Latest / iwon™ podcast with Michael J Thomas / This Was for the Founders From Day One - A Sneak Peek into What's Coming

Transcript

This Was for the Founders From Day One - A Sneak Peek into What's Coming · iwon™ podcast with Michael J Thomas

• 0:00
  from day one, this was for the founders, not just the people who've already made it, the people thinking about starting, and the people wondering what on earth they've got themselves into.
• 0:12
  If you've been sitting in your nine-to-five and wondering whether you've got what it takes to leave and build something of your own, listen to the wonderful Sarah Eggleston.
• 0:23
  Her story is a brilliant reminder that you don't need to have everything figured out before you start.
• 0:32
  And if you've got the idea but you're wondering whether anyone actually wants it and how to make it fit, listen to the wonderful Tolu Salami.
• 0:43
  Tolu left Google and Accenture to build LetPlan.
• 0:47
  His story is a great lesson to getting yourself out there, talking to real customers, and validating the problem before disappearing in a room to code the solution.
• 0:59
  And if you're actually trying to work out whether to actually build something and whether people want it, Scott Byrne-Fraser is ex-BBC, Sky, and DAZN.
• 1:14
  He will make you question whether you're solving the right problem in the first place and how to work it all out.
• 1:19
  And if doing sales, especially in B2B, feels like walking through some sort of muddy bog with giant weights tied to your feet, or if you're thinking, "I'll just hire a salesperson, they'll figure it out magically," spend some time
• 1:37
  watching the episode with Alex Sullivan-Lipath.
• 1:40
  It's fantastic.
• 1:41
  He'll show you why great sales starts long before you even recruit somebody to do it for you.
• 1:50
  And if you're growing quickly and suddenly discover the growth creates a completely new set of problems, you've got 99 problems and now finance is one, Mark Blakemore explains the numbers founders cannot afford to ignore, from cash runway to,
• 2:06
  as he terms it, the death zone If you've built a career, made the money, or got the promotion and still found something missing, and you're asking yourself, "Is this it?"
• 2:20
  Listen to Scott Truitt.
• 2:22
  That conversation was about much more than business, building a company.
• 2:26
  It was about purpose, fulfillment, meaning, and what success actually means to you, because life is short.
• 2:35
  If you think successful companies just appear overnight, 'cause that's what you hear on social media, Elizabeth Dodson is the perfect antidote.
• 2:44
  She'll tell you how to turn an idea into something that over 100,000 users love.
• 2:54
  14 years building HomeZada is one hell of an overnight success story.
• 3:02
  And if you're wondering what is going on with AI, you feel a bit lost, what it could do for your business and where we're all going, Atish Thakerar episode is amazing.
• 3:15
  It's well worth your time.
• 3:17
  Because technology might make things faster, but judgment, resilience, and leadership still matter, too.
• 3:26
  And if you're tempted to rush off and build now, perhaps before you even fully understand the problem, listen to the episode with Sachin Goyal.
• 3:37
  He and I dispelled a lot of the standard YC advice out there.
• 3:43
  He spent 10 months building alongside one customer, solving one problem after another, before charging them a single penny.
• 3:53
  And if you wanna know what it's like to build companies, raise money, exit businesses, and sit in rooms with some of the biggest companies on Earth, including Netflix, PayPal, and many more, check out my conversation with the wonderfully
• 4:06
  brilliant, fantastic Christian Zigler.
• 4:09
  Love that guy.
• 4:11
  Love them all.
• 4:12
  Christian has built, scaled, and exited multiple businesses, including one most recently for around $23 million, and that conversation is full of so many lessons that could genuinely save a founder listening years Different founders, different businesses, different stages.
• 4:30
  But that was always the point.
• 4:32
  This was for the founders from day one, for the person thinking about starting, for the person trying to figure out how to keep their head above water, for the one trying to grow, and for the one who's achieved
• 4:45
  what they thought and finds themself asking more difficult question, "What was this all for?
• 4:51
  What next?
• 4:52
  Am I on the right path?"
• 4:55
  And apparently, all of that struck a chord.
• 4:57
  Because as I said from day one, most business podcasts are BS, and I wanted to build one that wasn't.
• 5:06
  And apparently, that idea struck a chord.
• 5:09
  Across YouTube, LinkedIn, and everywhere else, season one has now reached over 85,000 people.
• 5:20
  The number is much higher, but I don't have the latest numbers, and I'll still pull all those numbers together for you and share it all with you, I'm an open book, in the next couple of weeks.
• 5:31
  Season two is coming.
• 5:34
  Season two is going to be great.
• 5:37
  More founders, more brilliant stories, more mistakes, more lessons, more of the advice that you just never hear anywhere else, and more of the bits of building a business that normally get edited out in the so-called overnight success story.
• 5:53
  I also wanna take this moment to just thank everyone I've spoken to, whether it's about sponsoring the podcast, supporting the podcast, or whether we've had a conversation and the fit just hasn't been right about you being on the
• 6:06
  podcast.
• 6:07
  I wanna thank each and every one of you, because in many instances in life, often a no is not no forever.
• 6:16
  Some cases it's just no for now.
• 6:19
  And so many yeses to so many fabulous conversations coming up.
• 6:23
  So please do make sure that you check it out on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and of course, you can watch it on YouTube.
• 6:31
  Please do subscribe and write a review.
• 6:33
  I really appreciate every bit of it.
• 6:37
  So thank you very much for watching.
• 6:38
  Season two's on the way in a couple weeks.
• 6:40
  Can't wait to share it with you.
• 6:41
  It's gonna be huge.
• 6:44
  See you soon.