Cut The Tie Podcast with Alice Ksendzova
What does it look like when you start chasing success before you're old enough to drive?
In this inspiring episode of Cut The Tie, Thomas Helfrich sits down with Alice Ksendzova, a 15-year-old entrepreneur already working across multiple startups—from Amazon tools to YC-backed AI companies. With wisdom well beyond her years, Alice shares how she’s cutting through the noise of teenage life to build value, sharpen her sales skills, and define her own version of success—faster than most people twice her age.
Her story is a reminder: It’s never too early—or too late—to take action.
About Alice Ksendzova:
Alice Ksendzova is a 15-year-old startup contributor, growth strategist, and emerging voice in entrepreneurship. Based in Canada, Alice works with multiple early-stage companies spanning AI, e-commerce, real estate tech, and automation. What began with lemonade stands and e-commerce at age 10 has evolved into a daily commitment to business development, sales, and marketing—while still attending school full-time. She’s driven by a deep hunger to learn, grow, and prove that value, not age, determines your impact.
In this episode, Thomas and Alice discuss:
- Cutting ties with distractions—and choosing discipline at 15
Alice shares how she manages school, startups, and sleep with purpose-built time blocks. - Why she started volunteering for startups—at age 13
Without credentials, Alice earned her spot by showing up, learning fast, and offering real value. - Making the jump from e-commerce to B2B SaaS
She unpacks the lessons from failed dropshipping and how that sparked a love for startups. - Cold calling, content, and clarity: why sales wins
Alice breaks down why startups need simple value propositions—and why she thrives in sales. - The mindset behind her mornings
From yoga and water to zero phone time, she shares the routine that keeps her focused and calm.
Key Takeaways:
- Start now—even if you think you’re not ready
Procrastination is just a lie your future self will regret. - Value beats credentials every time
Alice didn’t wait to be qualified. She proved her worth by doing the work. - Sales is where clarity meets confidence
A startup’s success depends on clearly communicating value—and following through. - Mentors matter—but mindset matters more
With the right focus, a single hour can outperform a whole day of distraction.
Connect with Alice Ksendzova:
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceksendzova/
Connect with Thomas Helfrich:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/thelfrich
📘 Facebook: Cut the Tie Group
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashelfrich/
🌐 Website: https://www.cutthetie.com
📧 Email: t@instantlyrelevant.com
🚀 https://www.instantlyrelevant.com
Serious about LinkedIn Lead Generation? Stop Guessing what to do on LinkedIn and ignite revenue from relevance with Instantly Relevant Lead System
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Cut the Tie podcast.
I'm your host, thomas Helfrich,and if this is your first time
here, I hope it is the first ofmany, because I'm on a mission
to help you cut the tie towhatever it is holding you back
in life from success that I hopeyou define yourself.
And today I'm joined by AliceKinsdova.
Did I say it right?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Kinsdova yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Kinsdova all right, I was practicing for a good 30
seconds before you got on.
I'm doing well, thank you, andtake a minute, introduce
yourself.
You're one of the youngestguests we've had Not that that
matters, but I think it's prettydamn cool.
But introduce yourself, andwhat it is you do.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
For sure.
So my name is Alice.
As you guys heard, I'm 15currently and I work with a
couple different startups acrossdifferent Texas spaces, so that
includes one helping AmazonPPCs sell, and then another one
is basically changing the lifefor realtors we're basically
automating tenant screening andthen another one is a YC company
(00:59):
and we're actually helpingemails now with changing up with
their voices.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Oh wait.
So talk to me about that a bit,peel that onion back a bit,
tell me what that means.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
For sure.
So basically, I started off acouple years ago I would say 10
years old.
I started off with e-commerceand it was a journey.
I learned a lot, but it flopped, did not really work out
because this was after thedropshipping phase happened.
Everybody knew about thisalready, and then I decided I'm
(01:36):
going to do something that has abigger return.
I'm someone who seeks more oflike financial success, as
that's one of my biggestmotivations, and I would say
that I started getting tostartups and AI space, and
that's where I am now workingwith a couple of different
(01:56):
startups.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
You are like you're 15.
How did you get into this sofast?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, so obviously like nobody really wants to hire
a 15-year-old for their startup.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Because I'm legal in some parts of the world.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah, that's the thing.
And plus, like I didn't reallyhave any knowledge, I didn't
have any knowledge to reallybring any value to their startup
.
So basically the way I had tostart it is just volunteer.
So I volunteered with a coupleof startups for a couple of
years and that's exactly whereit got me to now fully on
working with multiple Amazing,so okay, so take a moment at 15,
(02:38):
how do you define?
Speaker 1 (02:39):
you said a little bit , but how do you define success?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
You said a little bit , but how do you define success?
For me, I would say successdefines as in how far I really
went and how much I learned.
I guess the main thing islearning, and on that side is
also the conversation on theside.
But I would say the biggestthing is learning, because if
you can learn something thatnobody else can really learn at
(03:05):
the same age as you, or evenlike people who are like in
their 30s, 40s, a lot of peoplehave, a way, different mindset
and I just feel like success forme is to be different and just
to learn as much as I can,because in that way I'm going to
stand out that as well.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
I love that, so okay, so take me through your journey
a little bit.
And what kind of you know themetaphoric tie you had to cut to
achieve that success.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
For sure.
So it started off long time ago, probably in kindergarten.
I always had that mindset ofentrepreneurship and also it
wasn't really I didn't.
I wasn't never really born asan entrepreneur.
Like no one really around mewas an entrepreneur my parents,
they're both not entrepreneurs.
I didn't really have anyfriends who were, like you know,
(03:52):
had huge businesses whengrowing up.
So I just saw a lot of peoplelike who were just they seem
like they're very, verydifferent.
I mean, I was always the personwho just wanted to stand out and
like have a Lamborghini in apenthouse and live in like some
beautiful house in the mountains, and I seen many people do that
(04:16):
which was like online, inperson, and I think that really
stood out to me.
So then I decided that the wayI could only get there is
honestly just to bring as muchas value as I can in this world.
So I started off inkindergarten with lemonade
stands and then after that I didmy own e-commerce.
That was when I was around 10years old and then from there, a
(04:39):
couple of years after, Istarted getting into startups
and now I'm currently justleveling up and growing those
startups as much as I can.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Are you still in school?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, I'm still currently in school in grade 10
right now.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
That's crazy.
So how do you find time for allthat?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Mainly I just squeeze in as much as I can.
I mean, a lot of people havemany distractions, which
includes like phones, tv shows.
I really don't do any of that.
I like to.
I'm very.
The best thing to do is I puttimers for when I'm getting
tasks done and I try my best tonot get distracted until that
timer is over and I mainly justsqueeze all of them in.
(05:22):
I do get enough sleep.
A lot of people say that Iprobably just don't get enough
sleep, but there are days whereI might be running off a couple
hours of sleep, but most of thetime I actually have amazing
sleep and even if I can, I trymy best to sneak in a little bit
of a workout.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
You got to do that, you got to keep it balanced.
I mean that's amazing.
I can't imagine what you'regoing to accomplish when you're
out of school.
You know as you've I mean, asyou've grown and you've realized
some of the stuff you have todo right to achieve your success
.
Have you had any moments thatyou recall that have been like
the fighting?
So were you like ah, I'm notdoing that again, or I'm going
(06:00):
to start doing this.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah, there was many, many moments.
That includes in sales.
I got a lot of experience insales and like mainly marketing.
I was never a technical person.
I always came into this likegame, just mainly on business
development.
There was many times where Icouldn't really speak properly.
I mean, I started, I grew upjust knowing like mainly Russian
(06:24):
and French and I really did notknow like English that well.
I was never really taught itproperly, so I just had to go on
my own and just try to learn itthe best as possible and how to
properly talk with people andthrough that I had to just go up
to people like strangers andtalk with them and I'd done a
(06:46):
lot of cold calls my entire lifewhich really helped that as
well.
So I would say there's manyfallbacks where I would just
mess up a lot with what I would,what I would say, and mainly it
was mainly just communicationwho's?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
uh, like you know, you have to have a support
network in place for that.
So you know, talk to me abouthow you do this at such a young
age because I think anybody'syounger or listening, or
actually any point in life.
You need a support system, butfor you what?
What's working?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
right now it's working is like are you talking
about, in a sense of um likewith work?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
well, parents or friends or anybody who kind of
helps you enable this.
You know, because it's it's alot going on.
You know it's all new.
You know it's not like you have45 years of experience, you got
15 and you're cutting throughit.
So how do you, you know, tellme about that a little bit on
your journey and how you're, youknow, leveraging your network?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Oh sure, yeah, so it's mainly my brother, my
brother.
He right now is five yearsolder than me, he's in
university, he's basicallyfinishing his degree, and it all
started off with my brother ashe was walking down in the
streets of downtown in Torontoand he's seen how many people
are just walking around.
They don't look happy, they'recoming back from their jobs and
(08:03):
it just looks like they'rechasing for that Friday.
They're chasing for thatweekend.
It just looks like they'rechasing for that Friday.
They're chasing for thatweekend.
And he always told me thesestories of like he wants to do
something different.
We want to finish our life withlike just thinking that we
changed something in this worldand we did something different
(08:24):
than everybody else.
So it all started off with him.
I had a little bit of thatmindset because I was super
young and then mainly my brotheralso started kind of getting
into that.
He was he's more on theself-improvement journey, not so
much like chasing likefinancial success, he's more
just like for him own self.
But yeah, it's mainly just meand my brother.
(08:44):
We support each otherthroughout any times.
We always help each other, wework best, we give each other
suggestions and that's the waywe both improved and I'm very,
very grateful for that.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
That's amazing.
I mean, you got to have thatand it's great to have that kind
of trusted mentor on your pathahead of you and you know and
seeing it.
It's fantastic Talk to me aboutyou know how and what you're
doing for startups that theyfind it so valuable already Like
I'm really curious on that.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
For sure.
So with the couple of startupsit's mainly different things,
like it's usually sales.
I like sales the most.
Sales is the best way to reallyshow the value.
The other ones I mainly domarketing.
So for the Amazon PPC tool sothis is a tool which, how it
takes all the algorithms withwhich what is working with
(09:34):
Amazon sellers when they launchtheir ads and that implements it
into making ad for an Amazonseller.
And the best thing I do is Ilove to make a lot of videos
which provides value to Amazonsellers.
I honestly try my best to makeas many videos as I possibly can
, and that also includes a lotof videos which provides value
to Amazon sellers.
I honestly try my best to makeas many videos as I possibly can
, and that also includes a lotof different strategies, which
(09:54):
does include sales also doing alot of cold outreach and it's a
lot of trial and error becauseAmazon sellers they don't really
have their information justlaid out there.
It's not just like you can'tjust search up an Amazon
seller's name and you'll findtheir phone number, their email
and everything Like you have todo a little bit of like in-depth
(10:16):
search, which includes likegoing through a bunch of social
medias where there's those hugeinfluencers who are super
involved in Amazon seller spaceand, looking through the people
that they're with and that's theway you find, for example,
leads in a way, if that makessense.
And then a couple other ones isone of them is mainly sales.
(10:38):
The tenant screening is mainlyjust sales.
I mean realtors.
They always have to answertheir phones.
So what I would say I learned alot from these startups and I
would say the only thing astartup really needs that's very
, very valuable is that thismight sound a little bit like
generic, but this is likesomething someone actually has
(10:59):
to understand and like hear that.
Like.
First of all, it's the how canyou reach your customers?
If it's an easy way to reachyour customers, if you could
easily cold call them, they'llanswer their phone.
Like realtors, they always haveto answer their phone then
that's an easy end.
If it's, for example and italso has to, also has to become
(11:20):
like you have to make sure yourtool brings value into their
lives, it's super easy to tellthem the value, like it can't be
something here.
I'm just going to give a littlebit of like a complete
summarize, because I'm kind ofgoing off right now.
But my brother first startedoff with making a customer
support bot and this customersupport bot it was super hard to
(11:43):
sell.
It was super hard to sell itwas because it's hard to show
the value right there.
It because it's kind of likeyou might you might.
We might save you like somedollars, we might save you a
little bit of money, but at thesame time it's like not very
clear and you don't actuallyknow.
But then with tools where it'slike you get this value right
(12:06):
away, like you screen a tenantin a couple seconds, like that,
then that shows the valuestraight up.
Right, does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Yeah, it does.
I'll be the best guy.
I know so much already.
I mean, I've met people wayolder than you that have way
more experience, that don't knowthis much, so this is great.
Don't interrupt, did you,please?
Speaker 2 (12:29):
No worries, that's what I mainly learned.
And with the other startup,that's with YC, we're fairly new
.
We got in like last year and wejust finished building out the
entire software and now I'm justfocusing on making content.
It's a step-by-step game with,uh like marketing.
I'd say.
You start something and thenyou also add in something which
(12:51):
is like, for example, reachingout to journalists or even
reaching out to, let's say,reaching out to influencers,
having influencers post theproduct and doing a lot of that.
It's marketing is all aboutbulk and it's very generic,
because you can't just be likehey, I got you this, I got you
10 people.
It's it comes with time.
It's marketing is all aboutbulk and it's very generic,
because you can't just be likehey, I got you this, I got you
10 people.
It's it comes with time.
(13:12):
It's super long-term sales.
It's like hey, I called thismany people, this many people,
so they're interested, this ishow much money.
When it's the bank, it's superlike clear.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
It's yeah I like that .
What do your friends say aboutall this?
Are they doing the same?
Or they just like they shakeyour head and just don't get it,
or something about that?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
doing like super like .
They're also super motivatedand yeah, I mean, usually I
don't really have that much timeto, like you know, hang out
with my friends every single day, but I do see them once in a
while and I just love to talkabout, like, what have we
learned throughout these pastcouple weeks or months and
what's next I like it and you'regood.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
You got to forge your own path.
Definitely make time forfriends.
What are you most grateful foralready, in 15 years of?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
life.
I mean, I started off withcomputer.
If I didn't have any technology, that would honestly be a
really big disadvantage foreverything I'm doing and I'm
grateful for basicallyeverything.
(14:36):
I mean, that's one thing Ireally live by is gratitude,
because I believe you have tolike, basically being grateful
is the same way as likehappiness.
If you're not grateful, you'renot really going to be happy.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
I love it.
The mindset matters right,because things will happen in
life.
For sure, and you know at leastI say this a lot things will
happen to you or you can look atit, they're happening for you.
You know they may suck in themoment it's finding the lessons
in the life that will determinesuccess to some degree,
especially as you're defining itfor yourself.
Give some lessons for listeners.
(15:10):
I mean, like you know, maybeit's a younger entrepreneur,
maybe it's somebody who's youknow my age.
It just doesn't think they likewhat do you give them, Like
what's the, what's the youthfuladvice you give somebody?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah.
So the youthful advice ishonestly, don't procrastinate.
And if you tell yourself thatyou're going to do this tomorrow
, you're not going to dotomorrow, do tonight.
And I love to tell myself that,because why not just do it
tonight?
Because the day will alreadypass, so what's the point of
just not doing it?
Procrastination is somethingthat's super big and especially,
(15:41):
it doesn't matter if you aremaking a business at 12 years
old or 56 years old.
You trying is what counts andthat's going to lead, even if
the business doesn't really workout.
You're going to know a lot morethan everybody else and you
will definitely reach anotherlevel of confidence that a lot
(16:04):
of people don't have.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I would agree.
That's a big thing.
You know, maybe fast forwardfive years.
Who are you?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah, that's a good question.
I mean, in five years I wouldsay I am, I'd be, I want to be
someone who is definitely like10 times more wiser than I am
right now.
I know like so much more andlike I could talk to anybody and
just like ramble about somesuper cool insights that they
(16:40):
know about and honestly, I wouldjust see myself as someone who
knows a lot more and as well asmore financial success Probably
those two.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Diving into finance.
I'm going to.
You're going to remember thismoment 30 years from now.
You're like that guy told methat your definition of success
will go away from money at somepoint.
I promise you It'll be later,and when it does, you'll find
happiness faster.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Who gives you inspiration?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
I would say who gives me inspiration is probably I'm
pretty sure his name is PaulGraham or Sam Altman one of
those.
They were both in YC and I'mpretty sure they're the owners
and they are just.
They're people who reach somuch in life and people who just
know so much about startups,specifically because I'm in the
(17:35):
startup space and I love this.
One thing one of them said it'sthat don't fall for tarpits.
So that basically means is thata lot of startup ideas are
actually a tarpit.
There are startup ideas thatdon't work out and everybody
tried them before.
But it just it's something thatwon't work out and everybody
(17:55):
first gets in the game thinking,oh, this is good, Nobody else
has done this before.
But you actually try the ideaout and you realize why nobody
else has done this, because italways fails.
It's an example.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
I was like, yeah, give me an example, like let me,
because I think that's animportant piece.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I never really thought of it that way, but
really I'm pleased you have theexample yeah, like an example is
, for example, trying to like asocial, like some social media
app?
There's so many social mediaapps and a lot of people try
making new ones, but then theyrealize that it's a whole game
that's just monopolized.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, well, it's also one that's uh, the the lift is
incredibly expensive to getthere, right.
I mean it's like just a, unlessit's very niche for a specific
thing, then then probably couldbe.
I always say that I've had afew customers who've tried this
and I said it might just beeasier to accomplish this
through a Facebook group orsomething like that.
Do you have like a must readbook?
Speaker 2 (19:02):
I really like that book and the reason why I like
that book is because it givesyou gives you a lot of tips with
like more communication,because I think communication is
one of the most importantthings in life.
And it gives like tips, forexample, like always mention
someone's name, because the nameis what everyone wants to hear,
it's everyone's favorite word,and things like say everything
where it brings value to theother person, everything,
(19:24):
everything you say is whatanother person really, I guess,
wants to hear.
That goes to them.
That makes sense yeah, it does.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
No, I like that book too.
It's a when you're reading likeyou were taken back to a
different time, but yet theprinciples still are so
applicable.
Yeah, now you're only 15.
So I asked this question toeverybody.
But if you could go back intime, when would you go back in
time and what would you dodifferently?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I'd probably go back in time around maybe a little
bit before 10.
If I started off even earlier,maybe eight years old, even
though I was kind of I wouldn'tsay starting off super early but
I wish I started off moresmarter and less weighed, like
taking time, and I know it'shard because I am young and I
(20:12):
don't really know that much.
But if I had like, for example,someone who was a very, very
successful business person in myfamily or someone that I knew
and they kind of could haveguided me the path where it's
like, instead of starting offwith this, start off with this,
you'll learn more and thisbrings more value into the world
, I feel like that would be veryhelpful and, yeah, probably
(20:34):
just trying to invest into amentor.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yeah, that's an important one.
It's hard to pick one becauseyou're going to have a.
Yeah, it's hard to pick one Ina 15, the fact that you know you
need one is good, but you justyou need to pick the one that's
got the right.
You know the right valueproposition.
I'd say it that way because youknow you don't want to overpay
and you don't want to underpay,but you want to get value, and
(21:00):
as long as the value is yeah.
Not too much.
All right, if there's aquestion I should ask you today,
and I didn't, what would thatquestion have been and how do
you answer it?
Speaker 2 (21:26):
probably was.
Hmm, that's a good question,but I would say you mainly asked
me old questions, but maybesomething a little bit more on
mindset, like how does my brainreally think, like how do I wake
up in the morning, how do Istart off my day?
So, mainly on mindset, and thereason why I'd say that question
is very important is becauseit's that's very important for
someone who's like firststarting off, because they don't
(21:48):
really know how to start offtheir day and like what, what
mind to get into.
So the way to answer thatquestion is I first start off
with my morning, with I love todo like a very like a nice
stretch.
I do a little bit of yoga, whichtakes me like five minutes, and
I drink a lot of water becausethat really helps your brain
start kind of activating, and Idon't touch my phone the entire
(22:11):
morning.
Do not touch your phone theentire morning because that is
going to trigger your dopaminelevels and that will definitely
mess up your entire brain forthe rest of the day.
So one thing is that I wake up,do like five minutes of yoga,
drink a lot of water, like morethan you think.
You have to drink a lot, of alot of water and then I go to
(22:31):
work or work for a couple hoursand I take a nice break and then
eat some breakfast and then goback and that's the entire day.
It's all about mindset andstarting off your day, because
those two are very important.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
I agree.
The longer you can not touchyour phone, the better.
It's very hard to do as you getolder.
I will tell you.
Actually at any age.
Listen, I love that you've comeon here today and I want you to
tell the world who should get ahold of you and how should they
do that.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
I would say that who should get help is anyone who is
young and also kind of.
They found some you know somesuccessful ways that made them
where they are and they couldshare some things that I don't
know myself.
I'd love to like talk withthose people and you could
always reach me at like LinkedIn.
(23:18):
I always respond to my LinkedIn.
I'm there like 24-7.
I like that.
Well, take some rest.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
I'm there like 24-7.
I like that.
Well, take some rest.
I'll be there 24-7.
Thank you, alice.
What is your LinkedIn?
By the way, too?
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Alice Ksenzova, so it's just going to be the same
name.
K-s-e-n-d-z-o-v-a there you goyeah.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Alice, thanks for coming on today, I appreciate it
.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Thank you so much for having me, Thomas.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Listen, everybody who's made it this far.
I hope you come back.
This is the first time I'mcoming to Cut the Tie podcast or
YouTube channel.
I hope you make it the first ofmany.
Get out there, go cut a tie, gofind success, but be sure to
define that success yourselffirst.
Have a great day.
Welcome to Cut the Tie podcast.
I'm your host, thomas Helfrich,and if this is your first time
here, I hope it is the first ofmany, because I'm on a mission
to help you cut the tie towhatever it is holding you back
in life from success that I hopeyou define yourself.
And today I'm joined by AliceKinsdova.
Did I say it right?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Kinsdova yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Kinsdova all right, I was practicing for a good 30
seconds before you got on.
I'm doing well, thank you, andtake a minute, introduce
yourself.
You're one of the youngestguests we've had Not that that
matters, but I think it's prettydamn cool.
But introduce yourself, andwhat it is you do.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
For sure.
So my name is Alice.
As you guys heard, I'm 15currently and I work with a
couple different startups acrossdifferent Texas spaces, so that
includes one helping AmazonPPCs sell, and then another one
is basically changing the lifefor realtors we're basically
automating tenant screening andthen another one is a YC company
(00:59):
and we're actually helpingemails now with changing up with
their voices.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Oh wait.
So talk to me about that a bit,peel that onion back a bit,
tell me what that means.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
For sure.
So basically, I started off acouple years ago I would say 10
years old.
I started off with e-commerceand it was a journey.
I learned a lot, but it flopped, did not really work out
because this was after thedropshipping phase happened.
Everybody knew about thisalready, and then I decided I'm
(01:36):
going to do something that has abigger return.
I'm someone who seeks more oflike financial success, as
that's one of my biggestmotivations, and I would say
that I started getting tostartups and AI space, and
that's where I am now workingwith a couple of different
(01:56):
startups.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
You are like you're 15.
How did you get into this sofast?
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, so obviously like nobody really wants to hire
a 15-year-old for their startup.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Because I'm legal in some parts of the world.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah, that's the thing.
And plus, like I didn't reallyhave any knowledge, I didn't
have any knowledge to reallybring any value to their startup
.
So basically the way I had tostart it is just volunteer.
So I volunteered with a coupleof startups for a couple of
years and that's exactly whereit got me to now fully on
working with multiple Amazing,so okay, so take a moment at 15,
(02:38):
how do you define?
Speaker 1 (02:39):
you said a little bit , but how do you define success?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
You said a little bit , but how do you define success?
For me, I would say successdefines as in how far I really
went and how much I learned.
I guess the main thing islearning, and on that side is
also the conversation on theside.
But I would say the biggestthing is learning, because if
you can learn something thatnobody else can really learn at
(03:05):
the same age as you, or evenlike people who are like in
their 30s, 40s, a lot of peoplehave, a way, different mindset
and I just feel like success forme is to be different and just
to learn as much as I can,because in that way I'm going to
stand out that as well.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
I love that, so okay, so take me through your journey
a little bit.
And what kind of you know themetaphoric tie you had to cut to
achieve that success.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
For sure.
So it started off long time ago, probably in kindergarten.
I always had that mindset ofentrepreneurship and also it
wasn't really I didn't.
I wasn't never really born asan entrepreneur.
Like no one really around mewas an entrepreneur my parents,
they're both not entrepreneurs.
I didn't really have anyfriends who were, like you know,
(03:52):
had huge businesses whengrowing up.
So I just saw a lot of peoplelike who were just they seem
like they're very, verydifferent.
I mean, I was always the personwho just wanted to stand out and
like have a Lamborghini in apenthouse and live in like some
beautiful house in the mountains, and I seen many people do that
(04:16):
which was like online, inperson, and I think that really
stood out to me.
So then I decided that the wayI could only get there is
honestly just to bring as muchas value as I can in this world.
So I started off inkindergarten with lemonade
stands and then after that I didmy own e-commerce.
That was when I was around 10years old and then from there, a
(04:39):
couple of years after, Istarted getting into startups
and now I'm currently justleveling up and growing those
startups as much as I can.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Are you still in school?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, I'm still currently in school in grade 10
right now.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
That's crazy.
So how do you find time for allthat?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Mainly I just squeeze in as much as I can.
I mean, a lot of people havemany distractions, which
includes like phones, tv shows.
I really don't do any of that.
I like to.
I'm very.
The best thing to do is I puttimers for when I'm getting
tasks done and I try my best tonot get distracted until that
timer is over and I mainly justsqueeze all of them in.
(05:22):
I do get enough sleep.
A lot of people say that Iprobably just don't get enough
sleep, but there are days whereI might be running off a couple
hours of sleep, but most of thetime I actually have amazing
sleep and even if I can, I trymy best to sneak in a little bit
of a workout.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
You got to do that, you got to keep it balanced.
I mean that's amazing.
I can't imagine what you'regoing to accomplish when you're
out of school.
You know as you've I mean, asyou've grown and you've realized
some of the stuff you have todo right to achieve your success
.
Have you had any moments thatyou recall that have been like
the fighting?
So were you like ah, I'm notdoing that again, or I'm going
(06:00):
to start doing this.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah, there was many, many moments.
That includes in sales.
I got a lot of experience insales and like mainly marketing.
I was never a technical person.
I always came into this likegame, just mainly on business
development.
There was many times where Icouldn't really speak properly.
I mean, I started, I grew upjust knowing like mainly Russian
(06:24):
and French and I really did notknow like English that well.
I was never really taught itproperly, so I just had to go on
my own and just try to learn itthe best as possible and how to
properly talk with people andthrough that I had to just go up
to people like strangers andtalk with them and I'd done a
(06:46):
lot of cold calls my entire lifewhich really helped that as
well.
So I would say there's manyfallbacks where I would just
mess up a lot with what I would,what I would say, and mainly it
was mainly just communicationwho's?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
uh, like you know, you have to have a support
network in place for that.
So you know, talk to me abouthow you do this at such a young
age because I think anybody'syounger or listening, or
actually any point in life.
You need a support system, butfor you what?
What's working?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
right now it's working is like are you talking
about, in a sense of um likewith work?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
well, parents or friends or anybody who kind of
helps you enable this.
You know, because it's it's alot going on.
You know it's all new.
You know it's not like you have45 years of experience, you got
15 and you're cutting throughit.
So how do you, you know, tellme about that a little bit on
your journey and how you're, youknow, leveraging your network?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Oh sure, yeah, so it's mainly my brother, my
brother.
He right now is five yearsolder than me, he's in
university, he's basicallyfinishing his degree, and it all
started off with my brother ashe was walking down in the
streets of downtown in Torontoand he's seen how many people
are just walking around.
They don't look happy, they'recoming back from their jobs and
(08:03):
it just looks like they'rechasing for that Friday.
They're chasing for thatweekend.
It just looks like they'rechasing for that Friday.
They're chasing for thatweekend.
And he always told me thesestories of like he wants to do
something different.
We want to finish our life withlike just thinking that we
changed something in this worldand we did something different
(08:24):
than everybody else.
So it all started off with him.
I had a little bit of thatmindset because I was super
young and then mainly my brotheralso started kind of getting
into that.
He was he's more on theself-improvement journey, not so
much like chasing likefinancial success, he's more
just like for him own self.
But yeah, it's mainly just meand my brother.
(08:44):
We support each otherthroughout any times.
We always help each other, wework best, we give each other
suggestions and that's the waywe both improved and I'm very,
very grateful for that.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
That's amazing.
I mean, you got to have thatand it's great to have that kind
of trusted mentor on your pathahead of you and you know and
seeing it.
It's fantastic Talk to me aboutyou know how and what you're
doing for startups that theyfind it so valuable already Like
I'm really curious on that.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
For sure.
So with the couple of startupsit's mainly different things,
like it's usually sales.
I like sales the most.
Sales is the best way to reallyshow the value.
The other ones I mainly domarketing.
So for the Amazon PPC tool sothis is a tool which, how it
takes all the algorithms withwhich what is working with
(09:34):
Amazon sellers when they launchtheir ads and that implements it
into making ad for an Amazonseller.
And the best thing I do is Ilove to make a lot of videos
which provides value to Amazonsellers.
I honestly try my best to makeas many videos as I possibly can
, and that also includes a lotof videos which provides value
to Amazon sellers.
I honestly try my best to makeas many videos as I possibly can
, and that also includes a lotof different strategies, which
(09:54):
does include sales also doing alot of cold outreach and it's a
lot of trial and error becauseAmazon sellers they don't really
have their information justlaid out there.
It's not just like you can'tjust search up an Amazon
seller's name and you'll findtheir phone number, their email
and everything Like you have todo a little bit of like in-depth
(10:16):
search, which includes likegoing through a bunch of social
medias where there's those hugeinfluencers who are super
involved in Amazon seller spaceand, looking through the people
that they're with and that's theway you find, for example,
leads in a way, if that makessense.
And then a couple other ones isone of them is mainly sales.
(10:38):
The tenant screening is mainlyjust sales.
I mean realtors.
They always have to answertheir phones.
So what I would say I learned alot from these startups and I
would say the only thing astartup really needs that's very
, very valuable is that thismight sound a little bit like
generic, but this is likesomething someone actually has
(10:59):
to understand and like hear that.
Like.
First of all, it's the how canyou reach your customers?
If it's an easy way to reachyour customers, if you could
easily cold call them, they'llanswer their phone.
Like realtors, they always haveto answer their phone then
that's an easy end.
If it's, for example and italso has to, also has to become
(11:20):
like you have to make sure yourtool brings value into their
lives, it's super easy to tellthem the value, like it can't be
something here.
I'm just going to give a littlebit of like a complete
summarize, because I'm kind ofgoing off right now.
But my brother first startedoff with making a customer
support bot and this customersupport bot it was super hard to
(11:43):
sell.
It was super hard to sell itwas because it's hard to show
the value right there.
It because it's kind of likeyou might you might.
We might save you like somedollars, we might save you a
little bit of money, but at thesame time it's like not very
clear and you don't actuallyknow.
But then with tools where it'slike you get this value right
(12:06):
away, like you screen a tenantin a couple seconds, like that,
then that shows the valuestraight up.
Right, does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Yeah, it does.
I'll be the best guy.
I know so much already.
I mean, I've met people wayolder than you that have way
more experience, that don't knowthis much, so this is great.
Don't interrupt, did you,please?
Speaker 2 (12:29):
No worries, that's what I mainly learned.
And with the other startup,that's with YC, we're fairly new
.
We got in like last year and wejust finished building out the
entire software and now I'm justfocusing on making content.
It's a step-by-step game with,uh like marketing.
I'd say.
You start something and thenyou also add in something which
(12:51):
is like, for example, reachingout to journalists or even
reaching out to, let's say,reaching out to influencers,
having influencers post theproduct and doing a lot of that.
It's marketing is all aboutbulk and it's very generic,
because you can't just be likehey, I got you this, I got you
10 people.
It's it comes with time.
It's marketing is all aboutbulk and it's very generic,
because you can't just be likehey, I got you this, I got you
10 people.
It's it comes with time.
(13:12):
It's super long-term sales.
It's like hey, I called thismany people, this many people,
so they're interested, this ishow much money.
When it's the bank, it's superlike clear.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
It's yeah I like that .
What do your friends say aboutall this?
Are they doing the same?
Or they just like they shakeyour head and just don't get it,
or something about that?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
doing like super like .
They're also super motivatedand yeah, I mean, usually I
don't really have that much timeto, like you know, hang out
with my friends every single day, but I do see them once in a
while and I just love to talkabout, like, what have we
learned throughout these pastcouple weeks or months and
what's next I like it and you'regood.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
You got to forge your own path.
Definitely make time forfriends.
What are you most grateful foralready, in 15 years of?
Speaker 2 (14:14):
life.
I mean, I started off withcomputer.
If I didn't have any technology, that would honestly be a
really big disadvantage foreverything I'm doing and I'm
grateful for basicallyeverything.
(14:36):
I mean, that's one thing Ireally live by is gratitude,
because I believe you have tolike, basically being grateful
is the same way as likehappiness.
If you're not grateful, you'renot really going to be happy.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
I love it.
The mindset matters right,because things will happen in
life.
For sure, and you know at leastI say this a lot things will
happen to you or you can look atit, they're happening for you.
You know they may suck in themoment it's finding the lessons
in the life that will determinesuccess to some degree,
especially as you're defining itfor yourself.
Give some lessons for listeners.
(15:10):
I mean, like you know, maybeit's a younger entrepreneur,
maybe it's somebody who's youknow my age.
It just doesn't think they likewhat do you give them, Like
what's the, what's the youthfuladvice you give somebody?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah.
So the youthful advice ishonestly, don't procrastinate.
And if you tell yourself thatyou're going to do this tomorrow
, you're not going to dotomorrow, do tonight.
And I love to tell myself that,because why not just do it
tonight?
Because the day will alreadypass, so what's the point of
just not doing it?
Procrastination is somethingthat's super big and especially,
(15:41):
it doesn't matter if you aremaking a business at 12 years
old or 56 years old.
You trying is what counts andthat's going to lead, even if
the business doesn't really workout.
You're going to know a lot morethan everybody else and you
will definitely reach anotherlevel of confidence that a lot
(16:04):
of people don't have.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I would agree.
That's a big thing.
You know, maybe fast forwardfive years.
Who are you?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Yeah, that's a good question.
I mean, in five years I wouldsay I am, I'd be, I want to be
someone who is definitely like10 times more wiser than I am
right now.
I know like so much more andlike I could talk to anybody and
just like ramble about somesuper cool insights that they
(16:40):
know about and honestly, I wouldjust see myself as someone who
knows a lot more and as well asmore financial success Probably
those two.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Diving into finance.
I'm going to.
You're going to remember thismoment 30 years from now.
You're like that guy told methat your definition of success
will go away from money at somepoint.
I promise you It'll be later,and when it does, you'll find
happiness faster.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Who gives you inspiration?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
I would say who gives me inspiration is probably I'm
pretty sure his name is PaulGraham or Sam Altman one of
those.
They were both in YC and I'mpretty sure they're the owners
and they are just.
They're people who reach somuch in life and people who just
know so much about startups,specifically because I'm in the
(17:35):
startup space and I love this.
One thing one of them said it'sthat don't fall for tarpits.
So that basically means is thata lot of startup ideas are
actually a tarpit.
There are startup ideas thatdon't work out and everybody
tried them before.
But it just it's something thatwon't work out and everybody
(17:55):
first gets in the game thinking,oh, this is good, Nobody else
has done this before.
But you actually try the ideaout and you realize why nobody
else has done this, because italways fails.
It's an example.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
I was like, yeah, give me an example, like let me,
because I think that's animportant piece.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I never really thought of it that way, but
really I'm pleased you have theexample yeah, like an example is
, for example, trying to like asocial, like some social media
app?
There's so many social mediaapps and a lot of people try
making new ones, but then theyrealize that it's a whole game
that's just monopolized.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, well, it's also one that's uh, the the lift is
incredibly expensive to getthere, right.
I mean it's like just a, unlessit's very niche for a specific
thing, then then probably couldbe.
I always say that I've had afew customers who've tried this
and I said it might just beeasier to accomplish this
through a Facebook group orsomething like that.
Do you have like a must readbook?
Speaker 2 (19:02):
I really like that book and the reason why I like
that book is because it givesyou gives you a lot of tips with
like more communication,because I think communication is
one of the most importantthings in life.
And it gives like tips, forexample, like always mention
someone's name, because the nameis what everyone wants to hear,
it's everyone's favorite word,and things like say everything
where it brings value to theother person, everything,
(19:24):
everything you say is whatanother person really, I guess,
wants to hear.
That goes to them.
That makes sense yeah, it does.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
No, I like that book too.
It's a when you're reading likeyou were taken back to a
different time, but yet theprinciples still are so
applicable.
Yeah, now you're only 15.
So I asked this question toeverybody.
But if you could go back intime, when would you go back in
time and what would you dodifferently?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I'd probably go back in time around maybe a little
bit before 10.
If I started off even earlier,maybe eight years old, even
though I was kind of I wouldn'tsay starting off super early but
I wish I started off moresmarter and less weighed, like
taking time, and I know it'shard because I am young and I
(20:12):
don't really know that much.
But if I had like, for example,someone who was a very, very
successful business person in myfamily or someone that I knew
and they kind of could haveguided me the path where it's
like, instead of starting offwith this, start off with this,
you'll learn more and thisbrings more value into the world
, I feel like that would be veryhelpful and, yeah, probably
(20:34):
just trying to invest into amentor.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yeah, that's an important one.
It's hard to pick one becauseyou're going to have a.
Yeah, it's hard to pick one Ina 15, the fact that you know you
need one is good, but you justyou need to pick the one that's
got the right.
You know the right valueproposition.
I'd say it that way because youknow you don't want to overpay
and you don't want to underpay,but you want to get value, and
(21:00):
as long as the value is yeah.
Not too much.
All right, if there's aquestion I should ask you today,
and I didn't, what would thatquestion have been and how do
you answer it?
Speaker 2 (21:26):
probably was.
Hmm, that's a good question,but I would say you mainly asked
me old questions, but maybesomething a little bit more on
mindset, like how does my brainreally think, like how do I wake
up in the morning, how do Istart off my day?
So, mainly on mindset, and thereason why I'd say that question
is very important is becauseit's that's very important for
someone who's like firststarting off, because they don't
(21:48):
really know how to start offtheir day and like what, what
mind to get into.
So the way to answer thatquestion is I first start off
with my morning, with I love todo like a very like a nice
stretch.
I do a little bit of yoga, whichtakes me like five minutes, and
I drink a lot of water becausethat really helps your brain
start kind of activating, and Idon't touch my phone the entire
(22:11):
morning.
Do not touch your phone theentire morning because that is
going to trigger your dopaminelevels and that will definitely
mess up your entire brain forthe rest of the day.
So one thing is that I wake up,do like five minutes of yoga,
drink a lot of water, like morethan you think.
You have to drink a lot, of alot of water and then I go to
(22:31):
work or work for a couple hoursand I take a nice break and then
eat some breakfast and then goback and that's the entire day.
It's all about mindset andstarting off your day, because
those two are very important.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
I agree.
The longer you can not touchyour phone, the better.
It's very hard to do as you getolder.
I will tell you.
Actually at any age.
Listen, I love that you've comeon here today and I want you to
tell the world who should get ahold of you and how should they
do that.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
I would say that who should get help is anyone who is
young and also kind of.
They found some you know somesuccessful ways that made them
where they are and they couldshare some things that I don't
know myself.
I'd love to like talk withthose people and you could
always reach me at like LinkedIn.
(23:18):
I always respond to my LinkedIn.
I'm there like 24-7.
I like that.
Well, take some rest.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
I'm there like 24-7.
I like that.
Well, take some rest.
I'll be there 24-7.
Thank you, alice.
What is your LinkedIn?
By the way, too?
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Alice Ksenzova, so it's just going to be the same
name.
K-s-e-n-d-z-o-v-a there you goyeah.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Alice, thanks for coming on today, I appreciate it
.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Thank you so much for having me, Thomas.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Listen, everybody who's made it this far.
I hope you come back.
This is the first time I'mcoming to Cut the Tie podcast or
YouTube channel.
I hope you make it the first ofmany.
Get out there, go cut a tie, gofind success, but be sure to
define that success yourselffirst.
Have a great day.
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