In 2011, Hiroki Takeuchi launched his first business GoCardless with his co-founders. Just under one decade later, they are processing over $15b in payments every year!

Takeuchi’s first business began as a service to help streamline the messy process of collecting payments informally. Over the next several years, funding, scaling, and pivoting led him to create a simple service that helped collect recurring and one-off payments from customers. 

Takeuchi’s approach to business is inspiring. Not only was he a first-time entrepreneur scaling a global business without experience, but he also knows the pains of imposter syndrome and anxiety over hiring overqualified experts. This interview with Nathan Chan serves to remind us all that greatness isn’t just past experience, it’s the willingness to learn that makes someone a great entrepreneur.


Key Takeaways

• How Takeuchi launched GoCardless in 2011 as his first business, and how he developed the idea
• Evolving the initial business idea from something that sought to solve the problem of collecting payments informally, to a global fintech empire
• The importance of having a complimentary co-founder, and how Takeuchi first began planning with his co-founders
• Why Takeuchi decided to leverage existing services in order to streamline launch
• Demo day, and overcoming getting 64 “no’s” before they got a “yes”
• The importance of focus on a singular product, especially in a global powerhouse like finances and payment
• How Takeuchi approached scaling, planning, and proactive growth in a high-demand industry
• The challenges faced by an international business and scaling
• How Takeuchi tackles imposter syndrome, and how he continues to focus on learnings
• The importance he places on his team and the people Takeuchi surrounds himself with
• What you need to ignore if you want to hire the best of the best for your business
• Why you should never underestimate the length of the journey ahead of you, and why you need to be ready for the challenge of being an entrepreneur

Building partnerships and mailing lists as an entrepreneur can be one of the trickiest and most elusive parts of the game. Targetting the right people, understanding brand identity - it’s all a delicate ecosystem to navigate. 

The good news is, when it comes to mailing lists and partnerships, we have all the answers you need from the mastermind and guru himself: Colin Darretta. 

Co-founder of a number of successful companies including WellPath, a health and wellness plan) and DojoMojo, a software company that helps you build partnerships, Darretta has all the answers. 

Not only has Darretta got decades of experience under his belt, but he also has the distinct honor of managing to build a 1million person email list in 1 year, and is the master of monetizing mailing lists.

For Sarah Leary, entrepreneurship has always been in her blood. Growing up in a household of small-business owners including her grandmother who was also an entrepreneur, she knew she would eventually be one, too. She remembers that even when she was working for Microsoft as part of the founding team for Microsoft Office, she knew that being a business owner was her future.

From her development, launch, and successful scaling of Nextdoor into the world’s largest private social network for neighborhoods, Leary has experience in every aspect of entrepreneurialism. Her advice for budding entrepreneurs comes from years of experience in both scaling a business, building a community, and growing brands. 

In this interview with Nathan Chan, Leary reveals the absolute essentials every new entrepreneur needs to tick off when they want to start something new. As a venture partner at Unusual Ventures, Leary has advice straight from the frontline of what she wants to see in a pitch. 

Key Takeaways

• How Leary grew up in a household of business owners and entrepreneurs and why that means she always knew she would be one too
• Finding herself in the early start-up culture of Silicon Valley in the 90s
• Her first business and how she faced failure, the decision to pivot, and a whole new frontier
• The beginning of Nextdoor, and it’s growth internationally over the past decade
• Joining Unusual Ventures, and why she wants to dedicate her time to helping others build companies from the ground up
• Why founders need to be comfortable validating their ideas and assumptions
• The two essential questions entrepreneurs need to ask themselves before starting
• How Leary developed Nextdoor through a combination of brainstorming, customer research, and why you need to consider customer painkillers
• Why every entrepreneur needs to learn to do extraordinary work for a narrow band of people, and then expand
• How Leary fuelled the Nextdoor community, and why networks need leaders
• Why Leary believes authenticity is the most important part of community strategy, and why you need to start with it
• Why Leary stepped down from Nextdoor, and how the team of Unusual Ventures is rolling up their sleeves to help new entrepreneurs 
• Leary’s reveals the secret to pitching ideas correctly, and what Unusual Ventures looks for in a new business idea