#137: Cole Zucker on His Remarkable Journey from $0 to $60M in Revenue, Selling a Company, and Starting the Influencer Platform Hey Hero

Aug 9, 2020

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Cole Zucker is the Co-Founder and former Co-CEO of Green Creative, a company that offers a comprehensive line of high-performance LED lighting solutions that have been widely adopted by some of the largest companies in the world. After graduating from college, Cole moved to Shanghai, China where he met his business partner, Guillaume Vidal. In 6 years, they took the company from $0 to $60 million in revenue and eventually decided to sell the business.

Cole and his wife Katie have since started a new venture, influencer platform Hey Hero, offering a solution for people who want a better way to communicate directly with influencers—and for influencers who want to better monetize that connection. Platform users can search for their favorite influencers and ask questions or request personalized recommendations for a fee. Then influencers can accept the offers, and respond on their own time—via video, voice chat, or text.

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Some of the Topics Covered by Cole Zucker in this Episode

How Cole and his business partner Guillaume Vidal started Green Creative in Shanghai
Why Cole moved to China after college
Cole's entrepreneurial spirit and inspirations
Cole and Guillaume's napkin business plan
Figuring out roles and responsibilities as co-founders and co-CEOs
Getting Green Creative off the ground and the challenge of getting their first customers
How Cole was eventually able to move past door-to-door sales
How their product development and manufacturing evolved
How learning from mistakes led to growth
Building out a team
Standing out against the competition by becoming fast integrators
The process of deciding to sell the business
What Cole would've done differently looking back
Deciding to start another business and what is Hey Hero
The customer discovery process for Hey Hero
Cole's book recommendations
How Cole recharges
Cole's advice for entrepreneurs

Links from the Episode

The Outsiders by William Thorndike