Let’s step into the lab with Steve Hoffman (Captain Hoff) who is the Captain & CEO of Founders Space, one of the world’s leading startup accelerators. Founders Space was ranked the #1 incubator for overseas startups by Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazines.
Hoffman was the founder and Chairman of the Producers Guild Silicon Valley Chapter, served on the Board of Governors of the New Media Council, and was a founding member of the Academy of Television’s Interactive Media Group. While in Hollywood, Hoffman worked as a TV development executive at Fries Entertainment. After that, he went on to pioneer interactive television with his venture-funded startup, Spiderdance.
In this episode, you will learn how to think outside of the box as an entrepreneur, create a profitable startup business, and make even more money by expanding overseas.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EPISODE:
2:48 - Background of the guest
5:28 - Innovation helps everywhere
7:12 - Value with both incubator and accelerator
16:16 - The programs we offer
26:24 - A great team to succeed
32:50 - The network effect
36:37 - The platforms for innovation
44:19 - Multiple sources to stay on top of innovation
KEEPING IT REAL:
7:48 - The hardest thing entrepreneurs do and their first job
9:42 - The biggest fallacy in entrepreneurship
12:50 - Being a little naive in entrepreneurship is a good thing
20:49 - The borrowing of ideas
26:50 - 2 ways to breakthrough as a startup
47:43 - The five forces
NOTABLE QUOTES (KEY LESSONS):
“This is the biggest fallacy in entrepreneurship. Everybody thinks you have that brilliant idea, that epiphany, that thing that could change the world before you dive in. Well, that’s totally backward. It’s actually the opposite of what you should be doing in your head. In the beginning, it is usually wrong, partially wrong. It might not be totally wrong. You might have an idea where to go, you haven’t got there yet and if it’s something totally new that nobody’s done before. Then, whatever you are imagining you haven’t done either and you won’t actually know it works until you start doing it.”
“In order to be an entrepreneur, you have to be a little crazy. You have to just dive in not knowing everything because you can’t know everything. And actually, the people who know everything, the industry experts, they’re usually stuck, trapped in a box by their own knowledge.”
CONNECTING WITH THE GUEST
