76: 8 Million Users, $233m Valuation & Rockstar Investors all in 2 Years? The Canva Story with Melanie Perkins

Building a startup is hard, from generating an idea, to developing an MVP, to launching a product, and eventually growing a business. It's just really hard. But what if I told you that it's entirely possible to launch a startup in 7 days and build a profitable business almost instantaneously? Sounds crazy right? Well tell that to Dan Norriss of WP Curve who went ahead and did just that. After seven years of trying his hand at various business, it wasn't until 2013 that Dan struck gold with WP Curve. A worldwide team of Wordpress developers providing constant support for small business of every kind 24/7. Today he impressively manages a worldwide team and just started his craft beer brewery, and there's no sign of slowing down. He shares with us the lessons he's learned through his career as a serial entrepreneur and as an award-winning content marketer. Teaching us everything from the importance of content marketing in today's world of startups to managing a remote team and what it's like to be in the modern tech industry. In this interview you will learn: How to start your own website from scratch The importance of getting all the opportunities to get press release in launching your ideas How to manage a huge remote team around the world using different online tools What content marketing is and how to build and grow a business with it Why you should be producing awesome evergreen content & much more!

3 Joulu 201558min

How can you attract top talent, and create a workforce that goes the extra mile for the company? The answer – surprisingly – isn’t salary, perks or bonuses. It’s culture. Making the effort to build and invest in a positive business culture can drain time, resources and money. But research suggests that the ROI on a happy workforce can be measured in dollars as well as satisfied, secure staff. According to The Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, good culture-building activities successfully cultivate a companywide commitment to satisfying customers. Other benefits include enhanced performance, reduced staff turnover, increased job satisfaction, greater employee engagement, fewer errors and enviable status as a workplace of choice. The jury is officially in: happy and healthy employees cost companies less. A 2011 academic study through the London School of Economics found that for costs spent promoting well-being in the workplace represented a substantial annual return on investment of more than 9 to 1, with increased productivity and reduced absenteeism. And it doesn’t just happen. If you’re a business owner, creating culture is up to you, with former MIT professor Edgar Schein once commenting that the only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create and manage culture. So how do you create a good workplace culture? CEO of Mindvalley, Vishen Lakhiani, is the man officially standing at the intersection of mindfulness and business and has workplace culture down to a fine art. In this interview you will learn: How to turn the power of meditation into your superpower What it takes to build a great company culture and keep top talent The benefits of having a great looking office and how it can double your employee's performance How to strip back the perks but still keep an amazing company culture The process Vishen uses when it comes to hiring A-players & much more!

23 Marras 201541min

Scott Jordan is no wall flower. He is a force to be reckoned with – and when he became frustrated with carrying devices and wanted something better than a man bag or a fanny pack he quit his job as a lawyer at a startup and launched SCOTTeVEST– a travel clothier that specializes in multi-pocket clothing specifically built around the tech gear we all carry. That decision, fourteen years ago, was made based on a philosophy that has guided much of his entrepreneurial journey – anything worth doing is worth doing now. Scott Jordan’s first product, the eVest 1.0, has morphed into a full line of clothing for men and women and a company that has landed on Inc.’s Fastest Growing Companies List three consecutive years. With global sales exceeding $10 million and Board of Advisors that includes Steve Wozniak (yes, the Steve Wozniak) and Kenneth “Hap” Klopp (co-founder of North Face), SCOTTeVEST has traversed the startup desert and reached the land milk and money. In this interview you will learn: How to use the power of storytelling to sell a product no one's ever heard of The power of PR and spin, how to make the best out of a bad situation and come out on top What is controversy and why it isn't always a bad thing Answer to the question of whether or not you should bootstrap or go after investors The strategies that Scott used to get his name and his business on the map & much more!

19 Marras 201549min

However great it is, entrepreneurship is hard. It can mean disappointment. It can mean exhaustion. It can mean frustration. It can mean failure. Starting a business is less smooth sailing and more stormy seas, often with waves of worry even as you tack toward horizons glowing with promise. “If you’re obsessed about this product that you want to bring to life, this business that you want to create, you’ll get through it,” Feld says. “If you’re not, you won’t.” He would know. Feld has been open about grappling with depression and dealing with the difficulties of a demanding job, yet he’s worked obsessively over dozens of years to get to where he is today. In 1987, he built a profitable software consulting company. Six years later, he sold it. He soon began investing money in other startups, a path that would lead him to co-found two venture capital firms, including Foundry Group, where he works today. He also co-founded Techstars, a massive startup accelerator. Feld has heard pitch after pitch—both successful and not. He has invested in company after company—including Harmonix, Zynga, and Fitbit. Pair those facts with his first-hand experience running a business, and it becomes clear that Feld knows how to get things done. In this interview you will learn: What makes, and breaks, an true entrepreneur The importance of finding balance when it comes to work and your personal life What to do when you hit those roadblocks and feel like giving up The key to rockstar pitches and how to impress investors How to blend short-term and long-term thinking in order to become a successful entrepreneur & much more!

12 Marras 201540min

Joanna Wiebe isn't someone that's focused on money, a statement that some of entrepreneurs would be horrified by. However what she is passionate about is words, the power of them, and their ability to inspire, convince, and persuade. It's this passion for writing that has led her to create one of the most premiere copywriting services in the world where her skill as a wordsmith is sought after by hundreds of businesses. She doesn't do this by making good copy, she does it by making GREAT copy. If you've ever wanted to learn how to separate yourself from the pack and have your voice get noticed then you need yourself some great copy. Which is why you'll absolutely love this episode where Joanna takes us through the ins and outs of how to make great copy, and how you can use it to convert like crazy. In this interview you will learn: The building blocks of what makes great copy How to use the power of words to instantly grab someone's interest, turn then into a friend, and make them a customer The power of using the right words, how to find out what your customers are saying and take advantage of it Why you the last thing you want to be is just like everyone else A full breakdown of how Foundr's own copy stacks up from the master! & much more!

4 Marras 201555min

If you’re new to the startup space, Steve Blank is the biggest name in tech you haven’t heard of. A serial entrepreneur turned educator, in entrepreneurial circles he’s referred to as one of the “Godfathers of Silicon Valley.” A master of the startup, he was involved in or founded ’s started eight venture-backed Silicon Valley companies, including software company E.piphany, which alone raised $66 million prior to going public in 1999, before being acquired by a larger corporation for $329 million in 2005. Basically, he’s a Silicon Valley pioneer who was killing it in the startup space when the rest of us were watching Muppet Babies. Drop his name around the offices of Facebook, Apple, Google, et cetera, and you’ll get knowing and approving nods. Follow him around Palo Alto and you’ll see him get asked for autographs. It seems in the way startups operate today, everyone owes a debt to this man. If you’ve heard of the Lean Startup, you’re familiar with his work already. Today, Blank actively lectures at Stanford, UC Berkeley, and the joint Berkeley/Columbia MBA program, NYU and UCSF, as well as the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, through the Innovation Corps program he developed. The Harvard Business Review named him one of 12 Masters of Innovation in 2012. CNBC recognized him as one of the 11 Notable Entrepreneurs Teaching the Next Generation. In 2013, Forbes listed Blank as one of the 30 most influential people in Tech. Blank’s books, blog, and interviews are often featured in world news publications such as The New York Times, Forbes, Inc, TechCrunch, and The Wall Street Journal. His teaching commonly focuses on the Customer Development methodology that he developed throughout his accolade-rich career. His 2003 book The Four Steps to the Epiphany launched the Lean Startup movement. And a decade later, the sequel The Startup’s Owner’s Manual cemented his place on all entrepreneurial required reading lists. Not bad for a man who’s technically been retired for over a decade. In this interview you will learn: What it takes to become an entrepreneur, all without going to business school! The secrets to building a fully-functioning lean startup What it takes to become a leading player in Silicon Valley The unexpected highs and lows of entrepreneurship, the harsh truths, and positive realities What it takes to get ahead, and stay ahead & much more!

29 Loka 201546min

Tony Stubblebine was not one of those 22-year-old tech startup CEOs, wearing hoodies and distributing profane business cards. He got his start as a sharp programmer, working alongside people like Ev Williams and Biz Stone, and has been steadily climbing his way up the ladder since. The path to becoming a successful CEO involved a lot of growth and personal development for him, almost like an athlete in training. One thing he could have used much earlier is a good coach. “I didn’t get my first coach until it was way too late. Why didn’t I have an exec coach grooming me to be an executive, to be a CEO?” Follow Stubblebine's journey as he took, what others perceived to be, his weaknesses and turned them into strengths that made him a force to be reckoned with. Stubblebine shows just what it takes to become a great leader and a CEO of a multimillion dollar business. In this interview you will learn: A full breakdown of all the elements that make up a great leader and CEO The secrets to utilizing meditation in order to stay grounded and tackle any and all challenges Why you don't need to be a jerk, and there's nothing wrong with being the 'nice guy' The process of building a great product that drives social change How to bring out that 'elite performance' mindset from yourself and achieve it & much more!

21 Loka 20151h 2min

All the most successful ideas in the world were when entrepreneurs realized that there was something about their current life that they wished could be done a little easier. The only difference between entrepreneurs and regular people though, is instead of just complaining, they go ahead and built it.   For founder Chris Strode it all began because he wanted make the lives of small business owners a little easier back in 2002. Today Invoice2go is one of the highest grossing business app on the market, and the number one invoicing app worldwide for small businesses.   In this interview you will learn: Exactly what it takes to bootstrap your way to $100 Million How to create a brilliant product by identifying a personal problem The importance of finding, and defining, your perfect customer How to grow a business as a one-man startup The key to persevering when the odds seem stacked against you

15 Loka 201540min