Latest / Founder Confessions / Introducing Founder Confessions: Are you building the wrong business?
Transcript
- 0:00Sweta: The number of founders who come to me with one type of business
- 0:04and when we have this conversation, they just realize, " I'm
- 0:07building the wrong business."
- 0:08Ashley: So I get through that whole quarter, and I didn't like my life.
- 0:14I really did not like my life,
- 0:16Sweta: it's okay for you to build whatever type of business you want.
- 0:18There's no right way, but there is a right way for you.
- 0:31Ashley: Hello, everyone.
- 0:32Hello.
- 0:32Welcome to Founder Confessions, our limited series.
- 0:37My name is Ashley Jefferson, and I am here with
- 0:41Sweta: Sveta Govani.
- 0:43Ashley: And today, or really for the next couple weeks, right?
- 0:47Yes.
- 0:47Yes, yes, yes.
- 0:47But, but for this episode, we are so excited to introduce ourselves to you all,
- 0:52um, help you understand what's to come in the next coming weeks, because we have six
- 0:57weeks of content of Founder Confessions with top founders and information that
- 1:03you're re- you're not going to get or hear
- 1:06anywhere else.
- 1:06You cannot Google this.
- 1:07Sweta: No.
- 1:08This is not Google-able.
- 1:09We're spending about one minute introducing each founder at the beginning.
- 1:13W- they are impressive credentials.
- 1:15Uh, you will hear about it, but we're gonna get right into what is it-
- 1:20Yes that they really feel they should have known, but didn't know.
- 1:25What are their confessions about what it takes to build a business
- 1:28that's just right for you?
- 1:30Things that really shouldn't be confessions- No because
- 1:32they're so normal.
- 1:34Ashley: Yes.
- 1:34Sweta: Um, but that's the whole point of the series.
- 1:37We're so excited to really normalize that the zero to one building, and really
- 1:42even the growth and the scaling- Yes
- 1:43uh, of it
- 1:44and of it all
- 1:45is messy.
- 1:46Ashley: It is.
- 1:47It's so messy.
- 1:48It's messy.
- 1:48And there's so many aspects, uh, of the founder journey that people
- 1:52don't really talk about, let alone allow themselves, you know, to be
- 1:57recorded on the internet saying.
- 1:58Yes.
- 1:59Um, a- and so there, one, I feel like there's that, and, and two,
- 2:02there's so many assumptions, right?
- 2:04Yes.
- 2:04And so I think we're, like, you know, zhuzhing it up- by
- 2:08calling it a confession.
- 2:09But really, there's, like, a bunch of assumptions- Yes that founders
- 2:13make and people make- Yeah going into business building, and I know
- 2:17that that's something that we wanna t- we wanna talk about and make sure
- 2:20is emphasized throughout this series.
- 2:22Sweta: Absolutely.
- 2:22And we got a preview at what a lot of them-
- 2:25Ashley: Oh my God,
- 2:25Sweta: yes are planning on confessing.
- 2:27Yeah.
- 2:27And I think I already have one of my favorites.
- 2:29I know which one's gonna be, I think- We- the most popular.
- 2:31Ashley: Okay.
- 2:33Sweta: We'll have to see.
- 2:34Yeah.
- 2:34We'll have to, we'll have to hear from everyone.
- 2:36I am so excited to see what everyone resonates with-
- 2:38Ashley: Yes
- 2:38Sweta: because so much of it is really so normal- Mm-hmm but you think
- 2:43you're the only one going through it.
- 2:44Ashley: Yes.
- 2:45Sweta: And I'm so excited to just see how everyone else sort of says, "Hey, me too."
- 2:49Ashley: Yeah.
- 2:49Well, you know what's funny, if you're a reality TV buff watching
- 2:52this, we're breaking the fourth wall.
- 2:54You know, they talk about reality TV breaking the fourth wall.
- 2:56Yeah.
- 2:57That is what we're doing.
- 2:58We are breaking the fourth wall.
- 2:59Before we get into how we got here and, and how this is even coming to life- Yeah
- 3:05I think we need to introduce ourselves.
- 3:07So you introduce yourself first- Yes, yes, yes for the people.
- 3:09Sweta: Yeah, super briefly, and you will hear a lot more about what we stand
- 3:13for during these conversations anyway.
- 3:15I'll just say my name is Sweta Govvani again, and I am the creator
- 3:19of Happy Paying Customers, as well as Your Wealth Garden, and you'll
- 3:24hear more about both of those things- Yes and our hot takes on it.
- 3:26But Ashley, what about you?
- 3:28Ashley: Yes.
- 3:28My name is Ashley Jefferson.
- 3:30I am from the United States of New Jersey-
- 3:32as I like to call it.
- 3:34Um, I, uh, run a company called Startup Baddie.
- 3:37I also run a community called F3, and as you will hear, my intersection
- 3:42that I help businesses with, big or small, is how do we make sure that
- 3:46your business decisions are reflective of who your customers really are?
- 3:50And I advocate, uh, for IRL community as the way to get to know them.
- 3:55Sweta: Oh my gosh, absolutely obsessed.
- 3:56Yes.
- 3:57Um, okay.
- 3:58So c- let's, we need to tell the
- 3:59story of- We have
- 4:00to of why we're doing this.
- 4:01Yes.
- 4:01What is the whole deal with it?
- 4:03Um, so first of all, shout out to the Creative Cabin crew, because
- 4:06they, when we were hanging out- Yeah your name kept coming up.
- 4:09Oh my God, that's so sweet.
- 4:10And I
- 4:10Ashley: was
- 4:10Sweta: like, we got back- That was a good crew in there.
- 4:12That was
- 4:13good crew.
- 4:13Ashley: Yeah.
- 4:14Sweta: And as soon as we got back, LinkedIn of course showed me s- a post
- 4:18from you- Something and I was like, "All right, Ashley, we need to hang out."
- 4:19Ashley: Yeah.
- 4:20Sweta: And we were chit-chatting- Mm and immediately, I- we
- 4:23both started talking about how our experiences working with founders.
- 4:27You know, I've worked with at least 100 now, and talked to hundreds in the years
- 4:31that I've been building this business.
- 4:33Yep.
- 4:33And I get to work with people at the zero to one stage.
- 4:36Mm-hmm.
- 4:36So honestly, there's a lot of vulnerability there, right?
- 4:39Sure.
- 4:39I'm the first hire, I'm the first person they're Often the first
- 4:41thing they're spending money on.
- 4:43Yep.
- 4:43And so there's a lot of confessions, right?
- 4:45Because you're new.
- 4:46You- this is your first business.
- 4:48You were in corporate, you were at companies like Google, Meta,
- 4:50Amazon, and now you're a beginner.
- 4:52Ashley: Yep.
- 4:53Sweta: And you don't know who else to say what to.
- 4:54And so a lot of times, I would, even though we were both talking about all
- 4:57these different confessions we get- And I remember saying to you, "Okay, I
- 5:01think we need to do something about it because no one else is talking about it.
- 5:04Do you wanna do something?" Not knowing what this could look like at all.
- 5:07Sure.
- 5:07Mm-hmm.
- 5:07And you immediately said yes.
- 5:09Ashley: Mm-hmm.
- 5:09Sweta: Why?
- 5:10Why did you immediately say yes?
- 5:11Ashley: Yes, because it is-- So, it's funny.
- 5:142026, uh, I had to take a second and do some math.
- 5:17I'm like, "What year are we in?" But, um, 2026 has been a year where I feel
- 5:22like I have gotten really clear on what, how I wanna build business- Yeah
- 5:27and who I wanna build it with, and who I wanna help.
- 5:29Yeah.
- 5:30And so it is very rare to have another individual who also has that
- 5:37same foundation in terms of saying the quiet part out loud, believing
- 5:42in nuance, and just, I don't, uh, I wouldn't call us contrarian.
- 5:47I don't feel like we should be labeled as that, but I think some people might
- 5:51hear what we say and be like, "Well, that's not what they're covering in
- 5:54insert media publication here-" Yeah
- 5:56or what some VC is talking about on their platform.
- 6:00And so therefore, I feel like it's not really something
- 6:03that people publicly support.
- 6:05And so I'm tired of the same thing being pushed in terms of how to
- 6:11build a business, that there's just, like, this one right way.
- 6:14And I think we really connected in our conversation about the fact that
- 6:17there isn't a one- There's no one way
- 6:19right way to build a business.
- 6:22And so when you were willing to, to do something, I was like, "Yeah,
- 6:26absolutely." These are the types of people that I wanna bring content to life
- 6:29to, bring events to life to, you know-
- 6:32Sweta: Yeah,
- 6:32Ashley: absolutely with.
- 6:33So that, yeah, that, to me, that was like, it made it easy because
- 6:37I also didn't wanna do any of these things alone anymore, so.
- 6:41Oh
- 6:41Sweta: my gosh.
- 6:41Yeah.
- 6:41Yes.
- 6:42Oh my gosh.
- 6:42Also, shout-out, you have been an amazing partner.
- 6:45It's been- Yes, so have you so much fun.
- 6:46No, so have you.
- 6:48We've literally spent 10, 20, I don't know how many hours.
- 6:49Ashley: No, it's been a lot.
- 6:51It's,
- 6:51Sweta: it's- From masterminding-
- 6:52Ashley: I was about to say, it had to be like- and curating 40 to 60 hours.
- 6:55I'm not even joking.
- 6:56Sweta: Oh my gosh.
- 6:57We will have to check.
- 6:57Yeah.
- 6:58It's been a lot of hours.
- 6:58We have to check.
- 6:59It's been a lot, yeah.
- 6:59It's been a lot, and it's been so much fun.
- 7:01Ashley: It has.
- 7:02Sweta: And to your point about the right business, something that I'm
- 7:04really excited about with the series is we've done, the founders that we have
- 7:08now, the six that we've curated- Yep
- 7:10they really are a lot of different industries, a lot of different stages, a
- 7:14lot of different business models, pricing models, um, ways of building a business.
- 7:19Yes.
- 7:19Some of them, many of them are bootstrapped.
- 7:20Some of them have raised money.
- 7:22So there's a lot of different ways that they're building the business.
- 7:25So there's just so, such good variety, and I wanna keep doing, doing more of that.
- 7:28Yes.
- 7:28And I hope that those of you who are watching will tune in on the conversation,
- 7:32because that's the whole point.
- 7:34We wanna normalize- That's the point that it's okay for you to
- 7:36build whatever type of business you want.
- 7:38There's many, many different ways- Yes,
- 7:41Ashley: so many
- 7:41Sweta: to get rich, achieve your purpose- create wealth.
- 7:45There's no right way, but there is a right way for you.
- 7:47Ashley: Mm-hmm.
- 7:48Sweta: And for me, I know as, in, on my own founder journey- Yeah it
- 7:51has been so helpful to just take inspiration from- Yeah how other
- 7:56people are building their businesses.
- 7:58And I'm so excited to share some of the juicy parts of that too.
- 8:01Ashley: I can't, I can't wait for you to share, but also tell us about
- 8:05not just happy paying customers- Yes but the Wealth Garden.
- 8:08Ah, yes.
- 8:08Which I know is, like, your, your newer baby that you're
- 8:11really- Yes bringing to life.
- 8:12Sweta: Oh my
- 8:12gosh.
- 8:12So yeah, let me, let me briefly tell you the connection between the two too- Yeah
- 8:17because of how Wealth Garden started.
- 8:18So happy paying customers is, is my really, like, tactical framework.
- 8:22So it's what I've been doing for the last four years, taking founders at the
- 8:26idea stage and helping them validate, like, the core fundamentals of your
- 8:30business or your customer segment, your positioning, your playbook.
- 8:34So really figuring out how can you take an idea and turn it into a
- 8:38business that actually has a growing number of happy paying customers.
- 8:42Right.
- 8:42And in doing that work, I'll be honest, honestly, I think it was about a year
- 8:45and a half ago or so- Mm I started, I just had this epiphany that so many of
- 8:50the founders I worked with, I mean, we all know the success rates of businesses.
- 8:53Yeah.
- 8:54But one trend that kept coming up for me, it was that people, you know,
- 8:59everyone, there are all these statistics- Yeah that businesses fail because
- 9:02they ran out of runway or because they couldn't find product market fit.
- 9:05But actually in my experience, those statistics don't actually cover the
- 9:09founders I work with because they're at the idea stage, and a lot of them- Yeah
- 9:12well, who's collecting that data?
- 9:13Mm-hmm.
- 9:13No one.
- 9:14Ooh, interesting.
- 9:14And so the data that I have, the most common reason is because people
- 9:19actually realize they shouldn't have built that business in the first place.
- 9:22Mm-hmm.
- 9:23And so they decide to move on.
- 9:25I don't wanna call it failure.
- 9:26I don't wanna call it giving up.
- 9:27No, it's moving on it's making a decision
- 9:29No, let's move on and do it again.
- 9:29It's making a decision that this isn't a right fit.
- 9:31Yep.
- 9:31And it's because they didn't know what it actually takes to win
- 9:35at a certain type of business.
- 9:36Mm-hmm.
- 9:37And, you know, what are the business models, and what do the go-to-market
- 9:40strategies need to look like?
- 9:41Certain businesses you do need to raise money for to achieve the scale you want.
- 9:46And I started to realize, I incorporated this as part of my, my methodology,
- 9:50where I now, literally one of the first things as part of the guided program
- 9:53that founders and I talk about is what i- what is your vision for success?
- 9:56Mm-hmm.
- 9:57What do you want out of life, and what is, what is your Wealth Garden, right?
- 10:00What is your Wealth Garden of income streams, active, semi-passive, passive?
- 10:05Where does this business fit in?
- 10:07Ashley: Yeah.
- 10:07Sweta: What do you need it to do for it to feel like a success for you?
- 10:11Mm. By when?
- 10:12What resources are you willing to allocate to it?
- 10:14Do you understand what it takes to get the outcome you want out of this business?
- 10:18Ashley: Yeah.
- 10:18Sweta: And actually, you're not gonna believe- The number of founders who
- 10:23come to me with one type of business-
- 10:26Ashley: Mm-hmm
- 10:26Sweta: and when we have this conversation, they just realize,
- 10:30"I'm building the wrong business."
- 10:31Ashley: Yeah.
- 10:32" Sweta: I'm building the wrong business," and so we end up pivoting.
- 10:34There's nothing wrong with that.
- 10:35Ashley: No.
- 10:36Sweta: There's nothing wrong with that.
- 10:37You either tell me, "Hey, these are my priorities. I really am passionate
- 10:40about solving this problem." Yep.
- 10:41And so then you end up, you know, pivoting the business model to align with what
- 10:45your customers want and what you want.
- 10:46Ashley: Yep.
- 10:47Sweta: But you have to do that with intentionality right from the beginning.
- 10:50Ashley: Mm-hmm.
- 10:50Sweta: And so that's the truly the beginning of Your Wealth Garden, and
- 10:53for me was really realizing I needed to put words to figuring out how
- 10:57to help founders as part of this.
- 10:59And then I realized, actually, I've been doing this myself Yeah.
- 11:02for the last four years as after I left corporate.
- 11:05I've been building out these income streams myself and thinking- Yeah
- 11:08about the right way.
- 11:09So I have, you know, fractional CMO work that I do, and I only
- 11:12take on one client at a time, which I'm maxed out on right now.
- 11:14I do the guided programs, which are, you know, coaching, and so they're different.
- 11:18Like
- 11:18I started off doing consulting, and I realized that's not a fit for me.
- 11:22Oh.
- 11:22And so I decided to productize that, right?
- 11:24Mm-hmm.
- 11:24And turned it into this guided program, which now I'm spending
- 11:28most amount of time with founders on what actually matters versus, like,
- 11:30teaching the same things, right?
- 11:32Ashley: Yep.
- 11:32Sweta: Um, and so took some time and experimenting and pivoting
- 11:35and iterating, and, and I realized this is a journey for life.
- 11:40We're all gonna keep doing this.
- 11:41Ashley: It never ends.
- 11:42Sweta: It never ends.
- 11:43No.
- 11:43And it's normal, and it's kinda cool- Yeah and it's kinda inspiring if you just
- 11:46embrace that this is part of the journey.
- 11:49And so Your Wealth Garden, for me, is really, um, it's about building this
- 11:52movement and sharing more of these stories of how different people are building
- 11:57different income streams, businesses, assets they buy, investments they
- 12:01make, that help fund their dream lives.
- 12:03Ashley: Yeah.
- 12:04Oh my God, I lo- I absolutely love it.
- 12:06Number one, I think it's a really interesting,
- 12:09uh, uh,
- 12:09insight about at the idea stage specifically, right, how, yeah, a
- 12:14lo-
- 12:15a lot of people, if
- 12:16they
- 12:16do pivot for something- Yes or move on, as you said, I, I li- I like
- 12:19that ver- I like that verbiage.
- 12:21It really is because you realize, like, "Oh, my heart is not really in this."
- 12:26Um, and I, I've seen that happen.
- 12:29There was someone I met years ago at an event, and they were saying that
- 12:32they were starting a silk pajama line.
- 12:35And I was like, "That sounds interesting." Like- Yeah "What are you doing?
- 12:40Why are you doing it?" And their answer was, "Oh, well I just
- 12:43need to make money." Right?
- 12:44And it's a really interesting answer because it's just like, ooh.
- 12:50Like
- 12:50it I, I tightened a bit, like full body, head to toe-
- 12:54Ooh because, uh, sure, eventually we're all doing this because we're
- 12:59working towards a payoff, right?
- 13:01However, in the beginning, and, like, the beginning is a while.
- 13:05You know, the beginning could be a, like, a year to three years, right?
- 13:09Sweta: Oh, 100%.
- 13:09Ashley: You're, you're not see- the cash is not, like, coming in like a,
- 13:13you know, like a fire hose, right?
- 13:16Like, there it's not happening like that.
- 13:18And so to your point, it's, it's expectations, but
- 13:21it's also that motivation.
- 13:22And I know I can say that w- one thing that has gotten me through my, like,
- 13:29darkest days as an entrepreneur is knowing and connecting back to why I'm doing it
- 13:36and, and pushing through, and obviously having the community to do so as well.
- 13:39Sweta: 100%.
- 13:40That's such a good point.
- 13:41And in, in Your Wealth Garden, what I recommend to people-
- 13:43Ashley: Yeah
- 13:44Sweta: as part of this is- Be honest with yourself.
- 13:47If you need money now, just say that.
- 13:49Ashley: Mm-hmm.
- 13:50Sweta: And then honestly, you should probably plant like a basil that
- 13:53you can harvest from right away.
- 13:54Yeah.
- 13:54Maybe there's a different way that you could solve a problem, or maybe
- 13:56you already have an expertise, you know, that you could monetize.
- 14:00Build an expertise-led services business, and then still be doing
- 14:03that long shot that you want, right?
- 14:05Totally.
- 14:05That's fine.
- 14:06Put in that mango tree, but you're gonna need to water that for a while.
- 14:09Ashley: Totally.
- 14:09Sweta: Okay?
- 14:09Be honest with yourself about that.
- 14:10Yeah.
- 14:10And that's okay.
- 14:11Okay, let's talk about the second topic, um-
- 14:14that-
- 14:15that is a deep dive that we wanna get into with the founders.
- 14:18Yes.
- 14:18Um, so tell us a little bit about your philosophy.
- 14:21You- Oh my goodness, yes gave us a little teaser at the beginning.
- 14:23I did, yes.
- 14:23You're big on IRL.
- 14:25Tell us, tell us-
- 14:26Ashley: Huge on IRL.
- 14:26Sweta: Yeah, tell us everything about what you stand for.
- 14:29Yeah.
- 14:29Why?
- 14:29Why is this?
- 14:30Ashley: Okay, so the TLDR- on IRL is when I left my corporate job in
- 14:342023, I had a very corporate network.
- 14:37I had simultaneously was graduating with my MBA from NYU- Yeah which
- 14:41opened me up to a more entrepreneurial network, but I would still say at that
- 14:44point I had a very corporate network.
- 14:46So I do what everyone tells you to do.
- 14:48You go and you network, right?
- 14:50You go to events.
- 14:51And I did a test, because tech product management is part of my
- 14:55background, so I love a good test.
- 14:57Um, but I did a test where I was like, "Okay, for three months, a
- 15:01whole quarter, I am going to go to two to three events a week." Yeah.
- 15:05"And I need to be better for it by the time I get out," right, of these events.
- 15:11Yeah.
- 15:11Um, at, at, the, at, at the time the test is done.
- 15:15So I get through that whole quarter, and I didn't like my life.
- 15:21I really did not like my life, and I was like, "But I felt like I was being
- 15:24so intentional with the events I was choosing. How am I in a position where
- 15:30I'm coming to these events and I'm still leaving with, like, no value?"
- 15:35Yeah.
- 15:35And so that, obviously, if you can't join 'em, build your own table, right?
- 15:41And that's exactly what I did.
- 15:42I was like, "I could do events, and this, if, if I construct the events that I
- 15:47wanna see And I wanna connect with more founders and funders and just ecosystem
- 15:52members overall, I think I will do a better job than the events that I was
- 15:56going to, if I'm being completely honest.
- 15:58Um, and, and this is like really meant, it was, it's really meant to be like a
- 16:01low ego statement, but like I think that people watching this are going to resonate
- 16:06with the fact that most of the time, and I call it the networking tax, you go to
- 16:10a networking event, you feel like you did a pretty good job vetting, and then
- 16:14when you leave disappointed, you chalk it up to, "Eh, well, you know, sometimes
- 16:18that's just what happens in networking."
- 16:20And I don't think that that is acceptable.
- 16:22So, so fast-forward, I'm like a year into my community builder journey.
- 16:28I'm doing events at New York Tech Week.
- 16:30I'm going to South by Southwest, LA, SF, all, all the weeks, right?
- 16:35Just, just all the weeks.
- 16:36All the weeks.
- 16:37And, um, I realized that like, wow, I intuitively am be- getting
- 16:43to understand that founder more.
- 16:45And for background, right, like I work, we work with founders, and so a lot of
- 16:50the events I do is geared towards them.
- 16:52And so when I started to realize that I was really getting to know intimately the,
- 16:58the profile of a founder and the different types of profiles of founders I went
- 17:02back to my product brain and was like, "Ah, this is what they meant when they
- 17:06said get to know your customer," right?
- 17:09Yeah.
- 17:09And it was such a really interesting click moment because I realized, oh,
- 17:13yeah, I'm around these people once a month at minimum, and because I'm
- 17:17around them frequently and repeatedly, I'm really getting to know them.
- 17:21Th- what we're taught and what most companies do, not to a fault of their
- 17:25own, I don't think, um, is if you send out a survey or you do, you know, user
- 17:32research when you're launching something or when something seems to be broken,
- 17:36that's, that's knowing your customer.
- 17:38Reading a report, that's knowing your customer.
- 17:40That's not knowing your customer.
- 17:41You have to be in constant dialogue with your customer in order to get
- 17:47what you want, which is money, right?
- 17:51Revenue, right?
- 17:51If we're being honest, everything kind of boils down to revenue.
- 17:54Yeah.
- 17:54But then it's also, um, just, you know, solutions that really speaks
- 18:00to th- them, your customers- Yeah
- 18:02and, and their problems.
- 18:03100%. Um, and I've started to realize with AI, things are moving so rapidly.
- 18:08Social media algorithms are becoming more polarizing, and so I, I over-index
- 18:13and I talk a lot about IRL as a, as the pathway to get to know your customer.
- 18:17Um, but truly it's a hybrid approach, right?
- 18:19Like, you still have to be present online and everything.
- 18:22Yeah.
- 18:22However, when you're in the room, there are way, there are ways that
- 18:26you can structure your programming.
- 18:29There are ways that you can collect information so that it,
- 18:33it is a, it is a win-win, right?
- 18:35The people in the room are receiving value, and I would say that if you're, uh,
- 18:40if you're kinda catered toward any, any business builder specifically, especially
- 18:45founder, brand leader, you know, they want connections for money, connections in
- 18:50general, because relationships are- Yeah
- 18:51are king, right?
- 18:53Um, and then ultimately just something that moves their business forward.
- 18:57Yeah.
- 18:57Uh, and so that is like i- I really started to develop this like, uh, you
- 19:02know, just this very specific view on the fact that n- uh, community events,
- 19:08IRL events need to present value, and when you present value as the person
- 19:13putting it on, the trust and belonging that you're able to build creates,
- 19:18you know, a, a treasure trove of data.
- 19:20Sweta: Yeah, and I love so much that at the heart of what you're
- 19:24talking about- Is, is what you and I connect over a lot- Yeah which
- 19:28is it's all about the customer.
- 19:29Ashley: Yeah.
- 19:30Sweta: You have to obsess, obsess about the customer and their problem.
- 19:34Mm-hmm.
- 19:34And I love your take on this, is there's always the people who
- 19:38will win, the businesses who will win, will always be the ones that
- 19:40get closest to their customers.
- 19:41Ashley: Mm-hmm.
- 19:42Sweta: And, uh, there isn't a better way to do it than IRL.
- 19:45Ashley: There is not a better way to do it IRL.
- 19:47And really, the broader thing that it connects to, yes, knowing your customer,
- 19:51being customer-obsessed, but this reality that, like, a lot of teams and business
- 19:56leaders are making decisions about their customer that is on an outdated snapshot.
- 20:01And in this day and age where someone can, you know, vibe code something, you know,
- 20:07a-
- 20:08an app, right?
- 20:08Yeah.
- 20:08And, and really start getting traction, interest, business, et cetera.
- 20:13Yeah.
- 20:14You can't, like, you can't make decisions off of a stale version of your customer.
- 20:19Yeah.
- 20:19You have to do your best to keep up.
- 20:21Sweta: Yeah, and that's one of the, that reminds me, that's one of the other
- 20:24questions that we're discussing with the founders, which I'm excited about, is
- 20:28not only how is their voice of customer and how are things different for their
- 20:32customers based on the experiences- Mm
- 20:34that they have had, but also just how is business building different?
- 20:38Ashley: Yeah.
- 20:38Sweta: Right?
- 20:38We-
- 20:39we're living in such a different time than even two years ago, and some
- 20:43of these founders have been building businesses for c- for a few years now.
- 20:46So I think that's gonna be really interesting to hear their take on how
- 20:49things have changed and how they're figuring out ways to s- to stay close
- 20:53to their customers, and how- Exactly
- 20:54their go-to-market strategies are evolving, or how their operations are-
- 20:58Yeah evolving and hiring and other types of decisions that they're making.
- 21:02So I'm really excited to hear their take on, on that as well.
- 21:05Me too.
- 21:06Um, I'm so excited.
- 21:08This is gonna be a phenomenal series.
- 21:10Ashley: I-
- 21:10this is going to be so great.
- 21:12I'm, I'm glad that we ultimately made this come to life, and I think we just
- 21:16wanna thank the founders- Yes who have dedicated their time to recording with us.
- 21:23Yes.
- 21:23But also, um, I'm sorry you guys won't be there, but there is an IRL event- Yeah
- 21:28that we're having at the end of today.
- 21:30Yeah.
- 21:30And I think we're just excited to kinda see where this goes, and- Yeah
- 21:33you know, we'll see if we'll do more of these.
- 21:35But yeah, I,
- 21:36I,
- 21:36I mean, I think that's it, right?
- 21:38Sweta: Yeah.
- 21:38That, that's it.
- 21:39Please let us know any reactions, any requests.
- 21:42We wanna hear from you, and we want you to be part of the conversation.
- 21:46Our goal really is to start normalizing the fact that you can build whatever
- 21:50business you want on your own terms, and let's start talking about
- 21:54it more openly and normalize it.
- 21:56Ashley: Yes, absolutely.
- 21:58Well, thank you all for watching, and we will see you next
- 22:02time for Founder Confessions.
- 22:04think the first, uh, mistake was raising too much without understanding what
- 22:09type of game I wanted to play, right?
- 22:16I