Below The Line With James Beshara

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Get your free Endel subscription: https://code.endel.io/?code=BELOWTHELINE Today's episode is with Ravi Patel, a consummate multi-hyphenate creator, people... He’s a writer, director, actor, and entrepreneur among other things. From starting businesses to his brand new project on HBO max called “Ravi Patel's Pursuit of Happiness”, we cover what he’s learned through it all. We talk about his struggles and even the challenges that he’s dealing with today; literally, today as we chatted. We cover all kinds of things from simplifying life, to being useful to others, to the transactional nature of friendships, to the pursuit of mental fitness, and of course, his project that he just launched. I just finished watching two of the episodes and it is a phenomenal show. Each episode takes place in a different city around the world with someone that he knows and loves. It's a really heartwarming, insightful, and hi

Get your free Endel subscription: https://code.endel.io/?code=BELOWTHELINE "The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author This plog (podcast+blog post mashup) is called “Ready, Fire, Aim”. Early on my career, I would create really detailed business plans for a company or product launch, months and sometimes years before launching something. And then I went through Y Combinator and learned from Paul Graham that business plans actually show a lack of knowledge of how things work, how startups work, and how relationships with customers work. There's just so much you can’t know until you launch the first version of your idea. Listen to this episode to learn more. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

Get your free Endel subscription: https://code.endel.io/?code=BELOWTHELINE "The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author This plog (podcast+blog post mashup) is called “The Secret to Getting Mentors”. Alright, we are back with another plogging episode and this one is “The Secret to Getting Mentors”. First-time founders and employees would often ask, “How can I get a mentor?” Or they will humbly ask if I can help them with their project or company. I feel very grateful for the mentors that I've had in my life for the last 11 years. Some of the folks have been on the podcast and some of them are too hard to get onto the podcast, but I would not be here without their guidance and their mentorship, especially during low points. So what is the secret in getting mentors? Listen to this episode to learn more. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Get your free Endel subscription: https://code.endel.io/?code=BELOWTHELINE Hello listeners and Below The Line fanatics! Today's episode is with Scott Kelley, a restaurateur in a town of 1000 people in the buzzing city of Ennis, Montana. I have always wanted to chat with Scott because he has a hilarious personality, made a huge life move to a small town in Montana after growing up in Dallas, Texas, and because he has owned and operated a handful of different types of restaurant concepts over the last 20 years. We haven’t covered this side of the business on the podcast before, but I knew he would be a great, honest guest to go deep into this kind of “creation”... especially in the era of Covid-19, where restaurants and tourist towns have been greatly impacted (and he sits at the intersection of both). One of the places he and his wife own is called The Gravel Bar, and it sells the best burger in all of Mo

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Get your free Endel subscription: https://code.endel.io/?code=BELOWTHELINE Links from this episode: +How to Read Medical Research Papers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhyCDAi6NKM +Dr. Weil's List of Integrative Health Professionals: https://integrativemedicine.arizona.edu/alumni.html +Kevin Rose' Podcast Interview with Henry Shukman: https://podcast.kevinrose.com/the-mysteriousunsolvable-zen-koans-henry-shukman-associate-zen-master/ +Henry's Book: https://www.amazon.com/One-Blade-Grass-Finding-Memoir-ebook/dp/B07N8ZGFQB Today's episode is with none other than Kevin Rose. Kevin is a phenomenally successful angel investor turned venture capitalist — as well as creator and founder of cult-favorite companies like “Digg” and “Zero”... We talk about everything from health care to mental health, and his journey towards mental peace in the midst of creation. We also touched on the stories that helped shape wh

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Favorite product of 2020: Endel — code.endel.io (use the code “belowtheline” for the free trial they have given listeners) This is another plog (podcast / blog post) about encouraging future entrepreneurs to continue creating, and why the impact of creating goes way beyond what you create. I also share why creation is like a science where you continue to experiment with the truth — instead of jobs and roles where you don’t actually have accountability or any confrontation with what the truth actually says about what you’re doing. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Endel Link: code.endel.io (use the code “belowtheline” for the audio) This is another plog (podcast / blog post) about giving yourself permission to feel what you are feeling... the good and the bad — And to reach a state where you gain the clarity of thought to know which part of the equation gives you the most leverage to improve your life... changing yourself or changing the world. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today's episode is another deep dive. It's in the world of startup PR. My guest today is Ed Zitron. Ed went from being a journalist to a PR professional within a large firm to start his own firm, EZPR about a decade ago. We got to know each other about nine years ago when he helped me navigate the strange foray into startup PR with my company at the time, Tilt. He was insanely helpful then, and he's even more helpful now with another decade of experience under his belt. This is an episode on a topic that is on so many creators’ minds — but it's something that was a black box for me for many years. What is PR? How do you navigate the world of PR well? How do you get those great articles you read about other companies? How do you get others to help amplify a message that you're trying to bring to the world with your product or your company? We touch on everything that PR is good for, everything that is not

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author This is another plog (podcast + blog post) about a shift in perspective on how we think and talk about mental health. One that takes us from synonymizing mental health with mental illness, a distinction we already have with physical health and physical illness. Enjoy this shorter episode on a specific topic (one near and dear to me)! You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today's episode is another check-in episode. For this episode, I’m going to talk about the below the line, unscripted version, of what’s going on my side of things. I share the details about the reason why we decided to move to Los Angeles (and why LA is shaping up to become the creative capital in the next 5-7 years in my opinion). I also talk about the experiences that led me to start a new company, Magic Mind. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight Up Podcasts LLC.

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Rahul Vohra is a founder a couple of times over — with his last company Rapportive getting bought by LinkedIn in 2012. His next company, the one in which I became a customer of (and a major fan of), is called Superhuman. You may have heard of this fast-growing email application that easily cuts my inbox time in half each day. You may also be a customer and a fellow fan. For something that we all spend countless hours in each day like email, very few companies have succeeded in captivating our attention in recent years. Superhuman is seizing this moment, and you'd be surprised by the foundational thinking that goes into the design of this application. From this episode, you're going to get to hear all about the underlying design principles, the moments of joy, the key insights, and truly understand and appreciate the frustrations that have made Superhuman such a fan favorite and made Raul such a well-know

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today's episode is a deep dive into the space technology sector. It's with the Y-Combinator backed Momentus founder and CEO, Mikhail Kokorich. Momentus is one of the most exciting space tech startups in the world right now — and is a rocket technology company focusing on “last-mile delivery” based here in the Bay Area. He has founded five businesses before but we really focus the episode on his experience in the space tech sector, especially with SpaceX's recent launch of humans into space by a commercial, private company. The first of its kind. We cover everything from the current environment of launching satellites, astronauts, and so on, tourists, into space by a commercial private entity with something like SpaceX and others on the way. We also talk about the various other commercial aspects of Space Technology... from satellites to mining to tourism to energy... it’s about to become a space gold rus

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today's episode is with Immad Akhund who is a serial entrepreneur and serial investor. He has been through Y Combinator a couple times, and his current business, Mercury, is a bank built for startups. But really, it's a bank built for all businesses and full disclosure, I am fortunate enough to be an investor (but there’s a side to this that I still kick myself for — more details in the episode). Immad shares with us the “below the line” version of being acquired, the toll the founder life can take on a person and their family, as well as the reasons behind starting Mercury. He also shares why he persisted through many negative conversations, and why he still decided to build his current (and now very hip startup) even though there are many people who weren’t fans of the idea in the beginning — myself included. We talk about all of these things and more — and I really loved the candor and the simplicity

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today’s episode is with one of the world’s best venture investors coming from perhaps the world’s best venture firm… My guest is Alfred Lin, who is a partner at the famed venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. Alfred is an investor in companies like Airbnb and DoorDash and Instacart among others. With one of the best track records, I’ve ever come across… with publications like Forbes saying he has the Midas Touch. His track record as an investor is impressive, but as an operator, building companies like LinkExchange (sold to Microsoft), his own venture firm years ago that invested in winners like OpenTable, and then Zappos (selling to Amazon)… his track record as a builder is just about as impressive as an investor. So, as you can imagine, Alfred has a lot of insights from uniquely being at such high levels on both sides of the table. We talk about how he spots great founders, what the process at Sequoia

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today's deep dive is with Brianne Kimmel where we discuss her (persistent) path to angel investing in technology startups. From purposefully connecting with the investor of the company she began working at (within months of starting) to hosting dinners for founders to teaching her craft openly and building a massive community to starting her own fund... and everything in between. Brianne is an early-stage startup investor here in the Bay Area, and her fund is called Worklife. It has a very interesting vision of investing in companies that make work more flexible, creative, human, and balanced. We talk about her journey to becoming an investor, which covers her first investment, and what she was doing before she became an investor... We also discussed her designs in her career path and the choices she made early on that helped her in her current path. We even covered what types of founders and companies w

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author John’s monthly “Global Guerillas Report”: https://www.patreon.com/johnrobb Today's episode is with John Robb, a former aeronautical engineer, special-ops soldier, and then the first internet analyst in the 90’s (followed by becoming an extremely successful entrepreneur). He chats with us about his research report that he releases monthly called “The Global Guerillas Report” and answers the question of “What the hell is going on right now?” in the life and times of Covid-19. He predicted social networks and their impact on the world back in 1996. He also predicted this pandemic in January before most people knew what was about to happen. And he has a few other observations that I haven’t heard anyone mention anywhere else to date that make this one of my favorite episodes to date. Simply put, John’s monthly “Global Guerillas Report” is some of the best research and journalism on geopolitical trends I’ve e

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today's episode is with Andrew Wilkinson. I've been really anticipating meeting Andrew for a few years now. I'm a big fan of his agency, MetaLab, his firm, Tiny Capital, and his original views on investing and running technology businesses for a while. He has done things so idiosyncratically that there isn't anyone like him on the internet that I'm aware of — From starting businesses at 15 and dropping out of college a few years later to pursue his entrepreneurial path, that sounds like a story that you might have heard before. But the part that you probably haven't heard before is that a few years later, he's running five businesses at the same time, after that it’s 25. And he’s likely still just getting started. Instead of finding companies that he wants to invest in and deploy capital, they do things a little bit differently at his firm, Tiny Capital. They actually are looking to buy companies from fo

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author This plog (podcast+blog post mashup) is called “The Wisdom of Insecurity”...“The desire for security is the same thing as insecurity” — Alan Watts. On my blog, podcasts, and even in my music, I reference the philosopher Alan Watts. If you haven't heard of him, you likely will in the coming decades because he happened to do three things uniquely well in the 20th century... He introduced the West to many Eastern concepts such as Vedanta, Daoism, and Zen Buddhism through a deep understanding of each (especially for someone that was born in Great Britain and was an ordained Anglican minister) + He articulately wrote and spoke widely throughout the country + And he happened to record those philosophical lectures for us to listen to 60-70 years later. In one of his books, “The Wisdom of Insecurity”, he makes the case that insecurity is both the inextinguishable and extremely valuable *if* we question why we’re

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author I am really excited about today's episode with none other than Hiten Shah. This is a topic that many people are thinking about, myself included — which is how to work from home productively and efficiently. I've been doing it for about a year and a half now. If you google “remote or work from home best practices” Hiten’s content is the stuff that comes up at the top of the list and for good reason. He's been working from home and running distributed teams for almost two decades... way longer than anyone else I know... So when I thought about a deep-dive episode in this topic, I couldn't think of anyone better than Hiten to join us with his best practices in general (as well as a COVID-19 version) of working from home. You can email James questions directly at askbelowtheline@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/gobelowtheline — “Below the Line with James Beshara" is brought to you by Straight

"The most exciting new podcast in the startup world.” - Eric Ries, Founder, and NYTimes bestselling author Today's episode is with Taryn Toomey, one of my favorite founders in the world, and though I am an investor in her company (called The Class), that isn’t why she’s one of my favorites… Her company is a cult-craze that started in New York City and is now growing internationally. And though it started as a “physical experience” (not going to call it a workout class) in-person in NYC, those who would like to join The Class digitally now have the ability to actually participate around the globe instead of needing to be there in-person. So... now anyone can actually discover what it’s all about. We talk about her company, the genesis (the real version of the story), and also about “grieving well”... a phrase I'd never really heard of before or considered. We talk about the principles behind The Class, the conversations she had in life right before it began, and a whole lot more. I'm really excited for you all