Startup Therapy

Latest Episodes:

Founders, At What Point Have We Sacrificed Too Much? Jan 16, 2023

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss how much sacrifice as a founder is too much? How much are you willing to give up in your life just to become a successful founder? You might think now that the return on investment of all the time you spent working instead of doing the things you will never get back will be worth it in the long run but think again – are you willing to pay that price?

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Resources:

Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For

00:00 Intro
01:32 Why are we scared to talk about the downsides?
06:37 Don’t sacrifice the moments that you’ll never get back
08:10 The first casualty is your health
10:53 Young founders don’t even know how the adult life looked like
13:31 How much is too much?
15:23 It will cost you a lot
19:57 Everytime you sacrifice something, you don’t get them back
21:55 Limit switch
24:18 Financial sacrifice

Founders, How to Tell the Board "I Need a New Deal" Jan 09, 2023

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss how founders can talk with the board about their compensation. If you’re a founder and your company is earning a lot of money but you can’t even touch the profit – then maybe it’s time to have that conversation with the board. But how can you even do this without being turned down?

Sign up for the Startups Newsletter

https://www.startups.com/newsletter

Resources:

Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For

00:00 Intro
02:47 How to have this conversation?
04:50 Situations when you need to change the deal
08:54 Reset expectations
10:29 Make it a binary decision
12:28 When there’s still a glimmer of hope
15:07 The business will become what it needs to be
17:04 When you can’t touch your profit
19:45 Figure out where you’re going to take your binary decision to
23:30 The levers that we need to pull
29:43 The board meeting should be nothing but a formality

Founders, Failure is Just One Chapter in Life Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss why founders should stop thinking that failure is forever. Sometimes, when we experience hard times in our lives, we feel like this will never get better again – but that’s not true. Your whole life is a book with different chapters and each has its own challenges and you will get over them. Once you finish a bad chapter, just quickly get started on to the next one, because remember, failure is just one chapter in your life.

Sign up for the Startups Newsletter

https://www.startups.com/newsletter

Resources:

Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For

00:00 Intro
01:38 We keep projecting bad things into the future
02:27 Things can only fail at a finite number of times
04:05 Lay-offs
05:50 This pain won’t last forever
07:54 It’s just one chapter
11:22 You will barely even remember it
13:09 Start the next chapter as fast as possible
16:16 A startup is a chapter but our life is the book
17:40 Don’t get lost in the feeling
20:01 Nobody will remember it
21:32 There’s lot and lot of chapters

What If I Want To Work Forever? Dec 05, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss what it would be like if you want to work forever. For founders, a lot of us might wonder if this would be something you’d like to do for a long time. But here’s a thought – is your Startup a work you love doing or does it feel like a work that you feel forced to do every day? If your answer to the last question is yes, then you might have to rethink if you’re willing to do it forever or find something that you would want to do for the rest of your life.

Sign up for the Startups Newsletter

https://www.startups.com/newsletter

Resources:

Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For

00:00 Intro
01:51 How long should you be working?
03:17 Founders can create their destiny
05:26 You need a break
08:54 Loving what you do
11:09 Alignment of what you love to do and what you actually do
12:58 Chip off things you don't want to do
14:30 Figure out what you want to do forever
15:55 Stepping back
19:12 The longer you do something, the higher of knowledge and experience you get
23:12 You have more years to grow
25:03 The older ones are still relevant
26:58 How do you stay relevant
31:34 This a perpetual journey

Should Founders Worry About Quiet Quitting? Nov 28, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss if founders should worry about quiet quitting. This may sound like a new term to a lot of founders BUT this has been around for many ages now and we should be alarmed about it. So how can you see if your team is actually checked in or out of work?

Sign up for the Startups Newsletter

https://www.startups.com/newsletter

Resources:

Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For

00:00 Intro
00:17 When did this start?
01:50 What is quiet quitting?
02:55 How working from home changed how we operate
04:14 This is nothing new
05:56 Internet in an office is a distraction
10:56 How to know if your team is checked in or checked out
13:40 Good players never shut up
17:23 There’s a pattern of behavior
19:50 Micro KPIs
22:41 Everything is measurable

If a Startup Sinks, Founders Go Down With It Nov 21, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss what will happen to the founder when the Startup company goes down. When a company starts to wind down, you might be shocked how everything maps back to the founder, from office leases to subscriptions, and now all of a sudden these company liabilities become your personal liabilities. How can you avoid this from happening to you?

Sign up for the Startups Newsletter

https://www.startups.com/newsletter

Resources:

Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For

00:00 Intro
02:50 You’re stuck with the liabilities
08:27 Who pays the wind-down entity?
10:58 Filing for personal bankruptcy
14:14 Everything maps back to you
16:48 Adding more liabilities
19:37 Creditors will follow you
21:18 Can you sign under the company’s name?
23:59 How safe are you inside the corporate veil?
28:52 Buying the good stuff only
32:15 Typical timeframe for winding down a company
33:42 The personal liability is the scariest part
36:32 Be mindful of what you sign and don’t keep adding liabilities
38:09 Treat those liabilities as your own
40:05 You can renegotiate
41:36 No long term agreements

The Downfall of Becoming Internally Focused as Founders Nov 14, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss when a founder’s focus starts to shift from managing externally to managing internally. When a company grows, there’s a huge possibility that as a founder your focus might change from managing customers and shipping products to hiring staff and doing reports – which could lead to a stall in your skills and growth as a founder. So as you motivate your people, keep motivating yourself as well!

Sign up for the Startups Newsletter

https://www.startups.com/newsletter

Resources:

Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For

00:00 Intro
01:24 From leading externally to managing internally
02:39 Offense vs. defense
04:35 When focus shift internally
07:00 Staying safe in a growing company
08:35 Measurement of performance is important
11:24 Being okay with not focusing externally
14:00 Leaders providing incentives
16:39 How to avoid having unmotivated staff
18:50 Leadership vs. management

Founders, we earn our wins. This isn't the Powerball. Nov 07, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss if founders deserved their wins and successes or did they just get lucky? Sometimes, founders feel guilty of their own success to the point that they don’t want to reward themselves and enjoy their hard-earned money. Most of the time, these founders hear people say “You’re just lucky!” disregarding the years and years of their hard work. But always remember that for you every win you earned and deserved your wins.

Sign up for the Startups Newsletter

https://www.startups.com/newsletter

Resources:

Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For

00:00 Intro
02:14 Good luck vs. good fortune
08:16 The process doesn’t really feel lucky
09:48 You should share your luck
12:11 Guilt investments
16:50 Enjoy your money
20:36 No one will share in your losses

All Founders are Beloved In Good Times Oct 31, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss what happens to founders during the tough times. When things are going well, when you just got funded, and when you’re finally getting that high revenue, everybody loves you. But when things go south, no one is around. Sure, you feel emotionally betrayed at this point because you trusted them right? But is there a way you can avoid this in the beginning?

Sign up for the Startups Newsletter

https://www.startups.com/newsletter

Resources:

Startup Therapy Podcast
https://www.startups.com/begin
Join our Network of Top Founders
Check in with us on LinkedIn | Wil Schroter | Ryan Rutan

What to Listen For

00:00 Intro
02:51 No one will love you during the bad times
03:59 Raising capital is like the first date
05:43 Creating more liabilities
07:25 You haven’t proven anything yet
09:45 People will surround you because you have money
13:49 Staffing up is your most ignorant time
22:44 Feeling emotionally betrayed
23:35 Fake metrics & early projections
27:11 We get fooled during the good times
29:32 Nobody wants to lead when things get tough
30:51 Your team’s values get measured during bad times
34:45 The character of a founder

Our Startup Culture of Entitlement Oct 24, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss what founders are entitled to when their business takes off. There is danger in expecting too much from our Startup, when we think we should get additional funding because the business is growing, when we think that business growth will merit us more opportunities. Reality check: things don't work this way. Things take time to grow and every growth is exponentially different.

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Resources: