Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders

Revealing conversations with the leading creators of our time. From proven entrepreneurs building the companies of the future, to non-profit founders creating change and the artists shaping our culture - we go beyond the surface to find the nuance in what it takes to turn your ideas, into action.

Zaid Admani // 100mil+ Views, Going Viral On TikTok, Creative Spirit vs. Slave To Algo 09/21/2023

Suneel Gupta // Finding Purpose, Dealing With Burnout, 85% Rule & The Music Mindset 08/24/2023

Kallaway // 100mil+ Views, Growing on TikTok & Vertical Video Deep Dive 07/27/2023

Mario Gabriele, The Generalist // Emerging Tech, ChatGPT vs. Google, Contrarian Views & Raising A $15mil Fund 02/27/2023

Timo Armoo, Fanbytes // 8-Figure Agency Sale, Influencer Marketing & Expertise Gap Opportunities in 2023 02/14/2023

James DeJulio, Tongal // Future of Hollywood & Advertising, Impact of AI on Creative Work & Who Wins The Streaming Wars? 01/30/2023

Ben Tossell, Ben's Bites // AI Hype Cycle, 2023 Predictions & OpenAI vs Google vs Microsoft 01/16/2023

Danny Postma: OpenAI, GPT-3, AI Business Ideas & His 7-Figure Sale 12/05/2022

Tom Osman, Shiny // AI Co-Pilots, Web3 & Online Communities 11/21/2022

Mike Evans, Grubhub // Building A $2bil Company, Going Public & Leaving It All Behind 11/07/2022

Michael Brandt: Ketones, Stem Cell Preservation, 7-Day Fasts & Micro-Dosing 10/17/2022

Annie Duke: When To Quit, Monkeys vs Pedestals & The Dark Side of Goals 10/10/2022

Elijah: History of UK Grime, Pirate Radio & The Future of Music 09/26/2022

Trung Phan: Backstory, Writing in Public, Twitter Growth & Power of Memes 09/12/2022

Adrian Aoun, Forward + Sidewalk Labs // Smart Cities + The Future of Healthcare 08/15/2022

Kathryn Minshew, The Muse // Future of Work, Attracting Talent + How Job Sites Make Money 07/12/2022

Tiago Forte // Building a Second Brain in Practice + Sustained Behavior Change 06/23/2022

Sam Corcos, Levels // Metabolic Health, CGM Market & Growing A Health Tech Company 05/27/2022

Colin Sapire, Beast Health + Nutribullet // Scaling To $500mil & Launching A Physical Product Business 04/28/2022

Ramon van Meer, Alpha Paw // Bootstrapping To $35mil+ Revenue, Buying vs Building + DTC Growth 12/16/2021

Eric Jorgenson // Philosophy of Wealth + Happiness // The Almanack of Naval Ravikant 11/15/2021

Future Of Advertising: Google + YouTube Breakdown 08/10/2021

Mary Grove // Google For Startups + Bread and Butter Ventures 06/24/2021

Ryan Berckmans // Ethereum Deep Dive, Earning Yield From Staking, Exploring DeFi + Alternatives 06/10/2021

Ryan Berckmans // Ethereum Deep Dive, Earning Yield From Staking, Exploring DeFi + Alternatives Ryan Berckmans is an ex-Amazon + fintech startup engineer. He's been involved with the Ethereum community for many years + invests in the crypto space. He recently published a bullish thesis for investing in ETH at: ethereumcashflow.com Watch on YouTube: Let us know what you think on Twitter: In this conversation you'll learn about: blockchains, bitcoin + ethereum difference between ethereum + ether (ETH) ETH 2.0 + the transition from proof of work to proof of stake how to earn 6-20% yield from ETH "staking" applications of DeFi, peer-to-peer lending, smart contracts + NFTs alternatives like Solana + what could still go wrong side chains (Polygon) + layer 2 rollups (Arbetrum) Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Snippet 0:01:18 - Intro To Ryan + What We’ll Cover 0:05:57 - Explaining Blockchain, Bitcoin + Ethereum 0:08:25 - Decentralization 0:13:57 - Difference Between Bitcoin Blockchain, Currency + Example Transaction 0:19:55 - Game Of Monopoly Example 0:21:50 - Ethereum Is Like The App Store + Uniswap Example 0:26:52 - What’s Being Built On Ethereum? ENS domains, Defi + NFTs 0:30:02 - Smart Contracts 0:31:24 - Decentralized Lending Through Code vs Banks 0:32:37 - “An App That Can’t Lie” 0:34:39 - Individuals Earning Yield Like The Banks 0:36:17 - Eco Is Like A Decentralized Venmo 0:37:26 - Ethereum Cash Flow Thesis 0:39:04 - Transition From Confidence To Cashflow Based Investment 0:42:06 - Replacing Basic Lawyer Tasks With Smart Contracts? 0:43:15 - Complimentary To Bitcoin 0:45:01 - ETH 2.0 0:47:03 - Consuming Less Energy + Impact On Environment 0:48:00 - Proof Of Work vs Proof Of Stake 0:51:10 - Solving For Scarcity 0:52:41 - EIP 1559 - Destroying ETH Tokens + How Fees Work 0:58:01 - How To Earn Yield By Staking ETH 0:58:50 - 3 Rewards As A Validator 1:03:34 - Staking Through Lido Without 32 ETH Minimum 1:05:11 - What % Yield Can You Expect From ETH? Why Will It Change? 1:09:56 - Currently 8 Day Wait To Be A Validator 1:12:29 - Why Yield Will Go Up + Down 1:14:16 - Summary Of ETH Bull Case 1:15:09 - What Could Go Wrong? Bear Case For ETH 1:17:25 - Why Can’t We Do This All On Bitcoin Instead? 1:22:29 - Network Effects + Head Start 1:23:15 - Promise Of Solana As An Alternative? 1:29:16 - Other Alternatives: DOT, Cardano, Binance Smart Chain 1:30:24 - Polygon/Matic + Side Chains 1:32:57 - Scaling Solutions + Rollups 1:34:48 - How Ryan Is Investing 1:39:41 - Do Your Own Research + Understand Risks And Downside 1:41:40 - Advanced Levels Of Yield Farming Thank you to our sponsors: AppSumo - the marketplace entrepreneurs trust to buy and sell the products that grow small businesses into name brands: Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio: /episode/index/show/creatorlabfm/id/19434020

Crypto Crash Recap, Decentralized Social Networks + A Special Guest // Not Investment Advice 05/21/2021

Lenny Rachitsky, Lenny's Newsletter + Ex AirBnb // Growth Engines, Early Traction + Creator Economy 05/06/2021

Lenny Rachitsky, Lenny's Newsletter + Ex AirBnb // Growth Engines, Early Traction + Creator Economy Lenny writes the #1 business newsletter on Substack (Lenny's Newsletter) and previously sold his company, Localmind, to Airbnb. He then spent 7yrs at Airbnb leading product + growth teams and now angel invests + works as a full-time creator. Watch + subscribe on YouTube: Get every episode + giveaways sent to your inbox: https://www.creatorlab.fm/subscribe/ Let us know what you think on Twitter: In this conversation you'll learn about: – the racecar growth framework: growth engines, turbo boosts, lubricants + fuel – core growth engines: performance marketing, virality, content + sales – examples from Airbnb, Zapier, Superhuman, Wish, Casper + others – benchmarks for user retention + types of virality – 3 steps to getting early users – growing a newsletter + the differences in approach for creators vs companies Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Snippet + What We Cover 0:01:28 - Sponsor Break 0:02:17 - Lenny Intro + Background 0:07:38 - Scale of Newsletter 0:09:17 - Questions To Ask Yourself When Figuring Out Your Next Step 0:12:18 - Energy + The Struggle Of The Content Treadmill 0:13:31 - Early Days Of Airbnb 0:15:09 - Creating Something Remarkable 0:17:22 - Racecar Growth Framework - Who Is This For? 0:18:20 - Early vs Late Stage Growth 0:19:48 - Engine, Turbo Boosts, Lubricants + Fuel 0:20:05 - Growth Engines - virality, performance marketing, content, sales + bonus examples 0:24:11 - “1st time founders focus on product, 2nd time founders focus on distribution” 0:28:09 - Becoming The Best In The World At 1 or 2 0:28:38 - Airbnb vs Booking 0:29:16 - Performance Marketing 0:30:51 - Wish + Casper - Built On Performance Marketing 0:31:42 - Feasibility When Bootstrapping 0:32:31 - If You Should Be Performance Marketing Driven: 1) Generating Revenue From Users 2) Not Something Users Are Looking For 0:34:01 - Growth vs Brand Marketing 0:35:37 - When To Expand To The Next Engine + S Curve 0:36:56 - Examples Of Virality - Word-of-mouth, referrals, inviting friends, etc 0:40:22 - Bottoms Up vs Top Down Virality 0:41:31 - Knowing When You’re Going Viral - K Factor vs % of people who came in thru referral 0:42:33 - % Benchmark To Aim For 0:43:24 - Companies Who Are Suited To Viral Growth 0:43:48 - Clubhouse + FOMO 0:45:17 - User Generated Content Loop 0:47:29 - Data Driven SEO - Zapier + Thumbtack 0:49:11 - Editorial SEO + Figuring Out Content Strategy 0:50:31 - Superhuman Example 0:51:13 - Desired Outcomes, Primary + Secondary KPIs 0:52:43 - Sales Channel 0:55:19 - Turbo Boosts + Lubricants 0:56:52 - Power Of Events 0:58:37 - Retention + Conversion 1:00:41 - Activation: Using Product For Its Core Purpose 1:02:03 - Superhuman , Creators + The Customers Who Care 1:05:38 - User Retention Benchmarks 1:07:44 - Common Pitfalls 1:09:36 - Getting First 1000 newsletter subscribers 1:11:20 - 3 steps to getting early users 1:14:45 - Creators vs Companies - Finding Core Users 1:19:27 - Would You Still Be Doing This With 1000 Subs? 1:20:55 - 5 “Jobs To Be Done” Of Content 1:21:49 - Newsletter Discoverability 1:23:42 - What Gives You Energy 1:25:23 - Airbnb Job vs Creator Life 1:26:22 - Tim Urban on Content That Spreads 1:27:18 - Creators: Value vs Support 1:29:22 - Decision To Stay On Substack 1:31:31 - Knowing What To Write About 1:35:57 - Longer-Term Plan Thank you to our sponsors: AppSumo - the marketplace entrepreneurs trust to buy and sell the products that grow small businesses into name brands: Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio: /episode/index/show/creatorlabfm/id/19012082

Anti-Life Portfolio, European Super League + Meme School + // Not Investment Advice 04/29/2021

Ben Tossell, Makerpad // No Code + Paid Learning Communities 04/23/2021

Ben Tossell, Makerpad // No Code + Paid Learning Communities Ben Tossell is the founder of Makerpad, the leading online community for No Code. His company was recently acquired by Zapier, a $5bil+ tech company. Ben is also an educator + investor in the no code space. In this conversation you'll learn about: what it was like to get acquired by Zapier developing the maker muscle by starting + launching projects what it takes to build a paid learning community + knowing when to monetize 80/20 of learning no code evolution of learning + membership models Watch + subscribe on YouTube: Get every episode + giveaways sent to your inbox: Let us know what you think on Twitter: Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Snippet + What We Cover 0:01:12 - Sponsor Break 0:02:00 - Ben Intro + Time In China 0:06:21 - Getting Acquired By Zapier 0:13:06 - Before Makerpad - 50+ Projects 0:17:11 - Knowing When To Move On From Projects 0:21:26 - Role Of Fear 0:25:02 - Motivation, Parents + Buying A Yacht 0:29:20 - Zapier - Expectation vs Reality 0:33:02 - Working With Someone Who Built A $5bil Company (Wade) 0:36:00 - No Code + Paid Learning Communities 0:39:57 - Size Of Makerpad + 10k Community Success Stories 0:46:12 - Reforge + Membership Models 0:48:21 - Evolution Of Learning 0:50:44 - Shishir (Coda) + Unbundling 0:51:58 - Masterclass, Edutainment + Netflix 0:54:03 - Paid Products - Make You Money Or Save You Time 1:02:36 - Knowing When To Charge 1:04:16 - Other Projects Ben Considered 1:07:16 - Types of entrepreneurs 1:16:09 - 80/20 of growing Makerpad 1:19:06 - Paid Acquisition 1:19:44 - Hiring Good People 1:22:17 - Working In vs On The Business 1:25:09 - Starting In 2021 - What Would You Do Differently 1:26:05 - “Hope No Code Isn’t A Thing In 5yrs” 1:30:15 - 80/20 of learning no code 1:33:31 - What’s Missing In No Code Thank you to our sponsors: Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio: Micro Acquire - the largest startup acquisition marketplace, join 50k+ others and buy or sell your startup: /episode/index/show/creatorlabfm/id/18830921

Trung Phan, Jack Butcher + Bilal Zaidi // Not Investment Advice 04/16/2021

Kevin Chou, Rally + Kabam // Evolution Of Gaming, Crypto + The Creator Economy 04/08/2021

Kevin Chou, Rally + Kabam // Evolution Of Gaming, Crypto + The Creator Economy Kevin is the co-founder + CEO of Rally, a platform that allows creators to launch their own digital currency + build independent economies with their communities. He's also Chairman of Gen.G, an esports enterprise bridging Asia and North America. Previously, Kevin co-founded Kabam, a top mobile gaming company that grew to $400M/yr in revenue, 500+ million players and sold for nearly $1 billion. Watch + subscribe on YouTube: Get every episode + giveaways sent to your inbox: Let us know what you think on Twitter: In this conversation you'll learn about: emerging waves like AI, crypto, climate change + biotech evolution of the gaming industry + its business models rise of social gaming, esports, live streaming + where we're today gartner's hype cycle + how this applies to crypto how Rally is empowering creators to develop their own economies why there's a need for decentralized alternatives Timestamps: 0:00:00 – Preview Of Convo 0:02:19 – Sponsor Break 0:03:08 – Intro + Kevin’s Interest In Gaming 0:07:00 – 50 Games + 500mil Users 0:08:23 – Moment You Understand Ownership 0:14:59 – Hype Cycles + “Finding Something New” 0:20:57 – Other Waves: AI, Climate Change, Biotech 0:23:11 – What Is Rally? 0:24:02 – How Creator’s Use Rally 0:31:02 – What Are The Alternatives? 0:33:22 – NFT vs creator coin + creating an economy 0:37:49 – Why is it beneficial for a game to have its own currency? 0:46:04 – Kabam – Building A Billion Dollar Gaming Company 0:48:39 – Evolution Of Gaming Industry – 2.5bil People Playing Games 0:52:06 – Impact Of Social + Mobile On Gaming 0:53:38 – Gaming Business Models – Virtual Goods, Micro Transactions, Ads 0:56:04 – Fortnight 0:57:24 – Psychology Of Buying Virtual Goods 1:00:31 – Streaming – Watching People Play Games 1:04:54 – Rise of esports 1:09:33 – esports vs traditional sports 1:12:25 – NFTs + Vectors Of Opportunity 1:13:16 – Crypto Transcends Nations 1:16:56 – Digital Gold + Oil 1:18:44 – Problems with government money printing, dollars are worthless 1:23:31 – Price Volatility + Stable Coins 1:25:59 – Putting Bitcoin On Your Balance Sheet 1:29:43 – What does a decentralized alternative look like 1:33:37 – Decentralized social networks? 1:34:43 – “there is no corporation who runs email” 1:37:07 – Investing 1:39:34 – How to participate in crypto Thank you to our sponsors: Space - the easiest way to engage your team over audio: Micro Acquire - the largest startup acquisition marketplace, join 50k+ others and buy or sell your startup: /episode/index/show/creatorlabfm/id/18653294

Creator Lab - interviews with entrepreneurs and startup founders

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