Just Go Grind

After studying Communications and Marketing, Antony worked in Advertising Agencies for many years as a Strategic Planner and later running his own agency. He noticed opportunities in the marketplace around a lack in tech-focused content distribution platforms for immersive experiences and sought to create one. Many years later, and with the help of some very talented people, Antony has lead the creation of Aura and has begun commercializing it during COVID with success. Some of the Topics Covered by Antony in this Episode What Unbnd does and how it got started Why Antony built a bar for cash flow to support Unbnd How Antony got a partnership with the NBA early on with Unbnd The various applications for Unbnd's tech and how they decided which to prioritize Building out the different functionality for Unbnd How Antony secured a partnership with Rakuten How long it took to create an MVP and then a full product for Unbnd Building the team behind Unbnd Where Antony's time is spent today in the business as a whole Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Steve Massey is co-founder and CEO of Prewitt Ridge, which was founded in 2019 to tackle the largest meta-problem in deep tech: systems engineering. They reduce friction in collaborative design efforts by connecting critical data elements between engineering teams and offering git-like tracking of project-wide changes. Prior to co-founding Prewitt Ridge, Steve was at Slingshot Aerospace for 2 years where he led the development of their real-time edge analytics pipeline working with USAF and defense contractor customers, and 5 years at SpaceX where he acted in a mission management and integration engineer role for multiple early Falcon 9 launches as well as led the avionics build for their Hyperloop pusher project. Some of the Topics Covered by Steve Massey in this Episode What Prewitt Ridge does and how it got started How Steve and his co-founder, Zeke Brechtel, decided to work together on Prewitt Ridge The timing behind Steve starting Prewitt Ridge How Steve decided on his ideal customer Raising funding for Prewitt Ridge and Steve's experience in Techstars Partnering with NASA JPL How Steve is thinking about customer acquisition for Prewitt Ridge The competitive landscape that Prewitt Ridge is operating in Building the team behind Prewitt Ridge What Steve learned while working at bigger companies like SpaceX and Slingshot Aerospace What the communication is like between Steve and his investors How Steve recharges Where Steve's interest in space came from Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Matteo Franceschetti has always been obsessed with performance. Athletic performance, business performance, and now sleep performance. An athlete from a young age—he was a competitive ski racer in his native Italy and played tennis and raced cars on the European stage—Matteo has always been focused on winning, and on winning in record time. That drive to succeed propelled him from sports podiums to the top tier of the international legal world and to start two clean-tech companies on two continents, all before age 30. Not surprisingly, sleepless nights were a way of life. It was Matteo’s quest for more restorative sleep, in fact, that led him to quit his previous life and launch Eight Sleep, a New York-based company dedicated to fueling human potential through optimal sleep, and to turning the bed into a seamless health platform for improved health, performance, and longevity. The path he took to becoming CEO of Eight Sleep, however, is as circuitous as the tracks he raced in his youth. Some of the Topics Covered by Matteo Franceschetti in this Episode What Eight Sleep does and how they got started Why Matteo decided to use Indiegogo to launch Eight Sleep The initial version of Eight Sleep The team behind Eight Sleep The challenge in manufacturing and fulfilling the first 8,000 orders of Eight Sleep and why Matteo booked a one-way ticket to China What happened after the Indiegogo campaign and how Matteo grew the business Matteo's advice around getting through difficult times as a founder The product lineup today at Eight Sleep today The future for Eight Sleep The tech behind the complexities of the Eight Sleep product Matteo's approach to growing Eight Sleep today Matteo's health stack - sleep, nutrition, and exercise routine - and why he moved from 8 to 9 hours of sleep Why you should go to sleep at the same time each night Matteo's opinion around naps Using a regret minimization framework to guide your decisions How Matteo structures his days and weeks Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Deon is the Founder of Forethought. Previously, Deon built products and infrastructure at Facebook, Palantir, Dropbox, and Pure Storage. He has ML publications and infrastructure patents, was a World Finalist at the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, and was named to Forbes 30 under 30. Originally from Canada, Deon enjoys spending time with his wife and son, playing basketball, and reading as many books as he can get his hands on. Some of the Topics Covered by Deon Nicholas in this Episode What Forethought does and how it got started Where Deon's interest in technology came from The adjustment to being the CEO of a company Deon's experience at Techcrunch Disrupt and how Deon prepared for it How Deon acquired the initial customers for Forethought Deon's fundraising experience for Forethought What Deon did wrong while fundraising The differences in each stage of fundraising through raising a Series B How Deon thinks about who to bring onto his Cap Table Implementing flywheels and repeatable processes The business model behind Forethought and how Deon thinks about pricing Where the name for their AI, Agatha, came from How Deon thinks about product development Problems Deon faces as CEO How Deon invests in himself as a founder and why he started working with an executive coach How Deon recharges The importance of understanding yourself as a founder Deon's experience being a person of color in tech Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Emily Best is the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark, a platform that makes entertainment more diverse, inclusive, connected, and essential. Seed&Spark’s platform and national education program have helped thousands of bold storytellers raise millions to bring to life entirely new stories, and Seed&Spark delivers those stories into workplaces for employee training, engagement, and intelligence through their proprietary Impact Screening Platform. They gather the qualitative and quantitative data essential for driving lasting structural change for inclusive and productive workplaces. An advocate for diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry, Best regularly speaks at conferences and events about leveraging entertainment to build equity and sustainability for everyone. She also runs workshops to help independent content creators successfully crowdfund, build an audience and pitch their projects. Best was named a 2013 Indiewire Influencer, a 2014 New York Business Journal “Woman of Influence”, a 2015 Upstart 100 entrepreneur (Business Journals), received the Ivy Film Innovator Award in 2015 and in 2016, graduated from Techstars Boston, an elite accelerator program for the country’s top entrepreneurs. Best has raised millions of dollars in traditional funding, equity crowdfunding, and rewards-based crowdfunding and has personally participated in more than 300 crowdfunding campaigns. Some of the Topics Covered by Emily Best in this Episode What Seed&Spark does and the big pivot they went through in 2020 Why Film Forward was created by Seed&Spark How Seed&Spark got started The story of building the Seed&Spark platform itself What went into the launch of Seed&Spark How Emily grew Seed&Spark through 120 live workshops per year The business model behind Seed&Spark What goes into a successful crowdfunding campaign The biggest challenges that go into creating a crowdfunding platform Why Emily has a love/hate relationship with accelerators How Emily recharges away from work Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Andrew Kline brings a broad background of professional sports experience, investment banking expertise, and industry knowledge to Park Lane. Kline has advised on M&A transactions in all of the major sports and also been fundamental in obtaining financing for many early-stage sports-based businesses. Kline is currently a member of the Stanford Executive Circle, Young Presidents Organization (YPO), the Association of Corporate Growth, the NFLPA, and the NFL Retired Players Association. In 2013, at the age of 36, Kline was named to The M&A Advisor’s 40 Under 40 list. Kline was also named to SportsBusiness Journal’s 2016 Power Players List in the Advisory category. Prior to founding Park Lane, Kline was drafted by the NFL World Champion St. Louis Rams, for whom he played center and quick guard. After retiring from the NFL, Kline became an active investor in the San Diego and Arizona real estate markets and brought sizable returns to investors in his fund. Kline also founded The Australian Surf Academy (sold to Surf Diva in 2004) and The Athletes Agency (sold 49% in 2005). Kline also served as the Chairman of the Athletes for Rudy Giuliani Coalition during Giuliani’s bid for the presidency. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Navy SEAL Family Foundation and is very active in fundraising efforts for Special Forces and Special Operations Forces. Kline attended San Diego State University, where he majored in Psychology, and the Business Management & Entrepreneurship Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Kline has FINRA Series 7 and 63 registrations. Some of the Topics Covered by Andrew Kline in this Episode What Park Lane does and the different areas they're involved with Why Andrew decided to start Park Lane Starting a surfing company and real estate company Andrew's journey trying to buy the St. Louis Blues Helping sell Sidney's Kimmel's stake in the Miami Heat Building the team at Park Lane Navigating the 2008 financial crisis and how Andrew climbed out of the crash Managing a team of high-performers How Andrew looks at pursuing new opportunities for his business Time management and how Andrew manages his time What fuels Andrew today Andrew's experience playing for the St. Louis Rams The impact of twice-daily mediation on Andrew's performance Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Kalyan Varma is a co-founder and CEO at Almabase, a company that helps universities and high schools build lifelong relationships with their alumni and drive higher donations. Educational institutions do a poor job of maintaining a good relationship with their alumni after they graduate. Typically the only time alumni hear from their alma mater is when they are being asked to donate. This broken relationship leads to an extremely low alumni donation rate (~2%). Almabase's SaaS platform provides all the lego blocks to build a successful alumni program - one where all the stakeholders benefit.  Kalyan co-founded Almabase with Sri Maneru in 2014. They were classmates in college from 2004 to 2008 and were personally impacted by a lack of scholarships. While they were in college, they started a nonprofit that raised money from alumni and funded scholarships for students. Through the journey of that nonprofit, they realized how broken this system was at every educational institution and decided to start Almabase. Some of the Topics Covered by Kalyan Varma in this Episode What Almabase does and how it got started How Kalyan got the early customers for Almabase The business model behind Almabase with an ACV of $8k - $10k The sales process for getting products to universities How Kalyan went about targeting universities outside of India and their unique GTM strategy in the United States Competition and how Kalyan differentiates Almabase Why Kalyan recently decided to have his platform take a fee from alumni donations Value-based pricing How Kalyan has funded Almabase The team behind Almabase, how Kalyan has grown this, and what's been most helpful for recruiting new team members Bootstrapping vs. raising venture funding How case studies fuel the growth of Almabase Hitting $100k in MRR and what the future looks like for Almabase How Kalyan recharges day-to-day How COVID-19 has impacted Almabase Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Melanie Stricklan is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Slingshot Aerospace, which applies advanced analytics, computer vision, and collaborative tools to data from earth and space, providing customers with clarity in complex situations. Melanie is a retired US Air Force Officer and combat-tested executive leader with expertise across battle management, space operations, and advanced technology development and previous experience in the development, acquisition, and operation of experimental spacecraft, space situational awareness, electronic warfare, countermeasures, and cyber technologies. She is responsible for the technical vision and strategy of an emerging space technology company revolutionizing data exploitation for defense and commercial applications. Melanie is recognized as one of Inc’s Top 100 Female Founders Slingshot Aerospace delivers a situational intelligence platform that provides a customizable solution to quickly navigate, analyze, and leverage data from earth and space. The platform brings together data from different sources — such as satellites, airplanes, drones, and ground-based sensors — and applies advanced analytics and computer vision to provide clarity in complex environments. This means that government, commercial, and emergency management customers have the information they need in order to make an impact: Armed Forces can safely and strategically navigate critical missions; emergency management teams can dispatch aid quicker than ever; insurance companies can detect damage and process claims at a record pace when families need it most; and the government can track satellites in space and safeguard from those who try tampering with critical communications. Some of the Topics Covered by Melanie Stricklan in this Episode What Slingshot Aerospace does How Melanie's love for space began as a child Melanie's experience in the Air Force How Melanie started Slingshot Aerospace with her co-founders Why they chose to use an accelerator and their experience with Techstars LA Getting Boeing as their first client The process of expanding the use cases of Slingshot Aerospace What Slingshot Aerospace offers their customers How Slingshot Aerospace approaches data Melanie's role as Chief Strategy Officer and how she keeps her team focused How they've approached hiring for Slingshot Aerospace and how their process has evolved Developing Slingshot Aerospace's core values and principles The business model for Slingshot Aerospace and how it has shifted What the competitive landscape looks like for Slingshot Aerospace What Melanie is looking forward to in the space realm Making space operations more sustainable Melanie's advice for learning to run and grow a business How Melanie recharges away from work and finds balance Melanie's experience with an executive coach How Slingshot Aerospace has adapted to remote work during COVID19 Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Charles Hudson is the Managing Partner at Precursor Ventures, a classic seed-stage investment firm based out of San Francisco, CA. Precursor seeks to invest in a company's first round of institutional investment and focuses on investments in B2B software applications, B2C software and services, and connected hardware. Prior to launching Precursor, Charles Hudson was a Partner with SoftTech VC, one of the most active seed-stage investors in Internet and mobile startups. He focused on identifying investment opportunities in mobile infrastructure, mobile applications, and marketplaces. He was also the Co-Founder and CEO of Bionic Panda Games, an Android-focused mobile games startup. Prior to joining SoftTech VC and co-founding Bionic Panda Games, Charles Hudson was the VP of Business Development for Serious Business until the company was acquired by Zynga in February 2010. Prior to Serious Business, he was the Sr. Director for Business Development at Gaia Interactive, an online hangout and virtual world for teens. Prior to Gaia, Charles worked in New Business Development at Google and focused on new partnership opportunities for early-stage products in the advertising, mobile, and e-commerce markets. Prior to joining Google, he was a Product Manager for IronPort Systems, a leading provider of anti-spam hardware appliances that was acquired by Cisco Systems for $830 million in 2007. Charles was also the founder of the Virtual Goods Summit and Social Gaming Summit, two of the leading conferences in the free-to-play games space. Charles spent several years working at In-Q-Tel, the strategic venture capital group for the Central Intelligence Agency. While at In-Q-Tel, he focused on identifying investment opportunities that could deliver significant value to the CIA and the commercial market in both the short and long term. He holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.A. in Economics and Spanish from Stanford University.  Some of the Topics Covered by Charles Hudson in this Episode The areas where Precursor Ventures is focused How Charles decided to focus on the very earliest stages of startup investing Charles experience raising his first fund as a single GP How Charles built the team at Precursor Ventures, brought on Sydney Thomas, and what it took for her to get promoted to Principal Charles views on the role of platform in venture capital How Charles organizes the insights from their portfolio companies The advice Charles has for founders around their pitch and the importance of storytelling What Charles looks for in companies he invests in How Charles looks at the brand for Precursor Ventures Why optimism is so important at the early stage of investing Why Charles wanted to be a venture capitalist How Charles invests in himself as an investor to improve at his job Charles' experience working with a coach on communication Getting honest feedback as an investor Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/

Lori Shao is a financial services veteran with deep expertise in payment technology and innovation. In April 2019, she walked away from her 17-year career in banking to build Finli, a vertical payment solution to power neighborhood schools and freelance instructors. Finli stands for financial lift and operates with the clear mission to financially lift communities through innovation and narrow the gap of accessibility, affordability, and outcome for all. Lori resides in Arcadia CA with her husband Derek and two children Ed and Ryan. Some of the Topics Covered by Lori Shao in this Episode What Finli is and why Lori left a career in banking to start Finli How Lori decided to quit her job to start Finli Lori's decision to join Techstars and how impactful the experience was for her Raising a small seed round of $1.5M after Techstars How Lori has helped small business owners affected by COVID Lori's experience fundraising for Finli as a mom and a solo, first-time founder The conversations Lori had with her husband as she was starting Finli Understanding what you actually want in a career How Lori has gone about building the team at Finli The unique way Finli does customer acquisition How Lori invests in herself and what a day consists of for her Sign up for The Weekly Grind, for actionable insights and stories from successful entrepreneurs delivered to your inbox once per week: https://www.justgogrind.com/newsletter/ Listen to all episodes of the Just Go Grind Podcast: https://www.justgogrind.com/podcast/ Follow Justin Gordon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/justingordon212 Follow Justin Gordon on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justingordon8/