Corey Holmes of Popup on Why Entrepreneurship is Such a Powerful Drug!

There are many vices but few things can match when you create a business that changes the world. Our guest today, Corey Holmes Co-Founder of Popup, knows that feeling and has literally been around the globe to chase that high. We caught up with him in Dubai to discuss Popup, a no-code platform designed to empower new e-commerce experiences as well as his addiction to entrepreneurship.

About Corey Holmes:Corey Holmes is the Co-Founder of Popup. He started his path as an entrepreneur as a flipper on craigslist in his tweens and teenage years.

When he was 22 he dropped out of university a week before class began and launched an Auto and Marine Detailing business. Then he moved to Uganda to start a nutraceutical company and one of the fastest-growing fitness classes in the country at the age of 23. He learned to code, won an app development award, and placed first in a provincial app development competition.

With that experience, he and his wife started building e-commerce stores and joined Shopify together. After that, he started a successful content creation company, and a dropshipping company which turned into an 8-figure commerce portfolio company (Viceroy Group) comprised of several brands selling in over 100 countries.

In this episode we discuss:

(00:01:00)  News roundup with John Ruffolo(00:19:50)  Corey Holmes’ early path to entrepreneurship

(00:20:35)  The influence of his parents on him(00:23:21)  Advice for people who move a lot(00:25:11)  Why he dropped out of school — twice(00:27:29)  Deciding to start his first business(00:29:52)  How Corey’s fear of failure drives him(00:31:41)  His early days as a Craigslist flipper(00:34:28)  Corey’s time in Uganda(00:38:40)  Is it better to not know what you’re getting into as a founder or to have experience(00:38:57)  Lessons from working at Shopify(00:45:51)  His journey as a content creator(00:51:41)  Co-Founding the Viceroy group(00:55:21)  How Popup became his first Venture-Backed Startup(00:57:28)  What Popup is and the problem it solves(01:01:21)  The long-term vision around Popup(01:02:21)  Popup’s recent $3.5M pre-seed round led by Accel and investors like Seedcamp, Harry Stebbings 20VC, and a group of executives from Shopify, Hopin and others

Fast Favorites:

* 🎙- Favorite Podcast: The Game

* 📰- Favorite Newsletter /Blog: Morning Brew

* 📲- Favorite Tech Gadget: Apple products

* 📈- Favorite New Trend: Talking to ChatGPT

* 📚- Favorite Book: How to win friends and influence people

* 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Define what you value and build your life around that

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