How Jeff Stewart Helps Loan Money To Strangers All Over The World With Lenddo

Lend an ear as we interview how NY Serial Entrepreneur Jeff Stewart founded numerous companies, including his most recent business, Lenddo.

Jeff was a pioneer in the early days of the internet. He started Square Earth in the mid 90's and it eventually got acquired. His second company Mimeo was started in 1998 and is still operating today. Now he is the Founder and Chairman of Lenddo, which uses non-traditional data such as your social media profiles to provide credit scoring and verification to economically empower the emerging middle class around the world. To hear about the rest of Jeff's business ventures and life lessons be sure to check out the whole episode, including: 

• How Dale Carnegie's writing influenced Jeff's early years.

• The advantages of understanding the technology within your products.

• How Jeff watched the internet double in size in one day.

• Jeff's experience guiding Mimeo through the financial dot com crash.

• The parallels between the dot com crash and the 2015-2016 "tech bubble".

• What is an Entrepreneur in Residence?

• The power of having customers before you have a company.

• The pains of being too early to market within an industry.

• How do you verify a person's identity?

• The importance of having the right team.

• How to find the a great advisor!

Ambition Today Question of the Day™:

How important is being the right location to achieving one’s goals?

Links from this episode:

• Jeff Stewart

• Lenddo

• Mimeo

• Urgent Speed

• DFJ Gotham

• Six Degrees

• Toptal

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, on Google Play Music or Stitcher for Android. 

Listen to this episode now: 

 

Ambition Today Episode Sponsors:

Toptal

 

Audible.com

 

Founder Institute New York

FounderX Brings 42 Global Companies To Silicon Valley

This week is the Founder Institute's inaugural 'FounderX' event in Silicon Valley. 42 top up-and-coming FI Graduates from across the globe were invited to participate. Attending from Founder Institute New York are DADA, Easy Aerial, Mise en place and Ward eSports.

FounderX was reserved for FI Graduates on the cusp of significant growth, providing them with valuable office hours and strategic assistance from Adeo Ressi (CEO of the Founder Institute) and other top startup mentors, access to the exclusive FounderX event, and a VC roadshow to visit top Silicon Valley investors; such as Sequoia Capital, FLOODGATE, Venrock, Shasta Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Mohr Davidow, True Ventures, Founders Fund, Altos Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and 500 Startups. 

FounderX is a private gathering of the FI Network in Silicon Valley that will bring together some of the biggest industry leaders from around the world. This 3-day long event from May 4 - 6, 2016 will feature a series of networking events, workshops, and formal dinners for top members from FI’s global network, including startup CEOs, technology executives, and Directors.

Below were the "up-and-coming" FI Graduate companies selected to the program.

1. Aomm.tv & Founder Maria Cebrian (Madrid Founder Institute): Aomm.tv is the leading Spanish-speaking yoga and pilates online platform, offering a growing catalog of 500+ customizable classes shot in HD video and taught by top teachers from all over the world. The company already has 6,000+ active subscribers.
2. Asegurate Facil & Founder Juan Ayala (Bogota Founder Institute): Asegurate Facile is an online insurance broker for Spanish-speaking markets, with products spanning auto, travel, and more. The company also has over 5,000 customers.
3. Ask PAM & Founder Pamela Alfred (Montreal Founder Institute): Ask PAM is a web-based productivity & management tool for the modern-day Concierge. The company is already working with several five-star hotels, and top tourism and event organizations in their limited trial.
4. Auto Force & Founder Ben Lin (Silicon Valley Founder Institute): Auto Force is used-car marketplace that has already facilitated several hundred car sales, and is generating signficant revenue.
5. Azestfor & Founder Siobhan Oldham (Los Angeles Founder Institute): Azestfor produces canine nutritional supplements, with the ultimate mission of helping dogs lead longer and healthier lives. The company's online sales are growing very quickly, and it also have several high-end pet boutiques as customers.
6. Bandwagon & Founders Harold Hughes & Susan Donkers (Greenville Founder Institute): Bandwagon is an online fan community and ticket marketplace that helps fans optimize their game day experience. The company is securing inventory and growing sales significantly. 
7. DADA & Founder Beatriz Ramos (New York Founder Institute): DADA is a 'Facebook for Artists' - a social platform where people speak to each other through drawings. The company already has nearly 150,000 users. 
8. Daylighted & Founder Alex Cammarano (San Francisco Founder Institute): Daylighted brings art to places where people go through interactive art galleries. The company works with top hotel chains like Sofitel and Joie de Vivre, and has been posting triple digit QoQ growth.
9. Easy Aerial & Founder Ivan Stamatovski (New York Founder Institute): Easy Aerial provides infrastructure inspection services to utility companies using drone deployment technology, saving customers time and money. The company has raised funding and received top media.
10. Energyly (Vidabest) & Founder Dayal Nathan (Bangalore Founder Institute): Energyly is developing a blended hardware-software energy analytics product to help small and medium-sized businesses reduce their energy consumption. The company has already signed on 20+ B2B customers to date.
11. Find Bob & Founder Roland Chan (Toronto Founder Institute): The Find Bob platform makes it easy to internally transition financial practices so firms can protect & grow their most precious asset: their Book of Business. The company has already signed on 500+ customers, including the largest general agent in Canada.
12. Flystro & Founder Bassam Rhou (Montreal Founder Institute): Flystro is an online marketplace connecting drone pilots to clients needing drone filming services. The company has already recruited a significant number of top drone pilots, and starting to generate revenue through bookings. 
13. Genial.ly & Founder Juan Rubio Lopez (Cordoba, Spain Founder Institute): Genial.ly is an interactive content creation software to create images, presentations, infographics and more with interactive effects and animation. The company already has 85,000+ users from 150+ countries.
14. Hava.io & Founder James Martelletti (Melbourne Founder Institute): Hava is a platform that creates automated cloud diagrams with two clicks, helping to reduce waste in cloud IT systems. The company has 1000+ users and recently secured a $500,000 seed round.  
15. Indigo Drones & Founder Sergio Ballester (San Jose, Costa Rica Founder Institute): Indigo Drones is a company that utilizes aerial drones for imagery, remote data monitoring, and management of crops. The company has already signed three contracts with pineapple, banana and coffee producers.
16. KangarooHealth & Founder Xiaoxu Kang (San Francisco Founder Institute): KangarooHealth creates cloud software platforms for orthopedic physicians to track patients' outcomes and improve their bottom line. The company already has paying customers and was selected as a top digital health start-up by the Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Innovation Program. 
17. Kangarootime & Founder Scott Wayman (Los Angeles Founder Institute): Kangarootime automates the child care business, the class room and connecting childcare professionals with the families they serve. The company already has secured many customers and is booking six figure monthly recurring revenues.
18. MakerBloks & Founder Francois Poirier (Montreal Founder Institute): MakerBloks are electronic building blocks that teach kids basic STEM concepts, complemented by an app that links the blocks to interactive stories. The company has won several competitions, has signed LOIs with top retailers, and is about to surpass $100,000 in pre-sales.
19. Maven & Founder Alissa Cronau (Sydney Founder Institute): Maven is an app to help artists promote their music on streaming services, through building a curator network that will offer artists targeted databases and allow fans to receive more music to suit their taste. The company is bootstrapping and growing very quickly.
20. Mise en place & Founder Vicente DyReyes (New York Founder Institute): Mise en place brings people back around the dinner table through fully prepped recipes and same-day delivery. The company has already raised funding and established on-brand partnerships with Athleta, Sir Kensington's, lululemon and Martha Stewart's American Made.  
21. NUKERN & Founder Philippe Rivard (Montreal Founder Institute): Nukern is a full software solution that helps customers set their web hosting business on autopilot. The company recently launched a very popular open beta, and is growing very quickly.  
22. deLaGuayaba & Founder Eric de La Goublaye de Menorval (Costa Rica Founder Institute): deLaGuayaba offers a Predictive Project Management Software as a Service to reduce operation costs and cycle time. After completing a successful pilot program, new companies are joining OASIS platform at an impressive rate.
23. OnContracting & Founder Pradeep Chauhan (Seattle Founder Institute): OnContracting is the top global platform for finding vetted local professionals for onsite contract jobs at major corporations. The company is nearing $1MM in billing for for contractors placed at top companies like Microsoft, Google and Apple.
24. Partfiniti & Founder Geoff Laycock (Washington DC Founder Institute): Partfiniti makes the process of creating and pricing a bill of materials not suck. The company already has thousands of users and is booking six figure revenues.  
25. Peerfunder & Founder Jonathan Lam (Toronto Founder Institute): Peerfunder is a peer-to-peer revenue-based lending marketplace focused exclusively on helping main street businesses finance their growth and expansion. The company has secured significant funding, and has also secured over $300,000 in committed capital to fund Peerfunder loans.    
26. ProfHire & Founder Lesa Hammond (Silicon Valley Founder Institute): ProfHire is a web platform that connects colleges and universities with vetted scholars and industry professionals for part-time faculty positions. The company is already working with 8 top universities across California, with thousands of professionals on the platform. 
27. RentHunt & Founder Pierre Sabbagh (Montreal Founder Institute): RentHunt is a matching platform that helps landlords find their perfect tenant. The company is growing quickly, and recently secured a partnership to facilitate the management of over 45,000 rental units.
28. Rever & Founder Errette Dunn (Silicon Valley Founder Institute): Rever is a Frontline Innovation platform that helps companies engage their non-office workers in daily improvement through mobile technology and Machine Learning. The company has secured funding and is currently engaged in a pilot with Tesla. 
29. RushTix & Founder Jill Bourque (Silicon Valley Founder Institute): RushTix is the first unlimited pass to local arts and culture. The company was accepted to the LAUNCH Incubator, and has already signed up large companies like Salesforce for their perks program. 
30. Shapetrace & Founder Ernest Yap (Toronto Founder Institute): Shapetrace develops AR/VR software for construction teams that enables same-day error detection and reduce re-work costs. The company already has active pilot projects with two of Canada's largest transportation projects, and more.
31. Skinnyprice & Founder Daniel McGuire (Silicon Valley Founder Institute): Skinnyprice makes marketing technology for retailers that improves engagement by taking the traditional sale and turning it into a game for discounts. Skinnyprice recently landed a deal with a $200 million dollar per year furniture retailer to power their sales platform.
32. Stample & Founder Edward Silhol (Paris Founder Institute): Stample creates technology to facilitate knowledge curation for teams, allowing you collect, capitalizee and publish collaboratively. The company's is already showing 3 figure month over month growth rates.  
33. Swaple & Founder Bridget Farmer (Sydney Founder Institute): Swaple is a new payment platform for the sharing economy that lets Entrepreneurs swap services with each other instead of using cash. The company is quickly signing up users for their paid subscription service.
34. tForm & Founder Benjamin Moore (Greenville Founder Institute): tForm has developed quick responding custom thermoformed packaging to help manufacturing companies solve the problems of poor quality, slow delivery, and high prices. The company has already quoted over $2MM of product with a win rate of 10%.
35. theTravelPorter & Founder Katia Mavrikou (Athens Founder Institute): theTravelPorter is a marketplace for extraordinary tours and activities. The company is already generating sales, and is signing key partnerships in the travel industry. 
36. Touch'd & Founder Mohammad Mansoor (Islamabad Founder Institute): Touch'd is a personal relationship manager that learns from your interactions over calls, text, WhatsApp, Email, social meda, and gives timely touch-base reminders. Their successful beta launch is helping them generate 100% MoM growth.
37. Upfluence & Founder Kevin Creusy (Silicon Valley Founder Institute): Upfluence develops algorithms and software to scale influencer marketing. The company booked seven figures in 2015, and is growing at a rate of over 650% QoQ.   
38. Ward eSports & Founder Jose Lincuna (New York Founder Institute): Ward eSports is a mobile app connecting global eSports fans with their local gaming communities. The company has already secured key partnerships with over 20 major event organizers, and there are 60 tournaments already live on the platform.
39. WealthTab & Founder Mike Blicker (Montreal Founder Institute): WealthTab is an integrated, white-labeled platform for financial professionals and their clients. The company is currently in private beta and is signing up financial professionals at an impressive rate.
40. Whizmeal & Founder Droston Tang (Singapore Founder Institute): Whizmeal is an app helping parents pre-order better, affordable school meals to help curb childhood obesity. The company received an official letter of support from Health Promotion Center, the Ministry of Health, and Brunei Darussalam to have the app implemented in private schools.
41. XBand Sports & Founder Jose Doval (San Diego Founder Institute): XBand Sports creates intuitive, easy to use training aides that are designed to give coaches and athletes deeper insight into their form through shareable,  automated video clips and data. The company is already generating sales and acquiring significant strategic endorsements.
42. Yo Viajo & Founder Dagoberto Medina (Costa Rica Founder Institute): Yo Viajo is an app that provides accurate and intelligent information to users of public transportation in Costa Rica. The company is currently cultivating a close relationship with Costa Rica's goverment.

2016 Startup Funding Trends With Adeo Ressi

Adeo Ressi at Valley in Berlin 2016

In 2015 it was all the rage to be a "unicorn", a startup company with a billion dollar valuation. Since then the supposed "startup and tech bubble" has popped and the gold rush is over. But what is really happening with the markets? 

Alex Konrad recently gave us some insight on Ambition Today and now today we have a more in-depth explanation of what is happening from Adeo Ressi, the founder of the Founder Institute. Last month Adeo was in Germany for the "Valley in Berlin Summit" and keynoted a talk around the 2016 Startup Funding Trends we are currently seeing. If you are thinking about fundraising, have a startup, or plan on starting your own company you are going to want to watch the keynote below. 

Founder Institute New York Graduates FINY10

Wednesday February 24th celebrated the graduation of FI NY 10. The tenth batch of the Founder Institute in New York. The Fall 2015 semester in New York's Silicon Alley ends with nine great companies. Of course none of this would be possible with out the incredible lessons, experience, and wisdom brought to the program by our mentors. 

Here are the new companies building a better tomorrow: 

DealGeeks - Drive foot traffic into your business.

Donate Me - Help vetted students go to the college they deserve.

Home-Cooked Dinner Club - Fastest way to a home-cooked meal.

My Citizen Source -  The first U.S. citizenship game.

Paction - Friend to friend marketing platform. 

Pocmi - Connecting companies with international talent.

Ready To Go Survival - Personalized emergency survival packages.

Sofos Labs -  On-demand one-on-one legal experts.

Stareable - Searchable. Shareable. Stareable.

Mise En Place Featured In Gilt City New York

This week is quickly turning into the week of startup companies on this blog and here comes another one. Starting today Founder Institute New York graduate company Mise En Place has launched an exclusive deal going on with Gilt City right now!

If you live in New York City and haven't tried a meal delivery service before (or even if you have tried Blue Apron and then realized its prep times take FOREVER) then Mise En Place is probably for you. I personally have tried both Blue Apron and Mise En Place and much prefer the simplicity and high quality meals Mise En Place provides. 

MEPnyc for short, Mise En Place is working to bring families back around the dinner table by providing fully prepped meals for two, that are available with same day delivery. There are a few options for you to give Mise En Place a try through Gilt City before February 19th. I suggest grabbing the "$25 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two" for $5 or at the very least make sure you grab the FREE "$15 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two" before the deal ends! 

• $15 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two - Free
• $25 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two - $5
• Two Meals for Two Membership - $44
• Three Meals for Two Membership - $66

Easy Aerial On "All-American Makers" This Wednesday

Last week I featured Easy Aerial as the Startup Of The Week. Today I am super-excited to announce that Easy Aerial will be featured this Wednesday at 8PM EST on Discovery's Science Channel during this weeks episode of "All-American Makers".

Easy Aerial's latest product, Easy Drone XL Pro, was chosen to be featured in the second season and Ivan, founder and CEO of Easy Aerial, claims to have put it through some rough testing on the show! So set your DVR or tune in Wednesday night to join the Founder Institute New York family as we look into the unique design features of Easy Aerial's modular approach while exploring the future of drones as smart and helpful autonomous machines.

Startup Of The Week: Fund That Flip

I am starting a new blog segment called the "Startup Of The Week", or S.O.T.W.™ for short, where I plan to highlight a great startup each week. There are several startups working to make the world a better place and I want to tell you a little bit more about some of them. The Startup Of The Week I have selected for the week of January 25th is Fund That Flip. 

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Fund That Flip

Founder: Matt Rodak, CEO

Headquarters: New York, New York          Operating: United States

One sentence pitch: The easiest way to fund your real estate investments.

In my words: Fund That Flip connects real estate investors, starting at only a $5,000 minimum, who are looking to invest money with house flippers that are looking to borrow money for an upcoming renovation.

In their words: "We are technology, real estate and financial service professionals on a mission to create new opportunities for Investors to take advantage of the positive returns real estate can provide. At the same time, we are helping re-developers access a new source of capital so they can focus on what they do best – finding and rehabilitating homes so they are again livable. Leveraging our team’s diverse expertise and new legislation passed as part of the JOBS Act, we are building the preferred real estate investment marketplace for investors and re-developers."

Accomplishments: 

• Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator
• Founder Institute New York

How it Works:  

If you want to learn more or let me know your thought on this week's Startup Of The Week you can contact me here.

Ambition Today: Justin Dombrowski Uncovers The Power Of Curiosity, History, Bitcoin, & Education In Life

Break out your pen and paper and get ready to take notes because you will be tested on this episode! Justin Dombrowski, Principal at Historiocity teaches some incredible lessons during Episode #11 of Ambition Today. 

One of my favorite quotes from this episode perfectly embodies Justin's strong curiosity from a young age: 

"I was trying to figure what kind of things best explained the world that I was interested in."

Justin has more degrees than you can count from institutions such as Columbia and Oxford. The real question though is why? Listen in to find out what Justin thinks of his personal experience with the formal education he has received and how he compares it to the world of entrepreneurship. 

Through all his education Justin has become an expert on world history. We talk about what the past can teach us and ask the question: does history repeat itself? In his post academic life Justin now applies his intellect as an expert in the world of Cryptography, Bitcoin, and Financial Technology. Episode 11 of Ambition Today is packed with the following: 

• The power of curiosity.

• How to manage curiosity.

• How the access to information is changing education.

• The value of formal education in the modern world.

• How to use history to understand today.

• Does history repeat itself?

• How core human behavior is the golden thread unifying history across centuries.

• Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?

• What is the future of Bitcoin.

• How will Bitcoin impact the world.

• The importance of living life.

Ambition Today Question of the Day:

What kind of education is most valuable?

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

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Links from this episode: 

• New York Startup Founder 101

• Audible

• Justin Dombrowski on Twitter

• Columbia

• Oxford

• Founder Institute

• Satoshi Nakamoto

• Coinbase Wallet for Bitcoin

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…

Listen to this episode now: 

Ambition Today Podcast Sponsors:

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Ambition Today: John Federico, Co-Founder Of Event Hero On The Future Of Podcasting, Marketing, and Superman

What an event episode ten of Ambition Today is as Jon Federico, co-founder of Event Hero and @GadgetBoy himself comes on the show all the way from warm and sunny Austin, Texas. 

Ever wonder why most podcasts are sponsored by Audible.com? Today we a speaking with John Federico who years ago worked at Audible and invented the podcast affiliate program. Through the years he also worked at Advance Internet, Blog Talk Radio, and more. He is now the co-founder of Event Hero which is the first integration Platform-as-a-Service for event technologies. He also hosts the EventTech Podcast is all about event technologies where John interviews EventTech company CEO’s and product managers, industry thought leaders and event organizers. If you are a new startup founder and want to better understand the world of podcasting, audio, and marketing this episode is for you. 

• How an economic crash can influence you years later.

• Why the medium of audio matters.

• Recognizing when life deals you an opportunity and capitalizing on it.

• Understand the world of podcasts.

• How John created the Audible Podcast Affiliate program at Audible.com.

• Making the leap from employee to entrepreneur.

• How to re-brand your company.

• Who would win in a fight: Batman or Superman?

• The future of podcasting.

• Using content marketing such as blogging or writing a book to grow your brand.

• Winning the battle for people's time and attention.

Ambition Today Question of the Day:

What is the optimal work life balance that let's you enjoy success and make all the time and energy worthwhile?

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

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Links from this episode: 

• John Federico @GadgetBoy on Twitter

• Event Hero Powercore

• Event Tech Podcast

• Audible.com

• Bossy Pants by Tina Fey

• Traction by Gabriel Weinberg

• The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday

• Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff

• Eventbrite Superpowers Revealed! book by John Federico

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…

Listen to this episode now: 

Ambition Today Podcast Sponsors:

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Ambition Today: Rob Principe, Founder & CEO of Scratch On Partnering With Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C., The Future Of Music, And The Rise Of The DJ

Rob Principe, CEO of Scratch Music Group

Episode nine of Ambition Today finds us with the King of the DJ's, Rob Principe, the Founder & CEO of Scratch Music Group.

Young Rob Principe with Run-D.M.C.

Growing up on Long Island as a child Rob loved music, especially Run D.M.C.  One day the popular music group happened to sit down next to him on a plane as he was traveling to a tennis tournament. Afterword he took a picture with the group. Fast forward years later Rob had founded Scratch Music Group and after some hustle, Rob would show this very picture to Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C. in a greenroom at the Letterman Show in New York City while pitching him his vision. Jam Master Jay was in and together they co-founded the Scratch DJ Academy. I found Rob's story to be pretty incredible. During this episode we go over the history of Scratch as well as: 

• What is it like meeting your childhood hero's.

• How Rob and Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C. co-founded the Scratch DJ Academy.

• The importance of building credibility when building your initial startup's team.

• Recognizing that defining inspirational moment in your life that changes the path your on.

• How Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C. came to collaborate on "Walk This Way".

• The moment when your startup becomes and feels real to you as the founder.

• Converting your initial traction into a paid business model.

• The importance of moving the chains over and over during the early years of your startup.

• The future of DJ'ing and Music

• How Music Festivals became so popular.

Ambition Today Question of the Day:

Do you think childhood plays a role in defining who people become?

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

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Links from this episode: 

• Scratch Music Group

• @Rob_Principe on Twitter

• @princee09 on Instagram

• Herbie Hancock - Rockit

• Run-D.M.C. & Aerosmith - Walk This Way

• Kid Capri

• Run-D.M.C.

• Forbes DJ List

• A-Trak

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…

Listen to this episode now: 

Ambition Today Podcast Sponsors:

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Ambition Today: Jeff Wald, Co-founder of Work Market, talks Harvard, NYPD, Venture Capital, Startups, and Mentoring

Jeff Wald, Work Market

On episode eight Jeff Wald, Co-founder and President of Work Market join's Ambition Today. 

"The only thing I know with 100% certainty is that it ain't going down like this." - Jeff Wald

Jeff Wald’s background is nothing short of impressive. He started at Cornell University and then went to J.P. Morgan. He then went back to school at Harvard for an MBA. After Harvard Jeff spent time at Glen Rock Group before going on to Co-found Spin Back. The wild ride of Spinback, his first startup, took Jeff to almost moving back home after coming close to running out of money. The answer was to rebuild the business which later ended up getting acquired. After acquisition Jeff went to Barington Capital Group, and finally to his current company where he is the Co-founder and President of Work Market. Did I mention he was also an auxiliary member of the NYPD as well? This is an episode packed full of insights: 

• Is getting a Master's of Business Administration worth the return on investment?

• Should you start a company or get an MBA?

• The value of spending time with Entrepreneurs.

• How to break into Venture Capital.

• Leaving a job in Venture Capital to start a new company.

• How to attract high quality investors in your startups such as Fred Wilson from Union Square Ventures, Spark Capital, and Softbank.

• The one question you should start every meeting with.

• The four different types of conversations.

• Differences between Advisors and Mentors.

• The importance of giving back to others

The Ambition Today Question of the Day:

Who would win in a fight, Batman vs Superman?

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

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Links from this episode: 

• Work Market, Acquired by ADP

• @JeffreyWald on Twitter

• Spin Back

• Why I Mentor by Jeff Wald in the Huffington Post

• NYPD Blue -- What I Learned About Startups Patrolling the Streets of New York City by Jeff Wald in the Huffington Post

• NYPD Auxiliary Officer program

• Ambition Today on Youtube

• Ambrose Madison

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…

Listen to this episode now: 

Ambition Today Podcast Sponsors:

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Why I Mentor by Jeff Wald

Jeff Wald

This is a guest post from Founder Institute New York mentor Jeff Wald titled "Why I Mentor" as was originally published in Huffington Post. Jeff has asked me to share the post and it contains some incredibly valuable insight on the Mentor / Mentee relationship. My favorite quote from it is: 

"I believe we have an obligation to help fellow travelers."

Jeff Wald is Co-Founder and President of Work Market, the leading enterprise-class platform for the management of contract and freelance talent. Jeff has a long track record as a successful entrepreneur across the technology and services landscape. He has successfully built and sold multiple tech companies, including SpinBack to Buddy Media, which was subsequently purchased by Salesforce.com for $800 million.  

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Why I Mentor

by Jeff Wald

A startup founder recently asked me a simple, yet startling, question during our monthly meetings. We have been working together for nearly two years, and as with all startups she has had her ups and downs. We have had all manner of conversations over the years and yet, in this one instance, her simple question floored me - "When I asked if you would be my mentor, why did you say yes?"

The first thing that surprised me was that she said "mentor" and not "adviser". I have the pleasure of advising many companies. This means that I meet with them every now and again to offer some thoughts on a discrete problem, or I make an introduction or two. However, my relationship here was different. I was more than an adviser. I was a mentor to her. We meet once a month and I know a tremendous amount about her business, where she has been and where she hopes to go. I am proud to be her mentor so I wanted to provide an honest answer.

After collecting myself, I explained that there were three reasons why I said yes‎, in no particular order of importance:

• She was the first to ask.
• Mentoring helps reinforce the lessons I'm learning at my own company.
• I believe we have an obligation to help fellow travelers.

‎She was the first to ask. She and I met at The Founders Institute (FI), an organization where I have been teaching for some years. The FI is the world's largest entrepreneur training and startup launch program with chapters across 50 countries. In each chapter "experienced" founders teach a series of classes to aspiring founders.

Many of the students I have taught over the years will email and ask if they can discuss their businesses. I am always happy to help, so‎ I'll meet with them and offer candid feedback on their ideas. These aspiring founders frequently end our time together by asking to return when their plans have progressed. I would always say yes, but few have ever returned. Some never make any progress; some don't like the very direct feedback I am prone to give; some presumably just forget to follow up. So when asked why I agreed to mentor her, part of the answer was simply that she asked. I had time and she asked, so I said yes. If someone had asked before her, then I really would not have had the time.

Mentoring helps reinforce the lessons I am learning at my own company. I have learned a great many things on my entrepreneurial journey at Work Market: mistakes I hopefully won't repeat, important lessons to refer back to and valuable insights from colleagues. Mentoring this founder and hearing about her own struggles and breakthroughs has forced me to reflect on when we were at a similar stage as a company. Offering her advice and describing the opportunities we missed (we all miss many) helps to codify these hard-won lessons and prepares me for my next adventure.

We have an obligation to help fellow travelers. I have walked this tumultuous, crazy, startup path three times. It's one of the hardest ‎journeys you will ever take. It will test limits you never knew you had and then demand you to push beyond them. So, when the journey ends, regardless of the outcome, you have gained invaluable experience. Pass it along. I can promise you this: whatever outcome you had, you didn't get there alone. You had co-founders, colleagues, investors, mentors, advisers, customers, and of course friends and family that all helped in sometimes small, but many times, immeasurable ways. You owe it to them, as well as to yourself, to help others who are embarking upon that similar difficult path. No one can make it alone.

If you have made it to the end of a startup journey, and if you have the time, stretch out your hand and help the next traveler. They will be grateful and you will greatly benefit as well.

And in the meantime, check out what Beatriz and her team at DADA have built.

Founder Institute Reviews From New York City Entrepreneurs

Last night we graduated twelve new companies from the Founder Institute in New York City. I couldn't be more proud of all the founders that graduated last night. Some of the new graduates recently published their thoughts and opinions on the program now that they have been through it. I wanted to share with you a few quotes from the thoughts they had. I am including links to the full posts below each quote so you can read those as well.

Thank you to all our mentors and congratulations again to the Summer 2015 New York Founder Institute Graduates! 

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Mise en place - Vicente DeReyes

"Initially, I wondered how an incubator program would help us achieve our mission of bringing the communal spirit back to dinner.  "Is the program designed more for tech heavy startups like emerging app companies or B2B service technologies?  Would our mission resonate with the program’s curriculum?”  These are a few of the questions I asked myself before joining.  As I write this post on graduation day, I look back at the past three months in awe of how much progress we have achieved.

Week after week, milestones were continually set and the bar constantly raised.  Have a B2B service? Go get LOI’s.  Have a B2C service? Create a landing page and get 500 signups.  Think your customers want “X”? Well go ask 200 of them and find out for yourself.  After many sleepless nights, countless pitches to mentors, and the reality-check of graduating with only 12 of my fellow companies out of an original class of 36, today is graduation day." 

- Vicente DeReyes: Link to full article

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Viozel - Roddi Simpson

"The training in lean startup methodology has been exceptional. Support has been excellently balanced. We were given the tools and enough space to figure it out ourselves but help was at hand if needed, challenges are given to strengthen weaknesses and it is all done in an environment of support between fellow founders that are literally (and I mean the literally!) invested in each other's success." 

- Roddi Simpson: Link to full article

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Bigger Dreams - Stefan Klotzbuecher

"Each one of us pitched our ideas about seven to nine times from start to graduation. While I sucked big at the beginning, you see everyone raising the bar and getting better, so you don’t want to be left behind. I invested a good amount of time in getting my pitch right, incorporating feedback and new insights along the way. I haven’t presented this much in a row before and think it is not only a helpful exercise, it’s also important as a founder, as you basically sell something (including yourself) all the time to someone (customers, investors, mentors, friends, employees)."

- Stefan Klotzbuecher: Link to full article

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Virtzy - Isak Mirzak

"For three months, influential mentors not only provided us with advice and their own experiences of being entrepreneurs, but also gave us invaluable feedback about our ideas and helped direct and guide us the right way to accomplishing our goals.

We've also developed great friendships with other founders that will continue beyond graduation. I want to commend other founders for their resilience, hard work, unrelenting passion and amazing support! This journey would have not been the same without my fellow team mates." 

- Isak Mirzak: Link to full article

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Ward eSports - Jose Lincuna

"One of the greatest challenges of your life..." "...You will meet some of the smartest and passionate people in your life." 

- Jose Lincuna: Link to full article

Founder Institute New York Graduates Twelve New Companies

With the 2015 Summer Semester of the Founder Institute coming to a close this week there is now twelve new companies formed in New York's Silicon Alley.

The Founder Institute is an early-stage startup accelerator and global launch network that helps entrepreneurs create meaningful and enduring technology companies. Through a four month program, existing and prospective founders can launch their dream company with expert training, feedback, and support from experienced startup CEOs. 

On November 4, 2015 we will gather graduates, mentors, investors, and friends to celebrate the twelve newest Graduates of the New York City Founder Institute. In addition to the Graduation Ceremony, guests will be treated to short business pitches from the graduates.

Here are the companies building a better tomorrow: 

Beginex -  Start your tech career with real work experience.

Bigger Dreams - Comprehensive career prep for High-School students.

Ballyhoo - Home of parody.

Collar and Kitchen - Real food, balanced just for dogs.

Easy Aerial Inc - Modular smart drones for industrial applications. 

Happy Heart Kid - Helping families "Play with Purpose".

Mise en place (mepNYC) - Bringing people back around the table.

The ffoodd company - Creating equal food access one order at a time.

Petvet Technologies Inc - Real time medical billing insurance claims for Veterinarians

Viozel - Find, quote, and track the progress of med tech services.

Virtzy - Connecting beauty & wellness professionals. 

Ward eSports - Find communities for every eSports game.

The Best CEO Speech Ever: Charlie Kim, Next Jump

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.

This Made In NY Drone Just Doubled Quadcopter Flight Time

Each year, The Founder Institute helps launch dozens of technology companies across the globe. Once founders graduate from our 4-month program, they quickly begin using techniques like crowdfunding campaigns to drum up interest and obtain funding.

Easy Aerial, a New York Founder Institute company, has recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for their newest addition to the Easy Drone family, the Easy Drone XL Pro. In just a few short days the company has raised $21,238 of it's $30,000 goal. This is their second time on Kickstarter with a new and updated drone that has been improved upon from the previous version with testing and feedback. Last time on Kickstarter, Easy Aerial successfully raised $45,627 and shipped all of it's rewards by its promised dates. 

What is incredible about this drone is that it is the longest flying personal quadcopter drone, with 45 minutes of flight time. It also has the ability to lift a pro camera, which many others drones are too small to do until you reach a budget of almost $10,000. The Easy Drone Pro XL only costs $1,495 to super early bird Kickstarter backers. 

Easy Drone’s frame is made from carbon fiber and aluminum and is extremely rigid, yet it can be taken apart completely without tools and carried in a small backpack. Because of the modular design it is very convenient for transportation. Easy Drone has the largest frame size relative to travel pack, flight time and lift capacity on the market.

The maker of the drone, Easy Aerial, is an up and coming modular drone design company based out of New York City. They have already built a bit of a name for themselves with the consumer version of Easy Drone that did really well on Kickstarter. They have also been featured on AlleyWatch, InsertCoin, InterDrone, TechDay 2015, and Maker Faire.  Check out the companies new kickstarter here.

Ambition Today: Cory Crosland of Croscon on Bootstrapping, Grammys, and the Future of Mobile.

On this episode of Ambition Today, I was joined by Cory Crosland. Cory is the founder of Croscon, an engineering company which partners with big thinkers to plan, engineer and support their digital business.

Today we talk about how to bootstrap a company from one person just doing freelance work to a growing team of almost 20 people. How you can stay motivated years into your company. What it is like being nominated for a Grammy and winning a Webby Award. Also, what is the future of mobile now that Android has 1.4 billion users and much more.

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

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