Cult Of Startup Podcast

Today's guests are the amazing Steve O’Dell and Robbie Page, the founders of Tenzo Tea. These two guys wanted to make a massive impact on the world through a product that really makes a difference in people’s lives. In this interview we cover a wide range of topics from: What lead them to choose matcha over other energizing products? What are most important steps to get an E-commerce company off the ground. Why the lessons learned from playing professional sports directly translates to success in business. If you'd like to catch the NEW LinkedIn Edition of the show, head over to my profile here: Luke Bayard. Follow Tenzo on Social: Facebook Instagram

Mark Kithcart is the Vice President of Marketing, Sales, Client Management and Contracts at AVRS a software service for the automotive industry. Post graduation from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Mark worked as a mechanical engineer, but he trained himself in the late hours of the night to be a professional marketer. In this interview we discussed topics like: Why customer service is the lifeblood of any business? How to find a mentor? Why marketing comes down to human behavior? Why is it important to marry the right person when you are an entrepreneur?   Contact Mark: Email: MarkKithcart@gmail.com LinkedIn: Mark Kithcart Articles Mentioned: The Complete Guide to Understanding Equity Compensation at Tech Companies

In 2005, Sandy Grigsby founded Brio Five, a creative studio specializing in branding, photography, web, and graphic design. She is most well known for her work as an Empowerment & Brand Photographer with over 15 years of industry experience working with high power CEOs to celebrities. Sandy's talent lies in her ability to evoke and capture images that demonstrate a woman’s true essence and power. Her in-depth knowledge of web design, coupled with her vast experience as a model, actress, and spokesmodel allow her to fully understand the branding needs of her clients. Website: www.BrioFive.com Instagram: @BrioFive or @SandyInFocus LinkedIn: Sandy Grigsby

Erik Huberman is the Founder & CEO of Hawke Media, a full-service outsourced CMO based in Santa Monica, CA that launched in 2014 and has been valued at $60 million. In just 3 years, Hawke Media has grown from 7 to over 120 employees and has serviced 400+ brands.   Prior to Hawke Media, Erik founded, grew and sold Swag of the Month and grew Ellie.com’s sales to $1 million in four months. Erik is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including Forbes “30Under30”, Inc Magazine’s “Top 25 Marketing Influencers”, Influencive's "Top Influencive Influencers of 2017". Erik is a regular contributor to major media publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Business Insider, and is proud to have and recently joined XPRIZE as their key marketing advisor.   Some Questions I Ask Erik: What is Hawke Media? 1:50 What about the traditional marketing agency model is broken? 2:26 How is Hawke Media's business model different from the competition? 4:50 Where did the concept of an “outsourced CMO” come from? 5:38 How d

Nicole Behnam and Mariella Rudi are founders of the media company Beyond The Interview, where they curate a collection of interviews, essays, and social news. As two women who left full-time careers as successful journalists to pursue entrepreneurship, their story is one of taking creative control of their work and embracing a new age of personal, digital journalism. In this show, Nicole and Mariella talk about their adventure in leaving their careers to pursue entrepreneurship, the importance of having a co-founder, writing authentically but still following a successful formula, and how to monetize a growing audience on any platform. They also discuss in general the media’s trend towards personal, vulnerable, and emotional news, and how young entrepreneurs can tap into these subjects to create a viral hits.        Some Questions I Ask Nicole and Mariella:       What is Beyond the Interview? [1:34] What’s the dynamic with your friends who became influencers? [4:18] Why start this when you have full-time care

Sean Allen is the CEO and Co-Founder of WizeFi, a personal finance platform that helps you make the most of your money and helps you make more money so you can live your ideal lifestyle. With 20+ years experience in the financial advising industry, Sean is bringing a tool once reserved for professional financial planners to the masses.   In this show, Sean explains how important behavior change is to achieving your desired financial goals, and how WizeFi illustrates how each decision you make can impact your current and future net worth. Through his platform, he believes that anyone, no matter their income, can learn to spend their money in a way that makes them more money, which in turn lead them to their best financial future. Sean also speaks to his journey back into startups after decades in the professional industry and gives advice to new entrepreneurs, young and old, on how to structure a business to eventually become passive income.          Some Questions I Ask Sean:       What is WizeFi? [1:42] Wha

Josh Haynam is the co-founder of Interact, a platform and software serviced based out of San Francisco. Interact creates quizzes (“like the ones that you see on Facebook”) and assessments for clients wanting to reach potential customers whose interests may align with those of their company’s.   After cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit at the start of high school, Josh had to switch gears and buckle down for college, where he met the person who would later become his co-founder. When he and his co-founder launched Interact in 2014, Josh began building quizzes for clients and brainstorming new, innovative ideas for a wide range of different companies. In addition to that role, he’s branched into the public relations arena and also creates continuous, original blog content for Interact.   Some Questions I Ask Josh: What does Interact do? [1:03] Do both small and big companies use Interact’s product? [5:25] What are your thoughts on how people brainstorm their business ideas? [26:30] What’s your take on growi

Ladan Davia is the CEO & Founder of Beeya, a company she founded in January of 2015. Beeya is a platform that automatically matches employers and employees using a unique algorithm while generating an automatic matching score from your data. The platform combines the elements of online job searching, social networking, and professional work concepts to create a cohesive solution for the user.   Before founding Beeya, Ladan was the founder and president of Accelerate Test Prep for two years, and prior to that worked in broadcast media. Driven by a passion for philanthropy and education, she made the switch from working in the entertainment industry to the tech sector where she’s able to utilize both her drive for helping others and skill in technological entrepreneurship.   Some Questions I Ask Ladan: How does Beeya differ from companies where the emphasis is placed on job seekers taking personality tests to find matches? [8:21] What are some traits you’ve seen as being pivotal for job seekers? [10:16] Wh

Andrew Healy and Alex French are the Co-Founders of Bizzy Coffee, “coffee for people who don’t have time for coffee.” Bizzy Coffee comes in the form of an organic two-ounce cold brew shot and can be found in a multitude of grocery stores, as well as on Amazon.   Bizzy Coffee was created by two people who complement each other well: Alex’s background is in in Finance and Entrepreneurship while Andrew’s is in Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing. After trial and error and some product tweaking, they created something that truly works -- an especially impressive feat in the competitive market that is Food and Beverage.   Some Questions I Ask Andrew and Alex: What was the worst and best experience you had during your road trip to promote and sell Bizzy Coffee? [4:05] What was involved in the process of recruiting people for the trip? [6:45] What do each of your backgrounds consist of? [11:27] What was the e-commerce business you both had at one point, and why did you decide to ditch it? [19:24] What made you

Baird Hall is the Co-Founder of Wavve, a platform based out of Charleston, South Carolina. Having launched in 2016, Wavve helps podcasters, musicians, radio show hosts, and various other content creators easily turn audio clips into social video content -- whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or wherever else.   Wavve – a platform created by two people who met a mere 2 years ago and have successfully grown their company to help a plethora of users since – also provides multiple video templates and cards to help creators add animation and text prior to sharing their final product on social media. Combining audio and visual elements, Wavve introduces an entirely fresh approach for content creation.   Some Questions I Ask Baird: What about the business model of your company wasn’t quite right before it was rebranded as “Wavve”? [6:10] What’s involved in running a marketing test? [11:50] When you first set up a marketing test, what data were you using? [13:01] Where do customers commonly find you when

Ryan McLeod became an indie app developer after graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2014 and briefly working as a web developer.   After working on a social music startup for a time that ended up disbanding, Ryan switched gears and started learning iOS. Originally a side project, this knowledge led to the creation of the popular iOS app Blackbox, a game that helps players practice creative thinking by solving puzzles without actually touching their screen.   Some Questions I Ask Ryan: What got you into indie app development? [2:58] What happened after you finished up school? [4:24] What about taking risks with app development scares you? [6:36] How did the idea for Blackbox come about and were there any parameters? [10:08] What do you think provides the biggest value when having people test out an app before releasing it? [16:22] Have you ever done a soft launch on an update? [20:39] How do you market the Blackbox app? [22:32] What is the story behind Snapchat and your successful marketing? [34:18]

In this episode, we speak with Kyle Rawson, the founder of SyphonSound. Syphon Sound is an audio company that came to fruition in 2011 and specializes in motocross and snowboarding sound technology. Kyle grew up snowboarding throughout junior high and high school. After 3 business competitions, he finally decided to pursue his idea intermingling these passions while being able to listen to his favorite music with comfort and ease. Some good luck with investors and years of research and development later, Syphon Sound is thriving. Some Questions I Ask Kyle: What were some elements you came across in the evolution of your business idea? [3:14] After participating in business competitions, what kind of feedback were you receiving? What convinced the judges to look more into your idea? [4:51] What did you discuss in the initial conversation with your first investor? [8:45] What step came after landing your first investment? [12:25] After completing research and development, how did you find a supplier for your f

In this episode of Cult of Startup, our guest is Brad Gauthier. Brad is the founder of Sitecast, Founded in 2013 and based out of Portland, Oregon, Sitecast.com is a platform of configurable API’s to rapidly build and deploy serverless web projects with ease. Brad discovered a talent for building websites at the age of 12 when he landed his first client. He pursued that skill to get where he and his company are at today, with a few crucial detours along the way.   Some Questions I Ask Brad: What route did you decide to take after graduating college? [8:30] What were the audiobooks that influenced you the most during college? [13:30] Are there any other books in audio format you’d specifically recommend? [19:22] What was the company you started after you left your first job out of college? [32:30] What type of benefits comes from learning about a variety of subject matters? [34:30] How did having so many bosses at once drive you to leave your job? [38:07] What did you discover about yourself after you sold yo

Today’s guest in this episode of Cult of Startup is Alex Littlewood, the founder, and CEO of Motoroso. Founded in 2013, Motoroso is an online hub for motorsports and automotive enthusiasts alike to plan, build, and share their dream vehicle projects -- from drawing ideas and inspiration through content to locating specific parts, accessories, and service providers. Motoroso stemmed from Alex’s passion for working on and riding cars and motorcycles. In today’s episode, we get to the root of what the company’s all about and how it got to where it is now as a result of that passion. Some questions I ask Alex: How did growing up in motorsports influence the work you’re doing today? [7:47] What was the experience of working at a startup that was later acquired by Google like? [11:40] What was the next phase after you left Google following the acquisition? [35:39] What the plan for making Motoroso happen while also working a 9-to-5 at your then-job? [45:37] What were some of the lean methodology procedures you use

Today’s guest in this episode of Cult of Startup is Steve Irby. Steve Irby is the founder and president of KICKER, a company he began in 1973 that produces high-performance home and personal audio, car audio, power sports products, and other vehicle-specific solutions. Steve’s learned a wide variety of lessons when it comes to creating your own company from the ground up, especially when it involves something you love doing. For Steve, it all started with building and constructing speaker systems. Some Questions I Ask Steve: Did you have any desire to start a business while you were going to school? [2:50] What was your major in before you decided you wanted to go another route? [3:46] What exactly happened post-grad school that made you do a 180 on your goals? [5:18] What else began to occupy your time when you were close to finishing your thesis and wrapping up grad school? [6:49] Do you have a specific system or method for jotting your ideas down in? [16:14] Do you use the Gallup StrengthsFinder as part o

Today’s guest is Raj Singh. Raj is the founder of Tempo AI, a mobile productivity app that was recently acquired by Salesforce.   Raj has had extensive experience in the technology and startup industries. And in this interview, we talked about what it takes to create a startup and the best methods and strategies for working in one, as well how to maneuver their ever-evolving structure in society.   Some Questions I Ask Raj: How can a student find a position in a start-up or find a company that would enable them to meet their peak potential? [19:07] What do you define “business model innovation” as and what would an example of it be? [26:26] What exactly does pattern-matching with startups refer to? [33:30] How does someone keep up to date on developments within the startup community, and what are some resources they can use to make sure they stay on the cusp of this information? [37:35] How should a startup map out their milestones? [49:03] What are the main attributes that distinguish a great CEO from an o

Today’s guest is Marcus Noel, who is the founder of Heart of Man which aims to EMPOWER YOUNG PEOPLE TO THINK LIKE CREATORS, NOT STUDENTS. In this interview, we discuss a variety of topics from education reform to why students should walk away from high school with an entrepreneurship toolset in their pocket. Marcus recommended that we all take Strengths Finder by Gallup. As always thank you for listening! Please feel free to leave us a review in iTunes.     

Today’s guest is Alex Henige, who is the founder of Reduce Reuse Grow, a small compostable packaging company that provides packaging for small coffee shops & food venders. And with each product they serve Reduce Reuse Grow will in turn plant a plant at a local restoration site.   We start by talking about his indirect approach to Kickstarter & how that grew into over 20k in contributions from backers. How a product can evolve by running it through the business model canvas? Why your first idea isn’t always the best idea? How we can impact the environment with every purchase we make? And much much more!   Thank you for listening!   Visit their website at ReduceReuseGrow.org or on Instagram @ReduceReuseGrow

In this episode I sit down with Seth Hiatt, serial board game entrepreneur & founder of Mayday Games. Originally Seth ran a successful online business selling through eBay; however, that all ended suddenly when eBay shifted away from a single listing fee to taking a percentage of each sale. Overnight Seth had to make a choice between going back to his previous career as an accountant or to rework his business model. Follow us through our conversation as we discuss his journey & discover tangible takeaways you can apply directly to your startup.

  Today’s guest is Boman Farrer, the co-founder of LunoWear, a stylish watch brand made from bamboo that nearly raised half a million through crowdfunding. Even when they had to switch funding platforms after raising 400k!   In this interview we discuss the following topics: The value of family tradition Building a loyal audience before launching a product How to properly execute a crowdfunding campaign. Instagram strategies using hashtags & influencers How to use Facebook ads The pros & cons of Amazon exclusives And much, much more!   You all are the greatest! Thank you for listening & enjoy!