Startup Dad

Ryan Bozarth is the co-founder and CEO of Dakota, a business bank powered by crypto. Prior to that he was the CEO of Coinbase Custody, a Product Manager at AirBnB and a GM at Square. In addition to all that he’s also a husband and the father of two kids. We discussed: * Using work as a way to teach your kids about important subjects * Demonstrating hard work, discipline and staying true to yoursel...

Welcome to a special episode of Startup Dad! It’s the holiday time again when the list of responsibilities, performances, potlucks and gifts goes through the roof for already busy parents. To help you navigate the chaos I’ve asked many of my past guests to share with me their favorite books from the past year – those they’d gift to another person and those they’d tell parents to get for their kids...

Martin Glover is an IT professional by day and the founder of cooking Website Dad What Cooks by night. He turned a love of bread baking, barbecuing and being the primary cook in the family into a fantastic Website and recipe guide for Dads everywhere. He’s on a mission to help Dads learn cooking skills and be more involved in the kitchen starting with making it less intimidating. In addition to hi...

Bianca Schulze is the founder and editor of The Children's Book Review—a resource devoted to children's literature and literacy—and the host of The Growing Readers Podcast. Bianca is also the author of DON'T WAKE THE DRAGON which has been translated into 20 languages and is now a six-book series, as well as 101 BOOKS TO READ BEFORE YOU GROW UP which is an Amazon Editors' pick for Best Nonfiction f...

Carlo Navarro is a former marketing leader turned fractional executive and the owner of the @StartupDad instagram handle (I’m jealous!). He’s been a mentor in the Chicago startup scene via 1871 and a marketing director and sales leader at companies like Blueleaf, Carrum Health, Pandora and more. He’s also a husband and the father of five (!) kids. In our conversation today we discussed: * Helping...

Nathan Jefferson is an entrepreneur, turned tech recruiter, turned entrepreneur (again). His latest company, Dadversity, is focused on helping Dads improve their personal, professional and parenting skills. It’s rooted in his own lived experience with two abusive stepfathers and a biological father who left him at a young age. He’s on a mission to help Dads be better so they don’t repeat the mista...

Phil Carter is a consumer subscription growth expert and advisor. He has built a popular Reforge course on consumer subscriptions and advises companies on their growth strategy. Prior to that he led growth and product functions at Faire, Quizlet and Ibotta. Phil is also a husband and the father of two kids. Phil’s wife, Ashley, founded a non-profit called Daring Girls that comes up in today’s epis...

Rob Taylor is a growth and sales advisor and the founder of the Dads in Business community. Dads in Business is a supportive network of content, resources and community to help busy dads better manage themselves, their family and their business. Rob is also a husband and the father of four children. In our conversation today we discussed: * What to do when they don’t teach Dad in school * Robs jou...

Michael Perry is a serial founder and entrepreneur. He is currently the founder and CEO of Maple, an all-in-one app that helps parents get and stay organized. Prior to Maple he founded Live For Fame, Giving and Kit which he led for 6 years before selling to Shopify and then continuing with them for another four years. He was early in the leveraging AI to transform marketing for small businesses. M...

Sean Ellis is a growth legend and the creator of the term “growth hacker.” He has built a legendary framework (the “Sean Ellis test”) for determining product/market fit, wrote the original book on Growth (“Hacking Growth), and has founded several companies along with working at or advising companies like LogMeIn, Dropbox, Eventbrite, Bounce and more. In addition to his role as the Godfather of Gro...

Dan Doty is the founder of Fatherhood Unlocked – a company that is helping Dads win at work, build deeper family connections and thrive in relationships. He’s also a writer, wilderness guide and has been an inner city high school teacher. Through his work Dan is at the forefront of the global men’s movement to help Dads be better at all aspects of life. His most recent project, Fatherhood Ready, i...

Carla Naumburg, PhD is a clinical social worker and the best-selling author of five parenting books. These include her international bestseller, How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t With Your Kids (Workman, 2019), as well as You Are Not a Sh*tty Parent; Ready, Set, Breath and Parenting in the Present Moment . . Her latest, which is recently published and the topic of this podcast is How to Stop Freaking O...

Kyle Lacy is the Chief Marketing Officer of Jellyfish—a platform that helps developers make data-backed decisions on resource investments. Across two decades he has built companies like Lessonly, Openview, Salesforce and ExactTarget. He’s also a husband and the father of two kids. In our conversation today we discussed: * Managing work, life and parenting appropriately * Handling stress across the...

Kevin Hanaford is an engineering leader at popular chat application, Discord where he oversees security, safety, privacy and platform teams. His career has included companies like Microsoft, PayPal, Amazon, Salesforce, and autonomous vehicle company, Cruise. In addition to his roles at some of the most significant technology companies of the last two decades he’s also a husband and the father of t...

Martin Pannier is a French entrepreneur who started the company Primo to help small and medium-sized businesses get their IT work right for new employees. He’s worked as a product leader at iziwork, Gusto and several others. In addition to being a founder he’s also a husband and the father of one young daughter. In our conversation today we discussed: * Raising a daughter in a multicultural family...

Linda Flanagan is a freelance journalist, researcher, and former cross-country and track coach. She is the author of numerous articles on youth sports and the book Take Back The Game - How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids Sports—And Why It Matters . She is a founding board member of the NYC chapter of the Positive Coaching Alliance and her writing has appeared in The Atlantic , Runner’s World and...

Rob Schutz is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder of multi-billion-dollar online health company, Ro. He has also founded the domain name service company, Snagged. He invests alongside me in the 20Growth fund. In addition to his skill as a founder he’s also a husband and the father of two kids. In our conversation today we discussed: * How to set a good example for your kids in how you treat o...

Adam Nash is a long-time Silicon Valley executive, investor and advisor. He was the President and CEO of Wealthfront, a Product executive at Dropbox and LinkedIn, and teaches a course on personal finance for engineers at Stanford. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of Daffy, the donor-advised fund for you and a champion of charitable giving. In addition to his long and successful career he’s a...

Andrew Capland is the founder of Growth coaching and advisory, Delivering Value. He’s also been the Head of Growth at Postscript and Wistia and was an early employee at Hubspot. He’s a loving husband and the father of two kids, including one who was 6 weeks old during our chat! In our conversation today we discussed: * Going from one kid to two and thriving with a newborn * Managing your life and...

Jordane Giuly is a 3x co-founder having started French Fintech unicorn Spendesk and most recently SMB financing company Defacto. As a French entrepreneur he brings an interesting, international perspective to parenting and company building. He’s a loving husband and the father of two kids. In our conversation today we discussed: * Comparing California cuisine to French cuisine * The differences in...

Dave Boyce is a successful five-time exited founder, a GTM expert and owner of the newsletter ProductLedGTM.com. He sits on the board of Forrester and has just completed the final manuscript for his book on GTM strategy which comes out in 2025. He’s a loving husband and the father of six kids, ages 16 to 28. In our conversation today we discussed: * How to raise a family of incredibly successful k...

Darby Saxbe is a professor at USC and holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology. Her research includes studying the effects of stress hormones in couples and most importantly the changes that the male brain undergoes after becoming a parent. She has scientifically discovered slight gray matter loss in men following fatherhood and termed it Dad Brain. She is currently writing a book about her research. Sh...

Eric Bahn is the co-founder and a GP at Hustle Fund—a pre-seed venture fund that invests in very early stage founders. He has also been a founder himself as well as a product leader at companies like Intuit and Instagram. Most importantly, he’s a husband and the father of two kids. In our conversation today we discussed: * What it means to feel joy in coming home to your family * His decision with...

Yousuf Bhaijee is a Growth Gdvisor and interim Head of Growth to companies like Brightwheel, HP, Evernow and Blackbird. Chris Lloyd is an engineer who most recently worked at AI company, Humane, and also Pinterest, Assembly and Opera. Yousuf is the father of three kids and Chris is the father of two. Chris and his family, Yousuf and his family and five other families live in a town-home complex th...

Scott Belsky is the Chief Strategy Officer and EVP of Design and Emerging Products at Adobe. He took on this role after being Chief Product Officer for their flagship Creative Cloud products. In 2006 Scott founded a company for creative professionals called Behance which he later sold to Adobe. He is also an active angel investor having invested in companies like Pinterest, Uber, Carta, Warby Park...