Startup Life Show With Ande Lyons

Talk is cheap, whereas traction is hard evidence that you’re on the right path. It shows the world your startup is all about consistently growing and acquiring new customers.Our guest, Alex Batdorf is a 3X entrepreneur and the Founder & CEO of Get Sh!t Done, the superpower scaling sidekick supporting women entrepreneurs in gaining traction to build scalable companies on their own terms. To help women founders secure more than 4% of annual business revenues, Alex created the Superpower Scaling School: short, traction-packed online courses teaching you how to gain traction and grow on your own terms.She also created a 7-Week virtual Traction-Focused Accelerator Program that helps female entrepreneurs building scalable businesses gain and grow traction to put them on a path to building scalable businesses on their own terms. Alex is the host of The Get Sh!t Done Podcast, where she shares practical steps and tools used by other badass women entrepreneurs. Prior to founding Get Sh!t Done, Alex was Co-founder &

The job search journey can be isolating and frustrating.What if the job search could be “tailor-made” for you, your skillset, your ambitions, your aspirations?Our guest, Elissa Unton, is the founder and CEO of ArcVida, the “Stitch Fix for Careers” platform providing personalized, technology-enabled career guidance, with full support, to U.S. professionals who are actively seeking their optimal career move.ArcVida personalizes and guides your job search experience to your specific needs, by first understanding what lights you up, what energizes you, what impact to you want to have in the world, and how do you want to spend your days? An energetic leader, Elissa brings deep and broad experience in finance, strategy, communications and leadership from small businesses and large corporations to collaboratively solve frustrating business problems. In 2015, Elissa co-founded the Skid Row Spa – a volunteer advocacy project that resulted in the Refresh Spot, a publicly-funded non-profit 24-hour hygiene center for pe

Founders – do you have too many plates spinning in the air? Are you running out of hours in the day and days in the week?Our guest, Joy Valerie, founder of Build with Joy, is sharing her favorites tips, tools and resources to help you build systems and automate your business to create more time and make more money – woo hoo!Joy Valerie is a Guatemalan-American Entrepreneur from New York, with a deep expertise in digital strategy, content creation, and online monetization. She’s led the expansions of multiple companies while traveling, side hustling, and creating … all before the age of 30!Using a fun edutainment style, Joy Valerie breaks down tech, money, and startup hacks so they make sense to the newbie business owner. She can help you build your business operations from the ground up by leveraging digital media and technology, so you can have a startup life that brings you joy.Grab your Startup Life LIVE Exclusive Build with Joy Manage Your Time Workbook here:http://bit.ly/ManageYourTimeWorkbook​ - use dis

Why did an MD leave medicine for an EdTech company... that pivoted into a “World of Workplace” virtual platform to help companies and teammates connect, build culture, form communities, and get work done?Our guest, Vishal (Vish) Punwani, reveals all in this dynamic startup life interview!Vish is the CEO and co-founder of Sophya, the Harvard Innovation Labs alumnus that powers the leading virtual world (“surreal estate”) used by Fortune 50 companies and startups alike for work, social, community, and events. Sophya was part of the iLab’s inaugural Launch Lab X program in 2018-19.Vish is also a medical doctor by training and leader in tech startups and AI. He became one of the highest-rated Teaching Fellows at Khan Academy, worked in data/edu at the World Health Organization, and has been an invited speaker at The Radcliffe Institute, MIT, and Harvard Medical School. Vish is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs, a Mentor at the Oxford University Foundry, and Alumni Advisor at MassChall

Are you hearing crickets with your marketing campaigns? Your brand messaging is one of the best tools to entice people to interact with you. Whether it’s a Facebook ad, a product description, or a CTA, you have a million opportunities to use good copy to make a connection. But so many brands let these opportunities go to waste, making brand messaging mistakes—both big and small—that either turn people off or fail to make an impact.Plateau to GROW B2B customer-focused marketing maven Vicki O’Neill is here to help you avoid common brand messaging mistakes startups often make when launching their new business!Vicki works as an executive level marketing resource to startups, small business owners and established businesses that have plateaued but are stuck and want to grow. She helps these leaders achieve success through consistent, revenue-driven marketing strategies. Vicki shares 5 Messaging Mistakes Startups Need to Avoid. She developed this FREE resource to help anyone identify marketing gaps, overlaps and op

Would you like to launch and grow a passionate and engaged online community? Or perhaps you’ve started a community and you’d like to create more interaction and involvement with your members… but it feels like you’re herding cats.Anna Pereira, founder of The Wellness Universe, shares her 6 years of insights and advice on how to build a vibrant, engaged community!Inspired by a vision in 2013 to create an epic space to serve the world, Anna built The Wellness Universe – a global community and platform for empowerment of the mind, body and spirit for total well-being, both personally and professionally. With over 3500 members, The Wellness Universe is the only vetted global community and online directory of wellness providers, live events, online learning, member created content and resources. Anna’s deep background in all aspects of marketing, event planning and relationship building, combined with her online influencer reputation (800k followers on social media!) she was uniquely qualified to lead The Wellness

Wondering how to navigate the startup world as a woman of color?This interview began by sharing a startup story about a mother-daughter team who created a revolutionary new tool for hair... and evolved into a candid conversation around the challenges women of color (and people of color) face when launching a business. Saraa Green is the Co-Founder and CEO of THEBRAIDRELEASER, a new tool that keeps your hair from breaking when you take down your braids. Unlike a pointy rat tooth comb, this beautifully designed tool glides through your braids to create a pain-free, time efficient, braid take down experience.Prompted from a passion challenge assignment at grad school, Saraa recalled her mother’s ingenious innovation in 1992 for keeping her daughters' tears at bay and hair from breaking when taking down their braids.Saraa tapped into her strong engineering and product design background AND her passion for the beauty industry, and she conceptualized a revolutionary tool that saves hours of time and tears.Here

Do you have a big hairy audacious idea you’re trying to bring to the world?Our guest, Tia Lyles-Willams, has a crystal clear mission and vision for her startup – and a highly detailed road map she’s using to turn her Big Hairy Audacious Idea into reality!Tia is the founder of LucasPye BIO, whose mission is to lower the costs for biotherapeutic drugs, reduce time to market, and provide high-quality employment opportunities for underserved communities. Her startup vision includes a 60,000 s.f. co-manufacturing and developing bioprocessing facility… providing the opportunity to change the narrative and “face” of the biotechnology industry to one that promotes and illustrates real-world diversity, inclusion and equality.As an African-American Woman and member of the LGBTQ community, Tia is the first to own and lead a Biotechnology/Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing company. You will learn so much from this lively, fascinating conversation, including Tia's advice for founders: * how to stay strong when

Is it time to raise money for your startup? Investors write checks when the idea they hear is compelling, when they are persuaded that the team of founders can realize its vision, and that the opportunity described is real and sufficiently large. Our guest Christie Pitts… a General Partner of Backstage Capital, an early-stage investor at Backstage Capital and co-founder of Backstage Studio… walks you through the decision process for raising money for your startup and the steps you need to take to create a successful raise experience.Christie joined Backstage Capital in August 2017, and went on to assist in sourcing and investing in startups led by underrepresented (women, people of color, and LGBTQ) founders, helping to bring the firm’s total investment portfolio to more than 150 companies.Previously, Christie had a multifaceted career at Verizon, where she led operations and marketing teams, supporting more than 5M wireless customers with annual revenues in excess of $4B. From there, she identified a passion

Are you worried you’re not prepared to pitch to investors - that your pitch deck is wrong and won't be memorable?

Nick Hinrichsen and Chris Coleman met at Stanford Business School and in 2013 started a venture backed company called Carlypso. Working on building the 'Amazon for used cars', the two founders went through YCombinator in 2014, raised $10M venture capital by 2015 and successfully sold the business to Carvana in 2017. Like true entrepreneurs, Chris and Nick are now working on their next venture called http://withclutch.com. They discovered that auto loan rates are all over the map and so they built a refinance calculator that allows car owners to reduce their monthly payments and save thousands in minutes.Tune in to hear these co-founders share their awe*mazing startup stories!3 takeaways:1.If you focus on the competition you’ll never win2.Opportunistic hiring: sometimes you need to bring that person on before the company is fully ready for them3.When pitching, have concrete evidence of your business model, not wishful thinkingPlease connect with Chris and Nick here:LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/

"Your business will get better when you get better." ~ Mandela SH Dixon, Founder and CEO, FounderGymGet ready for some high impact inspiration and aspiration from our guest, Mandela SH Dixon! She's the phenomenal Founder & CEO of FounderGym, the first and leading online program to train underrepresented founders how to raise money and build sustainable and profitable businesses. In less than 3 years FounderGym has helped founders from 22 countries raise over $43 million!A former public school teacher, education policy researcher, and PhD candidate, Mandela began her career in tech as a startup founder, building Tioki, which helped hundreds of schools across the country secure great teachers for their students. After a successful exit, Mandela became the Global Director of Startup Weekend (acquired by Techstars), followed by 2 years at Kapor Capital as the Founding Portfolio Services Director, before launching FounderGym in 2017.Whenever I need inspiration and actionable advice to keep me mo

Are you frustrated with traditional pathways to capitalize your startup?Our guest, Aja Atwood, is an entrepreneur, team-leader, and cannabis advocate with over 15 years of experience in the engineering industry. She is a mechanical engineer by education and graduated cum laude from Northeastern University. She cut her teeth professionally as an engineering consultant and specialist, working in natural catastrophe risk engineering, and by 2011 started her first entrepreneurial business. Through these experiences, Aja honed her technical skills, fostered the engineering talent of her team, and learned valuable lessons along the way. Aja is currently the co-founder of Trella Technologies, which provides technical, innovative solutions to make indoor and urban farming a sustainable, long-lasting industry.Her business ethos is rooted in the belief that success comes from creating innovative technologies that can be shared with communities that need them the most.I’m so excited to introduce you this extraordinary f

"A few years ago I left my corporate job and launched Innovation Bazaar, a boutique consulting innovation firm based in New York City, advising global clients in overcoming challenges of innovation and transformation, through leveraging design thinking and data driven capabilities."As a highly energetic strategy and innovation leader, our guest, Maryam Daryabegi, has spent her life propelling change and creating purposeful impact. She gained her experience from living in ten cities, across four continents, and working with Fortune 500 firms, startups, non-profit organizations and universities across multiple industries and sectors.Maryam partners with global visionary leaders to spark positive change and empower them to overcome challenges of innovation and transformation through leveraging design thinking methodologies and data-driven capabilities. She’s also an educator and facilitator for the executive online course in digital business strategy offered by MIT Sloan School of Management. And, when

Since 2013 our guest, Joel Young, has been working as a solo entrepreneur. He used his skills in the fields of animation and video production to start his own business, JumpStart Video. In just a few short years it grew from a side job in the corner of his bedroom to a thriving business that now generates 5 figures a month, and he did all this through good ol' fashion hustle and online gig platforms like Fiverr.com. He’s currently an award-winning SUPER SELLER on Fiverr, and now spends his time running the business as well as creating content to help others work to live and enjoy more career independence!You'll be inspired by Joel's wonderful startup story! It began with wanting to retire outstanding debt and his wife's suggestion to provide voice over services on Fiverr. Now he has a team of four and preparing to hire more. Joel shares terrific advice for using explainer, animated, white board or personal videos to connect with customers and humanize your products and services.To learn mo

Podcasting is a powerful business tool for a new business and can help you win the war on attention. Not only because it provides multiple uses for content marketing, but it helps build relationships with your customers, it increases brand awareness, and it helps establish authority in your industry.Our guest, James Mulvany, is a successful entrepreneur who, over the past 10 years, has built multiple internet companies, a real estate portfolio, and he’s an angel investor.James is currently the founder of Podcast.co and Radio.co, two companies pioneering the online audio space. He shares all the do's, the don'ts, and the must haves for you to create a meaningful and successful podcast for your new business.To learn more about James' two audio platforms, please visit Podcast.co: https://www.podcast.co/ and Radio.co: https://radio.co.Please reach out and connect with James via:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmulvany/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/JamesMulvanyTVInstagram: https:

How does a new business build meaningful customer relationships?Our guests, Andy Jacques and Reaz Hoque, have been building their successful, long-lasting co-founder relationship for over 10 years. Along the way, they learned hard earned strategies to creating successful, long-lasting relationships with customers, too!They're co-founders of SYNERGY Consulting, a fully integrated product development and consulting firm with staff and clients in Boston, San Francisco, NYC, London, and Dubai. Their expertise lies in all phases of product technical development and product launches for mid-sized companies and early-stage startups. "We make sure our clients feel they hired a team they can depend on." ~ Reaz HoqueAndy and Reaz dive deep into product development, marketing strategies, and customer experience advice ideal for the newbie and seasoned entrepreneurs."Sometimes you have to really focus on proving the concept first, launching with that minimal viable product, get that MVP out there, and

Relationships matter – more than money, more than status, more than material things. ~ Arlan Hamilton, It’s About Damn TimeFounders have characteristics that are not based on gender or race – they are extreme problem solvers with the ability to withstand high levels of uncertainty. They have tenacity, grit, resilience, and a high AQ! Adaptability Quotient. They follow their North Star, and they love the process.One does not need a degree or pedigree to be a funder, but when you’re underrepresented and underestimated, you have to watch out for unconscious bias.Our guest, Arlan Hamilton, is the founder and managing partner of Backstage Capital, a venture capital firm that exclusively invests in companies founded by women, people of color and LGBTQ entrepreneurs. Her journey from Tour Manager for music groups to founder of a VC firm, is extraordinary. She had a backpack, a laptop and a dream of becoming the Robin Hood of venture capital.In her recently published book, It's About Damn Time (https://amzn.to/2

Our guest Matt Zinman is a personal success trainer whose experiences as an entrepreneur, athlete, single parent, caretaker, consultant and nonprofit founder, all of which led him to be a difference-maker. Matt is CEO of The Internship Institute which he established in 2007 to bridge the gap between education, active duty and employment by “Making Experience Matter.”His earned insights about self-discovery, relationships, mindfulness and life enrichment led Matt to write Z-isms: Insights to Live By, and it fulfilled his goal to positively impact as many people as possible.There are many misconceptions around having internship programs, but if you do it right, the data shows you can gain hundreds of days of productivity from interns.Matt shares the critical success factors around an internship program. 1. the CEO, whether it's the chief bottle washer solopreneur, or a multinational company, s/he has to be bought in, because the internships are really about being culturally embedded into the fabric of the

"It's about the jockey, not the horse."Our guest, Chenoa Farnsworth has more than 15 years experience in business strategy and private equity investing. She’s the Managing Director of the Hawaii Angels, Hawaii’s only angel capital investment network, and she’s the Managing Partner of Blue Startups, a venture accelerator in Honolulu providing investment, mentorship, and work space to high growth technology startups.Chenoa shares her insights on scaling a startup and the criteria she uses to invest in startups. She also shares details about the wonderful accelerator program she spearheads: Blue Startups. Please visit https://www.bluestartups.com/ to learn more about the accelerator, and you can connect with Blue Startups via:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bluestartups/Twitter: @BlueStartupsAngel Co: https://angel.co/company/blue-startupsIf you’d like to receive an alert whenever I post a new episode, please follow the Startup Life Show wherever you listen to podcasts, including: Stitcher, S