In this episode, we delve into the complexities of social media influence, authentic leadership, and the pursuit of happiness in entrepreneurship.

Today's guest is the remarkable Taryn Williams, a veteran entrepreneur who founded Wink Models, The Right Fit (exited), The Influencer Agency (exited), and the innovative gifting service, #Gifted. 

In a candid discussion, Taryn talks about the challenges and successes she faced building businesses in her 20s and stepping back into a leadership role, and emphasizes the vital roles of self-care, mentorship, and maintaining genuine team connections. 

Taryn shares invaluable insights on navigating the influencer economy, the shift towards micro and nano influencers, and the importance of organic growth and audience engagement.

She also reflects on the impact of social media on young people, stressing the need for authenticity over appearance.

We weigh in on the dangers of "struggle porn" and the reality behind the pursuit of universal success through social media platforms, shedding light on the psychological effects of these digital tools on our values and aspirations.

 

Show Notes:

Instagram: instagram.com/tarynwilliams

#Gifted: www.hashgifted.com

Get your free content audit and strategy: www.sonicboom.vc 

 

Timestamps:

00:00 Founded multiple successful businesses, including Wink Models.

05:00 Supportive network, fair pay, collaborative approach, success.

08:44 Early on, I struggled with delegation.

12:15 Scaling a business requires talented team.

15:18 Founder values cultural fit, technical understanding, learning.

18:33 Consistent follow-up for building and maintaining relationships.

20:00 Act on feedback to gain mentor's support.

24:26 Find market fit, build, test, adapt.

25:53 Planned sabbatical interrupted by successful business venture.

29:32 Regret over past decisions, focus on relationships.

32:40 Self-reflection on motivations for success and happiness.

37:46 Chasing external markers of success leads to unhappiness.

41:29 Navigating societal pressures to pursue personal ambitions.

44:04 Navigating sensitive topics while maintaining authenticity online.

48:38 TikTok sale may change US algorithm. Instagram adapts.

49:41 Brands prefer Instagram over TikTok for control.

54:03 Clarify goals to shape effective marketing strategy.

57:34 Steve invites weekly email subscribers for updates.

Michael Thomsen is a freelancer writer, author, and UFC tragic from New York.

 

He is the author of Cage Kings: How an Unlikely Group of Moguls, Champions & Hustlers Transformed the UFC into a $10 Billion Industry, which unpacks the rapid rise of the UFC an mixed martial arts, the UFC’s business model and economics, the one man tour de force that is longtime UFC president Dana White, the role of the UFC’s owners over time - SEG, Zuffa and Ari Emanuel, and the organization’s anti-competitive behaviors and adversarial relationship with its fighters, which aren’t employees, but independent contractors - most of whom would earn more working a run of the mill admin job in the public sector.

 

Thomsen’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Slate, Vanity Fair, The Daily Beast, Aeon, Forbes, Al Jazeera America, Adult, Talking Points Memo, Los Angeles Review of Books, Complex, The Paris Review n+1, Bookforum, The Believer, The New Republic, Kill Screen, The New Inquiry, and The Millions.

 

With that, here’s my conversation with the one and only, Michael Thomsen.

 

Show Notes: 1. Twitter: https://twitter.com/mike_thomsen?lang=en 2. Get Cage Kings: https://www.amazon.com/Cage-Kings-Unlikely-Champions-Transformed-ebook/dp/B0BHTM6YRY 3. Email Mike: [email protected] 

Originally published: 2017

Jason Calacanis is a tech entrepreneur, wildly successful angel investor, and the host of the popular weekly podcast This Week in Startups. He's the founder of a series of conferences that bring entrepreneurs together with potential investors.

As a “scout” for top-tier Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and later as an angel investor, Jason has invested in 150 early-stage startups including four that have achieved billion-dollar valuations (so far) such as Uber, Evernote and Tumblr.

Jason's newly released book "Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups: Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 into $100,000,000" puts readers inside the minds of successful angel investors, helping to understand how they prioritize and make the decisions that have resulted in phenomenal profits.

Jason provides a step by step roadmap, revealing how leading investors evaluate new ventures, calculating the risks and rewards, and explains how the best startups leverage relationships with angel investors for the best results.

In this episode we go back to Jason’s rough upbringing in Brooklyn, NY in the early 80s and cover a lot of ground leading up to the present day so you can expect to learn a lot of things, including:

1. How to pick a billion dollar founder or startup
2. How to bounce back from failure
3. What Jason thinks of and what advice he has for corporates investing in startups

All topics discussed:

• Jason’s humble beginnings in Brooklyn, NY
• What got Jason into startup investing
• The alchemy of startup investing
• Why you should always wait for external validation from other investors before investing
• Why ideas are a dime a dozen and you should invest in startups that have demonstrated traction
• The biggest mistake first time startup investors make
• The changing nature of angel investing and venture capital
• On books becoming a business card for many people
• Why building quality deal flow is a popularity contest of sorts
• How to get started investing with little money
• The number one thing Jason looks for in entrepreneurs
• Other factors to evaluate startups and entrepreneurs, including Jason’s ‘four founder questions’
• How Jason navigated his Silicon Valley Reporter going bust during the dot com boom
• How to ask good questions
• What Jason’s views on corporate venture capital are and what advice he has for corporates looking to or already investing in startups
• How to go about taking lots of small bets when diversifying and building your portfolio
• What Jason thinks about ICOs, cryptocurrency and blockchain

Show notes:

1. Get the book: https://amzn.to/2QpLqkX
2. The book: Angelthebook.com  
3. @jason on Twitter
4. Jason’s podcast: ThisWeekInStartups.com

Oliver Burkeman is a British author and journalist who has written for The Guardian and other publications. He was born in 1975 and has authored several books on topics such as time management, productivity, happiness, and self-help culture.

His works include "Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals," "The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking,", "Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done", and his most recent book, "Four Thousand Weeks," is a philosophical and practical exploration of time management and how to make the most of our finite lives.

Show Notes:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/oliverburkeman 

Web: https://oliverburkeman.com 

Niki Scevak is co-founder of Startmate, and founder and partner at Blackbird VC, Australia’s largest venture capital fund, with its 5th fund having raised AUD$1B (US$640M). Blackbird was an early investor in Canva, SafetyCulture, CultureAmp, BugCrowd, RedBubble, and many more, and has to date generated a net internal rate of return of 56%. 

 

Niki joined me today to discuss:

• His life before Blackbird

• Successfully raising his first fund back in 2012, without having a network or any startup successes of his own 

• Getting beyond the trough of disillusionment

• How Australian superannuation funds are opening their wallets to VC

• Scaling culture

• Generating deal flow

• Advice for founders and budding VCs on raising capital in a down market

• The AI investment landscape

• The battle between AI-powered indie hackers and venture-backed startups

• Whether sophisticated investor rules preventing retail investors from getting direct exposure to venture capital is just increasing the wealth gap 

• Diversity, quotas, and Startmate’s merit-based selection criteria

• And more. 

 

Show Notes:

Email Niki: [email protected] 

Web: www.blackbird.vc  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nikiscevak?lang=en

Contact Steve on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/steveglaveski

Email Steve: [email protected] 

Mick Wall has spent over four decades interviewing rockstars and chronicling their amazing stories, and today, we're turning the tables on Mick Wall and unpacking his story in this marathon 3-hour and 40-minute, Joe Rogan-esque interview.   Our conversation focuses on the early years, taking in Mick’s childhood all the way through to Sounds magazine, Heavy Publicity, and the inception of the world-famous magazine Kerrang! magazine.   We touch on ghostwriting, his feud with Axl Rose, and revelations about the rock 'n roll lifestyle.   As you might expect, there’s plenty of sex, drugs n rock n roll, and some valuable life lessons.   So strap yourself in for my chat with Mick Wall.

Dennis Savic is a pioneering entrepreneur and innovative thinker in the fields of electric vehicles and sustainable transportation. 

As the founder and CEO of SAVIC Motorcycles, he has introduced high-performance, eco-friendly models that cater to a wide range of consumers. Born in Sarajevo in the former Yugoslavia, and raised in Australia, Dennis holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and has always been passionate about the intersection of technology, design, and environmental responsibility. 

We explored:

• Dennis’ upbringing and inspiration for getting into motorcycle building

• Savic Motorcycles' C-series cafe racer motorcycle 

• The company’s journey to $6m in pre-orders 

• Its current Equitise crowdfunding campaign

• Challenges faced by EV startups include manufacturing economies of scale, talent acquisition, and competition from established automakers.

• How the future of the motorcycle industry is evolving with the introduction of AI, autonomy, and charging infrastructure.

• How Savic Motorcyles is bringing the manufacture of parts in-house to reduce costs, improve performance, and speed up time to market 

• The entrepreneurial mindset

• The most impactful books Dennis has read

• And so much more

 

Show Notes:

Website: www.savicmotorcycles.com 

Crowdfunding campaign: https://equitise.com/offer/savic-motorcycles-offer

Torsten Hoffmann is a media entrepreneur, filmmaker, and technology investor. 

He has produced and directed several documentaries, including "Bitcoin: The End of Money As We Know It" and the award-winning "Cryptopia: Bitcoin, Blockchains and the Future of the Internet"  

Torsten joins me today to talk about his forthcoming feature documentary,  FORTITUDE: Forging the Trillion Dollar Space Economy, which uncovers how a few influential individuals with utopian ideas and vast fortunes are forging a trillion-dollar off-world industry, while inspiring millions of us back on Earth. In this conversation we unpack:

• The Space economy and its constituent parts

• Space tourism

• Sustainability in Space

• Controversy over Government contracts being awarded to billionaires

• The Colonization of Mars

• The new Space Race with China

• What the significance of SpaceX’s Starship is

• Opportunities for entrepreneurs

• And how you can preserve your DNA on the moon for future generations to discover, and possibly, resurrect you

Show Notes:

1. Film: www.fortitudemovie.com 

2. Kickstarter campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bitcointheendofmoney/fortitude-forging-the-trillion-dollar-space-economy 

Sponsored by:

LVLUP Health’s BPC157. Get yours at: www.lvluphealth.com and use code FUTURE for 10% off.

Kevin Kelly is a renowned technology writer, futurist, and entrepreneur who co-founded Wired magazine in 1993. He has authored several books on the impact of technology on society, including "The Inevitable" and "What Technology Wants." He is also a sought-after speaker and advisor on emerging technologies and their social and economic implications.

His new book, Excellent Advice for Living: WIsdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier, distils Kelly’s timeless advice on everything from right living to setting ambitious goals, optimizing generosity, and cultivating compassion. He has wisdom for career, relationships, parenting, and finances, and gives guidance for practical matters ranging from travel to troubleshooting.

In this conversation, we unpack:

• How Kevin’s beliefs have changed his beliefs over time

• Kevin’s perspective on success and external validation

• Why we shouldn’t pursue being the best, but being the only

• 3 things Kevin would take with him into the afterlife

• Why you should kill your darlings, and throw out work you’ve labored over

• How Kevin would spend the next 10 years if he was 21 years old today 

• Learning how to be more compassionate towards people with views that we find abhorrent

• Why we shouldn’t measure our lives with someone else’s ruler, and how to get better at that

Show Notes:

Get the book: https://www.amazon.com/Excellent-Advice-Living-Wisdom-Earlier/dp/0593654528 

Kevin on Twitter:  www.twitter.com/kevin2kelly 

Future Squared:

Website: www.futuresquared.xyz

Twitter: www.twitter.com/steveglaveski 

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@futuresquaredpod 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/futuresquaredpod

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC63t7PVnhh6YaS1OSzELGng 

My guest today is Mike Todasco, former director of innovation at PayPal, and current self-imposed AI-researcher, and co-author of numerous AI-generated books under the pseudonym Alex Irons.

 

We covered a lot of ground in this conversation, including:

• Generative AI use cases

• The impact of AI on startups and the venture capital ecosystem

• AutoGPT

• The threat of misaligned goals and existential risks posed by AI

• The 6-month development ban proposal

• Regulatory considerations 

• Intellectual property challenges and solutions

• The AI Arms Race with China

• And so much more.

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Show Notes:

1. Alexirons.com 

2. Mike on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/todasco/

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Sponsored by:

1. www.lvluphealth.com Use coupon code FUTURE for 10% off ALL products, including BPC-157, and heal yourself like wolverine! 

Rebroadcast: This episode originally appeared in 2019.

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James Clear is an author and speaker focused on habits, decision-making, and continuous improvement.

A freak baseball accident put James in a desperate place, fighting to recover from brain damage. The debilitating brain injury forced him to discover a new way of living. Recovery took James to a new understanding of habits and the power of stacking simple, easy habits, one on top of the other, to create momentum and change.

His book, Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results, shares his learnings with the world. It has sold well over one million copies and has been translated into numerous languages.

He is a regular speaker at Fortune 500 companies and his work is used by teams in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Entrepreneur, Time, and on CBS This Morning.

We covered numerous topics in this conversation, including, as you might expect:

• How to build good habits and break bad ones
• Why systems are much more important than goals alone; and
• What kind of ‘meta habits’ deliver a massive return in life

We explore this and a whole lot more so strap yourself in for an hour with Mr Atomic Habits himself, James Clear.

Topics Discussed:

• Why are good habits so difficult to form
• Our brain’s desire to optimize for energy conservation
• The three layers of behaviour change
• The four laws of behaviour change
• The power of rewards
• Habit stacking
• Environment design
• The power of small changes
• The path of least effort meets the laws of motion
• Picking the right metrics
• The Goldilocks Zone
• Short feedback loops
• What leaders can do to build better habits in their teams and companies
• Meta habits
• What role identity plays
• Values alignment

Show Notes:

• com
• @jamesclear on Twitter
• Get the book: https://amzn.to/2DHgN5l
• ----------
• Listen to Future Squared on Apple Podcasts  gl/sMnEa0
• Also available on: Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher and Soundcloud
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/steveglaveski
• Instagram: instagram.com/@thesteveglaveski
• Future Squared: futuresquared.xyz
• Steve Glaveski: steveglaveski.com
• Medium: medium.com/@steveglaveski
• Steve's book: employeetoentrepreneur.io
• NEW Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/futuresquared/
• Watch on YouTube: https://bit.ly/2N77FLx