[PODCAST] Creating a Global Entrepreneur Community

About this Discussion:

Five years ago, Nick Hughes had a dream of putting a twist on the standard pitch and networking events by creating his own in Seattle. Setting his own values, he was careful to grow the concept slowly and organically.

Now, with events literally, worldwide and with a goal to be in over 100 cities by the end of the year, Nick is helping company founders get in front of their community and even potential investors and partners.

With explosive growth, comes challenges, and Nick sat down with us in the very candid conversation on the bumps in the road, and what the future holds for Founders Live.

About Nick Hughes:

As the founder and CEO of Founders Live, Nick is a successful entrepreneur with business achievements in social media, digital payments, and e-commerce. He excels at interpersonal leadership, communication, business and product development. In addition to growing the global entrepreneurial platform Founders Live to more than 35 cities, 10 countries and reaching tens of thousands of entrepreneurs, Nick stays busy as an advisor to numerous startups and occasionally takes positions in sales or biz dev roles if needed. Previously he co-founded the mobile payment startup Seconds as well as helping start Coinme, a company built around expanding bitcoin and digital transactions into the physical realm via Bitcoin ATM’s. As a sought-after adviser, entrepreneurial speaker and writer with guest appearances on popular technology and media outlets, Nick enjoys helping others discover their unique entrepreneurial path. ***Nick is currently on a year-long Founders Live world tour to discover entrepreneurial talent, inspiration and himself.

The official Episode Breakdown:

2:15 - Nick introduces us to Founders Live and explains his Zen-like Quality

5:30 - How It’s growing to much more than just a city-by-city basis and how the global piece is coming into play

6:30 - The challenges of building worldwide, and how Nick is overcoming them

9:49 - How these monthly events could have a huge impact on those signing on to help build

11:00 - The keys to maintaining a culture while building on a large and quick scale

15:30 - The discipline that Nick has to maintain, and his daily routine

15:58 - The difference between intention and attention

18:00 - The four core areas that Nick makes sure he connects to before starting his day, and why it’s crucial to his daily routine

21:00 - How Founders Live will transform into much more than just a place for companies to get noticed (think getting money…)

24:00 - The challenges of executing crowd funding at a global scale

28:00 - Should entrepreneurs raise money and capital, and what’s the best way for them to grow a company when it comes to funding?

31:00 - Nick gives the deets on the good and bad of what he sees for business concepts and ideas

33:00 - Some of the biggest mistakes founders make in not listening to their customers

35:00 - How large, enterprise companies can utilize Founders Live to bring growth to their Innovation Labs

39:40 - What entrepreneurs are like (or not a like) across the globe

44:00 - Syya starts making up stuff about hair products

45:00 - What happens when Nick sees someone whose business doesn’t have potential

46:30- Why learning how to cycle through ideas to get to the right product and service is so important

Need to connect with Nick? Head over to FoundersLive.com

Want to be a city leader, email Nick at [email protected]