Net Workers: Recent Episodes
Networkers
Net Workers is for anyone with an Entrepreneurial streak.. How to start and make the jump, mental models, tips and tricks - from those that have been there and done that, as well as plenty we're brainstorming on-the-fly. If you enjoy talking/thinking/starting new businesses this is the podcast for you.
James & Marcelo discuss Tesla's business model of selling Carbon Offset Credits to their competitors, mega-startup streaming service Quibi shutting down, and a great follow-along YouTube and Twitter account called 'One Hour SaaS'.
Tesla Cheating?
- https://twitter.com/iamtomnash/status/1321456281438375937
Quibi Shutting Down:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvEFtRra1A8
- https://www.wsj.com/articles/quibi-weighs-shutting-down-as-problems-mount-11603301946
One Hour SaaS:
- https://twitter.com/onehoursaas
- https://onehoursaas.com/
Further information from us:
- Web: https://networkers.co/
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- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhSdmXJvPr0dfedinGXmTg
James and Marcelo discuss:
Apple’s new iPhone 12
- What does 5G bring to the table, and is it worth buying?
Which businesses could you start in 2021?
- Paid communities
- Micro marketplaces
- Disaggregation/unbundling - reddit, linkedin, etsy, ebay, etc..
- Micro SaaS
- Digital products
Further information from us:
- Web: https://networkers.co/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NetworkersEN
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhSdmXJvPr0dfedinGXmTg
James and Marcelo discuss why 'failing' and making mistakes is the fastest route to growth in your business, how your personal situation and your business model affects whether you should grow your business through revenue or if you should seek outside funding, and go through a number of tips and suggestions for the startup fundraising process.
"Don't minimize mistakes. Minimize repeat mistakes. Fail in new ways and learn." - Lex Fridman
- https://twitter.com/lexfridman/status/1313168212733825024
Further information from us:
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- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhSdmXJvPr0dfedinGXmTg
James and Marcelo discuss Peloton and the amount of effort that went into raising their initial angel financing, the factors to pay attention to in order to have a good productive meeting, and tactics and strategies for pricing your product to match the value it provides to your customers.
Peloton and the grit and determination needed to raise initial seed/angel funding:
- https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak/status/1311504505985544193
How to improve the quality of your meetings:
- https://twitter.com/schlaf/status/1293187768491757575
How to price your product:
- https://twitter.com/mattwensing/status/1288463257100005376
Further information from us:
- Web: https://networkers.co/
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- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhSdmXJvPr0dfedinGXmTg
James and Marcelo discuss solving problems by flipping them on their head, aligning employee metrics and goals to company goals through the use of frameworks like Google's OKR (Objectives and Key Results), and how to incentivise employees to want what the company wants too.
Business is so much easier when you invert:
“Problems frequently get easier if you turn them around in reverse.
In other words, if you want to help India, the question you should ask is not ‘how can I help India,’ it’s ‘what is doing the worst damage in India?
Invert. Always invert.”
–Charlie Munger
https://twitter.com/awilkinson/status/1308134359052943361
People who work for @elonmusk are great at mission-to-metrics:
"SpaceX's mission is to colonize Mars. To do that, we need reusable rockets. My job is to help design the steering system that enables our rockets to land back on earth. You'll know I'm successful because of xyz"
https://twitter.com/ChrisJBakke/status/1308149211515375616
"The extreme difficulty of scaling production of new technology is not well understood. It's 1000% to 10,000% harder than making a few prototypes. The machine that makes the machine is vastly harder than the machine itself."
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1308284091142266881
- Tesla Battery Day
Incentives tied to company performance, e.g. revenue wins and saving money:
https://twitter.com/awilkinson/status/1304067099136933890
Further information from us:
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- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhSdmXJvPr0dfedinGXmTg
James & Marcelo discuss overwhelm and strategies for overcoming the paralysis of too many tasks, the benefits of having a systems mindset when you are an entrepreneur, and build your business as if you were going to sell it tomorrow.
Stop trying to win the year - focus on the day:
- https://twitter.com/patrickbetdavid/status/1305909818058829825
- Stop trying to win the year.
- Focus on the day.
Having a 'systems mindset'
- https://twitter.com/nateliason/status/1306338772456529920
- One common thread among all the really successful and productive people I know is they have a "systems mindset."
A sellable business is a good business
- https://twitter.com/arvidkahl/status/1306201834420404224
- A good business is sellable. Run your business as if you wanted to sell it next month. That way, it will always be the best version of itself. (Then, don’t sell it until you’re ready).
- Book recommendation: Built to Sell by John Warilow
Further information from us:
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- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhSdmXJvPr0dfedinGXmTg
James & Marcelo discuss tactics for getting your first few customers and how long you can continue doing things which don't scale. Next, the benefit of not reinventing the wheel when it comes to business models. Finally the links between the sales of TikTok and ARM Holdings.
Short Term vs Long Term Sales Tactics:
- Getting customers, short term vs long term tactics
- Short: handling every support call, visiting in person, personal follow-up, mining personal connections
- Long: cold calling, drip email campaigns, SEO, scalable lead-gen campaign
- https://twitter.com/_rchase_/status/1305604708451659776
Sometimes You Don't Need to Invent Something Totally New:
- Mike Volpe 'sometimes you dont need to invent something totally new'
- https://twitter.com/mvolpe/status/1305600506753146885
TikTok & ARM Holdings Sales:
- TikTok purchase dance - Microsoft no, Oracle yes?
- ARM being bought by NVidia for $40B from Softbank
Further information from us:
- Web: https://networkers.co/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NetworkersEN
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhSdmXJvPr0dfedinGXmTg
This episode features James and Marcelo taking on e-commerce, product design and the LTSE.
Setting up an eCommerce site with Shopify or WooCommerce
The 80/20 of Launching a Product or Feature:
- https://twitter.com/Suhail/status/1303845022337363968
- A big part of being a great engineer is the difference between "Ok, it works & I am done!" and "it works, I fixed the most common edge cases, I'm aware of more UX issues but lets put 'em in the backlog for now, lets ship—i know there's more work to make this great"
Long Term Stock Exchange:
- Eric Ries = Lean Startup author
- 2012 to now to gain regulation and launch
- SPAC, IPO jumps, high seed valuations
- Long term governance focus for companies rather than quarterly results
Further information from us:
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- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhSdmXJvPr0dfedinGXmTg
This episode features James and Marcelo discussing micromanagement, 4 types of entrepreneurs, and the "paradox" of raising a family and a business at the same time.
Elon Musk the Micromanager:
- https://twitter.com/theSamParr/status/1301994223101775873
4 kinds of Entrepreneurs:
- https://twitter.com/awilkinson/status/1302334434021052416
Further information from us:
- Web: https://networkers.co/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NetworkersEN
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhSdmXJvPr0dfedinGXmTg
This episode features James and Marcelo discussing business as usual, with some extended thoughts for entrepreneurs on
- Why Apple is worth more than the entire FTSE100 which leads to ask why Europe/UK doesn't have big tech, then
- Jumping into the sports franchise business model and the economics behind Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona,
- Wrapping up with some practical advice on working hard vs working smart.
Further information from us:
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- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhSdmXJvPr0dfedinGXmTg
This episode features James and Marcelo taking on business as usual, with some practical advice for early stage entrepreneurs especially at the idea stage, and they also comment on Neuralink's recent livestream with successful brain implants in pigs.
Jack Butcher on Twitter: "Observation: Most people insist on applying lessons from literal trillion dollar companies to trying to make a few hundred thousand bucks on the internet. What's true for them is not true for you."
- https://twitter.com/jackbutcher/status/1300552186678697985
- Things that work on large scale vs small scale
- Distribution
- TAM
Sharing ideas & NDAs
- You’ve got a great idea, will someone steal it?
- Ideas vs execution
Neuralink: Elon Musk unveils pig with chip in its brain
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53956683
Further information from us:
- Web: https://networkers.co/
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- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhSdmXJvPr0dfedinGXmTg
This episode features James and Marcelo discussing different approaches to business, product and customer development, with several recommendations about the lean start-up approach.
Tool Thinking vs Problem Thinking
- https://twitter.com/Harris_Bryan/status/1296782480746438656
- "Two ways to think of your business: 1. Tool Thinking 2. Problem Thinking Tool Thinking is dangerous and backwards. Short term. Doesn't endure. Ex: “I want to start a paid newsletter”
James Clear 5-step process for almost anything
- Explore widely
- Test cheaply and quickly
- Edit ruthlessly
- Repeat what works, don't quit
-
GoTo 1
-
https://twitter.com/JamesClear/status/1296089705839243272
Chris Bakke's thoughts on Customer Development
- https://twitter.com/ChrisJBakke/status/1297624160789606400
Further information from us:
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- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhSdmXJvPr0dfedinGXmTg
This episode features James and Marcelo talking about Apple's impressive $2 trillion valuation, the new Amazon's Kuiper satellite constellation ambitions and some business models that are more down-to-earth.
Apple $2 Trillion market cap
- Quantitative Easing - printing money
- Luxury at commodity scale
- Market capitalisation $190B in 2010
Amazon Kuiper
- https://www.inverse.com/innovation/amazon-kuiper
- Amazon committed to spend $10 Billion
- Federal Communications Commission license 3,236 satellites
- Must launch half of the satellites within 6 years
Business ideas:
- Take something that works in one country and do it somewhere else
- Samwer brothers, Rocket Internet
Further information from us:
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This episode features James and Marcelo covering a wide range of topics beyond business, but tapping into the trend of people leaving cities, the battle between Epic Games (Fortnite) and Apple, and how to choose to build new features for your product.
Will cities survive the crisis?
- SF and NY ‘seem’ to be hollowing out
- People escaping crowds
- Remote work - co’s going permanent remote
- Young people + meeting people?
Fortnite: Apple ban sparks court action from Epic Games
- https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53773715?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/c770w988ye6t/fortnite&link_location=live-reporting-story
- They also sued Google
- Who is right? What’s the end game?
Ben Bradbury on Twitter:
- https://twitter.com/benbradbury_/status/1295377426000773131
- If you want fluffy products, ask customers what feature they want next.
- If you want useful products, ask customers about their biggest pain points.
- Future features = Speculative.
- Present pain points = Reality.
Tyler Tringas on Twitter:
- https://twitter.com/tylertringas/status/1295416896519577603
- "All my customers are asking me for Feature X!" Should you build Feature X?
- Listen to your metrics, is not having Feature X affecting:
- 1/ Retention: are customers cancelling?
- 2/ Growth: are customers not signing up?
- 3/ ARPU: would existing customers pay more?
Further information from us:
- Web: https://networkers.co/
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- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhSdmXJvPr0dfedinGXmTg
This episode features James and Marcelo diving deeper into classic entrepreneurial issues such as build a specific solution and then go general, validating before building, and our view on the current state of crypto:
- things built general from start tend to fail, those that land and expand are more likely to succeed https://twitter.com/amasad/status/1289379421015511040
- building is learning, but so is validating before building. Do both for maximum effect. Learn twice. https://twitter.com/arvidkahl/status/1288219811605086208
- With $16bn in cryptocurrency, Ripple attempts a reset https://www.ft.com/content/7d9c934f-3840-4285-96a7-4bdf7fee9286
Further information from us:
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This episode features James and Marcelo diving deeper into classic entrepreneurial issues such as prioritisation, starting a business and creating a brand.
- James Clear on Twitter: "Be “selectively ignorant.” https://twitter.com/JamesClear/status/1265836919902154752
- Jay Vasantharajah on Twitter: "A hill I'm willing to die on: If you're starting your first business and have ~$0, you should start a service business. https://twitter.com/jayvasdigital/status/1291721228051451906
- Few customers, high ticket price
- Build a cash foundation Invest into lower ticket, broader base products
- What’s in a name? Choosing a business name
- Memorable
- Uniqueness
- SEO / search Branding
- ‘Does what it says on the tin’
Further information from us:
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This episode features James and Marcelo discussing about the copy cat product that Instagram is launching for TikTok, how to spend your quarantine time watching Netflix series for entrepreneurs, and how to deal with inefficient software.
- Instagram Reels is a copy of TikTok
- Not the first time IG has done this eg Stories vs Snapchat
- Snapchat itself was accused of being a clone of the Shots app
- https://twitter.com/amlewis4/status/1291049231080464384
- https://twitter.com/shreya_sud/status/1291204186646802432
- Series / movies for entrepreneurs
- Shark Tank
- Billions
- The big short
- Money Heist
- Ozark
- Breaking bad
- Wolf of Wall St
- What’s the worst software you use daily in your job that’s ripe for a start-up to solve?
- Salesforce
- Slack
- https://twitter.com/ChrisJBakke/status/1290791893538754560
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23803539
Further information from us:
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Welcome to the Daily Dose podcast - the podcast where we pick out things from the news and social media that’s interesting to us as Entrepreneurs, and business nerds.
This episode features James and Marcelo discussing:
- Loneliness as a solo-founder: https://twitter.com/schlaf/status/1287501089454149634
- Are Entrepreneurs born or made?
- How to generate start-up ideas: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg/status/1290064372505563138
Further information from us:
- Web: https://networkers.co/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NetworkersEN
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhSdmXJvPr0dfedinGXmTg
Welcome to the Daily Dose podcast - the podcast where we pick out things from the news and social media that’s interesting to us as Entrepreneurs, and business nerds.
This episode features James and Marcelo discussing:
- taking advantage of the current low media rates to build your own audience and media - email lists, podcast subscribers and the like: https://twitter.com/Jaffer22915438/status/1288082144246595584
- antitrust hearings with Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft - should they/will they be broken up? What will be lost and gained if that happens? https://twitter.com/levie/status/1288640233408360449
Further information from us:
- Web: https://networkers.co/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NetworkersEN
This episode features James and Marcelo covering:
- the traits of successful entrepreneurs and how to maintain your momentum: https://twitter.com/Julian/status/1285960405160869888 https://twitter.com/Suhail/status/1285820258247303170
- they also discuss how to deal with uncertainty and a bunch of other interesting nuances of personal development as an entrepreneur.
Further information from us:
- Web: https://networkers.co/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NetworkersEN
In this episode we cover:
- the pros and cons of different business models: https://twitter.com/SamShepler/status/1287000513242947585
- the inverted order of priorities that usually shakes up businesses: https://twitter.com/Jaffer22915438/status/1286998220523151361
- and the importance of building strong relationships with your e-commerce suppliers: https://twitter.com/jayvasdigital/status/1286675858426671115
Further information from us:
- Web: https://networkers.co/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NetworkersEN
Today we discuss from Twitter:
-
A CEO's first job is to get the company capitalized. A CEO's second job is to recruit a team. A CEO's third job is to provide them with clarity so they can solve their customers' problems. A CEO's fourth job is to get out of the way until one of the above is no longer true: https://twitter.com/shl/status/1283778788317229056
-
Northern Hemisphere restaurants have 90 days to develop a delivery business - outdoor anything will crater come October: https://twitter.com/ashwindeshmukh/status/1283375593690673153
-
1st time founders are obsessed with product. 2nd time founders are obsessed with distribution. Is distribution more important than product? https://twitter.com/jmj/status/1284137492304691204
Further information from us:
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This episode features James and Marcelo taking on:
- $50k fees announced for Harvard online tuition during the COVID 19 pandemic - is it worth the money?
- plus GPT-3 - an AI language model that can do magical things, including writing articles, working programming code, and much more - how will this impact the future?
Further information from us:
- Web: https://networkers.co/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NetworkersEN
Mentioned in this episode:
- Tweet showing GPT-3 creating code: https://twitter.com/justindross/status/1282877176702889984