Cult of Startup Podcast

Today's guests are the amazing Steve O’Dell [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sodellicious/] and Robbie Page [https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbie-page-35a519110/], the founders of Tenzo Tea [https://tenzotea.co/]. These two guys wanted to make a massive impact on the world through a product that really makes a difference in people’s lives. In this interview we cover a wide range of topics from: * What lead them to choose matcha over other energizing products? * What are most important steps to get an E-commerce company off the ground. * Why the lessons learned from playing professional sports directly translates to success in business. If you'd like to catch the NEW LinkedIn Edition of the show, head over to my profile here: Luke Bayard [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukehbayard/detail/recent-activity/shares/]. Follow Tenzo on Social: Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/tenzomatcha/] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/tenzotea/]

Mark Kithcart is the Vice President of Marketing, Sales, Client Management and Contracts at AVRS a software service for the automotive industry. Post graduation from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Mark worked as a mechanical engineer, but he trained himself in the late hours of the night to be a professional marketer. In this interview we discussed topics like: * Why customer service is the lifeblood of any business? * How to find a mentor? * Why marketing comes down to human behavior? * Why is it important to marry the right person when you are an entrepreneur? Contact Mark: Email: MarkKithcart@gmail.com [MarkKithcart@gmail.com] LinkedIn: Mark Kithcart [https://www.linkedin.com/in/markkithcart/] Articles Mentioned:The Complete Guide to Understanding Equity Compensation at Tech Companies [http://fortune.com/2016/09/27/the-complete-guide-to-understanding-equity-compensation-at-tech-companies/?xid=nl_termsheet]

In 2005, Sandy Grigsby [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandygrigsby/] founded Brio Five [https://briofive.com/], a creative studio specializing in branding, photography, web, and graphic design. She is most well known for her work as an Empowerment & Brand Photographer with over 15 years of industry experience working with high power CEOs to celebrities. Sandy's talent lies in her ability to evoke and capture images that demonstrate a woman’s true essence and power. Her in-depth knowledge of web design, coupled with her vast experience as a model, actress, and spokesmodel allow her to fully understand the branding needs of her clients. Website: www.BrioFive.com [https://briofive.com/] Instagram: @BrioFive [https://www.instagram.com/briofive/] or @SandyInFocus [https://www.instagram.com/sandyinfocus/] LinkedIn: Sandy Grigsby [https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandygrigsby/]

Erik Huberman [https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikhuberman/] is the Founder & CEO of Hawke Media [https://hawkemedia.com/], a full-service outsourced CMO based in Santa Monica, CA that launched in 2014 and has been valued at $60 million. In just 3 years, Hawke Media has grown from 7 to over 120 employees and has serviced 400+ brands. Prior to Hawke Media [https://hawkemedia.com/], Erik founded, grew and sold Swag of the Month and grew Ellie.com’s sales to $1 million in four months. Erik is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including Forbes “30Under30”, Inc Magazine’s “Top 25 Marketing Influencers”, Influencive's "Top Influencive Influencers of 2017". Erik is a regular contributor to major media publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Business Insider, and is proud to have and recently joined XPRIZE as their key marketing advisor. Some Questions I Ask Erik: * What is Hawke Media [https://hawkemedia.com/]? 1:50 * What about the traditional marketing agency model is broken? 2:26 * How is Hawke Media's business model different from the competition? 4:50 * Where did the concept of an “outsourced CMO” come from? 5:38 * How did you start slinging Beanie Babies? 6:56 * Why did you focus on learning opportunities over making money in college? 13:09 * Why the hell did you take the LSAT? 15:18 * From your early entrepreneurship days, what are some of the greatest lessons you’ve learned from that time? 18:10 * What was Swag of the Month? 24:33 * What are some of the biggest lessons you took away from founding a ecommerce company? 25:40 * What advice do you have for young ecommerce companies? When does unit economics come into play? 26:30 * Take me through on how you sell 80k worth of product in 2 weeks? And how you did 2 million in the first 6 months? 30:30 * The fitness clothing brand completely changed their game plan all of the sudden, why do you believe that was a huge mistake? 33:15 * Why did you decide to start an agency over going to get a job? 35:51 * When you first started Hawke Media were you outsourcing or hiring people right here and there to cover the needs of clients? 39:23 * Walk me through the hiring process you used to grow Hawke Media? 40:19 * How do you qualify clients and how do you keep them happy? 41:57 * What would recommend to a startup looking hire agency? 44:22 * Why do have a huge neon sign in your office that says “Get shit done, learn quickly, be cool” and what does it stand for with Hawke Media? 48:40 Connect with Erik: Twitter: @ErikHuberman [https://twitter.com/ErikHuberman] Instagram: @ErikHuberman [https://www.instagram.com/ErikHuberman/]

Nicole Behnam [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-behnam-059a0044/] and Mariella Rudi [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariellarudi/] are founders of the media company Beyond The Interview [https://www.beyondtheinterview.com/], where they curate a collection of interviews, essays, and social news. As two women who left full-time careers as successful journalists to pursue entrepreneurship, their story is one of taking creative control of their work and embracing a new age of personal, digital journalism. In this show, Nicole and Mariella talk about their adventure in leaving their careers to pursue entrepreneurship, the importance of having a co-founder, writing authentically but still following a successful formula, and how to monetize a growing audience on any platform. They also discuss in general the media’s trend towards personal, vulnerable, and emotional news, and how young entrepreneurs can tap into these subjects to create a viral hits. Some Questions I Ask Nicole and Mariella: * What is Beyond the Interview [https://www.beyondtheinterview.com/]? [1:34] * What’s the dynamic with your friends who became influencers? [4:18] * Why start this when you have full-time careers already? [10:10] * Did you feel like your managers were telling you to write meaningless stories? [11:45] * Is this what your parents wanted you to do? [21:26] * What are the safe versus frowned-upon means of monetization? [27:19] * Were you both straight-A students or more focused on entrepreneurship? [28:12] * What are some subject matters that aren’t talked about enough today? [32:20] * Are there any other noteworthy stories that might be surfacing soon? [38:11] * How do you balance authenticity and following a popular writing formula? [40:00] * Are college instructed social media courses helpful? [42:15] * What’s been your most successful article and why was it successful? [48:20] * What do you guys feel like is your next big milestone? [56:10] * Has anyone ever turned down an interview? [59:29] * Any other stand-out experiences when trying to reach out to people? [1:06.30] * What advice do you have for entrepreneurs looking to get press coverage? [1:10:23] * Should people be paying for PR? [1:15:10] * What are some books you would recommend? [1:17:30] * What advice do you have to future entrepreneurs? [1:24:50] Some Things You’ll Learn in This Episode: * BeyondTheInterview.com is a collection of interviews, essays, and social news. * A deep dive into the thought process behind leaving a full-time job to pursue your own work. * Why having a co-founder can create a strong sense of interdependence which is healthy for a startup. * A lot of entrepreneurial relationships between founders start out as friendships, but it can also happen in the reverse direction. * The struggle of female founders to fight societal pressure to get married and ignore their career. * Understanding the difference between a hobby and something you can get paid for. * How to monetize a nascent service with a growing audience. * The key to creating shareable, viral writing is tapping into a subject’s vulnerability and emotion. * When generating content, learning how to take advantage of people’s natural inclination to talk about themselves and promote their work. * How the first 10 words of an Instagram DM are the most important in determining if someone will read it and respond. Get in Touch with Nicole and Mariella: * Website www.beyondtheinterview.com [https://www.beyondtheinterview.com/] * Instagram @beyondtheinterview [https://www.instagram.com/beyondtheinterview/] * Twitter @InterviewBeyond [https://twitter.com/InterviewBeyond] * Mariella Social: Twitter @MariellaRudi [https://twitter.com/MariellaRudi]Instagram @mariworldpeace [https://www.instagram.com/mariworldpeace/] * Nicole Social: Twitter @NicoleBehnam [https://twitter.com/nicolebehnam?lang=en]Instagram: @nicccb [https://www.instagram.com/nicccb/]