Will Richman is the founder of GrowthGenius and Bitmaker Labs. Before that he worked in Wealth management at BNY Mellon and spent 12 months backpacking through Asia and Europe. Will is also a graduate of the Honor’s Business Administration program at Ivey Business School.

GrowthGenius is a software service to help you get sales meetings with your ideal clients.

In this episode we talk about the pros and cons of working for a big company versus a startup, what the process of starting a company feels like and the effects on mental health. We talk about digital nomads and the importance of building a company to share success with others. We also bounce around ideas on how people can experiment and test with different jobs to see what career is best for them.

Timestamp

  • How to get investors for your business - 43:00
  • Framework for deciding to work for a startup versus a big company - 45:20
  • “The biggest problems are not technology problems but human problems” - 1:12:10
  • What is Will’s meditation process and what apps does he use? 52:55
  • The darkest moments that Will went through as an entrepreneur - 54:08
  • The original idea and  early days of Growth Genius (the definition of success) - 37:27
  • Was it scary leaving BNY Mellon to go into entrepreneurship? - 22:30
  • Buying a one-way ticket to Vietnam, backpacking Southeast Asia and how it changed him - 32:05 
  • Why Will Decided to come back to Canada to start a company, Digital Nomads and the importance of community? - 35:25
  • Why did you say that working manual labor changed you for the rest of your life? - 3:15

 

 

Full interview and video: https://bit.ly/atila-tv-will

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhFP5j6wtE8

Listen On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0m74ZmCPgjvp5WGOMg3P9C

Listen on Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-atila-podcast/id1440531021

 

Growth Genius : https://www.growthgenius.com

 

Atila Tech’s instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atilatech/

Will’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willrichman/

Will’s twitter: https://twitter.com/will_richman

 

Tomiwa’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tademidun/

Jacob’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-munene-4561a4153/

Atila LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/atila-tech/

 

Tomiwa’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomiwa1a 

Tomiwa’s twitter: https://twitter.com/tomiwa1a

Jacob’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/munenejr

 

Interview

How Manual labour changed his life

Tomiwa Ademidun: So talk about it, what were some things running through your head, around 16 you know. You were getting older now. You got to figure out what you want to do with your life. [3:15]

Will: I think I was late to the game, I think it only clicked summer of grade 11 I that was the first really hard job I had. I have done a lot of labor work but I worked at this construction site and saw how tough it can be going into grade 12. To realize how lucky I had it to that point but up until that point, I was free and clear, I had it figured out already.

Tomiwa Ademidun: You said it changed you for the rest of your life, it changed you in what way?

Will: I mean it was a little extreme but I went to the point of writing on my doorway 10 months of work will equal a lifetime of opportunity. I was dead set on making sure that I did not end up in some of the jobs I had worked that summer.

What made you start a company with your friends?

Tomiwa Ademidun: Tell us about why did you decide to start a company with your friends. [27:20]

Will: Yeah, very dangerous obviously but I mean. The biggest thing is you have to have the same values and compliment skills. So, like we kind of look similar in some ways but internally very different  and you can trust them. Start ups are a game of snakes and ladders, so you have to really build trust with who you are working with for the next five years. If not friend then close colleagues.

Backpacking Through Southeast Asia

Tomiwa Ademidun: So you sold your company and decided to go backpacking through Asia. Tell us why you  went backpacking … to find yourself. [32:07]

Will: Very cliche. Well I think part of the honest answer is I hadn’t done a lot of traveling to date. I think I was a little bit burnt out. When you work as close to as hard as you can for the good part of 3 years, you got to take a break.

 You become more wise too, making sure every 3 months you get a week off and make sure you disconnect and decompress or else it just gets worse and the burn out eats at you over the months and years and you can kind of tell when people are burnt out, you don’t see that light or fire in their eyes, thats burn out, that’s on the fringe of burn out. Even around the office I encourage folks to take a break.

How to get investors for your business 

Tomiwa Ademidun: So, personally a lot of my friends are thinking of starting a company. I think sometimes they think about {capital} too soon , rather than thinking about actually making something some people want. If I want to start a company today, how can I find investors? [43:00]

Will: We slowly built our networks of folks, anytime we were introduced to someone we added them to our advisor list. We built up this advisor list, we built up this advisor list of 50-100 people that kept tracking our progress periodically and we kept growing the company and then they would get interested and reach out  and things would continue to pick up. DMZ great or one eleven, these are the best places in Canada to find folks that are interested. There is maple leaf angels, crunchbase is great, angel list is great, there is a platform called nfx guild and signal, its all of the VCs in the US.

Exercise and Diet while Being an Entrepreneur

Tomiwa Ademidun: You were talking about exercise and you are a pretty fit guy. Something I am really into is exercise and diet. So what is your exercise routine on a good week. [59:35]

Will: I’ll turn this back on you, do you have your exercise and diet dialed?

Tomiwa Ademidun: I think I am at the best place I’ve been ever, In highschool I was playing a lot of sports but I think that was a lot of youthful energy. Getting me through. Now, I got a good regiment but Ialso want to try to make it better. So, I’m trying to see where I can improve.

Will: I think it's about the right balance, if you have a tough week be ok to not do as much just as long as you can get back into the routine. I used to try and work out 5 times a week and I found you keep to such a strict routine that you’ll just break.

Now in the summer, I bike to and from work that's about half an hour each way. Then basketball once a week and runs.