Magic Minds

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today's episode was originally recorded near the end of February, and we usually take a week before releasing a recorded podcast. But with the exponential disruption that the Coronavirus was unleashing in many places around the world in the subsequent weeks, we wanted to hold off on releasing this episode until we felt like people had been able to get their feet beneath them. We recorded a COVID-19 focused episode and released that recently with Eric Ries — Now we're back to our more typical conversation style today with Mike Duboe from Greylock Partners. Mike is an old friend and colleague, and he's one of the smartest thinkers when it comes to startup growth in Silicon Valley. He has a rare combination of analytical, practical, and creative thinking all-in-one which makes him a pretty high in-demand advisor, investor, and name that comes up when people start talking about healthy (and still aggressive) ways of growing your company. We cover a whole host of different topics under the umbrella of "growth". And I'm really excited for a deep-dive like this that goes into how startups and companies grow, how they should grow, how they *could* grow, and how they should *avoid* to grow. Enjoy. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today's episode was originally recorded on February 26th. We usually take a week before releasing a recorded podcast, but with the exponential growth and disruption that the coronavirus has been unleashing on the world, we wanted to hold off on releasing this episode and a few others until we felt like people had been able to get their feet beneath them. We recorded a Covid 19 focused episode and released it recently that you can check out. And now we're back to our more typical conversation style today with Geoff Lewis. Geoff is unique in that he is a previous founder himself, turned venture capitalist at the world-class Founders Fund venture firm, and then became a founder again combining his two passions (founding and investing) by starting his own venture capital firm called Bedrock Capital with partner Eric Stromberg. We talk about Geoff’s entrepreneurial path, the lessons he learned alongside some of the best investors in the world, including Peter Thiel, the creation of a lens into which he finds insights (that has become mimetic with other investors) called “narrative mirages” and “narrative violations”, his hardest moments as a founder and investor, and more. I'm excited for listeners to hear this conversation with a candid and original thinker like Geoff. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Mentioned in the podcast: SchoolClosures.org Ben Horowitz on Layoffs HelpwithCOVID.com From our individual to our community-wide responsibilities, I chat with best-selling author, founder, and investor Eric Ries about what might be, what could be, and perhaps what should be going through each of our minds right now. I keep hearing people say this moment is surreal. I look down empty streets, and it does feel that way sometimes as we struggle for perspective and control of the circumstance. But it dawned on me that, what’s surreal was the moments before all this, when we were under the delusion of control. This is real. Who knows how long it stays this real, how long before we are back under the illusion of control, but no matter the timeline, this is real. We’ve been shaken out of our surreal illusion, and we find ourselves here. You cannot escape circumstance, but you can transcend it. For every leader, creator, thinker, and listener that has wanted to impact the world, now is your chance. Here is your opportunity. But it’s not just about finding and seizing opportunity, but instead, it's about subsuming responsibility. That’s at the core of purpose, that’s at the core of meaning... it’s not about achievement or accrual, it’s about willingly taking on responsibility when the outcome is uncertain, and that’s at the core of this episode. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Mentioned in the podcast: https://twitter.com/shl/status/1229844208959152128 Today we've got another deep-dive episode and this one is on monetizing your creativity. It's with Sahil Lavingia, who is the founder and CEO of Gumroad, who's been on the podcast before. A great Below the Line episode with him going into detail in reflecting on his entrepreneurial path. Today goes a little bit more into detail on one specific thing, and that's monetizing your creativity. Not only has Sahil monetized his own creativity, but he is also the founder of a company, a writer, and a painter. But his company actually powers the monetization of a countless number of creatives around the world. Whether they are creating art, making music, writing books, or wanting to pursue a side hustle. Sahil tweeted about this recently, and that tweet thread is why I'm having him back on the show. He sent out a single tweet that went pretty viral that said: “I believe virtually everyone can make a living doing what they love. I discover new creators doing it in new ways almost every day. Do you want to create full-time but don't see a path towards doing it? Reply with what it is and let's see if I can help you outline a plan!”. A lot of people replied and a lot of patterns emerge from that single tweet that I'm excited to dive into with Sahil today. We covered the concept of exercising versus training, prolific versus perfect and setting realistic expectations and timelines. We also talked about being really public, really early. When he started to paint he actually created an Instagram @shlpaints before he even started to paint as a way to give people an insight into his path as a painter, and also as an accountability tool. We talked about why, when, and how to build an audience — and also about the time and dedication required to build the necessary skills and the audience that could provide potential financial freedom while pursuing one's craft. If it's something that you set realistic expectations, and specific goals around then, in Sahil’s words, it's as easy as going to the gym three times a week for two years... He's never heard of that “not working for somebody,” and he thinks the same applies to anyone that wants to pursue a creative endeavor. Speaking of creativity... Do you want more creativity, more flow, more energy, and less stress? Do you want to tap into what nature gives us beyond just coffee? For all of these things go to magicmind.co to get the two-ounce shot that contains 12 magical ingredients that are scientifically designed to improve your productivity. Along with CEOs, doctors, musicians, even Navy Seals, I take it every day (and have been for about six years) — and it is the single most important part of my morning ritual to do more and stress less. To learn more, go to magicmind.co and enter the promo code “BTL” for Below The Line to get 15% off and try it for yourself. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Companies mentioned: Nori - https://nori.com/ Indigo - https://www.indigoag.com/ Joro - https://joro.tech/ LiveGreen - https://livegreen.io/ Sinai Technologies - https://www.sinaitechnologies.com/ Project Wren - https://projectwren.com/ Prometheus Fuels - https://www.sciencemag.org/ Solugen - https://www.solugentech.com/ C16 Bio - https://www.c16bio.com/ Heart Aerospace - https://heartaerospace.com/ Wright Electric - https://weflywright.com/ Drawdown - https://www.drawdown.org/ Y Combinator Carbon RFS - http://carbon.ycombinator.com/ Watershed Climate OpenOcean Today's episode is another deep dive into a brand new space that actually has a *lot* going on already. Though it's a very recently coined term, “Climate Tech” is going to be here for a while. I’m joined by Gustaf Alströmer, a partner at Y Combinator, and Diego Saez-Gil, the founder of Pachama.com. There's Health Tech, FinTech, Ad Tech, Prop Tech and now there's Climate Tech — and these two individuals have helped pioneer this new space. We talk about why it’s happening now and what climate + technology will look like 5-10 years from now. We also talk about whether or not it be like CleanTech that came in 15 years ago and went away almost as soon as it arrived. What makes Climate Tech different? They also share about their paths from passion to profession within this realm — and discussed the early days of people thinking, in Diego's case, that his idea was basically a nonprofit (and not a very fundable business). Or thinking that this space was too complicated and too big to try and tackle with a small team of dedicated founders. We talk about all of these and more, and I'm really excited about this deep dive into this brand new space of climate tech. Speaking of sustainable energy, Below The Line is brought to you by Magic Mind, the world's first productivity drink (and is our proud sponsor because it’s my own company). Do you want more creativity, more flow, more energy, and less stress? Do you want to tap into what nature gives us beyond just coffee? For all of these things go to magicmind.co to get the two-ounce shot that contains 12 magical ingredients that are scientifically designed to improve your productivity. Along with CEOs, doctors, musicians, even Navy Seals, I take it every day — and it is the single most important part of my morning ritual to do more and stress less. To learn more, go to magicmind.co and enter the promo code “BTL” for Below The Line to get 15% off and try it for yourself. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author This plog (podcast+blog post mashup) is called “Routines & How to Avoid Stupidity”. A little over a year ago, a really smart investor, Adam Robinson, was speaking with Shane Parrish on his podcast. He defined stupidity really clearly for me. I hadn't heard it defined this way before, thought it was really great, and it’s been stuck in my head ever since. What makes us miss crucial information right in front of our faces? And how can we avoid that? Listen to this mini-episode to learn more. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today, I’m going to be trying out something that I’ve been starting on an app called TalkShow where I record short daily plogs. It’s basically an audio post instead of a written blog. This will be anywhere from 5 to 6 minutes each but they’ll be on different topics. The first topic is about podcasting. It seems like a fitting way to kick-off this type of experiment and it’s expounding on the concept that podcasting is the truly free press in my mind. I think the internet, in the last 20 years, has been amazing for many things but I think it was built for podcasting more than anything else. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today's episode is with Ben Witte. He's the founder and CEO of Recess. You might not have heard of Ben or Recess but it is perhaps the fastest-growing beverage in the country over the last year. You can go to www.takearecess.com to check out their product which is amazingly well done from the brand to the taste of the drinks. I often have a weird quirky drink that I share with a guest on each episode and Recess was one of the first. I remember Justin Kan loved it so much that he asked for some afterward. It is a CBD drink, that is for me, instead of having a beer at night or Saturday afternoon or day drinking, just have a Recess. I really love the taste more than anything else and second to that is the brand, and the kind of universe that Ben has designed around the drink. If you go check out their site or their Instagram, you'll see what I mean. It's really unique. I think what's most interesting about the conversation is that Ben is about a year into the journey. This isn't a conversation of someone that's 10 years on the other side of multiple exits. He's right in the middle of it and shares openly what it's like. It's a different type of below the line perspective, from a creators vantage point that is currently in it all. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today’s episode is with Vlad Magdalin, co-founder and CEO of Webflow. We sat down and chatted about his insane story of failure that spanned for 15 years before getting it right, his early experiences that shaped him as a founder, and what he thinks about that he rarely gets a chance to talk about. Webflow raised $75 million from investors a few months ago and was one of the largest Series A's of the last few years. We talked about the debt he went into financially and personally, including with the most important of co-founders, his spouse, almost ten years before this milestone. He shared with us what he thinks about today as a leader, and we also talked about the r-word (religion!) openly and publicly! It's an in-depth conversation, and it is one of my favorites to date. I think you're going to enjoy this very different kind of conversation and founder story. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today on the program, we've got Sarah Tavel. She’s a venture capitalist at the legendary and enigmatic venture capital firm, Benchmark Capital, which is one of the most renowned firms in the world. We covered a whole range of topics like, how her partners work together, how she chooses an investment, examples of what made her pass and then later invest in a company that she now loves, and the dynamics with a founder in that situation. We talked about the Gartner Hype Cycle and its implications for what the psychological journey in creation is like, whether it's launching a new company or launching a new feature. We also talked about the stories that have helped shape who she has become (and what has made her so damn impressive). Listen in for all this and more. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC