From large funding rounds, acquisitions, and a constant stream of success stories coming out of startups, it is often hard to see why almost 90% of them fail. The Failory Podcast dives deep on this notion and uncovers the lessons today’s successful founders learned at previous ventures so that you can avoid similar pitfalls and apply winning strategies to your business from the get-go.
From Failed ML Startup to a +$100k/Mo Content Agency, with Nat Eliason of Growth Machine
Nat Eliason (@nateliason) is the founder of Growth Machine, a marketing agency specialized in SEO-first content marketing. After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and taking different marketing jobs, Nat quickly realized that he could achieve success on his own. From launching Tailored Fit and then burning out, to creating different streams of revenue and growing them to +$1M/year, find out the whole journey of this 27-year-old entrepreneur in this episode of the Failory Podcast.
7/2/2020 • 40 minutes, 2 seconds
Turning a Need into a Startup, with Raman Shalupau of Crypto Jobs List
Raman Shalupau (@ksaitor) is the founder of Crypto Jobs List, the #1 community to find and post crypto jobs. Raman’s entrepreneurship and interests in engineering stirred up at the young age of fourteen, which drove him to create a food delivery startup while at University. Soon after, he built and shut down RSVPD, a startup for Singapore people to find and attend events near them. In this episode of the Failory podcast, discover the things Raman learned from his failed projects and how he’s grown his current company.
6/22/2020 • 56 minutes, 21 seconds
Shutting Down a $80k/mo Dev Company and Building a Chess Tool, with David Kramaley of Chessable
David Kramaley (@simplydt) is the CEO and Founder at Chessable, a science-backed chess learning online tool. Prior to this, David was the founder of Sharkius, a social games development company. Under David’s words, this startup “grew too fast, too quickly” and despite it reached $80k/month, it shut down later on. In this episode of the Failory Podcast, find out what kinds of success and challenges this tech entrepreneur faced throughout the years of starting and scaling different projects.
6/15/2020 • 1 hour, 10 minutes
Becoming a Startup and No Code Expert, with Bram Kanstein of No Code MVP
Bram Kanstein (@Bramk) is the creator of No Code MVP, an online course that teaches how to validate startup ideas without coding. After graduating from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences in 2013, Bram went on to create a handful of projects. His journey of failed and successful products have led him to become a startup expert. In this episode of the Failory Podcast, find out how this product builder entrepreneur had some of his projects acquired and how has he built his current success.
6/8/2020 • 48 minutes, 26 seconds
Being Forced to Shut Down a +$1M/year Food Startup, with Steve Long of The Travel Brief
Steve Long is co-founder at The Travel Brief, a site that gives travelers the ability to share practical tips and guides with others, while documenting their adventures in a meaningful way. Steve plunged into the entrepreneurial world at twenty-four years old when he co-founded a food startup with a childhood friend, which brought in $1.3M in annual revenue in just two years. In this episode of the Failory Podcast, learn more about the hubs he’s created, his experience on Dragon’s Den, and his new passion project.
6/1/2020 • 1 hour, 18 minutes, 22 seconds
Growing a B2B Startup to +1,000 Customers, with Zal Dastur of Lucep
Zal Dastur (@zald) is the co-founder and COO of Lucep, a software that turns social networks from its users into lead engines. Before this, Zal co-founded and shut down VenueMirror, after a friend gave him an ultimatum to join the startup and he had to move to India to start working on it. In this episode of the Failory Podcast, find out how this hard-working entrepreneur navigated through different strategies until ultimately landing his current success.
5/25/2020 • 43 minutes, 14 seconds
Turning a Side Hustle into a $9k/mo Business, with Pat Walls from Starter Story
Pat Walls (@thepatwalls) is the founder of Starter Story, a site interviewing successful entrepreneurs, and Pigeon, a Gmail CRM extension. Prior to this, he co-founded Delite, a SaaS platform for B2B wholesale orders, that would shut down later on. From graduating from UCSB with a degree in economics to learning to code, find out how Pat’s drive for a new challenge led him to his current founder role, in this episode of the Failory Podcast.
5/18/2020 • 58 minutes, 36 seconds
17 Years of Online Ventures, with Matt Giovanisci of Swim University
Matt Giovanisci (@MattGiovanisci) is the founder of Swim University, the biggest niche site around swimming pool and hot tub care. Matt got into the internet world after learning how to build a website for his indie rock band. Since then, he has spent the last 17 years getting fired and re-hired, building new ventures, launching lots of podcast episodes and setting thousands of affiliate links. In this Failory Podcast, learn from Matt’s entrepreneurial journey and his “overnight success” with Swim University.
5/11/2020 • 1 hour, 2 minutes, 47 seconds
Growing a B2B Marketplace to $40M/Year, with Terence Tam of Reflow Hub
Terence Tam (@terencetamau) is the founder of Reflow Hub, a managed marketplace that facilitates mobile device returns, buyback & trade-ins and insurance claims from their vendor partners. In this episode of the Failory Podcast, learn how this driven entrepreneur went from launching an MVP in the food delivery space to having his company ring in as the second fastest-growing company in Australia by the Australian Financial Review's Fast 100 and Fast Starters lists.
5/4/2020 • 43 minutes, 34 seconds
How +3 failures led to a $150k/month SaaS, with Bernard Huang of Clearscope
Bernard Huang (@bernardjhuang) is the Co-founder at Clearscope, a profitable SaaS product used by companies to get written content performance. He is a driven entrepreneur who has used his creative capabilities to launch many startups, including Mushi Labs, Mosec, and Food By People. On this episode of the Failory Podcast, find out how this once online professional poker player became a co-owner at a Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, and how his life and projects have led him to Co-found Clearscope.
4/27/2020 • 1 hour, 33 minutes, 19 seconds
From 50k Users in 6 Weeks to Shutting Down, with Ryan Hickman
Ryan Hickman (@RyanHickmam) is Co-Founder at Epic AI, a company that helps startup founders with a multitude of AI-based tools, ranging from investor intelligence to decking. Before it, Ryan co-founded MeVee, a video streaming platform that grew to 50k users in 6 weeks and eventually shut down after being unable to compete with Facebook Live. In this episode of the Failory Podcast, learn about Ryan’s thoughts on the idea of first-mover advantage and disadvantages, shiny object syndrome, and his experience with waffles and Alicia Keys.
4/20/2020 • 1 hour, 1 minute, 39 seconds
Bootstrapping a B2C Startup to +$20k/Month with Buster Benson
Buster Benson (@buster) is the founder of 750 Words, a $5/mo journaling tool. He kept it alive for more than a decade while working at Twitter, Slack, Patreon and running and shutting down Health Month, a startup leveraging social gamification to get its users healthy. Learn about his impressive entrepreneurial journey, how he went from liberal arts to tech, and the downsides of raising VC on this episode of the Failory Podcast.
4/12/2020 • 39 minutes, 56 seconds
From Failed VC-Backed Startup to Successful Bootstrapped SaaS, with Brian Rhea
Brian Rhea (@brhea) is the founder of Project Headlamp, a feedback tool for remote teams to cultivate community and remove internal impasses. Prior to this, Brian was the CPO of Macavo and the founder of Binocs, a startup out of Macavo that never took off. Learn about his incredible journey, how he got his first job in tech, and his “10-star-remote-environment” on this episode of the Failory Podcast.
4/12/2020 • 48 minutes, 35 seconds
How to Sell Expiring Domains and Make $1M/Year, with Mike Carson
Mike Carson (@ca98am79) is the founder of Park.io, a service that allows folks to backorder hacker-type expiring domains. It all started as a hobby but then he found out there was room for a business. Learn about Mike’s journey into the space, his German rival, and how he almost sold his company on a whim in this episode of the Failory Podcast.
4/12/2020 • 33 minutes, 27 seconds
+$1M/Year Selling Beard Products after a Decade of Failure, with Eric Bandholz
Eric Bandholz (@bandholz) is the Founder at Beardbrand, a platform that sells products to reshape the landscape of men’s grooming. Prior to this, he worked on his first startup, Wakomo, a simple Wordpress site that middle manned purchases of vinyl wall graphics that he designed. Learn about the decade-long journey Eric took to get to where he is today in this episode of the Failory Podcast.
