From Start-Up to Grown-Up
One of the top startup coaches in the world, Alisa Cohn, talks to founders, creators, advisors, investors and builders of all kinds about their insights and experiences in growing from Start-up to Grown-up.
Episodes
81 episodes
#80: David Heinemeier Hansson, Co-Owner of 37signals— Creating with first principles, acting with courage, and working in a world with no managers
David is the creator of Ruby on Rails, Co-Owner of 37signals, best-selling author, Le Mans class-winning racing driver, antitrust advocate, investor in Danish startups, frequent podcast guest, and family man.He writes regularly on
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1:20:28
#79, Shegun Otulana, Founder and CEO of Harmony Venture Labs—From Nigeria to unicorn founder; bootstrapping a profitable business; learning to embrace feedback
Shegun Otulana is a seasoned entrepreneur, advisor, mentor and investor. Drawing from his experience as a bootstrapped startup founder who found incredible success, his mission is to empower the next generation of builders by sharing his lesson...
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1:11:14
#78: Jake Schwartz, Co-Founder and former CEO of General Assembly—Navigating startup chaos, what a startup and the Beatles have in common, and the wisdom of looking back on the journey
Jake Schwartz is a serial entrepreneur, investor and advisor. Until 2020, Jake Schwartz served at CEO of General Assembly (GA), the global leader in education and career transformation, which he co-founded in 2011. He grew GA to over 1,000 empl...
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1:13:13
#77: Jake Kloberdanz, One Hope Winery Co-founder — Building “Girl Scout Cookies” for adults, building community, and scaling philanthropy
Jake Kloberdanz is the founder of ONEHOPE, a pioneering wine brand with a mission to create a positive social impact. Under his leadership, ONEHOPE has donated tens of millions of dollars to over 40,000 non-profits and grown from zero to produc...
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1:22:00
#76: Susan McPherson, Founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies — Investing in dormant ties, networking superpowers, and converting nerves into strength
Susan McPherson is a serial connector, angel investor, and corporate responsibility expert. As the founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a communications consultancy focused on brands and social impact, she brings over 30 years of experience...
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41:19
#75: Jeff Shiner, CEO of 1Password — Earning the right to lead, how to thrive while bootstrapping your company, and how to hire senior executives
Jeff Shiner is the CEO of 1Password, a leader in human centric security and privacy. Since joining in 2012, Jeff has grown the company from 20 people to a 900-employee global organization with a $6.8 billion valuation. Today, 1Password enables ...
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1:09:48
#74: Seth Godin, Author and Marketing Strategist — showing up for yourself, creating conditions for your best work, and how to deal with massive rejection (Repost)
Seth is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker. In addition to launching one of the most popular blogs in the world, he has written 20 best-selling books, including The Dip, Linchpin, Purple Cow, Tribes...
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48:57
#73: David Savage, Group Technology Evangelist at Nash Squared and host of TechTalks podcast — How to become an "intrapreneur," the importance of consistent behavior over vanity metrics, and how to learn to trust yourself
David is Nash Squared's Group Technology Evangelist. He crafts podcasts, hosts video debates, speaks, moderates conferences, and chairs keynote stages. He's a passionate advocate for technology, dissecting its challenges and opportunities. ...
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1:01:20
#72: Kim Scott, Author of Radical Respect and Radical Candor — Building your team’s muscles to address discomfort, cutting through workplace politics, and why you need a purple flag
Kim Scott is the author of Radical Respect and Radical Candor. Kim was a CEO coach at Dropbox, Qualtrics, Twitter, and other tech companies. She was a member of the faculty at Apple University and before that led AdSense, YouTube, and DoubleCli...
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1:22:47
#71: Matt Reustle, CEO of Colossus — Lessons from a first-time CEO, how to analyze a career pivot, and the art of a great question
Matt Reustle is currently the CEO of Colossus, a business that creates, curates, and distributes top-quality content for investors and entrepreneurs. He is the primary host of the Business Breakdowns podcast. Prior to Colossus, Matt worked in i...
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1:16:38
#70: Mike Michalowicz, Author and Entrepreneur — The right way to hire; practical exercises for team retention; and how to come back from rock bottom
Mike Michalowicz is the entrepreneur behind three multimillion-dollar companies and is the author of several business books, including Profit First, Clockwork, The Pumpkin Plan and his newest book, All In.Mike is a former small business col...
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1:11:04
#69, Rahul Vohra, Co-Founder and CEO of Superhuman — How to craft core values, tactics for implementing culture to help you achieve company goals, and the importance of moving quickly
Rahul Vohra is the Co-Founder and CEO of Superhuman. He is also a Technical Advisor at Boldstart Ventures, an investor and advisor at Partender, and an investor of sendwithus and Easy Post. He received his bachelor of arts in Computer Science a...
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51:41
#68, Gina Bianchini, Co-Founder and CEO of Mighty Networks — The secret to building communities, managing self-worth as a CEO, and why humor is a leadership superpower
Gina Bianchini is the CEO & founder of Mighty Networks, a digital business platform that powers what it calls people magic. People magic is advanced technology and AI that connects the most relevant and interesting people to each other in t...
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1:06:30
#67, Gary Vaynerchuk, Serial Entrepreneur and Chairman of VaynerX — The importance of kind candor, how to get over your insecurity, and why you need to embrace social media
Gary Vaynerchuk, also known as "GaryVee," is a serial entrepreneur, the Chairman of VaynerX, and 5x New York Times Best Selling Author. He is a leading global mind on ...
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29:36
#66, Mary-Catherine Lader, COO of Uniswap Labs — How you know you're ready to take on more risk, why you should create anti-values, and the importance of community
Mary-Catherine Lader is the Chief Operating Officer of Uniswap Labs. She previously was a Managing Director at BlackRock, and Chief Operating Officer of the firm’s Digital Wealth business and head of its climate tech business, Aladdin Sus...
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1:05:14
#65, Gregory Galant, Co-Founder and CEO of Muck Rack — Pros and cons of bootstrapping, building a scrappy culture, the importance of building a network
Gregory Galant is the co-founder and CEO of Muck Rack, a platform enabling PR teams to work together to find the right journalists for their stories, send customized pitches, build meaningful relationships with the media, monitor news and quant...
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1:20:23
#64, Kristi Herold, Founder and CEO of JAM — Pivoting during a crisis, leading through playfulness, and creating joy in the workplace
Kristi Herold is the CEO of JAM, a global business connecting people through play, and one of the largest recreational sports leagues in the world. Since 2020, JAM has produced 3,500+ corporate team-building events in over 30 countries. Kristi ...
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56:54
#63, Matt Abrahams, Author and Lecturer at Stanford University — Embracing vulnerability in leadership, the art of feedback, and how to personalize your pitch
If you've ever found yourself stumbling over words in a high-stakes presentation or wondering how to turn a dinner party into a deeper connection, this is the conversation you need to hear. Plus, for all the leaders out there, we have expert in...
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1:05:46
#62, Sal Di Stefano, Co-Founder of Mind Pump Media — How authenticity drives growth, how you know you have the right cofounders, why being right is not the goal, and how physical strength drives your leadership
Get pumped for this episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up!I sat down with Sal Di Stefano, the co-founder of Mind Pump Media. You’ll learn how he and his co-founders propelled a fitness podcast into a multifaceted business empire.I ...
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1:26:29
#61, Rob Ryan, Co-Founder of Ascend Communications — Embracing a bootstrap mentality, picking the right spouse, and handling the mental and physical toll of entrepreneurship
My guest for the latest episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up is Rob Ryan, Co-Founder of Ascend Communication. Ascend was acquired by Lucent Technologies in 1999 by Lucent Technologies.Rob is a fount of knowledge about entrepreneurship an...
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1:11:35
#60, David Meltzer, Co-Founder of Sports 1 Marketing, and Peter Goldstein, Entrepreneur and author of The Entrepreneur's IPO — The surprising way money impacts your life, the three forms of ignorant arrogance, and how to prepare to take your company publi
This new episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up features a dynamic tag team of David Meltzer, the Co-Founder of Sports 1 Marketing, and Peter Goldstein, entrepreneur and the author of “The Entrepreneur’s IPO”!You’ll hear about David’s comp...
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32:58
#59, Jim McKelvey, Co-Founder of Block (formerly Square)— Building a team of missionaries, what true innovation takes, and the importance of timing
How do you find your new idea?What does it take to attract a team of true believers?And what does glass-blowing have to do with entrepreneurship? Hint: the key is timing.All of these questions are answered in my newes...
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1:08:51
#58, Josh Reeves, CEO and Co-Founder of Gusto — Upholding the platinum rule, taking control of your attention, and a framework for hiring people who are in love with your problem
If you’re looking for inspiration to upgrade your leadership for 2024, you’ll want to listen to my conversation with Josh Reeves, CEO and Co-Founder of Gusto on the newest episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up.These are just three topics ...
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1:11:17
#57, Jon Beckstrand, CEO of MasterControl — Developing a leadership code, how to look forward to hard conversations, and ways to repurpose stress
Does your company have an employee bill of rights?Jon Beckstrand put one together for his team as CEO of MasterControl.That’s just one of the strategies that Jon has used at MasterControl to grow the company and successful...
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1:15:27
#56, Bob Muglia, Former CEO of Snowflake — Having a values-based vs. performance-based company, rooting out dysfunction, and getting fired by Steve Balmer twice
What is the real impact of one bad apple on your team?What’s it like to work directly with Bill Gates? What’s your playbook for coming in as CEO of a promising company - like Snowflake - and taking them from 0 revenue to $100M in 5 years...
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1:08:35