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Smart Friends

Latest episodes

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Jun 14, 2022 • 1h 23min

#040 Customer-Driven Products: How Brett Kopf built “Slack for Schools” and launched Omella

Topics: (7:11) - Brett’s earliest memories of his strengths (9:58) - Understanding different skills and abilities (13:36) - Brett’s early career (18:08) - What was the moment of conception for Remind? (26:03) - What were some pivotal moments early on? (30:08) - How much did Twilio aid your growth? (31:18) - What role did investor selection play into the success of Remind? (35:00) - Transitioning into Omella (44:18) - How many customers did you talk to before building the product? (45:11) - What’s the process of building conviction in your product? (50:38) - How much wider is the purview of Omella than Remind in terms of the market it helps? (55:11) - Thoughts on distribution, engagement and retention (1:01:15) - How has the founder experience compared with your second company vs. the first? (1:03:38) - How does leverage fit into structuring Omella? (1:08:23) - What are the most common mental models you use to make decisions? (1:12:50) - Do you find people to be overthinking while building a product? (1:14:13) - Where would you like Omella to be in the next 5-10 years? (1:15:09) - How do you ensure you can keep a small high-performance team rather than solve problems via headcount? (1:16:16) - How often do customers that you interact with become evangelists for Omella?  Links:BrettKopf.comBrett Kopf on Twitter and LinkedIn Omella Remind Acton academy The Theory of Constraints To support this costs of producing this podcast: >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanak: www.navalmanack.com/ >> Sign up for my online course and community about building your Personal Leverage: https://www.ejorgenson.com/leverage >> Invest in early-stage companies alongside Eric and his partners at Rolling Fun: https://angel.co/v/back/rolling-fun>> Join the free weekly email list at ejorgenson.com/newsletter>> Text the podcast to a friend>> Give the podcast a positive review to help us reach new listeners >> Name-your-price subscription monthly, annual, or one-time: https://app.omella.com/o/9Bufa >> Follow me on Twitter: @ericjorgenson>> Get in touch about sponsoring this podcast by replying to an email or DMing me on Twitter.
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May 31, 2022 • 1h 39min

#039 Track Zach Marshall #3: 10x-ing your company in 4 Months

(2:29) - How clear is the picture of how far you’ve come in the past 4 months?(3:27) - Recapping Track Zach #2(10:36) - What are customers buying now and how have the service offerings changed?(20:06) - Do you know the bootstrapping process of these other industry marketplace products?(21:49) - How did you arrive at home security audit and family protection as the right first products to offer?(29:20) - What’s your ultimate revenue goal as it pertains to fundraising?(38:35) - What do your internal operations look like?(41:06) - Zach’s experience in Launch New York(43:32) - Spending too much time on “shiny object” opportunities(48:55) - Traction and the fundraising process(57:01) - Entrepreneurship is really hard(1:06:01) - Is there anything you’ve changed your mind on in the past quarter?(1:17:06) - Are there other mental models from your time as a SEAL that you apply in business?(1:20:44) - Feeling high leverage work shift over time(1:26:22) - How can people listening help Conterra?Links: ConterraSecurity.comLaunchNY.orgThe Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben HorowitzThe Cold Start Problem by Andrew ChenNfX MarketplacesOther Episode You’ll Like:Kevin Espiritu: Bootstrapping Epic Gardening to 8 Figgures by mixing Media + D2C Biz Models. Oh and Poker, Pink Pineapples, and Male Models. To support this costs of producing this podcast: >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanak: www.navalmanack.com/ >> Sign up for my online course and community about building your Personal Leverage: https://www.ejorgenson.com/leverage >> Invest in early-stage companies alongside Eric and his partners at Rolling Fun: https://angel.co/v/back/rolling-fun>> Join the free weekly email list at ejorgenson.com/newsletter>> Text the podcast to a friend>> Give the podcast a positive review to help us reach new listeners >> Name-your-price subscription monthly, annual, or one-time: https://app.omella.com/o/9Bufa >> Follow me on Twitter: @ericjorgenson>> Get in touch about sponsoring this podcast by replying to an email or DMing me on Twitter.
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May 17, 2022 • 2h 3min

#038 Creative EA Delegation, the Corporation of You, and Personal Leverage with Robert Hayes and Chris Ho of Athena

Topics:(4:56) - Chris’ background and work at Athena(6:53) - What does a Chief Client Officer do?(10:20) - Robert’s background and work at Athena(17:00) - Robert recruiting Chris to Athena(20:20) - What distinguishes Robert as an operator(25:02) - Robert’s first year with Athena and how the company has scaled (33:39) - Chris’ decision to join Athena(37:28) - Creating a great experience for both clients and the EAs(46:17) - What people use their EAs for at Athena(50:28) - How Athena focuses on leverage(57:46) - Thoughts behind recruiting EAs and training (1:09:04) - Playbooks and systems for delegation(1:13:14) - biggest moments of relief gained from an EA?(1:17:58) - How does someone know when they need an EA?(1:32:28) - Where is Athena today?(1:38:40) - Where do you predict the global workforce goes over the next several decades?(1:46:30) - What are the mental models or heuristics you use in making decisions?(1:55:41) - Athena helps clients provide feedback(1:58:06) - Wrap upLinks: Athena - www.athenago.comIsland Heights Construction - https://www.islandheights.caHumi - https://www.humi.caEric’s Site: www.ejorgenson.com Other Episodes You’ll Like: EA Delegating w/ Michelle Penczak: Founder of Squared Away - Military Spouses becoming Top Tier Virtual Assistants Drug Cartels, Vanguard, And Goldman Sachs with Codie Sanchez Andrew Wilkinson: De-risking Leverage, Investing vs. Operating, and the Best Part About Business To support the costs of producing this podcast: >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanak: www.navalmanack.com/ >> Sign up for my online course and community about building your Personal Leverage: https://www.ejorgenson.com/leverage >> Invest in early-stage companies alongside Eric and his partners at Rolling Fun: https://angel.co/v/back/rolling-fun>> Join the free weekly email list at ejorgenson.com/newsletter>> Text the podcast to a friend>> Give the podcast a positive review to help us reach new listeners >> Name-your-price subscription monthly, annual, or one-time: https://app.omella.com/o/9Bufa >> Follow me on Twitter: @ericjorgenson>> Get in touch about sponsoring this podcast by replying to an email or DMing me on Twitter.Important quotes from Naval on building wealth and the difference between wealth and money: How to get rich without getting lucky. - Naval RavikantMaking money is not a thing you do—it’s a skill you learn. - Naval RavikantI came up with the principles in my tweetstorm (below) for myself when I was really young, around thirteen or fourteen. I’ve been carrying them in my head for thirty years, and I’ve been living them. Over time (sadly or fortunately), the thing I got really good at was looking at businesses and figuring out the point of maximum leverage to actually create wealth and capture some of that created wealth. - Naval Ravikant Seek wealth, not money or status. - Naval RavikantWealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. - Naval RavikantMoney is how we transfer time and wealth. - Naval RavikantIgnore people playing status games. They gain status by attacking people playing wealth creation games. You’re not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity—a piece of a business—to gain your financial freedom. - Naval RavikantThe most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner. You have to know how to learn anything you want to learn. The old model of making money is going to school for four years, getting your degree, and working as a professional for thirty years. But things change fast now. Now, you have to come up to speed on a new profession within nine months, and it’s obsolete four years later. But within those three productive years, you can get very wealthy. - Naval Ravikant
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May 3, 2022 • 1h 30min

#037 Inside Buying & Selling Internet Businesses with Thomas Smale, Founder/CEO of FE International

The sponsor for this week’s episode is Founders Podcast. David Senra, the host of Founders Podcast, is a biography-reading machine. If you don’t have time to spend 40 hours reading the full-length biography of some gilded-age entrepreneur, listening to David’s high-quality recap is the next best thing.The Founders Podcast is a paid podcast that costs $99/year or $299 for lifetime access. Subscribing gives you access to more than 200 episodes including the back catalog with episodes about Anthony Bourdain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elon Musk, and many more.Visit founderspodcast.com to subscribe or listen to sample episodes.Links:  FE InternationalFE International WhitepapersClient Case StudiesThomas on TwitterThomas on IGThomas on FacebookJoin our Fund at Rolling.FunSupport our sponsor: founderspodcast.com  Other Episode You’ll Like: Andrew Finn: WaitButWhy and G64 C-Founder on How to Acquire a Free Company Codie Sanchez: Drug Cartels, Vanguard, And Goldman SachsTo support this costs of producing this podcast: >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanak: www.navalmanack.com/ >> Sign up for my online course and community about building your Personal Leverage: https://www.ejorgenson.com/leverage >> Invest in early-stage companies alongside Eric and his partners at Rolling Fun: https://angel.co/v/back/rolling-fun>> Join the free weekly email list at ejorgenson.com/newsletter>> Text the podcast to a friend>> Give the podcast a positive review to help us reach new listeners >> Name-your-price subscription monthly, annual, or one-time: https://app.omella.com/o/9Bufa >> Follow me on Twitter: @ericjorgenson>> Get in touch about sponsoring this podcast by replying to an email or DMing me on Twitter.
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Apr 26, 2022 • 1h 5min

#036 Rolling Fun #2: Q1 Portfolio Recap, Q2 Updates, Right Kind of Risks and more with Al Doan and Bo Fishback

Topics: (2:11) - Tech Gossip about Elon, Twitter & Fast  (9:26) - Q1 Portfolio Recap: Gently & Terran Robotics (28:36) - Q2 Portfolio Update: Lumo, Stablegains (43:05) - How listeners can help portfolio companies (46:07) - Fund Updates (51:29) - Explaining how quarterly investments work in the fund and deadlines (53:01) - Reasons we passed on companies Links:  Rolling.Fun Gently.com Terran Robotics  Terran Robotics on YouTube Lumo.co Stablegains.com Other Episode You’ll Like:Shane Mac: Building Messaging Protocol for Web3 (XMTP), Company Culture, and Scaling Trust Chris Powers: Starting A Real Estate Empire at 17, Focus, Podcast Flywheels To support this costs of producing this podcast: >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanak: www.navalmanack.com/ >> Sign up for my online course and community about building your Personal Leverage: https://www.ejorgenson.com/leverage >> Invest in early-stage companies alongside Eric and his partners at Rolling Fun: https://angel.co/v/back/rolling-fun>> Join the free weekly email list at ejorgenson.com/newsletter>> Text the podcast to a friend>> Give the podcast a positive review to help us reach new listeners >> Name-your-price subscription monthly, annual, or one-time: https://app.omella.com/o/9Bufa >> Follow me on Twitter: @ericjorgenson>> Get in touch about sponsoring this podcast by replying to an email or DMing me on Twitter.
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Apr 19, 2022 • 59min

#035 EA Delegating w/ Michelle Penczak: Founder of Squared Away - Military Spouses becoming Top Tier Virtual Assistants

The sponsor for this week’s episode is Founders Podcast. David Senra, the host of Founders Podcast, is a biography-reading machine. If you don’t have time to spend 40 hours reading the full-length biography of some gilded-age entrepreneur, listening to David’s high-quality recap is the next best thing.The Founders Podcast is a paid podcast that costs $99/year or $299 for lifetime access. Subscribing gives you access to more than 200 episodes including the back catalog with episodes about Anthony Bourdain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elon Musk, and many more.Visit founderspodcast.com to subscribe or listen to sample episodes.Links: Michelle on LinkedInMichelle on Mediuminfo@gosquaredaway.comSquared Away AsanaTrelloZirtualHarvest Support our sponsor: founderspodcast.com  Other Episode You’ll Like:Shane Mac: Building Messaging Protocol for Web3 (XMTP), Company Culture, and Scaling Trust To support this costs of producing this podcast: >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanak: www.navalmanack.com/ >> Sign up for my online course and community about building your Personal Leverage: https://www.ejorgenson.com/leverage >> Invest in early-stage companies alongside Eric and his partners at Rolling Fun: https://angel.co/v/back/rolling-fun>> Join the free weekly email list at ejorgenson.com/newsletter>> Text the podcast to a friend>> Give the podcast a positive review to help us reach new listeners >> Name-your-price subscription monthly, annual, or one-time: https://app.omella.com/o/9Bufa >> Follow me on Twitter: @ericjorgenson>> Get in touch about sponsoring this podcast by replying to an email or DMing me on Twitter.
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Apr 12, 2022 • 1h 37min

#034 The Next Industrial Revolution w/ J. Storrs Hall: Nuclear Energy, AI and Nanotechnology

The sponsor for this week’s episode is Founders Podcast. David Senra, the host of Founders Podcast, is a biography-reading machine. If you don’t have time to spend 40 hours reading the full-length biography of some gilded-age entrepreneur, listening to David’s high-quality recap is the next best thing.The Founders Podcast is a paid podcast that costs $99/year or $299 for lifetime access. Subscribing gives you access to more than 200 episodes including the back catalog with episodes about Anthony Bourdain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elon Musk, and many more.Visit founderspodcast.com to subscribe or listen to sample episodes.Links: Josh’s Bio - Autogeny.org Where is my flying car? By J. Storrs Hall Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper The Martian by Andy Weir Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson Beyond AI by J. Storrs Hall Nanofuture: What’s Next For Nanotechnology by J. Storrs Hall Support our sponsor: founderspodcast.com Other Episode You’ll Like: Solocast #3: Nuclear, Nanotech, and the next Industrial Revolution (Book Recap: “Where is my Flying Car?”) Massive Opportunities w/in Design & User Interface with Cliff Kuang To support this costs of producing this podcast: >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanak: www.navalmanack.com/ >> Sign up for my online course and community about building your Personal Leverage: https://www.ejorgenson.com/leverage >> Invest in early-stage companies alongside Eric and his partners at Rolling Fun: https://angel.co/v/back/rolling-fun>> Join the free weekly email list at ejorgenson.com/newsletter>> Text the podcast to a friend>> Give the podcast a positive review to help us reach new listeners >> Name-your-price subscription monthly, annual, or one-time: https://app.omella.com/o/9Bufa >> Follow me on Twitter: @ericjorgenson>> Get in touch about sponsoring this podcast by replying to an email or DMing me on Twitter.
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Mar 22, 2022 • 1h 17min

#033 Channeling Anger to Fix the Finance Industry with Deregulation, Technology, and Crypto with Zach Pettet

The sponsor for this week’s episode is Founders Podcast. David Senra, the host of Founders Podcast, is a biography-reading machine. If you don’t have time to spend 40 hours reading the full-length biography of some gilded-age entrepreneur, listening to David’s high-quality recap is the next best thing.The Founders Podcast is a paid podcast that costs $99/year or $299 for lifetime access. Subscribing gives you access to more than 200 episodes including the back catalog with episodes about Anthony Bourdain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elon Musk, and many more.Visit founderspodcast.com to subscribe or listen to sample episodes.Support our sponsor: founderspodcast.com Links: Zach Pettet on TwitterZach’s Podcast - For Fintech’s Sake On YouTube On Spotify On Apple PodcastsMoney 20/20V-SumSoLo FundsMoneyLionBlooomFigure Other Episode You’ll Like: Jason Hitchcock: Your Guide to Web3 (DeFi, NFTs, and The Metaverse) Andrew Finn: WaitButWhy and G64 Co-founder on How To Acquire A Free Company To support this costs of producing this podcast: >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanak: www.navalmanack.com/ >> Sign up for my online course and community about building your Personal Leverage: https://www.ejorgenson.com/leverage >> Invest in early-stage companies alongside Eric and his partners at Rolling Fun: https://angel.co/v/back/rolling-fun>> Join the free weekly email list at ejorgenson.com/newsletter>> Text the podcast to a friend>> Give the podcast a positive review to help us reach new listeners >> Name-your-price subscription monthly, annual, or one-time: https://app.omella.com/o/9Bufa >> Follow me on Twitter: @ericjorgenson>> Get in touch about sponsoring this podcast by replying to an email or DMing me on Twitter.
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Mar 15, 2022 • 54min

#032 Solocast #3: Nuclear, Nanotech, and the next Industrial Revolution (Book Recap: “Where is my Flying Car?”)

Links:  Where Is My Flying Car? By J. Storrs HallWTF Happened in 1971? To support this costs of producing this podcast: >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanak: www.navalmanack.com/ >> Sign up for my online course and community about building your Personal Leverage: https://www.ejorgenson.com/leverage >> Invest in early-stage companies alongside Eric and his partners at Rolling Fun: https://angel.co/v/back/rolling-fun>> Join the free weekly email list at ejorgenson.com/newsletter>> Text the podcast to a friend>> Give the podcast a positive review to help us reach new listeners >> Name-your-price subscription monthly, annual, or one-time: https://app.omella.com/o/9Bufa >> Follow me on Twitter: @ericjorgenson>> Get in touch about sponsoring this podcast by replying to an email or DMing me on Twitter.
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Mar 8, 2022 • 1h 43min

#031 I’m Building an Early-Stage Fund with Al Doan and Bo Fishback (Rolling Fun #1)

Links: Rolling.FunAlan DoanBo FishbackAirtaskerLambda Additional Episodes If You Enjoyed: Chris Powers: Starting a Real Estate Empire at 17, Focus, Podcast FlywheelsShane Mac: Building Messaging Protocol for Web3 (XMTP), Company Culture, and Scaling Trust To support this costs of producing this podcast: >> Buy a copy of the Navalmanak: www.navalmanack.com/ >> Sign up for my online course and community about building your Personal Leverage: https://www.ejorgenson.com/leverage >> Invest in early-stage companies alongside Eric and his partners at Rolling Fun: https://angel.co/v/back/rolling-fun>> Join the free weekly email list at ejorgenson.com/newsletter>> Text the podcast to a friend>> Give the podcast a positive review to help us reach new listeners >> Name-your-price subscription monthly, annual, or one-time: https://app.omella.com/o/9Bufa >> Follow me on Twitter: @ericjorgenson>> Get in touch about sponsoring this podcast by replying to an email or DMing me on Twitter.

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