Discover Scooter Taylor’s path: A transformation from martial arts teacher to tech entrepreneur and digital marketing maestro.
This episode of the PlaidPixel Podcast features Scooter Taylor, an entrepreneur who has delved into the world of startups and digital marketing. Throughout the discussion, Taylor shares his journey, insights, and experiences, providing an intriguing glimpse into the startup ecosystem and the power of innovative marketing.
Taylor’s story begins with his early interest in Taekwondo, which led him to teaching and learning about business and marketing. His exploration of technology started with platforms like YouTube, where he and the show’s host, Eli, experimented with creating content. This foundation laid the groundwork for his future endeavors in the digital world.
The conversation shifts to Taylor’s college years, where he initiated a significant project, the “World’s Largest Water Balloon Fight,” intended to raise awareness and funds for the global water crisis. Although the event didn’t materialize as planned, it was a pivotal learning experience for him and contributed to his understanding of marketing, business development, and social impact.
Taylor then describes his journey through the startup landscape, including an internship at Qualcomm, his involvement with the app Yik Yak, and his experience at a startup accelerator, Y Combinator. His stories encapsulate the essence of entrepreneurship – embracing risks, learning from failures, and continuously seeking new opportunities.
The podcast provides valuable insights into the world of startups, marketing, and technology. Taylor’s experiences illustrate the importance of passion, perseverance, and adaptability in the ever-evolving digital landscape. His story is a testament to the idea that even small initiatives can lead to significant learning experiences and open doors to new possibilities in the world of technology and business.
Transcript:
00:00
You’re listening to the Plaid Pixel podcast with your host, Eli Brumley and Ken Blasco. Let’s enter the world of web design, development and so much more. Hey guys, welcome back to the Plaid Pixel podcast.
00:20
Our guest today is Swam with the startup Sharks. He has run multiple startup software companies as well as now traveling the world to help big brands through their marketing strategies and consulting.
00:30
His name is Scooter Taylor. Mr. Taylor, how are you? What’s going on guys? How are y ‘all? I love that intro. Good man, good. We’re doing really good. We’re here with Ken. Good to have you on man. And Scooter, I know we’ve got a few topics we want to touch on.
00:45
I know that your passion and pride is in digital marketing and as well as you’ve done several years of running the train of startups and startup culture. We’re so excited to dive into that in this episode.
01:01
How about you start us off with who you are, your background, how you got into this industry? Yeah, no. Again, thanks for having me on. It’s exciting to always talk about a lot of the things that you’re working on and doing and you learn a lot through this.
01:19
So this is really cool. And it’s fun to be working with you, man. I think for the listeners out there, I joined Eli’s dad’s Taekwondo school at nine years old and so became a white belt and just was in the program for several years to the point where I started teaching it and it was actually my first job.
01:38
So I first job at like 13, 14 was teaching Taekwondo and I think when I started to teach there, I also started to learn the business, right? And I started to learn what happened before the kids started to show up, right?
01:51
So the meetings, the planning, the thinking of marketing. The behind the scenes, yep. Yeah, no, exactly. So that was my first real. Yeah. Introduction into that and then you know seeing it all come to life right seeing us create a flyer Think of this like messaging and this marketing promotion and then you know by six o ‘clock Right parents and people are pulling out their wallets and paying for something that we just created and so That was the first step in the business and then of course, you know, I meet you being there and we were you know co -workers for several several years and Eli and I you know, we had this passion for just kind of just tinkering around on our laptops, right?
02:32
You know, how do we use garage band? How do you use? I believe how do you create stuff? And the internet and especially consumer platforms for the internet were just starting to spring up Especially YouTube YouTube was just getting popular oh six or seven 2008 you know those three years specifically and So we we started you know, we started tinkering around I think that was some of the first introductions of the internet and potentially this whole start -up thing for sure.
03:04
Yeah, we were definitely early stage, quote unquote, YouTubers getting into tips and tricks of technology. Back then, Apple was coming out with the iPhone, booming with their MacBook lineup. We focused more on the software side as well as just really new technology in general, stuff that was just so exciting about where the industry is moving to become from Palm Pilot to touchscreens.
03:33
Now everything’s getting into a bigger form factor with mobile devices. And now we’re just seeing a mass takeover with how people are marketing these things instead of moving from desktop computing and having traditional desktop websites.
03:47
Everything’s going into app format or social things and influence marketing. The vast variety of the world of marketing has changed since we started that. But I think it was so valuable for you and I to experience those early ages of how we see marketing today because it’s laid down a foundation of the appreciation for what it was.
04:13
There’s a lot of golden nuggets that we picked up along the way to set the standard and the path that you and I are both on, even though that went down two different train tracks. It’s very much in this similar technology space and working and consulting and marketing.
04:31
I want to jump to how you went to college and had some experiences with nonprofits but before you do that I want to tell a story which I don’t think even Ken has heard. It’s a story of when you and I were up one night making a lot of content and we were just chugging away just trying to get stuff out.
04:57
really kind of focusing on our craft and trying to build better video editing skills and equipment and all this stuff. And you turned to me and you said, you know how everybody that works for Apple has a an Apple email address and a at apple .me.
05:15
I was like, yeah. And he said, you know, we should go on iChat. So this is before Slack and all these other challenges. And he said, we should like type in, you know, rest in peace, Steve Jobs. This is before Steve was, you know, he was still kicking and we’ll type in like Steve at apple .me and wasmoz .apple .me and all these, you know, you know, Tim Cook and all these things.
05:40
We just we’re just like plugging them in. And back then with iChat, if you typed in a valid like ad friend or ad user, if it was a valid email address and that person had an iChat account or an Apple account, it would show.
05:54
that that person was valid. It would show their profile. So I don’t know if it was a security thing or not. It was kind of sketchy. But any Apple user could get on there. And you could see if that person was online or active, or when was the last time they were active.
06:07
And so we’re tinkering on. Just had this crazy idea. And we put a few email addresses in to see if people were online or available to chat. And then we put in WIZ, W -O -Z, at Apple .me, in Donut Chat.
06:25
And that avatar came up and it was him and his things said available. And we just started chatting with him. And he’s like, hey, guys, what’s going on? And it’s like, hey, we’re just some passionate guys from Memphis.
06:39
And we wanted to just say, hey, we’re so we’re so happy that, you know, you were part of this journey and, you know, thank you for all the innovation you’ve brought to the world. And he’s like, oh, yeah, anytime.
06:52
And he’s like, I’m on my I’m on my he’s like, I’m on my jet right now, headed over to do something. I think he was headed to a new Apple store opening or something. And Scooter’s like, let’s let’s let’s click the video call button and see if he picks up.
07:06
See, this is really him, you know, because you never know who’s behind an avatar. Sure. And so he clicks the video icon. It rings for 10 or 15 seconds. And then Mr. Mr. WIZ pops up on the screen. And he’s on a private jet and he’s like, hey, guys, what’s going on?
07:23
And we’re literally talking with Steve Wozniak. Over, you know, what was FaceTime? And we talked for maybe less than a minute. And then he sure he said farewell and good luck. And then we went our separate ways.
07:39
I thought that was the craziest experience that I’ve ever had, you know, with celebrities, I guess. If that doesn’t inspire you, I don’t know what would, right? That’s crazy. There’s some small town kids that will tinker with technology in Memphis and had this crazy.
07:54
idea and the guy was friendly enough to open up his webcam and talk to us for a few minutes. I thought it said a lot about his character and Yeah, it also talks about you know where scooter and I have we’ve come from because You know you had you had to buy your your Mac and then you know obviously your OS was pre -installed but then you had to install I work which had your text editor and PowerPoint, you know, and so they’ve kind of included all that now but Long long story short.
08:27
I’ve known scooter for a while. He’s he’s a fantastic guy super inspiring to be around just has really great energy and and Scooter I know that you you know you dough from from high school directly into college and then with your passion for for charities and nonprofits You wanted to just take on one yourself you want to tell us a little bit about how you got into that space Yeah, no, I mean I think you know in the spirit of what you just talked about.
08:54
We didn’t really know what we were doing, we were just doing a lot of it, right? We didn’t really, yeah we didn’t have a name. I think now if you’re you know 14, 15 you kind of know like I want to be a digital marketer or you know you kind of have a name for it but we didn’t really have a name for it and so going into college I was still you know 2011 and I’m like okay what I want to do right?
09:16
What I want to be? I think I signed up for international marketing so I knew it was marketing, I knew I wanted to kind of travel around the world and do stuff but I didn’t know what exactly and let the whole first year go by and at the end of that first year someone reached out to me and said you know hey you should see this YouTube video of the world’s largest water balloon fight.
09:37
12 ,000 college students, well at the time the YouTube video was actually like 7 ,000 kids throwing like you know a hundred thousand water balloons and so they all get together they donate some money and then they fill up a football field full of water balloons and they just have this massive full -out war.
09:57
Yeah so I mean there wasn’t even a charity thing there’s was just like hey like let’s just throw some water balloon fight and so you know I think some of it was just kind of like confidence I was like oh I just came from this YouTube era where I knew how to you know get subscribers and get people to sign up for things, build websites, do content, graphic design, social media and you know even in the YouTube things, YouTube days we did a lot of things around social impact as well and charity so I was like hey I think I understand how to do this what if we did a water balloon fight and then one of my buddies was like okay well you can’t just waste all this water there’s actually people that need water and I didn’t really know what he was talking about until I looked up and we learned about the water crisis and I learned that there are close to a billion people that don’t have access to clean water every day and I think we know about it more now because it’s kind of hit domestically with Flint, Michigan.
10:54
We’ve all heard about Flint. But before in 2011, it was very international, Sub -Saharan Africa. So what we did was we said, hey, we’re going to create a nonprofit. We’re going to bring 12 ,000 college students together.
11:06
They’re going to throw 300 ,000 water balloons. And if all 12 ,000 people donate five bucks, we can raise 60 grand to go build wells in Sub -Saharan Africa. And so we set out on this mission. And again, just really using the skills that I had just learned a couple years before with UI of going, okay, I know how to reach out to brands.
11:26
So the first thing I did, I said, okay, let me reach out to the current record holders. And so I sent them an email. They responded, hopped on the phone. And then I asked them, I said, hey, where’d you get your water balloons?
11:36
And they said, we got them from this company. So then I found out Lady’s email address and I emailed her. And I just, you know, and so just kind of kept like You know softly doing business development like back then I wouldn’t have called it business development But that’s basically what it was.
11:49
Yeah, just going in and just kind of telling people what you want to do and You know long story short we didn’t end up doing the water balloon fight And so you know cried for probably three days after that got a lot of momentum But just like logistically, you know trying to bring 12 ,000 college students and you know We didn’t think through that level of detail again.
12:12
I’m only 19 years old And so just some things just you don’t know what you don’t know But we we have helped 3 ,000 people get access to clean water Which was phenomenal and I think you know there’s a good lesson of going you know Hey, like just because you know what you think you want it didn’t work out like you know Just keep keep searching for for the real impact but yeah, that was that was a That was sophomore year college up until probably you know the fourth year So probably second third year college really doing that I want to say hats off to you for for not waiting around for a a big brand or You know a university to try to make a global impact.
12:53
It was it was literally a guy from Memphis traveled to Atlanta and had just ideas and ambition to to do something with that and obviously You know knowing you for a long time You’re a fun loving guy as long as you’re having fun you’re you’re living and if you can do that with college kids and raise money I mean you you’ve got the you’ve got the golden key to do to a massive social campaign and hats off to you for you know, just having the the confidence and courage to step out of You know most college students or even grown adults now don’t have the confidence to even approach something like that They rely on big brands and corporations to try to quote -unquote, you know Help people around the world and have these global change and obviously it’s you know, it’s a big PR thing, but yeah You know you were that wasn’t your interest that wasn’t what?
13:44
you’re doing it for you, you’re doing out your heart and want to do something fun for the college kids. And so I think that just speaks to who you are, man. And it’s taken you as a character down this huge path of getting you into the startup space.
13:59
But no, I mean, I think, you know, for, like you said, we just didn’t know what we’re doing. I didn’t set out going like, Oh, I want to make a million dollars. I think there was one thing that was interesting.
14:11
I applied for a Google internship, and I thought I was going to get it because I was like, Oh, my YouTube partner, like we made YouTube videos and Google YouTube. So I’m definitely going to get this.
14:20
And I got rejected. And I remember that feeling that that sucks. So I do remember going like, Okay, this is going to, this is going to be my internship, you know, like I won’t have to go through this again.
14:32
Right? I’m going to like create something that’s, you know, it’s going to be undeniable that you want me next. So I remember that being a thing. But yeah, I mean, you know, I think you to your point, always having fun, right?
14:47
Was also something that’s always stuck with me. And so I think it’s a nature of, you know, just job history and experiences. I think, you know, people are a collection of their experiences, right? And so my first job was, you know, kicking around with my bare feet and like, you know, makeshift pajamas out of a taekwondo mat.
15:09
You know, that was my first job instead of being like, you know, behind a deep fryer at a Chick -fil -A or something. And so what I learned from the water project was that we got really close, right?
15:19
Like I was, you know, having conversations with Pepsi’s, you know, digital marketing team and their like sponsorships team. And, you know, we were on the radio in Atlanta and there were kids across the country who were, you know, hitting me up about this.
15:33
And so, and just like YouTube, right? We had 20 ,000 subscribers on YouTube. We were getting paid on YouTube. We had, you know, we were shipping products to Germany for people who were, you know, doing stuff with us.
15:43
So it was one of those things where I could taste like, you know, this like magnitude of success and it just built confidence that like, oh, I can do this. So all that to say, all that to say, I actually went to a conference.
15:56
I had a teacher send me on to a conference and on the plane ride back, I remember I had all these business cards and I was like, okay, you know, done the water thing twice. We’ve kind of failed and I need to like really find an internship and find a job because that’s what everyone else is like stressing about on college right now.
16:15
So I had all these business cards from this conference and I was like, okay, I’m gonna just email all these people and, you know, go find a job. And I sit next to this guy and he starts talking about Qualcomm, which is a technology company out of San Diego.
16:28
I knew about Qualcomm because we had talked about Qualcomm on our technology YouTube. And I think we’ve got a huge player in the West Coast that also, they do software advancements as well as, don’t they have like, they have some hardware aspect to their company.
16:44
as well. Yeah, I’ll break it down. So, you know, you’re able to make phone calls, really 3G, all that stuff was really created because of Qualcomm. They had the patent on the chips to really facilitate that type of interaction.
16:58
And so I’m sitting next to this guy, we’re talking about Qualcomm, I start talking about technology, and then I start talking about my experiences. I start talking about Taekwondo a little bit, I talk about YouTube, and I talk about technology, and I talk about, you know, the water project we had just, you know, attempted.
17:14
And by the end of the plane ride, he’s like, you deserve an internship. And so I was like, okay, I was like, okay, thanks. Let’s keep in touch. And so I followed up, I kept in touch, and lo and behold, my first internship was in San Diego.
17:29
Fast forward. sitting at a bar in San Diego and someone goes, have you heard of this app called Yikyak? And I was like, no, I haven’t heard of it. And they’re like, man, it’s a new app, it’s out of Atlanta, it’s blowing up, you said you’re from Atlanta, you should definitely check it out.
17:43
I had never heard of it, so I was like, hey, it must not be that popping. So I get back to Atlanta and I see these guys who started Yikyak and they are at a hackathon and they’re talking about their app and how they did it.
17:57
And so I’m listening to them talk and I’m like, yo, this is very similar to my YouTube days and the water days, right? You’re just sitting there, you’re hustling, you’re grinding, you’re doing stuff that doesn’t feel good, but it’s fun and you’re starting to see some success.
18:12
And so their story kind of resonated with me and I was like, yes, they’re talking my language. And then I saw them again and I was like, hey guys, I just did this water balloon fight thing and I failed miserably, but you guys have so many color students on your app that if you guys did this water balloon fight, it would make so much sense.
18:32
And you have like $85 million in funding from investors. I just needed $14 ,000 to put this whole thing together and I could barely get a thousand. So you guys have 85 million, you’re bound to do it, you should try it.
18:46
And so the guy gives me the- You got everything you need to succeed. Yeah, I’m like, you can do this 85 million times, you want to do it. And so he gives me his email and yeah, gets his email and I didn’t follow up, but then I ended up following up later and I was like, hey, I really would like an internship.
19:10
So this is a year after I did the whole plane ride internship. That was one year, this is the next year now. And I’m like, hey, I love an internship. And they’re like, hey, we actually have never hired an intern before, but come on in.
19:23
And at that moment, I joined the team, I was probably the 10th person on the team, first intern ever. And I was at my first venture back then. fact, quote unquote startup that you would read on TechCrunch.
19:35
That’s awesome. Wow. Yeah. So it was, it was a whirlwind. I mean, but it felt, it felt right. I mean, it felt right. Um, and like it was cool, right? I was going into the office and it was really cool because it was in Atlanta.
19:50
Um, and so it was one of those things where like when we were in that office, it was just like us against the world, right? It was like, I’m working on Yik Yak, right? And I get to see the behind the scenes and I get to, and again, it was, it was, I remember texting my mom saying like, this is a culmination of like almost everything I’ve ever done, right?
20:09
Just kind of seeing this, like how this operates. Um, and it was cool because I had the, I had the big company experience from Qualcomm, which is like, you know, massive thousands of employee experience where, you know, Yik Yak, they didn’t even have an intern program.
20:23
They didn’t even know what to. how to really onboard me for to be an intern. And I was like, yo, you guys, this is trash. Like, and so the first meeting, you know, my manager is like, what do you want to do first?
20:34
And luckily I had the experience. And luckily I had the experience where I was like, hey, I want to actually meet the whole team. And because I knew that I knew from my Qualcomm days, like, okay, who am I reporting to?
20:45
But then who was that person reporting to? And how does this all work together? Right? I know about startups and know about the app, but like, who’s the lead developer? Who’s the product designer? Who does the bugs?
20:55
Who, you know, and so we did that. It was only like, you know, 10 people, but I remember them being very impressed and them being like, who is this intern kid who just, you know, requested 25 minutes on my calendar?
21:07
Why am I talking to you? But it really, it really made two things happen. I think A, it let them know that I was serious about really making an impact in the company, but then B, it helped me understand just the lay of the land and just understand like, when I have a creative marketing idea, how does that actually impact the whole company, right?
21:30
And is that gonna inform a new product feature? Is that gonna require this? Is that gonna, you know, switch the messaging up where the PR team is trying to do? So that was a really cool moment to be inside that startup.
21:42
That’s crazy. I think I think I touched on this last podcast and this comes full circle with being kind of, you know, both Apple fanboys from back in the day is, you know, Steve Jobs, Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish, and just having not even considering that no is an answer, not even considering that there is a gray, it’s just, it’s all forward motion and putting it out there that you’re gonna do something and having the level of energy that you present, kind of putting that out in the universe.
22:15
I think just in general speaks to your success and how we in general just approach, you know, those that are moving forward to technology, how we’re moving forward. we approach and we see how we see things moving.
22:28
And whether you want to call it visionary or just kind of ahead of the curve, it’s just asking questions and staying hungry, staying foolish, I think is just so powerful to remember those words and know that even though you’re just a guy, you’re just an intern and you’re calling in to talk to the lead engineers, the lead developers on these projects, it just speaks to your character.
22:53
And I really respect that about you because you don’t approach, scooter, you don’t approach conversations and conflict with, oh, there could be a no. You’ve never done that. You’ve always say, this is the relationship I want to build.
23:09
And so I just ask for it. And nine times out of 10, they say, oh, sure, this guy sounds like pretty legit. He sounds like a friendly guy. And it just works. It’s a beautiful thing. Yeah, no, yeah, no, it’s been cool.
23:23
I mean, I think, you know. I think it’s always easier when you’re stepping back and like trying to assess it and like call it what it is. But like in the moment, you know, you’re just really moving. And to your point, you just kind of know what you wanna do and you just kind of go keep asking for it and try to add value as much as possible, right?
23:42
I think that that’s the key point there is like understanding that, hey, like I’m just as valuable at the table as the CTO, as the CEO, you know, I’m here, like I’m in the room, I’m on the payroll, I’m here.
23:57
I have an email access, right? And so if I didn’t want me here, then I probably wouldn’t be here. So the fact that I’m now here, how do I like add value in the way that I can best, right? And, you know, like be okay and confident in that.
24:13
I think when you, you know, it’s in it, I can say confidently too, that probably when I was at Yicac, my confidence was even higher than it probably had been, has been in the last like six months, right?
24:25
Transitioning to 2020 after you actually have a startup and you’re like even more on the front lines, right? But now, you know, coming out of that, you just kind of like shake it off and you rebuild.
24:34
And so there’s ebbs and flows, but you know, that’s a big, big fundamental key. So Yicac was a really cool app, not to get too ingrained with the history and the functionality of it, but basically it’s kind of an open forum app where people can add feedback and vote up and down on stats and, you know, we’ll leave links below.
24:54
Some articles about. Think Reddit, Reddit but anonymous. It was definitely, it was basically Reddit for this anonymous with no users. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good or bad. So you, after several, probably over a year or two, they hired several dozen employees and then eventually they folded.
25:12
And then you moved on to your next venture, Stepping Stone, which was in 2016. You wanna talk about that? Yeah, man. So, you know, at Yikak, I thought like, oh man, I’m about to get hired, right? Like I started when there was only barely 20 people here.
25:33
You guys now have like almost 100. I’m definitely gonna get hired, right? I’m gonna be the product marketing associate. I can’t wait. And so that didn’t happen. They said, okay, we actually don’t have space for you.
25:47
We kind of have space for you. It’s on a contract basis. So like, you know, we’ll pay you like, it was something like crazy amount, like 40 bucks an hour, like something crazy like that. And it’s like, we’ll pay you like 40, 50 bucks an hour.
26:01
And, but it’s only for three months. And so in my mind, I was like, oh, I’m just gonna, you know, do this until, you know, I go out to San Francisco and find a real job, you know? And then I got a call from a, you know, colleague, mentor, big brother, how do you want to call it?
26:18
Who had seen my work with Water Wars and was like, hey, there’s a startup. They’re starting in Atlanta. They’re about to go to San Francisco and go through this accelerator called Y Commator and they they need someone to really fill the marketing lane.
26:35
I think you can do it. And so on that phone call I said okay look man I just signed this deal with Yik Yak so I don’t want to let them down. I don’t want to go to work and quit tomorrow. Can I join you in a month?
26:48
And he said no. He said you got to make a decision like now. And so I said okay look if you can get it in writing I will join. Until then you know it’s kind of a soft no but if you get in writing I’m in.
27:01
So took them a week and a half to get it in writing. I think I collected a paycheck or two from Yik Yak and next thing you know I’m on a plane to San Francisco. You know about to go through Y Commator which which for me like I had again you know I was at Yik Yak right I was studying startups.
27:19
I knew I wanted to start a company and do startups right. I mean I had done YouTube and I had done this water project and I tasted what that success could look like and so I thought Yik Yak was like oh this is successful right.
27:31
$85 million in funding tens of thousands of users this is what success is. And then I also knew that like you know if you want to start a company then you probably would want to go through like a really nice accelerator like Y Commator.
27:45
And so when I wasn’t going to be able to really work at Yik Yak the way I probably wanted to I saw Y Commator as like the next best like not even next best but even better opportunity. It was like oh this is actually like better you know you’re actually getting closer to what you want to do right.
28:01
You actually don’t. So Y Commator is based out of San Francisco and they’re kind of an incubation for startups. Yeah so you spend three months in San Francisco. You know Y Commator is actually really good.
28:13
It’s like you know kind of the Harvard of accelerators. Some people would call it but you know they were the first investors in Airbnb and Dropbox. box as well. And so when you think about, so basically what happens is they accept, you know, 100 companies every batch and they say, okay, we’re going to give you 100 grand.
28:34
We’re going to invest in your company. Here’s 100, 100 grand. We’re going to take, you know, a small percentage of your company, but then you’re also going to like work with us for the next three months and we have some of the best mentors.
28:44
We’re going to bring in speakers. You have a massive network of other people who went through Y Comvator. So if you have a business that you’re trying to pitch to Airbnb, yo, here are the founders’ emails.
28:54
Go talk to them, right? They’re open to talking to, you know, other Y Comvator founders. And so it’s this, you know, network support system and just like incubator or accelerator, sorry, that says, you know, hey, we want to accelerate the growth.
29:08
We think we have a good idea. We think you have a good something. With these resources, this capital, this network, we can go take this from, you know, you’re maybe doing barely $10 ,000 a month to doing, you know, half million a year, right?
29:23
And revenue. Let’s go do that. Sure. So we are going to provide resources, connections, and just kind of the fuel to the fire to get this thing rolling down the tracks. And then you kind of take it from there.
29:36
For sure, for sure. And I’ll make sure we add this at the end in the show notes. But they’ve got a lot of information online about the advice they offer and the resources. And it’s amazing going through the program, for sure.
29:52
Awesome. So if anybody is looking to enter the startup space, that’s definitely kind of a go -to resource, you’d say? Yeah, for sure, right? I mean, I think there’s a lot of ways to launch a company.
30:04
And so a couple of the models you see are accelerators. And then you also have incubators, right? And so an accelerator is more like, again, accelerating growth. They’re usually three, maybe four months.
30:16
You get some cash in exchange for equity in your company. And you get access to resources, mentors, and they help you as you and your team scale the company, right? This is probably in the super early days.
30:30
You probably have a product. You maybe have a customer, probably not. And you’re just trying to figure out what works still. And then there’s also incubators would say, OK, hey, this incubator is a little bit longer.
30:44
We’re going to actually, you don’t really need a team. Like we have a team of designers and developers. We’re going to help you build this company with you together. You’re probably going to give up a little bit more equity in the company.
30:55
It’s going to be a little bit less of a more of a partnership. You’re more tied to them. Whereas the accelerator, you kind of leave after you’re done. And you go back into the world. But yeah. Awesome.
31:07
Thanks for describing the difference to those. I think that brings a lot of clarity to how people should think through their startup and which path they should take. So on this startup train, something that I’m so interested in is the whole culture around startup because typically just if you’re a technologist or hobbyist, you think of startup, you might have a negative or positive inkling or feeling kind of about how you deem startups.
31:36
I would love to because you’ve just been so involved with them and you’ve done two or three startups at this point, what is the culture of startups in 2019 and 2020? If you maybe dive into some tips and tricks and some of the things to kind of look out for when getting a startup and then for those looking to maybe they have an idea that they’re just itching to boost and get out there, how do you get started with all this?
32:02
Yeah, no, I mean startups are is the buzzword of like probably the decade, like the last two this decade coming up in the last one. I think one of the misconceptions and I think you just had to learn this is really like company building is what you’re doing right here building a company at the end of the day you’re building you’re you’re putting out a product.
32:26
Service you’re trying to go sell it for money you’re trying to go make you know some kind of margin on it you know make some money on it and it’s gonna be a company and so i think. You know movies and the mark zuckerbergs of the world and media have kind of like fantasize this like startup culture where it’s like oh yeah we have a startup which is very true right starting it up.
32:48
But those days are ugly those days are really ugly and like they’re not as glorious and as it as it seems right until you know it becomes a full fledged company with enough revenue that. You know the company stays you know in business for years and you have a runway and like you know the goal is to really you know create you know this like enterprise value and like.
33:12
Meaningful company meaning from revenue meaningful customers a meaningful product like that’s what you’re doing right that’s the that’s the you know thirty year forty year vision. Now on day one yes it is a startup and we’ve got to be scrappy and we can wear pajamas and we can you know you know work out of our buddies garage yes.
33:31
And so i think that’s like the first like just a mindset shift right around what are we actually doing because what you know what i like to say is like. You know these things can take a long time but then it can also happen very quickly where okay great we have an idea it’s kind of working and then oh wait you know like.
33:49
You know i imagine how many people right now right who had this like idea around virtual hangouts or virtual this or virtual that it was probably never really working no one was using it. And then all of last week everyone is now trapped in their homes quarantine from coronavirus and everyone’s like i need something virtual to host my clients or my this or my conference or my conference my gosh.
34:16
And now you’re you know and now you’re you’re. your product is like you have a wait list of customers, right? And this just changed overnight. And so I think it’s important to just have that mindset that, like, yes, we’re having fun.
34:33
Yes, it’s maybe a little bit more relaxed than a corporate job, quote unquote. But in the end, I’m here to go create economic value for myself, hopefully for my employees and my team. If you plan on taking investors, you then have a legit fiduciary responsibility to create value for them.
34:55
And it’s like by law, right? So I mean, it’s just a thing to think about. And not saying it takes the phone out of it, but that’s something to think about. Yeah. Yeah, I was saying something about startups that I think are so fascinating is it all comes down to market value.
35:12
And a lot of the startups that are out there right now and have been in the past decade, a lot of those guys are… So far ahead of the curve, as far as the audience, that it’s a brilliant idea. And it all comes down to timing, right?
35:26
Timing is everything. So they could literally have one of the best ideas. And you think of someone that might have come up with a virtual conference 10 or 15 years ago, people looked at him like, man, that’s a weirdest idea.
35:36
Like no one’s going to buy that. If you were to carry that concept through and continue to refine it and build an audience, I mean, here we are going through this craziness of COVID -19. And everybody can’t get enough of virtual software and trying to figure out how to stay at home to spread this disease.
35:52
Or toilet paper. Yeah, whatever it is, you can, yeah. Exactly. To get you through the week. So I think people have so many great ideas, so many great app ideas, and something to keep in mind whenever you’re looking to do a startup is to think, is the world ready for it?
36:13
And if you go back and look at, is it an inspirational film, the social network, back in 2010, those guys literally did it out of the dorm room. They were hustling, just trying to figure out several ideas that failed or got shut down.
36:31
And eventually, he figured out a solution. He figured out what worked. And if that was an exclusive network of people, and then it got caught on to college students the time because all college students were getting laptops.
36:45
And again, that’s the son of the times with timings everything, with people getting laptops instead of having to go to the library to check on, get on the internet. And so there was this huge wave of everybody getting laptops and to have something that connects everybody on a college campus, it would have been a crazy idea if he would have done it eight years before.
37:06
And now it’s a multi trillion dollar company. And so it’s fascinating to me that it’s not necessarily about the idea or the network. It’s kind of all of these stars have to align for a lot of these stars.
37:19
startups to be these massive companies. Yeah, I know. I mean, you’re hitting around the money. Added investor, one of my first investors in the last venture would always say, we just kind of got to be out in the ocean, right?
37:32
And catch the wave. It’s like, you want to go surf. Well, we can’t surf if you’re sitting on the beach and you’re scared to go out there. So that’s number one. So we got to go out there. We got to build.
37:44
We got to go put a product out to the market. We got to go test it. But then also, let’s not be rigid. Let’s be fluid enough to stay out there. And so we know we’re going to wipe out, but we got to paddle back out there.
37:56
Sometimes we might just be sitting out there waiting. But then, boom, to your point, a market thing changes. Apple comes out with a new feature that allows something different. Or boom, there’s a national pandemic that changes the way the society has to live.
38:10
Or. boom, there’s like an event that happens that changes the landscape of this, right? Or you just never really know, but like we need to be out in the ocean, right? Because the ones that are out in the ocean actually catch the wave.
38:20
And so for two- You can ride the waves and then throw in the sharks. You know, it’s yeah, and if we’re just too scared to like, to be out there, then we’re never gonna hit it. You know, we’re never gonna hit it.
38:31
That’s a beautiful analogy for exactly what, you know, what startups have to go through because it’s a rocky terrain. Yeah, no, it’s, it’s, it’s, it sucks, right? It’s easier said than done. It sucks to pivot your company, right?
38:44
I imagine there are many startups right now that are probably unfortunately laying off their, you know, their team right now, you know, I mean, these things are not fun, but they are, you know, part of being out there in the ocean.
38:58
And you have to, you know, be ready and ready to, to like face those moments. And it’s not saying that it’s always you that has to do that, right? That’s why you have a team and you maybe have someone that helps you do these things, but you know, it’s not all peaches and lollipops and rainbows.
39:17
There are a good moment, but yeah, I love pecans, but, but it is, you know, it is rewarding for sure. Awesome. So can you give us maybe some just quick bulleted items? And I know we’re gonna have show notes and stuff that will elaborate a lot of these as well as resource and links that people can dive into to gather more insight and knowledge into this subject.
39:38
But can you give us a little bit of bulleted links on kind of how, how to get started? What are some things that we need to know to get started in the startup space and what are the first steps, you know, kind of what, I know we have ideas, right?
39:49
So you gotta have an idea. Yeah. So, you know, having an idea is definitely, is definitely one thing, right? It’s, and so, you know, again, a lot of it is, is testing and iterating fast. So when you think about startups, it’s, you know, how do we go fast, right?
40:06
And not every company needs to move us fast as a technology startup. So I’m really going off of my experience with technology startups. But not everything has to move as fast as a technology startup, but you want to move faster.
40:22
You don’t want to spend time on something that’s just not going to work because these things are hard. There’s a lot of energy, there’s a lot of time, there’s a lot of resources, a lot of money, a lot of late nights.
40:32
And so if we’re working on something that’s not about to be a big thing, then why are we working on it that hard? Let’s just go. Let’s keep thinking through ideas. But to your point, first is the idea.
40:43
I think finding the customer, who is the person that’s going to use or user or the product? What’s the product and who would use it? And then let’s go test and see if that’s actually true. Right? And so, you know…
41:02
There’s a lot of resources out there that probably will tell you to do it in a lean startup way with building an MVP. And again, that’s just iterating. So it’s not saying, hey, let’s go to Garage and let’s go build the perfect website and the perfect app, and then give it to our customer.
41:18
It’s saying, hey, let’s go build the bare bones minimum for them to actually use it. Okay, cool. That’s three screens, a couple buttons, and just enough to get some type of behind it to do some market research.
41:29
Yeah, for them to say like, cool, I’m in. And then from there, you know, let’s keep building on that. I think another way, even zooming out of the weeds a little bit, I think people should, you know, convince themselves first that they can do this.
41:45
And then after they convince themselves, go convince a team to kind of go probably be around them and help them do this. Then after that, you kind of go convince your users to either use your product or give you money for the product.
42:00
And then you go try to convince investors that they should invest in you. So yourself, your team, your users, you know, you can probably flip those maybe, you know, your users and your team, but then investors like last, I think so many people are trying to convince, you know, investors before they’ve even really convinced themselves that they are in this for the long haul to go start a company.
42:23
Or you find people who just have that order flipped where, you know, they’re trying to go convince, mainly as investors, but, you know, again, like convince yourself and say, okay, hey, like, I believe like this should happen.
42:36
This should work. Okay, I don’t know how to go build the company, or maybe I know how to go build it. I don’t know how to go market it. Let me go convince someone to come on my team and be my salesperson or be my business development lead or go be my CTO.
42:48
Okay, cool. Now that I got my squad, let’s go build the product. And then once you go build the product, let’s go put it in the hands of the right people who need to use it. Okay, let’s go listen to them.
42:57
Let’s go convince them that we know what we’re doing and that we can go build what they want. Once we did that, okay, let’s look. Is it working? Cool, it’s working, there’s traction, they’re paying me.
43:07
Okay, let me go convince an investor that I’m able to make $40 ,000 a quarter right now, but if they were to, if we were to work together and get some investment, we could blow this out to $100 ,000 a quarter.
43:20
Right? That’s kind of the strategic high -level mindset. I mean, there’s a lot of things in the weeds, but I think that’s a good start framework. So there’s a few other things that we want to touch on as far as dark culture goes, as well as like assistance for women and minorities in this space.
43:40
But one of the things that I’m so fascinated about is how do you, like after you get the idea, you build a product team, you kind of, you do market strategy, you have this kind of MVP and you’re looking for funding.
43:50
I mean, what kind of guts does it take to step into a room with a PowerPoint in your team and ask for a million dollars? Just as easy to ask for a million as it is to ask for $10 ,000. Right. One of the big things you have to understand is really the economics of the game you’re playing.
44:05
Right. When you’re talking to an investor that has invested in high growth tech companies, right, they’re really incentivized to go find the big retard. Right. The Airbnb, the Uber, the Dropbox. Right.
44:19
What’s going to go be, what’s going to be go worth a billion dollars? And what’s going to 10X my money? What’s going to really, even better than 10X, right? If I give you $20 million, what kind of return am I going to get from that?
44:34
Right. And so to a point to where it’s like, I actually can’t spend time on anything that’s actually not going to yield that kind of return. Right. So if you really understand venture capitalist, man, they see thousands of deals a year.
44:51
Thousands, like literally a year, like coming across their emails, coming across their tables, they’re going to do hundreds of pitches, and they’re probably going to only invest in like seven or eight companies a year.
45:02
Right. So they’re saying no way more than they’re saying yes. And they’re betting on like seven or eight. And of those seven or eight, maybe, you know, four or five don’t pan out. You know, one is going to kind of get them their money back at even and then one hopefully will be a big success years later down the road.
45:21
Right. And so that’s the mindset of someone that is, that’s even stroking a million dollar check. Right. And so you’ve got to go in there going like, hey, not only do, you know, I have the idea and the product, but I also have the team that’s committed to get you that big return.
45:38
Right. That’s what’s over playing. We’re here for the long haul to go catch that big wave. Right. We’re not here to go do something that is going to be small. And so I think, you know, people kind of underestimate that, but it’s like people don’t want to, if I would have said back in the day, you know, I want to just throw a water balloon fight on campus.
45:56
Okay, cool. Let’s throw a water balloon fight. You want to go through the world’s largest water balloon play? Are you crazy? Right, right, right. Yeah, you kind of are. Let’s go get it and go home. You kind of are crazy, but I want to help you.
46:07
I want to help you actually do that. I want to actually, I want to send you 300 ,000 balloons for free. This lady sent me 300 ,000 water balloons for free, right? Just because you asked. Yeah, but also the idea was big enough to where I was like, oh, that’s kind of cool.
46:21
Like, I’m down, you know? So, so yeah, that’s, I can go deeper. We can have a hold of the podcast on going big, but yeah. Let’s do it. I’m coming next episode. Yeah, part two, volume two. So, so before we jump into marketing trends of 2020 and some maybe insight and tips to helping our listeners, what are some some assistance and programs that women and minorities can can capitalize in this space?
46:48
Yeah, I know that’s a very important question. I’m glad you actually brought that up, to be honest. I think, you know, oftentimes, you know, I think… You know, we just people get overlooked right and you know, I think it’s down to a simple as hey, I’m right -handed and We made this whole thing great for right -handers, right?
47:10
There’s gonna be a lot of left -handed people who are like what the hell like what is this is uncomfortable for me, right? I’m less than that. Yeah, can I can I please you know? And so there’s lots of subsets of people and I think it extends past race.
47:24
I think you know goes into gender I think there’s obviously people with you know chronic disabilities and just kind of get overlooked And so there are a lot of great great great spaces. I think one that’s interesting if you have a company And you know to your point women and minority led there’s a new fund out there collab capital they’re out of Atlanta and We’ll put them in the show notes and they’re really focused on giving tools to people who just you know Probably historically don’t have the access to this information don’t come from a background where there are you know Their parents are business owners or they went to school with kids who you know went to college And so you know, there’s just a lot of resources out there Yeah, so the ton of opportunities.
48:07
He’s gonna ask put yourself out there for sure for sure Awesome, man. I think that’s super insightful You know, I hope that you pause to take a take a breath because my brain is just full of startup knowledge now And I’m you know, it gets me excited about just thinking about you know, I did is that I have floating around for for startups and Just being able to just hear someone talk about I think just bring so much value and your level of confidence about how you approach things I think just Drives people to make those decisions that they step out of their comfort zone that that maybe before this podcast They they didn’t have the confidence or the the know -how or just the umph to kind of put that push them to that next level to say Yeah, yeah, this is something I need to believe in and and to take the proper steps and and to follow resources in the show knows to do so so You know, I’m just so excited up to see to see to have you back on the podcast again and something that is so fascinating to me is marketing trends and they are constantly changing.
49:07
And I would love to get your insight on to what you saw back in 2019 and what to expect in 2020 that we can kind of get a heart of the curve on. Yeah, no, definitely. To Eli’s point, kind of a marketer by trade, right?
49:22
And that’s probably what I’m most excited about is marketing when it comes down to it. And so, you know, I think we’re seeing a lot of different changes in marketing. I kind of joked with him earlier that everything that I think I was probably going to say is probably out the window now that you think about this kind of new, you know, new world that we’re about to be living in post coronavirus.
49:47
But a lot of things are happening. I think, you know, if you’re from a marketing standpoint, if you are building something digitally, You really want to start building a community around your product.
49:58
This can happen not just social media type companies, but if you’re doing software B to B type of work. I think most brands are able to build a community. What I mean by community is being able to create a safe space for people to communicate and talk and share values.
50:20
Like a real deal community. It’s like, I’m safe in my community. It’s people that we get along and we think together and we ideate together. This is happening across the internet. Whether it be in Reddit forms, on Twitter, on Instagram, on YouTube, there are so many different.
50:39
One of the awesome clients that I love bragging about is their Ryan and Rose. What they do is it’s a very simple business. They build extremely cute and adorable pacifiers and little tags and things for the babies.
50:54
Literally this lady built this thing out of her house. She has devoted $0 to ads or retargeting campaigns. She’s been solely dependent on Instagram, Instagram stories to spread her message and spread her brand.
51:08
She’s recently launched in Target, going to go global with the Target brand. She has over a million Instagram followers. Yeah. Yeah, I know. I mean, it just shows that community is so rich. Yep. Again, that’s a social, more consumer focus.
51:27
She probably sees a lot more chatter, but I think you’re going to start seeing a lot of people try to get to community. The idea is just how do I really get to the real user that’s going to use it, that’s going to evangelize my product, that’s going to share it, that’s going to help me ideate on top of it.
51:46
That is going to, that’s strong and that’s going to stay with you. During these tough times, imagine there’s probably a lot of places that are like, Damn, where do we go from here? Right? We just have to shut down business.
51:58
Everyone’s at home for two weeks. Right. But when you start to have that like online community, they’re like, hey, we’re still rocking with you when you come back. You know, we’re still going to, you know, we’re still going to be here in full force with you rather than having to go spend marketing dollars.
52:11
I think you’re also going to start seeing social media platform shift to like more creator first. And so what I mean by that is, you know, you can probably think about, you know, your style, so your auntie or your friend who has a corporate job, but now it’s starting to make some side money doing stuff on the internet.
52:30
They’re a blogger, they’re a YouTuber. They do reviews. They, you know, do cooking tutorials, right? They kind of have their passion that they have and like what’s going to start happening. Yeah, the internet is going to start rewarding you for that passion.
52:45
So if you think about it, the internet was, you know, it started rewarding you for your time at first, right? Hey, your time and your extra, your extra time and your extra space, right? I’ve got extra room in my car and I have extra time.
52:56
So I’m going to pick you up with Uber. I’ve got an extra bedroom. I’m going to let you stay at my house at Airbnb. And so there are a lot of these platforms that like really rewarded you for having just extra time and extra space and extra stuff, right?
53:09
And we could like share it with other people. Now you’re going to start seeing the internet where people for their passion. So, oh, you know how to cook well, you know how to style people well, you know, how to do graphic design well.
53:19
You know how to travel the world on a budget really well, right? Okay, I want to learn from you. So like the internet is going to help you earn passive income off of providing and sharing that knowledge that you’re passionate about.
53:34
And so you’re seeing it already with platforms like Patreon, of course. I think, you know, TikTok is another example again of, you know, if you’re going to be, if you’re going to be creating something, you know, creating it with the creator in mind, with that passionate person in mind first.
53:50
So like Facebook, for example, didn’t really create the business model or even Instagram wasn’t really created so that, you know, someone could really make money. It was just, you know, post your photos and then we’re going to figure out how to make money on this, but like not the person you’re making the photos.
54:06
So now it’s awkward to put the link in the bio. I need to swipe up. It’s awkward to make money on Facebook or on YouTube because it’s just not YouTube, but on, on Instagram because it just wasn’t built for me to like do that.
54:17
And I think you’re going to start seeing people who win. They’re going to start building their platforms with the end creator in mind. So, you know, an example is like if I’m building something for a wardrobe stylist, right, um, to make money off of their knowledge of how to put together good outfits and that’s going to be an app or a website.
54:35
I’m going to build features and make it really easy for the stylist to take payments via PayPal or Apple pay or whatever method or, you know, cryptocurrency. I’m going to make it really easy for them to organize their clients and emails.
54:50
them and own their email addresses. I’m going to make it really easy for people to download that stylus tips and share it across the web. If you think about TikTok, what’s interesting about that platform is I can download someone’s TikTok and then I can put it on my Twitter so now it goes even more viral.
55:08
But when you look at that, it has the creator’s TikTok username in the corner. So again, just small things that keep the creator first in mind. You’re going to start seeing that. So if you’re out there building for social consumer marketing, that’s I think a big key.
55:25
Sure. So if I did a Google search, I’m not going to see some scooter TikToks out there? No, man. No TikToks yet. But it’s a pretty phenomenal. It’s a pretty phenomenal. phenomenal platform the creativity is rich.
55:38
I mean it’s funny I remember when Vine came out and I remember people were like you know what is this Vine thing and you know like all these young kids are on Vine and now I feel that way. What are these young kids on TikTok?
55:49
Like what the heck? So it’s a little scary to think that I might be like you know not too old for TikTok but I’m definitely wasn’t the first on the wave and I just can I can only imagine what you know next March when we’re sitting here talking what’s gonna be out next and it’s like yeah I’ve never even heard of that.
56:08
Yeah I think people that are in a space and they start to get comfortable with a certain platform they are I wouldn’t say threatened or vulnerable to it but they feel like oh I’m not gonna do that that’s kind of like I like Facebook I like Instagram I’m familiar with that I think it’s not necessarily a tendency of us getting older and the new generation coming up with these new apps and stuff but I think it’s a big change and teenagers and stuff they’ll jump social media network to network every year and we saw that with you know we saw that with you know influencers and teenagers getting on Instagram and now they’re now they’re off Instagram then they went to Musically and then Musically I bought out and now it’s TikTok and then you know all the the younger folks got off Facebook because they said Facebook is for older folks it’s you know you start to see these little these niches pop up and these communities based on demographic and you know looking to build a brand you got to obviously look at was it demographic on that platform and it’s just something that I can pitch to versus no I want to mention this last podcast but instead of oh I’m gonna go off and build a random website and hopefully people find me.
57:15
Yeah no for sure right and and I think you know that’s the beautiful part too of like you know if you can also think about the opposite of that right is you know we’re also getting older right and so how is life gonna look when we are 70 80 90 right what platforms are we gonna be using to track our medicine to keep up with our grandkids and great kids to, you know, be Alzheimer’s or whatever diseases we’re having, right?
57:42
And so how do you start building for that as well? So yeah, I mean, like you’re totally right, the landscape is always changing. And I think, but, but there’s like a lot of opportunity in that, right?
57:53
I think, you know, again, the time that comes around, I just want to have my VR headset on. I want to Netflix and chill all day, you know, consume my love at first sight episodes, and, and just hang out and pop my meds, you know, Yeah, look, that’s a simple life, man.
58:10
Simple, simple, simple life. It’ll get there, man. It’s going to get there at some point. Scooter, I’m so appreciative of you coming on. I want to I want to wrap this episode up with some rapid fire questions.
58:24
And it sounds like, you know, there’s, there’s much more to dive into it. And we’d love to have you on for a future episode. So let’s let’s get into it. You’re ready for some rapid fire. Let’s go. Let’s go.
58:36
I’m really let’s do all right. What is your favorite social platform and why? Twitter hands down Twitter hands down the conversation on there is comical informative I get my news from Twitter. I think it’s it’s it’s such a powerful platform So Twitter hands down all day.
58:56
No no IGTV No, no, no Twitter. It’s easy to use. It’s just like it’s just it’s quick It’s just like it’s good every time I I might pay for it like I like if Twitter came out and said like 799 pro option I might have to You know cut out my Netflix and like switch it to Awesome, he’s hooked.
59:18
So what is the best way to start networking? The best way to start networking I mean, you know, there are people out there that are doing what you want to do and are talking about what you want, right?
59:29
You’re not the only person that wants to go start a company or that wants to go work on something in this space And so I would say the first thing is really go connect with those types of people, right?
59:39
If we wanted to go to the NBA we would go to a million sports camps and go be around people and travel around And so I think that’s part of it and you know, beautiful thing now a lot of the digital So, you know, go find again Twitter chats or Reddit chats or forums or you know Is there a technology group that meets every month at a local brewery in your hometown?
59:58
I’m pretty sure there is right who has started a company that’s done well Who is also from your hometown? I mean like these are great places to kind of go start and go just reach out and say hey, you know, my name is blah blah blah I’m currently building this And you know and like network properly.
01:00:17
So don’t just say I want to pick your brain That’s probably the you know top worst thing you could say but be you know specific like hey, you know I think I’m thinking about building this product I’m having a hard time around X topic right can we talk for 30 minutes this week to talk more about?
01:00:35
about it. If not, you know, hey, who else do you know that could help me? I think what’s even better is just ask the question in the email. I think, I think in your to your point, you know, Eli and Kenny about, you know, being out in the ocean, so many people spend their time like just waxing their surfboard and like dreaming about being out there when it’s like, yo, just stop trying to like go get lunch with it, like ask them like, hey, I have a problem with X.
01:01:01
Can you help me do boom, boom, boom? Here are the three things I need help with, right? And then they might say, oh, wow, here’s a book I read. You should go meet this person and watch this Ted talk.
01:01:11
Right? You know, just go ahead and just ask, right? Like, you know, there are a lot of like people, it doesn’t have to be perfect or just more so like you don’t have to like, I like this call like my again, another gym from one of my investors, but you know, let’s get a home run one base at a time.
01:01:30
Right. Um, and so yeah, I know what we want. I know we want to do home run, but like one base at a time. And so I need to go ask that question and go meet that person. You go do this and do that and like, just, just go attack.
01:01:41
Um, so yeah, long answer. I love that, um, that follow up you said, which if someone says, you know, I know it’s not necessarily a no to you. Maybe they just don’t have time right now to, to, to talk or invest time right now.
01:01:54
Or maybe they’re just busy or a different headspace, but to say, okay, maybe you don’t have time, but is it, can you connect with me? Somebody else, do you, who else can I talk to about this? And, you know, they’re going to have wisdom and knowledge connections in this space.
01:02:05
And so instead of just taking a no for a no, kind of rolling off of that, letting that, that no roll off you and say, okay, how else can I turn this into a further networking possibility? And that, that, um, that sense of hunger, I think comes across and is addicting.
01:02:19
And people are like, Oh wow, that, that kid’s got, that kid’s got heart. The kids got grind and, um, you know, you know, that they’ll probably reconsider and possibly even reach out back to you if you just shoot him an email.
01:02:30
So I love that. Um, so you mentioned, you know, they might advertise, uh, or, or mention a book or recommend a book. What is one book that has changed your life? Hmm. Uh, there’s this book called Crucial Conversations.
01:02:44
Um, really good book. Uh, I used to shy away from conflict. Um, so when you’re, you know, running a startup, we have to make decisions every day, right? Down from like what color should the logo be to, you know, product decisions to are we going to reach out to investors for money?
01:03:01
Like you got to make clear, concise, you have to make clear decisions every day. And a startup and you have to make, you know, you want to make the right ones. And sometimes you’re not going to make the right ones, but the big thing is making a clear decision.
01:03:13
Um, I think where shit goes wrong is when it’s just like in decision and you kind of wait a week to make a decision, uh, because it’s just not pretty, right? And I think this book also extends past being in a startup, but also like if you have a wife or a husband or you have a child.
01:03:30
right you kind of understand like okay we got to make decisions here we can’t sit in this angst or this weird funk of us not you know making decisions and having difficult conversations that lead to these decisions right and so that was a big book for me that it’s called crucial conversations it just gave me a lot of like cool phrases and tools and and just you know how to think about oh shit I got to go tell Kenny that like this idea is not gonna work you know and I know he loves it and so like how do I go approach that situation when I know that it’s like maybe emotional for him or you know like he’s been thinking about this since the beginning and now we got to cut it like you know like how do I let him know this you know and so super important for anyone that I think wants to be in startups because like you know it’s just like you have to have those conversations and you got to have them daily quickly and they got to be clear And so that book is one that changed my life.
01:04:31
I went from not being confident about having difficult conversations to the next day, like, I’m ready. What’s up? Let’s argue. Yeah. I have a tendency to kind of shy away from a confrontation. So I’m totally going to check that out.
01:04:47
And then I’ll be in the show notes. Yeah, no, please. Please check it out. We can definitely talk about it. I’d love to talk to you. Cool. Well, I do have a few wrap up questions for you too, Scooter.
01:04:58
So my first one. What’s your best piece of marketing advice for somebody who’s just starting to get into it or wants to get into marketing? Ooh, best piece of marketing advice. I think some of it is like, go study some of the brands you admire.
01:05:15
Marketing is everywhere. Everyone’s marketing. Some of the best companies do it subtly. They do it repeatedly. And so go look at some of those brands and really think deeply of why you use those brands or why you lean towards picking that up.
01:05:33
And just then tie it back to a strategy, a marketing kind of like strategy. You can find those on the web, whether it be Apple or McDonald’s or whatever you’re eating or using. I think another thing too is study people.
01:05:50
Marketing is really fundamentally about people. And so you’re not doing anything new that hasn’t been done before. I think what’s interesting is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the March on Washington.
01:06:04
Thousands of people, so many people showed up to hear him say, I have a dream speech. We’re just phenomenal. He had that happen without any Twitter, without any Facebook, without any of that stuff. So how did he get tens of thousands of people to show up and travel?
01:06:20
Not by plane, but by bus and by car and without cell phones. And you could have all these tools and resources. in technology and you could barely have 40 people show up to your event, right? Or you could barely sell three t -shirts in a week, right?
01:06:38
And this man had. And so like what was that? And I think it really was that the essence was just understanding people and humans and how do you unite people around an idea and then move them. So study psychology, study sociology, human behavior, you know, there’s a lot of things that are directly tied to marketing in that.
01:07:00
Awesome, man. Really good advice. Speaking of advice, have you received any great tips or what was your best piece of advice from like an investor or a VC? Oh, man, so, so many. And I think I appreciate them now that I’m not in the company.
01:07:18
When I was in the company, it’s like, I didn’t want to hear any of this, like stop telling me this stuff. You know, I think one of the biggest things someone told me was, you know, again, same investor who kind of told me a lot of this stuff.
01:07:32
As you can see, I spent a lot of time with him. He said, you know, people can handle bad news if you give them enough time to process it. And so, you know, oftentimes in startups, and I think it goes back to crucial conversations and just like just all around communication, right?
01:07:51
Like, you are trying to build this company. You’re trying to build this thing with team, employees, investors, your wife or your husband is supporting you, your family supporting you, your friends are using your product.
01:08:03
And so just all around communication about expectations, about what’s working, what’s not working is really important. And so, you know, when things don’t go wrong, like, you know, try to go alert the necessary people right away.
01:08:17
And, you know, don’t make it sound like it’s a fire and like, you need to like put everything down. But like, you know, how do you have constant clear communication? Is that weekly updates with your investors or monthly updates?
01:08:28
Where every month you say, here’s how much cash I have in the bank. Here’s what we’re doing. Here’s how many customers I have. Next month you say the same thing. Next month you say the same thing. So by month four, when you say, oh, three of my customers pulled out because of coronavirus and I don’t have enough money to pay my employees past April, right, that investor now has enough updates to see what was going right and what was going wrong, right?
01:08:53
Instead of just emailing them out of the blue going, hey, remember me? Yeah, I’m out of money now. You’re like, what the heck? What happened? Like, how did this happen? Like, how did you let this get to this level?
01:09:03
And so, so yeah, so people can handle bad news if you just give them enough time to kind of like process it and deal with it and try to figure it out. There’s so many more gems, but that was one that I think I’ll share.
01:09:18
Right on. Well, one last one last one that I’m interested to hear about since you’re such a tech head. is what is your first impressions of the Cybertruck? First impressions of the Cybertruck was, do I have $100 in my bank account to reserve my spot?
01:09:41
No, I mean, yeah, no, it was great, man. I think they’re doing some real cool innovation. It’s a little weird looking. It doesn’t have side mirrors, I don’t know, but it was legit. And I think, you know, kind of inspiring too.
01:09:59
Again, sitting in like an entrepreneur lane, right? That is kind of inspiring that this guy keeps making hits. He treats, in the words of Jay -Z, right? He treats every song like his first song, right?
01:10:18
And he’s not afraid to like, Fail and mess up but like he keeps putting care and attention and he like just keeps producing too, right? He’s not like resting on his like past wins and I think that’s just like mad inspiring.
01:10:33
It’s like yeah I want to create something like that Innovating and I have a team like that and have confidence like that So I you know that’s it’s more than to me then which again I think you know Eli and I saw that with Steve when he was coming out with like a new Apple product every June It was like damn the iPhone 3gs and now the 4 and now FaceTime and now the iPad and it was just so much stuff And it was like okay great like let’s keep let’s keep that pace too.
01:10:59
So Well, I get one. I don’t know but yeah Yeah, we can only dream right yeah So scooter, thank you so much for coming on this episode. This has been a whirlwind of a podcast and I I’ve Gotten so much out of it just listen to you and your story and I haven’t even checked out the links and the show notes Yes, I’m excited to just hear those resources and and have you on for another episode and For those listening, obviously you’ve made it this far.
01:11:28
So you need to go ahead and subscribe That’s the first thing and if you have an episode that you would like for us to cover or if you would if you’re a Techhead like us you have a passionate subject you want us to You want to talk to us about then email us at podcast at plattpixel .io And or you can hit up on Twitter.
01:11:45
It’s underscore plattpixel. So scooter. Where can they find you online? Yeah, man Very active on both, you know Twitter and Instagram So, you know scooter Taylor is probably there, you know those things.
01:11:59
I’ve got a website scooterTaylor .com and then my email is just scooter as scooterTaylor .com And you know, I’ll say this and I you know, whoever probably takes the advice is gonna be the winner But you know, it’s really Important again to just like go out into the ocean and start and some of that first starting points is just dropping the first email.
01:12:21
And so I think there are a lot of people that people want to go talk to and go, how do I go slide that person’s DMs or like, how do I, you’ll be surprised how many investors, how many people, you know, these guys are glued to their, these people are glued to their emails or glued to their phones.
01:12:38
So you email someone on a Saturday morning at 7am, they’re probably up, you know, and they’re probably like up, you know, on their laptop and they’re going to get an email and they’re going to respond.
01:12:48
I know the founder of Y Comator like is so big on that you could email him right now about your idea and that you’re thinking about applying and he would give you some feedback. And so my email is scooter at scootertaylor .com, you know, I pray and hope that over the next several years we’ll get some more wins and more accomplishments.
01:13:06
But even before then I’m down to help people now. So just drop me an email and, you know, down to just talk through some of the stuff and hopefully help. Yeah, that’s gonna make Scooter, you know, Scooter, I was obviously already, you know, with this single episode, single -handedly motivated, motivated me to rethink startups and marketing for this year and trends and tactics to take on for our clients at Plaid Pixel.
01:13:33
And, you know, please, please, if you feel inspired by this episode or want someone to talk to in the marketing space, reach out to Scooter. He’s very good about getting back to you. He’s very active on Twitter and Instagram.
01:13:43
Obviously, you know, throw him a, throw him an email and if it’s something that you guys need a marketing consultant or anything like that, you know, he’s got you covered. He’s a great guy and I’m done for years.
01:13:52
So thank you so much Scooter for coming on the episode. Do you have any closing, closing thoughts for us? No, man. I think just for everyone, just like literally believing yourself, you know, I, I, Jay -Z said the best ones.
01:14:06
No one has it figured out. Everyone’s doing the scared. So you might look at people who you think are crushing it, but they also have doubts about themselves and they’re trying to figure it out and things come up for them as well.
01:14:18
So, you know, just believe, believing yourself and, and, you know, if you don’t believe in yourself, then it’s hard for anyone else to. So that’s my like biggest advice. Once we, once you get over that hurdle, then we can talk about marketing and investors and all that other stuff.
01:14:32
Awesome. Well, thanks Scooter. Awesome. All right, man. See you guys. Thanks Scooter. Peace.