You can check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

The new show is on a separate feed, and all episodes will be on that new feed.

The first episode is about S.I. Newhouse Sr., founder of Advance Publications. 

He dropped out of school at 13 to support his family. His father abandoned them. He worked full time for a decade before buying his first newspaper. By the time he died at 84, he had built the greatest publishing empire in American history.

We have a lot to learn from him.

Thanks for supporting this new show!

Learn more about Delphi: https://www.delphi.ai/

Watch this episode and others on YouTube.

Thank you to our sponsor, Relay Human Cloud! ​

Find your next team member in minutes with Relay Human Cloud. Offshore talent, in Relay Human Cloud's offices, dedicated to you. Save up to 75% on labor costs while improving the quality of life for your team. Use code LAGRIND for $500 off every resource every year.

Learn more about Relay Human Cloud: https://www.relayhumancloud.com/

---

Connect with Justin:

• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

---

What Justin is working on:

• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
• The LA Grind Local Newsletter: https://thelagrind.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Newsletter Founder Course & Community: https://newsletterfounder.com/
• Running (Strava): https://www.strava.com/athletes/52394979
• Hiring: https://partnerslink.athyna.com/pod
• Scouting: https://headline.com/

Learn more about Boardy: https://www.boardy.ai/

Watch this episode and others on YouTube.

Thank you to our sponsor, Relay Human Cloud! ​

Find your next team member in minutes with Relay Human Cloud. Offshore talent, in Relay Human Cloud's offices, dedicated to you. Save up to 75% on labor costs while improving the quality of life for your team. Use code LAGRIND for $500 off every resource every year.

Learn more about Relay Human Cloud: https://www.relayhumancloud.com/

---

Connect with Justin:

• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

---

What Justin is working on:

• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
• The LA Grind Local Newsletter: https://thelagrind.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Newsletter Founder Course & Community: https://newsletterfounder.com/
• Running (Strava): https://www.strava.com/athletes/52394979
• Hiring: https://partnerslink.athyna.com/pod
• Scouting: https://headline.com/

Learn more about Guidesly: https://guidesly.com/

Applications now open for 43North, the accelerator David went through with Guidesly: https://43north.org/founders/program/

Watch this episode and others on YouTube.

---

Connect with Justin:

• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

---

What Justin is working on:

• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
• The LA Grind Local Newsletter: https://thelagrind.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Newsletter Founder Course & Community: https://newsletterfounder.com/
• Running (Strava): https://www.strava.com/athletes/52394979
• Hiring: https://partnerslink.athyna.com/pod
• Scouting: https://headline.com/

43North invests $5 million annually in companies that relocate to Buffalo through its immersive accelerator program.

Applications now open: https://43north.org/founders/program/

Watch this episode and others on YouTube.

---

Show Notes:

00:00 What's coming in the episode…

00:23 Introduction

01:01 What is 43North?

03:27 The early days of 43North

07:08 Covid days at 43North

09:14 Admission process

16:02 Getting the right partners

19:58 The first IPO from a 43N's company

21:02 The long-year program

26:53 Why five "$1M" on investment money?

31:02 The impact of 43North

34:50 What's next?

40:13 Why has 43N succeeded?

41:15 Take a look at the application!

42:22 Reach out to Colleen

---

Connect with Justin:

• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

---

What Justin is working on:

• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
• The LA Grind Local Newsletter: https://thelagrind.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Newsletter Founder Course & Community: https://newsletterfounder.com/
• Running (Strava): https://www.strava.com/athletes/52394979
• Hiring: https://partnerslink.athyna.com/pod
• Scouting: https://headline.com/

Learn more about Matic, the world's most advanced floor cleaner.

Watch this episode and others on YouTube.

---

This episode is brought to you by Rho. With Rho, founders get:

• A single pane of glass they can use to run and scale their business from Day 1: Bank account, corporate cards to start running – and expense management, bill pay automation, and accounting to help you move fast as you scale.
• Rho is trusted by thousands of companies ranging from two-person YC companies to brands like Perplexity, Cal.com, Splitwise and more.
• The big thing with Rho: Every customer has a "person" at Rho. 24/7 customer support - phone, text, email - we will be there at every critical milestone in your startup's journey.

To learn why startups choose Rho, visit www.rho.co today.

---

Show Notes:

00:00 What's coming in the episode… 00:13 Introduction 01:39 Mehul's background 07:49 YC's Paul Graham's insight on Mehul's previous startup 11:54 From Flutter to Matic 16:48 Matic's first robot 22:14 Matic's early days and fundraising 25:37 Building the right team 28:07 Known and unknown challenges in robotics 34:28 Last few days before launch 36:08 The mentality for a long job 40:23 Figuring out Matic's market strategy and pricing 50:41 Building the present and planning the future of Matic

---

Connect with Justin:

• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

---

What Justin is working on:

• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
• The LA Grind Local Newsletter: https://thelagrind.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Newsletter Founder Course & Community: https://newsletterfounder.com/
• Running (Strava): https://www.strava.com/athletes/52394979
• Hiring: https://partnerslink.athyna.com/pod
• Scouting: https://headline.com/

Check out the founder salary report.

Watch this episode and others on YouTube.

---

This episode is brought to you by Rho. With Rho, founders get:

• A single pane of glass they can use to run and scale their business from Day 1: Bank account, corporate cards to start running – and expense management, bill pay automation, and accounting to help you move fast as you scale.
• Rho is trusted by thousands of companies ranging from two-person YC companies to brands like Perplexity, Cal.com, Splitwise and more.
• The big thing with Rho: Every customer has a "person" at Rho. 24/7 customer support - phone, text, email - we will be there at every critical milestone in your startup's journey.

To learn why startups choose Rho, visit www.rho.co today.

---

Show Notes:

00:00 What's coming in the episode… 00:27 Introduction 01:36 Waseem's passion for startups 03:58 Starting Pilot 05:43 Why was it the right time to start Pilot 13:30 Early days at Pilot 19:27 Raising capital for Pilot 22:32 Waseem's mentality on fundraising 26:36 The story behind Pilot's Series A round 30:22 Pilot's first sales 34:09 Pilot's ICP 36:44 Growth strategies back then 40:09 Growth strategies today 48:34 The evolution of Waseem's role as a founder 54:25 Be a part of Pilot

---

Connect with Justin:

• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

---

What Justin is working on:

• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
• The LA Grind Local Newsletter: https://thelagrind.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Newsletter Founder Course & Community: https://newsletterfounder.com/
• Running (Strava): https://www.strava.com/athletes/52394979
• Hiring: https://partnerslink.athyna.com/pod
• Scouting: https://headline.com/

Check out Basic Capital.

Watch this episode and others on YouTube.

---

This episode is brought to you by Rho. With Rho, founders get:

• A single pane of glass they can use to run and scale their business from Day 1: Bank account, corporate cards to start running – and expense management, bill pay automation, and accounting to help you move fast as you scale.
• Rho is trusted by thousands of companies ranging from two-person YC companies to brands like Perplexity, Cal.com, Splitwise and more.
• The big thing with Rho: Every customer has a "person" at Rho. 24/7 customer support - phone, text, email - we will be there at every critical milestone in your startup's journey.

To learn why startups choose Rho, visit www.rho.co today.

---

Show Notes:

00:00 What's coming in the episode… 00:48 Introduction 02:18 Basic Capital's origin 06:51 Abdul's background 09:41 Hustling for Basic Capital and raising from billionaire Bill Ackman 16:55 The solution to a vicious cycle 24:00 Early days of Basic Capital 30:19 Raising capital 36:11 The logic behind Basic Capital 40:25 The vision for Basic Capital 43:34 Get involved in Basic Capital

---

Connect with Justin:

• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

---

What Justin is working on:

• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
• The LA Grind Local Newsletter: https://thelagrind.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Newsletter Founder Course & Community: https://newsletterfounder.com/
• Running (Strava): https://www.strava.com/athletes/52394979
• Hiring: https://partnerslink.athyna.com/pod
• Scouting: https://headline.com/

Check out Jeremy's company, Cabana Pools.

Watch this episode and others on YouTube.

---

This episode is brought to you by Rho. With Rho, founders get:

• A single pane of glass they can use to run and scale their business from Day 1: Bank account, corporate cards to start running – and expense management, bill pay automation, and accounting to help you move fast as you scale.
• Rho is trusted by thousands of companies ranging from two-person YC companies to brands like Perplexity, Cal.com, Splitwise and more.
• The big thing with Rho: Every customer has a "person" at Rho. 24/7 customer support - phone, text, email - we will be there at every critical milestone in your startup's journey.

To learn why startups choose Rho, visit www.rho.co today.

---

Show Notes:

00:00 What's coming in the episode… 00:55 Introduction 02:17 Jeremy's background 08:34 Jeremy's "origin story" 18:22 The process behind Lawn Love 26:18 Early days of Lawn Love 30:42 Lawn Love's experience in YC 33:19 Angel raising with Lawn Love 35:47 Lawn Love's growth 37:56 Selling Lawn Love 40:48 Founding Cabana Pools 49:19 Growing + buying companies 53:15 Fundraising for Cabana Pools 1:06:17 Cabana's challenges 1:11:05 What's next for Cabana Pools 1:13:17 Contact Jeremy

---

Connect with Justin:

• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

---

What Justin is working on:

• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
• The LA Grind Local Newsletter: https://thelagrind.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Newsletter Founder Course & Community: https://newsletterfounder.com/
• Running (Strava): https://www.strava.com/athletes/52394979
• Hiring: https://partnerslink.athyna.com/pod
• Scouting: https://headline.com/

Book a Wander with inspiring views, hotel-grade amenities, dreamy beds, top-tier cleaning, and 24/7 concierge service. It's a vacation home, but better: https://www.wander.com/

Watch this episode and others on YouTube.

---

This episode is brought to you by Rho. With Rho, founders get:

• A single pane of glass they can use to run and scale their business from Day 1: Bank account, corporate cards to start running – and expense management, bill pay automation, and accounting to help you move fast as you scale.
• Rho is trusted by thousands of companies ranging from two-person YC companies to brands like Perplexity, Cal.com, Splitwise and more.
• The big thing with Rho: Every customer has a "person" at Rho. 24/7 customer support - phone, text, email - we will be there at every critical milestone in your startup's journey.

To learn why startups choose Rho, visit www.rho.co today.

---

Show Notes:

00:00 What's coming in the episode… 00:52 Introduction 02:49 John Andrew's beginnings 04:08 Early lessons as a founder 08:19 The start of Wonder 16:35 The story behind Coder.com 20:00 Wander's early days 25:08 Building Wander's brand 30:40 First customers and feedback 36:29 Locations and international expansion 42:03 John Andrew's purpose 46:04 Funding Wander 50:51 Where is Wander today? 55:12 Focusing on user activation 1:02:41 What's next for Wander?

---

Connect with Justin:

• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

---

What Justin is working on:

• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
• The LA Grind Local Newsletter: https://thelagrind.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Newsletter Founder Course & Community: https://newsletterfounder.com/
• Running (Strava): https://www.strava.com/athletes/52394979
• Hiring: https://partnerslink.athyna.com/pod
• Scouting: https://headline.com/

Link to buy Nick's book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4bLazjW

---

This episode is brought to you by Rho. With Rho, founders get:

• A single pane of glass they can use to run and scale their business from Day 1: Bank account, corporate cards to start running – and expense management, bill pay automation, and accounting to help you move fast as you scale.
• Rho is trusted by thousands of companies ranging from two-person YC companies to brands like Perplexity, Cal.com, Splitwise and more.
• The big thing with Rho: Every customer has a "person" at Rho. 24/7 customer support - phone, text, email - we will be there at every critical milestone in your startup's journey.

To learn why startups choose Rho, visit www.rho.co today.

---

Show Notes:

00:00 What's coming in the episode…

00:54 Introduction

02:21 Nick's background

05:53 Growth strategies

07:58 From college storage to self-storage

11:00 Raising capital

13:17 Partnering up

17:21 Selling Storage Squad

19:31 Nick's presence on Twitter

24:37 Acquiring Somewhere

33:01 Starting RE Cost Seg

37:30 Writing "The Sweaty Startup"

43:04 A business empire vs a media empire

47:23 What's next?

49:16 Where's the opportunity now?

56:34 Nick's ideal business partners

58:07 Reach out to Nick

---

Connect with Nick:

• www.sweatystartup.com

• www.nickhuber.com

• www.sweatystartupbook.com

• www.somewhere.com

• www.boltstorage.com

• www.recostseg.com

• www.adrhino.com

• www.spidexx.com

• www.boldseo.com

• www.titanrisk.com

• www.x.com/sweatystartup

• www.instagram.com/sweatystartup

• www.linkedin.com/in/sweatystartup

• www.youtube.com/sweatystartup

• www.tiktok.com/sweatystartup

Everett Cook's dream was to start a company.

Even before Rho, he'd always loved markets and finance. So much so that he interned for the Mike Bloomberg, where he got to learn from one of the best entrepreneurs in the world.

Then he spent a decade as Portfolio Manager at multiple macro hedge funds, and had the time of his life.

But still, there was something missing. Something of his own.

So when he got tired of waiting for the 'spark of opportunity', he decided to go look for it himself.

That was the start of Rho, the fintech that quickly became a key player in the business finance world.

---

This episode is brought to you by Rho. With Rho, founders get:

• A single pane of glass they can use to run and scale their business from Day 1: Bank account, corporate cards to start running – and expense management, bill pay automation, and accounting to help you move fast as you scale.
• Rho is trusted by thousands of companies ranging from two-person YC companies to brands like Perplexity, Cal.com, Splitwise and more.
• The big thing with Rho: Every customer has a "person" at Rho. 24/7 customer support - phone, text, email - we will be there at every critical milestone in your startup's journey.

To learn why startups choose Rho, visit www.rho.co today.

---

Show Notes:

00:00 What's coming in the episode…

01:18 Introduction

02:14 The start of Rho

04:14 Everett's background

9:53 Decision-making in the early days of Rho

14:50 Partnering with banks

17:48 Growth in the early days

20:44 Building community

25:19 Rho's competition

27:10 How does Rho get feedback

29:16 Rho's target and non-target market

31:29 The SVB crisis and other challenges

35:22 Hiring in-person vs remote

38:15 Raising capital

47:43 Everett as a founder

---

Connect with Justin:

• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

---

What Justin is working on:

• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
• Running (Strava): https://www.strava.com/athletes/52394979
• Hiring: https://partnerslink.athyna.com/pod
• Scouting: https://headline.com/

---

This episode is brought to you by Rho. With Rho, founders get:

• A single pane of glass they can use to run and scale their business from Day 1: Bank account, corporate cards to start running – and expense management, bill pay automation, and accounting to help you move fast as you scale.
• Rho is trusted by thousands of companies ranging from two-person YC companies to brands like Perplexity, Cal.com, Splitwise and more.
• The big thing with Rho: Every customer has a "person" at Rho. 24/7 customer support - phone, text, email - we will be there at every critical milestone in your startup's journey.

To learn why startups choose Rho, visit www.rho.co today.

---

Show Notes:

00:00 What's coming in the episode…

1:14 Introduction

2:32 The story behind Philz Coffee

7:13 What made Philz stand out?

11:05 Expanding Philz

18:01 Hiring for the new locations

24:19 Challenges of expanding

29:00 Raising capital

36:09 The keys to scaling Philz

40:02 Long-lasting brands

42:57 Starting Humble Lion

51:17 What to look for in a brick-and-mortar

54:29 Contact Jacob Jaber

---

Connect with Justin:

• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

---

What Justin is working on:

• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
• Running (Strava): https://www.strava.com/athletes/52394979
• Hiring: https://partnerslink.athyna.com/pod
• Scouting: https://headline.com/

---

This episode is brought to you by Rho. With Rho, founders get:

• A single pane of glass they can use to run and scale their business from Day 1: Bank account, corporate cards to start running – and expense management, bill pay automation, and accounting to help you move fast as you scale.
• Rho is trusted by thousands of companies ranging from two-person YC companies to brands like Perplexity, Cal.com, Splitwise and more.
• The big thing with Rho: Every customer has a "person" at Rho. 24/7 customer support - phone, text, email - we will be there at every critical milestone in your startup's journey.

To learn why startups choose Rho, visit www.rho.co today.

---

Show Notes:

00:00 What's coming in the episode…

1:22 Introduction

2:49 What is HF0?

6:00 Dave's background

9:57 Dave's vision

15:12 Early days of HF0

19:35 From MHacks to HF0

24:53 First ever concept of HF0

27:46 Second batch

32:58 Dave's take on inner work

37:23 From New York to San Francisco

40:05 Funding HF0

48:29 Putting the teams together

1:05:40 The success of HF0

1:10:23 On the lookout for a GP

1:11:57 Dave's hypothesis on why HF0 worked

---

Connect with Justin:

• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

---

What Justin is working on:

• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
• Running (Strava): https://www.strava.com/athletes/52394979
• Hiring: https://partnerslink.athyna.com/pod
• Scouting: https://headline.com/

---

This episode is brought to you by Rho. With Rho, founders get:

• A single pane of glass they can use to run and scale their business from Day 1: Bank account, corporate cards to start running – and expense management, bill pay automation, and accounting to help you move fast as you scale.
• Rho is trusted by thousands of companies ranging from two-person YC companies to brands like Perplexity, Cal.com, Splitwise and more.
• The big thing with Rho: Every customer has a "person" at Rho. 24/7 customer support - phone, text, email - we will be there at every critical milestone in your startup's journey.

To learn why startups choose Rho, visit www.rho.co today.

---

Show Notes:

00:00 What's coming in the episode…

1:21 Introduction

2:15 The present state of Whippy

3:18 David's background

6:26 From poker to business school

8:34 Early days of BloomNation

11:45 What makes David a good salesman?

13:12 Events as a growth strategy

15:49 Growing BloomNation

18:06 Starting Whippy

25:21 The start of Whippy's revenue

27:35 Product development at Whippy

33:14 The first million in revenue

34:54 Where is Whippy going

41:37 David on hiring

43:44 The distributed team at Whippy

46:39 Next big challenges

50:05 David as a founder

54:03 Keeping Whippy on top of the AI world

57:09 Who is Whippy for?

58:42 How to contact David

---

Connect with Justin:

• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

---

What Justin is working on:

• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
• Running (Strava): https://www.strava.com/athletes/52394979
• Hiring: https://partnerslink.athyna.com/pod
• Scouting: https://headline.com/

---

This episode is brought to you by Rho. With Rho, founders get:

• A single pane of glass they can use to run and scale their business from Day 1: Bank account, corporate cards to start running – and expense management, bill pay automation, and accounting to help you move fast as you scale.
• Rho is trusted by thousands of companies ranging from two-person YC companies to brands like Perplexity, Cal.com, Splitwise and more.
• The big thing with Rho: Every customer has a "person" at Rho. 24/7 customer support - phone, text, email - we will be there at every critical milestone in your startup's journey.

To learn why startups choose Rho, visit www.rho.co today.

---

This episode is also brought to you by TRIBE. TRIBE is a community for fast-growing early to mid-stage entrepreneurs. It includes facilitated peer groups of 6, retreats, guest speakers, book club, forums, and more. Qualifications: Entrepreneurs generally doing between $500k and $15 million per year in revenue.

Apply to TRIBE today and save $300 off the yearly membership price when you mention Just Go Grind!

---

Show Notes:

00:00 What's coming in the episode…

1:18 Introduction

2:32 Where is 1440 now?

4:11 The story behind 'Topics'

12:30 How did Tim know 1440 had product market fit?

15:07 How do they get user feedback

16:32 'Topics' monetization

21:28 1440 vs AI

25:49 Founding 1440

27:27 Partnering with Co-Founder Andrew Steigerwald

31:09 The first year of experimentation

35:34 Tim's investment in 1440

37:18 Start of advertising

39:00 Funding 1440

45:33 How much of revenue is reinvested in growth

49:36 The team at 1440

51:40 How does AI fit into 1440?

53:36 Where's the opportunity for a new media company today?

58:20 Reach out to Tim Huelskamp

---

Connect with Justin:

• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

---

What Justin is working on:

• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
• Running (Strava): https://www.strava.com/athletes/52394979
• Hiring: https://partnerslink.athyna.com/pod
• Scouting: https://headline.com/

--

This episode is brought to you by Rho. With Rho, founders get:

• A single pane of glass they can use to run and scale their business from Day 1: Bank account, corporate cards to start running – and expense management, bill pay automation, and accounting to help you move fast as you scale.
• Rho is trusted by thousands of companies ranging from two-person YC companies to brands like Perplexity, Cal.com, Splitwise and more.
• The big thing with Rho: Every customer has a "person" at Rho. 24/7 customer support - phone, text, email - we will be there at every critical milestone in your startup's journey.

To learn why startups choose Rho, visit www.rho.co today.

--

This episode is also brought to you by TRIBE. TRIBE is a community for fast growing early to mid-stage entrepreneurs. It includes facilitated peer groups of 6, retreats, guest speakers, book club, forums, and more. Qualifications: Entrepreneurs generally doing between $500k and $15 million per year in revenue. Apply to TRIBE today and save $300 off the yearly membership price when you mention Just Go Grind!

--

Show Notes:

00:00 What's coming in the episode…

01:14 Introduction

02:55 Shawn Sheikh's background

04:45 Starting Solve

09:15 Starting PivotCMO

11:29 Meeting Adly's co-founder, Fred Chiang

13:38 Selling PivotCMO

17:14 Moving on to company investment and acquisition

22:04 Raising capital

25:10 Shawn's goals and motivations

27:26 Adly's deal flow

29:30 What to look for in a deal

31:46 Red flags in a deal

34:21 Why is Adly winning the deals?

36:32 Next steps after the deal

38:45 Building Adly's team

40:06 Shawn's day to day at Adly

42:33 Adly's portfolio companies

44:17 Adly's purchase of Smodin AI

48:57 Shawn's approach to starting something new

50:50 What's next?

52:26 How to reach out to Shawn

Referenced:

• Adly

• Solve (acquired by Blacklane)

• Pivot CMO (acquired by Conspiracy Theory and Unfold)

• DoubleList

• Smodin

• Guthy Renker

Connect with Justin:

• Twitter: https://x.com/justingordon212
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justincharlesgordon/

What Justin is working on:

• Just Go Grind Newsletter: https://www.justgogrind.com/subscribe
• Running (Strava): https://www.strava.com/athletes/52394979
• Hiring: https://partnerslink.athyna.com/pod
• Scouting: https://headline.com/

After studying Physics and Computer Science at McGill University, Yacine left to attend 42, a unique software engineering school in France. It's there that he met his co-founder Milan Ray.

Yacine and Milan went on to participate in Y Combinator in 2019. They have since raised $157 million from investors and have processed more than $550 million on their platform, with customers that include brands like Caraway, Venus et Fleur, and Dolls Kill.

• 0:00 Parker: A digital banking platform for internet-based companies

• 1:05 How a friend's business selling phone cases on Instagram in college led to the inception of Parker

• 5:36 Attending Y Combinator and how COVID led Yacine and Milan to return to their original idea after many pivots

• 8:50 How Yacine met his co-founder, Milan Ray and decided to work together

• 10:08 Attending the unique school 42 in France

• 10:59 Early feedback on Parker that led Yacine and Milan to stick to their original idea

• 12:01 Understanding the fundraising game and raising their first round from YC

• 13:35 The mistake of under-utilizing funds and burning too little

• 15:09 What fueled Parker's growth

• 17:19 Leveraging events for growth post-COVID

• 18:09 What differentiates Parker from its competitors

• 21:45 How customer feedback enabled them to build a credit model unique to e-commerce

• 23:58 The key to raising debt

• 24:49 Yacine's best fundraising advice

• 27:03 Tips for building hiring both junior and executive team members

• 31:12 How a focus on growth has enabled Parker's success

• 33:30 How Yacine invests in himself

• 35:21 What's next for Parker

• 36:52 Parker's target customer

• 37:10 Where to connect with Yacine

Website: Parker LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yacine-sibous/ Twitter: @YacineSibous Email: yacine@getparker.com

Learn from other world-class founders: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon, the host, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

As a coach, he takes on a few select first time CEOs who he coaches on finding customers, building a team, running a business, and raising venture financing. He has coached founders who have been funded by the world's best venture firms, including A16Z, General Catalyst, Craft Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, and more.

Julien is also a New York Times bestselling author of business and marketing books. He and his co-author were among the first to write books about social media and how to use it for business purposes, and many of the best practices you see in the field were put on paper by them first.

The first book, Trust Agents, was written with Chris Brogan, and became instant New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, winning awards including Amazon and 800 CEO-READ's best books of the year. They also collaborated on another book, The Impact Equation, published in 2012. His second book, The Flinch, edited by Seth Godin, has remained one of the top downloaded and highlighted books on Kindle since the day it was published.

Website: Practice LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juliensmith/ Twitter: @julien Second Time Founders podcast

• The background behind Julien's company Practice
• Why Julien decided to start Practice after his success starting Breather
• How Julien runs and structures his practice coaching founders
• How founders can build better businesses
• Julien's tips for fundraising
• Driving emotion in fundraising pitches
• Identifying true value when building your cap table
• Julien's big vision for growing Practice and what he's doing differently from his first company
• How the Second Time Founders podcast was born

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

In 2017, Candace co-founded Pizzana, a fast-growing chain of award-winning Neo-Neapolitan pizzerias, leading the "third wave" of pizza in the US. Pizzana cemented Los Angeles as a pizza destination and revolutionized pizza takeout with its innovative heat and slice at-home method. Pizzana also ships its frozen pizza nationwide. In 2021 she co-created and executive produced Best in Dough, a Hulu show starring Pizzana Executive Chef Daniele Uditi, which began streaming in the Fall of 2022.

Today, through her company, CN2 Ventures, a family office, and venture studio, she has backed a diverse portfolio of startups in the specialty food, retail, health, wellness, and early childhood spaces with a focus on female and underrepresented founders.

Candace is also the executive producer and star in Netflix's Sugar Rush and Food Network's Cupcake Wars. Her book, Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe For Turning Your Passion Into Profit was published by HarperCollins Leadership in November 2022.

Website: Sprinkles LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/candacenelson9/ Twitter: @candacenelson Instagram: @candacenelson/ TikTok: @candacenelson YouTube: https://youtube.com/user/SprinklesCandace Her new book, Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe For Turning Your Passion Into ProfitHer NYT bestselling cookbook, The Sprinkles Baking Book

• Candace's unconventional path to starting Sprinkles and elevating the cupcake
• Her decision to choose a new career path despite other people's expectations
• Identifying the market opportunity for cupcakes
• Getting Sprinkles off the ground and early organic growth
• Early product development
• Bootstrapping and the challenge of finding a retail location
• Launching their first location with no retail experience and how scarcity drove demand
• How they leveraged celebrity marketing
• How they approached growth and expansion, and establishing themselves as market leaders
• Franchising vs owning distribution
• Avoiding founder's syndrome and deciding to sell Sprinkles
• How Candace went on to co-found Pizzana
• Investing through CN2 Ventures and as an angel
• How Candace views brand building
• Brand strategy during expansion
• Candace's most recent book, Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe For Turning Your Passion Into Profit

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Their products utilize whole-food and superfood ingredients to harness the healing powers found in nature to bolster the health and well-being of our pets. When Dan was looking for better nutrition for his Labrador retriever, Louie, he found that brands were really missing the mark. He quickly realized that kibble was base nutrition and if he wanted to customize Louie's diet for his own unique needs, he required a tailored regimen of kibble coupled with supplements. In an effort to make this realization a reality, Dan called on his childhood friend, Pat Barron, who had a similar passion for pets, food systems and entrepreneurship and together, they founded Native Pet in 2017. In March 2022, they closed their $6M Series A funding led by CAVU Venture Partners with participation from Mars' Companion Fund and Selva Ventures.

• How becoming a pet parent led Dan to found Native Pet
• Dan and his co-founder Pat Barron's entrepreneurial experience and graveyard of startup ideas
• Why Native Pet became the right business idea for them to pursue
• Finding market opportunity through product differentiation
• R&D: market research, product testing, and when to leverage experts
• Finding the right co-manufacturing partner for quality, mission-alignment, and growth
• Brand-building while developing innovative product
• Launching on Amazon, how their distribution and marketing tactics have evolved, and going against the grain
• The strategy behind deciding to raise venture capital
• Use of funds through several stages of fundraising
• How they've seen the pet category evolve since their launch 5 years ago
• What's next for Native Pet

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Prior to founding Patch with co-founder Aaron Grunfeld, Brennan worked in a range of product & engineering roles at Sonder and Shopify. He received a degree in chemical engineering from McGill University.

• What Patch is and how they're helping companies achieve their environmental goals

• Patch's origin story

• Deciding to found Patch with his co-founder Aaron Grunfeld after a collaborating on a challenging project at Sonder

• The early days of Patch and the benefits of starting right at the beginning of the pandemic

• How they tackled the challenge of fundraising

• Using their $1.2M pre-seed raise to build their founding team

• Patch's original platform

• Category creation and their values-centric sales pitch

• Getting approached by Andreessen Horowitz for investment

• Patch's product evolution and the three facets of the problem they're solving

• Leveraging PR to fuel Patch's growth and shifting their strategy

• The logic behind their slow-to-hire approach

• Vetting in the carbon credit marketplace and enabling trust through transparency

• Patch's business model and how it has evolved

• Interesting climate solutions Brennan has seen

• The strategic timing of their rebrand

• What's next for Patch and where to connect with Brennan and his company

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

While in undergrad at the University of Maryland, Tyler Denk became a self-taught software developer and launched his first startup, VentureStorm—a web application that connected entrepreneurs and startups to talented software developers.

After exiting VentureStorm, Tyler continued to work with startups by building and integrating innovative technology solutions to stimulate growth and exceed various KPIs. He joined Morning Brew as the second employee in a role that spanned engineering, product, and growth—responsible for building the renowned referral program and bespoke tech ecosystem that facilitated the company to scale to a successful $75m exit in 2020.

After a stint at Google as a Product Lead at YouTube Music, he left to co-found beehiiv, which is approaching $1M ARR and has averaged 55% MoM growth since launch in 2021. On the side, he enjoys building cool projects, most recently Big Desk Energy (popular Spotify playlist + web destination).

• What beehiiv is and Tyler's journey to founding it
• How Tyler approached growing Morning Brew's newsletter
• Beehiiv's initial vision and what's next
• Beehiiv's business model and how their ad network plays in
• Early customer acquisition and growth
• Leaning into their backstory to fundraise with big tech as their new competitors
• The process of onboarding strategic angel investors
• Tyler's perspective on building in public
• Getting Morning Brew's co-founders as an investor and advisor
• Tyler's perspective shift to becoming a big advocate for remote work
• Achieving "feature parity" and competing for ad dollars with Google and Facebook
• Finding direction when developing features
• What differentiates beehiiv
• Tyler's advice for people starting newsletters

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

They are a remote-first company whose 20+ employees span four continents. Their team is made up of engineers, designers, inventors, entrepreneurs and security experts – from leading organizations like Google, Bridgewater, Nanit, Airbnb, Casper, Recombine and others. They're building both an inclusive product and an inclusive team that celebrates diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Andrew's inspiration is to apply new technology to build products that can touch millions of people in ways that were impossible before. He is also the founder of Nanit, the first camera to track human behavior (the leading baby monitor), an experienced investor from seed to LBO stages (Silicon Valley, NY and other markets), and an active and experienced angel investor (with investments in SaaS, Security, Healthcare, Consumer and CV/AI).

Use coupon code: JUSTGOGRIND for 3 months free of unlimited seats on Vowel's Pro plan (monthly only)!

• How vowel is creating instant searchable, shareable knowledge through a modern video conferencing tool
• Andy's journey to founding Vowel
• How the idea for Vowel stemmed from Nanit's pain points as a distributed team
• Early distribution and organic growth through Twitter
• How Vowel's original use-cases have expanded naturally and leaning into user-led product development
• Giving their users a 10x improved media experience through their next generation video platform
• The challenges of building Vowel
• Recruiting the original founding team
• Building remote-first company culture
• The fundraising process and Vowel's powerful cap table of operator- angel investors
• How to vet investors
• Their B2B growth strategy
• Developing their freemium business model
• How they view competition and taking on legacy brands
• Learnings as a multi-time founder and former VC
• What motivates Andy to challenge the status quo and build innovative companies
• Andy's thoughts on the future of work and running remote teams
• Snagging the vowel.com domain name

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• How Lectrium is making U.S. homes EV-ready
• Lectrium's origin story
• How they ended up at the Antler accelerator
• How Peter and Zygi met at Antler, bonded, and decided to work together
• The evolution of Lectrium during the Antler program—how a bad idea became the goldmine
• What customer discovery looked like for Lectrium
• Product development and using no-code tools (Zyro and Typeform) for initial building
• Getting their first paying customers
• Lectrium's business model and customer acquisition
• Bottom-up vs. top-down dealership acquisition strategies
• How they're approaching growth in these early stages
• How new U.S. public EV charging mandates could affect Lectrium
• The argument for residential vs. public EV charging
• The potential for partnering with auto-manufacturers directly
• Onboarding electricians and their role in Lectrium's success
• How they're approaching brand recognition and marketing, and startup showers as the new baby showers
• How they're managing a distributed team across time zones
• Their execution plan to succeed as market leaders in the next few years

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Incredible Health is on a mission to reinvent the hospital and healthcare staffing landscape, helping to solve the nursing shortage. As a former medical doctor whose immediate family includes three surgeons, Iman understands the importance of helping healthcare professionals find and do their best work. Incredible Health is based in San Francisco, backed by top tier venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and is used by hundreds of leading hospitals across the country, including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Stanford Healthcare, Baylor Scott & White and many more. Dr. Abuzeid holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

In August 2022, Iman led Incredible Health to $1.65B unicorn status with an $80M Series B raise. This makes Incredible Health the highest valued tech-enabled career marketplace in healthcare. This new funding comes on the heels of several major milestones for Incredible Health. In 2021, revenue grew 500% as their marketplace grew exponentially. More than 10,000 US nurses now join Incredible Health's platform every single week, and they've expanded from partnering with 200 hospitals to 600 hospitals. Their marketplace technology has reduced the average time to hire permanent nurses to only 14 days – from an industry standard of 82 days – while saving each hospital location at least $2M annually in travel nurse, overtime, and HR costs.

• How Incredible Health got started
• Being 1 million nurses short in the U.S. by 2024
• How Iman figured out what the initial version of Incredible Health would be
• Creating a solution that's 10x better than what's currently available
• How Iman met her co-founder, Rome, and the conversation around going into business together
• How Iman thought through the equity split early on
• Raising a few hundred thousand dollars from friends and family to get Incredible Health off the ground
• Raising a $2.4M Seed Round in 2-3 months after going through the NFX accelerator
• Raising a $15M Series A in 4-5 weeks led by Jeff Jordan at Andreessen Horowitz
• Iman's advice for fundraising and creating a process and how her own skills evolved
• How Iman brought on the first hospitals through cold-calling
• The MVP of Incredible Health and why you have to fight the urge to ship perfection
• How the team has grown for Incredible Health
• The values of Incredible Health and how it's part of everything they do
• How Incredible Health uses customer insights to develop their platform, operations, and marketing
• Why Incredible Health offers free continuing education for every nurse in the country
• How Iman thinks through the products and tools they're going to provide to their customers
• The sales process of getting hospitals on their platform
• The 3 biggest value adds of the investors Iman has for Incredible Health
• Questions that Iman asked of CEOs for reference checks on investors
• How Iman takes care of her own mental health and why she has a therapist
• How getting an MBA from Wharton impacted Iman's journey as an entrepreneur
• Books and blogs that Iman recommends
• How Iman recharges away from work and why she doesn't work on Saturdays
• Iman's experience as a minority woman founder
• Diversity debt

• Rome Portlock
• NFX
• Jeff Jordan
• Andreessen Horowitz
• Obvious Ventures
• signal.nfx.com
• James Joaquin
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things
• Who (A book on hiring)
• Above the Crowd by Bill Gurley
• Stephanie Lampkin
• Blendoor

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

As a consumer internet and technology entrepreneur, Dave is most engaged when leveraging emerging technologies in simple ways to solve real-world problems. He is driven by the intellectual pursuit as much as the accomplishments they're achieving at Postie.

• Postie as the only ad-serving technology solution specifically dedicated to the direct mail channel
• How the patterns Dave observed as a partner at Science incubator led to him founding Postie
• Postie's early days of identifying their ideal customer profile, customer acquisition, and go-to-market
• How they manage such a wide range of customer profiles
• How Postie's intuitive product and customer experience mimics the digital campaign experience
• Taking direct mail campaigns from a 60 to 3 day lead time
• Postie's behind the scenes logistics and how they've been able to innovate and optimize efficiency
• How measurable results have fueled Postie's growth
• Why they focused on building first and waited 5+ years to start marketing themselves as a company
• Choosing slow and steady growth instead of continually raising VC
• What's next for Postie

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• How POGR is building the statistical foundation for the future of gaming
• POGR's origin story
• Connor's path to actually becoming a founder
• 1,000 emails to get their first $100k and raising their seed round pre-revenue
• Connor's insights on cold outreach: scrappiness and high levels of personalization
• Connor's successful cold outreach pitch and how he leverages tracking in the process
• Negotiating terms with investors
• POGR's business model and their multiple stakeholders
• The growth strategy for POGR
• Connor's "jump and figure it out" approach as an entrepreneur and connecting with his co-founders through Discord
• Failure as an inevitable part of success
• Connor & Justin's love for learning and their book and podcast recommendations
• The big vision for POGR

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Samiur is a software engineer capable of working across the stack (web, mobile, backend and embedded), focusing primarily on data science, algorithms and machine learning. He wants to create the next-generation of intelligent products using modern machine learning and neural networks. He's particularly passionate about employing deep neural networks to tasks that were previously thought to be restricted to just humans.

Prior to Heyday, Samiur and his co-founder Sam DeBrule founded another company, Journal, which they eventually pivoted into their current venture.

• Heyday: an AI-powered research assistant
• How Heyday was born from a pivot of Journal
• The challenging decision to shut down Journal and applying their learnings to building Heyday
• The process of defining their ideal customer
• Deciding to work with Sam DeBrule through multiple companies and the importance of complimentary co-founder skillsets
• Navigating go-to-market strategy and early customer acquisition
• Their experience getting Heyday featured as product of the day, week, and month on Product Hunt
• Getting ready to raise VC funding and working with Order Design
• How they approached VC fundraising
• How to get the most value out of relationships with your investors and why they love working with Kevin Thau at Spark Capital
• How they're approaching sustainable customer acquisition at their current stage
• Finding and working with an ad agency
• Planning for their financial runway in the current market
• Samiur and Justin's thoughts on Adam Neumann's raise from a16z
• The big vision for Heyday

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Their goal with this company has always revolved around over-indexing on the value they give to their customers and communities. This means best in class customer service, entertaining ads that make you laugh, products that are intentionally designed to help you look better, and donating shirts at scale (40k+/month) to help homeless vets, shelters, schools, and other communities in need.

• What True Classic is doing today
• Ryan's background, True Classic's origin story, and getting the business off the ground
• What differentiates True Classic and how Ryan thought about their market positioning
• Early manufacturing decisions and product development
• How Ryan approached early marketing
• The power Facebook marketing and how their changes in privacy policy have impacted companies
• How they became more intentional with their marketing by creating comedic video ads
• What enabled them to scale to $150M in revenue in 3 years
• Agencies vs. in-house marketing
• The benefits and dangers of moving at warp speed
• Lessons learned for successfully scaling manufacturing
• Developing their intentional hiring strategy
• Launching internationally
• Ryan's big vision for True Classic
• The mission and impact aspect of True Classic

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Balanced was inspired by Katie and Kelly's families during COVID-19. While living with her grandmother during quarantine, Katie was distraught with the state of digital fitness for folks like her grandmother. At the same time, Kelly was virtually training her grandparents with cardio boxing via Facetime. With backgrounds in technology, startups, and fitness, the two knew that they could create a digital fitness experience to inspire and build community with healthy outcomes that all older adults deserve.

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in New York City, Balanced has a growing number of fitness programs and content across its platform, available to members at anytime, from anywhere. Their world-class trainers teach live and on-demand classes across multiple fitness modalities with on-screen modifications, including pilates, strength training, cardio boxing, yoga, stretching, dance cardio, and walking.

• What Balanced is
• How Katie's grandparents inspired her to found Balanced
• Initial testing for Balance
• How they networked to conduct original testing among both communities and trainers
• From bootstrapping to deciding to raise VC in order to become a market leader
• Building out production and branding after piloting their program
• Early decision-making to enable long-term quality and scalability
• Building out their MVP
• Capital deployment from their pre-seed round and positioning themselves to be a supplemental benefit for Medicare Advantage Plans
• Katie's experience fundraising as a first-time founder and selling a vision that resonates
• Building out the team for Balanced
• Katie's tips for finding great founding engineers
• How they're using the funds with their most recent raise
• The Balanced user experience
• How they're approaching motivation and adherence to the program
• What Katie's biggest challenges have been building Balanced as a first-time founder
• How Katie manages her time and takes care of herself
• What's next for Balanced
• Where Katie sees potential in the market of aging adults

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Haroon is a Harvard Law grad turned serial entrepreneur and angel investor. He was the founder and CEO of Webs.com, a popular website creation platform that grew to 50 million users before being acquired by Vistaprint for over $100M. After Webs, Haroon co-founded Truebill in 2015. As CEO, Haroon grew Truebill into a leading personal finance app, topping 2.5 million members and over $100M in annual recurring revenue before being acquired by Rocket Companies in 2021 with the goal of creating a centralized destination for consumers to manage their entire financial lives. Haroon has a passion for technology startups, innovation, global change, and elegant problem solving. He has personally invested in over 100 technology startups including early stage investments in Instacart, Carta, Relativity Space, PlutoTV, and more. Haroon is a 2021 Henry Crown Fellow and has participated on several boards including the American Express Open Digital Advisory Board and the United Nations Global Entrepreneurs Council.

• What Truebill (now Rocket Money) is
• Deciding to start another company after a $100M+ exit
• The difference between building a company in 2001 and 2015
• What enabled Haroon to go from 0 to $1B exit in 6 years
• Some of the other business ideas Haroon has had and how he chooses which to execute on
• Building a minimum lovable product
• Truebill's go-to-market strategy
• The challenges they faced in funding a PFM (personal financial management) company
• The evolution that led to their unique pay what you want subscription model for a subscription-canceling product
• Being humble enough to not be too tied to your own intuition
• The performance marketing engine that allowed Truebill to go from $1M ARR to $100M ARR in 4 years
• Which metrics are the most important to focus on
• Choosing fully aligned investors
• Haroon's evaluation of the other major players in the PFM space
• What made Truebill unique in a crowded industry, enabling their success
• Haroon's thoughts on the FinTech regulatory environment and government's appropriate role
• From manually cancelling subscriptions to automating and scaling their services
• Haroon's takeaways from his exits
• How Haroon manages his time
• Why Haroon previously had a bit of a chip on his shoulder
• Why Haroon began angel investing and his approach to it now
• Balancing running a company with angel investing
• The benefits of co-founding with your siblings
• Experiences Haroon would like to have had and which company he would've liked to have founded

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Chelsey is a serial entrepreneur, a passionate business builder, and a marketing expert. After graduating from Texas A&M, Chelsey joined Boeing where she worked in financial planning and analysis and Microsoft where she worked in a demand center that focused on B2B omnichannel marketing. She grew and sold two businesses: a SaaS business in the University space, and a local services business. Chelsey is also an active member of her community, dedicated parent, and passionate supporter of women and business. Her persistence, attention to detail, and deep knowledge of finance and marketing have helped Proxi grow more than 100% month over month.

• What Proxi is and how the idea was born from the first pandemic Halloween in 2020
• The evolution of Proxi's crowdsourced mapping tool
• Deciding to raise VC and applying to Techstars
• Going full-time with Proxi
• The experience of going through Techstars and the value it provided
• Techstars' Mentor Madness
• Raising a $1.2M VC round and the different expectations between being VC-backed, debt-backed, and bootstrapping
• Deciding to work with Leslie Feinzaig of Graham & Walker
• The big vision for Proxi and their pitch to investors
• Taking on Yelp and Google Maps
• The challenge of customer acquisition and narrowing down their ideal customer profile with such a large range of use cases
• Evolution and flexibility in Proxi's business model
• Prioritizing hiring and marketing with the VC funds they raised
• Where they've focused their marketing allocations and navigating different strategies
• How they're approaching product-led growth
• How they prioritize feedback about which new features to build and why they're incorporating accounts into their product
• Why Chelsea loves entrepreneurship and how she finds balance and implements boundaries
• A special announcement about what's next for Proxi

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Analisa took a unique path to get to where she is today and admirably stayed true to herself and her passions. While many business leaders have their MBA, Analisa is passionate about the arts and holds her Masters of the Arts. She spent several years in the creative ad world focused on image research. During her time in the agency world (at firms like Goodby, Silverstein & Partners) and as the leader of her own agency, she was able to understand the key pain points - that she would eventually go on to solve - firsthand.

She has raised more than $26M from top venture capitalists at leading firms like Accel for her revolutionary technology that for the first time gives brands a way to leverage found content, meaning content that already exists on the internet today, uploaded by creators, including directors, photographers, producers, entrepreneurs, and everyday people. Over the years she has grown the company to include an amazing team of curators, licensing experts, engineers, product designers, and project managers. They relieve headaches for the best agencies and buyers around, including Apple, Twitter, Facebook, Anomaly, Goodby, Silverstein&Partners, Weiden+Kennedy, and more.

• What Catch+Release is and how they're licensing the internet
• Catch+Release's orgin story and where Analisa came up with the company's name
• The evolution of Catch+Release's product and vision as the creator economy has exploded
• The importance of early conversations with stakeholders
• The timeline from bootstrapping to seed round funding
• How Analisa approached fundraising and network building with minimal context as a first-time founder
• Company growth after raising a seed round and navigating the difference between Founder and CEO roles
• How and why Analisa incorporated improv as a key element in team-building
• What has fueled Catch+Release's growth and how that has shifted over the years
• How they're approaching expanding their customer base today
• Catch+Release's re-launch and re-brand
• Analisa's journey from creative to tech startup founder

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Herb is a serial entrepreneur, former physicist and film producer, with degrees from Howard University, UCLA and Columbia University. He's also a self-taught developer, designer and former gig-economy driver with over 20,000 gigs. At his previous start-up, he created technology that allowed seamless app switching for gig drivers, enabling them to earn much more money while drastically reducing distracted driving. He is now considered an evangelist in the on-demand, gig economy sector, a distinction that has earned the admiration and trust of gig drivers nationwide.

• How Courial is empowering frontline communities and gig workers
• Herb's journey from physicist to filmmaker to entrepreneur
• Courial's origin story and getting investors & the connection into Y Combinator while driving for Uber
• From stealth mode to launching their MVP and participating in climate tech incubator Elemental
• Courial's core concept, pivoting from B2C to B2B, and serving a variety of stakeholders
• Doing good while doing well
• What Herb learned from his first business as an inexperienced founder and going through Y Combinator
• How Herb taught himself to code
• How Herb has leveraged inexperienced talent
• How they're diversifying investors
• Launching in new markets
• Herb's unorthodox approach to being a people-first tech company

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Josh created the platform in 2004 to create a place where investors could learn, network, market and make deals in a safe online environment. Growing, bootstrapping, and exiting BiggerPockets after 14 years taught him innumerable lessons. He overcame the countless challenges and learned how to build a nationally recognized brand, launch products, build teams, create partnerships, remain profitable (every year since launch), fail fast and pivot, challenge the status quo, and much more, ultimately helping to transform how real estate investors connect, collaborate, partner, and learn via best in class web, mobile, audio, and video content.

• Josh's background and why he originally started BiggerPockets in 2004
• The journey from almost quitting to growing and scaling to a successful exit
• Why Josh waited 8 years to hire his first employees and his advice for other founders
• Hiring his first employee directly from the BiggerPockets community
• The evolution of creating engaging content and expansion into different media platforms
• The "chicken or the egg" challenge of building a thriving community and being selective about partnerships
• What drove Josh to persevere throughout a decade of challenges even when he wanted to quit
• The tipping point Josh came to once he hired middle management and began to establish infrastructure within the company
• What Josh attributes BiggerPockets' success to
• Josh's thoughts on investing in the current real estate market
• Josh's perspective on defining success
• How and why Josh got involved in startup investing

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

They use intelligence to surface insights from across your entire community and provide tools to act on those insights directly from the app. This allows teams to discover what's most important, nurture key personas, measure the impact of their programs, and collaborate across their organization. They've raised over $50 million from top-tier investors including Greylock, Index, and Madrona to build the community platform for modern SaaS companies. They're also backed by 25+ operators from community-first organizations such as Stripe, Airtable, Slack, Notion, Loom, and more.

• Common Room as an intelligent community growth platform serving modern software companies
• Common Room's origin story and building a product to enable this new engagement model
• Idea evolution on the path to product market fit and getting feedback from early stakeholders before building anything
• Navigating foundational pivots
• How the pandemic and the current market correction have fueled Common Room's growth
• The 3 main buckets of Common Room's ideal users and their primary use-cases

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Growing up in San Francisco, Ryan watched the technology industry explode in his hometown and always wanted to be a part of it. He started out his career as a Marketplace PM helping SaaS vendors distribute their products through third-party channels at AppDirect. Then he joined Flexport as one of their first PMs to help digitize the world of trade. It was there that he saw how spreadsheets could be used as an interface for anyone, regardless of technical ability, to access data. This led him to start Canvas, a data exploration tool for business teams to make decisions without SQL.

• What Canvas does for operators
• The pain point Canvas is solving and their origin story
• Getting the first customers for Canvas
• The early product and the challenges they faced in its evolution
• Simultaneously fundraising and building an MVP
• Implementing feedback from early adopters
• Canvas' business model and determining pricing
• Leveraging unique market positioning
• Fueling growth and content creation's value accruement
• How Canvas serves existing data teams and enables early-stage startups to get data-driven
• Transitioning from product management to founding a startup

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• What The Rideshare Guy is
• Why Harry loves working online in content and media
• Making his first dollar online
• Harry's business model and approach to value creation and capture
• How Harry ended up in online marketing
• The journey to becoming a full-time entrepreneur and the early days of The Rideshare Guy
• Strategies Harry has used to grow The Rideshare Guy and knowing when to scale
• Harry's hacks to finding high-quality, reliable content contributors
• Balancing high-performing versus long-lasting content on different channels
• Reaching sustainable revenue, hacking the referral system, and diversifying revenue streams
• The Rideshare Guy's business model
• Navigating the world of SEO
• Building a lifestyle business and Harry's approach to entrepreneurship
• Harry's journey investing in startups

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vityl was founded by a team of human capital consultants with an acute understanding of their users' pain points. With experience guiding landmark companies through organizational transformations, they saw an opportunity to deliver a simple solution to complex culture challenges.

Prior to Vityl, Yassamine brought HR leadership experience and strong communication skills to her advisory work with clients as a Partner at Greater Human Capital. Previously, she served as the Director of People and Culture at Echo Energy in Oklahoma City, where she led the HR department; optimized recruiting, onboarding, and performance management processes; and served as a strategic advisor to the C-suite. She has also worked in employee engagement, social impact, and communications at JPMorgan Chase, Macmillan Publishers, and Publicis Groupe. Yassamine earned her Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University, with a concentration in Social Enterprise Administration. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from The George Washington University.

• How Vityl is transforming how people build culture together while growing individually
• Vityl's origin story and Yassamine's journey to becoming a founder
• Developing Vityl's big vision
• Product development for Vityl's platform
• Getting their first users and launching beta testing
• Yassamine's first experience fundraising
• Yassamine's advice on fundraising for other founders
• Navigating the advice of others while trusting your gut
• Growing Vityl's team, hiring technical talent as a non-technical founder, and being deliberate about culture-building
• Vityl's evolving business model and pricing
• Vityl's GTM strategy
• Their community-based organic approach to sales
• Leading with persona vs. product
• What's on the horizon for Vityl

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Justine and Tas were both early-stage employees at Opendoor before deciding to start their own company during the pandemic.

• Kindred's origin story

• How Justine and Tas decided to work together as co-founders and the "partnership charter"

• Launching during the pandemic

• Early customer acquisition failures and lessons

• Organic growth and refining their model

• Developing Kindred's pricing and business model

• Fundraising for Kindred and their advice for founders

• Navigating an unpredictable market

• What's next for Kindred

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Adam is a proven advocate for development of products that go beyond utility to delight customers. At Dropbox, he led the teams responsible for growth, product strategy, product management & product analytics for a platform with over 600 million registered users with responsibility for all of Dropbox self-service revenue (~90% of all company revenue in 2019). Before Dropbox, Adam served as the President & CEO of Wealthfront, where for four years he championed the creation of a new category of automated investment services. Prior to joining Wealthfront, Adam was Vice President of Product Management at LinkedIn. Adam led LinkedIn's Platform & Mobile products, including the launch of LinkedIn's open developer platform and their highly successful native applications and mobile web experiences. Prior to joining LinkedIn, Adam held a number of leadership roles at eBay, including Director of eBay Express, an innovative new site focused on new, fixed-price products. Previously, Adam also held strategic and technical roles at Atlas Venture, Preview Systems and Apple.

• Daffy's founding story and Adam's background in FinTech
• Why Adam decided to pursue entrepreneurship
• The pros and cons of building in stealth mode
• Daffy's disruptive business model
• The challenge of onboarding investors given Daffy's disruptive and mission-vision model
• The generosity gap and how research around giving and personal finance has influenced Daffy
• How they've approached growing Daffy
• Adam's view on the lack of personal finance & giving education in the U.S. and potential solutions
• Recently added features to Daffy and what's next for the company

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Andrew has been an entrepreneur for longer than he can remember. He likes to build stuff, mostly companies, and try to tell a story that goes beyond what the company does to how it's changing markets. Prior to founding MicroAcquire, he started two companies, Bizness Apps and Altcoin.io, both acquired. He's been featured in NYT, Forbes, WSJ, Inc.com, and Entrepreneur Magazine, as well as prominent industry blogs such as Mashable, TechCrunch and VentureBeat.

• Andrew's background and MicroAcquire's origin story
• The original vision for MicroAcquire and the tools it provides to founders and buyers
• MicroAcquire's go to market strategy
• What has fueled MicroAcquire's growth and Andrew's advice for other founders
• Andrew's approach to marketing
• Andrew's journey from bootstrapping to fundraising
• Global expansion via partnership strategy
• How Andrew evaluates potential partners
• How Bootstrappers came about
• Andrew's thoughts on media and brand building
• What's next for MicroAcquire

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• How Goodfynd is supporting food truck owners and operators as a FinTech startup
• How the idea for Goodfynd was born out of the love of great food and wanting to find it again
• Shifting Goodfynd from a side hustle to her full-time job
• The traction they needed to transition from bootstrapping to getting Venture-backed
• How relationship-building fueled early growth
• The winding road of fundraising from accelerator to first noes to first check
• The process of choosing and participating in incubators and accelerators
• How VC funding enabled the growth and scaling of their FinTech products and services
• Goodfynd's geographical expansion strategy
• Building the Goodfynd team with a culture-first focus
• The challenges and triumphs of being a first-time founder

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Prior to founding Alto, Eric worked in investment banking at DLJ/Credit Suisse and co-founded several companies, including: Currenex, an FX trading solution sold to State Street for more than $550M, Plumgood Food, and VC firm Tennessee Community Ventures. He served on the Board of Tennessee Valley Authority from August 2015 to January 2019. After years in New York City and San Francisco, Eric and family moved to his wife's hometown of Nashville to raise their kids. Nowadays, his pastimes include skiing, soccer, yoga, and all too often hoping this will finally be the year for the 'Canes and Dolphins.

• What Alto Solutions is
• Alto's origin story and how Eric began to execute on the idea
• Why Eric decided this was a problem he had to solve
• Early unexpected hurdles and getting Alto off the ground
• The UX and investment process with Alto
• Partnering with Angel List
• Shifting their customer acquisition strategy
• How the evolution of different asset classes has affected Alto
• The importance of leveraging storytelling
• Lessons Eric has learned founding multiple companies
• How Eric evaluates investments

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• What Webacy does
• What led Maika to found Webacy
• Maika's experience and background
• Her experience as a first-time tech founder
• Finding her co-founder and deciding to start a company together
• Onboarding their early team members
• How Maika's skills learned as a Cirque Du Soleil acrobat apply to being a tech startup founder
• Navigating the Web3 space
• The vision for how Webacy's relatively small target market will grow
• Webacy's hybrid go to market strategy
• Approaching trust and safety in crypto
• Maika's view on the community element of Webacy
• Maika's path from leaving Microsoft to building Webacy
• Raising Webacy's pre-seed funding round
• How angel investors have provided value beyond funds in building Webacy
• How they're thinking about future fundraising
• Maika's view on Webacy's competitors
• Webacy's unique value proposition in digital asset security
• How Maika finds balance with her wide variety of interests
• What's next for Webacy

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Alex writes a popular blog called Alex's Tech Thoughts, and has been published in Fast Company, The New York Observer, The Next Web and VentureBeat. He teaches Business Development classes, and has been quoted on many tech websites including TechCrunch, NY Post, The New York Times, Business Insider, Mashable, and PC Magazine. He was a contributor for the Forbes Entrepreneur section and advisor for Rainfall Ventures, a seed stage VC fund. Now he is the General Partner at Taub Ventures, an early stage fund to invest in startups.

• How Upstream makes it easy to start a DAO
• Upstream as a full-stack solution
• Identifying the need for Upstream in the market
• Different use cases Alex is anticipating for Upstream
• How Alex has approached market research shifting the company's focus
• The decision to "upgrade" Upstream
• Their journey of raising a Series A
• What's next for Upstream
• How Alex views opportunity in their industry
• How Upstream is approaching customer acquisition
• The Illuminati NFT project and putting systems in place to protect its members
• The timeline and process of setting up repeatable structures
• Other projects Alex has been involved in
• What Alex looks for in the NFT space
• Alex's approach to collecting NFTs
• What Alex is excited about within the Web3 eco-system

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Prior to founding Scribe, Jennifer spent time at McKinsey & Company and Greylock Partners. She is a Princeton and Harvard Business School alum.

• How Scribe is making it easy to share how to do something
• Jennifer's background and realizing she needed to build Scribe to solve a problem she observed for years
• Going from "someone else will solve it" to "I'm going to solve it" and the first steps she took to start a company
• Finding developers early in Scribe's journey
• Talking to 80+ engineers before she connected with her technical co-founder, Aaron Podolny
• The importance of finding a co-founder that shares your value and vision
• How organic growth enabled Jennifer and the Scribe team to run lean and focus on building in the right direction without any marketing for the first 1.5 years
• How their approach to growth and marketing has shifted
• How they narrowed their target market for a product with such a wide variety of use cases
• Raising an unexpected Series A for Scribe while pregnant with her first child
• Jennifer's strategy behind bringing on great angel investors
• Making Scribe an extremely user-friendly product

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• What AgeTech is
• Why Third Act Ventures invests in the AgeTech ecosystem and how it's changing
• The process of developing a thesis and overcoming the lack of interest in AgeTech
• Emerging models and how social determinants of health are impacting AgeTech
• How having a wide range of stakeholders has led to lack of innovation in the industry
• How Max screens for value and the importance of timing
• The challenge of not being the end user for products he invests in
• One of the AgeTech companies Max is excited about
• Third Act Ventures' strategy as a follow fund and why they're shifting their approach
• Max's effort to expand investments in the AgeTech industry and shift it from niche to mainstream
• Justin's thoughts on how to market yourself uniquely to stand out

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• How Forum Brands is innovating through acquisition in the consumer space
• How Brenton and his co-founders met and started Forum Brands
• The unique value proposition of Forum Brands and its founding team
• How they're leveraging data to indicate the potential for long term success of businesses
• Their top-down hiring strategy
• How they approach portfolio composition
• Forum Brands' early acquisitions, gaining momentum, and learning from mistakes
• The platform side of the acquisition process
• Their creative cap structure raising both VC and debt
• Finding investors who aligned with their unique model
• The benefit of investing time and energy into partnerships and people
• How Brenton's experience in consulting and private equity has influenced how he's running Forum Brands today

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

SaaS teams win when in-app experiences help users to adopt the features that ultimately help them do their jobs. That's why Candu gives customers the tools and analytics they need to rapidly redesign the in-app experience. Shape, launch, then improve onboarding experiences to drive user behavior and convert first-time users into devoted fans.

• What Candu is
• How Jonathan came up with the idea
• Why Jonathan decided this was a problem he needed to solve
• Participating in accelerator Entrepreneur First and meeting his co-founder
• The timeframe for Candu – from original idea to launch
• Why problem identification is more important than solution orientation
• The problem Candu solves and who it's for
• The difference between their first and second launches on Product Hunt
• Why they chose to launch on Product Hunt
• The feedback around their second launch and how to measure it
• Building out the Candu team and what Jonathan has learned doing so
• Jonathan's advice for hiring
• Why they used a recruiter
• Their experience fundraising VC
• Finding work-life balance as a founder
• Being married to another high-performing startup founder
• What's next for Candu
• The future of no-code

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Laguna aims to radically improve care experiences and care outcomes for patients who have moved through a hospital stay and have been discharged home to self-care. Laguna marries a proven clinical treatment model with a digital-first care team, personalized recovery plans, coaching, data-driven interventions and expansive behavioral health resources, all delivered in a friendly and accessible app-based environment. From employers to health plans to providers, the entire healthcare ecosystem now has the ability to ensure every patient recovers with confidence.

Yoni began his career as a software engineer at Microsoft and leveraged that as a founding member of RPX insurance business (KPCB, CRV, Index -> IPO). Next, Yoni co-founded Koru Ventures, which was integrated into Fortress Investment Group, where he led investments in over 30 companies exceeding $500M in equity and debt.

• How Laguna Health is helping people recover confidently from surgery at home
• How Yoni and his co-founder Yael Adam met and decided to work together
• The dating/diligence process of finding a co-founder and the importance of being able to "argue well"
• The hospital unbundling thesis
• How they developed the idea for Laguna Health from personal experiences
• Validating the business opportunity and finding a workable tech-enabled solution
• Connecting with clinical experts and stakeholders
• Yoni's "work hard, work smart, be lucky" approach
• How their business model has evolved
• How demonstrating impact has fueled Laguna Health's growth
• The UX for Laguna Health patients
• Building the Laguna Health team with a "bicoastal" approach
• Yoni's advice for developing remote team dynamics and the impact of aligning cultures and values
• What's next for Laguna Health

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• Dejan's insane sneaker collection
• SoleSavy's growth since Dejan was last on the Just Go Grind podcast in September of 2020
• From 10 to 50 employees in a year and a half
• Dejan's approach to building out SoleSavy's team and why he scares people off on purpose
• The evolution of SoleSavy's peer to peer marketplace as an element of their end to end experience
• How they utilize cohorts to manage their community of 7k members and why the process can't be automated
• Navigating trial and error with community dynamics and what hasn't worked
• How the rise of Web3 and NFTs has affected SoleSavy and the trades and resale economy
• How they've leveraged partnerships with NBA teams as a brand building opportunity
• How they decided to partner specifically with the Philadelphia 76ers and Portland Trail Blazers

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• What makes Uniform Teeth a modern orthodontic services provider
• Meghan's journey to starting Uniform Teeth and her mission to improve the health care industry
• Meeting her co-founder Kjeld Aamodt and what empowered Meghan to commit to their idea
• The evolution of Uniform Teeth
• The technology that enables a seamless experience for patients
• Their "scrappy" approach to early customer acquisition
• Deciding to go the VC route for funding and what Meghan would do differently
• Fundraising vs. bootstrapping
• Their fundraising experience as a tech-enabled brick and mortar service business
• What has fueled their growth over the past few years
• Facilitating an organic referral engine
• Hiring for a diverse range of positions and how the challenges have been different than they expected
• Considering the four-day work week
• How Uniform Teeth is pioneering orthodontics care of the future

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Abby is a first-time founder but lifelong entrepreneur, and previously a VC investor.

• What Rescripted is and how Abby's personal experience led her to the idea
• Abby's founder story and how winning a Techstars Startup Weekend gave her the push to commit to her idea
• Abby's objectives going through the Techstars program while simultaneously starting the company
• What Abby found most valuable from Techstars
• Their experience raising $2M+ exclusively from angel investors
• The blocks they ran into that led to a pivot from B2B to D2C
• Building a friendship and mentorship with Kristyn Hodgdon and eventually merging their businesses
• The process of acqui-hiring Kristyn
• How the concept for Rescripted has evolved over the years into their current multi-prong model
• The tech, tools and resources Rescripted provides as an integrated care platform for fertility patients
• How they're helping women cope with an infertility diagnosis through mental health programming
• Being community and cohort centric
• How Abby allocates her time
• What's on deck for Rescripted and their big vision

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Prior to founding SeedInvest, Ryan worked at Wellspring Capital Management and Lehman Brothers in New York City where he invested in, financed, and managed dozens of private and public businesses. Ryan was instrumental in the passage of the 2012 JOBS Act, which changed 80-year-old U.S. securities laws to make it possible for entrepreneurs to raise capital over the Internet.

Since then, Ryan has served as a focal point of the budding Equity Crowdfunding industry, co-founding the Crowdfunding Professional Association and serving as a board member of the Crowdfund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates. He also worked closely with members of the SEC, FINRA, the White House, and the Treasury Department on the implementation of the JOBS Act. In addition, he frequently serves as a subject matter expert on startup investing and the JOBS Act for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, CNBC, FoxBusiness, the Economist and the New York Times as well as a columnist for Fortune Magazine and Inc. Magazine.

Ryan received an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BBA in Finance and Accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

• SeedInvest in a nutshell
• How Ryan got into the digitization and democratization of investing
• Getting the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act approved
• The challenges of building a two-sided marketplace
• Getting SeedInvest off the ground and why they started with onboarding investors
• How they scaled the platform
• Shifting from onboarding investors to focusing on onboarding great companies
• Risk mitigation and how they vet companies for SeedInvest
• Their semi-automated diligence process
• Following up with and supporting companies who don't qualify for the platform
• Tracking investors
• Supercharging their business with more resources by selling to Circle
• Their decision-making process and Ryan's advice around acquisition
• SeedInvest's big ambitions and Ryan's thoughts on the future of investing

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• The vision of NowRx
• How NowRx works as a full stack pharmacy solution
• What led Cary to start NowRx
• Disrupting legacy industries
• Why existing incentive structures have prevented the pharmacy industry from being disrupted before
• The process of getting NowRx rolling
• Cary's hands-on customer discovery process and early customer acquisition
• How they developed their business model
• Why they decided to crowdfund
• How they approach geographical growth through micro fulfillment
• Their plan to become a national brand
• The challenges they've faced in building NowRx
• What Cary has learned from his experience as a multi-time founder

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• How Party Round is simplifying the process of raising capital for founders
• How Jordi got inspired to start Party Round and what sets it apart from other fundraising platforms
• How Jordi and his co-founder Sarah Chase got Party Round off the ground
• Why they focused on marketing early on
• The story behind Party Round's viral drops
• How their team brainstorms and executes their drops
• Why their BIGTECH Fellowship drop was meaningful for Jordi
• How Jordi approaches choosing investors
• What's next for Party Round

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• How Numerade is tackling their mission to democratize STEM education
• How Nhon and his co-founder Alex Lee's previous company Tutorcast evolved into Numerade
• Why they were inspired to address the issue of access to tutoring through technology
• How they're approaching content creation at scale and onboarding educators
• How COVID affected their process and led more contributing teachers
• Working towards digitizing teaching and learning styles in order to drive deep learning
• Their platform of courses and practical videos
• How they've reached students through organic growth
• The current age demographic of their students and why it's important for Numerade to expand to younger demographics
• How they're utilizing community to reinforce accountability and motivation
• How being a mission-driven company has helped them grow the Numerade team and navigate the "war on talent"
• Numerade's approach to cultivating healthy company culture
• How Nhon's time at Google has impacted him as a founder
• What fuels Nhon and how this has shifted over the years to focus on the "why"
• The "three acts" of their business and the big vision for Numerade

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Suman has spent his career advising, operating, and investing in consumer tech companies and marketplaces, and now he's excited to be working on building one! His experience includes working as a Growth Advisor to marketplaces at Basis One, investing at SoftBank Vision Fund Consumer Internet, and consulting at Bain.

• How Marco is bringing companies and teams together through their experiences platform
• How Suman's time investing in the experiences space at SoftBank led to him founding Marco
• The evolution of Marco and how the pandemic led to a pivot
• Shifting from B2C to B2B
• Their go-to-market strategy and exploring paid acquisition
• Expanding into enterprise solutions
• The pain point that Marco is addressing and their current business model
• Their journey raising nearly $3M in capital
• Getting early traction
• Suman's transition from investor to entrepreneur
• How Marco is enabling the creator economy
• Their opportunistic approach to hiring part-time, distributed employees
• Marco's Future of Culture E-Book
• The types of experiences Marco's customers are looking to engage in
• How they're zooming in on inclusivity in the workplace
• The trends Suman is expecting to see regarding in-person versus virtual offerings

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Prior to starting Rise, Vivian was an operator who built brands and products for high-impact businesses, Fortune 500 companies, high-growth startups, as well as leading VCs, PE firms, and global institutions. She has advised and worked with companies such as L'Oreal, Greenhouse Software, Glamsquad, Klarna, Bain Capital, the AARP, and more.

Vivian has been featured in Business Insider, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Bustle, and other media outlets for her work in championing women. Her work has been recognized by Forbes as a Next 1000 company, Cartier as a Top 10 Female Founded Company in North America, JP Morgan as a Woman on the Move, and Barclays as a leader for the Future of Work.

Vivian is on the board of Wharton Alumnae Founders & Funders Association (hellowaffa.org), a 501c3 non-profit organization with the mission to accelerate the success of Penn Wharton female founders and investors.

• What Rise is and the belief system it's built on
• Combating "the great resignation"
• Rise's origin story
• Leaving her job to become an entrepreneur before she had a business idea
• Using consulting as a strategy to leapfrog her career
• How COVID affected Rise and its iterations, resulting in an early pivot and "Rise 2.0"
• The UX and business model for Rise
• The strategy to onboard companies to the Rise platform
• How Vivian built out the product herself
• How she has approached early outreach and growth
• Embracing "the great re-hiring" and onboarding big tech companies
• How they're differentiating themselves in the now booming virtual recruitment industry
• The recent fundraising experience for Rise
• Joining the founder program Day One and how that led to the first investments in Rise before Vivian had a formal pitch deck
• The unique questions she was asked by investors who truly believed in her
• The importance of investors getting to know founders on a personal level
• What's next for Rise

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Previously, Sehreen was an educative executive in technology with experience spanning across sales, business development, marketing, and community-building. She is deeply operational and is adept at scaling nascent product lines into revenue-generating departments. Her sweet spot is closing large deals that get new products in the hands of parents. She's passionate about inclusion and has launched a newsletter (in beta) for parents of color. Sehreen is a frequent speaker on business strategy in education technology and is the recipient of SXSWedu's first ever Change Maker Award in 2015 for her founding of EdTechWomen. She is a fellow with the Pahara Institute, the 92Y's Women inPower program, and the Truman National Security Project. She has appeared in Scary Mommy, Mom 2.0, The Harvard Business Review Podcast, and others.

• How Sehreen's personal experience led to the founding of Sleuth
• Deciding to raise money through VC
• Sehreen and her co-founder Alex Leed's experience at the startup generator program Antler
• Being surprised by who decided to invest in their company
• Sleuth's business model and pricing strategy
• How they approached early growth through personal branding
• Building trust with customers
• Growing the Sleuth team with part time hires
• Their experience hiring through the freelance platforms
• The process of building out the product itself and what makes it unique
• The UX for first time users of Sleuth
• How they control crowdsourced data and ensure credibility on their platform
• What's next for Sleuth
• How Sehreen takes care of her own health and wellbeing as a founder

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Kirsten has been featured in Forbes, AdWeek, The New York Times, Thrive Global, and Business Insider. In her journey of entrepreneurship, Kirsten has developed relationships with international brands and has been recognized as a young trailblazer within her industry. Beyond mini, Kirsten is passionate about helping young women and fellow entrepreneurs succeed.

• The origin story of minisocial
• From Bootstrapping for the first year to raising funds through VC
• How minisocial executed cold outreach
• Minisocial's tools for brands
• Partnering brands with micro- and nano- influencers who are building quality content and community
• How minisocial is approaching growth through advertising partners today
• Leveraging newsletters and podcasts to expand their reach
• Focusing on D2C E-Commerce brands
• Growing minisocial's team
• Hiring a technical team as non-technical founders
• Working with their advisor Emmett Shine
• Being a user-friendy "anti-platform"
• Deciding which VCs and angel investors to work with
• Lolita Taub's newsletter
• How they're using the capital raised with Hustle Fund to execute on their vision
• How Kirsten and her co-founder applied their learnings from running a small agency to building minisocial
• Managing clients' expectations
• How Kirsten uses the pressure of investors' expectations as motivation
• Kirsten's advice for entrepreneurs looking to raise capital
• Finding investors who provide you with the right kind of pressure through aligned values
• What's next for minisocial and their big vision

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• How JP decided to start Kush Klubs
• How regulations within the cannabis industry affected the development of their idea through various iterations and how they found their entry point into the market
• How Bryce got involved in the cannabis industry and with Kush Klubs
• Overcoming the cultural taboo around cannabis use
• Deciding to crowdfund, the benefits of this method, and how they chose the WeFunder platform
• How they've approached growth and overcoming the challenges that come with the nature of their business
• Finding their dispensary partners and building trust with them
• Getting and keeping users
• Bryce's view on the opportunities in the cannabis industry
• Creating brand loyalty and recognition through community building

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Prior to joining Vitalize in 2018, Caroline worked for GE Ventures in San Francisco where she helped incubate and operate a startup in the drone space. Before transitioning into venture capital, Caroline worked in corporate finance for various GE businesses in Chicago, Atlanta, London, and San Francisco. Caroline received a BBA with honors in math and psychology from Boston College and a Master of Science in Management from the University of Notre Dame, where she was valedictorian of her class.

Caroline is originally from Madison, Wisconsin and enjoys going home to spend time with her family whenever she can. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where she loves to bike, hike, sail, and play golf with her husband, Tom, and their dog, Sailor.

Follow Caroline on Twitter: https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_

Follow Caroline on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/venturecaroline/

• How Caroline got her start in VC
• Caroline's experience at GE Ventures and how she ended up at Vitalize
• Doing a cross-country bike ride with Bike & Build
• Caroline's process for due diligence on a company
• The importance of excellent founding teams in early stage ventures
• How they filter through companies and decide which to invest in
• Where Caroline chooses to invest personally as an angel investor
• What makes a rock star founder
• Justin and Caroline's perspective on Vitalize's angel investor community
• What has helped Caroline learn and grow as an investor
• How she has developed her pattern recognition
• Caroline's advice for founders and how to execute a successful cold outreach

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• What FRONTMAN is and how Annelise and her co-founder Nick Bunn came up with the idea
• Developing the product itself and how they navigated contract manufacturing for cosmetics
• Using a product consultant
• Designing for behavior change and creating the brand for FRONTMAN
• Utilizing nostalgia to cultivate authenticity in brand building
• FRONTMAN's go to market strategy, and what has and hasn't worked to target Gen Z
• How they've kept their team small so far
• Raising a $150K pre-seed and working with Recharge Capital
• FRONTMAN's fundraising journey and Annelise's advice on raising capital
• How Annelise invests in her own health and wellbeing as a founder

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• Being a lifetime entrepreneur
• What Joseph's companies The/Studio and Supplied do and how they tailor to different clients
• How they're connecting small businesses with sourcing and manufacturing in China
• Bootstrapping to 100 employees
• Skipping angel and seed investing and going straight to raising a Series A
• Deciding to fundraise through VC and his advice on this method
• Initially trying to raise VC in China
• Why it took a challenging 18 months to raise an $11M Series A
• Why they decided not to participate in YCombinator after being accepted
• How Joseph would have fundraised differently in hindsight
• Early customer acquisition and growth and getting to 10M+ in revenue
• Joseph's view on paid marketing and how it has shifted in recent years
• Utilizing social media for community building
• The business models for The/Studio and Supplied
• How their two-sided marketplace is solving the pain point of customizing products
• Overcoming the logistical challenges of working with factories in China
• Getting to profitability with The/Studio
• Growing Supplied 10X in 10 months
• How they're prioritizing clients' needs and deeply solving customers' problems to create a successful B2B marketplace

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Before Carro, Sony PlayStation acquired Perry's last company Gaikai to establish leadership in the future of streaming video games from the cloud. This service is called PlayStation Now. After 39 years in the business (with founding roles at companies such as Acclaim Entertainment and Shiny Entertainment, both of which were acquired by industry giants), Perry remains one of the best-known video game industry veterans, with multiple #1 hits and the Develop - Development Legend award.

• What Carro is now and how they're helping companies optimize e-commerce by working together
• How David and his co-founder Jason Goldberg came up with the idea by leveraging the authentic relationship between influencers and brands and how that idea evolved into Carro
• How they overcame the challenge of getting brands onto the platform
• David's insights regarding how to understand investors as a founder
• The obstacles they've confronted in building Carro
• Overcoming friction and the "zero click solution"
• David's past companies and successful exits
• The importance of proving a pattern
• The future of merging e-commerce with social media
• How they've approached fundraising for Carro
• How Carro pairs brands
• Why Carro is focused on growing brands, not competing with them
• What sets Carro apart
• The community building element of Carro's strategy
• Leveraging geography and thinking globally for growth in order to get a competitive advantage
• Going beyond being an entrepreneur to become an innovator
• How to level up in your industry
• How David is integrating his 30 years of gaming experience into building Carro
• Gamification through implementing skill, risk and strategy into your business

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• How EllisX is pioneering authentic marketing

• Richard's entrepreneurial journey with 4 startups

• How Richard met his co-founder Leia Ruseva and how EllisX got started

• Customer discovery, the early stages of EllisX and how the concept has shifted to their current vision

• Their launch on Product Hunt

• EllisX's current business model and how they developed their pricing

• How they're approaching growth through partnerships, referrals and content

• How their strategy informs conversations with investors

• Getting into Launch House

• What the EllisX user experience is like

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• How Matt and his team are building the world's first ultra-premium luxury cookie brand with Last Crumb

• How Matt ended up as CEO of Last Crumb

• Developing their 12 cookie flavors

• Being intentional about developing a brand before going to market

• Creating a market and why that worked for their brand

• Why they chose not to test their product on consumers before launching

• Actively going against their investors' advice

• Last Crumb's go to market strategy and how they built an organic flywheel without any paid media

• Managing supply and demand for a waiting list of over 100,000 people

• Building an in-house cookie factory and 3PL while simultaneously creating a D2C brand

• Learning to scale at a feasible rate for their growth and demand while maintaining a very high quality and consistent product

• Growing from a mom and pop roadside bakery cart to an exclusive cookie factory

• Constantly improving quality to create an amazing customer experience

• Some ideas Matt has for the future of Last Crumb

• Avoiding the mistake of diversifying before scaling

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

• What Elude is and who it serves

• How the backend of the app functions

• How Alex and his co-founder Frankie's personal experiences led to the founding of Elude

• The early days of Elude and getting their first users

• Jumping from two thousand to tens of thousands of customers via partnerships

• Transitioning out of an investment banking career into full time entrepreneurship

• How they approached fundraising by focusing on warm intros and direct leads

• Transitioning from fundraising from angel investors to raising a seed round from a fund

• How they allocated their seed round funding

• The challenges of innovating in a very established industry

• The consumer experience with the Elude app

• Organic versus paid growth and the value of partnerships

• Elude's business model

• Building and growing a remote team

• Launching a travel industry startup during a global pandemic

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212

They enable individuals to leverage their personal health and nutrition data to improve how they look, feel and perform everyday with their test-take-track approach.

Rachel has spent her career in high-stress roles that require her to maximize the time she has — first as an investment banker and now as a startup founder and first-time mom.

Early on in her career she was suffering from burnout, fatigue, stress, and brain fog which hampered her ability to give her best every day. She turned to nutrition and fitness as a way to get more out of her day when sleep wasn't always an option - constantly iterating on products, exercises, and ways to fuel her body to add performance gains throughout the day.

• What Rootine is, what inspired Rachel to start the company and how she found her co-founder, Dr. Daniel Wallerstorfer

• How Rootine is empowering consumers to gain access to their health data and leverage it to improve how they feel and perform

• The importance of personalizing health solutions

• How Rootine launched and what their go to market strategy was

• Being a digitally native brand

• What differentiates Rootine amongst the competition in the 700 billion dollar global nutrition industry

• Their test-take-track approach

• Creating a strong brand

• The customer experience for new Rootine consumers

• Rootine's business model and how they developed it

• How they approach expanding markets

• Rootine's primary use cases

• Rachel's first startup as a learning experience

• Rootine's fundraising process and the importance of diversity in investors

• Hiring and building out the Rootine team and hiring for culture over expertise

• Being a values and results driven company

• Achieving the big mission and vision for Rootine

Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com

Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212