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My guest today is Chris Yeh, entrepreneur, investor, writer, and mentor with two Bachelor’s degrees with distinction from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar. Chris co-authored the New York Times best-seller The Alliance as well as the book Blitzscaling with Reid Hoffman (co-founder of LinkedIn). Chris wrote Blitzscaling with Reid to explain how some of the largest companies in the world like Amazon, AirBNB, and Uber use a very specific set of offensive, competitive strategies that prioritize speed to achieve massive scale at incredible speed.
In this episode, Chris is going to demystify what some of the world's most valuable companies did in order to reach their highest highs and then break down his concept of blitzscaling. He’ll even go over the principles and methodologies in his book and how they apply to any idea or business. We’ll break down the different principles and methodologies in the book and how they can apply to any idea or business.
Chris Yeh is a writer, investor, and entrepreneur who has had a ringside seat in the world of startups and scaleups since 1995. He has authored such books as The Alliance and Blitzscaling (co-authored with Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn), the book that explains how to build world-changing companies like Amazon, Alibaba, and Airbnb in record time. His books help founders, venture capitalists, corporate leaders, policymakers, and everyday people better understand how the internet has changed the way we work together to build amazing organizations.
13:20 - “It really is the case that these feedback loops are getting stronger and stronger. [...] The feedback loop of talent and capital. We’ve seen this happen. Companies that breakout to an early lead find it much easier to attract great talent and the follow-on capital and that’s because people love a winner.” - Chris Yeh
13:53 - “Think of the number of millionaires that have been minted by the Facebooks and the Googles and the AirBnBs of the world.” - Chris Yeh
14:40 - “There’s a little bit of a controversy there because the term Blitzscaling is explicitly modeled on the term Blitzkrieg, which you may remember from your history lessons of WWII. It’s the concept of a lightning war, where your forces go out ahead of their supply line, and is moving faster than anyone is possibly anticipating. It’s a high risk, high reward strategy.” - Chris Yeh
16:00 - “The associations with blitz are very different but they all share the same thing. When you hear the word blitz–whether you’re thinking about it from a historical perspective or a modern sports perspective– you’re thinking about taking a risk and really going for it.” - Chris Yeh
30:15 - “I think a big part of [successfully breaking out of that traditional mold] is having comfort with uncertainty and risk.” - Chris Yeh
32:56 - “The piratical approach has been long worshipped at Silicon Valley. Now we are very careful to distinguish between the lovable rogue and the sociopathic killer.” - Chris Yeh
36:56 - “You have to adapt and adjust. What happens is, as you grow your company, you’ve got these marines that have taken this beach for you, you’ve got to find them another beach. Cause taking a bunch of marines and telling them, ‘Now you’re going to be cops.’ Bad idea.” - Chris Yeh
42:38 - “When you grow quickly, all the normal processes break down.” - Chris Yeh
43:20 - “The reason that culture is important is because when a company grows that quickly, the founder can’t be everywhere. There’s not just enough you to go around. In order for people to make the right decisions when you’re not there, you have to be able to build a culture.” - Chris Yeh
“Blitzscaling 08: Eric Schmidt on Structuring Teams and Scaling Google” Youtube Video
Mastering Your Cash Flow Digital Course
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Today’s story is about a gentleman named Thomas Smale, Founder of FE International which is an M&A firm specializing in the sale of SaaS, e-commerce and content based businesses. Thomas started his career flipping online businesses. He would buy $50 to $100 websites, build them up, and then sell them for profit. Thomas started realizing that there was a huge potential market for this and people started going to him and asking for advice. He built an instructional e-course and then ended up building FE International to where it is today with his business partner, Ismael Wrixen. They have done $100 million in transactions, over 500+ deals. In today’s episode, you will learn: How to grow the value of your business to get more out of your sale The importance of building recurring revenue streams The value of making your business attractive to a wide range of buyers What your IP is worth in a sale Importance of proper exit planning The three key business models The three categories of buyers Thomas and I take his wisdom and his experience from the volume of transactions and deals that he’s seen to shed light on what the top online businesses are doing to grow valuable companies and sell to the people that they want to. In the episode, we discuss three different key business models in the online space and three different categories of buyers out there. Thomas talks about increasing the value of a business by systematizing operations and potentially putting a recurring revenue stream in place as a part of the owner’s exit plan. Contact Information and Bio for Thomas: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomassmale/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThomasSmale Company Website: https://feinternational.com/ Company Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FEinternational/ Company Twitter: ...
Mark Raderstorf is a Rehabilitation Psychologist by training and lifelong entrepreneur by choice. Mark was working at the University of Minnesota Medical School and decided to launch into private practice back in the 1980’s. He founded Behavioral Medical Interventions, Inc. (BMI), a disability management company and national provider of psychiatric and physical disability management services. For the next 15 years before selling the business, he helped people with injuries or disabilities in their emotional, psychological, or vocational adjustments. If you listen, you will learn: How important referral relationships and reputation are to a service business The impact key employees/shareholders have on the value of a company The importance of having a coach/consultant during a company sale How employees are the key asset in a service business sale Having a plan for the sale of your company and your life after business can relieve stress and help with the adjustment From Psychologist to Business Man Mark describes himself as a service-oriented individual. His passion for helping people was sparked by a traumatic event in his brother’s life. His older brother had a football related head injury and almost died from an aneurysm which dramatically changed the trajectory of his career. This experience was eye opening for Mark and he knew he wanted to help people in similar situations. Mark’s small private practice grew from Raderstorf and Associates to Behavioral Medical Interventions, Inc. when he was becoming too busy to handle the incoming business all on his own. He hired one person after another and the company continued to grow even through the financial downturn of 2009. The key to their success was a little bit of luck mixed with good relationships and reputation in the industry. Working on ...
Access to capital is crucial in order to take a dream and turn it into a business, create wealth and build a future full of opportunities. Today’s show focuses on the impact access to capital (or lack thereof) has on a Black business owner’s ability to create wealth through equity in a business. Rachel Wilson and Elliott Holland from Collab Capital share why and how they raised $50 million to invest in Black entrepreneurs—with backers such as Apple, Goldman Sachs, Google, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Mailchimp and PayPal—as their debut move, making it one of the largest funds closed from an entirely Black-led firm solely committed to Black founders. Rachel and Elliott debunk the scarce Black tech founder myth, plus share the investment strategy that increases Collab Capital’s investors’ IRR while hitting the company’s goal to establish a path to economic parity for Black communities by giving Black entrepreneurs access to capital and establishing generational wealth in a community that has historically been denied it. Learn the biggest challenges faced entering the market as an investment firm, as well as the individual barriers Rachel and Elliott had to overcome — and how that compares to what their parents faced not so long ago. Be ready to be inspired by industry disrupters working to bring about real change at a crucial juncture. What You Will Learn In Today's Podcast Interview The generational impact of compounding equity and access to capital has The great benefits capitalism can have when aligned with the right mission How home ownership is similar to owning a business when it comes to growing wealth What equality really looks like in the business world Stories to better understand the underlying causes of ...
