Problem Solvers
Entrepreneur Media
You have business problems. This show has solutions. Each week, Entrepreneur’s Editor in Chief Jason Feifer digs deep with entrepreneurs and CEOs — identifying the major problems they faced, the solutions that worked, and how YOU can put them to use in your business. No fluff, all tactics. Let’s solve your problems.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Aug 13, 2018 • 18min
How Tony Hawk Learned To Protect His Brand
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Aug 6, 2018 • 19min
Why This CEO Fired Himself
When Matt Bodnar became CEO of Fresh Technologies, he took over a failing company and saved it from disaster. That felt great. Then he hit a wall: He couldn’t seem to get this company to grow, or to fix its internal culture. He began suffering from self-doubt. He’d always wanted to be a CEO, and he initially seemed good at it, but now here he was… failing! After a lot of soul-searching, Matt came to an important realization: He needed to identify what he was good at, and then use those strengths. And that meant no longer being a CEO. In this episode, we explore how Matt came to that conclusion -- and why it supercharged his career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 30, 2018 • 24min
Her Company Was Growing, So Why Was It Failing?
Just Between Friends is a nationwide franchise that runs consignment events. About a decade ago, it experienced a crazy jolt: It sold more franchise units than it ever had... and that fast growth nearly bankrupted the company. Why? Because here’s the difficult truth about growing a business: Not all growth is equal. Sometimes, growth in one part of your business can harm another part of your business. So to fix the problem, Just Between Friends had to hit pause and consider some very important questions: What’s the right way to grow? And what does it really take to get there? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 23, 2018 • 22min
Why Freshbooks Launched A Competitor To Itself
Mike McDerment saw the future, and it wasn’t bright. His accounting and invoicing company, Freshbooks, was doing well with customers -- but behind the scenes, its software code was a mess and it wasn’t able to innovate as quickly as it needed to. But fixing this problem was tricky. If he ordered his team to hit pause and fix the code, years could go by and Freshbooks would lose ground to its competitors. And if his team did manage to create a better Freshbooks in the process, customers might be annoyed by the sudden change. So his solution was radical: He launched a competitor to his own company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 16, 2018 • 15min
She Raised Millions From Investors... Then Almost Lost It All
Raquel Tavares, founder and CEO of a ghee company called Fourth & Heart, had just finished raising a round of funding -- and then her team looked at the company's numbers and realized they were almost out of money. How did this happen? The answer is simple: The company wasn't properly tracking its inventory and cost of raw materials, and now it was in a terrible bind. What does an entrepreneur do in a situation like this? Raquel is here with an incredible answer: Not only can you survive a problem like this, but you can even thrive because of it. But you’ve got to be nimble, humble, willing to make a lot of changes, and able to stomach a lot of hard conversations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 9, 2018 • 22min
How MailChimp's CEO Became the Leader His Company Needed
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Jul 2, 2018 • 18min
How to Survive When the Money Runs Out
It's perhaps the most terrifying situation an entrepreneur can face: Suddenly, the bank account is nearly empty. You can't pay your staff. You can barely keep the lights on. What now? This is what Saima Khan faced with her high-end cooking company Hampstead Kitchen. She charges a small fortune to cook intimate dinners for industry titans, celebrities, and even world leaders—but then a change in the tax law nearly wiped her out, and forced her to reconsider exactly what kind of business she was running. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 25, 2018 • 37min
What Every Entrepreneur Can Learn From The Bicycle
Entrepreneurs must embrace change, or risk becoming outdated. In this episode, we offer a cautionary tale from history: What happened when entrepreneurs of the late 1800s tried to resist a newfangled invention called the bicycle? This episode is a special rebroadcast of a podcast called Pessimists Archive, also hosted by Entrepreneur magazine editor in chief Jason Feifer. For more like it, search Pessimists Archive on any podcast platform or visit www.pessimists.co. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 18, 2018 • 21min
Nobody Believed In His Vision. But He Knew Better.
Everyone who’s experienced setbacks, rejection, and frustration will ask themselves the same inevitable question: “What if the naysayers are right?” Mike Rothman did that. As he built his company Fatherly -- a media site for dads, which is a market everyone told him was nonexistent -- he was told “no” over and over again. But instead of quitting, he made strategic decisions that enabled him to discover the truth: His idea really was a good one. And soon, the people saying no started to say yes. Sponsor: Hover - visit hover.com/problemsolver for 10% off your first purchase. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 11, 2018 • 18min
Califia Farms Had To Start Saying, "We're Out Of Product"
Califia Farms makes a popular line of plant-based milks, yogurts, and coffees—but they became too popular, too quick. In 2017, demand began significantly outstripping supply, and so the company had to do something it hated to do, but that was critical for its long-term health: It had to start telling retailers "no," while it fixed its entire production system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
