WEBVTT - How to Scale a Startup with Ryan Breslow

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<v Speaker 1>Earners.

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<v Speaker 2>What's up.

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<v Speaker 3>You ever walk into a small business and everything just

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<v Speaker 3>can keep pushing your vision forward. This episode is brought

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<v Speaker 3>to you by P and C Bank, a lot of

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<v Speaker 3>people think podcasts about work are boring, and sure they

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<v Speaker 3>definitely can be, but understanding of professional's routine shows us

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<v Speaker 2>You talked about the competition, which is interesting because not

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<v Speaker 2>only do you have to know your business in and out,

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<v Speaker 2>but you have to kind of know this is to

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<v Speaker 2>almost create a competitive mode to be in the space.

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<v Speaker 2>So like you're doing this by yourself right at this point,

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<v Speaker 2>there's no partner with you, right, it's just you.

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<v Speaker 1>I had a early co founder who was with us

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<v Speaker 1>for about four years, so it was involved in this

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<v Speaker 1>early fundraising. We sparred a lot on this and traded

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<v Speaker 1>notes and really played off each other super well. And

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<v Speaker 1>then after they departed, then it was just me on

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<v Speaker 1>all of my other rounds since then, I was always

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<v Speaker 1>leading the fundraise, so you know, that's why I have

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<v Speaker 1>a particular depth. And then I ended up writing a playbook.

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<v Speaker 2>I wanted to get to that. I wanted to get

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<v Speaker 2>to that, but because I want people to really understand

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<v Speaker 2>the amount of time that goes into this, the amount

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<v Speaker 2>of sacrifice. It's insane, right, There's relationships that get sacrificed, friendships,

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<v Speaker 2>all these sacrifices that no one sees on the front end,

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<v Speaker 2>but like you're actually dealing with that on top of

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<v Speaker 2>trying to create something that again is going to be

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<v Speaker 2>a game changer.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I mean everything I'm describing took in extraordinary amount

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<v Speaker 1>of time. I mean, you know, both seed around probably

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<v Speaker 1>span three years, doing small check after small check until

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<v Speaker 1>he had enough traction to raise like an A round

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<v Speaker 1>which was a little bit bigger, and then our B

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<v Speaker 1>and C and D round. We started to get institutional

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<v Speaker 1>backers who would take big pieces of the round, but

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<v Speaker 1>in the beginning they were long drawn out or raising

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<v Speaker 1>on safe which is this an instrument called a simple

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<v Speaker 1>agreement for future equity, few page agreements that we were

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<v Speaker 1>raising money onto and you know, another thing that I

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<v Speaker 1>did is everyone gets consumed with round size. What's the

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<v Speaker 1>round size? For me? I've always I've raised incrementally, so

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<v Speaker 1>you know, for both. Initially I got a few. Once

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<v Speaker 1>I started to realize a strategy, I got a few

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<v Speaker 1>people to lean in. You know, it was like, we're

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<v Speaker 1>gonna raise a million. That filled up pretty quickly, and

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<v Speaker 1>then you know, we're like, yeah, might as well open

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<v Speaker 1>another million. As more people became interested or raised another

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<v Speaker 1>half a million and so, and then uh, when you say, oh,

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<v Speaker 1>we're you know, we're actually going to raise two We've

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<v Speaker 1>already raised one and I are fifty percent complete, versus

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<v Speaker 1>you know, starting around saying I'm raising two million and

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<v Speaker 1>I have none. Right, I'd rather start around and say,

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<v Speaker 1>all right, I have a few people for leading. They're

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<v Speaker 1>probably good for half a million, So we're gonna raise

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<v Speaker 1>a million or seven to fifty k. So the next

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<v Speaker 1>person I go to, the round's almost done already, versus

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<v Speaker 1>how most founders saw off with just the go to

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<v Speaker 1>some None of the round is done. If I'm going

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<v Speaker 1>to talk to you about around, it's gonna be mostly

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<v Speaker 1>done already before I'm like talking economics with you even

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<v Speaker 1>those people are forward leaning. I'm gonna wait till a

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<v Speaker 1>few others are forward leaning, and then I'm gonna say, hey,

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<v Speaker 1>we're doing a million, but I've got about six or

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<v Speaker 1>seven hundred already circled up. You're one of my early conversations.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm really excited to have you involved. Let's talk about

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<v Speaker 1>formalizing your investment.

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<v Speaker 4>The tragic So, and you've raised a lot of money,

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<v Speaker 4>just to put it in context with people, because you're

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<v Speaker 4>speaking from first hand experience, right, So you talked about

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<v Speaker 4>the time, but can you like say, like how much

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<v Speaker 4>time for a founder that's looking to raise what should

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<v Speaker 4>they expect they should expect to put two hours out

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<v Speaker 4>of the day, they should expect to put twelve hours

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<v Speaker 4>out of the day. Like what's the realistic expectation as

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<v Speaker 4>far as the time commitment for a founder that is

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<v Speaker 4>trying to raise money.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, if you're trying to do it properly, it's

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<v Speaker 1>one hundred percent of your life. That's the time for me,

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<v Speaker 1>that's the time commitment. You know, And ideally you have

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<v Speaker 1>a partner or a head of operations or a CTO

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<v Speaker 1>that can.

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<v Speaker 4>Hold over the fort that's running the business, running the business.

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<v Speaker 4>You should just be focused on.

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<v Speaker 1>You can't.

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<v Speaker 4>You can't split your time between running the business and

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<v Speaker 4>raising money.

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<v Speaker 1>This is it. This is it. I mean, once you

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<v Speaker 1>get the hang of it and pass a critical threshold

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<v Speaker 1>and you're cool to just take some checks casually here

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<v Speaker 1>and there. Once you're casual and you've you've already crossed

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<v Speaker 1>the chasm, great, But until that point, you're one hundred percent.

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<v Speaker 1>Get someone else in your company, give everyone a heads

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<v Speaker 1>up that you're going to be off the grid for

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<v Speaker 1>a bit. Fundraising. This is all you're focused on, one

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<v Speaker 1>hundred percent of the focus. And you know, spend a

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<v Speaker 1>couple hours a day on the business, and so you

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<v Speaker 1>know a lot of people get nervous about fundraisings, surely

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<v Speaker 1>because they're not focused on it. So it's never going

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<v Speaker 1>to happen. Because this is a thing that requires such

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<v Speaker 1>intense focus. You need to block off everything else in

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<v Speaker 1>your life spending on one hundred percent of your time

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<v Speaker 1>on this thing. You need to go read my book,

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<v Speaker 1>which not something I did. This is a labor of love.

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<v Speaker 1>What's a book. It's called Fundraising by Ryan Breslo. Start

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<v Speaker 1>off as a playbook that I wrote a Google doc

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<v Speaker 1>that I gave to my friends. This is a labor

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<v Speaker 1>of love. I had no time to write this book,

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<v Speaker 1>but I made the time because founders needed this wisdom,

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<v Speaker 1>because I saw too many making the same mistakes over

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<v Speaker 1>and over again. And so you need to memorize this book,

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<v Speaker 1>follow it to a t. You put your own style

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<v Speaker 1>and flavor on it, of course, but really understand it

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<v Speaker 1>and dedicate one hundred percent of your time to this.

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<v Speaker 2>So while you're doing the fundraising and you're one hundred

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<v Speaker 2>percent dedicated to it, right before this is when you're

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<v Speaker 2>creating the conscious Culture playbook, because you know that you're

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<v Speaker 2>not going to be there on a day to day

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<v Speaker 2>the way that you probably would be if you weren't

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<v Speaker 2>trying to raise.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so that came later for me, but I was

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<v Speaker 1>creating a playbook on culture. I like systems. Systems scale.

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<v Speaker 1>If your team doesn't know how it's going to operate

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<v Speaker 1>what it values, it's very hard to scale your company.

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<v Speaker 1>And so I don't like repeating myself. I like I

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<v Speaker 1>like methodology and formula as you can tell for things

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<v Speaker 1>that I know work. And so I had a great CEO.

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<v Speaker 1>Coach's names Matt Matari's got a great book Machari Method

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<v Speaker 1>that everybody should read on ceoing. He gave me his method,

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<v Speaker 1>which was my foundations of conscious Culture, and then I

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<v Speaker 1>made it my own. I mean he taught it to

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<v Speaker 1>me intensively for about three months, and then over the

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<v Speaker 1>next five years, I kept the dog being like, this

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<v Speaker 1>is what works, this is what doesn't work for me.

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<v Speaker 1>And so I created my own playbook and then I

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<v Speaker 1>ended up publishing that to the world on conscious dot org,

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<v Speaker 1>which we're doing We're going to relaunch. It's not where

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<v Speaker 1>it needs to be right now, but and this is

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<v Speaker 1>the playbook we used to build in scale Bolt and

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<v Speaker 1>the conscious culture came from more of a spiritual aspiration

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<v Speaker 1>to bridge humanity with execution. This is the marriage that

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<v Speaker 1>I really wanted to facilitate, and I think conscious culture

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<v Speaker 1>gets to that.

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<v Speaker 5>An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child

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<v Speaker 5>in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador

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<v Speaker 5>accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged with

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<v Speaker 5>filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just

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<v Speaker 5>some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President

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<v Speaker 5>Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Christine Noman, the United States

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<v Speaker 5>Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal border

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<v Speaker 5>one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned, and deported. You will

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<v Speaker 5>never return. But if you register using our CBP home

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<v Speaker 5>Do what's right, leave now. Under President Trump, America's laws,

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<v Speaker 5>border and families will be protected.

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<v Speaker 2>Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security,