The Founder To Founder Podcast

Assumptions are the basis for most startups. After identifying opportunities, founders use assumptions to begin piecing together a narrative to communicate their vision. And it’s just expected that each assumption in a startup’s business model will get tested and iterated over time.The reality is, however, that there are assumptions that don’t get tested. Some of these are linchpin assumptions, ones that are critical to the business model that founders are selling to customers, investors and partners.The punchline is that founder’s risk building a ‘house of cards’ by relying on untested assumptions.And there are two reasons why founders press on with untested assumptions. One is legitimate, the other convenient.The legitimate reason is limited time and resources. Assumptions live on a semi-prioritised but nonetheless messy Trello board and you keep hearing yourself say ’I’ll get to them’. I’ve been there many times. As a side note, and while resource constraint is a legitimate reason, I recommend you putting

In episode 79 of Founder To Founder, Phil talks to serial entrepreneur and Fractal Ventures General Partner, Gerard Doyle.In Gerard’s words, ‘My mission is to help the founders, innovators, creators and dreamers find their customers, to see their product being deployed and fulfil their business potential.It is rare to find a startup that doesn’t have a unique business proposition. It is unfortunately common to watch startups fail to position their business in the correct light, and to the appropriate audience.I use my 20+ year of marketing experience combined with my experience as a founder of three Startups to help fellow founders discover and develop the optimal marketing solution for their business.You might call me a growth hacker or a part-time CMO, but whatever name you give it, I create marketing strategies for Startups’.In this episode Gerard and Phil talk about how to manage being ‘in between’ ventures, how investors should think about investing in founders and the three habits that founders need to

Wellness is a loaded term. It means too many things to too many people. And when it comes to scaling a business and teams, wellness isn’t on the critical path which is ironic given how important team performance is to a venture’s success.Some founders consider wellness a personal responsibility of each team member (that was me).Others solve for wellness by introducing yoga, healthy snacks and flexible work arrangements (to name a few) for their teams to access.These two approaches (and every option in between) are opt-in and neither one mandates co-founder participation.And herein lies the issue.Team members are cue sponges. They notice when co-founders or any person perceived to be a leader starts acting in ways to improve or degrade their wellbeing, regardless of whether the leader is acting consciously or subconsciously. It’s an unavoidable fact that they respond and modify their behaviours based on what their leaders say and do.For the record, I think wellness should get more airtime than it does today. I

In episode 77 of Founder To Founder, Phil talks to Educator Impact Founder & CEO Ken Wallace.Educator Impact is on a mission to support educators because we know better educators mean better student outcomes.Launched in 2012, Educator Impact is an innovative, evidence-based 360-degree feedback tool that provides teachers and leaders with individualised professional development plans to help improve teaching and leadership practice and enhance student outcomes.Ken and Phil talk about pivoting from a tradition career to startup, education technology and how to leverage seasonality and three habits to be a successful founder.3 KEY POINTSThe team at Educator Impact has been pivotal to its success. Their alignment to the mission of helping teachers have a greater impact on students and their learning is one of Educator Impact’s super powers.Educator Impact didn’t realise how important (and how much) seasonality played a role in the business model. As they understood how to manage the seasonality, the team was

Asking the right question at the right time is an art. As my good friend Melissa Rosenthal says, it takes practice and when you get it right, it pays off in spades.Over the years I have learned that the ‘right’ questions often have three dimensions;They are open (cannot be answered by a simple Yes or No);They require thought and are delivered with context; andThey contain an element of reflection (they require the person answering to explain their logic).I have also become reliant on asking these questions for two reasons, both of which have to do with self-awareness.The first relates to pursuing a problem.Like most people I have biases and like most entrepreneurs, I come with high levels of built-in conviction for the problems I want to solve.The problem is that bias multiplied by conviction creates a potent combination that narrows the aperture to how one considers the history and future possibilities for the business model they are building.First-time founders often suffer from this. The few that don’t hav

In Episode 75 of Founder To Founder Phil speaks with journalist and Co-Founder of SportsYear, Patrick Galloway.Patrick is a sports reporter with ABC News in Sydney. He joined the ABC in 2012 after five years working with ESPN in the United States. He was formerly a researcher for Bruce McAvaney at Channel Seven. Patrick co-founded SportsYear in 2004.RESOURCESConnect with Patrick on LinkedIn or TwitterVisit Patrick’s venture, SportsYearAudible - Get a FREE Audiobook & 30-Day Trial if you’re not currently a member!3 KEY POINTSThe longer you can be in market, the more likely you will understand who your true customer is and how to meet their need. Startup is a game of survival (9:55)Look beyond people who think your idea and business model is great. Determine if they would actually use your product (15:03)Know your numbers! Even if you’re not a ‘numbers person’. It’s your business. Understand it, (28:16)FOLLOW PhilHSCApple Podcasts: http://apple.co/2pc0GqJSpotify: http://spoti.fi/2AdJcPHGoogle Podcasts: http

Where do I start with my idea?I get this question a lot and those who ask usually possess infectious excitement about an idea, are new to product development and remain convinced that their addressable market of customers is massive.The irony is that 90% of people who ask where to start, don’t.Deep down they know why and it usually comes down to three reasons.Fear is the first reason (and there’s an antidote)The first reason is fear. People fear what they don’t know and more specifically, people fear what others will think of their ideas.I don’t like venturing into motivational territory because what’s usually said isn’t practical but in this case, I’ll offer two thoughts that always prove true.The greatest triumphs live just on the other side of one’s fears.And when you break it down further, fear only plays a significant role when the person believes that the only way forward is all-or-nothing. When it comes to building a company, it’s rarely ‘all in’. The reality is that it’s a series of small experiments

In episode 73 of Founder To Founder, Phil talks to Otlet and Shark Share Global Co-Founder Madeline Green.In Madeline's words, 'When I reach the end of my life I want to be able to look back and know I spent my time wisely, working towards understanding, managing and conserving the biological world around me. I don’t believe there is a need to save the world; instead I think we need to learn how to co-exist.I am a marine biologist and molecular ecologist, who studies a variety of shark and ray species.I am also an entrepreneur and the co-founder of biological sample sharing platforms; Shark Share Global and Otlet.'Madeline and Phil talk about balancing an accelerating while doing a day job (or in Madeline's case finishing a PhD!), how to manage well-intentioned startup advice, developing grit and three habits to be a successful founder.3 KEY POINTSUnderstand incentives and how they drive people to use your product but don't be surprised if when they start using it, they use it in a completely different way, t

Startup founders are advice magnets. Friends, family, investors, self-proclaimed experts and pundits, users and customers all like to share their two cents worth.Most founders I know do their best to balance this advice against their vision but it’s not easy.A thread on LinkedIn brought this issue to light and people from across the advice spectrum weighted in. Those on the sidelines argued that diversity of perspective is important. Founder’s said that the quality of advice from those without ‘garage experience’ is highly variable at best and that they rely on themselves to filter out the noise.I side with the latter argument as do many of my colleagues and mentees. Yet screening for advice amidst the noise remains a daily challenge. This is because founder’s don’t have all the answers all the time and insights can come from the strangest of sources. This paradox usually manifests through a fear of missing out (FOMO) or the ‘need to please’.FOMO is a fine balance of curiosity and paranoia but often favours t

In episode 71 of Founder To Founder, Phil talks to GiggedIn Founder and CEO Ed Onggo.In Ed's words, 'I try to live each day like it's my last, but learn like I’m going to live forever.I enjoy geeking out on all things tech, startups, personal development, music, neuroscience, and anything else related to becoming the most epic human one can be. Heroes include; Peter Diamandis, Tony Robbins, Naval Ravikant, Naveen Jain, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Warren Buffet, Charlie Munger, Tim Ferriss, Ray Kurzwell, Simon Sinek, Jim Kwik, Tom Bilyeu, Mark Sisson, Ray Dalio and lots more.The current business I am dedicated to making a huge success is GiggedIn. Our vision is to make shared experiences and going out a weekly habit. Why? Because life is short nothing tops the feeling of being in the moment at a gig or out having a laugh with mates at a show. These are the moments that are key to living a fulfilled and happy life.We make more of these experiences happen through our subscription platform that makes it easier a

I often hear that software developers are the most difficult hire for non-technical founders.The process and questions to determine a candidate’s fit is a mystery to most of these founders. And regardless of whether they’re looking for a Chief Technology Officer or a freelancer to help hack the first version of a product, they often feel completely out of their depth when speaking with developer candidates.As a result, they rely on what they think they know about recruiting talent. For the most part, this means relying on their own experience in hiring people which as it turns out is usually, at least for first-time founders, very limited. And let’s be honest, there are few people in the world who have a perfect hiring track record.If your venture relies on software, and just about all do, the need to get hiring decisions right is important. In fact, it’s crucial because (and speaking from experience) getting it wrong can be terminal.Read the full post here.-----------------------Follow Phil HSC:Apple Podcast

In Episode 69 of Founder To Founder, Phil talks to The Safety Compass Founder and CEO Adam Poole.The Safety Compass is a Work Health & Safety risk management tool designed to help workers assess, manage and avoid dangers in their workplace and help bring them home.The Safety Compass can also assist insurers with underwriting decisions by providing detailed information on site hazards, sourced directly from the workers and in real time.Adam and Phil talk about resilience, tenacity and the future of workplace safety.3 Key HighlightsGlobally, a work related fatality happens every 15 seconds, 2.5 M people go to work each day that don’t come home (07:12)Safety Compass’s vision is the create a world where everyone comes home from work (10:13)Adam got rejected by 150 investors before gaining investor traction (34:00)Follow Phil HSCApple Podcasts: http://apple.co/2pc0GqJSpotify: http://spoti.fi/2AdJcPHGoogle Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2lGHaPKOvercast: http://bit.ly/2HhJAMXInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/philhsc

Episode 68 of Founder To Founder is a recording of Phil's keynote at BlueChilli, Australia's leading early stage accelerator at which he is an advisor. This keynote is based on this post.-----------------Follow Phil HSC:Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/2pc0GqJSpotify: http://spoti.fi/2AdJcPHGoogle Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2lGHaPKOvercast: http://bit.ly/2HhJAMXInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/philhsc/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philhsc/If you'd like to know when new episodes are released or when Phil publishes his weekly blog post, sign up for the insider's email list here.

I hate losing customers.And it’s one thing to lose customers if you sell to consumers where the universe of potential customers is high and attrition is expected. It’s quite another if your business sells to other businesses. In these companies, a relatively small group of customers create the majority of the value and it can take months, if not years, to develop those relationships.Losing one of these customers can be devastating. And in worse case scenarios losing a customer can start a chain of events that can be terminal.This issue came up in my slack channel where I support 37 entrepreneurs.The loss of the customer came about through a growing company experimenting with using sub-contracted talent to scale the delivery of its work to customers.When done well, this can be a very effective solution but in this case, the result was damaging to the companies brand and they had lost the customer.I have been in this situation before. Many have too. Losing a customer comes with shock, disbelief and a grieving p

In Episode 66 of Founder To Founder, Phil speaks with Bron.Tech Co-Founder Emma Poposka. -----------------Follow Phil HSCApple Podcasts: http://apple.co/2pc0GqJSpotify: http://spoti.fi/2AdJcPHGoogle Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2lGHaPK Overcast: http://bit.ly/2HhJAMXInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/philhsc/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philhsc/ If you'd like to know when new episodes are released or when Phil publishes his weekly blog post, sign up for the insider's email list here.

The punchline: Think first about how you want to be remembered. It will help you answer what you want to do in life.So, what do you want to do?I struggled with this question for the longest time.There was a storm inside me that constantly reminded me of my potential. The problem was I didn’t know how to apply it to answer this question.Practicality told me to earn money to pay rent.Experience told me to rust on to the best leaders to accelerate my learning.Military service told me to never underestimate the power of high calibre teams and mateship.My upbringing told me to respect people’s perspectives, motives and religion.And hope told me that hard work’s payoff would reveal my ‘why’.But hope isn’t a strategy and I was also no closer to answering what I wanted to do when asked by friends, colleagues or recruiters. And when the question came up when a military career was no longer an option and after my first venture failed, saying ‘I don’t know’ or fabricating an answer was exhausting.I was desperate for an

In Episode #64 of Founder To Founder Phil speaks with Dr Jemma Green, Co-Founder of PowerLedger who raised Australia's largest Initial Coin Offering of $34M.----------------Follow Phil HSCApple Podcasts: http://apple.co/2pc0GqJSpotify: http://spoti.fi/2AdJcPHGoogle Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2lGHaPK Overcast: http://bit.ly/2HhJAMXInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/philhsc/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philhsc/If you'd like to know when new episodes are released or when Phil publishes his weekly blog post, sign up for the insider's email list here.

This episode is an excerpt from my forthcoming book, In Between.I’m bringing this forward as a result of an unexpected conversation I had with a 24-year-old first-time founder this week. While his venture failed and his circumstances are synonymous with the risk and journey of entrepreneurship, he has a bright future.In Between lays out the approach to help entrepreneurs move between ventures. And this approach extends beyond entrepreneurs to apply to people and communities who experience profound changes in personal context, including families transitioning from the military and those departing long-term careers.Read the full post here.----------------------------- Follow Phil HSC:iTunes: http://apple.co/2pc0GqJSpotify: http://spoti.fi/2AdJcPHOvercast: http://bit.ly/2HhJAMXInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/philhsc/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philhsc/If you'd like to know when new episodes are released or when Phil publishes his weekly blog post, sign up for the insider's email list here.

In Episode 62 of Founder To Founder, Phil speaks with Jessica Christiansen-Franks, an urban designer and social entrepreneur who has dedicated her career to understanding the social implications of urbanisation. Jessica has an insatiable curiosity about how cities work which has seen her work across Australia, as well as the United Kingdom, Canada, India, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. Passionate about creating liveable, equitable and interesting cities, Jessica has over fifteen years experience working across urban design, placemaking, community development and citizen engagement, and been involved in some of Australia's most complex and notable urban development projects. As the CEO and Co-Founder of Neighbourlytics, Jessica is focussed on using big data to provide insights into the unique local identity of neighbourhoods to create places people love and feel connected to.Phil and Jessica talk about the rollercoaster of creating a data aggregation business, harnessing the passion of team members and th

There is only one thing I like more about sales than closing deals. It’s getting a quick ‘thanks, but no thanks’.And when I say closing deals, I’m not just talking about revenue and partnerships, I’m talking about achieving buy-in from colleagues for decisions on internal projects.Over the last five years, I have honed a technique to help get a quick YES or NO from potential customers, investors and colleagues. A colleague overheard me using it this week and twigged to the fact I was using it regularly to good effect so I thought I would share it.It is not rocket science but it has taken practice.Read the post here------------------------Follow Phil HSC:iTunes: http://apple.co/2pc0GqJSpotify: http://spoti.fi/2AdJcPHOvercast: http://bit.ly/2HhJAMXInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/philhsc/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philhsc/If you'd like to know when new episodes are released or when Phil publishes his weekly blog post, sign up for the insider's email list here.