Immad Akhund is the co-founder and CEO of Mercury, a business banking platform that has raised over $160M in funding and has over 100,000 customers. He has also founded two other companies – Clickpass and Heyzap; the latter of which was acquired in 2016. Immad is a husband and the father of two kids. In today's conversation we discussed:
* Starting a family at a very young age (by San Francisco standards)
* Navigating founding and running several companies, including Mercury
* The difference between finding more time and finding more energy
* How to think about skill building with your kids
* Dealing with disagreements with your spouse
* The parallels between being the co-founder of a company and the co-founder of a family
Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Overcast and YouTube.
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Where to find Immad Akhund
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iakhund/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/immad
- Curiosity Podcast: https://curiositypodcast.substack.com/
Where to find Adam Fishman
- FishmanAF Newsletter: www.FishmanAFNewsletter.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjfishman/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startupdadpod/
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In this episode, we cover
[1:31] Welcome
[1:46] Childhood
[2:44] Where does your extended family live now?
[3:19] Why keep doing startups?
[6:52] How did you meet your partner?
[7:56] Tell me about your kids
[8:42] Decision to start a family
[9:51] What does your wife do?
[10:59] Why did it feel like the right time to start a family?
[17:13] Earliest memory of being a dad?
[19:29] Advice for his younger self
[22:36] What is something you worked on after having kids?
[23:56] Skill building and teaching kids finance
[27:46] How has his parenting style evolved?
[30:29] What is an example of you getting out of balance w/kids
[31:29] Has being a dad changed how you run companies?
[34:36] Conflict/managing through disagreements
[39:10] Kids relationship w/tech
[42:07] Restore batteries
[44:08] What is a mistake you made as a dad?
[46:32] Follow along
[47:23] Rapid fire round
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Show references:
Mercury: https://mercury.com/
Model X: https://www.tesla.com/modelx
The Matrix: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/
Union Square Ventures: https://www.usv.com/
Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/
ClickPass: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/clickpass
Hayzap: https://www.linkedin.com/company/heyzap-com/
Inside Out: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2096673/
Frozen: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/
Teen Titans: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343314/
Doona: https://www.doona.com/en-us
Juni Learning: https://junilearning.com/
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For sponsorship inquiries email: podcast@fishmana.com.
For Startup Dad Merch: www.startupdadshop.com
Production support for Startup Dad is provided by Tommy Harron at
http://www.armaziproductions.com/
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
startupdadpod.substack.com
