

11:50

The simple act of setting a big goal can change your outcomes because it defines the tasks that you prioritize in the immediate future. This week we talk about how we experienced this phenomenon first hand when we decided to launch our new education program School16. We discuss what motivated us to set a highly optimistic goal and how this led to g…

1
How to Get the Attention of Important People (Rebroadcast) 35:31

4+ y ago35:31

35:31

Ever wonder why someone isn’t responding to your email? Maybe you made a great connection with someone you met in person, but when you follow up with them you never hear back. Every day others are vying for our attention, but we only truly engage with those that succeed in piquing our interest. This is especially true if you’re trying to reach some…

1
How Entrepreneurs Are Responding To The Crisis 9:45

4+ y ago9:45

9:45

In difficult times it helps to remind yourself that every day there are good things happening in the world. This week we highlight how some entrepreneurs are taking the opportunity to rapidly innovate and address the problems caused by this crisis head on. We also talk about the importance of being grateful for the positive things that happen throu…

1
Getting To Millions Of Users Through Word Of Mouth With Vu Van Of ELSA 50:07

4+ y ago50:07

50:07

When Vu Van was struggling to learn how to pronounce words in English correctly as a grad student at Stamford, she couldn't have known that a passion for this problem would drive her to build a language learning app with millions of users just a few years later. In this episode Vu breaks down exactly how she managed the process of proving demand fo…

1
What We're Working On During The Quarantine - Announcing School16 9:32

4+ y ago9:32

9:32

Entrepreneurs are not defined by their product but rather their ability to come up with an idea and bring people together to make it a reality. Given recent events this week we decided to launch a new initiative to help people land jobs in more resilient and flexible industries, starting with tech. Starting in two weeks (April 1st, 2020) we will be…

1
From A 7-Figure Event Business To A Global Leadership Training Company, With Claudia Chan of S.H.E. Summit Part II 21:22

4+ y ago21:22

21:22

Starting one successful business doesn’t necessarily make it easier to start another one. However, experienced entrepreneurs are more likely to be successful the second time around simply because they know how to push forward until they start to reach their goals, even if it takes longer than anticipated. In part two of our interview with Claudia C…

1
Why It's The Perfect Time To Start A Company 9:18

4+ y ago9:18

9:18

We're in a unique time in history right now where the whole world is going through an experience together. While it's clear that there's a lot we don't know about the spread of a pandemic and it's eventual ramifications, if nothing else our very humanity is evident now more than ever. This is creating a heightened sense of camaraderie and a realtim…

1
From A 7-Figure Event Business To A Global Leadership Training Company, With Claudia Chan of S.H.E. Summit Part I 32:08

4+ y ago32:08

32:08

Before Claudia Chan was even 30 years old, she was already running a 7-Figure women’s entertainment business in New York City. How did this first time entrepreneur accomplish so much, so quickly? It was through that own-your-own-destiny mentality that Claudia’s parents ingrained in her from a young age that she was able to have the confidence to th…

1
What Happened When Our Venue Canceled On The Morning Of Our Event 8:49

4+ y ago8:49

8:49

We were all set to hold our conference with more than 500 confirmed attendees, but at 8:00AM on the morning of the event we got an email from the venue saying that due to the coronavirus threat, they can no longer host our event. With 4.5 hours left, it seemed that the only option was to email all speakers and attendees apologizing for this unexpec…

1
How To Build A Fashion Marketplace With Billions In Transactions, With Mona Bijoor 38:40

4+ y ago38:40

38:40

If someone tells you “that’s just the way things have always been done,” then there’s likely a business opportunity there that no one has been brave enough to tackle yet. When Mona Bijoor was working in the fashion industry connecting apparel brands to retailers, she heard that phrase often. But she knew that offline handshake deals and orders plac…

1
How To Get Influencers and Celebrities To Support Your Work, with Heneka Watkis-Porter 11:00

4+ y ago11:00

11:00

Why would a billionaire agree to be interviewed by someone who just started her own podcast? For most of us, celebrities and ultra-successful people seem completely out of reach, but Heneka Watkis-Porter has proven again and again that if you really believe that you can create value to people, then you can get anyone to support you. As long as you’…

1
How To Tell Your Boss You’re Quitting (Rebroadcast) 29:16

4+ y ago29:16

29:16

Quitting a job can feel exhilarating and intimidating at the same time. In a perfect world, you’re leaving on good terms and have a supportive boss that offers you future opportunities for mentorship and references. Unfortunately, these circumstances are usually far from perfect. Many people leave their jobs because they’re unhappy, and the source …

1
How To Create An Unfair Advantage 10:34

4+ y ago10:34

10:34

The best opportunities are often in the long tail where no-one is looking. This is one of the reasons why startups have an advantage over established businesses - unique strategies can be quickly tested at any time when there's no oversight or rigid processes. This week we talk about three stories of entrepreneurs that were able to create a seeming…

1
Fundraising 201: When To Walk Away 24:37

4+ y ago24:37

24:37

It's hard to say no to a six figure check but sometimes your best option is to reject it. In this episode we explore three commons reasons for walking away from an investor that's ready to put money into your startup. Here are some red flags to watch out for: An early stage investor that wants too much operational involvement An investor that gives…

1
Why Adversity Breeds Entrepreneurs 9:35

4+ y ago9:35

9:35

This week we tell a story of a Venezuelan med school student who opened up a burger restaurant in Spain called Goiko Grill that grew to over 40 locations and sold for €130 Million only 4 years after the first restaurant opened. We talk about why partnering with the right people can mean the difference between hyper growth and stagnation, and what u…

1
3 Questions Entrepreneurs Are Afraid To Ask Part II 20:43

4+ y ago20:43

20:43

Sometimes the questions that we bury deep inside of us are the ones that should be asked first. This is part two of a segment where we try to answer questions that we get from founders in private. Things that often only come up once we've been talking to someone for quite some time. In this week's episode we answer the following three questions tha…

1
How To Decide When You Have Too Many Options 11:08

4+ y ago11:08

11:08

One of the greatest misconceptions about career progression is that the consequences of our choices should always be predictable and linear. It's this thinking that creates risk averse decision making for fear of irreversible outcomes, potentially closing you off to opportunities that could lead to something you can not yet foresee. Over the last f…

1
How To Ask For Help (Rebroadcast) 26:27

4+ y ago26:27

26:27

Every entrepreneurial success story has a strong visionary that’s able to recruit countless others to help them along the way. Being willing to ask for help isn’t only critical in the early days of building something. It can help you avoid mistakes at every level, filling any gaps in your knowledge, your network, your experience, and much more. Sti…

1
How To Get Someone On Your Side When You’ve Made A Mistake 7:31

4+ y ago7:31

7:31

What can a hostage negotiator teach us about customer relationships? That the best way to disarm someone is to directly confront their grievances. This week we discuss how to handle a situation where you've made a mistake. We talk about what's known as empathy statements and why Sergei's old boss spent 48 hours calling each of his customers after a…

1
How One Experiment Uncovered A Huge Opportunity In Insurance With Natalie Gray of Cover 33:38

4+ y ago33:38

33:38

If you need to do something hard start by committing to it for just 30 minutes. You can do almost anything for 30 minutes no matter how difficult it is. This is the advice that Natalie Gray got from her college professor, pushing her to finish a 3 year graduate degree in just 1 year. She later applied that advice to teaching herself how to be a des…

1
How To Know If You Found Your Calling 5:47

4+ y ago5:47

5:47

Everyone's timeline is different but if you're lucky enough to identify what you're uniquely good at, it's imperative that you pursue it. This week we got to watch world renowned violinist Karen Gomyo perform at the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and after seeing our dads old documentary the next day we noticed a parallel in their very differe…

1
How To Get Press For Your Startup 23:45

4+ y ago23:45

23:45

Everyone wants to get press for their startup, but most founders go about it the wrong way. In this episode, we explore why some founders are so good at constantly getting written about and others struggle for years to get anyone to notice them. Through hundreds of conversations with successful founders, and a few insights we've received from PR pr…

1
How to Avoid Golden Handcuffs 11:04

4+ y ago11:04

11:04

The problem with getting good at something is the temptation to perpetually avoid the unknown for fear of discomfort. This week we talk about an issue that's real for many mid-career professionals - the "Golden Handcuffs" - ie: the allure of staying in a financially comfortable arrangement at the expense of personal growth. We talk about how this p…

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Insparation Podcasts

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