The entrepreneurial journey is full of ups and downs, pivots and persistence. Our guest today has lived that roller coaster and is now helping other founders navigate it. Jessica Lynch is a tech founder turned investor, and during our conversation, we talked about: - How early entrepreneurial experiences, even failures, can plant the seeds for futu…

Like all of us, today’s guest had to face the hardships brought on by the global pandemic in 2020 – one of which was having her children learn at home instead of in school. But for her and her kids, something peculiar happened – and they actually thrived in the online experience. She later learned that other parents and their kids did not, unfortun…

The startup journey is full of twists and turns – but it can also present new opportunities as you go down the path. Today’s guest, Katelyn Alberts started her journey with the idea of building a marketplace – and quickly transformed it into something even greater than that. During our talk, we covered some really timely topics for any founder: - H…

Starting and building companies is an amazing rollercoaster of ups and downs – and for many founders, achieving a successful exit at the end of the process is the ultimate goal. I’ve been fortunate enough to experience 2 major exits in my founder career – and I learned a ton from both of them. Today’s guest, Mac Lackey – has gone through a total of…

We’ve all seen products over the years that fizzle out or go sideways – and other products in the same category that achieve explosive growth and quickly scale to millions Likewise, we’ve seen companies enter red oceans with tons of competitors – only to quickly go viral there and dominate. Google did this in the crowded search space of 1998. Faceb…

If you’re involved in selling – and especially B2B selling for a SaaS business, then you’re going to love today’s episode. In the last episode, we talked with Stephen Steers about how storytelling is important to sales. Today’s guest – Matt Wolach – shares a masterclass on another aspect of B2B sales that will help you massively increase your close…

There’s one skill that every founder has to master in order to build a successful startup. I’m talking – of course – about sales. But – there are a lot of misconceptions out there about what sales is and what it isn’t. Today’s guest – Stephen Steers – has mastered the art of Startup Sales and codified it into a method he calls Contact Sales. During…

The modern startup ecosystem has been evolving for decades – since the evolution of Silicon Valley from farmland to the hardware companies of the 60’s and 70’s – to the modern tech startup space of today. But – even after all of these years, a founder looking for support can still feel like they’re living in the wild west. At the elite levels, acce…

We’ve talked a lot on the podcast about the importance of asymmetric upside – or luck – in helping to drive entrepreneurial success. Today’s guest, Vlad Mkrtumyan, has made stacking the deck into a science in his ventures. In his first company, he launched an app featuring Drake quotes that got 2,000 downloads in week 1 - then he rinsed and repeate…

Every startup needs to make money – but some startups are architected with a much bigger purpose in mind. Today’s guests, Mike Mills and Nick Spoors of Infinitary Fund – have found a unique way to fund their mission. Their core innovation has enabled them to sell a product today that gives them cashflow and runway to build the business – while also…

Timing is one of the hardest challenges for founders. Execute an idea too soon – and you’ll run out of runway before someone gets there when the time is right. Execute it too late – and you face still competition from the incumbent that got there first. Today’s guest, Ace Bhattacharjya of MedicalRecords.com gives us a masterclass on how to stay tru…

One of the common themes I see with top entrepreneurs is that they find a way to get experience from multiple viewpoints within the startup ecosystem. Today’s guest, Stephane Nasser of Open VC is no exception – having had stints from the large corporate world building software for startups, then working within accelerators to help startups get laun…

Today’s guest, Peter Mann, found out that he had autism in a late diagnosis as an adult. But – buried in this so called diagnosis was actually the operator’s manual for his supersuit. While working a full time 8-5 at Dell, Peter was able work another 8 hours per day launching his first side hustle – and he was able to find flow and focus throughout…

There are a lot of paths into the world of entrepreneurship, but today’s guest has one of the most fascinating ones I’ve found yet. While running a popular Miami nightclub, Shaun Gold had front row seats to a parade of some very interesting and diverse people. By being curious – and making connections – Shaun built a network that would take him on …

I’ve gotten to talk with a lot of amazing founders on the show over the past 6 months. In today’s episode, I had the chance to speak to an expert with a unique vantage-point and mix of experiences. Elad Granot is a serial entrepreneur, the Dean of the Boler College of Business at John Carroll University, an active investor in startups, and also hos…

One of the themes that keeps re-appearing on the show is that industries that look like they have been locked down for years or even decades – can suddenly go through a renaissance and lead to a new jump ball. Today’s guest is taking advantage of a massive shift that’s happening in the online selling space. As influencers flock to sell items on the…

It’s easy for founders to look at an industry and think that you’ve already missed the boat. I could have done this with travel in 2003 and missed the destination wedding trend – and it would be easy to conclude that ride management has already been won by Uber and Lyft. But today’s guests – Zach Castaneda and Steven White are approaching the trans…

On July 16, 1945 at 5:29 am – the world changed. Up until that point – there was strong theory supporting the idea that enormous amount of energy could be unleashed by splitting an atom. At 5:29 on that day – that theory became indisputable reality – and the world was never the same. That test on July 16, 1945 was code named Trinity – and today we’…

For most startups, the main task of launch and validation is to figure out if the market has any interest in the idea at all – and if it’s possible to gain traction. Today’s guest, Rachel Cossar – took a different approach. She was already operating a successful coaching practice helping her clients optimize nonverbal cues during sales calls. She k…

Todd Sullivan is co-founder and CEO of ExitWise. After building and exiting a series of his own companies, Todd now helps founders plan and maximize their own exits when the time is right. During our talk, we covered: - How solving your own burning need can be the best launchpad for a startup - How decisions you make now can set you up for a strate…

One morning just over 11 years ago, I met up with my friend Dr. Michael Connell in a Panera to talk about a startup idea he was working on in the education space. He told me about a groundbreaking research study that had been done during the 90’s that could have revolutionized how children learn math – but how previous attempts to deliver it at sca…

Akash Magoon's company Adonis is innovating the healthcare billing space – hoping to reduce enough friction so it feels much more like stripe than what patients and providers have to deal with today. We hit a lot of great topics today: - How having a strong relationship with your co-founder can set the stage for candor in your startup - How healthc…

Matthew Turner is the author of the book Beyond the Pale. In writing his book, he interviewed over 100 founders to learn how they found balance in their lives as entrepreneurs. We talked about: - The downside of so called hustle culture – and why founders should try to avoid it - How founders can tap into the creation vortex – to drive their best i…

David Sorbara is the founder of Barkley HQ – a software as a service product that helps pet groomers run their businesses. I learned so much from David – not just about his experiences growing Barkley HQ into a successful business – but also in how he is working to take his experience to launch even more businesses now – all while continuing to ben…

Mark Herschberg - has worn many hats in his career including Founder, Chief Technology officer, Author, and Instructor at MIT. A lot of episodes have focused on the startup, today we went deep on the path and growth of the founder behind the startup. We talked about: - How the startup world presents challenges differently than how you were trained …

Every few years, there is a massive shift in the tools and platforms available to founders who are building out their dreams. On this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with John Rush, the Founder of Mars X – which is a new development platform that is reinventing how software gets developed. We discussed a lot of great insights during our cha…

There is a missing ingredient from all of the advice, strategies, tactics, and approaches given to founders on how to build their company. Today we dive deep into that missing ingredient: The Inner game – and why it’s so critical to founder success Why most advice given to founders always focuses on activities and neglects the most important ingred…

On this episode, we're joined by expert marketer Josh Wilkinson to share insights on how founders can master the art of marketing to launch and grow their startups. During our talk, we discussed: - How marketing applies at every stage of the venture – from startup to growth and exit - A process called ends to the middle marketing that helps you cla…

The online course space is exploding - but it's created a massive gap where video quality has made it into the 21st century, but we're still stuck using antiquated tools to do the exercises and learn the material. Jake Press is founder of Workbookable.com - a company that is looking to fill this gap and help bring the entire online learning experie…

In this episode, I explore the 2 main ways businesses create value - and how startups often fail because they focus on the wrong mechanism. Large companies make money through exploitation - or maximizing value of what they've already discovered. Startups that try to exploit before they've properly explored get into serious trouble - or never leave …

Last week Sam & I talked about the challenge founders face when they try to get feedback on their startup idea. This episode, we peel back deeper to talk about how founders can actually start getting better feedback - and how they can make sure they are able to create a killer pitch for their idea.By Jeff Durso

I interview my brother and business partner Sam Durso about the challenges founders face right now in the current funding environment. We talk about how easy it is for founders to get bad advice - and how this sends them down the wrong path. We also cover how founders often invest an enormous amount of time and effort building something that they c…

Last episode, we talked about how "luck" is created by consistent testing and experimentation - and how this leads to the big breakthroughs in business. Today's guest executed this plan to build the largest digital health care provider in the middle east. By running repeated experiments with multiple niches - he's been able to build his business fr…

In the ongoing debate about what factor most contributes to startup success - between "Luck" and everything else, we settle the debate with some bad news (Spoiler Alert: It's all about luck). But, then we go on to talk about how once you accept that "it's all about luck" - you can focus on maximizing the amount of luck you experience in your startu…

Last episode, we first talked about the subject of fundraising - and introduced a framework for understanding fundability. Today's guest, Mike Miranda, started his company during the pandemic with a great idea - but later discovered an even more valuable idea when interviewing his customers for feedback. By focusing on his customers' biggest proble…

Today, we look at the age old question, "should I raise money, or not?" and reframe it into a hierarchy that goes from Unfundable, to Fundable, to a secret level called "Un-Unfundable". Once you understand the difference among these levels, you can decide at each phase whether your best move is to focus on fundraising, building, or both.…

Marc Andreesen famously gave his chilling prediction on the gig economy, saying that in the future "either you'll be telling the API what to do, or the API will be telling you what to do." Today's guest, Derreck Stratton, takes a fresh perspective on the gig economy - and he's building HUDU to put the power into the hands of gig economy workers.…

One of the single biggest levers that determines whether a startup is going to succeed or fail is the depth of its "Why". In this inaugural episode of Founder Breakthroughs, I peel back the layers on how "Why" impacts a startup's trajectory through some stories of where Why made a difference.By Jeff Durso

Introducing the Founder Breakthroughs podcast - where every week, serial entrepreneur Jeff Durso interviews founders to hear their amazing stories and glean insights that can help other founders achieve success.By Jeff Durso

Science, Search, & The Importance of Mentorship w/ Upasna Gautam - SoT - Ep 26 by Pat Reinhart, Ralph Durso, Stephan Bajaio, and more!By Pat Reinhart, Ralph Durso, Stephan Bajaio, and more!

Millions of SKU’s? No Problem! How To Navigate SEO On A Huge Site w/ Jeff Zbacnik - SoT - Ep 25 by Pat Reinhart, Ralph Durso, Stephan Bajaio, and more!By Pat Reinhart, Ralph Durso, Stephan Bajaio, and more!

The Content Revolution & Building Trust w/ Your Customers w/ Rob Levin - SoT - Ep 24 by Pat Reinhart, Ralph Durso, Stephan Bajaio, and more!By Pat Reinhart, Ralph Durso, Stephan Bajaio, and more!

How To Start A Podcast (We Think) - Our 2018 Annual Review! - SoT -Ep 23 by Pat Reinhart, Ralph Durso, Stephan Bajaio, and more!By Pat Reinhart, Ralph Durso, Stephan Bajaio, and more!