Ep. 116 - [Northeastern Lecture Series] Ethics and Entrepreneurship with Keenan Davis, Serial Entrepreneur

This is my take on an entrepreneur interview. Most if not all of the questions are free form in some way so this was an…interesting episode. It takes a while for Keenan and I to warm up, to get on each other’s wavelength, but you’ll get some amazing dialog at the end of the episode.

Originally supposed to be an episode about ethics, this became an episode about people. How do you find good people, what makes people tick, what makes them do good things, or bad things. Perhaps that’s the most important thing in entrepreneurship.

Keenan does not hold back in this interviews and is a fiery and loud guest. He will bring some very controversial views. I ask you just listen.

This is the end of our Northeastern Lecture Series. Next week we’ll be going back to our 1 episode a week format every Monday. See you next week!

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What is your definition of a startup?: A project with zero funding and zero operations. It grows from zero to something. What industries have you been in?: Sports, education, men’s grooming What are the common theme for starting buisnesses?: An MBA will give you a perfect process using imperfect people. However, in my opinion, perfect people make an imperfect process work. If I have good people, it will work and be successful How do you hire people?: Talk to people you want to promote. Do you have an interview question that you find useful to vet people?: Not really. Find what people are passionate of. What do you think makes a person Ethical?: Clarity, Accountability, Vulnerable, we’ve all been let down, so we know what it looks like. Have you been in an unethical situation?: I’ve worked for some major brands, the whole system is unethical. What drives someone to be unethical?: Risk is based off of unpredictability, threat and fear. You have a decision to make not based on chance or likelihood based on threat or fear. How do you mitigate risk?: I’m more of a gambler. But still there’s a way I can migitate in the large term Why I started entrepreneurship: The risk aspect of entrepenuership because I defined what the risk was. Can you describe a favorite failure?: I started a sports agency. I saved $100k and gotten another $60k injection. Once it started losing money, I invested my 401k. When you’re an entrepreneur, you’ll risk a lot to achieve success. When did you have to let the project go?: I had near $168 dollars left to my name. I was at a dead end. No where left to go. How did you bounce back?: I applied for a craigslist job at an education startup. They’re looking for a college admissions startup. I didn’t have the street creds but I got the job. I worked my way up through contracts and I eventually took over the company. A friend of mine wants an R+D job but has quality experience. How can he get the R+D job?: I want to see work ethic. Were you promoted? Do you have experience in other sectors? You need to be well-rounded. Generally, that breeds self-confidence Should you work harder or work smarter?: People want to see you sweat. But you eventually find techniques that limit wasted motion. You’ve perfected the technique. People say practice makes perfect but if you practice mistakes, you’ll only make mistakes Books, Quotes, or Heroes: Humility is not about thinking less about yourself, but thinking about yourself less. I’m my biggest fan. I had to become my biggest fan. You’ll never have a more fair fight than the person in the mirror Dying a second time: How to not be forgotten How can we find out more about you?: Find him here How did you find Darin?: We were classmates but I found him different yet cool with.

 

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