Cult of Startup Podcast Luke Bayard: Entrepreneur, Business Strategist and Techie

Today's guests are the amazing Steve O’Dell and Robbie Page, the founders of Tenzo Tea. These two guys wanted to make a massive impact on the world through a product that really makes a difference in people’s lives.
In this interview we cover a wide range of topics from:
What lead them to choose matcha over other energizing products? What are most important steps to get an E-commerce company off the ground. Why the lessons learned from playing professional sports directly translates to success in business. If you'd like to catch the NEW LinkedIn Edition of the show, head over to my profile here: Luke Bayard.
Follow Tenzo on Social:
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Mark Kithcart is the Vice President of Marketing, Sales, Client Management and Contracts at AVRS a software service for the automotive industry. Post graduation from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Mark worked as a mechanical engineer, but he trained himself in the late hours of the night to be a professional marketer.
In this interview we discussed topics like:
Why customer service is the lifeblood of any business? How to find a mentor? Why marketing comes down to human behavior? Why is it important to marry the right person when you are an entrepreneur?  
Contact Mark:
Email: MarkKithcart@gmail.com
LinkedIn: Mark Kithcart
Articles Mentioned: The Complete Guide to Understanding Equity Compensation at Tech Companies

In 2005, Sandy Grigsby founded Brio Five, a creative studio specializing in branding, photography, web, and graphic design. She is most well known for her work as an Empowerment & Brand Photographer with over 15 years of industry experience working with high power CEOs to celebrities.
Sandy's talent lies in her ability to evoke and capture images that demonstrate a woman’s true essence and power.
Her in-depth knowledge of web design, coupled with her vast experience as a model, actress, and spokesmodel allow her to fully understand the branding needs of her clients.
Website: www.BrioFive.com
Instagram: @BrioFive or @SandyInFocus
LinkedIn: Sandy Grigsby

Erik Huberman is the Founder & CEO of Hawke Media, a full-service outsourced CMO based in Santa Monica, CA that launched in 2014 and has been valued at $60 million. In just 3 years, Hawke Media has grown from 7 to over 120 employees and has serviced 400+ brands.
 
Prior to Hawke Media, Erik founded, grew and sold Swag of the Month and grew Ellie.com’s sales to $1 million in four months. Erik is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including Forbes “30Under30”, Inc Magazine’s “Top 25 Marketing Influencers”, Influencive's "Top Influencive Influencers of 2017". Erik is a regular contributor to major media publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Business Insider, and is proud to have and recently joined XPRIZE as their key marketing advisor.
 
Some Questions I Ask Erik:
What is Hawke Media? 1:50 What about the traditional marketing agency model is broken? 2:26 How is Hawke Media's business model different from the competition? 4:50 Where did the concept of an “outsourced CMO” come from? 5:38 How did you start slinging Beanie Babies? 6:56 Why did you focus on learning opportunities over making money in college? 13:09 Why the hell did you take the LSAT? 15:18 From your early entrepreneurship days, what are some of the greatest lessons you’ve learned from that time? 18:10 What was Swag of the Month? 24:33 What are some of the biggest lessons you took away from founding a ecommerce company? 25:40 What advice do you have for young ecommerce companies? When does unit economics come into play? 26:30 Take me through on how you sell 80k worth of product in 2 weeks? And how you did 2 million in the first 6 months? 30:30 The fitness clothing brand completely changed their game plan all of the sudden, why do you believe that was a huge mistake? 33:15 Why did you decide to start an agency over going to get a job? 35:51 When you first started Hawke Media were you outsourcing or hiring people right here and there to cover the needs of clients? 39:23 Walk me through the hiring process you used to grow Hawke Media? 40:19 How do you qualify clients and how do you keep them happy? 41:57 What would recommend to a startup looking hire agency? 44:22 Why do have a huge neon sign in your office that says “Get shit done, learn quickly, be cool” and what does it stand for with Hawke Media? 48:40 Connect with Erik:
Twitter: @ErikHuberman
Instagram: @ErikHuberman

Nicole Behnam and Mariella Rudi are founders of the media company Beyond The Interview, where they curate a collection of interviews, essays, and social news. As two women who left full-time careers as successful journalists to pursue entrepreneurship, their story is one of taking creative control of their work and embracing a new age of personal, digital journalism.
In this show, Nicole and Mariella talk about their adventure in leaving their careers to pursue entrepreneurship, the importance of having a co-founder, writing authentically but still following a successful formula, and how to monetize a growing audience on any platform. They also discuss in general the media’s trend towards personal, vulnerable, and emotional news, and how young entrepreneurs can tap into these subjects to create a viral hits.       
Some Questions I Ask Nicole and Mariella:      
What is Beyond the Interview? [1:34] What’s the dynamic with your friends who became influencers? [4:18] Why start this when you have full-time careers already? [10:10] Did you feel like your managers were telling you to write meaningless stories? [11:45] Is this what your parents wanted you to do? [21:26] What are the safe versus frowned-upon means of monetization? [27:19] Were you both straight-A students or more focused on entrepreneurship? [28:12] What are some subject matters that aren’t talked about enough today? [32:20] Are there any other noteworthy stories that might be surfacing soon? [38:11] How do you balance authenticity and following a popular writing formula? [40:00] Are college instructed social media courses helpful? [42:15] What’s been your most successful article and why was it successful? [48:20] What do you guys feel like is your next big milestone? [56:10] Has anyone ever turned down an interview? [59:29] Any other stand-out experiences when trying to reach out to people? [1:06.30] What advice do you have for entrepreneurs looking to get press coverage? [1:10:23] Should people be paying for PR? [1:15:10] What are some books you would recommend? [1:17:30] What advice do you have to future entrepreneurs? [1:24:50]  
Some Things You’ll Learn in This Episode:
BeyondTheInterview.com is a collection of interviews, essays, and social news. A deep dive into the thought process behind leaving a full-time job to pursue your own work. Why having a co-founder can create a strong sense of interdependence which is healthy for a startup. A lot of entrepreneurial relationships between founders start out as friendships, but it can also happen in the reverse direction.   The struggle of female founders to fight societal pressure to get married and ignore their career. Understanding the difference between a hobby and something you can get paid for. How to monetize a nascent service with a growing audience.   The key to creating shareable, viral writing is tapping into a subject’s vulnerability and emotion. When generating content, learning how to take advantage of people’s natural inclination to talk about themselves and promote their work. How the first 10 words of an Instagram DM are the most important in determining if someone will read it and respond.  
Get in Touch with Nicole and Mariella:
Website www.beyondtheinterview.com Instagram @beyondtheinterview Twitter @InterviewBeyond Mariella Social: Twitter @MariellaRudi Instagram @mariworldpeace Nicole Social: Twitter @NicoleBehnam Instagram: @nicccb

Sean Allen is the CEO and Co-Founder of WizeFi, a personal finance platform that helps you make the most of your money and helps you make more money so you can live your ideal lifestyle. With 20+ years experience in the financial advising industry, Sean is bringing a tool once reserved for professional financial planners to the masses.
 
In this show, Sean explains how important behavior change is to achieving your desired financial goals, and how WizeFi illustrates how each decision you make can impact your current and future net worth. Through his platform, he believes that anyone, no matter their income, can learn to spend their money in a way that makes them more money, which in turn lead them to their best financial future. Sean also speaks to his journey back into startups after decades in the professional industry and gives advice to new entrepreneurs, young and old, on how to structure a business to eventually become passive income.
        
Some Questions I Ask Sean:      
What is WizeFi? [1:42] What does WizeFi do? [2:00] What carries more weight on the platform, the affiliate program or the investment side of it? [2.44] Do you provide training to your users on how to onboard their friends? [3:41] What’s the benefit of going with WizeFi over a Wealthfront-type competitor? [4:50] Why do you think it is that doctors/lawyers/dentists bring in half a million a year but end up having so much debt? [10:53] Where does the quote “Wealth begins in the mind” originate from? [13:23] Why is it that people behave as if they’re wealthy when they’re not? [15:49] It seems that people are always chasing but never reaching their financial goals - why do you think that is? [18:05] Productive and nonproductive assets - why is it important to understand the difference? [21:41] What would be a very tangible example of a productive asset? [23.37] Does the current market climate impact what is a productive or nonproductive asset? [25:38] Is affiliate marketing a good example of a productive asset? [28:31] What’s a nonproductive asset? [34:01] Is your goal in your own businesses to replace yourself and let it run on their own? [36:42] What advice would you have to founders who are trying to replace themselves? [38:41] Why do founders try to do everything? [40:38] When have you learned from your business failures? [47:37] Why circle back around to a startup after 20+ years in the industry? [51.48] Why is dedicating time to planning so pivotal? [59:14] What books would you recommend for financial help? [1:00:18] What are 3 primary pieces of financial advice you would give to someone? [1.03.49]


Some Things You’ll Learn in This Episode:
Invest your money in productive assets - things that bring you additional income. Otherwise you’re just transferring your wealth to someone else. A budget by itself is useless if not accompanied by behavior change. The first step to achieving your financial goals is making sure they are realistic. As an entrepreneur, your goal should be to surround yourself with talented operations people. It opens the door for you to remove yourself later. The hardest moment in starting a new business is the idea phase - step one, get it onto paper and figure out what your role should be. Whatever you can’t do, you should look for in a partner. Great companies are 1% good idea and 99% good execution. Most great entrepreneurs will say that they wouldn’t be where they are without learning from many failures along the way. We’re a product of our surroundings - influences from the media and those around us can heavily impact how we behave and spend. Pivoting quickly is essential to success - otherwise you risk spending too much time running down the wrong path. The best entrepreneurs take their business one quarter at a time - execute for 12 weeks and spend one week in reflection and planning.  
Get in Touch with Sean:
www.wizefi.com
sean@wizefi.com