The Entrepreneur Ethos

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with Ben Simon-Thomas, co-founder and CEO of W3LL or Well which is Connecting people With Effective, Evidence-Based Solutions That Improve Wellbeing.  Early in his career, he worked in preventive medicine to try and change people’s lifestyles so they can be more healthy. That inspired him to come back to healthcare and form W3ll. Ben’s by nature an optimistic...

On this episode of the podcast, I speak with Joanna Penn, Award-nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She is a podcaster, international speaker, and award-winning creative entrepreneur. Her site, The Creative Penn is regularly voted one of the Top 100 blogs for writers by Writers Digest. If you want to figure out how to write books and even make money writing, then this inter...

Today I talk with Richard Reis, co-founder of Most Recommend Books, a website that tells you which books have shaped the world’s most successful people. Before Richard learned to code at Lambda school and started Most Recommended Books, he worked in LA at a movie studio with his dad, which was his first experience at a startup. Those five years working with his dad making movies was a baptism by f...

On this episode of the podcast, I speak with Anupam Kundu, founder of RealValue.ai, which is building a visual intelligence platform to measure and optimize human experiences. He is a trained engineer and soon realized that he was not that great at programming but loved thinking up new ideas, building products, and solving problems.  After taking an AI course at MIT, he realized that he wanted to...

Today I talk with Nathan Beckord, co-founder and CEO of FounderSuite as well as a podcaster over at How I Raised It, which I had the honor of being on -- episode 5 to be exact. We talk about the fundraising process and why he feels it’s just like any other B2B sales process that needs to be nurtured. His background in investment banking is what led him to build products around how to help founders...

On this episode of the podcast, I speak with Amandeep Khurana. Right now, he’s helping me out with the San Francisco Chapter of Founders Network while he is plotting his next move. We talk about as a kid, how he wanted to be an industrialist, which back then, he didn’t even know what that meant.  He came to the US for grad school (in Computer Science) and decided that he wanted to build stuff inst...

On this episode, I speak with Amy Wister, co-founder of RevShopp. RevShopp is a platform that helps retailers and customers reduce the number of returns on clothing. They do this with their unique shape intelligence software that makes it easier to know ahead of time if something will fit. Amy and I talk about her journey from ski bum to MBA to Intel to windows to fashion. It’s a fascinating discu...

Today I’m talking with Mark Strathdee, founder of Sherpa Digital Media, a video platform designed to engage and entertain your audience. Think of a webinar platform that’s engaging and catered to the individual. Mark and I talk about some of his daily habits, notebooks, his background in journalism, and how COVID-19 has made Sherpa insanely busy. We discuss the history of video and how it’s change...

Today on the podcast, I interview my good friend Marvin Raab, who is doing something pretty amazing stuff with of all things Bridge. Marvin is an avid board and card gamer with a collection of over 250 games in his living room and recently discovered Bridge as an avenue to increase his social circle. He relocated to Las Vegas in 2014 after 26 years in Silicon Valley.  When not thinking about how t...

On this episode, I speak with Jerod Morris. Jerod is a podcaster, entrepreneur, and all-around awesome community organizer. I met Jerod as a member of The Unemployable Initiative which is a place to build your perfect business in a community of like-minded people and expert coaches. Jerod runs it along with Brian Clark of Copyblogger fame for those of you who are Gen-Xers like me. Jerod and I cove...

Today on the podcast, I have a conversation with Greg Marcus. Greg and I have known each other for the better part of ten years. Greg is one of the most thoughtful and introspective people I know. I always love talking to him about life. Currently, he’s studying to be a Rabbi after a career in biotech that left me struggling to find balance. His website, American Mussar, is a great resource for th...

On this episode of the podcast, I speak with Kevin Homes, founder, and CEO of Founders Network, a peer mentoring network for tech founders. We talk about his journey from history major to semiconductors to almost going to Guatemala to founding Founders Network nine years ago. We talk about how hard it is to be a startup founder and how that inspired Founders Network. As an aside, I’m a member of F...

On this episode, I speak with Nathan Rose, entrepreneur and author. We dig into crowdfunding and how lots of people use it to fund their ideas. Nathan is a world traveler who now lives in the country of Georgia. His experience with the digital nomad lifestyle has given him some great insights on how to stay productive. Nathan has lived and worked all over the world. This has made him appreciate be...

Today I talk with Marc Guberti, author, podcaster, and all-around online media guru. We talk about how he got into writing books, doing podcasts and YouTube -- all while going to college. He has published over 27 books and hosts 3 podcasts. In fact, he starting podcasting before he went to college and he just recently graduated with a finance degree even though he’s known for marketing. Marc tells...

Today on the podcast, I interview DJ DiDonna entrepreneur and author. We talk about why sabbaticals are a powerful tool for both organizations and individuals. I met DJ at the Story Grid Nonfiction workshop in Nashville, TN right before the COVID-19 shelter in place. DJ’s journey to taking a sabbatical goes directly through his experience as an entrepreneur and the struggles he had with burn out....

My guest today is Candice Smith, co-founder, and CEO of Caregiven. She founded Caregiven after her experience caring for her father during his end of life. Her experience was similar to mine while I was a caregiver for my late wife Jane. Her vision is to get caregiving away from the transactional communications that dominate the end of life to a more meaningful experience. I first met Candice at a...

On this episode of the podcast, I speak with Khiry Kemp, founder, and CTO of Oppti, a SaaS platform that gives high school students access to opportunities like internships and volunteering. He got the startup bug after a brief stint in consulting. He’s also a Guinness Book of World Records holder along with his co-founder Weston. That world record led them to actually form Oppti. Khiry and I met...

On this episode of the podcast, I talk with Anji Desai the co-founder of Dezen, a planet-friendly fashion brand that’s championing the idea that fashion can be sustainable. Anji has been at a wide variety of startups -- all of which had nothing to do with fashion. That wide variety of experiences has made the challenge of learning fashion a lot easier. I first met Anji at Founders Network which is...

In this episode, I talk with Marvin Liao, who is a recovering startup, big tech company, and VC guy. He worked at Yahoo for over a decade during its heyday and most recently left 500 startups where he was a venture partner and in charge of their San Francisco accelerator program. I first met Marvin at 500 startups when my company, Lab Sensor Solutions, was part of Batch 14. I learned a lot from Ma...

Today I’m talking to Mark ‘Ski’ Struczewski (“Mister Productivity”). He helps entrepreneurs & executives get the right stuff done in a distracted world. In addition to being a productivity expert, Mark is a speaker, host of The Mark Struczewski Podcast and an online trainer. His strategies have guided CEO’s/Executive Directors, business owners, business corporate specialists and entrepreneurs to g...

Today, I have a conversation with Leslie Watts, an author and Story Grid Certified Editor. Leslie and I are in Nashville where we’re learning how to tell better non-fiction stories and to launch her new book, What’s the Big Idea? , which she wrote with Shelley Sperry. We talk about the three things she tries to do every day to be happy, productive, and be at her creative best.  I first met Leslie...

In this episode, Ravi Kurani and I talk about startups, aliens, and why it’s important to have persistence when trying to bring a new idea into the world. Ravi’s company, Sutro Connect, is transforming the way pool and spa owners take care of their water. Their smart water monitor automatically measures water parameters and sends it to the cloud. With these measurements, pool and spa owners can kn...

Today on the podcast, I’m talking with Grant Faulkner, executive director of NaNoWriMo. He talks with me about how writing a novel in a month is a great metaphor for being a productive leader and artist.  NaNoWriMo is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides tools, structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals and build new worlds — on and off the page...