Kevin Siskar 2/13/18 Kevin Siskar 2/13/18

Anthony Pompliano Is Going Full Tilt To Invest In World-Class Blockchain And Crypto Asset Ventures

Anthony Pompliano is the Managing Partner at Full Tilt Capital, an early stage venture capital firm. Full Tilt Capital now focuses exclusively on investing in world-class companies in the blockchain and crypto asset space.

Anthony Pompliano, Managing Partner at Full Tilt Capital

Anthony Pompliano is the Managing Partner at Full Tilt Capital, an early stage venture capital firm. Full Tilt Capital focuses exclusively on investing in world-class companies in the blockchain and crypto asset space.

"Pomp" was raised in Raleigh, NC, and is one of the first south easterners that we have had on the Ambition Today podcast. He is the oldest brother of five and during his junior year of college, he was deployed to Iraq. During his deployment, he gained a unique perspective on life. His world traveling allowed him to learn about new cultures all around the world in order study human behavior. Once he returned from duty, he jumped into the world of Silicon Valley. He built two small technology businesses and worked for large tech companies like Facebook and Snapchat before starting Full Tilt Capital. Anthony brings us his knowledge, unique insight, and more on this episode of Ambition Today:

Life lessons from being deployed to Iraq
Building and selling his first technology business
What it was like working for Facebook
Full Tilt Capital's investment thesis
How important a founders self-honesty is
Why GPU will beat CPU's in the future
The story of Standard American Mining
Why Full Tilt is going all in on blockchain companies and crypto assets
How to build a successful Angel List Syndicate

Ambition Today Question of the Day™ :
"How do you think about and manage your personal brand, and also find time to get your day to day operations work done and build Full Tilt?

The Single Greatest Piece of Advice Anthony Has Ever Learned:
Join the Ambition Today A-list to listen now!

Quote Of The Episode:
"You don't have to be honest with me. I want you to be, but you don't have to be. You have to be honest with yourself."

Links from this episode:

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Podcast - Kevin Siskar - Apple Podcasts iTunes.png

Ambition Today Podcast - Kevin Siskar - Overcast.png

Ambition Today Podcast - Kevin Siskar - Sticher.png

Ambition Today Podcast - Kevin Siskar - Spotify.png

Ambition Today Podcast - Kevin Siskar - Google Play Music Podcast.png

Ambition Today Podcast - Kevin Siskar - Soundcloud.png

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!

Support The Show, Join The A-list

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…

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

Be sure to listen and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform.

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Founder Institute

WeWork

Kevin Siskar 2/6/18 Kevin Siskar 2/6/18

LIVE EVENT! Cryptocurrency, ICO, & Blockchain Law in 2018 with Joe Daniels of McCarter & English

This episode comes to you from the heart of New York City for our first live podcast episode discussing cryptocurrency, ICO, & blockchain law!

Joe Daniels, Co-Chair of McCarter & English Venture Capital & Emerging Growth Companies practice

This episode comes to you from the heart of New York City for our first live podcast episode discussing cryptocurrency, ICO, & blockchain law. In late January almost 100 founders gathered at the offices of McCarter & English for our January Founder Institute Meetup! The crypto founders there heard from Joe Daniels, who is the Co-Chair of the McCarter & English's Venture Capital & Emerging Growth Companies practice. Joe has worked on numerous SAFT & token offerings, including San Francisco based Quantstamp, which just raised $30 million in its pre-sale, along with Augmate, The Valorem Foundation, RealECoin, VIMarkets, CoinBoost, and RecylcleGO.

During this event, Joe reviewed the current cryptocurrency, blockchain, & initial coin offering laws in 2018. Learn the key things that you need to know about ICO's, the SEC, international business, SAFT agreements, and more. If you are interested in understanding the legalities around cryptocurrencies, tokens, and the blockchain, then you will definitely enjoy this episode. The slides that Joe is going over during his presentation are available below if you want to follow along. They are packed with information, such as:

What are Blockchain Tokens (Cryptocurrencies)
What is an ICO
How much has been raised in ICOs / SAFTs
How do SAFT agreements work
Regulatory Issues w/ ICOs
The SEC's response to the emergence of cryptocurrencies
Current Best Practices for cryptocurrencies

Follow Along With All The Slides From The Event:

Screen Shot 2018-02-02 at 5.08.32 PM.png

Listen to this episode now:

Support The Show, Join The A-list

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

Be sure to listen and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform.

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Founder Institute

WeWork

Kevin Siskar 1/18/18 Kevin Siskar 1/18/18

EO Global Chairman Brian Brault On Investing In Community And Yourself

Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Brian Brault; a successful entrepreneur that has been recognized twice in his career by Inc. 500 for building one of the fastest growing companies in America. Currently Brian is the Global Chairman of the Board at Entrepreneurs' Organization.

Brian Brault, Chairman of the Board at Entrepreneurs' Organization

Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Brian Brault; a successful entrepreneur that has been recognized twice in his career by the Inc. 500 for building one of the fastest growing companies in America. Currently Brian is the Global Chairman of the Board at Entrepreneurs' Organization.

He is also the founder of Advanced Facility Services and Pure Rooms which was deemed one of the best companies to work for in western New York and was awarded best entrepreneurial company in western New York.

A graduate of the University of Buffalo’s School of Business, Brian is very active on community boards. Being the Global Chairman for Entrepreneurs’ Organization Brian helps grow their network of 12,000 entrepreneurial members in 54 countries. He believes in surrounding yourself with strong people because your success is a product of the five people that you spend the most time with. Today Brian talks about:

What got him excited at a very young age to be an entrepreneur
How he build Advanced Facility Services & Pure Rooms
Why he supports Entrepreneur’s Organization globally
Do you need to be in a major market like NY to be successful?
His speech at the United Nations
The importance of community for founders
His 10/10/10 morning routine

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"What routines have you built in your life that contribute most to your success?"

The Single Greatest Piece of Advice Brian Has Ever Learned:
Join the Ambition Today A-list to listen now!

Quote Of The Episode:
“Everyone has a little bit of entrepreneurial spirit inside them it's just your tolerance for risk and how that is nurtured in your life will really determine how much you will pursue and build on that entrepreneurial spirit.”

Links from this episode:

Listen to this episode now:

Support The Show, Join The A-list

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

Be sure to listen and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform.

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Founder Institute

WeWork

Kevin Siskar 12/18/17 Kevin Siskar 12/18/17

How Peter Shankman Thinks "Faster Than Normal" And Built Help A Reporter Out (HARO)

On this episode of Ambition Today we explore Peter Shankman’s journey. Peter is the perfect example of what happens when you combine creativity with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Peter shows us how ADHD can be a gift and a strong advantage in business. He is not only an entrepreneur, but an author and a notable public speaker. Many know him for founding Help A Reporter Out, (HARO). He is also the founder of ShankMinds Business Masterminds and he is the Host of the Faster Than Normal Podcast.

Peter was born and raised in Manhattan, and was a New York City public school kid. After graduating from Boston University and going to Graduate school in Santa Barbara, CA, he started his professional career launching AOL Digital Newsroom. Peter is most well known for founding Help A Reporter Out, also known as HARO, which is the worlds largest public group of journalistic sources. In this episode, we talk about how Peter’s ADHD had a great impact on his many successes:

Growing up in New York City
Launching AOL Digital Newsroom
The importance of having incredible mentors like Steve Case
What is happening to the media industry today
How Peter built Help A Reporter Out, (HARO)
Using ADHD as an advantage
How to create life rules to optimize your time
Importance of self-awareness
Value of asking everyone "How Can I Help"

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"How do you think about attention management and how do you best optimize your life for it?"

The Single Greatest Piece of Advice Peter Has Ever Learned:
Join the Ambition Today A-list to listen now!

Quote Of The Episode:
"You have to put out 10 times the amount of help into the universe that you ask for."

Links from this episode:

Listen to this episode now:

Support The Show, Join The A-list

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

Be sure to listen and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform.

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Founder Institute

WeWork

Kevin Siskar 11/29/17 Kevin Siskar 11/29/17

Why Sean Ellis, Co-Author of Hacking Growth, Optimizes For Reputation And Learning

In 2010 Sean Ellis coined the term Growth Hacking and now he joins us on Ambition Today. Sean is the Co-author of Hacking Growth with Morgan Brown and currently the CEO of Growth Hackers.

Sean has had quite an impressive career both as a marketer and as an entrepreneur. He was the first marketer at Dropbox, Lookout and Xobni and he has taken companies LogMeIn and Uproar from launch to IPO. Sean is also known for popularizing the term product/market fit. We cover some of Sean's best practices for growing your company, as well as how he thinks of Growth Hacking as it continues to grow into the future. The story of Sean's entrepreneurial journey unlocks numerous insights along the way, including:

What is "Growth Hacking"
The role of family entrepreneurship on Sean
The value of spending time abroad
Being the first marketer at Dropbox, Lookout, & Eventbrite
How pushing through the fear of failure has lead to success
Making the leap from employee to entrepreneur
Optimizing for reputation and learning over money
How business teams need to be thinking about Growth
The value of having a chip on your shoulder

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"What excites you? What motivates you to keep going?"

The Single Greatest Piece of Advice Sean Has Ever Learned:
Join the Ambition Today A-list to listen now!

Quote Of The Episode:
"For me, the two big motivating factors were reputation and learning. I wanted to build a reputation because that would open the door to the best learning opportunities."

Links from this episode:

Listen to this episode now:

Support The Show, Join The A-list

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

Be sure to listen and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform.

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Founder Institute

WeWork

Kevin Siskar 11/15/17 Kevin Siskar 11/15/17

How Adeo Ressi Empowered 2,700+ People To Become Startup Founders

Over the summer we sat down with Adeo Ressi, the CEO of the Founder Institute, a startup accelerator program that operates in nearly 200 cities worldwide.

Over the summer we sat down with Adeo Ressi, the CEO of the Founder Institute, a startup accelerator program that operates in nearly 200 cities worldwide. Throughout his time as a founder, Adeo has pioneered innovations in the protection of founder rights, the raising of early-stage capital and the scaling of new businesses.

Previous to the Founder Institute, Adeo has helped to create nearly $2 billion in shareholder value by founding or running nine businesses, including TheFunded, Game Trust, Xceed and Total New York. Adeo previously served on the Board of the X Prize Foundation to pursue his interests in space exploration and techniques to motivate human achievement. Throughout this episode it is clear that Adeo is passionate about mentoring Founders, space exploration, inspiring people to achieve their greatness, and more which includes:

The personality traits of the best founders
How The Funded improved transparency in the VC industry
The role fluid intelligence plays in entrepreneurs
How Adeo helped 2,700 plus founders grow through the Founder Institute
Managing your investors and protecting your equity
How to build startup ecosystems
Why maintaining focus and avoiding distractions is mission critical
How do you give meaning to your life's work

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"What is the end game? Where do you see Founder Institute and all your life’s work going?"

Quote Of The Episode:
"There are a lot of shiny things in the sand, that look very appealing to you and may be a cause for you to think about pivoting or adjusting the business model. I can tell you that most of the shiny things in the sand are not diamonds, they are knives waiting to kill you. You have to be very, very, very diligent to remain focused on your core mission"

Links from this episode:

You can find the full transcript of this episode here.

Be sure to listen and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform.

Listen to this episode now:

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!

Support The Show, Join The A-list

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Founder Institute New York

Toptal

Kevin Siskar 11/13/17 Kevin Siskar 11/13/17

Why The Senate's Plan To Tax Employee Options At Vesting Is Bad For Startups

At this moment there are new Tax Reform plans proposed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The current proposal in the Senate plans to tax employee stock options at the moment of vesting, instead of when they are exercised, as is currently done.

Startups are the envy of the world for how innovative and fast moving they can be. However, they often lack the amount of cash in the bank required to pay employees a salary that is competitive with the top tech companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. To compensate for this, they give their employees an equity ownership in the company. Typically that equity vests monthly or quarterly over the span of four years. Here is a quick primer for anyone that wants to get brought up to speed on how "Startup Equity & Vesting" works.

When an employee is given stock options, those options are illiquid. Meaning they can not be sold or transferred for money until the company has a liquidable event (e.g., an exit such as an acquisition or going public). So when employees receive options they usually have to wait years before being able to turn them into cash.

What is the tangible effect? If passed, startup employees would be forced to pay taxes on these equity options, regardless of any realization of actual value.

As Fred Wilson said, "Taxing equity compensation upon vesting makes no sense. If this provision becomes law, startup and growth tech companies will not be able to offer equity compensation to their employees. We will see equity compensation replaced with cash compensation and the ability to share in the wealth creation at your employer will be taken away."

Passing this law will make it extremely difficult for startups to compete with bigger corporations for high-quality talent. I am personally signing on to a letter addressed to Sen. Orrin Hatch, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, to oppose the proposed new plan and ask that Section III(H)(1) be removed from the Senate bill. If you would like to speak up as well (with your local representative), you can find your senators here and your representative here, along with the phone number to their office.

Kevin Siskar 10/14/17 Kevin Siskar 10/14/17

How To Send Your Monthly Investor Updates

The single most powerful tool we have as humans is the ability to communicate. So it makes sense that this is one of the skillsets that all great founders need to master.

The single most powerful tool we have as humans is the ability to communicate. So it makes sense that this is one of the skillsets that all great founders need to master. Sending monthly investor updates is one of the best ways for a founder to maintain their existing connections and strengthen their new ones.

Long-term relationships are built with friends, family, and colleagues by staying close and in touch over long periods of time. It is so important that you still keep in contact with the people you want to stay close too, even when you think you don't have value to add or need something in the exact moment. One of Founder Institute New York’s mentors, Matt Rodak talked about the importance of sending monthly updates while building his startup company, Fund That Flip on an Ambition Today episode recently.

Benefits of Sending Investor Updates Frequently:

While this may seem overly simple at first glance, I assure you that many people take basic communication for granted and avoid the little bit of work it involves each month. For those that do send monthly updates, there are several non-obvious benefits aside from your company's business updates.

Being Top Of Mind:
- Even if you don't get a response, it keeps you on top of people's mind. That next meeting your investor has, they might bring you up while you are fresh on their mind.
Creating Stronger Relationships:
- Mark Suster has famously been quoted as saying people "Invest in Lines, Not Dots". Keeping in touch is how you build a long-term and enduring relationship. It's been that way since the caveman days and hasn't changed. It's human psychology.
Assuring Company & Personal Health:
- Most of the time that investors don't hear from a founder they assume their startup company is dead or well on its way. Or worse, they just forget about you entirely. You just fade away from their memories, replaced by fresher memories of other startup founders. Before the internet, this was a given. In the world of social media though, we take this for granted as many feel that "online presence" is enough. I assure you, that unless you are Mark Cuban, it is not.
Gaining Insights & Reflection:
- The process is insightful. Taking a moment to send someone an update on your life or business forces you to take a moment and reflect on the progress you have made in the last 30 days. In our busy lives, it is critical to make that time. As an additional bonus, you will be more productive and make better-informed decisions in the coming month as well.

Formatting:

So what should you include in your startup’s investor updates? You can find plenty of investor update examples and how-to articles that already exist when you google “Monthly Investor Updates." I am going to include links to many of my personal favorites below! There are many different styles of monthly investor updates, but most involve the same essentials.

Dear Kevin,

I hope you had an excellent August! For us it has been a mixed month, but we’re happy to report these developments.

Cash: Money in Bank and Monthly Expenses
Highlights:
KPIs:
Customers Update
Useful Graph, Image, or Screenshot
Employees/Team Changes
The Good:
The Bad:
Asks
Thank You's

Thank you,

Kyle
CEO, ACME Corporation

Monthly Investor Update Templates & Examples:

There are so many great investor update examples and investor update templates from some really amazing investors and founders: I collected some of the best investor update templates below for you:

So at the end of this month take even just one hour to send a monthly update. You should keep your update short and to the point. Think about what you have accomplished in the last month and what you need help achieving in the next month. Think about the people in your life that mentor and guide you. Hopefully, you already have them on a mailing list. And then send your update. You will be AMAZED at the compounding effects you will receive from putting monthly updates out there!

Kevin Siskar 7/28/17 Kevin Siskar 7/28/17

Andrew Weinrich Is Predicting Our Future

On this episode Andrew Weinrich sits down with us at his offices in Brooklyn New York. Andrew is the founder of Andrews Roadmaps and the host of the new "Predicting Our Future" podcast.

As a serial entrepreneur, Andrew created the first ever social network called, Six Degrees. At its height, SixDegrees had around 3,500,000 fully registered members before being bought by YouthStream Media Networks in 1999 for $125 million. In more recent years, Andrew has sold 2 more businesses including Xtify and Meet-Moi. He is currently the co-founder and Chairman of Indicative, a data analytics startup. He also hosts Predicting Our Future, a podcast about the next revolutions in technology. Andrew shares many incredible lessons from his experience over the last 20 years, such as:

How the first social network, Six Degrees, was created
What it was like to exit a company for over $100 million
How Social Networking has changed over the last 20 years
The future of Social Media
What ties all of Andrew's companies together
How to ride the "wave" of new technologies as they emerge
How he is Predicting Our Future

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"What advice do you have for people who are obsessing over getting rich and making a large amount of money to solve all of their problems?

Quote Of The Episode:
"You want to be a critical thinker. Investors assume first and foremost, that whatever plan you have is wrong. That whatever you launch won't be right, it will require pivoting. The question is are you someone who is capable of pivoting? If you're a critical thinker, you will be capable of pivoting."

"Entrepreneurs take advantage of moments in history. They are not determinative of those moments."

Links from this episode:

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today on iTunes Store Apple Podcasts for iOS, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android.

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Founder Institute New York

Toptal

Audible

Kevin Siskar 7/12/17 Kevin Siskar 7/12/17

Protecting The United States International Entrepreneur Rule

After being officially passed in January, the "International Entrepreneur Rule" was set to take effect July 17th, 2017 in the United States. This week though, the new rule was delayed by the Department of Homeland Security.

Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Elon Musk, Arianna Huffington, Sergey Brin, Vinod Khosla, And Phil Libin

The International Entrepreneur Rule is a critical effort to ensure that the best and the brightest foreign-born entrepreneurs could more easily grow the companies that will create American jobs here in the U.S. while expanding our economy. The delay by the DHS is unquestionably a setback for the United States in the global race for talent. We should be encouraging innovators to bring their new ideas, expertise, and unique skills to our country, rather than incentivizing them to put their talents to work for our competitors abroad.

As the Managing Director of the Founder Institute in New York I can say from first-hand experience the proposed International Entrepreneur Rule would be a big step forward for America. Time after time I have watched as prospective international founders come to Founder Institute New York to start a high-growth tech-enabled company, only to be stopped from incorporating and progressing the new company by the limitations of current immigration laws.

With an estimated 3,000 international entrepreneurs expected to apply per year to start companies within the US, the impact of this reform will have an immediate positive impact as well as create a long-term attraction for global entrepreneurs to build their companies right here in America.

A reform to immigration such as the proposed International Entrepreneur Rule will undoubtedly increase the amount of technological innovation, job creation, and economic value in the United States of America.

Starting now, people can submit public comment on the Federal Register's site. I strongly encourage you to use it as an opportunity to send a strong message to the administration that people are paying attention and we are not happy about the decision to rescind the International Entrepreneur Rule.

Submit Comment

Kevin Siskar 6/1/17 Kevin Siskar 6/1/17

Dennis Mortensen Is Hyper Focused On The Future Of Artificial Intelligence With X.ai

From the brand new Fulton Center in downtown Manhattan we bring you Dennis Mortensen. He is founder and CEO at X.ai, an artificial intelligence driven personal assistant named Amy who schedules meetings for you.

Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs in Denmark, Dennis initially strove to be a game engineer at IBM. He soon failed to resist the call to entrepreneurship though as he started and sold three of his first four companies. Dennis is now changing the way people interact with artificial intelligence by pioneering it's future. After raising $30+ million and growing the team to 93 people, he is hyper focused on building X.ai to rescue people's time. It is clear that focus is something he excels at from some of the unique lessons he shared:

Growing up in Denmark in a family of entrepreneurs
Difference between being a serial entrepreneur and a first time founder
The impact immigrants can have creating jobs in the United States
Importance of doing one thing really well
Keeping a clear mind is one of the keys to success
Why this wave of artificial intelligence is different from any before it
Where the future of Artificial Intelligence is going

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"As a serial entrepreneur how do you manage your life and prevent burnout?"

Quote Of The Episode:
"I take pride in the mental freedom Inbox Zero provides me every day. You can start to think again, and really good ideas come with that"

Links from this episode:

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android.

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Toptal

Audible

Founder Institute New York

Kevin Siskar 5/11/17 Kevin Siskar 5/11/17

Protecting Your Time

Both for better and for worse, the way we work in the new digital age is changing fast. The freedom to work anywhere is causing us to work everywhere. But are we really being productive (getting shit done) or creative (having original ideas), both of which are essential to building a strong business.

Both for better and for worse, the way we work in the new digital age is changing fast. The freedom to work anywhere is causing us to work everywhere. The result is that too often we find ourselves being pulled from email to meeting, to text message, to social media notification, to lunch meeting, to viral meme of the day, to phone calls, and so on. In what feels like the blink of an eye 8:00 am becomes 8:00 pm. We end the day having been incredibly busy. But are we really being productive (getting shit done) or creative (having original ideas), both of which are essential to building a strong business.

Time is the scarcest personal resource in existence. Unlike money, which every year the government prints more of, your time is finite. You can never get more time than the amount you were born with and therefore it is priceless. It is your duty to protect it.

Protecting your time so your mind has time to actually think and your body has time to actually get shit done is something which can be a bit tricky. I recently blew up my calendar to make some lifestyle changes in the pursuit of being more efficient, better focused, and having a greater clarity in the way I work. I have been finding these new changes very effective, so I thought I would share them with you.

Monday:

After the weekend it is important to start the week organized. Aside from one global call with the Founder Institute Directors from all over the world, Monday is reserved for E-mail and getting organized. Reaching inbox zero each Monday allows the peace of mind later in the week to know I am not missing anything urgent that may have come up this week. While answering and archiving e-mail, the action items from them get moved onto my to-do list for the week.

Tuesday:

Starting Tuesday with the peace of mind that my inbox is in great shape is incredibly refreshing. Especially because there will not be much time for e-mail today. Tuesdays are for meetings! I try to schedule all my meetings and coffees exclusively on Tuesdays. Back to back meetings can make for an exhausting day, but I have found I am able to give much more attention to being present & attentive during meetings, as I am not thinking about e-mail throughout the day. Again, the action items from my meetings get moved onto my to-do list for the week.

Wednesday, Thursday & Friday:

With the bulk of e-mail and meetings behind me for the week, it is now time to get shit done. It's time to throw on my headphones, a great playlist, and to start crossing tasks off of my to-do list. I use Todoist, which provides karma insights into how productive I am being week to week. I have seen a big uptick in the amount of actual productive work I have been getting done.

This time is also for getting your creative brain power flowing again. I have been finding that around Thursday afternoon I have usually accomplished enough tasks that the original ideas start to come flowing naturally again. These moments are essential if you want to actually innovate on your business in unique ways, as opposed to just doing what everyone else is.

Weekend:

Spend time with family and friends. Taking the time to maintain your personal relationships is vital to playing the long game of life. It will be a lonely and difficult journey without them. Many an entrepreneur have missed the mark here and you need to make sure you're not one of them.

Be bored! I mean it. To clarify though, watching Netflix is not being bored. That's just called relaxing. I am talking about actually letting your mind wander. This is when the best original ideas come to you. For you, this might be while in the shower. For me, this is at the gym, while I am driving, or while I am walking around New York City. You need to give creativity the room to strike you.

Over-ear headphones make a difference. I love my Apple Airpods while walking around the city, but they do a lousy job preventing you from hearing distractions like side conversations while you're working. Getting even a cheap $20 pair of over-ear headphones will help you focus.
Work to accomplish tasks within specific blocks of time. We have a shot clock style timer in the office we set when doing work. You may not always get your tasks done within the set amount of time, but regardless it will give you self-awareness into how long tasks are taking and how much you are actually getting done.
Tracking your progress is the only way to know how you're getting better. You can use services such as Escape or RescueTime to track how often you're getting distracted. And a to-do list app such as Todoist to track how many tasks you're accomplishing.
Set up something to block websites you traditionally find distracting. There are many to choose from but I have recently been using one called "Go F**cking Work" because I liked its motivational tone.
If you really need help pulling away from the addiction of technology then be sure to use Onward. A new app which helps you change your overuse behavior in 1 minute per day to achieve tech-life balance!

Obviously, this is a pretty rigid schedule that can be hard to maintain. And yes, there are weeks where meetings happen on a Monday, work happens on the weekends, or e-mails get answered on a Thursday, but think of this more as a goal. When you find what works best for you and you start to constantly follow it effectively, I promise you will start to get some of your brain power back for yourself. Allowing you to dictate your future as opposed to everyone else dictating it for you.

Kevin Siskar 3/30/17 Kevin Siskar 3/30/17

Startup News Essentials

At the start of every new cohort of Founder Institute New York I like to share some of my favorite news sources with the founders. I am going to share them here too!

At the start of every new cohort of Founder Institute New York I like to share some of my favorite news sources with the new founders. For many founders starting out, consuming the right news from the right sources can really help to plug you into the global startup and tech community.

If the old saying, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” is true, then one of the incredible advantages of the internet is the fact that you can customize whose opinions and knowledge you decide to spend the most time with.

The below list could easily be hundreds of links, but for the sake of simplicity I am going to focus on the core recommendations of what I read everyday. I am also going to focus mostly on news sources. I might do another post on the topic of specific blogs and which individuals to follow in the future. Feel free to add any more news sources that you love in the comments below and up vote the best ones!

For Everyone:

Nuzzel - This is my favorite news source! Nuzzel's algorithm finds trending articles from your personal network. And even better, they make it really easy to see the trending articles in influencer's networks as well.

Techmeme - If you want to know what the whole industry is talking about on any given day, then this is your one stop! The essential tech news of the moment curated by a mix of editors and an excellent algorithm.

Launch Ticker - Efficient tech news broken down to the most important three sentence summary of the original article. Really good at extracting the most important, essential, and relevant information from news to save you time.

Hacker News - Social news website focusing on computer science, tech and entrepreneurship.

Axios Pro Rata - Dan Primack's daily newsletter breaks news about deals and dealmakers from Wall Street to Sand Hill Road.

Fortune Term Sheet - Fortune's daily newsletter about venture capital deals and dealmakers.

Product Hunt - Because it is one of the most fun sites on the internet! And because Product Hunt is a curation of the best new products, every day. You will almost always leave the site with something new and exciting to check out.

Angel List - It is quickly becoming the case that if you want to "exist" in the startup world then you need to be active on AngelList. You can find trending companies, make a hire, invest in a syndicate, connect with other founders, and more. They recently acquired Product Hunt too!

For New Yorkers:

Digital NYC Voices - Tips and thoughts from the leaders in NYC business and government.

AVC - The only blog on this list because Fred Wilson's insightful posts have become daily reading. The comments from the community are often just as good as the original content.

NYC Innovation Collective - A semi-monthly newsletter that is the byproduct of over 70 NYC startup accelerators, incubators, innovation programs coming together to share resources and news!

Gary's Guide - Weekly collection of all the startup and tech events happening in New York. Gary does an excellent job curating the information each week, and oh by the way he wears a red tie you can advertise on IRL!

Charlie O'Donnell's Weekly Newsletter - A curated list of NYC innovation community events each Monday morning.

Gothamist - Never miss a NYC meme again. From breaking news on the cronut, to mayoral soda tax scandals, to changes in the subway system, to Banksy's central park popup stand, the Gothamist constantly has you covered!

Kevin Siskar 12/20/16 Kevin Siskar 12/20/16

Joe Fairless' Journey From Madison Avenue To An $85 Million Real Estate Portfolio

Ambition Today Kevin Siskar Joe Fairless

In keeping with last weeks' real estate theme, Episode 25 of Ambition Today finds us across the table from Joe Fairless, Real Estate Investor and Host of the Best Real Estate Investing Advice Ever Show. Joe set his roots in advertising after a bit of soul-searching during his undergrad years at Texas Tech. Fighting complacency, he left Madison Ave. for the allure of real estate investing and entrepreneurship, and was met with incredible success, with due credit to his persistence and work ethic.

Owing his early sense of drive to his start in landscaping, Joe Fairless has always had an entrepreneurial mindset. After leaving his teenage lawn-mowing business, J&J Landscaping, Joe tried to cling to his high school football career by attending a junior college near his home town of Dallas. After transferring, he went on to graduate with a degree in advertising and quickly rose through the ranks of executive marketing, while investing in real estate as a side project and finding passion in that venture. Joe applied his trademark tenacity to his newfound love of investing and now controls approximately $85 million worth of rental property. Kevin digs into the factors behind Joe's success, and much more:

The seemingly hidden on-ramp of landscaping as a teenage job to eventually invest in real estate.
Exploring passions during college to find what interests you.
Applying lessons from the corporate world to an entrepreneurial startup.
Leaving a comfortable job to pursue your real dreams.
How to break into the shark-infested waters of commercial real estate.
The 75/25 rule of listening/asking when approaching mentors.
Acknowledging your strengths.
Acknowledging your weaknesses and surrounding yourself with people who help make up for them.
The grit of making your ambition come to life.

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"As a thought leader, how does ambition play a role in your life?"

Quote Of The Episode:
"Don't get caught up trying to be everywhere at once, find the platform that makes sense for your skill sets and what you enjoy doing. Then own it." - Joe Fairless

“Be different before being incrementally better.” - Joe Fairless

Links from this episode:

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android.

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Toptal

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Kevin Siskar 12/9/16 Kevin Siskar 12/9/16

How Matt Rodak Plans To Fund Every House Flip In America with Fund That Flip

Any amount of research into the seemingly eternal-growing market of real estate investment will almost surely make one familiar with Matt Rodak, Founder and CEO of Fund That Flip.

Any amount of research into the seemingly eternal-growing market of real estate investment will almost surely make one familiar with Matt Rodak. The 2007 John Carroll grad is the founder and CEO of Fund That Flip, a company which allows anyone to apply for fast and affordable funding in the rehabilitative real estate investment business. The New York based startup had already raised $2 million by April 2016, shortly after graduating from Manhattan's Entrepreneur Roundtable Accelerator in the summer of 2015 and Founder Institute New York prior to that. Fund That Flip finds its niche by bridging the gap between accredited investors and vetted real estate rehab projects in the U.S.

On this episode of Ambition Today, Matt Rodak discusses his seemingly inevitable entrepreneurial roots (despite his "best efforts") as the son of a business owner. He explains how his relationship with his father, and him owning his own company before and during college, led to Matt's on-again, off-again kinship with business ownership. Today, Matt capitalizes on the experiences of his youth by taking action to solve the problems he notices in his industry, such as streamlining the loan application process for prospective "flippers". We hear about his journey to where he is, his advice on how to get there, and much more:

Maturing in an entrepreneurial-spirited family.
Paying for college by advancing a teenage lawn-mowing gig to a profitable business that he was able to sell during his sophomore year at JCU.
Being introduced to the real estate market through his early exposure to landscaping.
What to study in college vs. what to leave to education via real-world experience.
Bringing an entrepreneurial spirit to a non-entrepreneurial position at a large business.
Using lessons from upper management to implement starting a business.
Creating a business to streamline and eliminate the fallacies of market norms.
Employing the JOBS Act to capitalize on a brand-new industry.
Ownership vs. Accountability in life.

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:
"How do you align the ambitions of your team with the ambitions of the company?"

Links from this episode:

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android.

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Toptal

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Kevin Siskar 11/9/16 Kevin Siskar 11/9/16

Lessons Howard Love Learned While Sitting On Both Sides Of The Table

Over the last 30 years Howard Love has founded 15 companies and invested in over 50 early stage startups. His new book "The Startup J Curve" organizes his experience into the 6 phases startups go through as they grow. Howard also is the Founder & CEO of LoveToKnow, a digital publishing firm with over 30 million monthly visitors.

With coal magnates and aviators as his ancestors, entrepreneurship has been in Howard's bloodline for generations. In this episode, Kevin speaks to Howard about what he has learned from sitting on both sides of the table, both as a founder and an investor. We also discuss the 6 phases all startups go through according to Howard's new book The Startup J Curve. We also hear about the value of getting a formal education versus learning directly from the real world and much more:

Growing up in a family that encourages and breeds entrepreneurial spirit.
Dropping out of college to get real world experience.
Being resourceful in the startup space.
The grit it takes to get your company off the ground.
The knowledge and insight gained from writing a book.
Advancing the dialogue of startup culture through understanding of the J-curve.
The phases of a company: create, release, morph, model, scale, and harvest.

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:

"When you think about the younger version of yourself, how do you reconcile where you are now, and where you thought you would be?"

Links from this episode:

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android.

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Toptal

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Kevin Siskar 10/23/16 Kevin Siskar 10/23/16

Kelly Roach, From NFL Cheerleader To Million Dollar Brand

Kelly Roach is the founder of Kelly Roach Coaching and host of the Unstoppable Success Radio podcast. With a resume of NFL cheerleader, fitness enthusiast, and mother, Kelly doesn’t exactly fit the usual business coach profile. In Episode 22 of Ambition Today Kelly gives us some great insight into how she leverages her unique experience to grow her businesses, how she published an internationally bestselling book, and why she started the Unstoppable Success Radio podcast.

Growing up in a financially struggling family, Kelly learned the value of hard work at a very early age while working for the NFL before she was 20. With an unparalleled work ethic she quickly climbed the ladder of success in Corporate America. Soon after she then realized her passion for aiding others in pursuit of their dreams. We cover how Kelly now does just that and more on this episode of Ambition Today:

Going out and working for what you want at an early age.
Applying her degree in Communications to create productive interactions in the business environment.
The importance of travel in shaping a healthy lifestyle mentality.
Lessons learned from holding multiple positions on an NFL team.
Appreciating the value of lesser jobs to build knowledge before having your dream job.
The inherent ebb and flow of startups.
Lifestyle building via business development.
Why building a personal brand is so important now.
Publishing her bestselling book & starting a podcast.
The necessity of human contact in growing your business.

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:

"What does Ambition mean to you and how do you satisfy your personal ambition each day?"

Links from this episode:

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android.

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Toptal

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Kevin Siskar 10/18/16 Kevin Siskar 10/18/16

Pioneering The Social Media Frontier With Jonathan Abrams, Founder & CEO of Nuzzel

The godfather of social media, Jonathan Abrams, joins us on this episode of Ambition Today. He is now the founder & CEO of Nuzzel, a new platform to discover the top news from your friends and influencers. Letting users cut through the muddle of content on social media to emphasize only their most relevant content. Previously, Jonathan has founded several other companies; Socializr, HotLinks, Founder's Den and most notably Friendster. He is also a top-rated mentor at The Founder Institute and has been extensively involved in the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial community for over ten years.

After growing up in Canada and working for Nortel he became an employee at Netscape during it's prime. Abrams went on to found Friendster in 2002 before the wider adoption of, at the time newcomers; MySpace (2003), Hi5 (2003), Facebook (2004) and other social networking sites. Friendster was one of the first of these sites to attain over 1 million members. In 2012, Abrams recognized a fallacy in the market of social news readers, when the programs of the time weren’t what he was looking for: fast, easy-to-use, and social. Today Jonathan talks about his solution to this problem with his new company Nuzzel, his appearance on Chelsea on Netflix, and much more:

Navigating the seemingly minuscule Canadian computer science marketplace.
Being a first-time entrepreneur during the dot-com boom and bust.
How Friendster competed with Facebook in the developing market of social media.
Using social curation to launch Nuzzel.
Trying to reach a wide audience with relevant information.
The future of Nuzzel.
Why e-mail remains king in the world of social media.
Surviving in Silicon Valley by not getting ahead of yourself.
The future of the social landscape.

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:

"What does Ambition mean to you and how do you satisfy your personal ambition each day?"

Links from this episode:

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android.

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Toptal

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Kevin Siskar 10/12/16 Kevin Siskar 10/12/16

Jesse Middleton Talks Building WeWork Labs And Investing With Flybridge Capital

Over the years WeWork has grown to become an $16 billion empire of co-working office spaces that are disrupting the traditional real estate markets all over the world. Our guest today, Jesse Middleton, joined the team as the founder of WeWork Labs, the company’s startup focused community. Since then he has helped the company grow into the giant it is today. Recently he has just joined the venture capital firm Flybridge as a General Partner.

Over the years WeWork has grown to become a $16 billion empire of co-working office spaces that are disrupting the traditional real estate markets all over the world. Our guest today, Jesse Middleton, joined the team as the founder of WeWork Labs, the company’s startup focused community. Since then he has helped the company grow into the giant it is today. Recently he has just joined the venture capital firm Flybridge as a General Partner.

Early on with entrepreneurial parents, Jesse learned that he did not have to take the traditional path in life and that he could forge his own future. He started to do just that, as he founded his first company before even going to college. Fast forward to Fast Company magazine once comparing Jesse to Jack Dorsey, then onto his time building WeWork Labs, and now his time as a VC at Flybridge. Jesse has a great story full of many lessons, such as:

Recognizing at an early age the ability to create your own path in life.
The importance of keeping a clear focus at the early stages of a new company.
How Jesse founded WeWork Labs.
Just get started and go.
The lessons from actively helping grow a $16 billion company.
Why long term vision is so important for the founders of companies.
What is next for WeWork Labs.
The intersection of community building and being an investor.
The future of Venture Capital.

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:

“What does Ambition mean to you and how has it driven you?”

Links from this episode:

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android.

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Toptal

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Kevin Siskar 8/23/16 Kevin Siskar 8/23/16

Swallow The Frog 🐸

“If you know you have to swallow a frog, swallow it first thing in the morning. If there are two frogs, swallow the biggest one first.” -Mark Twain

"Swallow The Frog."

I heard that phrase recently. It wasn't the first time I heard it and apparently Mark Twain originally said it quite some time ago. His original Swallow The Frog quote was:

“If you know you have to swallow a frog, swallow it first thing in the morning. If there are two frogs, swallow the biggest one first.” -Mark Twain

As human's we are all guilty of procrastination. In fact, it is actually programmed in us to do so.

Tim Urban knows that procrastination doesn't make sense, but he's never been able to shake his habit of waiting until the last minute to get things done. In this hilarious and insightful talk, Urban takes us on a journey through YouTube binges, Wikipedia rabbit holes and bouts of staring out the window -- and encourages us to think harder about what we're really procrastinating on, before we run out of time.

Making sure you swallow a frog on your todo list each day is so important for progress in one's life and especially in entrepreneurship.

For some reason when Matt Rodak reminded me of the swallow the frog meaning in a recent conversation, it stuck with me. I woke up the next day, looked at my Todo list in ToDoist and starting swallowing some of the larger frogs on my list! I completed the items that I really hated doing normally and that had this stench of anxiety around completing. And I felt great afterword!

The best part about swallowing the frog earlier in the day is you don't spend the whole rest of the day thinking about it. It's done. It's gone. The progress is made and you can now use your brain power in other productive ways. And if you do the worst part of your day first thing in the morning then when bad things happen the rest of the day, they are quickly put in perspective as not that awful.

One little productivity hack I started to use that I think you might find useful is this. When I caught myself snoozing an item on my todo list or I found myself feeling anxiety around an item to work on, I started adding the frog emoji 🐸 in front of the task's name. That way the next time I looked at my todo list, I knew exactly which I item's I needed to accomplish first that day.

So tomorrow wake up and Swallow The Frog. Ensure you get the tasks you dread the most, done first each day! And if you have to swallow more then one frog each day (as most startups founders do) then make sure you swallow the ugliest and wart-iest first! And if you still need help, someone even wrote a swallow the frog book, which might be helpful.

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Follow Along With All The Slides From The Event:

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Benefits of Sending Investor Updates Frequently:

Formatting:

Monthly Investor Update Templates & Examples:

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday, Thursday & Friday:

Weekend:

More:

For Everyone:

For New Yorkers:

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Toptal

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Toptal

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Toptal

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Toptal

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Toptal

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Listen to this episode now:

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Toptal

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York