Startup Therapy

Latest Episodes:

The Bulls#!t Case for Raising Capital Oct 17, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss whether you need to raise a huge capital in order to have a successful Startup. How much money do you actually need to scale your business? Do you need to raise money quickly in order to scale up quickly? The thing is, having lots of capital does not mean success right away. There are some cases where Startups raised a lot of money in the beginning but ended up getting bankrupt. You see, it’s not all about having a lot of financial resources. You gotta have skills, connection, and the right amount of luck too!

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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
02:56 The best companies raised capital
07:32 Where does scaling quickly come from?
10:40 Lots of capital is not equal to sure success
15:32 You can’t create artificial growth
18:15 Betting someone else’s money
20:58 The walking dead of the funded
28:06 Seeing things from the bootstrap side to the funded side

Founders, We Only Have To Be Right Once Oct 10, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss how founders sometimes think that they’ve reached that billion dollar moment in their Startup and then end up being disappointed by the result. Now, the billion dollar question is - how many shots do we actually have? The thing is, we really won’t know when that moment happens so we just have to keep going and continue trying, gathering information as we move forward, because if we can only be right once, at least we are fully equipped once we get to that point.

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
00:08 That one hockey stick moment
01:40 When it doesn’t change the way you expected it to happen
03:36 How many shots do you have?
07:56 Every shot comes with information
09:42 You’ll never see that moment coming
12:36 Just stay and keep trying
14:32 You have a decade
17:39 What if you're only right once?
22:16 It doesn’t have to be a mega hit

Why Every Kid Should Be a Startup Founder Oct 03, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss why it’s important to teach kids about entrepreneurship. You know what they say - better to start them young. Teaching about how to become a founder to kids as young as 10 years old will be an eye-opening experience. At this age, kids still have that pure mindset where they think they can do anything, and it’s important to nurture that. Planting the seed early on will bear fruit that will also be able to teach the future generations.

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
00:29 What if we teach kids to be founders?
02:20 10 year olds are like a relatively complete processor
04:17 Kids have a business idea
05:36 They don’t know they can’t do it yet
07:59 Explore your interests
11:51 There’s a hundred different path
16:29 Opening the pandora’s box of entrepreneurship
18:28 We have one shot in life
21:05 Agency and ownership
24:04 Early experience is important
26:23 Planting the seed on the next generation

How Big of a Failure Can I Survive as a Founder? Sep 26, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss how founders can survive a failed Startup. For some founders, when they experience failure, they immediately think that it’s the end, that it’s a complete failure. But one thing's for sure though – we will all get over it. Failure has always been a part of the process and it will teach us valuable lessons along the way. And it also gives us the most important ammunition: a chance to start again.

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
00:28 What happens to the founder after a startup fails?
03:00 No one cares your startup failed
05:05 Everyone is going through the same thing
06:06 And then what?
09:53 You won’t even remember it
13:22 You can just try again
14:56 Losses are momentary
16:59 Your failures can be anecdotes to teach people
18:17 You get a clean slate
21:39 This is not your only chance
23:09 You’re not starting from zero

Why Are All My Founder Friends Ahead of Me? Sep 19, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss the problem of comparing yourself with other founders. Sometimes, we look at the success of others and immediately think we’re falling behind. We always compare ourselves to others without even realizing that we all had a different head start and were influenced by varied outside factors. Remember, success is a process, and we go through it in different phases.

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
00:20 How to level up
02:51 Stop comparing yourself with other founders
05:43 The milestones doesn’t end
08:24 We all grow differently
11:20 It might look similar – but it’s totally different
12:47 Sometimes the right decision is not the right direction
14:31 Comparison kills progress
17:30 Even the most successful people still fails
21:04 Stay around for a long time
23:41 You’re only entitled to your own outcome
25:06 All accomplishments are fleeting
28:16 The benchmark paradigm shift
30:33 Focusing on the money
33:58 Comparing your startup with another startup with the same services

Are Startup CEOs Really CEOs? Sep 12, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss if startup CEOs can really be considered as CEOs. The CEO title bears a lot of responsibility – it’s a nice title to have alongside your name but the question is, are you qualified to have it? It’s easy to get the title, in fact, anyone can become one but do you have the right qualifications and enough experience to be called a CEO?

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
02:16 Just because you have the title, it doesn’t mean you’re qualified
06:12 CEOs need to manage people
09:01 CEOs have experience
13:27 Start-up CEOs can’t be corporate CEOs and vice versa
18:42 There are different types of growth
20:27 Your focus will change when you reach 80 people inflection point
23:34 The CEO job can get dreadful
25:38 The problem with hiring overqualified people than the CEO
27:16 Don’t let other people replace your CEO role entirely
30:00 Anyone can get the title, but you have to earn the job

Founders, We Have SO Much Time Left In Our Careers Sep 05, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss how founders should not feel like they are running out of time – because they’re not. Most young entrepreneurs feel that they should rush things just because others seem to be doing well in life already and they’re feeling left behind. Everyone has their own timeframes and maybe this year is just not your year, and that’s okay, because you still have a lot of time left in your career.

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
01:07 You have so much time in your career
03:12 Be reasonable about given timeframes
05:01 Look at the long view
07:26 The most powerful companies were built over decades
09:01 Don’t allow external opinions to tell you where you should be now
10:48 What you can actually accomplish
12:44 This might not be your decade yet
13:59 Some resources will not be available now but will be in the future
17:02 You have to pace yourself
22:11 Build your pyramid

Founders, Let's Live to Fight Another Day Aug 29, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss the importance for founders to identify problems early on and why they should do something about it. Survival is the strategy in Startups so founders should be aware of the early signs of problems so that they can find solutions to last longer in this game.

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 Living to fight another day
02:41 Lying with the full intention of making it true
04:29 Survival is the strategy
08:36 Founders should realize the situation first
12:44 Changes can make stay in the game longer
14:39 Down round
19:27 Invest in the reality of a business
22:06 Double up on your winners, and cut pay on your losers
24:24 Doing nothing is death

Being a Founder Made Me a Better Parent, and Vice Versa. Aug 22, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss how being a parent made them better founders, and vice versa. There are things that we won’t understand until we experience them ourselves, and in a Startup, there are similar things that we can compare when it comes to leading and being a parent. Once you start teaching your kids good values you can apply those to your company, because as they say, “being a founder is like being a parent, you always stay involved.”

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
00:23 Does being a parent make you a better founder?
04:50 Teaching your kids to question everything
10:18 Leading with humility
11:36 The answers can change when we ask questions
14:03 Start with what makes you happy
20:08 Just because you have talent, you don’t have to do it
24:27 Give your kids permission to do something else
25:26 Having empathy
29:11 Stay curious

We Need To Build A Culture of “I’m Wrong” Aug 15, 2022

Show notes

In today’s Startup Therapy Podcast, Wil and Ryan discuss one of the most common problems with new businesses - they are afraid to do the wrong thing. In Startup you can’t always be right and have a smooth sailing path in the beginning, you will always have to be wrong and do the wrong things first before knowing what is right. Normalizing a culture of admitting and allowing mistakes will help companies know how they can perform better in the future.

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