#0022 - Celebrating Tony Hsieh, The Great Migration, and Vaccine on the Way

Somewhat Frank

On this episode of the Somewhat Frank Podcast, Frank Gruber (@FrankGruber) and John Guidos (@JohnGuidos) talk about the new COVID-19 vaccine that is getting rolled out to address the ongoing pandemic that has taken 300,000+ lives in the US alone. To put that in perspective, WWII took over 400,000 lives, so this vaccine may go down as one of the most important medical breakthroughs in our lifetime. Frank and John also chat about a few ridiculously large IPOs in the tech sector and the trend of migration from big cities. Frank also shares some stories and remembers the life of his good friend, Tony Hsieh. You can read his article celebrating Tony’s life at: https://tech.co/news/celebrating-tony-hsieh Frank also celebrates the following people from his network:

• Lou Mintzer https://twitter.com/mintzer/status/1330873819809144833
• Danica Kombol https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mwwpr-acquires-everywhere-agency-leading-influencer-marketing-firm-301190293.html?tc=eml_cleartime&fbclid=IwAR3ZquaI9FMezgAmN21I30x6aVWQhmY0WQOqQgI6ILW51dvcthZOUzP-3Ag

The guys talk briefly about the 8th annual Startup of the Year Summit that occurred in November. From the startup pitches, to the conversations with folks like Tim Draper, Kara Goldin, and Mike Evans, Lo Toney, and many many more. We also had AMAs with Marc Nager, Carolyn Rodz, Marlon Nichols, NASA, USAF. We also hosted 500+ Curated Office Hours during the summit, not to mention all the interactions and conversations that attendees set up on their own. We also had an amazing Top 100 semi-finalists this year! Here are a few fun stats:

• OVER half of our startups have a female on the founding team
• 74% of teams have a founder of color
• nearly 20% were Veteran-led companies

SoLo Funds was named the 2020 Startup of the Year and Jeenie won the .US Veteran Startup of the Year. The Top 5 finalists included SoLo Funds, Jeenie, Finmark, GLASS, and Hoy Health. We also named Grifin as the People’s Choice Award winner. As always, remember to register for your free .us domain offer at est.us/SummitUS. We hope to see you in 2021! Sign up now to get notified about our 2021 application and upcoming events at: established.us/programs and startupofyear.com Up next, Established will be helping to host the Unvalley 2020 conference on December 17th and 18th. Our team at Established is the Production sponsor and some will be conducting the interviews at the event. This is not only an opportunity to see great speakers it is an opportunity for anyone looking to find a job that best fits their culture or vibe outside of the valley. Register for Unvalley at the following: https://est.us/unvalley20 Unvalley is a two day virtual conference to connect attendees with the biggest opportunities in tech between the coasts. Speakers include the following:

• Steve Case from Revolution and Rise of the Rest.
• Arlan Hamilton from BackStage Capital
• Rand Fishkin from Moz
• Mary Grove from Bread and Butter Ventures
• and many many more.

The guys also discuss the following things they are reading/watching:

• Do you know the origin story of Monopoly? Monopoly Was Designed to Teach the 99% About Income Inequality. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/monopoly-was-designed-teach-99-about-income-inequality-180953630/?fbclid=IwAR0Uzcy2c-GkxVwiLSmnBCirgo8lPp12YIh5wKJreyoHHd439G5czv2dtyw
• Movie night is going to be at home in 2021. Warner Bros. Smashes Box Office Windows, Will Send Entire 2021 Slate to HBO Max and Theaters. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/warner-bros-smashes-box-office-windows-will-send-2021-slate-to-hbo-max-and-theaters
• Wonder Women on Merry Christmas!!! Wonder Woman 1984 will be released on HBO Max the same day it’s in theaters for no extra cost. https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/18/21504152/wonder-woman-1984-release-delay-new-date-warner-bros-disney-black-widow-dune-tenet
• Aliens are helping us prevent war. Israel's Former Space Security Chief Says Aliens Have Prevented Nuclear War. https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgzg97/israels-former-space-security-chief-says-aliens-have-prevented-nuclear-war?utm_campaign=later-linkinbio-motherboardvice&utm_content=later-12615309&utm_medium=social&utm_source=instagram
• Would you give up your treasure? Treasure hunter marks five years in jail for refusing to give up his gold. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/14/tommy-thompson-treasure-jail-ship-of-gold

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