Magic Minds

My favorite thing about being a founder is the ability to make your own decisions and have to live with them, and thus have to learn from them. I am constantly introspective about my thoughts: What am I thinking? Where did it come from?  The desire to be “liked” is probably the most selfish thing in the world. You want to be really mindful of the problems you are creating, when things that were working stop working and being able to identify those things much earlier when running a business.

Eric Ries, NY Times best-selling author, and startup sage comes back to the podcast for part 2 of our conversation we started in episode 3. We cover everything from sustainable productivity of teams, unleashing creativity, and about his (insanely) audacious company that is 8 years into their “beginning” with the Long Term Stock Exchange. It’s one of the most interesting companies out there — and for a man that’s dedicated to changing the way startups are built, it’s no surprise that he’s taken on the task of building a better stock exchange. Enjoy this conversation with the one and only, Eric Ries.

Alex Snodgrass, aka The Defined Dish, has built a social media following that would make any brand jealous, with over hundreds of thousands of followers engaging around her simple and incredibly tasty whole30 and paleo dish recipes every day. She has all the social media (and in real life) love that creates a pretty pristine Above the Line version of her business. But a simple ingredient that made the conversation with this creator such an interesting one was her honesty on what it’s really like to be a social media “influencer”. We talk about everything from the fact that 2 years in (and with little traction), deciding if it was still worth doing, simplification being a key to success, anxiety attacks and the importance of investing in mental health — and in the midst of naturally being a people-pleaser, and having a spouse, two daughters, employees and hundreds of thousands of people that would want some of her time requires something simple and powerful: a checklist of things that helps remind her daily what she needs to do for herself. It’s a special episode of Below The Line with Alex today — we hope you enjoy it. About the host: James Beshara is an angel investor, advisor, founder, and general startup-helper in San Francisco, California. He has started three companies, sold one (Tilt; acq by Airbnb), and angel invested in multiple billion-dollar startups in his career. And now he's talking openly and honestly with leaders about what's going on "below the line" in their lives and careers that has made them the people that the are; the 90% of the story you don't read about or hear about anywhere else. If you have any questions, feel free to email us at askbelowtheline@gmail.com and follow us on twitter @belowthelinepodcast or follow James @JamesBeshara. "Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts, LLC.

Matt MacInnis is a founder and investor in Silicon Valley, and he’s widely seen as one of the best personal angel investors out there — combining his experience as a founder (and knowing what made his investors actually helpful and others unhelpful) with the insight into what spaces and products are on the rise. That’s his day job though. He is a profoundly deep thinker, an articulate leader, but most importantly, he’s honest. He’s seen all the ups and all the downs a founder can see, so you throw experience into that equation, and you’ve got a hell of a conversation. Some of our favorite quotes from the episode: "It is perfectly acceptable to go start a company with insane odds against you. If you understand the outcome will be beautiful, no matter what, thats the mindset you need to approach it with and it will be beautiful." "I could not be where I am today without the hard experiences I had to go through, and it sucked… but they were necessary." "That was the last time I put another person in the slot of alpha, on a pedestal, someone to emulate…" on his experience with Steve Jobs "You look around and think that everyone else has it figured it out — and they don't…and I am the first to admit that I’m faking it too." “I knew where I was strong and I knew where I wasn't, and I was fighting that instead of accepting it.” “When I sit down across from an entrepreneur…and they really want me to invest, and its not one I can invest in…They’re not answering “should Matt be an investor” while they're trying to answer “can I get Matt to invest in this?” — and these are vastly different questions.” “Don't win job offers. Go see if you test positive for that particular company or role and let “no” be as beautiful as yes because its the right thing. We are not as interested in truth as we are desire...”

Diana Chapman is a best-selling author — her book “the 15 commitments of conscious leadership” is one of my all-time favorites — She is also an advisor and executive coach who has worked with over 1,000 organizational leaders, as well as a founding partner of Concious Leadership Group. Her incredibly powerful book has a great subtitle — “A new paradigm for sustainable success”... with the key phrase being sustainable success. Today I get a chance to talk with her about so many different topics, but they almost all lead back to that phrase. Check out this episode to learn more.

Sahil Lavingia is the CEO and Founder of Gumroad, a platform to help creators create more through simple e-commerce and audience tools. He is also known for insightful and refreshing points of view on Twitter and Medium. To round it out, he’s also a designer, painter in addition to being a technology CEO and writer. Sahil and I have had similar paths in creation, from tech to design to art, as well as being a founder that has seen almost everything.  From being employee #2 at Pinterest to starting his own company, to coverage in just about every magazine, every investor in Silicon Valley wanted to be a part of what he was building to layoffs, then more layoffs, to then being the only person running his company, bordering on depression for a long stretch of time, and now back to a tight-knit team and a business that will bring in over $5m in revenue this year, profitable and actually growing faster than ever.  In addition to the experience he’s had, he’s begun to articulate what it has been like as a creator, and his tweets and essays on the topic, up there with Justin Kan, Eric Ries and a handful of other guests have given people some of the most realistic glimpses of what it’s truly like, and I can’t wait for you to hear this behemoth of an episode.

Ryan Hoover is the founder and CEO of ProductHunt — the most popular way to discover new products and services on the web. In 2016, ProductHunt was acquired by AngelList, the worlds’ most popular way to invest in startups. It was a match made in heaven, but it’s hard to say the path to that point wasn’t fraught with its share of challenges.  Ryan is one of the most popular voices when it comes to new services, and we cover the new trends he’s tracking, his love of podcasting, the “grass is only greener” version of the story for a venture-backed founder, and the differences he has noticed in his career from being an employee to founder to founder within a larger organization.  Email James questions 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.

Peter Carnochan is my guest today. Peter is a psychologist, psychoanalyst, and executive coach here in San Francisco — he is also my executive coach. He was first introduced to me in 2014 by Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder or Reddit, who said I needed to meet his executive coach... and that I might benefit from chatting with him. 4 plus years later, I chat with Peter just about every other week, and this conversation isn’t unlike many I’ve had before with Peter — going from tactical topics to expansive philosophical ones and back. We’re going to do check-in episodes together every few weeks where he checks in on the project of this podcast, talks about his favorite take aways (from the perspective of being one of the most highly regarded executive coaches in Silicon Valley), as well as the Below The Line journey of what’s going on in creating this podcast.  You’ll see why I love chatting with this brilliant guy during this episode, and hear our top takeaways from previous episodes. May is Mental Health Awareness month as well, and at the very end, you’ll hear us touch on that from both the creator and human aspect, and I chat about some of the best advice I’ve ever heard on the topic.  Email James questions at askbelowtheline@gmail.com  Follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/gobelowtheline).  "Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts

Ryan Caldbeck and his co-founder Rory Eakin founded what has become one of the most innovative investment platforms I’ve ever seen with their award-winning company, CircleUp. In short, they use machine learning analysis to find and fund amazing companies in the consumer packaged goods space, companies like Halo Top, Rebbl, Smarty Pants vitamins — and we actually share some of those companies like Halo Top. But, being the founder of an innovative investment approach that is hitting its stride is only the above-the-line version of Ryan's story. Last year, Ryan started sharing what his entrepreneurial experiences have really been like. His open and candid writing on twitter is shared within founder circles more than any other writing, because in a world of posturing and BS, he has begun to turn the tide on with something as simple as honesty— something the entrepreneurial world is craving. We talk about what he’s shared, what he thinks a lot about, where we can do better, what it’s really like to go through a “Pivot” with a capital P. He does it all with a contagious sense ownership and accountability, which is why I think he is a major force in evolving the conversation of what it’s like to be a founder. Email James questions at askbelowtheline@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/gobelowtheline). "Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

Hannah Willson is an executive, a mom, and has made the jump from large public company to the world of fast-moving startups — and she’s one of my neighbors. This podcast is an exercise of going below the line with founders, leaders, creators of all kinds, and for any startups that make a dent in the universe, even employee 100 shoulders the weight of attempting to create something special.  Hannah was most recently the VP of Sales (often the most stressful department in a startup) at Rainforest QA, one of the fastest growing startups in the Bay Area, and we talk about everything from balancing being a mother, wife, friend, and an executive, how the things that can make you great at sales can often hold you back as a sales _leader_, the stories that have helped shape who she has become, and the recently acquired habit of meditation; among other things. So let’s get into it with my good friend and one of the most respected executives in San Francisco. And for those looking forward to what crazy drink we shared this episode... you’re out of luck, because I forgot to do that this time...  Email James questions 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