In this episode, Chad reflects on the setbacks experienced by the founders he interviewed. He discusses the challenges faced by each founder, such as running out of money, dealing with depression, launching a business during COVID, and facing skepticism from others. Chad emphasizes the importance of resilience and not giving in to the highs and low…

Summary In this episode, Chad discusses where the eight entrepreneurs from the previous episodes found their startup ideas. He highlights that there is no one way to find a successful idea and shares the unique journeys of each entrepreneur. Some found inspiration from personal experiences, while others identified gaps in the market or solved their…

Summary In this episode, Chad discusses the importance of distribution in entrepreneurship. He emphasizes that immediate success stories like Amazon and Facebook are the exception, not the norm. Chad highlights that being a successful entrepreneur doesn't necessarily mean having a million-dollar business; it means making enough money to support one…

In this episode, Chad discusses the importance of getting your reps in when starting a business. He highlights the experiences of various entrepreneurs and how their previous endeavors and problem-solving skills contributed to their success. Chad also mentions the significance of listening to customers and adapting to their needs. He concludes by m…

Paul Jackson from Animalhouse Fitness discusses Monkey Feet, which allows users to lift dumbbells with their feet. He talks about the other products they sell, their team structure, and their approach to outsourcing. Paul shares his entrepreneurial journey, starting from selling lemonade as a child to working at an engineering firm and running his …

Max Minsker is the founder of Bookmate, a tax filing service for small businesses and startups. Bookmate takes care of everything when it comes to filing taxes and ensures compliance with the IRS. Chad and Max discuss the differences between traditional CPA firms and online services like Bookmate, highlighting the advantages of specialization and t…

Captain Experiences is a platform for booking outdoor sports guides, starting with hunting and fishing. They have partnered with 1500 guides and have become the largest platform in the U.S. for booking fishing trips. They have about 200,000 monthly site visitors and are steadily growing. Jonathan, the founder, didn't have early entrepreneurial expe…

Nesha Sanghavi, founder of chicka-d, discusses the brand's focus on elevated premium essentials for women, with a primary market in collegiate apparel and secondary resort market selling non-licensed items to vacationers. The majority of chicka-d's business is wholesale, with a small percentage in direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales. Nesha shares the in…

Will Chang from Parting Pro discusses the challenges of the funeral home industry and how his company is bringing modern tools to an antiquated industry. He shares his background in computer graphics and his experience working in China. Will also talks about his time at Fundly and his obsession with Y Combinator content. Will Chang shares his journ…

Chad and Ellen discuss her journey towards Elemental Prep, which started as an LSAT prep company but is evolving into an educational course on how to read and think better. Ellen shares her experiences working in various jobs, including cashier, cheese shop employee, and writing tutor. She also talks about her involvement in the tolerance forum and…

In this conversation, Quinn Rudolph from Awry Menswear discusses the company's revenue, team structure, cost structure, and sourcing process.He also talks about the separation of brands and marketing, the use of data from his previous business, and the challenges and successes of running multiple businesses in parallel.Quinn shares his early entrep…

Will Tjernlund of Goat Consulting discusses how his company helps brands and manufacturers sell more effectively on Amazon. They assist with catalog organization, choosing the right business model, logistics, copywriting, marketing, and day-to-day case management. Many of their clients are new to B2C and are transitioning from selling to other busi…

Exploring many different opportunities is a great way to gain a broad range of experiences while narrowing down what craft you want to pursue. Travis Devitt engaged in a plethora of different entry level jobs, leveling up each time until he attended a presentation that pushed him into his core discipline of investments. Now marrying education with …

Some people love the process of building a business. Figuring out how the puzzle pieces fit together at every stage is part of the fun. But those individuals don't always find immediate success, instead they serially start at the beginning until something hits, which can be years in the making. William Griggs, after years of gaining a broad range o…

What makes you select an item off the shelf in your local grocery store? Pretty packaging, the name, or just a feeling? Social media companies like Facebook have become behemoths because they can sell ads on a very granular level to marketers. Alison Smith at Umai Marketing does just that for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG). Having bounced around fro…

Entrepreneurship is serendipity. Chance happens and if you're paying attention, it can turn into opportunity to realize that 5 hour/week lifestyle. It doesn't happen overnight, but if you're willing to put in some hard work up front and sacrifice "safe bets," then you can be like Nick from Storage Squad. One phone call changed Nick's career traject…

How do people know that your business exists? How do you spend money to educate the right people and avoid wasting money advertising to the wrong ones? Michael Gaman from Gudnow Media specializes in a special intent based marketing known as Search Engine Marketing (SEM). If you've ever searched on Google, you're interacting with the type of ads tha…

Not everyone pines after becoming an entrepreneur since they were young. Sometimes, opportunity is sitting right in front of your years of specialized experience and it makes too much sense not to take the leap. Austin Venue Collective is an outsourced service whose customers are the very bars and restaurants you reach out to when you want a privat…

How do you think your electricity bill is calculated every month? Turns out there is a very complex system of buying and selling that goes on. Matthew Boyda stumbled onto a public data file while working on a related project, allowing him to start Energytics which provides market forecasts for power consumption across Texas.…

Ever witness a great restaurant that opens a second location then goes downhill? Harlan discusses how an early experience at a corporate restaurant taught him how to avoid this folly and to run a business instead of owning a job. Having managed half a dozen successful concepts at once, Harlan has had his own issues automating himself out of a job u…

What business is more common than a food service business? Out of all the types of services out there, the individuals that serve our food and drink are a special set. Cody Taylor started in the food service industry as a bartender, then a server, assistant manager, general manager, and now the owner of two fledgling restaurants. But during the 200…

You don't always have to be doing your own thing to be an entrepreneur. Part of the journey is learning from as many sources as you can then picking and choosing the lessons that you deem most important. Current Facebook Programmer Hunter Monk is 26, but has a decade of experience running various businesses. He has hired contractors overseas, manag…

It me! So who am I and why am I qualified to have a podcast about turning your failures into a growing skill set? Hopefully this episode will give you a solid background on my 22 years of work experience. From my first job staring at satellite maps for 8 hours a day to my current venture BetterLegal, I go through the raw details.…

Toni has spent the last 12 years taking Jacaruso Enterprises from a small Hilton contractor to a $15M a year business. Listen how she started her path towards hospitality CEO from humble beginnings as a babysitter then working the night shift at a hotel while still in high school.

Looking Backward will be about taking your life experiences into an official skillset that you can be aware of moving forward.