544: Foundr’s BEST of 2024: Hear From The World's Greatest Entrepreneurs [VIDEO]

Rod Drury conveys a palpable sense of urgency. If there’s one thing he’s picked up in his many years as an entrepreneur, it’s that having a certain velocity can make all the difference. “Biggest thing I’ve learned in business is actually making things happen. So picking up the phone, asking why, why aren’t we doing it now, why’s it going to take a week, let’s go do it today,” Drury says. “Just driving urgency, and getting things done puts you so far ahead of most other businesses that you can win in a really significant way.”    It’s the kind of attitude you’d expect from the cofounder and CEO of a company that went public on day one, raising $15 million out of the gate with only about 100 customers. (“I think they were all blood relatives.”)   Since that early IPO in 2007, Drury’s accounting software company Xero has been essentially building a startup in the public eye, and that very sense of urgency has translated to some pretty incredible momentum. Over the course of eight years, the company has raised more than $300 million, they now have more than 1,000 staff, and more than 400,000 customers globally.   Not bad for a little company from New Zealand.   In this interview you will learn:   - Rod's key ingredients to success - What it takes to build a Billion Dollar Startup - Why Rod decided to list Xero on the NZ stock exchange when everyone doubted him - How to develop a compelling vision and lead a team to success - How Rod manages his life and work life balance - Raising capital & pitching 101   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!

18 Maj 201529min

Beanies, caps, eyewear, tees and tops, watches, snow accessories, backpacks, hot tub shorts. You name it, Neff rocks it. So how did Shaun Neff, founder and namesake of the California-based clothing company, skyrocket this global apparel giant from his humble backpack into the big time? By keeping it real, staying rad and being an insanely astute businessman. On the surface, Shaun Neff might seem like just another hip, down-to-earth cat — but don’t be fooled. The 35-year-old Californian native is as sharp as they come. He’s also a lifetime opportunist and networking powerhouse. As the founder and CEO of Neff Headwear, he also bears the lofty responsibility of serving up trends to the world’s most sort-after audience — the youth market. The tale of how Neff got to where he is today, at the helm of a multi-million dollar brand selling in 50 countries, is particularly intriguing. It’s one that takes a sharp departure from the usual “worked my way up from the bottom” story. Mostly because Shaun Neff, to this day, is still working his first job. “It’s crazy but this is the only job I’ve ever had. Since high school I had dreamed of starting a surf, skate, snow-inspired brand that reached out to youth. So when I was up at college in Utah, snowboarding every day, I thought, ‘Alright it’s go time,’ and just went for it.”   In this interview you will learn:   - How to find the secret sauce to connect with influencers - Branding 101 and the 3 simple principles Shaun has used to turn Neff into a 100m+ empire - The power of authenticity and why it can make or break you in business - How to know when to "take some of your chips off the table" and sell some of your company - Key entrepreneurship lessons for starting out - & 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!

12 Maj 201549min

We’ve all been curious about the best way to get better at languages, sports, cooking, fitness, and of course, how to start a business. Using a grand total of four hours per week, Tim Ferriss showed us how. Ferriss needs no introduction. Multiple New York Times best-selling author. Entrepreneur. Self-help guru. Investor. Celebrity. And now star of his own television show.   Even if you know nothing of entrepreneurialism, you probably know the work of Tim Ferriss. The 4-hour Workweek ring any bells? Chances are, it’s that book your roommate is always gushing about. A #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-seller, it has seeped into the zeitgeist and changed more lives than its detractors would like to admit. The 4-Hour Workweek was on the New York Times best-seller list for four-and-a-half years straight and stayed on other lists for seven consecutive years. Released in 2007, this seductive and seminal book was about escaping the workaholic lifestyle to “find your muse.” For the uninitiated, that means a business that takes up little time, yet turns over enough revenue for you to enjoy a sort of freedom from the office bullpen.   If it weren’t for Tim Ferriss and The 4-Hour Workweek, a lot of us wouldn’t be where we are today. I know I wouldn't! So it's with great pleasure I bring you the man, the myth and the legend Tim Ferriss.   P.S. If you would like to check out Tim's new TV show, 'The Tim Ferriss Experiment' which we highly recommend! You can visit - www.itunes.com/timferriss   In this interview you will learn:   - Tim's strategies on how he exploded the 4-hour work week brand (the early days) - How he builds solid relationships with influencers and doesn't use the hard sell - The no.1 marketing strategy he uses for approaching any project and making it explode - The top 5 productivity tools that are changing the game for Tim right now that allow him to hack the hell out his time and get insane amounts of work done (gamechanger) - Tim's new epic TV show and the secret to learning any skill FAST - An extremely humbling story of how Tim got his first customers for his first business, and what it's like for every single person when they first start out on their entrepreneurial journey - & So much more of course :)

3 Maj 201539min

Getting laid off is enough to make anyone want to crawl into a hole and hide. But Pat Flynn went the other direction. He took the opportunity to open himself up, and put his experience in the spotlight. And that very openness became the key to his success, as his Smart Passive Income Community has now reached millions of entrepreneurs.   It’s not every day that you have the chance to become an overnight sensation, but for Pat Flynn, the stars seemed to align perfectly for him on a gloomy day in 2008. After landing the job of his dreams and working passionately at it for many years, the mid-2008 recession hit him harder than he’d ever imagined. Being recently promoted at a large architecture firm, he was shocked when his boss announced that the company could no longer pay for his services and expertise.   Although he was clouded with the fear of unemployment during the first few weeks, this obstacle was the golden opportunity that would change his life forever. Enter Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income   In this interview you will learn:   - How Pat has built a raving super engaged community so powerful that he often receives emails from community members asking for his amazon affiliate link as they want Pat to receive the affiliate commission from Amazon - The power of building extremely deep relationships with your audience and how to build epic amounts of trust - A throwdown on the Foundr Podcast and core action items on how to improve your podcast - How Pat has built one of the top ranked business podcasts - The power of transparency and how it has helped Pat grow his business exponentially - What Pat believes it takes to build a successful online business these days - & 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 Apr 20151h 4min

Barbara Corcoran doesn’t look far past the family tree for inspiration. While many entrepreneurs seek seasoned businesspeople to learn from, Corcoran’s mentor was her mother, not because her mother managed a company—she didn’t—but because she managed a family. “She ran our little, tiny two-bedroom flat like a corporation,” Corcoran recalls. Everything was organized, and everything had a system. Her mother did a phenomenal job motivating each of the children, helping them do what they did best. “If she had been in business, she would’ve been a tycoon,” Corcoran says. “I wouldn’t have wanted to compete with her.” Common sense was one of her mother’s virtues, and it’s a trait that Corcoran says is vital in business. “I think you have to trust your natural instinct,” she says to aspiring entrepreneurs. Business is about street smarts. It’s not something you can learn in a classroom — you have to do it. That’s exactly what she has done. Corcoran’s resume includes several businesses and millions of dollars, and she’s now a “shark” investor on ABC’s popular Shark Tank TV series. She started young. “I had a flower-of-the-week club when I was in college that failed miserably,” she says. “It was good for a while and then it failed. How did I get that job? I just invented it.” She later founded two real estate companies, including the Corcoran Group, which she started with a $1,000 loan and ultimately sold for $66 million. Corcoran has channeled her experience into her role as an investor on Shark Tank, a reality TV competition that pits entrepreneurs against each other in a contest to pitch their ideas and get big funding. The show’s run includes six seasons, and she’s been along for the whole ride.   In this interview you will learn:   - Barbara's story on how she rose to success - The critical elements she believes it takes to become a successful entrepreneur - A super productivity hack to get the most of your day - Real estate investing tips - What it takes to get your idea funded - What Barbara looks for in an entrepreneur and the companies she invests in - & 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!

21 Apr 201544min

Mattan Griffel wasn’t prepared for his first job. After he graduated college, a startup company asked him to be their marketer, but he didn’t know how to be a marketer. Mattan had studied philosophy and finance, but despite years of delving into the life of the mind and the management of money, he couldn’t snag a job in the financial sector. So he sat there, tasked with an entirely different field: marketing. Griffel really wasn’t prepared, so he decided to fix that. He charged into the challenge, devouring books on marketing, consuming online classes, doing everything he could to eat up as much knowledge as possible. In just a year and a half, he says, he learned more about marketing than four years at university taught him about finance. Learn voraciously. A passion for new skills can expand your opportunities and multiply your successes. Griffel’s drive to be good at whatever he did gave him the ability to successfully manage a marketing budget of half a million dollars. Now, that same drive has put Griffel at the helm of One Month, a Y Combinator-backed education startup aiming to provide what he calls a “no-BS first month of learning.” The company has created a contingent of lightweight courses that each teach the basics of a topic—ranging from Ruby on Rails to HTML to growth hacking and more—in 15 minutes per day for 30 days. It was his endeavor to gain marketing skills that exposed Griffel to entrepreneurial education outside the brick walls and stone pillars of formal schooling. Having learned from platforms like Udemy and Skillshare, he eventually began teaching for them. While instructing an in-person class on coding at General Assembly, Griffel met Chris Castiglione, with whom he would one day found One Month.   In this interview you will learn: - Epic growth hacking strategies - Key lessons from a Y-Combinator backed startup - Mattan's experience at Y-Combinator - Key Entrepreneurial lessons learned along the journey - How to create powerful and valuable courses that sell - & 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!

11 Apr 201547min

Some people thought entrepreneur Justin Gold was nuts for trying to disrupt the peanut butter market. A decade later, he’s been recognized by Inc. and Ernst & Young as one of the food and beverage sector’s rising stars. Originally from Pennsylvania, Gold is one of the Boulder, Colorado startup community’s big success stories, having moved to the mountain town after becoming disillusioned with his original career plan to become a lawyer. The keen outdoorsman made the most of the biking and skiing lifestyle while waiting tables to support himself, and found himself frequently chowing down on peanut and almond butter for the protein benefits. Gold decided to start making his own at home, experimenting by adding everything from maple syrup to berries in his concoctions. They proved a big hit with his roommates, who ate everything he whipped up, so Gold started labeling the jars “Justin’s,” at first just to keep them away. “At that point it changed from a kitchen experiment to a project,” he says. Being completely new to business, he had a million questions about how to start a company, from company structure through to labeling, packaging, and food regulations. Leaning on the Colorado University business library as a resource, Gold came up with a business plan. And since Boulder is home to a number of other companies in the natural foods space, from Celestial Seasonings to Rudi’s Organic Bakery, he started reaching out to their founders for advice. Having raised about $30,000 from friends and family, Justin’s launched in 2004, selling to local stores, but a few years in, wasn’t growing as Gold had hoped. He knew overnight success was unlikely — his own mentor Steve Demos, the creator of milk alternative Silk, struggled for nearly 30 years selling tofu first. Being a “little naive and a little stubborn” kept him going, he says, with the idea that they would figure it out eventually.   In this interview you will learn:   - When, and how to know how much equity of your business you should give you - The importanance of starting your business idea - Why curiosity can be an amazing trait as an entrepreneur - How Justin turned his idea peanut butter idea into a multi-million dollar empire - Key leadership skills to build a solid team - How to scale a business when you recieve rapid growth - When, and how to know how much equity of your business you should give up - A key concept to keep your employees super motivated

2 Apr 201551min

Bleeding brain. Fractured skull. Concussion. These were the effects. The event was just as sudden. One Thursday in late July, Sean Stephenson took his dog for a stroll. Then he fell — ripped from his wheelchair, Stephenson crashed onto the concrete ground, a traumatic impact that landed him in the hospital and left him for some time without short-term memory. But he had dodged death, and not for the first time. When Stephenson was born, he was diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta, an uncommon disease that brings stunted growth and fragile bones. Doctors predicted he would quickly perish. Instead, he lived, growing up to become a motivational speaker and businessman. After traveling for years, speaking to audiences far and wide, Stephenson has cut down on the airplane flights and shifted to holding seminars in one location in Arizona. His success hasn’t been easy, but he says that only a fraction of his challenges stem from disability. The rest have to do with the sorts of things most people struggle with in various ways: friends and money and marriage. Stephenson’s story shows that entrepreneurship — no, life itself — is laced with challenges. Sometimes, you’re buffeted by events that you can’t control. He recommends that in those instances, when you really can’t control the outcome, you stop trying to. If you can change your circumstances, do so, but if you can’t, don’t stress for no reason. “I know that if I’m willing to let go of control, it’s going to be a lot easier process than trying to fight for the control with some invisible force out there,” he says. “Call it God, call it universe, call it law of attraction, call it science, call it whatever makes you comfortable, but there are powers that play outside of us that are much bigger than us.” As he recovered from his July accident, Stephenson felt out of his depth, so he did what made sense to him: he sat back and had to laugh, waiting to see where it would all go.   As much sense as relinquishing control sometimes makes, it’s not an everyday play. In most areas, Stephenson doesn’t passively await his fate. He shapes it, because there’s a flipside to the challenges he has no control over: the ones he does. “The start of my career is not sexy. It really started with discrimination,” he says. At age 17, Stephenson applied to a number of jobs, all of which he believes rejected him because of his disability.   In this interview you will learn:   - How Sean has overcome his challenges in life and business as an entrepreneur - How to find mentors - Key factors and insights on what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur - Marketing 101 the Sean way! - & 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!

28 Mars 201550min