Masters of Fail: Recent Episodes
Masters of Fail
When Mahesh Chand first got to the U.S. and started working as a developer, he pitched some articles about software development to a bunch of print tech magazines and got shot down at scale because of his then not-yet-great command of the English language. He said "eff it" and started a website to publish his articles.
That idea has grown into C# Corner -- a platform for IT and software professionals that draws 30 million unique visits annually and boasts 3 million active users and will report $700,000 in ad revenue this year after flipping the monetization switch on this May.
C# Corner is one of many companies Mahesh has started but clearly he's incorporating those lessons of failure into something pretty cool. If you listen carefully you may actually hear us (a developer and marketer, respectively) agree on how marketing and engineer have to work together.
When Mahesh Chand first got to the U.S. and started working as a developer, he pitched some articles about software development to a bunch of print tech magazines and got shot down at scale because of his then not-yet-great command of the English language. He said "eff it" and started a website to publish his articles.
That idea has grown into C# Corner -- a platform for IT and software professionals that draws 30 million unique visits annually and boasts 3 million active users and will report $700,000 in ad revenue this year after flipping the monetization switch on this May.
C# Corner is one of many companies Mahesh has started but clearly he's incorporating those lessons of failure into something pretty cool. If you listen carefully you may actually hear us (a developer and marketer, respectively) agree on how marketing and engineer have to work together.
Justin Max founded Spark DSG after a successful run in e-commerce but traces his entrepreneurial roots back to his days touring as a drummer in a post hardcore band. Justin talks with José Mallabo about the genesis of his design firm, the evolution of thought around design over the last decade along with a little swerve into this ChatGPT thing that's all the buzz.
In this episode, Tarana Mayes and José Mallabo dive into the adventures of revolutionizing higher education with tech-driven solutions, especially those meant to give access to underrepresented students.
Once one of those students, and a first-generation American, José tells how his personal story inspired start-up Vireo Labs and its first product, C'reer. Whatever you do, try not to speak English slowly and loudly to José because he might start another company just to make you stop.
Plus, get a crash course on how to balance and blend entrepreneurship with social impact work.
Plenty of large and small companies were killed off by COVID and this post-pandemic economy. Aetho not only survived Hurricane Matthew as it ripped through coastal Georgia and the pandemic, it survived a transformation from hardware company to augmented reality software company. Ian Nott, CEO and Co-Founder of Aetho, a disruptor in XR industry, gives us the blow by blow on how to survive an unanticipated pivot. Plus, Nott shares his predictions about how technology like telepresence and flexible robotics will shape the future of entrepreneurship and how we work.
A CPA's job is to mitigate risk. You'd think accountants would flee from co-founding high-risk enterprises, but Joseph Ebberwein, CFO of telemedicine company Corstrata, turned that stereotype on its head. Joe chats with José Mallabo about time in the Big 8 to learning how to sift through startup advice by trusting your gut.
Kunzum founder Ajay Jain talks about his journey to go from tech writer to a community building bookseller in the Delhi region of India. You'll hear about Ajay's brief shot at becoming a Bollywood star and the drive through the Himalayas that inspired the eventual opening of his chain of bookstores during the global pandemic.
The (sort of) rise and fall of Tweetalicious. Tarana Mayes, entrepreneur and filmmaker, talks with Tweetalicious co-founder José Mallabo about the company's brush with scale and the abrupt Thelma and Louise-like ending to his second startup.