Learn From Proven Entrepreneurs

This interview is full of short stories about how Dan Bliss, a scrappy founder with limited resources, was able to get customers and close deals.

Like the time he got his vendors to fund his bar. And the time he bought the Hollywood sign and sold little pieces of it as souvenirs. And the time he got people excited about coming to a free show by printing tickets with a big price to make his freebie feel valuable. And the time he got Richard Branson to…

Even if you have zero interest in raising money, you’ll want to hear this interview for the same reason chess masters like to watch each other play. If you listen to this interview, you’ll hear how a methodical thinker systematically knocks obstacles out his way and creates opportunities.

Gagan Biyan had a lot working against him. He was a nobody in the startup scene who didn’t know any investors and couldn’t program. It didn’t stop him. He…

When I posted my “Tips on World Domination” interview with Chris Guillebeau, I asked the audience to help me summarize it. I expected to get a small tip from 5 to 10 people. Instead, 2 viewers created full-blown summaries. Check them out and tell me what you think (in the comments or via my contact [...]

In the late 90s, Greg Flores ran a search engine and noticed that his users were looking for online music. This is the story of how that discovery led to the launch of MP3.com, a pioneering site that connected musicians and their fans.

You’ll hear how a few clues helped MP3.com’s founders predict the future of online music, and how they built a business to help create that future. You’ll also hear about how the music industry worked to derail MP3.com’s efforts.

Shareaholic was just a “nights and weekends project” until its creator reached a big milestone: 1 million downloads.

My goal with this interview was to find out how Jay Meattle, a single founder with no outside funding, got that many downloads for a web browser add-on, when convectional wisdom says that “no one” installs browser add-ons….

Do you want to get Mixergy in iTunes? Google Listen? Something else? A few months ago, when my iTunes feed broke, Jess Pugsley of Fusionapps very generously worked up a solution and I’ve been getting a lot of compliments about it. (If you’re on iTunes, you should get the podcast here.) But now that Android [...]

When I interviewed the founder of SEOMoz a few weeks ago, he revealed how he had over $500,000 in debt at one point in his career and needed to hide from creditors. When I responded by calling for a lawyer to do an interview about how to deal with heavy debt because it’s so common, Russell DeMott emailed and volunteered to help out.

This Wednesday, September 15, Mosses Akizian is organizing a Los Angeles meetup that I think you should check out. In addition to meeting and getting to know other Mixergy listeners, you’ll also hear from two past interviewees that Mosses specifically picked because they were so popular when I had them on Mixergy.

David Skok tells a story about how rethinking his sales cycle helped him generate sales of $3.5 million in one day, after doing $4 million the whole previous year. Of course that’s not a typical result, but as you listen to him explain how he did it, you’ll see how the methodical way that he thinks about the customer acquisition process can be applied to your company.

You’ll hear several stories like that in this interview as I ask David about the companies he launched when he was an entrepreneur and the ones he helps grow now that he’s a venture capitalist.

Mark Brooks is living the good life and thinks a few Mixergy viewers should swipe his approach to build similar companies.

He did this interview from Malta, where he’s making a name for himself in the online personals industry through his blogs and consulting company. Listen to this interview and hear how…

When his big idea came to him, Lew Cirne says, “I was so excited about the idea I almost drove off the road.” His vision for a way to make any Java program self-diagnostic led him to create Wily Technology. In this interview, you’ll hear how he turned that idea into a company, how he got his first customers, how he hired people to help him grow it, and why he sold it eight years later to CA for $375 million.

You’ll also hear how he’s taking what he learned at Wily and using it to grow his current company, New Relic, which…

Adii Rockstar surprised many in the startup world when he did his first Mixergy interview and revealed that his company, WooThemes, quietly built over $2 million per year business by selling themes for platforms like WordPress.

He recently wrote a book called “Rockstar Business” about how he…