The Amare Wave, love vs. war in business, and uplifting customers :: with Moshe Engelberg

In this episode of Ventures, my guest Moshe Engelberg (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mosheengelberg/) and I discuss his book The Amare Wave: Uplifting Business by Putting Love to Work. From an entrepreneurial lens, we cover topics including loving customers, helping customers love your business, example case studies from a new founder perspective, and the existential purpose of every for-profit and nonprofit organization on the planet.

Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-51 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. 

You can watch this episode via video here.

In this episode we cover the following:

1:59 - Background and tee-up. New type of cultural revolution and unconscious bias. 

3:01 - Moshe’s background and story, his career, and leading into the story of writing his book (The Aware Wave).

8:29 - Dichotomies and holding things in tension. Some information about Prota Ventures. 

9:49 - What did Moshe choose the structure of the book the way he did?

16:42 - For founders building new businesses, how should they read this book? What are principles worth highlighting for new startups?

21:26 - The importance of talking about the heart, mental health, and the “why” behind starting a business. The existential purpose of every business is something “social”. 

23:22 - Business as foremost a social enterprise, then an economic enterprise.

24:09 - What do you do if you are in a business that hates their customers and uses war-like imagery everywhere? 

25:45 - Love defined as “energy that uplifts and connects”. Do you love your customers? Do they love you back?

28:31 - What kinds of ways can companies track and encourage customers to love them?  (Trader Joe's example) 

32:06 - Paradoxical example: Amazon. They want to be customer-centric, but have trouble loving their employees.

33:47 - Why did Moshe decide on the definition of love as “energy that uplifts and connects”? 

36:41 - Is there a time for war? How does Moshe address those times when taking up arms, literally or figuratively, is needed.

42:20 - Hypothetical case study. Example business that sells child education software to parents. (MVP vs. “maximum value product”)

46:05 - Authenticity, Belonging, and Collaboration - the ABC of the Amare Wave

48:28 - Community Management. Part of the Amare Wave. If you are hired as a community manager in a neutral company, how do you create an Amare Wave there? 

53:00 - The difficult nature of doing “all the things” in startups, and praise for Moshe’s advice in this podcast. 

54:13 - What ideas/projects is Moshe working on next?

59:01 - Where can people find and buy the book? How can people continue the conversations with moshe? https://www.amazon.com/Amare-Wave-Uplifting-Business-Putting-ebook/dp/B0873ZFK2P // moshe@mosheengelberg.com