03: Impress the Sharks and take down Industry Giants with Fintech Founder, Cody Barbo

Startups Unpacked

In this episode, Dan sits down with the founder and CEO of Trust & Will, Cody Barbo. Trust & Will is a series A stage company that currently serves over 150,000 families in one of the most essential and yet underserved markets. Trust & Will helps individuals and families by making estate planning simple, accessible, and affordable.

From being elected Student Body President at San Diego State University to impressing Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban at a pitch event, Cody has made the most of unique opportunities to develop and showcase his entrepreneurial skills. He’s put those skills to good use in founding an already successful estate planning fintech that has taken on industry incumbents and is set to explode. Join us as we trace Cody’s journey and learn how he saw the vision, secured investors, and successfully launched Trust & Will.

• Cody shares how his unique leadership opportunities as a college student at San Diego State University helped shape his entrepreneurial drive and skills (2:00)
• Finding his “Niche”: Cody shares the valuable business lessons he learned with his first tech startup (4:50)
• Making the Pitch. Cody talks about how he developed his ability to make great pitches and how he met Mark Cuban, made connections with future partners, and even made good startup money doing it! (8:00)
• Cody offers a great piece of advice on the importance of valuing connections with people and making tools like business cards and LinkedIn work for you (12:45)
• Here’s a Pro tip on fundraising from a guy who’s raised 8 million in capital (17:33)
• Cody shares how he found the business vision he was willing to risk it all for? (18:38)
  • Dan and Cody talk about the intimate subject of estate planning and the brilliance of Trust & Will that makes this essential service simple and accessible. (23:28)
• Dan asks Cody how he was able to convince investors and customers that his company would handily outperform household names in this industry. (26:43)
• How Trust & Will prioritized customer experience while working to find and establish price points. (33:09)
• Dan asks Cody to share his secret weapons for success (38:33)

These are great insights from a great entrepreneur. Thanks for sharing with us, Cody!

Product Market Misfits is a weekly podcast that helps entrepreneurs learn more about starting companies and getting funded by sharing conversations with world-class venture-backed founders who are one or two steps ahead of you on the path to success. For more, visit us at www.ProductMarketMisfits.com