Finding Founders

This is Finding Founders, I’m Samuel Donner, and this is the story of Jason Stapleton. Initially we see Jason as a Blackwater mercenary in Iraq and this experience embodies a certain magnitude of intensity that he’s taken with him throughout all his endeavors. He’s been a sniper in the marines, a broke truck washer, a trader, and a wealth coach. Nowadays, he sits safely behind a microphone, hostin...

How can you use emotion to structure goals? This is the Founder Wisdom. Where we’ll answer that question by distilling advice from our founders and the books they recommend. Then we’ll show you how we are applying that knowledge ourselves! I asked Masterclass founder David Rogier what book I should read if I’m trying to manage people more effectively. He recommended “The Man Who Lied to His Laptop...

Today on the show we talk to Jen Sargent, founder of the entertainment news site HitFix, and current COO of Wondery, the largest independent podcast publisher. They have a whole hosts of podcasts and I imagine you’ve heard of at least a couple. Before the Cambrian explosion of podcasts we live in today, Jen tapped into a myriad of exciting ventures. From an engineering degree to a JP Morgan desk t...

So last week we went over the first pillar of team building which was ‘identification’, check out Founder Wisdom episode 2 if you want a refresh. This week we’ll go over the other pillar of team building which is interdependence. What is interdependence? This is a trait of teams that occurs when both of the following are achieved: The team members believe that their efforts and the efforts of othe...

Today on the show we talk to Nick Loper, founder of Side Hustle Nation. Side Hustle Nation is a business podcast, but it’s also more than that. It’s a lifestyle, a way to break the chains of the typical 9-5. It doesn’t talk about giant VC backed startups trying to IPO, it’s a bit simpler and more attainable. But long before he became the side hustle guru, he based his identity around academia. ---...

How can you build stronger teams using identification? This is the Founder Wisdom. Where we’ll answer that question by distilling advice from our founders and the books they recommend. Then we’ll show you how we are applying that knowledge ourselves! I asked Masterclass founder David Rogier what book I should read if I’m trying to manage people more effectively. He recommended “The Man Who Lied to...

Today on the show we talk to Barry Ritholtz, co-founder, chairman, and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC, Bloomberg columnist and host of the Masters in Business podcast. I’ll give you a bit of a heads up: you’re in for a wild ride with this one. Barry is an ebullient storyteller with an encyclopedic knowledge of just about everything, whether it be behavioral economics or...

You’ve probably been giving your team the wrong criticism. This is the Founder Wisdom. Where we’ll answer that question by distilling advice from our founders and the books they recommend. I asked MasterClass founder David Rogier what book I should read if I’m trying to manage people more effectively. He recommended “The Man Who Lied to His Laptop" by Clifford Nas. --- Support this podcast: https:...

Today on the show we talk to Sheera Goren, founder of Zygo. Zygo is the first underwater headset for streaming audio and live communication. I swam competitively for 15 years and always joked to my friends that swimming was the most boring sport imaginable. For hours on hours all I did was swim back and forth on the same stretch of pool looking at the black line below. But Zygo is bringing a littl...

Today on the show we talk to David Rogier, founder of Masterclass. Maybe you’ve seen the ads? Masterclass is an online platform where you can learn directing from Martin Scorsese, basketball from Steph Curry, singing from Christina Aguilera and everything in between from luminaries in their fields. Its founder, much like its intended audience, is an avid self learner who values education above all...

Today we’re traveling to Germany to talk to Patrick Nathen, co-founder of the German aviation company Lilium. The company has won numerous awards and raised hundreds of millions in investment for an idea that at first seemed laughably unimaginable: flying taxis. While this may seem more in line with the fantasies told to WWII vets and the imaginary world envisioned on the Jetsons, Patrick and his...

Today on the show we talk to Dylan Jacob, founder of Brumate, a unique drinkware company to insulate alcoholic beverages. Dylan has brought in more than 50 million dollars and won Ernst & Young’s 2019 Entrepreneur of the year award. Initially, I thought,  “How does a glorified beer koozie rack in tens of millions of dollars?” But in talking to Dylan I soon found a driven individual that is pas...

Today on the show we talk to Sam Bakhtiar, doctor, author, podcaster, and bodybuilder extraordinaire. Sam is the founder of The Camp Transformation Center, which now has over 100 locations nationwide. The Camp is a radically different kind of gym; it pieces together components that catalyze weight loss and fitness goals, from community support and group training  to health and nutrition. He’s dedi...

Jeremy Greene is no stranger to hard work. Growing up with an alcoholic single mom, Jeremey fought for himself for as long as he can remember. But it wasn’t until he discovered music that Jeremey found something to devote all of this hard-working energy to. Over time, he would soar to incredible heights of success, all to come crashing back down. His ego would follow these waves, as a flashy facad...

Today on the show we are doing something a little meta. I’m a podcaster who interviews entrepreneurs, and today I’m interviewing Casey Adams. I met Casey at an entrepreneurial run club in West Hollywood, shoutout to Grand AC, and learned that he’s an entrepreneurial podcaster who interviews entrepreneurs. Yes the interviewer has become the interviewee. The audio quality will be a bit different thi...

This is part 2 of the story of Chris Do, founder and CEO of The Futur. It may seem presumptive of Chris to name himself CEO of your future. But for so many, Chris may have at least some claim to the title. The Futur is an online education platform, dedicated to the mission of teaching one billion people how to be successful in a career they love. All too often, we segment professionals into those...

This is part 1 of the story of Chris Do, founder and CEO of The Futur. It may seem presumptive of Chris to name himself CEO of your future. But for so many, Chris may have at least some claim to the title. The Futur is an online education platform, dedicated to the mission of teaching one billion people how to be successful in a career they love. All too often, we segment professionals into those...

Today we’re talking to Ben Taft, co-founder of Mira Labs, a smartphone powered augmented reality company. But before your mind starts to wander to a Black Mirror-esque dystopia, let me extrapolate. Mira builds cost-effective technology solutions to improve everyday business functions. This technology is helping businesses right now overcome distance and circumstance.  Workers that deal with comple...

So this episode is different from what we usually put out. It’s a live virtual summit on the Secrets of TikTok. It won’t have voiceover, music, or sound effects like our other episodes… but it should be pretty informative. Also if you are new here, I’d recommend listening to our recent episodes on Mac Davis and Immortality... some crazy stories in there!  Anyway, we spent a few months prepping for...

Today we’re talking to Jinny Oh, founder of WANDR, spelled W-A-N-D-R, a product strategy and user interface design firm. Post Corona, working remotely is the norm for many of us, but Jinny was doing it before it was cool and a public health necessity. Bitten by the travel bug in her teenage years, she dreamt of traveling the world while doing what she loved. She’s achieved that dream, and while th...

We're back for part 2 of the Mac Davis' quest for immortality! (If you haven't listened to part 1 there are links below). In the second half of the episode we'll cover a near death explosion, revolutionary discoveries, mysterious deaths, incredible experiments, and the founding of a successful company: Minicircle. Listen to Part 1 Apple Podcasts Spotify Anchor --- Support this podcast: https://anc...

Today on the show we talk to Mac Davis, founder of Minicircle, a company that aims to extend the length and quality of human life through gene therapy. Mac has an incredible story that starts out on a small island with a lone computer connected to the internet. From there he navigated through the dark underbelly of the web, unraveling its secrets which ultimately led him to a small fortune in bitc...

We started the episode a bit differently today, so hopefully you didn’t cringe too hard at my Jony Ive impersonation, but we wanted to set a particular framework for this episode. Today we’re talking to Roger Volodarsky, founder of Puffco, a company that creates the best cannabis concentrate vaporizers on the market. They pay particularly close attention to design, and basically it looks like if A...

Today on the show we talk to Luciano Mazza, an international architect, and designer of H club in LA. The H.Club started as the brainchild of Paul Allen, global philanthropist and co-founder of a little company called Microsoft, and musician Dave Stewart. But Luciano, who’s been an architectural entrepreneur for the past couple decades, brought that idea to reality. Luciano currently is director o...

Usually, we interview an inspirational entrepreneur, but today we decided to break down User Generated Content, or UGC. It was brought up briefly on our episode with Jonathan Skogmo, founder of Jukin, and with Kevin Ramsey founder of Warren James, but UGC has a long rich history that continues to impact us today. Every day people post billions of pictures and videos of failures, triumphs, and all...