Welcome to FounderLine! All startups have their unique moments of inspiration, and this one goes back to 2013. I had just finished up working at Urban Airship, and was helping out a few friends with their companies. Since I was pretty relaxed, it was quite a contrast to see the stress these founder friends were experiencing, and I had a few flashbacks to my previous startup days. When you're starting a company, there are so many obstacles put in your way, and it's up to you to figure out how to navigate your way through all of them. I've always found that seeking advice from friends and trusted advisors was really helpful to me during those stressful periods. But not everyone has someone they can turn to for advice.
Then the moment of inspiration hit. I saw a news article about Dr. Drew. Yes, the Dr. Drew. I flashed back to my youth when the Loveline radio show was on in the evenings. It was Dr. Drew and Adam Carolla fielding questions about sex, drugs, etc. I thought "wouldn't it be great if founders had a safe place to go to ask questions about the struggles they were facing? Sort of like Loveline for founders, except it would be questions about startups, not sex and drugs."
At first I dismissed the idea, thinking that it would be too complicated to setup a live "radio" show where founders could call in. But as the weeks and months passed, I found myself encountering more and more situations where a show like this could be useful to founders. I also found myself coming back to the idea over and over again, which is usually how I know when it's time to go pursue an idea. I ran the idea by several entrepreneur and VC friends and they thought it would be great. After enough of those conversations, I decided to go for it, and FounderLine was born.
After that, I convinced a few friends to help me figure out how to pull together the right pieces to make this happen. Ironically, the biggest hurdles have been technology hurdles like how to take simultaneous phone calls without buying an expensive phone switch, getting the web site setup with no engineers, figuring out video recording and streaming, etc. I'm sure we'll run into some glitches along the way, but that's always half the fun!
This journey wouldn't be possible without the support of many others. I'd specifically like to thank the following:
You have all been great, and FounderLine wouldn't exist without your support, so thank you!!!
Founders and aspirational startup people, we invite you to tune in live each week on Thursdays at 5pm Pacific Time and to submit your questions via phone, email, Twitter, etc. We'll do our best to answer them! And if you have any feedback on the show or anything else, we'd love to hear that as well. As the song says, let's get it started in here!
Then the moment of inspiration hit. I saw a news article about Dr. Drew. Yes, the Dr. Drew. I flashed back to my youth when the Loveline radio show was on in the evenings. It was Dr. Drew and Adam Carolla fielding questions about sex, drugs, etc. I thought "wouldn't it be great if founders had a safe place to go to ask questions about the struggles they were facing? Sort of like Loveline for founders, except it would be questions about startups, not sex and drugs."
At first I dismissed the idea, thinking that it would be too complicated to setup a live "radio" show where founders could call in. But as the weeks and months passed, I found myself encountering more and more situations where a show like this could be useful to founders. I also found myself coming back to the idea over and over again, which is usually how I know when it's time to go pursue an idea. I ran the idea by several entrepreneur and VC friends and they thought it would be great. After enough of those conversations, I decided to go for it, and FounderLine was born.
After that, I convinced a few friends to help me figure out how to pull together the right pieces to make this happen. Ironically, the biggest hurdles have been technology hurdles like how to take simultaneous phone calls without buying an expensive phone switch, getting the web site setup with no engineers, figuring out video recording and streaming, etc. I'm sure we'll run into some glitches along the way, but that's always half the fun!
This journey wouldn't be possible without the support of many others. I'd specifically like to thank the following:
- Aaron Sagray for his help on all things design
- Joel Black for joining me as FounderLine's producer (our third startup journey together)
- Mitch Zuklie at Orrick for stepping up as our first sponsor and weekly guest
- Brad Hunstable and the Ustream team for taking a chance on a crazy idea
- The entire team at KMVT 15 Community Television in Mountain View for bringing this idea to life
You have all been great, and FounderLine wouldn't exist without your support, so thank you!!!
Founders and aspirational startup people, we invite you to tune in live each week on Thursdays at 5pm Pacific Time and to submit your questions via phone, email, Twitter, etc. We'll do our best to answer them! And if you have any feedback on the show or anything else, we'd love to hear that as well. As the song says, let's get it started in here!
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