Dr. Dileep Rao Teaches How to Create Wealth and Keep It

Entrepreneur, investor, public speaker and author are a few titles that Dr. Dileep Rao is known for. He came from India to America in 1973 for his education, and has been a success ever since. While obtaining his PhD, he started working for an Adventure Capital firm one summer that ended up changing his life. He since then has helped invest in hundreds of businesses, which includes four businesses he started himself.

Dr. Dileep Rao, Author of “Nothing Ventured, Everything Gained”

Dr. Dileep Rao, Author of “Nothing Ventured, Everything Gained”

Entrepreneur, investor, public speaker and author are a few titles that Dr. Dileep Rao is known for. He came from India to America in 1973 for his education, and has been a success ever since. While obtaining his PhD, he started working for an Adventure Capital firm one summer that ended up changing his life. He since then has helped invest in hundreds of businesses, which includes four businesses he started himself. He is now a professor at the Florida International University and has been awarded numerous awards for teaching.

Dr. Dileep Rao is now a nationally acclaimed author, writing “Nothing Ventured, Everything Gained”. He was able to study many successful entrepreneurs in his time, and he came up with 7 steps that all successful entrepreneurs seemed to follow. His book dives deep into his findings. Learn more about Dr. Dileep in this episode!

·         Coming to America for Education

·         Working for his first Adventure Capital Firm

·         Helping Fund hundreds of companies

·         His experience writing his book “Nothing Ventured, Everything Gained”

·         The 7 steps for Entrepreneurs

·         Where growth opportunities are at

·         What Dr. Dileep is doing today

Ambition Today Question of the Day™ :
“Where do you see the future of venture capital going next?”

The Single Greatest Piece of Advice:
Members of the "A-list" can listen to exclusive A-list bonus clips here! If you are not a member yet be sure to join the Ambition Today A-list!

Quote Of The Episode: 
“Numbers help you monitor where you are going”

Links from this episode:

·         Dr. Dileep’s website

·         Amazon

·         Founder Institute

·         Audible

Listen to this episode now: 


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If you are already a member of the A-list then you can easily access your bonus content from right here! 

Thank you for listening! 

Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…

Transcript:

You can find the full transcript of this episode here

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

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Greg Alterman is Making Life Simpler with Gender Neutral Everyday Products

Today’s guest grew up with Entrepreneurial spirit surrounding him. All of the men in Greg Alterman’s family for generations owned and operated one of the largest grocery stores chains in the South since the early 1900’s.

Greg Alterman, m/f people

Greg Alterman, m/f people

Today’s guest grew up with Entrepreneurial spirit surrounding him. All of the men in Greg Alterman’s family for generations owned and operated one of the largest grocery stores chains in the South since the early 1900’s. With all the entrepreneurial passion within him, he started his first successful shirt business while attending college at the University of Florida. Alternate Apparel successfully grew until he sold the company for $60 million dollars nearly 30 years later.

In 2015 Greg suffered from a brain hemorrhage that would change his life forever. During his recovery, he noticed that vibrant colors and clutter really were bothersome to his sight which lead him to create his newest business endeavor, m/f people. Alterman wanted to company that didn’t market towards one sex or the other. m/f people focuses on sleek and simple designs for skin care products as well as apparel. Listen in to hear more of Greg’s amazing journey!

  • Family Owned business that started on the side of the road in the early 1900’s

  • Greg’s Entrepreneurial spirit from early on

  • Going to college on a Golf Scholarship

  • What Greg did to create income once his scholarship was no longer there

  • Alternative Apparel

  • Selling a company for $60 million dollars

  • How Brain surgery changed his life

  • His vision behind m/f people

Ambition Today Question of the Day™ :
“How do you stick to the grind for so long?”

The Single Greatest Piece of Advice:
Members of the "A-list" can listen to exclusive A-list bonus clips here! If you are not a member yet be sure to join the Ambition Today A-list!

Quote Of The Episode: 
“Listen to your own gut instinct.”

Links from this episode:

Listen to this episode now: 


The A-List

Join the shows A-list backchannel for exclusive access to additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more. Plus, Learn the single greatest piece of advice this guest has ever learned! 

If you are already a member of the A-list then you can easily access your bonus content from right here! 

Thank you for listening! 

Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…

Transcript:

You can find the full transcript of this episode here

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Founder Institute

WeWork

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Alex Batdorf Is Teaching Female Entrepreneurs How To Get Shit Done

Did you know that only 17% of all startups have a female founder? Well we are lucky enough to have a female founder on our show today, Alex Batdorf. Alex is a business coach, co-founder of Zip Fit, a company that delivers a perfect fit denim for every body and now the creator of a YouTube series called Get Sh!t Done.

Alex Bartdorf, Creator of the Get Sh!t Done YouTube Series

Alex Bartdorf, Creator of the Get Sh!t Done YouTube Series

Did you know that only 17% of all startups have a female founder? Well, we are lucky enough to have a female founder on our show today, Alex Batdorf. Alex is a business coach, co-founder of Zip Fit, a company that delivers a perfect fit denim for every body and now the creator of a YouTube series called Get Sh!t Done. This series focuses on helping female entrepreneurs maintain a balance between pursuing purpose and profit.

Growing up in Seattle, Alex had a lot of family support; they always told her the sky was the limit. She was never that kid that knew she would be an entrepreneur, she just knew she wanted to impact the world. Moving to Chicago for her undergrad degree was a big culture shock for her, but taught her a lot. After getting her Sociology degree and seeing all the entrepreneurs from her classes she realized the potential she had to become the great entrepreneur she is today. Tune in for more!

  • Growing up in Seattle

  • Culture shock moving to Chicago

  • How Sociology influences her as a founder

  • The story of starting ZipFit

  • The ins and outs of finding investors

  • Her new Youtube series, Get Shit Done

  • How she is helping other Female Entrepreneurs

Ambition Today Question of the Day™ :
“How do you know when it is time for a change, and when you recognize it, how do you push it forward?”

The Single Greatest Piece of Advice:
Members of the "A-list" can listen to exclusive A-list bonus clips here! If you are not a member yet be sure to join the Ambition Today A-list!

Quote Of The Episode: 
“You have to give yourself oxygen first… if you don’t have oxygen for yourself, nothing else can work.”

Links from this episode:


The A-List

Join the shows A-list backchannel for exclusive access to additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more. Plus, Learn the single greatest piece of advice this guest has ever learned! 

If you are already a member of the A-list then you can easily access your bonus content from right here! 

Thank you for listening! 

Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…

Transcript:

You can find the full transcript of this episode here

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Founder Institute

WeWork

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Mitch Wainer: Bringing an Infectious Energy to the Marketing World

We are exploring the marketing world on today’s episode, with our special guest, Mitch Wainer. He is the creative marketing leader with many accomplishments such as Co-Founding Digital Ocean and being the Chief Marketing Officer at Clubhouse, a project management platform for software teams that provide the perfect balance of simplicity and structure. Mitch is an active advisor and speaker on entrepreneurship and growth marketing to the startup community

Mitch Wainer, Chief Marketing Officer at Clubhouse

Mitch Wainer, Chief Marketing Officer at Clubhouse

We are exploring the marketing world on today’s episode, with our special guest, Mitch Wainer. He is the creative marketing leader with many accomplishments such as Co-Founding Digital Ocean and being the Chief Marketing Officer at Clubhouse, a project management platform for software teams that provide the perfect balance of simplicity and structure. Mitch is an active advisor and speaker on entrepreneurship and growth marketing to the startup community

Mitch grew up with a great family support system, that he feels is an important part in his entrepreneurial success. He graduated with a degree in Marketing from Northeastern. Short after graduating college, he found himself sitting in board meetings with seasoned professionals, trying to convince them that Facebook and Social Media is the way of the future. Listen in to find out more about Mitch and his success

  • High school and college years

  • Family Support System

  • Teaching himself how to build websites

  • Mitch’s first start out of college

  • Being a part of the Ask Jason podcast

  • Co-founding Digital Ocean

  • Mitch’s role at Clubhouse

  • Marketing then compared to marketing now

Ambition Today Question of the Day™ :
“Do you travel often, how important is travel for you, how do you balance time for those new experiences and get shit done as a founder?”

The Single Greatest Piece of Advice:
Members of the "A-list" can listen to exclusive A-list bonus clips here! If you are not a member yet be sure to join the Ambition Today A-list!

Quote Of The Episode: 
“The support system around you is a key ingredient to being successful”

Links from this episode:

  •  Listen to this episode now: 


The A-List

Join the shows A-list backchannel for exclusive access to additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more. Plus, Learn the single greatest piece of advice this guest has ever learned! 

If you are already a member of the A-list then you can easily access your bonus content from right here! 

Thank you for listening! 

Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…

Transcript:

You can find the full transcript of this episode here

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Founder Institute

WeWork

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Brian Pasalich Is Setting The Foundation For Financial Health And Wellbeing

Growing up in an immigrant family, Brian Pasalich lived in Chicago, Croatia and even a small town in Montana all by the age of 13, which has allowed Pasalich to have a deeper understanding of the different walks of life that people face. This combined with a passion for helping people led him to his career in financial planning. He is the founder of Foundational as well as the Vice President of MassMutual.

Brian Pasalich, Founder of Foundational

Brian Pasalich, Founder of Foundational

Growing up in an immigrant family, Brian Pasalich lived in Chicago, Croatia and even a small town in Montana all by the age of 13, which allowed him to have a deeper understanding of the different walks of life that people face. This combined with a passion for helping people led him to his career in financial planning. He is now the founder of Foundational, a consumer-mindset driven platform for financial health and wellbeing

Since a young age, Brian’s passion has been helping others. In his career, he has been a volunteer EMT, a flight paramedic with the Army Reserve, serving on two SWAT teams, and a civilian flight paramedic for a trauma center. He majored in Microbiology at the University of Montana before finding his passion for helping people through financial planning and serving as a Mentor with Founder Institute. Listen in to find out about Brian’s unique experiences and how it has helped him help others:

  • Being a SWAT flight paramedic
  • Majoring in Microbiology at University of MT
  • How his failing business was the best thing that happened to him
  • Creating Foundational.co
  • Being a part of MassMutual team
  • Mentoring at Founder Institute New York
  • Being on the board for Marriage Equality
  • Staying active in the LGBT community
  • How health and fitness is a major part of his life

Ambition Today Question of the Day™ :
“Why does family matter, and how do you balance your personal life with your work life?

The Single Greatest Piece of Advice:
Members of the "A-list" can listen to exclusive A-list bonus clips here! If you are not a member yet be sure to join the Ambition Today A-list!

Quote Of The Episode: 
“Name one goal you can accomplish without money”

Links from this episode:

 

 Listen to this episode now: 


The A-List

Join the shows A-list backchannel for exclusive access to additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more. Plus, Learn the single greatest piece of advice this guest has ever learned! 

If you are already a member of the A-list then you can easily access your bonus content from right here! 

Thank you for listening! 

Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…

Transcript:

You can find the full transcript of this episode here

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Founder Institute

WeWork

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Matt Britton Is Changing The Face Of Consumer Intelligence For The Millennial Generation With Suzy

As a serial entrepreneur, Matt Britton has successfully acquired and sold many companies at the perfect time. He is most known for his important role in creating MRY (Mr. Youth) and Suzy.

Matt Britton, Found of Suzy

Matt Britton, Found of Suzy

As a serial entrepreneur, Matt Britton has successfully acquired and sold many companies at the perfect time. He is most known for his important role in creating MRY (Mr. Youth) and Suzy. MRY is a digital and social media marketing agency that helps companies market to the youth, which is tomorrow’s future leaders. His latest venture, Suzy, is a consumer intelligence platform which helps bring the voice of real consumers directly to brands.

Now known as America’s leading expert on the Millennial Generation, Britton’s entrepreneurial spirit all started because of parties believe it or not. He ran 5 to 7 parties a week, and local businesses started to take notice. They would ask him to advertise their business during the parties, which led him to create his first business venue, Magma Group. This was just the beginning for Britton, listen to hear more of his great story:   

  • How Magma Group came about
  • The meaning behind “Magma”
  • Creating MRY, Mr. Youth
  • How MRY got Microsoft as their customer
  • How Suzy was developed
  • His book, “Youth Nation”
  • Being a serial entrepreneur
  • Being an investor

Ambition Today Question of the Day™ :
“You have started several companies over the years, what is being a serial entrepreneur mean to you?.”

The Single Greatest Piece of Advice:
Members of the "A-list" can listen to exclusive A-list bonus clips here! If you are not a member yet be sure to join the Ambition Today A-list!

Quote Of The Episode: 
“Ninety-nine percent of decisions made in business have no data behind it”

Links from this episode:

 

 Listen to this episode now: 


The A-List

Join the shows A-list backchannel for exclusive access to additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more. Plus, Learn the single greatest piece of advice this guest has ever learned! 

If you are already a member of the A-list then you can easily access your bonus content from right here! 

Thank you for listening! 

Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…

Transcript:

You can find the full transcript of this episode here

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Founder Institute

WeWork

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Adam Tishman, Bringing Customization To Your Sleep

Do you have to be an expert on a product in order to become a successful entrepreneur? Let’s ask today's guest, Adam Tishman. He is a New Yorker through and through, growing up in Manhattan helped his independence from a young age before becoming the co-founder of Helix Sleep.

Adam Tishman, Co-Founder of Helix Sleep

Adam Tishman, Co-Founder of Helix Sleep

Do you have to be an expert on a product in order to become a successful entrepreneur? Let’s ask today's guest, Adam Tishman. Tishman is a New Yorker through and through, growing up in Manhattan helped his independence from a young age. He received his Bachelors Degree at Princeton in History before he decided to pursue an MBA where he met his co-founders of Helix Sleep.

Tishman knew he wanted to be a successful entrepreneur one day, however, he never thought it would be in mattresses. Knowing that mattress buying was confusing, expensive and hard for a lot of consumers, Tishman and his co-founders knew there had to be a better way. Listen for more details on how they have developed an amazing product, and what lead to Tishman's success:

  • Born and raised in NY
  • Growing up with a metro card
  • Obtaining a BA at Princeton
  • Tishman’s early on careers
  • Meeting his co-founders
  • How Helix Sleep came about
  • The research behind Helix
  • How sleep is innovative and necessary
  • The meaning behind the name “Helix”

Ambition Today Question of the Day™ :
As an entrepreneur: How important is sleep to you?

The Single Greatest Piece of Advice:
Members of the "A-list" can listen to exclusive A-list bonus clips here! If you are not a member yet be sure to join the Ambition Today A-list!

Quote Of The Episode: 
“As you build your business, it is not just product at the end of the day, it is also the vision that you have and the story that you tell.”

Links from this episode:

 

 Listen to this episode now: 


The A-List

Join the shows A-list backchannel for exclusive access to additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more. Plus, Learn the single greatest piece of advice this guest has ever learned! 

If you are already a member of the A-list then you can easily access your bonus content from right here! 

Thank you for listening! 

Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…

Transcript:

You can find the full transcript of this episode here

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Founder Institute

WeWork

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Wes Schaeffer, The Sales Whisperer On Truly Knowing Your Customer

A successful entrepreneur, speaker, and father of 7, Wes Schaeffer is the person you seek when you want to generate more sales. Wes Schaeffer is a marketing strategist and is known as The Sales Whisperer. He grew up in Houston, TX, served in the Air Force, graduated from A&M and became a successful salesman.

Wes Schaeffer, The Sales Whisperer

Wes Schaeffer, The Sales Whisperer

A successful entrepreneur, TED speaker, and father of seven, Wes Schaeffer is the person you seek when you want to generate more sales. Wes Schaeffer is a marketing strategist and is best known as The Sales Whisperer. He grew up in Houston, TX, served in the Air Force, graduated from A&M and became a successful salesman.

Although he had the income and personal life he wanted, he wasn’t happy with his job, which is when he became decided to become the Sales Whisperer. Wes's analogy of being a sales whisperer came to him after some inspiration from the dog whisperer. Some dogs have behavior issues but the reality is that their trainers don’t have the proper training to enable them to be successful pets. Just like how sales leaders come to him with lack of training and sometimes incorrect sales tactics, it is Wes’ job to help them learn a better and more efficient way. Listen to our podcast to hear more about Wes’ insights!

  • Growing up in Houston and life in the U.S. Air Force
  • Knowing when to switch gears
  • The start of his career and transition to entrepreneurship
  • Common sales leadership do's and do not's
  • How he started The Sales Whisperer
  • Breaking down Wes' Ted Talk
  • Maintaining work-life balance with a big family

Ambition Today Question of the Day™ :
How do you maintain work-life balance to ensure you get time with your family?

The Single Greatest Piece of Advice:
Members of the "A-list" can listen to exclusive A-list bonus clips here! If you are not a member yet be sure to join the Ambition Today A-list!

Quote Of The Episode: 
“If you have seven priorities, you have none.”

Links from this episode:

 

 Listen to this episode now: 


The A-List

Join the shows A-list backchannel for exclusive access to additional Ambition Today content, deeper guest insights, a community of fellow fans, and much more. Plus, Learn the single greatest piece of advice this guest has ever learned! 

If you are already a member of the A-list then you can easily access your bonus content from right here! 

Thank you for listening! 

Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…

Transcript:

You can find the full transcript of this episode here

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Founder Institute

WeWork


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Ambition Today: Adam Besvinick Teaches The Art of Hustle and How To Break Into Your Dream Role

Venture Capitalist Adam Besvinick explains the value of pure hustle in pursuing his dreams of breaking into the Startup and Venture Capital industry. Recently named to the Forbes 30 Under 30, Adam has invested in several startup companies as Principal at Deep Fork Capital. 

Adam Besvinick, Principal VENTURE CAPITALIST aT Deep Fork Capital

Adam Besvinick, Principal VENTURE CAPITALIST aT Deep Fork Capital

Venture Capitalist Adam Besvinick explains the value of pure hustle in pursuing his dreams of breaking into the Startup and Venture Capital industry. Recently named to the Forbes 30 Under 30, Adam has invested in several startup companies as Principal at Deep Fork Capital. 

In episode 14 we explore where Adam came from and how that connects to where he is now. Adam started blogging on VentureMinded.Me years ago and created his own track record through taking ownership of his brand. He has always strived to be continually helpful and add value to others. Through that hustle he previously worked his way into a role at Lowercase Capital to learn from Chris Sacca. Afterword Adam was one of the early employees at Gumroad while going to Harvard Business School.  Now Adam is Principal at Deep Fork Capital and has invested in several companies across the country, with a focus on New York City and Silicon Valley. We go over what he looks for in great startups, how he used self-marketing to break into venture capital, and also cover: 

  • The influences of growing up around entrepreneurship.

  • The value of experiencing life abroad.

  • How to demonstrate your expertise in a given field.

  • Why self-marketing is important.

  • How Twitter can create real world connections.

  • How constantly being helpful to others, leads to opportunity.

  • His experience at Duke and Harvard.

  • The differences between Silicon Valley and New York City.

  • How being an Investor in New York City is beneficial.

  • What Adam looks for in startups today.

  • Exploring some of the Deep Fork Capital portfolio companies.

 

Ambition Today Question of the Day:

How important is networking?

 

Links from this episode: 

Thank you so much for listening and applying these useful tips and strategies to your life! If you have a chance, please drop by and leave a review for the show on iTunes by clicking here. Also, who should I interview next?  Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below. It keeps me going…

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS and on Stitcher for Android

Listen to this episode now: 

Ambition Today Podcast Sponsors:

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Marketing, Branding Kevin Siskar Marketing, Branding Kevin Siskar

The Coronation of King Siskar

By the time you are reading this the 1:39pm EST Coronation has most likely come and gone. I Kevin Siskar, am now a King. Of an actual kingdom and an actual Castle in Ireland. You might be thinking to yourself: "I had no idea you were descended from Royalty Kevin?". 

Just need to fix the URL of this post before we get going here. Click here to fix this now and then you can keep reading! - Much better now! 

By the time you are reading this the 1:39pm EST Coronation has most likely come and gone. I Kevin Siskar, am now a King. Of an actual kingdom and an actual Castle in Ireland. You might be thinking to yourself: "I had no idea you were descended from Royalty Kevin?". 

Well the truth is me either. And to the best of my knowledge I am still not descended from Royalty. I am however now and forever a King. And I have some decrees to make before I explain to you how I found myself having the crown thrust upon my head. 

 

King Siskar's Royal Decrees. 

  1. You must listen to the "Ambition Today" Podcast. You can find it here: http://www.siskar.co/ambitiontoday
  2. All people need to hence forth refer to me as King Siskar, Kevin Rex, or Your Royal Highness.
  3. One day I will own another castle. Once a King, Always a King. See you then.

 

As you can see I am having a lot of fun with this. This all started last year when I paid $15 to Cards Against Humanity for their Holiday Bullshit giveaway. The final gift of the promotion in 2014 was 1 square foot land on a Private Island named Hawaii 2 located up in Maine. Along with rights of that 1 square foot also came rights to use of the entire island. Thanks to that campaign I now own part of a private island! (See isn't this fun!) 

Naturally happy with the amount of fun that Cards Against Humanity generated with the $15 I gave them the year before, when I saw the 2015 holiday promotion I jumped on it right away. The first two gifts I got were socks. The third gift was also socks. Soon after followed a social experiment with laser cutting an original Picasso. For the final gift of the 2015 Holiday promotion Cards Against Humanity used a portion of the $15 from the 250,000 people that signed up to buy a Castle in Ireland. Yes, an actual Castle! 

Then they built a program around that Castle. Coronating it's customers one by one as actual Kings and Queens of this actual castle. They built a website to see at all time who sits a top the rocky throne of Sensible Castle. They enabled the ability for each King or Queen to make 3 decrees during their time as rightful ruler that would be entered in to the Kingdom's laws. And lastly each King and Queen will have their name etched within the castle walls so that generations to come can remember the great rulers who righteously spent their 3 minutes as King.

So there you have it. You can now call me King Siskar whenever you want. I am having A LOT of fun with this with my friends and family. I love the history around Royalty ever since I lived in London. My younger brothers have jokingly threatened to steal the crown once or twice already. 

I actually think there is a startup lesson in here too though. I am spending a lot of time and energy talking about Cards Against Humanity. It is all because of this awesome experience I have had with them over and over again. It could possible be the best $15 I have ever spent. The amount of creativity in this company is unreal. The result of that creative culture is extremely satisfied customers and organic virality.  

The island last year only cost them $200k which is much smaller than most corporate marketing budgets. Next time you plan to go dump your marketing budget in Facebook or Google ads in hopes of "going viral" stop and think to your self, is there a better, scrappier, cooler way to get the return on that money you are truly looking for. A concept that is actually worthy of "going viral". I should note that since the 2014 promotion I have spent money to also become a customer of Cards Against Humanities normal product, it's card game. I have bought it for both friends and family as gifts. I have transcended from a customer to a brand evangelist. That is the lesson here. 

Most importantly getting back to fun of today, just remember:

Once a King, Always a King!!! 

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The Best CEO Speech Ever: Charlie Kim, Next Jump

Charlie Kim, founder and CEO of Next Jump, gives one of the best motivational speech's ever at the Founder Institute New York. 

At the Founder Institute in New York we have incredible Mentors come every week to mentor the founders of our startup companies. Sometimes we share some of those excellent Mentor presentations. This is one of the best CEO speeches of all time.

This motivational speech was given to the Founder Institute New York by Next Jump CEO Charlie Kim on Branding & Marketing. It includes over $200,000 of free branding knowledge, takes you to the future of the information economy, and also includes lessons from the entrepreneurial ups and downs of growing a billion dollar company. Through the Next Jump Leadership Academy, an invite-only full immersion workshop designed to share and teach programs around our learnings becoming a deliberately developmental organization, Charlie Kim works with some of the best leaders in the world.

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Marketing, Branding, Fame Kevin Siskar Marketing, Branding, Fame Kevin Siskar

How To Be As Famous As Taylor Swift, Casey Neistat, and Tim Ferriss

Want to know how to be famous? How famous is Taylor Swift? How famous is Casey Neistat? How famous is Tim Ferris? How many online mentions do you need everyday to achieve fame? We'll lets find out how to be famous.

I would like to thank Michal Sadowski, a mentor for the Founder Institute New York and the founder of Brand 24. Michal was kind enough to show me how to use his Brand 24's platform for monitoring your online presence.

How many online mentions do you need everyday to achieve fame? How can you be as famous as Taylor Swift. Lets find out how to be famous.

To start analyzing this I used Brand 24's platform to start monitoring the online presence of a few celebrities which were at different stages of fame. I first looked at Tim Ferriss, a 3x New York Times best selling author, famous blogger, and podcaster. Second I analyzed Casey Neistat, a HBO and mainstream film maker who is recently working on a daily vlogging project he publishes to YouTube. Last but not least I looked at the data for Taylor Swift, one of the most famous musicians and people on the planet. 

The key metric in determining popularity and fame we will be using is "daily mentions" when looking at the Brand 24 data. This data includes mentions on the open internet across blogs, forums, news, video, photo, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and more. So lets look at each of these celebrities to see their number of daily mentions in the last 30 days and estimated social reach. 

 

Tim Ferriss - 1,311 mentions across 30 days

How famous is Tim Ferriss? The case of Tim Ferriss is interesting because he has such a unique and loyal fan following as a New York Times bestseller, blogger, and podcaster. Tim Averaged between 25-75 mentions on the open web per day which creates in the tens of thousands for estimated audience size. Comparing the blue scale bar of mentions on the left, 0 - 100, to the green scale bar on the right of estimated social reach, 0 - 600k, it is very interesting to see how a small number of mentions can quickly multiply to a large audience. 

 

Casey Neistat - 3,237 mentions across 30 days

How famous is Casey Neistat? Casey's main platform is YouTube. He is also an avid SnapChatter, which unfortunately this analysis does not account for as it is privately scene in app on mobile devices. Across the open internet though Casey averaged about 50-100 mentions per day. These mentions generate an average estimated audience of 30 to 40 thousand people. This is on top of the almost 400,000 people who watch his new vlog everyday on YouTube. 

 

Taylor Swift - 122,647 mentions across 30 days

How famous is Taylor Swift?  In order to be as famous as Taylor Swift you would need 122,647 mentions in 30 days. See that spike in the number of mentions for Taylor around August 30th. That was the day after the MTV Video Music Awards. Between the awards she won, her crew that she brought along with her, and Kanye West eccentric acceptance speech the amount of people talking about Taylor Swift on a daily basis shot up to 6,000 mentions per day with an estimated social reach of 155,837,304 people. 

So in conclusion you can see that in order to be a famous as Taylor Swift you need to have on average about 4,000 online mentions every single day, which will generate you on average around 40 million person audience. Pretty incredible when you think about it. When is the last time that many people mentioned you on the internet in one day?

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