No, you haven’t entered the Twilight Zone. Yes, I’m the host of Panic with Friends, but in today’s special episode, I’m the guest. My producer Knut Jensen has turned the tables and put me in the hot seat. With so many questions about how and why I started Wallstrip, I felt it was time to lay it all out. And hopefully this answers a lot of those questions. 

We cover the good, the bad, and the funny times building my first internet company – and how those lessons carried over when I started Stocktwits – lessons like finding the right mentor and having domain experience around an idea, and the three key ingredients: product, team and timing. It’s a different spin on Panic with Friends where we’re going back and telling these types of stories with our best founders, so you’ll be seeing more episodes like this in the future. And of course, the big question on Wallstrip, would I do it again? You’ll have to listen to find out! 

Guest - Howard Lindzon, General partner at Social Leverage and Host of Panic With Friends Podcast

howardlindzon.com, socialleverage.com 

youtube.com/channel/UCGEU5Xa_5HKMb6gEFfGYdTw/videos 

Twitter: @howardlindzon, @PanicwFriends, @knutjensen 

linkedin.com/in/howardlindzon 

linkedin.com/company/socialleverage 

linkedin.com/in/knutejensen 

#fintech #invest #investment #venturecapital #stockmarket #finance 

Show Notes:

• Introduction (00:27)
• Coming up with Wallstrip (01:42)
• Starting with GolfNow (07:55)
• YouTube becomes a thing (10:27)
• Cold pitching Fred Wilson (11:59)
• Raising funds (15:08)
• Finding the team (18:34)
• The formula (22:36)
• Gaining traction (25:13)
• Would I do it again? (27:09)
• My ‘growth hack’ (30:24)
• The ‘moment’ it’s successful (31:10)
• Now the pressure is on (32:36)
• The right kind of attention (31:54)
• Dealing with haters (33:56)
• Sell or grow (38:14)
• The Jim Cramer spoof (39:21)
• My Costanza moment (41:04)
• CBS acquires Wallstrip (41:30)
• The right people domain experience (44:29)
• Wrapping up (46:35)
• Closing thoughts (46:56)