Founder's Journal

Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) walks through his thought process of hiring a CEO for his content agency business. The issue is, is it too early to bring on a CEO? Hiring a CEO early on gives the opportunity to shape the mission and vision of the business. But hiring a CEO before product-market fit can put the business in a precarious situation.  Send us an email and let us know what you think o...

Episode 56: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) talks about how to pick the right co-founder for your business. Do you really need one? How should the equity be split? How do you know you’ve found the right one? These are questions that so many founders encounter through the course of their business. We’ve got the answers for you here.  Links: Full episode with Matt Mochary and Alexis d’Amecourt The...

Episode 55: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) talks about the mirage of corporate stability. Something he experienced during his time at Morgan Stanley, which he thought was a dream job. It turns out that job security isn’t that secure when your company goes through layoffs. Having a corporate job isn’t bad, but it should be noted that loyalty to a company is often a one-way street.  Send us an em...

Episode 54: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) gives the latest update on his content agency that started with a tweet that resonated with so many founders. As the business is in its infancy, he shares his top priorities at this stage, taking lessons he’s learned from Morning Brew and other ventures. If you’re in the early stages of your startup, this is for you. Links: Alex's first content agency...

Episode 53: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) talks about being uncomfortable with being comfortable. Yup, that’s right. Sometimes being too comfortable can mean being complacent. Taking risks and stepping outside of your comfort zone can be scary but calculated discomfort can turn into fruitful opportunities and areas of growth. Founders, it’s time you seek measured discomfort.  Timestamps: (00:4...

Episode 52: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) chats with Brett Adcock (@adcock_brett), founder of Vettery, Archer, and Figure. Figure is a cutting edge AI robotics company developing a general purpose humanoid robot to provide labor for undesirable and unsafe jobs. From the successes of his former businesses, Brett continues his entrepreneurial venture towards fixing the human labor shortage. Ther...

Episode 51: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) shares his 9 lessons from Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. From its scrappy start to its forced restructuring from the pandemic, these are lessons you can use to build your own empire.  Timestamps: (01:11): Lesson 1 - Stay alive (03:14): Lesson 2 - Stay obsessed with the customer (05:59): Lesson 3 - Org design is a must (09:32): Lesson 4 - Create an elite cult...

Episode 50: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) and Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) are in-studio for the first time ever! They riff on the hottest topic in business today: generative AI. They imagine how it could be integrated into different businesses and how it could be as common as electricity or the internet. Then, Jesse shares his process of how he started his latest venture of a school for growth mark...

Episode 49: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) opens up about his innate need to compare himself to other founders, namely his co-founder at Morning Brew. The lesson here is realizing that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side and that we are often comparing ourselves to the best version of others, but not seeing the lowlights that go unseen.  Links:  Accessing your ‘Zone of Genius’ epis...

Episode 48: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) and Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) discuss if it’s too early to pivot on The Plunge after realizing the game might be too difficult for people. Alex thinks about whether he should double-down or bail on his backyard game venture. Then Jesse questions how much entrepreneurs should sacrifice their vision vs. being true to themselves, even in the face of doubt. P...

Episode 47: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) shares top tips to tap  into your Zone of Genius. Sourced from Matt Mochary’s The Great CEO Within: The Tactical Guide to Company Building and Gay Hendrick’s The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level, discovering your zone of genius means evaluating your talents, skills, and your strengths. Then, perform an energy audit. Fi...

Episode 46: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) and Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) chat with Matt Mochary and Alexis d’Amecourt about motivation that is fear-based vs. joy-based, and how it can greatly affect your decision-making abilities. Then, an on-the-spot coaching session on Alex to determine what’s keeping him from success for The Plunge. Send us an email and let us know what you think of the idea! t...

Episode 45: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) admits he sucks at delegating but that doesn’t mean you should too. This Founder’s Journal is all about knowing when and how to delegate. It’s essential to every business leader because even if we want to do it all, trying to do it all could mean getting nowhere fast. Try these 2 tools to help you organize your tasks and delegation. Six levels of deleg...

Episode 44: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) and Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) get into the grind of creating content for their businesses and how much effort and consistency it really takes to generate followers and views. From one 60-Second Startup video, Alex amassed 150k followers. Then, Jesse reveals details of his new business venture where they talk about balancing multiple businesses as a serial...

Episode 43: Giving feedback is crucial for every leader. But more often than not, feedback can be perceived as harsh criticism which can be detrimental to your business. Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) shares with you 6 rules to giving constructive feedback that can be the keys to success to your team.  #1 - Ask a lot of questions #2 - Come with a solution to every problem #3 - Show you care abo...

Episode 42: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) talks with Steve Gatena, founder of Pray.com – the #1 app for daily prayer and faith-based content. Steve shares his early dreams of playing professional football, only to be derailed by injuries. In a pivotal moment, he found his way into the niche aerial stock footage business where he would meet his mentor, Alan Purwin. At the peak of their success,...

Episode 41: Every now and then you’ll get feedback from someone who thinks your business idea is a waste of time. What should you do? Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) shares what to do when others try to discourage you from pursuing your dreams.  #1 - Acknowledge Your Emotions #2 - Find The Silver Lining #3 - Help Them Help You #4 - Use It As Healthy Motivation Send us an email and let us know wh...

Episode 40: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) and Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) take an introspective look at how they manage the anxiety of starting a business, taking big swings, bold leadership, when to delegate, and when is it too late to start a business. Send us an email and let us know what you think of the idea! thecrazyones@morningbrew.com #TheCrazyOnes #Startups #Entrepreneur Listen to The Craz...

Episode 39: If you’ve gotten to the stage where you can hire executive leaders on your team, hiring the right people can make or break your business. Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) shares his 8 lessons over 8 years to help you build your senior leadership team.  Lesson 1: Know The Game You’re Playing Lesson 2: Focus On Their Words, Not Delivery Lesson 3: Be Open-Minded, Be Humble Lesson 4: Seni...

Episode 38: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) chats with Ankur Jain, Founder and CEO of Bilt Rewards, a loyalty program that helps you earn points on rent. They discuss Ankur’s early upbringing, catching the entrepreneurial bug, and how he applied the airline loyalty program to the rental market. Startup AMA: As a non-technical founder of a software company, how do I remove my blind spots and hire...

Episode 37: Founders, what if you could hire an agency that could write text-based content for your business? While there are plenty of services that help you with short-form videos, which is also important, text-based platforms get overlooked. Founders can spend vast amounts of time writing up content on their LinkedIn or Twitter. Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) pitches a content agency idea th...

Episode 36: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) brings you a special Wednesday edition of Founder’s Journal to share lessons from Bill Perkins’ Die With Zero. It’s a playbook on how to live life by maximizing enjoyment vs. maximizing wealth. Entrepreneurs can get caught up with racking up as many dollars as they possibly can but miss out on investing in experiential moments that can pay dividends ov...

Episode 35: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) and Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) look at the people behind some of the biggest business conferences today. If Alex and Jesse could start their own conference, what kind would it be and how would they start it. Also, should you avoid or embrace confrontation? Alex and Jesse discuss why confrontation can be beneficial even if it's uncomfortable.  #TheCrazyOnes...

Episode 34: Are you spending too much time on things that aren’t really growing your business? Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) shares his take on the pros and cons of being a scrappy entrepreneur. Some of the common pitfalls every entrepreneur faces are often areas they think are important. Knowing when and how to spend your resources wisely can ensure you’re spending precious time in high lever...

Episode 33: Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) and Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) do another round of High, Low, Buffalo to catch up. Jesse shares how he’s been able to disrupt his meetings at Kahani to make them much more efficient and effective. Alex talks about his experience purchasing a Rolex watch, which leads him to go down the rabbit hole of the history behind Rolex and how they’ve become a timeles...