The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

To be a great entrepreneur, you need to have a great vision. Case in point:

Back in the 80s, we were just entering the internet age. At the time, it didn't really exist beyond a few government think tanks and laboratories, and we were only just beginning to understand what was possible. It was during that time that massive companies like IBM, Sears, Microsoft and Citigroup began investing millions of dollars into figuring out this internet business.

Despite all of the competition, in 1985, Steve Case and the team behind a fledgling startup named AOL rolled up their sleeves and helped shaped the internet into what we know it as today.

"When we started AOL in the United States, only 3% of people were online and those 3% were online only one hour a week. So it really was early days in terms of, it was still a niche hobbyist kind of market. I believed that someday it'd be a mass market, someday it'd be a mainstream market, someday it'd change how people got information, communicate, bought products and so forth."

It was that vision that they were building something for tomorrow that turned AOL from a small startup into the giant we know it as today.

In this interview you will learn:

  • Why focusing on community is the best move a startup can make
  • How to build for the future instead of building for what's happening today
  • What it means to develop curiosity and why you need it to be a successful entrepreneur
  • Exclusive insight into the early days of AOL and how they built a global brand
  • How Steve judges a startup's disruptive potential when looking to invest
  • & much more!
Direct download: FP093_Steve_Case.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:23am AEDT

One of the greatest misconceptions you'll encounter in the startup world is the one about age. You'll hear would-be entrepreneurs constantly telling themselves that they're too young, or that they're too old, or that they're just waiting for that right moment to finally become an entrepreneur.

That's ridiculous.

There is no perfect moment waiting around the corner for you, because the perfect moment only comes to those who actually go out there and create it.

Ben Chaib, founder of Sell and Succeed, is the perfect example of that. After working in the corporate world for 25 years, he decided that enough was enough. He had the skills and ability to generate millions in revenue, but he wasn't getting the return that we wanted. So he set out and created his own business, and today he's consulting hundreds of other aspiring entrepreneurs on how to market for success.

"We are great at doing things for others, but we are not great at doing it for ourselves. But we deserve it more than others," he says.

While relatively new to entrepreneurship, Ben is no slouch when it comes to knowing how to make a business work.

In our interview with Ben, we get invaluable insight from one of the top business coaches in the world as he breaks down his sales process and shows us what it means to be a great marketer.

In this interview you will learn:

  • Ben's 8-step process of marketing and making sales
  • The advantages of having a business coach and good mentors to help you start your own business
  • Tips on how to make a sales process that is authentically you
  • How to find clients and target audiences through Facebook marketing
  • Why you need to get your customers to connect and feel comfortable talking about their business with you
  • & much more!
Direct download: FP092_Ben_Chaib.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:52am AEDT

As the dominance of technology keeps on gaining steam, some non-techy, would-be entrepreneurs are made to feel discouraged. How can they compete with all the slick coders starting businesses in this virtual world?

That didn’t stop non-coder Brian Moran from making serious money online, and ultimately making it big in the competitive niche of Software as a Service (SaaS).

No programming geek, Moran was a marketing major, but primarily a baseball player, in college. He had hoped to continue his baseball career after graduating, but an injury forced him out of the ballpark and into the office.

His office job was stable, well-paid, low-stress … and intolerable.

“I was just bored out of my mind. I was getting paid well, great benefits, I had just gotten married,” says Moran. “But someone else was controlling every aspect of my life.”

Six years and a newborn later, Moran is now the founder of the successful SamCart checkout service, which counts Foundr as one of its many customers. In the time between, Moran was consistently hitting it out of the park with multiple online businesses.

Get ready, Moran’s story isn’t your average ball game.

In this interview you will learn:

  • How to build a SaaS company even if you don't have the technical skills
  • The 7 key elements of a checkout page that actually converts
  • Brian's marketing tactics that's led him to build multiple successful companies
  • What you need to make it as an SaaS startup
  • How to reduce churn and create loyal customers for life
  • & much more!
Direct download: FP091_Brian_Moran.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:47am AEDT

The closest thing Ankur Nagpal has ever had to a job was a summer internship at Amazon when he was 18. Ever since then, he's been his own boss at companies that he's built. Outside of that brief fling as an employee, Nagpal has wholly dedicated his life to being a serial entrepreneur.

In his early years as an entrepreneur, he entered the highly competitive startup scene in Silicon Valley as a very successful Facebook app developer. Only he didn't make individual apps. Instead what he was selling was the platform that everyone used to create their own apps. From there, he bowed out with a cool seven figures to his name when that company had run its course.

Just as the real winners of the gold rush weren't those who found gold but the entrepreneurs who sold the tools, Nagpal has made a living as the one people turn to when they're looking for development tools.

Fast-forward to today and he is now the founder and CEO of Teachable, a business that teaches and trains other entrepreneurs on how to create their own online courses with his easy-to-use platform and teaching methods. What once started as a fun side project has now turned into a multimillion-dollar business with more than a million students!

With years of experience in the startup capital of the world, Ankur lets us in on how he became the powerhouse entrepreneur he is today.

In this interview you will learn:

  • What to do to turn your side project into business succcess
  • The things you need to know about creating a successful online course
  • How to create a successful business based on empowering others
  • Tips to finding paying customers if you've just launched
  • Where to go to find the best investor for you and what that means
  • & much more!
Direct download: FP090_Ankur_Nagpal.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:37am AEDT

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