Ep 29: "Big Founder Energy" with Aaron Spivak

Aaron Spivak co-founded Hush, turning a weighted blanket into a Kickstarter smash and selling to Sleep Country for eight figures - all before his 26th birthday. He joins Jeff to unpack the real juice behind:

Filling Your Four Buckets – his health / friends & family / business / integrity framework

Giving Before You Take – the counter-intuitive first rule powering his invite-only Founders Club

Cooling the Market – How hundreds of customer calls flipped Hush from summer slump to record-breaking demand

Story > Specs – how truly speaking to their audience turned their Dragons’ Den pitch into Canadian TV lore

Reps, Results, Reality Checks – why Aaron treats entrepreneurship like a full-contact sport

..and how Aaron Spivak Sold Hush, but kept his soul.

Chapters

0:00 Intro “Everything is war”
1:24 Why Founders Club exists & who it’s for
4:36 The first rule of Founders' Club and the “give first” philosophy
5:48 Defining a “successful founder” - The Four Buckets of Life
7:59 The loneliness factor & why community beats the island
10:28 Storytelling, customer calls & the $4,000 runway
14:42 "Make it cooling!” - the hundred call insight
17:33 Kickstarter blows up: $700K to $10M
19:59 “People buy magic” - best story wins philosophy
22:24 Vulnerability, emotion & why design alone can’t win
26:51 Dragons’ Den prep: spray-tan mishaps & thousands of reps
33:00 Business as war: Kobe, LeBron, and out-working talent
35:03 Right reps vs. first reps - tailoring for your stage
38:58 Momentum, niche audiences & getting the right views
44:08 The Range Rover promise to mom - entrepreneurship’s best payoff
49:24 Launching the Founder-to-Founder podcast (and the “double-F” hat)
51:33 How to join Founders Club, - cities, retreats and more
53:12 Outro & Jeff’s CTA

Useful Links

Find the Founders Club: https://www.foundersclubofficial.com/

Connect with Aaron Spivak: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-spivak1/

Connect with Jeff Abracen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffabracen/

Connect with Jeff Abracen on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffabracen/]

If you are or know a disruptive influencer who would make a great guest, we'd love to hear from you.

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Cover art by Daniel Devoy
Music by Stephen Voyce

©2024 The Disruptive Influence Podcast - Jeff Abracen