Latest / The Bold Lounge / Katie Nowak: From Vision to Venture- Crafting Bold Ideas into Reality

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Katie Nowak: From Vision to Venture- Crafting Bold Ideas into Reality · The Bold Lounge

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bold Lounge podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: My name is Leigh Burgess and I will be your host.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: If you're anything like me, you love hearing inspiring stories of people who have gone on bold journeys and made a positive impact in the world.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: This podcast is all about those kinds of stories.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Every week, we'll hear from someone who has taken a leap or embarked on an extraordinary journey.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: In addition to hearing their stories, we'll also learn about their bold growth mindset that they use to make things happen.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Whether they face challenges or doubts along the way, they persisted and ultimately achieved their goals.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: These impactful stories will leave you feeling motivated and inspired to pursue your own bold journey.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: I believe everyone has a bold story waiting to be freed.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Tune in and get ready to be inspired.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bold Lounge.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Today I have Katie Nowak.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Katie is a celebrated innovation leader helping companies identify new ventures and raise millions, as well as an active inventor in late-stage pre-IPO companies.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: She mentors, speaks and advises on startup business model development globally for companies such as Plug and Play Korea and the National Science Foundation.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bold Lounge.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me Leigh.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: I am so excited to be here and to be bold with you today.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Excellent, and I know that we did the short bio to start off, but where would you kind of expand, because there's lots of nooks and crannies of Katie Nowak Telling us a little bit more about your experience, or adding to that intro?
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: What would you want to add?
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: You know I always struggle with this question because I've definitely built a portfolio career over the last couple of years and there are many different areas where I focus.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: I'll give you two key areas of where I spend my time.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: So I'm the founder and partner of a strategy agency called Canvas.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: We actually help startups and enterprises take new ideas and turn them into business cases, so we've helped raise over $350 million now for both of those different client types as they go to market with their new products and services.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: And I also am a venture partner at HF Scale Partners.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: We are currently investing in pre-IPO startups, so those that are two to five years before they go public, and I'm personally super passionate about that strategy and always happy to answer questions about getting involved in private market investing.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Awesome.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Thank you for that expanded version, cause I think there's a lot of experiences that you've had that we want to talk about on the podcast, and so having everyone kind of know where we're starting that's super helpful.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, I joke.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: I'm 70% coffee at all times.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: So a lot, lots, I say I'm part coffee bean in my genome, so we could relate there for sure.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: So let's jump into being bold.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: So, when you think about your definition of bold, what does it look like?
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: How do you define it?
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Absolutely so.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Being bold for me means relentlessly pursuing and creating a life that brings you joy, and I think that that's actually a lot harder to do than most people originally think, right.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: So when you say relentlessly, why do you use that word purposely?
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: You know, someone explained entrepreneurship and I think this is true about life as well as a roller coaster.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: But when you're on the right path, one that doesn't make you queasy, so when you're pursuing joy, when you're trying to identify what that looks like for yourself, it can be really, really challenging.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: I originally had fearlessly in there instead of relentlessly, but pursuing things that are really true to yourself can feel scary if they're different, maybe, from the norm.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Relentlessly to me means being driven, being focused on that goal and continuing to pursue it even when you have a hard day.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: I think some people might define bold as fearlessness, but I think fear is meant to protect, so it's natural for it to come up.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: I think it's like what we do to it, what we, how we talk to it, where we put it when it comes up, because sometimes it's useful and other times it can hinder us.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: So I think I like how the relentlessly really is like you're going to move forward regardless of what's coming up.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: So when you think about a bold moment in your life, do you have an example where that definition gets exemplified in your world?
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: You know, when I think about a life that brings me joy, I think there's two key components to that it's the people that I spend time with.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: That I call good threads, so people that make you the best version of yourself, and also time freedom.
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: So, as an entrepreneur, it's really important for me to be able to have time to do things like ride my horse, roscoe, or spend time with the people that I love.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: So when I think about bold memories or things that really exemplify that journey, I would say, first and foremost is taking the leap for entrepreneurship during 2020, you know, when I was testing positive for COVID is when I started Canvas, and then the second big bold memory is actually more recent, so I've started developing my own Dreams to Dollars course, and that's been a really powerful journey for me because you know, as we've talked about in other conversations, I've had all different sorts of health and family challenges over the last couple of years, and so developing the course and being able to give back to startups at scale while having an eye on, you know, how can I eventually turn this into digital content if I were to get sick again has been really important to me.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: So I would say that those are two key moments in my journey where I've been most proud of how bold I've been, just based on what was going on in the world and with me at the time.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so it sounds like 2020 is where Canvas was born, would you say.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, right out of COVID.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: And you actually had COVID.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: So you got through that mess, and what made you want to start your own company?
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: What was the event, or was it the reset that many people had during the pandemic, or where did that come from?
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: I think it mostly came from wanting to be in charge of my own schedule and being able to consistently work with people and choose clients.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: That made me feel like the best version of myself.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: So for me, entrepreneurship has been the unlock for me to be able to go ride my horse during the day or to meet people like yourself through the Bold Leaders Collective.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: It was really this idea of you know, the corporate life, the corporate path.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: I can squint and see it, but it's not lighting me up inside.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: It's not something that I'm willing to work really late for anymore, and I really wanted to create something that was of my own and something that gave me space to be the Katie that I am in my personal life.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a very powerful and terrifying moment for me, for sure.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so definitely probably exemplifying your definition there of when you're starting your business.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: So when you started your business, how would you describe how it felt?
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: And then, if you're looking back now in year four, what's changed inside of you because of your running, you know, running your business successfully now, Well, it's actually so funny that you asked that question because I was going through my Google Drive just yesterday and I came across my first ever pitch deck for Canvas and thought to myself wow, I do not celebrate how far I've come.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: This is pretty rough.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: I think that.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: You know, for me, canvas has allowed me to pursue working with different initiatives and people that I care about, so in doing that, it's definitely built my self-confidence and it's also broadened even my horizon of industries that I like.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: So I'm currently working on a project with chickens that are being bioengineered to create a more sustainable future for food safety and for the food chain, which is fascinating.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: I never would have learned about that and you know I've done other projects that are also kind of off the wall and I think that that's really just built me as a person.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: So I find Canvas to be an incredible, just journey of self and learning a lot and, you know, being able to work with my peers in the industry and our pitch deck is much better.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: So yeah, for sure, yeah, that's next level, right?
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: You know, I think we all go through phases and we even go back to where we're in college or where you were in our first job or you know, kind of, as you go through it as a senior leader, when you're in corporate and then an entrepreneur is a whole nother.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, you started at kindergarten At least that's how I felt when I started off Like I, I did not feel like I knew what I was doing, but I was, you know, new people had gone before me and was going to keep going and left writing it.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: So yeah, some of our early on stuff should maybe be in the Smithsonian.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: I think that would actually be really funny if we did a little art exhibit of early entrepreneurship things.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: I also think that you know, through Canvas I've been able to work with people the way that I've always hoped and craved to have in corporate America.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: So taking care of my team members when they work with me on a project or, if, God forbid, they have to work a little bit later than usual, really making sure that they're cared for and celebrated in the way that I always wish I had been, yeah, early on in my career, and that makes me feel really good too.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: For sure.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: So one of the things that I think you have is this ability to have a really positive vibe and see things from a positive side of the world, even though we know there's a yin and yang to everything.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: But you know it's like, yes, we can handle this, this is tackleable and we can figure it out.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: And you know.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: The other thing is also you seem very pragmatic, like very process oriented.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Is that fair, positive and process oriented Is that a fair thing to say about you?
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: I think so.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: I joke sometimes when I'm working with clients I always say I could be delusionally optimistic, but I think we can meet that milestone or I think we can raise that much funding for this venture, and so I do think the positivity, it's this will to persevere, regardless of what's in front of me.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: That I think has been a huge driver of my success.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: Huge driver of my success.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: So I love that you call that out.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: That makes me feel really seen.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: And then process helps to add some structure to that almost delusional optimism.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Right, being able to think through okay, if there were absolutely no barriers in the world, that we can imagine, if we're living in a utopia and we can actually hit that goal, what does the process look like to get there?
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: How might that be true?
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: And that's how I think through my own goals, my client goals, and I think it really.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it just makes things much more expansive when you're talking about new ideas and innovations.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: There's more possibility, right?
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Like I see, like I think, through making bold moves and by being bold in our lives, it just creates more possibility.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: And how we speak to that fear possibility, you know, fear comes up when we're thinking about things.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: I think that's important, like we talked about earlier.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: So when you're starting off as an entrepreneur, one of the things that you know, I think, keeps people from actually trying something new in this particular or like, maybe they want to move in inside their own organization or maybe they want to get curious about something.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: So bold comes in a lot of different flavors, but that first step, that first move, is one of the hardest ones for people to make.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: So when you decided, hey, I'm leaving the corporate environment and I'm going to create a startup that helps others do X, y or Z, how did you take that first step?
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: What were some of the ingredients to it?
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: I think again, it's like this idea of wanting to be in control of my time, like really being super clear on this North star of if there were no, yeah, clarity of like, okay, you know, if there are no boundaries, if I could develop my own life, this is what it looks like.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: And then how do I actually get there and how do I think outside of the box, from what my peers are doing or from what others are doing?
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: And so that clarity on vision, I think, was what guided me through the highs and lows of that, of that rollercoaster journey.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: To say this might be hard.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: I might be terrified to go pitch this client for much more than what I ever have in the past, but I'm committed to that vision for my future self and I want to develop that for her.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: So I'm going to push through and do it to the best of my ability.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: So I think that that was honestly the biggest driver for wanting to push through those harder moments and just to think about what kind of life or what kind of impact I would want to have.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: That, I think, was a really big piece of it.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: So clarity of vision and understanding your why, I think is kind of what you said here.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: And so, for anyone who's thinking about that of like, what do you want to change?
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: What do you want to get curious about?
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: What has to give?
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Like needs to change, because we sometimes have those feelings it sounds like some of yours was what's got to give is maybe your schedule, like you didn't.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: It sounds like you didn't have control or schedule.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Many of us, when we're in the corporate don't.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Someone else owns it.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Even if we're a senior leader, someone else owns it, even as a CEO, sometimes the board.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: So it's interesting, I think claiming our time back so that we can live it the way we want to live it, I think is definitely something I've seen with other entrepreneurs or even people making moves within their organization, and it's one of the most difficult things to do like because sometimes we've given away our time or we haven't managed it like we preferred to manage it.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: So I think that that sounds like a really, I would say, deep why and kind of also what you're doing as well now and I would just add to that I think that's a big part of it.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: I also you know I'm coming into this thinking a lot about time freedom.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: I think I've said that a lot.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: I think it's also Canvas has been.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: The reason why the company has even called Canvas is.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: I believe that I was a very technical person that was pushed more into like a financial path and ultimately feel like every business is being painted on its own canvas and through Canvas I could help paint visions of other businesses and use my technical skills for creativity.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: And so I think that pursuit of creativity, that pursuit of wanting to work with a startup in Korea or working with a foreign startup developing a super chicken, being able to have that variety is so novel and so exciting to me that I think the curiosity and the scope of different kinds of things I could work on through Canvas was also a huge driver that kept pushing me forward.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so one of the things that you certainly help with and actually are an investor is help raising venture capital for businesses, and you're very diligent in that and helping other startups.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: What do you think are some of the unknowns, of the difficulty with that, that a lot of us don't know and need to understand?
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: When a startup is trying to raise capital, what do we need to understand?
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: I think that there's two key components that come to mind in this conversation.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: I think it's storytelling and network.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: So by storytelling I don't necessarily mean you know your product vision through time.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: I think founders the strong founders I've worked with tend to have a very strong product vision of what they're developing, for who they're developing it, but they learning how to tell that vision to different audiences is always a skill that's ever developing.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: So helping those startup founders say, okay, you do have a really strong product vision.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: How do we tell that in a concise pitch deck, in three minutes or 10 minutes or you know?
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: However, the length of your upcoming meeting is, how do we then tell that vision into a financial model right, because now that's going to look really different.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: And how do we set you up so that, in whatever conversation you're in, you can still change hats and go to another part of the business and clearly communicate the impact or the key elements of that?
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: So, for instance, you might be walking an investor through your financial model and being able to pull out key assumptions that you're making, or drivers, even as a CEO, regardless of what stage you're at, is really, really important.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: And so I think that founders that I tend to work with usually have one or two of those languages on lock, but there's one additional one that they could be a little bit more crisp on.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Or maybe they don't have a financial model in their data room because they think they're too early to have one, and some of those things can be holding them back and they might not necessarily be getting clear feedback from investors on it.
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: So I think storytelling beyond just how you're pitching or how you're chatting with someone, maybe in Starbucks, about your company, is really important, and being able to speak all these different languages as you tell your story.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what is an important part of your story when you share it with other people?
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: That is key for them learning more about you and also about your journey.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: What's something that you talk about that others can learn from?
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Oh, like, that's what she means by storytelling.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: It isn't just some of the technical aspects of the business and the forecast and things like that, but it's, you know, deep into that.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to think of a good example that's concise, that we can pull out for this.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: I think it's like you know you might have an idea of.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: You know defense technology is really popular right now.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: So let's say you're a defense tech startup, you're building drones.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: You know for some of the different governments, us and its allies right, and you have a clear product vision of you know what you're developing roadmap for those drones.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: A big part of the story that you'll need to tell, through your financial model as an example, is how your gross margins are going to stay competitive on hardware and how, ideally in the future, with the addition of software into your profile, those gross margins will even steadily increase to be a VC-backable business.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: So hardware tends to be about 50% margin, software tends to be more closer to 80% or more, and so it's really important to be able to concisely tell that story in numbers so that the investment analyst who's thinking about investing in your defense tech company can look at the numbers and understand what you're saying in their own language.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: They might not necessarily understand the pitch deck or the quick blurb of what you're talking about they're really focused on is this going to be a profitable company and when you can tell that story clearly in your financial model, it's a mic drop moment for them to say yes, I'm going to follow my gut.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: Lee seems like an incredible founder.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: I love what she's doing in the space and my questions have been answered, so it's things like that that are really really important when you're going out to raise capital.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Okay, so one of the things that you've created is an actual course, so that helps kind of walk it through.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: And I've seen the course and you've actually presented in the bold leaders collective, which was incredible.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit more about why you made it Like, what was the why behind the course, and then give us an overview of what the course takes you through.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely so.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: The course itself is called Dreams to Dollars Unlocking your Business Model.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: It is a six-week course that walks founders through the development of their business model.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: So we were just talking about gross margins and the importance of being able to communicate that in numbers.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Your business model is really the foundation for that financial model and for how you talk to investors.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: The course covers market sizing, visioning, growth channels, revenue channels, opex, cogs every element of your business that, as a founder, you should be privy to.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: You don't necessarily have to build a financial model yourself, but for these conversations, when you're fundraising, when you're managing burn, it's super important to have a handle on how decisions you're making in your product and engineering team actually affect your gross margin or just the viability of your business, and so sitting in the center of that and having an understanding of all those elements is really important.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: We developed the course with 776 Ventures, which is super exciting.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: I actually angel invested in one of their portfolio companies, and so we met in supporting one of those companies and have since then developed this course together.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: For me, it's a really important course because I both want to be able to ultimately give back to entrepreneurs at scale.
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: I do think that the gender imbalance and VC funding and the representation generally in the industry could always be improved.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: I think with diversity of people comes diversity of thought.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: I think it will make us all better, and so being able to eventually make this course into digital content or into a book will be one of my ways of trying to help entrepreneurs at scale, and ultimately, donating some of those materials to different accelerators or nonprofits that I really care about is important to me.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: And then, secondly, you know I've had some health challenges over the last year or two, and so being able to create something that also, you know, is ultimately able to kind of take care of me if I wouldn't be able to work for a month or two, is really important.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: So the reason why I share that is when you go back to thinking about your North Star, when you think about shaping your entrepreneurship journey, there'll always be new variables that you learn year over year, month over month.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: That shapes the products that you offer, the services that you offer, and you'll always kind of be matching the impact that you want to have on your clients with what you're able to give, and that can be, you know, a really, really challenging but super rewarding experience.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: So I'm really excited about the course.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it definitely feels like, as an entrepreneur, nothing's ever done Finish projects but it's.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: It's now, there's the next level.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Or even as you go year to year as a business, you're leveling up or you're adding or you're stopping adding, right, you're stabilizing.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: So I think you know there's all these different variations that can come into it.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Some obviously happen consistently and you know, like this is the next phase, is the next phase, but I think it's the timing of them.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: For me that wasn't like the same as everybody else.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Right, when did I scale?
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: When did I need to stabilize?
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: When did I take things to the next level?
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: Some of the things that happened I had never even planned, like this podcast.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: So, like, in thinking about those types of things, I think that's, that's the unknown, is the timing of it all.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: And like your personalized variables that are going to happen in your life, right, you know whether you know you have a child, or you get married, or you possibly, you know, have an illness, or you know you're trying to recover from something.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: So like there's lots of positive and negative things that can happen and you kind of work through all of them because they all can be something that leads to a change that you need to make, or something that you need to do differently than you thought in the beginning, would?
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: you agree with that.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: I love that and I agree so much with it.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: Someone once told me that entrepreneurship is the biggest mirror that you'll look into, and I think that's true about you know self, about different variables in life, and I think what's so special about it is you can really curate your entrepreneur journey around what's most important to you and around what the new developments are in your life.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: You also mentioned scale, which I think is something that's always a really interesting conversation to have with entrepreneurs, whether they're services-based or founders.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: You know, when I started Canvas, I always thought, oh, I'm going to scale it to be a massive consulting agency and maybe it'll be acquired by someone someday.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: And now I'm realizing very much that I love having a small team with fractional talent and I'm choosing to scale in other ways.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: So content creation is so much more accessible than it was four or five years ago, hence the course, hence potentially a book, and I've really enjoyed scaling that way.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: So I think that that's another great takeaway is, as an entrepreneur, you can scale in so many different ways, and following that life that brings you joy will help you understand the ways if you choose the scale that are best suited to you and the life variables that you're managing at that point in time.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's where your bold moves come in, like your personal bold moves.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Do I add a course, or do I start speaking, or do I write a book, or do I add more stops so I can get more clients?
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: It comes in all different flavors and your path is yours, so like mine, is mine, so like we can't define I can't define it for you and you couldn't define it for me and on purpose, right, because I think it's my purpose versus your purpose in your business.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: So I think being aligned with that is what, as a founder, you just have to remember.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Am I aligned to why I'm doing this?
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: Am I aligned to my North star?
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: My, you know my purpose and my passion is what I call it.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: So I think, checking in on that on a regular basis I was asked this morning on a podcast is there a practice I have that I do on a regular basis and for me I vision at the beginning of every year, but I also check in on it quarterly.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: It could daily, but I mean like on a real deep way, like sitting down with it, spending time with it, talking about it with my team and my family.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: I do that on a quarterly basis because what we thought the first quarter was going to look like, or the second quarter like.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Here we are.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: You know, as we start July we were talking about how fast it's gone of just you know, we may need to make sure that we're in alignment still with where we're going or where we thought we were going to go, cause sometimes we might need to change some things along the way.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Have you ever had to revision or obviously re-forecast kind of where you're going based on just things that were unexpected from a business perspective?
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know there's always unexpected things happening.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: To your point about practice, though, I sketch out what Canvas would look like or what my life would look like pretty regularly on a piece of paper and all the different new projects I want to start, what year I think they could start.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: So I do a great example of that.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: I know I'm talking a lot about the course, but I met with a VC who wanted to work together and she asked how might we work together?
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: And I said I've always wanted to do a course.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: And she said great, let's do a course.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: What would that look like?
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: And so that was a completely unexpected conversation that helped me expedite the course creation and everything, and so I think that's been a big part of it.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: And I also think that, going back to this concept of like good threads that I mentioned earlier on the call, I really believe that, especially as an entrepreneur, as you discover what brings you joy, you'll start to understand the people that make you feel like your best self and you'll understand the kinds of people that you want to work with.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: And as you meet these people in the wild, as you network and go to events, they might not be exactly where you thought your business would head, but you know that they're special.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: So you grab that good thread and you tug and so many other good similar things will come from that, because like attracts like and I really believe that.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: So you know, I've always wanted to be a more active investor.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: I've always wanted to be a VC, and being able to work with Jamie on HF Scale Partners is something I'm so proud of and so excited about, and that all came because I helped her write a memo before I had met her.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: We got to know each other, realized we had a lot in common and you know, and I was able to come on and help support her with what she's building at the fund.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: So that was a complete surprise to me, something that had been on my map, but not for the not so near term, and I'm so excited about.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: So it's moments like that, it's conversations, good threads, like if you follow that center, there will be surprises, but they will be good ones, and being able to have the confidence to take them and try them, I think is really important.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: So again, I think there's boldness within that right.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: I think sometimes people think that being bold is a solo act and I it is not.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: I mean, you obviously have to make decisions on your own and have to decide that you're going to take action on something, which that's all you.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: But there are people who want to help you.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Or, for your example, you weren't really on the road to make a course.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: It was in your mind but it wasn't the next thing.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: And someone seeing that in you and saying, okay, like I would love to see this as a course, you're like okay, it kind of you know, I would say, lights, a fire to a vision that you had.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: And then you get at it.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: And sometimes that's what we need when we're making bold moves is someone to see us and go oh, yeah, you could do that, I would love to see that.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Okay, cool, you don't need very much.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: But it's like someone almost like saying yeah, that's a great idea, let's try it.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: And I think sometimes people think they always have to go it alone, and I don't think you do as an entrepreneur.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: You definitely don't.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: I think bold moves don't happen in a vacuum.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: Right, it comes from community, it comes from the people that you're working with and I definitely think that you know being a part of the Gold Leaders Collective and other networks have just been a huge catalyst to what I've been able to accomplish and I.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: It takes a village.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a community right, yeah.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: So I think how we help each other, it could be in different ways.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: It could be cheering for you, it could be championing you or, you know, speaking your, your name in rooms where you know you're not in.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: And it could be challenging you, like saying, hey, you said you were going to do this, but I see you're over here, Like what happened?
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: Do you want to get back on track or have things changed?
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: And just someone even having that noticing and seeing that like it's just like, oh yeah, you saw, I didn't do that, and this is why and here's where I could really use your help Sometimes it just opens up that ability to to just ask questions and to have someone be able to say it's okay, you changed your mind, it's really okay, but like, do you want to get back to it, or is it kind of that's a, that's something that you're not going to do now?
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: So I think it's important for people to know that just checking in with people who are making bold moves, regardless of the kind they are, and just asking how you are, like, how are you really, and you know, just being able to have some of those conversations, and that you're not alone in the journey.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: I think is really an important message for folks.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: I think that's so important.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: As an entrepreneur, I also think it's something that we do with our clients, whether they're enterprise or startup.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: I do like to see how people are feeling, how they're really feeling about the project that we're working on, anything that's coming up for them in terms of uncertainty or just generally what's going on with them during the process, because anything that's new, anything that's different, can be scary, and having someone to be there for you and sort of support you as an individual as well as a business, I think is really really important and critical to success.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: So as we close out, a lot of people are, you know, maybe listening and thinking I really want to create a course.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: You know, I have a business or I have an idea.
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Where do they start?
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: How do they start?
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: What would be your guidance for them?
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: Well, first I would say that, while very I'm so happy I did it, building a course is unlike anything else I've done.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: I thought it would be much easier because I present to clients all day long for outcomes of our projects.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: It was definitely a more challenging experience for me and so some of my lessons learned.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: I think having a really clear outline of what you want each class to be is really helpful to have that guidance.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: And I think making your outline something similar to your workflow with clients or whatever you want to make the course on, like how you would have tackled it if it was a project, is a great starting point.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: And then, I think, start sharing that with potential students of your course or your class and see what they think.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: What would they be most excited about those topics that you have for each class?
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: What would really bring those topics home for them?
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: So for Dreaming to Dollars, having use cases of real life startups and companies for each element of the business model is something that founders are really hungry for and something that we're continuing to include more and more in future iterations of the class.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: So having a clear outline, making sure you're running it by, you know, potential class folks to see what would resonate most with them.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: And then having a lot of patience and coffee with yourself and carving out that time to really make sure that you can work on it is important.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not something you just make it as you go.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: It's something that you really, but to have it be solid and to have it be something that is helpful for someone takes time and due diligence and it isn't something that's done overnight.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: So I've watched from far you, as you've created it in the, in the powerful pieces of your course, really show the thought and the integration and really the process around going through as a founder, like what you need to do to take your dream and then make money and get money for your company.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: So all the information about the course and Katie and her business and soon to be maybe her book are in the episode notes.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being on the Bold Lounge, katie.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me, leigh, and thank you for always encouraging us to be bold Absolutely.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the Bold Lounge podcast.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Through the continuum of bold stories vulnerability to taking a leap you will meet more extraordinary people making a positive impact for others through their unique and important story.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: By highlighting these stories, we hope to inspire others and share the journey of those with a bold mindset.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: We hope you've enjoyed this podcast and look forward to sharing the next bold journey with you.