Just Go Grind

Myles Hunter is the Co-Founder & CEO of TutorMe. TutorMe ( https://tutorme.com/ ) is a revolutionary online education platform that provides on-demand tutoring and online courses. They believe there are more teachers in the world than are actually teaching so they want to empower more people to learn from each other. Their platform enables thousands of tutors to share their knowledge with students around the globe. Whether you need help with high school algebra or you want to learn how to program in Python, they have a perfect tutor for you. At TutorMe, they want to change the way you learn. Some of the Topics Covered by Myles Hunter in this Episode What TutorMe does today and how it got started initially How Myles got an Angel Investor early on for TutorMe The founders behind TutorMe and how they came together The pitch that went into getting a co-founder to join the team Building the business in Russia and Bali early on The go-to-market strategy behind TutorMe The initial product that Myles launched with Why Myles and his team built TutorMe from the ground up The growth for TutorMe after the initial customers How Myles figured out the pricing and business model for TutorMe Raising a $1.3M round of funding The LAUNCH accelerator and why Myles decided to join Competition Myles' advice to other entrepreneurs around fundraising Remote work How Myles and his team finds new tutors for the platform Getting acquired by Zovio in 2019 The big vision for TutorMe moving forward The importance of having good legal counsel Myles' incredible experience with the Lyft ambassador program 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/

Magnus is CEO and co-founder of Sanity.io, the American-Norwegian Content Platform company that is reinventing the content space with its unique customizable and collaborative approach. Having worked in investment banking and private equity, Magnus started coding at age 35 and left his finance career, and later joining Sanity.io as co-founder. Sanity now has almost 40 employees and serves more than 4 billion API calls per month. Magnus is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of the Topics Covered by Magnus Hillestad in this Episode What Sanity does and how it got started What Sanity was trying to do differently from other CMS systems early on Why you should think about content as data How Sanity was acquiring customers in the early days and why it lends itself to a bottom-up business model Having a global perspective Why Magnus decided to move to the United States How Magnus and his Co-Founders decided to work together even after Magnus initially said no to joining the team Magnus' advice around selecting Co-Founders and setting up founder agreements correctly The fundraising experience for Magnus, raising a $1M Pre-Seed, $2.4M Seed, and a Series A Why Magnus and his team raised their Series A when they had $2M ARR How Magnus recharges and why his team pays part of having a private personal trainer for everyone in the company 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/

Eytan deeply believes that the success of the small business sector is one of the most important causes of our time. It has the potential to reduce income inequality, empower immigrants, and provide disproportionate leadership opportunities for female and minority businesspeople. Creating a banking service that is as modern as these companies is why Eytan started NorthOne. Prior to NorthOne, Eytan was a Sr. Engagement Manager for McKinsey & Company. He served many wonderful clients in Financial Services industry, usually on the topic of digital customer experience and financial inclusion. Prior to that, he earned his JD/MBA from McGill University and was called to the New York Bar in 2010. Some of the Topics Covered Eytan Bensoussan in this Episode What NorthOne does and why Eytan decided to start it Why Eytan dove in full-time to NorthOne The first things Eytan did to start NorthOne and what he learned from a hundred customer interviews in the early days How Eytan decided on which potential customers to talk with How Eytan chose what the initial version of NorthOne Funding NorthOne in the early days and Eytan going a year without a salary What kept Eytan going through the low point in his business How Eytan got customers early on for NorthOne The hoops you have to go through to start a business bank The unscaleable things Eytan did early on to get exposure to businesses How Eytan convinced people to join his team in the early days Where NorthOne was at when they raised their Series A and how Eytan approached fundraising at that point How COVID impacted NorthOne How Eytan came up with the business model for NorthOne Why NorthOne waived their fees for all their customers in badly hit states and industries during COVID Eytan's favorite book 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/

Jeff Annison and Paul Scanlan are Co-Founders of Legion M. Founded by serial entrepreneurs with an Emmy Award for Innovation, Legion M is a first-of-its-kind entertainment company built from the ground up to be owned by fans.  Legion M is uniting fans together to invest in and/or produce a diverse slate of original projects in various stages of development, including the critically acclaimed Colossal, starring Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis, the cult hit Mandy starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Panos Cosmatos, Bad Samaritan starring David Tennant, a new feature film and comic book Girl With No Name in development, plus multiple original television series including “Evermor,” “Airship Cowboys,” and “Malice;” and a VR project called "ICONS: Face to Face" starring Stan Lee and Kevin Smith.  About Our Partner This episode is brought to you by our sponsor WeAreNoCode. WeAreNoCode’s mission is to empower non-technical founders. The problem is that if you don’t know how to code, building your MVP or app idea is a frustrating process: Developers are expensive Looking for a perfect tech co-founder is time-consuming And learning how to code takes 3 years Their program is called, “The No-Code Startup” and it’s a no-code accelerator program that teaches founders how to build, launch and monetize their startup without hiring expensive developers or waiting for a technical co-founder. No-code is a disruptive new way of building software products that allows users to drag and drop functionalities to build powerful solutions like Uber, Airbnb, Twitter and much more. They have founders in over 12 countries and partnerships with organizations like UCLA Accelerator, Startup Boost and Scale Health. If you want to learn more or find out if no-code is a good fit for your startup, visit them at: www.wearenocode.com/justgogrind Some of the Topics Covered by Jeff and Paul in this Episode How Legion M got started How the investors (The fans) are able to influence the decision making of Legion M The Film Scout game that Legion M developed and how it gives them an advantage in choosing movies How the first crowdfunding campaign went for Legion M The response from Hollywood around Paul and Jeff crowdfunding for an entertainment company How Legion M makes money and the business model behind them The types of projects Legion M gets involved with The unique marketing behind the successful crowdfunding of Legion M How Jeff and Paul have been so successful with Legion M Investing in startups and the benefits of equity crowdfunding

Passionate about mobile and technology, Vivek leads the Marketing and Customer Operations at Datability. At Datability, they are building iZooto - an owned audience marketing platform that helps publishers build, engage, and retain their owned audience using web push notifications. iZooto is the World's First Owned Audience Marketing Platform that helps media publishers and retailers to own, build, and engage their audience using web push notifications. Over 15,000 marketers push over 18B notifications every month to engage their audience and drive repeat traffic. Some of the Topics Covered by Vivek Khandelwal in this Episode What iZooto does and how Vivek decided to start it after 4 pivots at his previous company How Vivek and his team acquired their first customers for iZooto Some of the early feedback Vivek was getting from customers and why it was misleading How Vivek narrowed down who his ideal customer actually is The importance of building a product your customer actually needs The iZooto product itself How companies are leveraging iZooto to grow their businesses What iZooto's customer acquisition strategy looks like today How Vivek looks at building content for iZooto to drive inbound leads and educate his potential customers The four founders behind iZooto and how this dynamic works at iZooto Growing to 60 people at iZooto in about 5 years Vivek's advice around hiring and onboarding The traction iZooto has achieved so far and getting to a $3-5M run rate How Vivek thinks about pricing for iZooto Vivek's advice for other B2B SaaS founders 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/

Danny Shader founded PayNearMe, Inc. in 2009 and currently serves as CEO. PayNearMe processes billions of dollars annually for over 5,000 clients in lending, property management, and more. PayNearMe originated as a real-time electronic cash transaction network, and today supports every form of payment – cards, ACH and mobile-first payment systems including Google Pay and Apple Pay, in addition to cash through our expanding network of over 27,000 retail stores.  Previously, Danny led Good Technology, Inc., which Motorola acquired in 2007 and Accept.com, the first consumer-to-consumer payment service, which Amazon.com acquired in 1999. Danny earned a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. To learn more, visit PayNearMe https://home.paynearme.com/ Some of the Topics Covered by Danny Shader in this Episode What PayNearMe is doing today to help businesses How PayNearMe got started in 2009 Why 7/11 became a partner in Danny's business How Danny's previous entrepreneurial experience influenced what he's done with PayNearMe Why PayNearMe bought and sold Prism How Danny looks at growing PayNearMe now after processing billions of dollars of payments per year Danny's approach to hiring and the 4 traits he looks for Danny's experience working with Bill Campbell, the legendary silicon valley How Danny decides which businesses to pursue Danny's advice to his younger self Danny's experience working with Jeff Bezos when his company was acquired by Amazon The swimming group that Danny started in his 40s and how it has impacted his life The importance of building a team with people who are smart, hard-working, have integrity and grit 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/

​​Chai Mishra is the Founder & CEO of Move, which is based on a simple idea — modern commerce is not as good as it can be. They work directly with award-winning producers to make their own brand of products. And they deliver these products straight to their members. By cutting out the middlemen, they're making a retailer that’s more efficient, ethical, and enjoyable. Invest in Move: https://wefunder.com/move Learn more about Move: https://shopmove.co/ About Our Partners This episode is brought to you by Pivot CMO. Whether you’re a startup and you’ve just launched your product or a larger business, accelerate your growth with performance marketing solutions from our partner, Pivot CMO. Pivot specializes in performance marketing solutions that have helped countless companies double or even triple in the first few months of working with them. They’re boutique, extremely data-driven, and launch and iterate quickly. 84% of their clients double their revenue. Pivot CMO is focused on digital marketing channels like Facebook/Instagram, Google, Pinterest, and TikTok. Their founders are involved with every account so you don’t get a low-level account manager, but instead a highly skilled and experienced, outsourced CMO.  They’ve helped a number of Y Combinator and venture-backed companies along with fortune 500 companies, so no matter the size or stage of your company, use Pivot to help with all of your marketing and growth needs.  To book a free consultation visit pivotcmo.com. Want to raise funding through Wefunder? Through Just Go Grind, you can receive a discount on Wefunder fees when fundraising for your company. Head over to https://wefunder.com/raisemoney/justgogrind Some of the Topics Covered by Chai Mishra in this Episode How Move works and why Chai wanted to work on this particular company Chai's story of growing up in India in the early 1990s and how it influenced him The growth of direct to consumer brands How Chai decided to go through Y Combinator Chai's fundraising experience Why Chai spent 2+ years just figuring out the supply chain for Move Chai's experience testing their own brand name product early on What Chai looks for in the producers he works with for Move The massive waitlist (135,000 people) Move has and why they limit the number of people they allow on the platform How Chai decided to crowdfund through Wefunder The big vision for Chai and Move for the next 10-20 years and why Chai believes he can 10x the number of members in the next year How a community of thousands of people votes on every decision at Move 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/

Gary Skulnik is a senior executive and strategic thinker who has been a leader in developing the clean energy market in Maryland and Washington, DC, through innovative marketing and sales, partnerships, community building, business management, and legislative advocacy. Founder of two entities focused exclusively on marketing clean energy, a for-profit and a non-profit, which collectively helped more than 17,000 consumers and businesses switch to clean power. Currently, Gary is the Founder and CEO of Neighborhood Sun, exclusively focused on the fast-growing community solar space. Some of the Topics Covered by Gary Skulnik in this Episode What Gary and Neighborhood Sun are doing with community solar How Neighborhood Sun got started and the importance of community solar The regulatory hurdles Gary had to overcome How community solar makes solar power available to lower-income households The difficulties in getting the first 100 customers for Neighborhood Sun How Gary has been able to keep his customer acquisition cost so low Why Gary decided to do equity crowdfunding for Neighborhood Sun Why Gary chose Wefunder for Neighborhood Sun How the fundraising process itself went for Gary The benefits of choosing equity crowdfunding over venture capital The biggest challenges of equity crowdfunding The team behind Neighborhood Sun Where Gary and his team are looking to grow next with Neighborhood Sun How Gary thinks about building a brand, especially in a competitive market What the process of expansion looks like for Neighborhood Sun How Gary sees the solar industry evolving moving forward The incredible potential of other clean energy projects like offshore wind Lessons Gary took from his first startup and has applied to Neighborhood Sun Books that have been impactful for Gary How Gary 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/

Zach Adamson is the Founder of DIVERTbrands, the parent company of two subsidiary companies, both of them with one unified purpose, breakdown the barriers to Action Sports for at-risk inner-city youth as a platform for creativity, self-discovery and passion in order to help them "Achieve their I'mpossible." The first is DIVERTcity/sessions, a mixed-use Action Sports Facility currently under development in cities across the country that brings Surfing, Skateboarding, Snowboarding, and Lifestyle Educational Programming to the inner-city. They have an all-star team, city support, and are on the path to a successful operation. They envision a brighter future where people have a platform to unleash their unique creativity through the powerful medium of Action Sports and all the lifestyle components associated with it. Through constant inspiration, they will encourage those that associate with DIVERT to achieve what at first they thought was impossible. This is the essence of all Action Sports and a valuable life lesson. Some of the Topics Covered by Zach Adamson in this Episode The origin of DIVERTsessions What the initial concept of DIVERT looked like and why the big vision is critical while figuring out what the minimally viable version is Why Zach decided to go the route of equity crowdfunding for DIVERTsessions What allowed Zach to continue with his idea through COVID-19 The preparation that went into raising $500K in 10 days on Wefunder Why Zach decided to use Wefunder for their crowdfunding campaign How Zach has gone about building the team at DIVERT The unique terms of DIVERT's Wefunder campaign and why they chose them How Zach looks at selecting new markets for DIVERT Revitalizing distressed real estate 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/

Tyler Hayes is CEO of Atom Limbs, the world's first mind-controlled bionic arm. Tyler was previously Co-Founder of Bebo (acq. Amazon) and Executive Producer of Minka which won Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Short at the FFF. About Our Partner This episode is also brought to you by Hawke Media. Hawke Media is a full-service Outsourced CMO based in Santa Monica, CA, providing guidance, planning, and execution to grow brands of all sizes, industries, and business models. Hawke Media was recognized by Inc. as the country’s fastest-growing marketing consultancy and is proudly one of Glassdoor’s “Best Places to Work”​, 2019 #893 on the Forbes 5000 list, UpCity Top Los Angeles Digital Marketing Agency. Hawke’s collaborative process, à la carte offering, and month-to-month fee structure give clients the flexibility they need to boost digital revenues and marketing ROI. Hawke Media The company has serviced over 1500 brands of all sizes, ranging from startups like Tamara Mellon, SiO Beauty and Bottlekeeper to household names like Red Bull, Verizon Wireless and Alibaba. Listen to our interview with Erik Huberman, Founder and CEO of Hawke Media, in episode 23 of the Just Go Grind Podcast. Some of the Topics Covered by Tyler Hayes in this Episode What Atom Limbs is doing today How Tyler started Atom Limbs and why he wants to end death The progress DARPA How Tyler built a world-class team for Atom Limbs Why Tyler decided to build in stealth initially Raising capital through crowdfunding with Wefunder The marketing behind Atom Limbs and a crowdfunding campaign more broadly How Tyler and his team are going about putting Atom Limbs into full production The tech transfer process from Johns Hopkins to Atom Limbs Thoughts on monetization for frontier tech How Tyler thinks through about pricing for Atom Limbs The products that Atom Limbs are developing and they're capable of Where most of Tyler's time is spent now with Atom Limbs Some of Tyler's favorite books The importance of finding "your people" 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/