228: A Serial Founder’s Fight for Mass Adoption of Cryptocurrencies, With Alex Mashinsky of Celsius

Forget social media. When it comes to marketing techniques, newer isn’t always better, according to marketing wunderkind Derek Halpern.    You just started your blog. And now you’re ready to set the fiber-optic cables on fire with your wisdom and start raking in sales. In doing so, most likely you’ll be staring into a blue glowing screen until the early hours, cobbling together posts that your growing list of readers will find both valuable and compelling.    Starting from scratch, how do you build an audience and debut a digital product? What’s more, how can you convince people to buy it? Among the several schools of thought, the predominant is you could just let the product to speak for itself, provided it’s good enough. Or, as some of the more savvy marketers have found, you could get just better at selling.    The soft sell is out, and according to expert marketer Derek Halpern from New York, the hard sell is back. In a world of new fandangled sales techniques and buzz jargon, Halpern demonstrates that an adherence to the time-honored traditional sales process with a psychological spin is enough to cut through the noise to reach the modern-day consumer.    There’s been a rise in the number of books on the forces affecting buyer behavior, including Adam Alter’s seminal Drunk Tank Pink. Yet the motivating factors behind buyer behavior still, for many, remains elusive. Why do some people buy and not others? What are the triggers that will get someone to purchase your product over someone else’s?   Derek Halpern is founder of Social Triggers, a blog and podcast about effective internet marketing strategy. There since 2011, he has provided information on marketing to 140,000 subscribers. What’s more, the Social Trigger’s podcast recently hit #1 in the business section on iTunes, beating the likes of the Harvard Business Review, and the Wall Street Journal.   In this interview you will learn:   - How to master sales - Next level Conversion strategies - Derek's amazing story - Content strategies - The buying process and the psychology behind it - Creating sales funnels   I Need Your Help! If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below. It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people! Leave a review for the Foundr Podcast!

13 Jan 201545min

Forget everything you know, and everything you think you know, about starting a startup. If Andy Sheats' success with health.com.au tells us anything — and let's be clear, when you're bringing in $100 million in revenue within three years of launch, you're a success — it's that to be an entrepreneur, you need to think of yourself as everything but an entrepreneur.   Sure, an Internet search of the phrase "how to start a business" would tell you otherwise. But the numbers speak for themselves. Doing things the Andy Sheats way might just be the path to victory that every startup founder is looking to find. So just what is the Andy Sheats way?   In this interview you will learn:   - The secret to Andy's success with health.com.au - How to evaluate your startup idea - Achieving rapid growth on a mass scale - How to handle growth (quality problem to have) - The key questions you need to ask yourself when starting a business - & Much more!   I Need Your Help! If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below. It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people! Leave a review for the Foundr Podcast!

8 Jan 201549min

AJ Leon walks backs to his corner office on the 28th floor. He closes the door behind him and walks past his $8,200 mahogany desk to his window. He surveys the stark Manhattan skyline in the winter morning sunshine. The Chrysler building, the Empire State. Without warning, tears begin to drip down his cheeks. In his boss’s office, right next to his own, he’d just been offered a promotion. His six-figure salary would track up to seven-figures. All before his twenty-sixth birthday. It dawns on him that he has to do something radical: walk away.    Have you ever had the sensation of living someone else’s life, or that you didn’t choose the path you’re on? Most people experience this, including AJ Leon.    AJ Leon is no stranger to striding halls of financial power. “One thing led to another until I became a financial executive in New York,” AJ says. When he graduated college with a degree in finance and accounting, he took “the biggest offer at the largest firm that I could find. I really didn’t care what I would be doing for them or where I’d be.” In his mid-twenties, he’d ascended the corporate ladder until he boasted a corner office in Manhattan. AJ was making “an absurd amount of money, with big bonuses. I didn’t even work a ton of hours. I was kind of at the top.” Yet he was crestfallen. The problem, he confesses, was: “I hated my life. I was completely and utterly passionless about what I was doing and always had been.”   When he was presented with the dream promotion, he was working on Wall Street. It was December 31, 2007, the month that saw the beginning of the global financial crisis and US recession. AJ Leon was offered a job that promised a salary double his previous one. Imagine while the world begins to crumble, you are selected to be groomed to make partner in one of the most successful firms in New York city. “[My boss] said basically you’re going to make twice as much money as you do. You’re effectively going to be number three in the company.” AJ realized he was just offered something that he would never be able to walk away from. “I got truly depressed to the point where I was crying, alone, in my office.”    In this interview you will learn:   - AJ's inspiring story on what it means to give up society's perfect life that is mapped out for you - How to become a corporate misfit - The secret to creating a movement that people can really get behind - What it takes to turn your idea into reality - How to obtain Freedom - What it truly means to do work that matters and change the world one step a time - How to live a life of adventure and fun! - & So much more!   I Need Your Help! If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below. It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people! Leave a review for the Foundr Podcast!

6 Jan 201557min

This is a story not to be missed.   So often in the startup world, we only hear about the successes, the acquisitions, and how much money this person is making.   But how about the real story of entrepreneurs? The struggles? The failures?   Enter Nikki Durkin.   Nikki Durkin founded 99dresses, a company that allowed women to trade fashion items with other users.   99dresses was a Y-comibnator backed startup that had thousands of users and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for it, but recently had to shut down.   In this interview you will learn:   •How Nikki started her business •What her biggest lessons and realizations were as an entrepreneur and what you can learn from her mistakes •The best way to approach launching a startup •Why you have nothing to lose when starting a business •How to overcome the fear of failure •Why she has no regrets what so ever •The power of vulnerability •How the media really thinks and glamorizes success •Biggest takeaways a startup founder •Future plans for her next startup   I Need Your Help! If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below. It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people! Leave a review for the Foundr Podcast!

4 Jan 201548min

A life in the Hamptons, running a picturesque inn perched at the end of Long Island, sharing fine food and drink with visitors from around the world. Sounds like a version of heaven to many.   Without a doubt, Gary Muller — chef and co-owner with his wife Sylvia of the high-end bed and breakfast The Mill House Inn — certainly does enjoy his work. But for Muller, it’s the joy of the business and the people he gets to interact with that truly make him happy. Hearing Muller talk about his work, it’s unmistakable how much he loves taking care of people.   “The reason they’re coming back isn’t the room. It isn’t about the accommodations. It’s because there’s people there who care about them,” Muller says of his guests. That attitude is a necessity in this line of entrepreneurship.   That’s because, as anyone who has worked in hospitality, even as a server or a line cook will tell you, it can be an extremely difficult business, as challenging and chaotic as it is rewarding. It can be a life of wax and wane, feast and famine, fortune and misfortune.   While there are certainly aspects of running an inn in the Hamptons that are unique to that line of work, at the end of the day, the business lessons Muller has learned are universal. He’s navigated the rough waters of entrepreneurship using a mix of confidence in his craft, quick-but-prudent decision-making, and perhaps most of all, good listening. Muller has learned the most important lesson, and it applies to any business.     “I think it’s all people. I don’t think I ever sold food, and I know I certainly don’t sell rooms right now. But I know the one thing that’s for sure — it’s people. It’s all about the people. The only real asset you ever have is your team, your staff. You fail immediately without them and you succeed so well with them.”   In this interview you will learn: - Gary's amazing insights on what he has learnt from some of the most successful business man and women that have stayed at his B&B - His fascinating journey on developing one of the top bed and breakfasts in the hamptons - What it means to truly care - How to provide value - How create an experience that will last with you for ever - Hospitality 101 - What true customer service really means   I Need Your Help! If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below. It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people! Leave a review for the Foundr Podcast!

31 Des 20141h 2min

You can fund your baby on the Internet. That’s the world we live in. One in which a couple who wanted a child but could not conceive naturally were able to turn to strangers on the web to raise money for in vitro fertilization. A new life, crowdfunded. The couple’s campaign for a bundle of joy might seem odd — it’s certainly not ordinary — but it is a triumph of technology and humanity. It’s a story made possible through crowdfunding, a method of raising money for ideas online by seeking small contributions from a large numbers of backers, who usually receive perks in return for their support. The couple in question acquired funds to conceive their child by running a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, which, along with the New York-based Kickstarter, is one of the world’s preeminent crowdfunding platforms. Danae Ringelmann often recounts the couple’s story, because it conveys the extraordinary potential of crowdfunding. Few ideas lie outside the bounds of what can be funded (within the law, that is) — you just need to convince people that an idea has merit. Crowdfunding gives ordinary people, including budding entrepreneurs, a door to financial backing that once stood closed to all but the well connected.  Ringelmann, Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer of Indiegogo, says that the platform’s users have funded “ideas from businesses to urban gardens to schools to medical cures to babies to films and music tours to you name it.” She has firsthand knowledge of how to succeed with crowdfunding, but also an even more unique insight into the development of Indiegogo and the very advent of crowdfunding itself. In this interview you will learn:   - How crowdfunding started, and how Danae conceptulized the idea of democratizing finance - What it takes to disrupt an industry - Gold advice on crowdfunding and how to get your campaign fully funded - What Danae believes it takes to build a successful business - Tips on bootstrapping - The indiegogo story - & much more!   I Need Your Help! If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below. It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people!  Leave a review for the Foundr Podcast!

30 Des 201435min

Brent Grundy was a man with a simple business idea who built his empire from the ground up, and became living proof that someone can go from flat broke to running a business that turns over $32 million per year, in just 18 months. But Grundy’s road to success has been anything but smooth. An unfortunate but often present component of any success story is that of hardship or failure; and Brent Grundy’s story is no exception.   After a major business setback, Grundy found himself in the unenviable position of helplessly watching on as his money, home and dreams disappeared before his eyes. With barely enough money to fill a fuel tank, he prepared himself to break the devastating news to his young family that they wouldn’t be celebrating Christmas that year; the down and out businessman had hit rock bottom.   With nothing left to lose, he decided to accept his losses and turn his life around. With a renewed focus, Grundy was sitting in a play centre one day when staff told one of the older children that she was too big to play on the equipment. It was then that an idea came to him; to fill a gap in the entertainment market that caters to adults and children alike.   Today, Grundy is the Founder and Chief Executive of Australia’s first and largest Trampolining franchise business, Flip Out, and his story continues on its way into the history books. Since opening 18 months ago Brent’s business has enjoyed unprecedented success. Flip Out has expanded to a whopping twenty-one sites across the country, employing over 350 people and drawing thousands of customers through its doors each day.   Grundy’s accountant has said that in his 22 years of being in business, he has never witnessed an opportunity that allows the franchisee to recoup their initial investment within four to five months.   The zealous businessman now has his sights set on global domination; currently building centres in Dubai, Brent expects to open in 13 more countries in the next year. He also plans to use profits to donate centres to Afghanistan and Cambodia by year’s end.   In this interview you will learn: - What it feels like to have your company sold underneth you and come back even bigger and better - The importanace of systems and how to develop them in your business - What it takes to become a successful entrepreneur - How to develop a rock solid mindset where you can't lose - The franchising business, how it works and how to start - Secret growth strategies   I Need Your Help! If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below. It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people! Leave a review for the Foundr Podcast!

26 Des 201451min

Where do you see yourself in ten years? And more importantly, is that where you want to be? Without a doubt, you've spent an unproductive afternoon at your desk staring listlessly out the window, listening to the chatter of co-workers, staring at piles of reports, puzzled on how you ended up there. What happened to the life you dreamed about when you were in high-school? If you’re feeling a little unfulfilled, the good news is, you're not the only one. According to Harvard studies, a whopping 74% of people are unhappy in their work. Job satisfaction in the USA recently fell to its lowest level in 22 years and continues to show a consistent downward trend. There's a reason why three-quarters of employees don’t walk away and cash in their chips, and instead opt to stay unfulfilled. To find out why, we spoke with Matthew Michalewicz.    Michalewicz is an international expert in entrepreneurship, innovation, and success psychology. He has established boards that include former heads of state, Nobel Peace Prize winners, and Fortune 500 CEOs, and has a track record of starting businesses from scratch and selling them for tens of millions of dollars. His work has been featured in numerous television shows and publications, including Time Magazine, Newsweek, and Forbes.    In this interview you will learn:   - How to pitch Rockstars like Bill Gates - Learn the science behind what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur - The secret sauce on the most successful entrepreneurs in the world - How Matthew Has built 4 extremely successful businesses - Key mindsets for becomming a super successful entrepreneur   I Need Your Help! If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below. It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people! Leave a review for the Foundr Podcast!

21 Des 201450min