Creator Lab

  Jos White is a serial entrepreneur and investor at Notion Capital. In this interview, he shares his life story from growing up in England, to getting expelled from school, starting businesses with his brother & how they managed to sell 3 different companies for more than $800 million.  5 THINGS TO LISTEN OUT FOR:   (1) Growing up in England – going to the same school as Richard Branson and getting expelled from school.   (2) Starting a business with his brother – early signs of entrepreneurship and what it was like setting up a company with his family.   (3) Multiple exits – most entrepreneurs dream of having a multi-million  dollar exit once. But Jos did this time and time again with 3 different companies. We go into what he built and how he sold the companies.   (4) Learning from his entrepreneurial journey – funding their businesses, finding a CTO, navigating the crash of 2000, knowing when it was the right time to sell, common mistakes people make when pitching for investment   (5) Legacy – what

This is a new format where I bring experts from different fields to have a roundtable discussion on a particular topic. Today we speak about the state of transatlantic tech and what you should be thinking about if you’re looking to expand internationally. Note that this was recorded late Dec 2016 just before President Trump came into office. MY 3 GUESTS: (1) Daniel Glazer – partner at Silicon Valley-headquartered law firm, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he leads the New York office’s Technology Transactions practice. He also helps lead WSGR’s US Expansion practice, advising UK and other non-US technology companies on US expansion (2) Pru Ashby – head of North America at London & Partners who are the official promotional company for London. She works on attracting and advising US companies to set up and grow in London (3) Alliott Cole – director at Octopus Ventures, one of Europe’s largest venture capital teams. Some of their investments include: Secret Escapes, yPlan, Zoopla, Swiftkey (sold

  Daymond John is a rare force of nature. He’s a true serial entrepreneur involved with more than 80 businesses & investments. He founded FUBU, the lifestyle fashion brand that has brought in more than $6 billion in sales. He’s a regular on the Emmy award winning show “Shark Tank” and has published three books including the NY Times best seller: The Power of Broke. He was named by President Obama as a “Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship” and travelled with him on his historic trips to Cuba & Kenya. We discuss what he’s learned from all those years, how he thinks about new business ideas, applying the “power of broke” to test out customer needs, focusing on the best opportunities, his role as a leader in the current political climate & his latest venture, a co-working space in NYC called Blueprint + Co.    5 THINGS TO LISTEN OUT FOR:   (1) Ideas – how he thinks of business ideas & focusing on the most important opportunities   (2) Blueprint + Co – why he’s opening a co-worki

  Sushi Nakazawa stunned the restaurant world when they were awarded a notoriously difficult 4 star review in The New York Times by legendary food critic Pete Wells.   But what really goes into creating such a world class restaurant?    We get to hear directly from Alessandro (Alex) Borgognone, co-founder of Sushi Nakazawa, famous for its all star chef, Daisuke Nakazawa, who was the protege of Jiro One, the renowned chef from the award winning documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi."   This is a remarkable story like no other.    From tracking down Nakazawa on Facebook, to using Google Translate to communicate & convincing him to start a restaurant in NYC - Alessandro personifies the entrepreneurial spirit that’s needed to make a fine establishment like this a reality.    Here are five things to listen out for:   (1) Early Years - starting in the family business aged 13 & what growing up in Brooklyn as an Italian American taught him.   (2) Genesis of Sushi Nakazawa - how the film Jiro Dreams of Sushi ins

THE WEED BUSINESS: Analysts are calling it the country’s "fastest-growing industry" and Arthur Frommer (godfather of the travel industry who founded the Frommer's guide) said “get ready for the era of marijuana tourism”.   In the US, 8 states have legalized its recreational use and more than half of all US states permit it for medical purposes. In Dec, The New York Stock Exchange listed its first public marijuana company.    Times are changing, so I sat down with Joe Dolce, author of “Brave New Weed” to explore the future of the weed business and its social impact.      WHO IS JOE? Joe Dolce is a seasoned journalist who worked with Anna Wintour at Vogue, introduced Jamie Oliver to the US audience as the chief of Gourmet magazine and spent a week in Mexico trying to outdrink Anthony Bourdain. He has a treasure trove of stories spanning an impressive 20yr career as a journalist.    For the last 3yrs, Joe travelled the globe researching the uncharted world of the cannabis industry. From legal states in the US, m

In many ways, Avinash is the king of "the side hustle": Speaker & Advisor - An established speaker who has consulted for some of the world’s largest brands Entrepreneur - Recently sold the education company he co-founded for a reported $10M Writer - A thought leader in the world of analytics who wrote the best selling book: “Web Analytics: An Hour A Day” as well as building a large following on his blog: Occam’s Razor Googler - Leads a team of 70 story tellers, as Google’s Digital Marketing evangelist I’ve known Avinash for a few years from our time at Google. But in prep for our interview, I realized how little I knew about his personal story.  Who was the real Avinash behind the guy on stage frantically shouting out "THIS SUCKS" to bewildered CEOs? What experiences shaped his outlook and how did he end up in such a unique role at Google? What role did his writing play in shaping where he is today?    He hasn’t shared much of this before so I’m thankful we had a chance to get personal & discuss h

Fereshteh Forough is the founder & CEO of Code to Inspire, an award winning organization that is empowering Afghan girls by teaching them how to code. Fereshteh was a TED speaker on digital literacy & communication without borders in 2013. Code To Inspire was awarded a Google Rise Award for their work & she was recently featured in a “change is made with code” campaign linked on the Google homepage in Sep 2016.   In this incredibly raw conversation, we discuss everything from growing up as a refugee in Iran, to her struggles overcoming gender bias in Afghanistan, to what it took to set up Code To Inspire. We discuss why she thinks girls aren’t encouraged to go into technical fields like coding & what we can do to change that.    5 things to listen out for:   (1) Growing up - as a refugee in Iran & what it was like to return home to Afghanistan after the Taliban rule where female students made up 0% of the population.    (2) Getting into computer science by accident - why she hated it at fi

Daire Hickey was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2016 for his incredible work in helping Web Summit grow from 200 attendees 6years ago, to 50,000 attendees in Lisbon this year. They are on course to achieve double digit millions in revenue ($XXm) and have had everyone from Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, Chris Sacca & Eva Longoria attend their events.    5 things to listen out for:    (1) Starting up - how Paddy, Daire and Dave started Web Summit in Dublin, where they quickly established themselves as the hottest event in town.    (2) Hanging Out With Al Pacino - how he tracked down famous celebrities like Al Pacino to get them to attend events at Trinity College. And later, using those same skills to convince the world’s press & top entrepreneurs including the founders of Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Tesla and more to attend their events.    (3) Reinventing The 'Tech Conference'- how they use technology to be smarter about marketing, logistics, attendee experience and more.    (4) Growing into emergi

Ever wondered where that barely-used bar of soap went after your last hotel visit? Erin Zaikis goes into her incredible journey in founding Sundara: a nonprofit organization that partners with slum women in India, Myanmar & Uganda to recycle soap & provide hygiene education to the communities that need it the most. 5 things to listen out for: (1) How a trip to rural Thailand inspired her to take action and start a soap company  (2) Making bars of soap in her Manhattan apartment and why she transitioned from a social business to a non-profit (3) Why soap is often overlooked and why it is so powerful in preventing disease, empowering women and saving lives (4) The steps she took to fundraise, spread the word and build her nonprofit (5) Personal: what inspires her, what success means to her, what her plans are for the future, what makes a happy life, books that have helped her through the process and more I hope you enjoy the conversation - please share this with your friends and help spread the w

  What does it take to get to 5 billion views? Cenk Uygur goes into his story and explains what it took to build the number one news channel online: 'The Young Turks'. 5 things to listen out for:     (1) Coming to America - Cenk talks about growing up in Istanbul and his 'coming to America moment'     (2) How he got started in media after sending 400 tapes to radio stations     (3) Starting 'The Young Turks' & bootstrapping their business by spending only $25k in 4 years     (4) Growing from hundreds, to millions of views! What were those pivotal moments that moved their business forward?     (5) Personal - we talk about what success means to him, his day-to-day routine, his thoughts on meditation, managing stress, how much of his progress came from chance vs his own skill.   Stay connected: https://www.creatorlab.fm/subscribe https://www.facebook.com/creatorlabfm https://www.instagram.com/creatorlabfm https://www.twitter.com/creatorlabfm https://www.snapchat.com/add/creatorlabfm   Connect with Bila

Nico Perez and the Mixcloud team have managed to get to 17M monthly visitors with zero outside investment. We talk about how they bootstrapped their way to a unique and profitable business. Listen out for when they lived in a 60k square foot warehouse. We go deep in this conversation, so 5 things to listen out for: 1) Living in a warehouse and having no internet connection – many people say they “had no money” when they started, but Mixcloud really had to live that mantra when they failed to raise any investment. We go into how they paid their rent every month with limited income after Nico quit his job to go full time. 2) Getting rejected by Y Combinator and other investors – how they turned that into positive momentum and became revenue generating early on. 3) How he found a technical co-founder – in today’s digital world, a common question that comes up time and time again is “how do I find someone to help me build this” – we go into how Nico approached this problem with a “skill share”. 4) How they

After 10yrs as a New York party promoter, Scott Harrison went on an epic journey that turned his life around. We talk about how he built charity: water, one of the most impactful and innovative non-profits around. We discuss: –Water Problem & Non-Profit World – the global water problem that impacts 1 in 10 people and its disproportionate impact on women, education & disease –What changed him – what changed him to start charity: water, from a life of bottles and models as a New York party promoter, to completely changing his life around 180 –Convincing top entrepreneurs to back him – how he got people like Jack Dorsey (Twitter), Sean Parker (Facebook), Chris Sacca (famous investor) and Daniel Ek (Spotify) to back charity: water –Birthday campaigns – how the famous birthday campaigns started & what is next for them with “The Spring” –Private sector – what he’s learned from the private sector and the role technology plays in their org, eg. how they use virtual reality for story telling –Social busine

I speak to Brian Wong, the CEO & Founder of Kiip on what he learned from building his company, being one of the youngest people in history to raise venture capital and we get a preview of his new book: 'The Cheat Code' Stay connected: https://www.creatorlab.fm/subscribe https://www.facebook.com/creatorlabfm https://www.instagram.com/creatorlabfm https://www.twitter.com/creatorlabfm https://www.snapchat.com/add/creatorlabfm   Connect with Bilal: https://www.twitter.com/bzaidi https://www.instagram.com/bzaidi212