BUILD. GROW. EXIT.
WHAT WE'RE LISTENING TO
Curated Podcasts For Savvy Entrepreneurs
"We Listen So You Don't Have To"
Katina and Gina are avid listeners and want to share great podcasts with you.
How I built this – Men’s Warehouse with George Zimmer
Why we like this episode:​
Great customer experience, retail strategies, brick and mortar locations are the key ingredients of this ascendency story that explores the identification of, and massive success in, an undiscovered clothing mid-category. George reminds us all of the importance of being your own spokesperson and writing the narrative for your own script – and how that will change over time as you iterate.
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This will help you with:
The patience that you have to exercise when bootstrapping and serving early adopters. As first to market in the mid-category, George made constant improvements to his products, offerings and locations before he finally dialed in the formula for multi-billion dollar achievements.
How I built this – Burt’s Bees with Roxanne Quimby
Why we like this episode:​
As a young adult, Roxanne decided that she would follow her passion and honor her strengths. Her dedication to focus on her unique abilities including a blend of practical and creativity, served Roxanne as she pragmatically scaled Burt’s Bees from a backyard hobby in Maine to a billion dollar corporation.
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This will help you with:
Roxanne shares her journey in hands-on explanations of scale, product mix, location and logistics. For anyone trying to crack the code on consumer products, Roxanne provides a matter-of-fact roadmap to epic success.
How I built this – JetBlue with David Neeleman
Why we like this episode:​
Following an early entrepreneurial failure, David took his lessons learned and applied them each time he ratcheted up his businesses by narrowing down on his niche customers. From Morrison Air, to Southwest Airlines, to JetBlue and now Azul, listen to David as he stays dedicated to delivering service excellence in underserved markets and how focus can drive margin.
This will help you with:
Creating a mission and values driven company. Unwavering in his servant leadership, David committed his life’s work to serving his customers and employees. Learn how mission, values and profitability align. Listen as the more he cares about the people he serves, the more profitable his endeavors became.
How I built this – Away with Jen Rubio
Why we like this episode:​
After leaving Warby Paker, Jen Rubio did not view herself as an entrepreneur and was not trying to start a company. When she co-founded Away, she was attempting to solve a problem and meet an unmet market need in a category that was overlooked. This episode is a real-scenario refresher course on the lean model canvas.
This will help you with:
The process of identifying a market gap and the ensuing problem/solution approach to filling it along with creative problem solving and brand management. With Away, Jen and her co-founder, share their creative approach to solving a launch crisis on the eve of their debut with no inventory. And, the importance of weaving the brand story telling thru the customer’s perspective, company values and product quality.
Why we like this episode:​
Many entrepreneurs want to disrupt their industries. But let’s be honest – few of us like to be disrupted ourselves. The introduction of chain stores created quite an uproar in the last century but it’s not as cut and dry as the David and Goliath stories that we tell.
This will help you with:
Understanding how humans are naturally resistant to change and that our stories in dealing with disruption don’t always serve us.
Why we like this episode:​
One of the most vexing challenges for an entrepreneur or CEO is adding that #2 person to their team. In a recent coaching session, I recommended this episode to a CEO of a fast growth company and was reminded just how good Brian Scudamore’s story of having three different COOs in a relatively short timeframe.
This will help you with:
Understanding what it takes to have the right #2 person or COO for you and your company