The Founder To Founder Podcast

In the second part of this special two-part conversation of Founder To Founder, Phil speaks with serial entrepreneur, Kim Teo.Kim Teo is Co-Founder of PitchBlak, Australia’s largest supporter of idea-stage entrepreneurs. PitchBlak has raised $20M for their own startups and learned plenty of hard lessons along the way. Alongside continuing to launch their own ventures, they now help founders across Australia to validate their ideas and build a compelling story to get pre-seed investment.And here are five things you'll want to know about Kim before you meet:• There's always an audiobook or podcast playing• Get a kick out of spotting and seizing opportunities• Say what I'll do and do what I say• Straight up, respectful, no BS• ENTP – Extrovert, Intuitive, Thinking, ProspectingKim and Phil talk about growth, short circuits to success by leveraging the knowledge of entrepreneurs around the world, how to think about market-place businesses and three habits that make founders successful.Follow Phil HSC:iTunes: http:

In the first part of this special two-part conversation of Founder To Founder, Phil speaks with serial entrepreneur, Kim Teo.Kim Teo is Co-Founder of PitchBlak, Australia’s largest supporter of idea-stage entrepreneurs. PitchBlak has raised $20M for their own startups and learned plenty of hard lessons along the way. Alongside continuing to launch their own ventures, they now help founders across Australia to validate their ideas and build a compelling story to get pre-seed investment.And here are five things you'll want to know about Kim before you meet:• There's always an audiobook or podcast playing• Get a kick out of spotting and seizing opportunities• Say what I'll do and do what I say• Straight up, respectful, no BS• ENTP – Extrovert, Intuitive, Thinking, ProspectingKim and Phil talk about growth, short circuits to success by leveraging the knowledge of entrepreneurs around the world, how to think about market-place businesses and three habits that make founders successful.Follow Phil HSC:iTunes: http:/

The punchline is that money needs to survive three tests when you’re an entrepreneur.I raise this after troubling conversations this past month which left me thinking that most first-time founders don’t know how to think about money.While the reasons vary, I think the core of this issue lies in how people have received and valued money in their lives before taking on investment.People invest for different reasons, three reasons actually...Keep listening or read the full post here.**************Thanks for listening. If you'd like to know when new episodes are released or when Phil publishes his weekly blog post, sign up for the insider's email list here.

In Episode 57 of Founder To Founder, Phil speaks with Elevacao CEO & Founder, Marisa Warren. Marisa is a global start-up advisor, investor, social entrepreneur and speaker, who is incredibly passionate about elevating women to higher levels and building a collaborative tech ecosystem. As an entrepreneur, Marisa has built three global businesses from idea stage to revenue producing, and worked in Australia and New York for companies such as SAP, Microsoft and Workday.Whilst living in New York, Marisa founded ELEVACAO a global not for profit empowering women entrepreneurs to build and launch successful tech businesses. Since ELEVACAO’s launch ​mid-2015, we've helped over 80 women get pitch ready for investment funding across New York, Sydney, Melbourne and San Francisco launching April 2018. Marisa and Phil talk about the catalysts for welcoming more women into startups and technology role, how to move between life events and failure and four habits that make founders successful.

Investor: 'Will your business scale?'Entrepreneur: 'Yes!'That’s the default answer from soon to be founders and entrepreneurs.It’s obvious to them that a need exists and the prospect of reaching millions of users and customers is intoxicating.But as my colleague Jeffrey Tobias says, it’s a mistake to think that a startup is a small business.His point, quite rightly, is that small businesses have limited growth potential.Startups, on the other hand, are limited to the size of the addressable market.And it’s this nuance that first-time founders rarely consider.At the heart of the difference between a startup and a small business is the number of units of value that can be generated per person over time.Keep listening or read the full post here.**************Thanks for listening. If you'd like to know when new episodes are released or when Phil publishes his weekly blog post, sign up for the insider's email list here.

In Episode 53 Phil speaks with serial entrepreneur Antonia Saint Dunbar.Antonia led the design of THINX and was the Chief of Operations for years, and she is now taking on the shoe industry with her new high-tech heels and flats that feel like sneakers on the inside. She raised $1.8M in 40 days with pre-orders from 7,000 people around the world. Nominated as one of Women 2.0's "Top Female Founders to Watch", and called a "Feminist Genius" by the press for the invention of THINX (Fast Company's Most Innovative Co's of 2017, Entrepreneur's Most Brilliant Co's of 2016, and one of TIME Magazine's "Top 25 Inventions for 2015"), Antonia is passionate about disruptive innovation to provide solutions for women. Through the THINX Foundation, the Fistula Foundation and other giveback partners, she creates companies that are dedicated to purpose in addition to profits, and solutions to help support gender equality worldwide. Interesting facts: THINX was a TriBeCa Disruptive Innovation winner alongside the likes of the f

Patience is the most difficult mindset to master when you are naturally urgent. It doesn’t come easily to me or many of my colleagues. And the irony that entrepreneurship is equal parts patience and urgency isn’t lost on us either.I have found that while you need to be urgent and patient simultaneously, the mix of each one changes with time. The issue is you only realise that in retrospect.In the early days of a venture, founders are in full control of their time. They can design and tinker in the relative privacy of their development environments. Urgency is high, patience can be low.As ventures grow and expectations on investment and growth start to take hold, that mix should change.And it might. Slightly. From say a 90% urgency, 10% patience ratio to 80:20.This slight increase in patience is afforded to internal activities where larger teams take longer to collaborate and get things done. And for the most part, the activities the team are focused on are relatively contained and controllable.The nuance here

In Episode 53 Phil speaks with John Bale, CEO and Co-Founder of Soldier On, a Not-For-Profit established after he discovered a severe lack of support for veterans (and their families) who discharged after sustaining injuries during their service.John served in the Australian Army for 12 years and finished his career as a Chief of Army Scholar writing on the de-stigmatisation of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the Australian Army. He was state finalist for 2014 Young Australian of the year and winner of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 (Eastern Region).Phil and John talk about changing the perception of Post Traumatic Stress, the value veterans bring to the community, negotiating the 'in between' and the three habits that make founders successful. RESOURCESTribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger - One of John's favourite booksThe Founder's Mentality by Chris Zook and James Allen - Another of John's favourite booksThe Dead Prussian - John's favourite podcastConnect with John on LinkedIn an

Most parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles know of Hairy Maclary. For the uninitiated, Hairy is a fictitious dog who lives at a dairy and embarks on adventures with his friends. Each story is playfully illustrated, written in rhythmic verse and begs the reader to deliver each page with theatrical enthusiasm.I owe a great deal to New Zealand author Dame Lynley Dodd, the creator of this great character.An embarrassing realisationMy introduction to Hairy Maclary took place when our eldest daughter was a small number of months old. Until that point, I had been winging it. As clumsily as one could, I had been making my way through our story time routine using stilted and stutter-filled language. It didn’t seem to matter until one day our daughter looked up at me when I tripped over a simple phrase, again and again. The look on her face said, ‘what’s wrong?’Filled with shame, I had no response.Keep listening or read the full post here.**************Thanks for listening. If you'd like to know when new episodes are

In episode 51 Phil speaks with Australian entrepreneur Matt Parry who founded a brand that is taking on Pringles around the world.The Good Crisp Company launched in the US market in early 2017 as the premium and natural Pringle alternative. Today Matt's product is in over 3,000 supermarkets, one of the top ten fastest growing brands in Whole Foods stores and on track to do over $5M in sales in 2018 from $0 in 2017.Phil and Matt talk about planning for unexpected success, the role of grass-roots sales plays in learning how to manage large B2B deals and the three habits that make founders successful. ***************Thanks for listening! If you'd like to be the first to know when new episodes are available, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow the show on Spotify or sign up for the insider's newsletter!

Stress is an unavoidable part of a startup. It affects team members in different ways and it’s constant in a founders life.There is a long list of situations, decisions and expectations that create stressful conditions. Add fatigue and a perfect storm of stress can easily besiege even the most accomplished entrepreneur.It would be easy to lump startup stress management with the founding team but I think it is, and always will be, a team effort.Keep listening or read the full post here.**************Thanks for listening. If you'd like to know when new episodes are released or when Phil publishes his weekly blog post, sign up for the insider's email list here.

In Episode 49 of the Founder To Founder Podcast, Phil connected with Right Hook Digital's Co-Founder Dee Deng.Dee is a serial entrepreneur who after completing compulsory military service in Singapore discovered the power of online marketplaces. He founded HireHive, the first online rental marketplace for digital photography and video equipment before starting Right Hook Digital. Listen in for Dee's approach to navigating the time in-between ventures. *****Thanks for listening! If you'd like to be the first to know when new episodes are available, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow the show on Spotify or sign up for the insider's newsletter!

Last week I was asked about the lessons learned from growing businesses that failed. At the time it felt like a loaded question but after probing, the person asking the question was curious about why you would do it again. I’ll get to that in a separate post.When I closed my first business I wrote a letter to those who followed the journey with 11 reflections.Each one is born from an experience that came about through painful lesson or surprising revelation. And in a startup, it’s sometimes difficult to tell one from the other!In any case, these reflections-turned-mantras are how I answered the question and have held true regardless of the business model and industry I’ve been involved in.Keep listening or read the full post here.*******Thanks for listening. If you'd like to know when new episodes are released or when Phil publishes his weekly blog post, sign up for the insider's email list here.

In Episode 47 of the Founder To Founder Podcast Phil speaks with Acanela Expeditions CEO & Co-Founder, Kylie Chenn.Kylie has boot-strapped her venture from a $1,000 entrepreneurship prize she received at university into an eight-person team who send thousands of people on unique travel experiences each year.Kylie and Phil talk about how building communities and partnerships can fuel efficient growth, why continuous learning is important and the three habits that founders need to be successful.*****Thanks for listening! If you'd like to be the first to know when new episodes are available, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow the show on Spotify or sign up for the insider's newsletter!

Punchline: The need to grow companies quickly means founders sometimes prioritise acquiring anyone who likes their product instead of people who love it. They fall for the ‘like mirage’ which is often terminal.Keep listening or read the full post here.******Thanks for listening. If you'd like to know when new episodes are released or when Phil publishes his weekly blog post, sign up for the insider's email list here.

In Episode 45 of the Founder To Founder Podcast Phil speaks with Travello co-founder Ryan Hanly. A former school teacher, Ryan joined forces with Mark Cantoni to create Travello, a social network which helps travellers create platonic relationships in destinations they are visiting.Ryan and Phil talk about managing the unexpected, like a legal challenge to the first name of the company which resulted in their popular app being pulled down from the Apple App Store, and why perseverance is essential. All while being a father of four!*****Thanks for listening! If you'd like to be the first to know when new episodes are available, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow the show on Spotify or sign up for the insider's newsletter!

The beginner mindset is an essential belief system for entrepreneurs. It’s equal parts naivety, courage and vision and underpinned by how quickly an entrepreneur can learn.Keep listening or read the post here!If you enjoyed this or any other episode on the Founder To Founder Podcast, sign up for the insider's email and be the first to know about new episodes and Phil Hayes-St Clair's weekly blog post on startup growth.

In this episode Phil speaks with Mike Knapp, a former lawyer and ex-Google software engineer turned entrepreneur. Mike co-founded Shoes of Prey, a company that allows women to design their own shoes. He has a passion for investigating new business models and writing code and has previously lived in San Francisco, Shanghai, Dongguan and LA.Today, Mike is an Entrepreneur In Residence at River City Labs. *********Thanks for listening! If you'd like to be the first to know when new episodes are available, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow the show on Spotify or sign up for the insider's newsletter!

Startups often face a real conundrum when trying to align incentives to land a strategic partner. Here's how to approach and solve this issue.Keep listening or read this post here.

In episode 41 Phil speaks with serial entrepreneur Matthew Barnett. An industrial designer by training, Matthew has built a number of businesses that all share a very similar trait, the customer lives at the centre of every decision. Matthew's current venture, Bonjoro, personalises the customer onboarding process and helps customer success teams convert and retain more customers through personal video.In this episode, Matthew and Phil talk about learning, pivoting, to survive in startup and the three habits founders need to be successful. ***********Thanks for listening!Subscribe to the Founder to Founder podcast to get notified when new weekly episodes are released OR signup to the insiders weekly email list here.