Talking Patriots football and NFL all season long.
…
continue reading
The podcast that breaks down ideas, concepts and stories so we can make sense of what’s happening around us.
…
continue reading
Advice & growth frameworks from three comma founders, VCs, and executives (and those on their way there.)
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
The Secret To Achieving Product-Market Fit - With Lama.ai Founder
46:18
46:18
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
46:18
“Something that doesn't slice the pie differently or steal someone else's breakfast, but something with a potential to grow the overall pie,” is Omri Yacubovich’s description of Lama.ai, of which he is co-founder and CEO. Lama.ai provides business lending to banks, credit unions, SaaS companies, fintech and B2B brands. Through his research, Omri fo…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
How to Develop Emotional Intelligence - Public Company CEO Shares
51:58
51:58
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:58
“You probably can’t overemphasize the importance of your co-founder relationship,” says Noah Abelson-Gertler, founder coach and former public company CEO, explaining that 50% of startups and scaleups that fail do so due to co-founder relationships. Co-founders have an intimacy that is like marriage without the romance—you experience highs and lows,…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Top Hostage Negotiator Teaches You How to Be a World-Class Communicator
59:09
59:09
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
59:09
“We're emotional beings that think, not thinking beings that feel,” says Scott Walker, leadership coach, former Scotland Yard detective and one of the world’s most experienced kidnap for ransom negotiators. Scott joins the podcast today to share what engaging in covert counterterrorism and kidnapping operations has taught him about communicating in…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
A Revolution in Blue Collar Jobs - How Sh1ft Creates 10X More Opportunity!
1:00:12
1:00:12
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:00:12
“We started to feel like there was something bigger here, that this could be transformational,” says Jason Radisson, co-founder and CEO of Sh1ft, which brings push button technology to blue collar and middle class work, and is transforming HR in the B2B spaces by implementing gig economy-style automation and efficiency. Sh1ft promises to eliminate …
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
From $0 - $3B | Peek Inside Crypto Unicorn Anchorage Digital
54:19
54:19
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
54:19
“What if we could do it better than anyone else in the ecosystem?” Nathan McCauley asked himself while co-founding Anchorage Digital, a unicorn assets platform that provides instantly settled key storage and custody—holding investments on behalf of investors—for digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Before starting this venture, he worked at fi…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Magic Words: Master the art of persuasion | NYT Best Seller Jonah Berger
25:24
25:24
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
25:24
New York Times bestselling author Jonah Berger’s cutting-edge research reveals how six types of words can increase your impact in every area of life: from persuading others and building stronger relationships, to boosting creativity and motivating teams. He labels them SPEACC (“speak,” phonetically), and they are crucial to understanding if one wan…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
The Entrepreneur Success Story of Tony Jamous [Secrets of Building Two Unicorn Companies]
52:30
52:30
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
52:30
“What drives me is the mission,” says Tony Jamous, founder and CEO of Oyster HR, a business that, as Brendan puts it, is “stewarding the remote work revolution.” Oyster, Tony’s second unicorn company, works to allow businesses to hire anyone from around the world without restriction. With their needs fulfilled, companies can then focus on their gro…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
$1.6B CEO Reveals Secret to Identifying Undiscovered Niches
58:34
58:34
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
58:34
“I had one job, which was to get the data right. Why was that so freaking hard?” asked Barr Moses, co-founder and CEO of Monte Carlo, the world’s first data observability platform, discussing what motivated her to create the product. Having worked with data for 15 years, she realized so many people across the industry couldn’t seem to get it right,…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Peel Back the Curtain! How To Build a $3.7B Technology Brand
57:29
57:29
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
57:29
“Harness builds software for teams that build software,” says Scott Sanchez, CMO of Harness. Scott and his team recognize that software developers at larger companies spend an increasing amount of time doing everything but coding. Harness provides a series of end to end products which ensure that that coding is high quality and delivered quickly an…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
From $0 to $3B Valuation - Marcelo Lebre, Co-Founder Remote.com
1:01:45
1:01:45
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:01:45
“We knew we wanted to address the pain of remote work,” said Marcelo Lebre of the goal he and Job van der Voort shared when the two founded Remote.com in 2019. As it turns out, it was a worldwide pain. There were countless freelancers who were waiting to be matched with opportunities and vice versa. Remote.com scaled the problem on a global level s…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Lessons Learned from $95M in Venture Capital Raised
9:29
9:29
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
9:29
“Too many founders have solutions, and are looking for problems,” says Brendan on this solo episode of Billion Dollar Tech. Today Brendan goes over the five key takeaways from his conversation with Trisha Kotari founder and CEO of Unit 21. Trisha cold called over 300 potential buyers and spoke to 100 before getting an RFP from Ebay. The advice she …
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Growing Unit 21 From $0 to $95M in Venture Funding
52:47
52:47
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
52:47
“Fundraising is mostly about failing. Success is really the wartime,” says Trisha Kotari, founder and CEO of Unit 21, a risk and compliance infrastructure which helps companies and financial institutions combat fraud. In 2019, she started the business from scratch, cold calling potential investors and raising seed. She discusses the way she differe…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
The 5 Keys To Scale Past the Founder-Led Sale
13:35
13:35
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
13:35
“It’s just like being in a relationship,” says Brendan on this solo episode of Billion Dollar Tech. Today, he discusses what happens to a lot of startups when they bring in an outside expert or salesperson to help them scale, but the outside party through laziness or even with the best intentions fails to get the business past the growth stage. He …
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
How to Bootstrap a Software Business to $30M in Revenue
58:55
58:55
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
58:55
“I think, if you’re doing business right, you’re evolving every two or three years,” says Bryan Clayton Co-Founder and CEO of GreenPal, an app that works like an Uber for lawn services, which bootstrapped $30 million. And that includes growing alongside your customer. The early days of GreenPal were spent putting brochures on door handles around Na…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Dissecting the Top 5 Reasons Why Start-Ups Fail
11:33
11:33
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
11:33
“Most startups don’t fail outright, they fail to gain meaningful traction,” says Brendan on this solo episode of Billion Dollar Tech. He gets more specific with five reasons that contribute to the failure. The first reason is one that he has discussed many times, which is that companies go too wide at the start, and fail to specifically define thei…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
How to Build a Successful Blockchain Start Up | Enya.Ai Founder
1:00:39
1:00:39
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:00:39
“You have to be really agile and flexible, but also really stubborn about the problems you’re going to solve,” says Alan Chiu, co-founder of Boba and its contributing company Enya.ai, about the dual attributes successful founders must possess. Blockchain technology, similarly, is a balance of traits. On one hand, it offers a number of opportunities…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
5 Lessons Learned From $37M in Venture Capital Raised
12:35
12:35
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
12:35
“It comes back to communication,“ says Brendan on this solo episode of Billion Dollar Tech, where he unpacks the five key takeaways from his recent interview with Iggy Bassi, founder and CEO of Cervest. Iggy founded this data platform, which recently raised 37 million in total funding, first and foremost by articulating his vision specifically, and…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
How Climate Intelligence Will Save Your Business
58:20
58:20
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
58:20
“I want to spend my time solving problems,” says Iggy Bassi, founder and CEO of Cervest, a platform that uses climate data, science expertise and data modeling to help companies predict their climate risk. It measures the potential damage a company’s assets, like buildings, factories and property, could suffer from their surrounding weather conditi…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Start Up FAQs: How To Target Multiple Personas
7:22
7:22
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
7:22
“In a world where there’s so much overwhelming noise, you’ve got to be specific,” says Brendan in this solo episode of Billion Dollar Tech. This pertains to everything, from the benefit you’re providing to how you’re helping, to the language you’re using, even the difference between your impression of what you’re selling versus how other people vie…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
6 Lessons from Building a $1B B2B Technology Company
15:00
15:00
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
15:00
In this solo episode of Billion Dollar Tech, Brendan breaks down the highlights from his interview with Guy Tytunovich, founder of go to market security company Cheq.ai. Guy founded a unicorn company, and part of this discussion will focus on the unique challenges and considerations of this particular scenario. Much of the advice is invaluable to a…
…
continue reading
“Simply put, we protect the go-to-market worldwide,” says Guy Tytunovich, Founder and CEO of Cheq.ai who created the category of go to market security. During his ten years working in government cybersecurity, Guy realized that there are attack factors and vulnerabilities that most people within the company know nothing about. Cheq.ai was founded t…
…
continue reading
“It’s the best place to target business buyers,” says Brendan of LinkedIn Ads. In this episode he’ll walk you through a set of tips to help you optimally utilize the platform, connect to your target audience, and get an optimal ROI. This starts with helping you to decide if you should be using it in the first place. This begins with knowing how to …
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Deconstructing the $1B psychedelics industry w/ VC Brom Rector
50:51
50:51
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
50:51
“I want to fund the company that's inventing the Tesla Model S of psychedelics,” says Brom Rector, founder of Empath ventures, a venture capital firm investing in the future of psychedelic medicine. A consumer of psychedelics himself for over a decade, he saw there was an opening in the newly forming for-profit psychedelics industry. Here he define…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Growing ActivSurgical from $0 to $162M (and beyond)
56:06
56:06
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
56:06
“We like to consider ourselves the Waze of surgery,” says Todd Usen, CEO of ActivSurgical. Waze gathers and presents data from the road in real time, so that driver’s can navigate their trip successfully and avoid problems before they occur. Similarly, ActivSurgical uses sensors and AI to anticipate problems that aren’t visible to a surgeon’s naked…
…
continue reading
“In the next five to seven minutes, I'm going to try to give you a very concise and declarative answer as to whether or not you should create your own category,” says Brendan In this solo episode of Billion Dollar Tech. This is a question he receives from many entrepreneurs and executives, and here discusses criteria to consider when deciding. He r…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
The Tech Career Toolkit - From MIT's Famed Career Accelerator Program
1:00:12
1:00:12
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:00:12
“Leadership isn’t a single thing. It’s a bunch of things together,” says Mark Herschberg, the co-founder and one of the principal developers of MIT’s famed Career Accelerator Program. The program teaches future tech leaders the soft skills like communication, networking and negotiating that they don’t teach in school but are crucial to success. Her…
…
continue reading
“Wouldn't you respond to someone that knows you like a friend better than someone who called like a robot that's just doing outreach?” asks Leena Joshi, Co-Founder and CEO of Closefactor, which applies machine learning, artificial intelligence and natural language processing to the go-to market process. They help go- to market teams find their exac…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Growing TopHat from $0 - $130M & Founding a Crypto Fund
55:24
55:24
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
55:24
“Be perpetually paranoid and constantly thinking about how you're going to die," Mike Silagadze jokes about the mindset it takes to navigate the constant fluctuations and risks (and resulting stress) of founding a company, especially in the tech space. He has plenty of experience in the area. He first founded TopHat right out of university. Discuss…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Growing Blockchain.com to $14B - The Story of Peter Smith
52:51
52:51
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
52:51
“Increasing human freedom and economic freedom around the world is just a mission that I'm really passionate about,” says Peter Smith, Founder and CEO of Blockchain.com. That mission has remained at the heart of Blockchain since its inception in 2009. When still a graduate student at the London School of Economics, Peter became interested in the in…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Time Management Secrets for High Performers
56:35
56:35
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
56:35
“A lot of people mistake activity for progress,” says Fineas Tatar, Co-CEO and Founder of Viva, “What matters is is working on priorities that actually move the needle forward.” Many CEOs, particularly of startups, don’t know what their priorities are and therefore what tasks to focus on and in what order. As new leaders, they try to do everything …
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
$30M Series B: How I Evaluated My First Venture Investment
13:02
13:02
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
13:02
“You’ve got to be willing to swing, which means, by definition, sometimes you’re going to miss,” Brendan says on this solo episode of Billion Dollar Tech, as he takes us step by step through the set of criteria he used to evaluate his first venture investment. Determining the risk versus reward ratio of a company is one important factor in any inve…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Billion Dollar Breakdown: Matt Kerbel of Lyft, MeUndies, Call of Duty
8:44
8:44
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
8:44
“Once people form an opinion it’s almost impossible to change their minds even in the face of overwhelming evidence,” Brendan explains. That’s why it’s so important to establish your brand’s identity and make your market truly care about it. This is especially important in today’s overcrowded space, and so Brendan presents the key takeaways from hi…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
How to Build $1B Brand [Meundies, Lyft, Call of Duty]
55:54
55:54
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
55:54
“The purpose of marketing is to find that intersection between what’s important to people, what they’re looking to do and solve for in their lives, and how your company can uniquely help them achieve that,” says Matt Kerbel, Director of Strategic Brand Planning at Turo. According to Matt, the three main things to avoid are what he refers to as the …
…
continue reading
“Patience is just so overrated,” Brendan says on this episode of the Billion Dollar Breakdown, where he comments on the key takeaways from his interview with SoftLedger co-founder Ben Taylor. Patience is a virtue that runs through much of Ben’s founding story and Brendan’s resulting advice, the first being to learn to solve your own problem. This i…
…
continue reading
“Making things quicker is the theme for what we’re working on,” says Ben Taylor, founder of SoftLedger, accounting software that’s disrupting the software space. After working in accounting for a number of years, Ben saw a need to eliminate the time-consuming and tedious tasks involved in keeping the financial records of his company, such as having…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
The Future of AI (It's Closer Than You Think)
49:37
49:37
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
49:37
“We’re going to have a number of paradigm shifts in the next five years, so it should be a fun time,” says Michael Shuffett, co-founder and CEO of Compose.ai. “There’s going to be a new way of creating all of that.” This paradigm shift includes a major disruption across all content creation including writing, images, video and audio, and Compose.ai…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Billion Dollar Breakdown: 3X's Founders Top 5 Lessons for Growing
10:57
10:57
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
10:57
“You almost can’t be too narrow at the beginning,” Brendan says to succinctly summarize one of the many important lessons extracted from his interview with Adam Honig, CEO of Spiro. Narrowing your focus is the main theme that ran through Adam’s most useful advice, which Brendan expands upon in this episode of Billion Dollar Breakdown. As Brendan sa…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
How Adam Honig is Taking on the $54B CRM Industry
49:55
49:55
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
49:55
“We’re going to build Scarlett Johansonn for Salesforce!” Adam Honig declared to his business partner after watching the Spike Jonez movie Her, starring the actress. Frustrated with Salesforce and other CRM services, he thought, why not have a virtual assistant, like the one voiced by Johansonn, to replace all of that extra work employees are taske…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Realizing the Unfulfilled Promise of Blockchain
54:22
54:22
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
54:22
“Block chains are basically an attempt to do a more efficient transaction by replacing trust with proof,” explains Sam Bizri, founder and CEO of Zeconomy. Until recently, transactions were committed via a trust-based bureaucratic system where watchdogs like banks and accountants acted as witnesses, providing a system of checks and balances in case …
…
continue reading
“If you cannot clearly articulate the vision of the future that you are trying to create to your people and the market in a way that they care, you have a problem,” Brendan says. Hersh Tapadia, co-founder of Allstacks and recent guest on the Billion Dollar Tech podcast, is an example of someone who has done this successfully. On the campus of IBM w…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
How to Build a High-Impact Engineering Team with Allstacks CEO
55:17
55:17
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
55:17
“Think about it like you have two train tracks,” explains Hersh Tapadia, co-founder and CEO of Allstacks, “with the engineering train and the business train. Occasionally they stop at the same station, and everyone gets excited, but for the most part they’re running on these parallel tracks.” In other words, within many companies, engineers and hig…
…
continue reading
“He’s going to do a lot better not only in this business but in future businesses because he knows what it is to build a business and not just a product,” says Brendan on this latest Billion Dollar Breakdown. He’s speaking of Pedro Goes, founder and CEO of InEvent which creates software for in-person events and video productions, and a recent guest…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
How to Create Kick Ass Events, Navigating YC, and More with InEvent Founder Pedro Goes
51:19
51:19
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:19
“We need to manage a 35,000 person meeting in real time where decisions will be made that will end up on the 7:00 PM news,” says Pedro Goes, founder and CEO of InEvent. This software platform provides streamlined features such as video transitions, Q&A, polling, live music and the ability to engage with multiple sites at once to create a more multi…
…
continue reading
“A lot of people, when they think of entrepreneurship, picture a CEO commanding an army, or a developer doing something very innovative, or a product genius,” says Brendan on this latest Billion Dollar Breakdown. Actually, as he explains, the most important aspect of starting—and maintaining a successful business—is gathering a group of people who …
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
The Future of the Metaverse with Topia CEO Daniel Liebeskind
49:20
49:20
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
49:20
“For us, the Metaverse is a way to increase accessibility to communities,” says Daniel Liebeskind, CEO of the platform Topia, part of the Metaverse that’s taking the internet from asynchronous, static forms like email and forums, to synchronous, real-time interactions, sharing content with other people versus by oneself. This creator and user focus…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
High-Impact B2B Product Strategy, Integrations, and Exits With a 2X Founder
52:18
52:18
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
52:18
“There is no more complex strategy game in the world that I know of than building companies,” says Michael Zuerchner, CEO and Co-Founder of Prismatic. He would know. At age 19, he started a software company whose product integrated 600 tasks to be used in all aspects of law enforcement, such as jail door systems to alarm systems for putting dots on…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
How to Build a Two-Sided Marketplace with Michelle Tinsley
48:10
48:10
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
48:10
“Gig work is upscaling and becoming more professional,” says Michelle Tinsley, COO of Yellowbird. Yellowbird matches qualified professional Risk and Environmental Health and Safety workers with companies in demand of their skill sets. Environmental Health and Safety is a 5 billion-dollar industry worldwide, and after the Great Resignation during th…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Lessons Learned From 500+ B2B Start-UPS with Sam Strasser
49:22
49:22
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
49:22
Sam Strasser founded Treasure Financial, a cash management platform that helps businesses transform idle cash into revenue. Many companies, even famous, large companies, make up to 80% of their revenue not from selling products or services but from taking money out of their treasury and investing it. Still other companies, though, don’t have enough…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
How to Make TV Ads Segmentable, Trackable Like Facebook Ads with Noah Palansky
51:32
51:32
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:32
“We make it so that TV commercials are as effective as a Facebook ad,” is how Noah Palanksy describes the mission of his AI company Taiv. Having a drink at a bar one night, he watched as the TV played an ad for another bar down the street, and realized the potential for an establishment to promote itself on its own screen. Later, this idea evolved …
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Start Up FAQS: What’s the First Thing I Should Prioritize for Growth?
5:01
5:01
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
5:01
“What is the first thing I should prioritize when I’m trying to grow my business?” This is one of the most common questions Brendan gets from business founders. Here, in this mini-episode, he attempts to answer this and other frequently asked questions about growing a business. The very first step, he says, is having a clear Ideal Customer Profile …
…
continue reading