The Hard Truth About Building a $100M Startup ft. Christian Facey (Audiomob)

# Christian Facey

Christian Facey shares Master resilience, focus, and practical strategies for building a successful, high-performance startup.

## What you'll learn:

1. How to cultivate relentless dedication: Be prepared to sacrifice everything for 10 years, even reaching a zero bank account, to build something great.

2. How to develop extreme founder resilience: Embrace inevitable obstacles as opportunities for growth, understanding that the journey is long and not always glamorous.

3. How to be a comprehensive founder: Dedicate 5-10% of your time to learning finance, legal, and HR, as these are critical areas where founders often get screwed.

4. Framework for investor and co-founder negotiations: Always assume the worst of the other party, approach emotionlessly and logically to secure the best deal, and thoroughly understand all legal documents.

5. How to build a high-performance culture: Prioritize meritocracy and clear expectations over early perks, attracting dedicated individuals focused on company growth rather than comfort.

6. How to attract investment and scale: Build an analytical interview process, establish an early investor newsletter, and strategically align your product roadmap with current market trends.

## Where to find Christian Facey:

- Website: https://audiomob.com/

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-facey/

## Where to find Abhinav Sinha:

- Website: https://www.abhinavsinha.com/

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhinavbsinha/

## In this episode, we cover:

- (00:00) The Unseen Sacrifices and Hard Realities of Entrepreneurship

- (02:10) Christian Facey & AudioMob: Pioneering Non-Intrusive Audio Ads and the 10-Year Sacrifice

- (03:15) Navigating Startup Launch (2020) through a Pandemic: Extreme Adaptability & Growth

- (06:50) The Founder's Mindset: Relentless Focus, Personal Sacrifice, and Risk-Taking

- (11:45) Beyond the Hype: Personal Hardships and Financial Struggles on the Entrepreneurial Journey

- (16:41) Mastering Investor Negotiations: Due Diligence, Term Sheets, and Strategic Thinking

- (21:02) Why Founders Must Understand Legal, Finance, HR, and Every Business Aspect

- (29:02) The Emotional Detachment Needed: Letting Go of Features and Client-Specific Revenue

- (33:52) AudioMob's Pivotal Growth: Product Pivot, Major Deals (P&G), and a Competitive Series A

- (37:20) Revamping Company Culture: From Early Perks to High-Performance Meritocracy

- (47:19) Strategic Hiring, Investor Pitching, and Leveraging Market Trends for Growth

- (51:26) Christian's Investment Philosophy: The "Struggle-Ometer" for Identifying Resilient Founders

- (54:57) The Transformative Mindset: Relentless Pursuit of Self-Improvement

- (58:45) Current Challenges: The Constant Demand and Supply Problem in Ad Networks

## Tools referenced:

- Seed Legals: https://www.seedlegals.com/

- ChatGPT: https://openai.com/chatgpt

- Luminous Spark: https://theluminouscompany.com/

## Other references:

• Jordan Peterson: https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/

• Russell Buckley (Founder of AdMob): https://uk.linkedin.com/in/russellbuckley

• Wilfrid (AudioMob Co-founder): https://uk.linkedin.com/in/wilfridobeng

• Harvey (Christian's friend)

• Ruth Porat (CFO of Google): https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruth-porat/

• Nas

• Adrian (Founder Christian invested in): https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-ruiz-langan/

• Supernode Global: https://supernodeglobal.com/

• Makers Fund: https://makersfund.com/

• AppLovin: https://www.applovin.com/

• Lightspeed Ventures: https://lsvp.com/

• Music Business Worldwide: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/

• Procter & Gamble: https://us.pg.com/

• The Obstacle Is The Way (Book by Ryan Holiday): https://ryanholiday.com/books/the-obstacle-is-the-way/