Proof That Anything Is Possible When You Bet on Yourself with Destin George Bell (Part 1)

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🎧 Episode 184: Proof That Anything Is Possible When You Bet on Yourself with Destin George Bell (Part 1)

What does it take to go from $2,000 and no industry connections to landing a deal on Shark Tank and building a fitness movement?

In Part 1 of this two-part episode, I sit down with Destin George Bell — founder of Card.io, the gamified running app turning neighborhoods into turf wars — to unpack the mindset, grit, and wild belief it takes to turn an idea into a national spotlight moment.

Destin didn’t come from privilege or a deep tech background. He taught himself product design, cold-DM’d over 400 engineers, and raised nearly a million dollars to build the dream. And he did it while refusing to wait for permission or play by anyone else’s rules.

This conversation is raw, real, and overflowing with lessons for entrepreneurs, leaders, and anyone sitting on a vision they’re scared to pursue.

We explore:

• Why belief must come before the big break
• What it means to lead with influence, not just title
• How curiosity became his unfair advantage
• The true moment on Shark Tank that changed him most (and brought his mom to tears)
• Why great leaders multiply other leaders — not just followers
• How he builds culture, trust, and conviction in a high-stakes startup
• What most people get wrong about betting on themselves

🔑 Key takeaways:

• You don’t need a blueprint. You need belief and bold execution.
• Radical curiosity will open more doors than credentials ever could.
• Leadership isn’t about barking orders. It’s about creating leaders who create leaders.
• If you're waiting to feel “ready,” you're already behind.

💡 Quotes to remember:

“I didn’t come from the tech world. I didn’t come from the running world. I just radically believed in what was possible.” 
“If your business can’t run without you, you don’t own a business — you own a job.” 
“Great leadership looks like multiplying leaders who grow beyond you.” 
You only get so many hours in a day. Why you spend them matters.”

📲 Resources + Links:

• https://www.destingeorgebell.com/
• Connect with Destin on 
• LinkedIn: Https://www.linkedin.com/in/destinbell/
• IG: @destingeorgebell
• Learn more about the Card.io app: https://www.cardioapp.io

A rising tide raises all ships, and I invite you along on this journey to Evoke Greatness!

Check out my website: www.evokegreatness.com

Follow me on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonnie-linebarger-899b9a52/

https://www.instagram.com/evoke.greatness/

https://www.tiktok.com/@evoke.greatness

http://www.youtube.com/@evokegreatness

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Why has always been really important to me?
Because, you know, you havefinite time.
You know, you get 24 hours.
And so maybe outside of yourwork and outside of sleep and
eating, you've got maybe threeto four hours that you can
really commit hard time, whetheryou're a student, whether you're
a professional, that you caninvest in being the best version
of yourself that you can be.
And so the understanding of whyam I learning this, why am I

(00:22):
doing this really helps you findthat self-actualization and how
I'm using my time and whatthings I'm focused on.
In the grand scheme of things, Iwas really good at the things I
wanted to be and I didn't reallycare about things I didn't,
because I understood the why ofwhat I wanted to do and focused
and doubled down on that.

SPEAKER_01 (00:42):
Welcome to Evoke Greatness, the podcast for bold
leaders and big dreamers whorefuse to settle.
I'm your host, Sunny.
I started in Scrubs over 20years ago, doing the gritty,
unseen work and climbed my wayto CEO.
Every rung of that ladder taughtme something worth passing on.
Lessons in leadership,resilience, and what it really

(01:04):
takes to rise.
You'll hear raw conversations,unfiltered truths, and the kind
of wisdom that ignites somethingdeeper in you.
Your courage, your conviction,your calling.
This show will help you thinkbigger, lead better, and show up
bolder in every part of yourlife.
This is your place to grow.
Let's rise together.

(01:36):
What if the only thing standingbetween you and the life you
want is the belief that it'spossible?
In this episode, I sit down withDestin George Bell, the founder
of Cardio and a Shark Tanksuccess story to talk about what
it really takes to bet onyourself before anyone else
does.
We dive into mindset,leadership, resilience, and the

(01:58):
kind of bold vision it takes tobuild something from nothing.
If you've ever felt behind,unqualified, or unsure if your
dream is even worth chasing,this conversation is your proof
that anything is possible.
Let's get into it.
Welcome back to another episodeof Evoke Greatness.

(02:22):
From growing up in Kentucky withjust$2,000 to his name to
stepping onto Shark Tank andwalking out with a deal from
Damon John and Roshawn Williams,whose journey is nothing short
of extraordinary.
He's the founder of Cardio, thegamified cardio app, turning
neighborhoods into turf wars andmotivating thousands of people
to get moving.
Along the way, he's provenwhat's possible when bold risks

(02:42):
meet relentless grit.
Cole emailing CEOs, raisingnearly a million dollars, and
forging partnerships that arereshaping how we look at fitness
and the community.
In this episode, Dustin opens upabout the hustle behind the
headlines, the setbacks thatfueled him, the moment on Shark
Pink that brought his mother totears, and what it really takes
to chase a vision that otherssaid couldn't be done.

(03:04):
Whether you're an entrepreneur,a dreamer, or someone looking to
reignite your own drive, thisconversation is going to inspire
you to think bigger, take bolderswings, and keep moving forward.
Dustin, thanks so much forjoining me.

SPEAKER_00 (03:14):
Yeah, I appreciate you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 (03:16):
I want to dive right on in.
Going back, you shared that youcame to Austin with$2,000 in a
dream.
When you look back now, what wasthat mindset that really carried
you through those uh those earlydays that others might have
overlooked?

SPEAKER_00 (03:30):
I think the biggest thing is that I just radically
believed in what was possible.
And I felt like the longer Iwait, the less time I'm giving
myself to accomplish that dream.
As one gets older, you know,life becomes harder.
You got a mortgage, family, yougot a corporate job, and the
golden handcuffs of a consistentbi-weekly check, a 401k match

(03:50):
plan, health insurance.
And at the age of 22, aftergraduating college in the middle
of COVID, I found myself beingin a scenario where I had
nothing to lose because I hadnothing at all.
And in my mind,$2,000 was enoughto get started because that's
all I needed to survive.
And as long as I put myself in asituation where I was working
hard towards a goal that hadreasons for me to believe that

(04:12):
eventually I could accomplishit.

SPEAKER_01 (04:14):
Before cardio was even real, you know, I'm
curious, how did you convinceyourself that it was something
worth betting on?
Like, what did those firstmoments of doubt or fear look
like?
Because I think that's alwaysright.
It's we we look for thestability and the security of
things.
And I imagine you didn't look tothis and go, ooh, this has
really good stability orsecurity here.
Like, you know, this is a thisis a sure bet.

(04:36):
How did you push through thosetimes of kind of fear and doubt?

SPEAKER_00 (04:39):
That was a very tough part of it because, you
know, you're you're putting allthis time and energy into
something.
And even if you think it's agreat idea, you know, idea is 1%
of the uh of the of the process,you know, and the other 99% is
execution and timing and havingthe right team and finding the
right investors or being able tohave the cash to be able to
float it yourself and honestly alot of luck.

(05:01):
And so all those other thingsbeyond the idea were the parts
that really gave me pause.
I you know, I didn't have abackground in tech.
I had just graduated college.
I didn't have this hugecorporate background of how to
start a venture.
I had never really worked in thefitness space.
I wasn't even a runner at thetime.
I got the idea because I didn'tenjoy running and I thought it'd
be fun to gamify it to the pointthat I would actually enjoy it.

(05:23):
And I didn't know much about theproduct design.
I didn't have this litany ofpeople in my network who were
engineers, but I figured witheach of those problems, there
were meaningful solutions thatcould be found if I was
ambitious and patient andaggressive in my process of
figuring out how to solve them.
So on the engineering front,well, I'm not an engineer.
I tried to teach myselfengineering.

(05:44):
That was awful.
I would never do that again.
If I had to run a tech companyby being an engineer myself, I
would just go do something else.
I go into real estate.
But I figured there are peoplewho do love engineering, who
don't get the businessdevelopment, the sales, the
finance, the fundraising, thatpart of the process.
And I figured if I could findsomebody who is really
passionate about building, Ihandle the business backend and
all the administrative stuff onthe monetization revenue op

(06:07):
side.
If I could find somebody, and Isent over 400 DMs to find my
first engineer, and then thatgot me started there.
With product design, I learnedthe basics of Figma and I looked
at other apps that weresuccessful and tried to figure
out how I can emulate those inways that are meaningful, but be
different in ways that are alsomeaningful.
And in terms of meeting peoplewho had experience in the
fitness space, I just startedDMing people who are founders of

(06:27):
other successful fitnesscompanies.
Or I would go to run clubs and Iwould talk to runners there.
And I just started acquiringknowledge, building a stronger
foundation and base for as muchesoteric knowledge in the
running and tech space aspossible.
And then from there, figuringout where do I fit into that
puzzle.
And then the parts that I coulddo, you know, fundraising,

(06:48):
finance, the marketing,ideation, getting really, really
strong in those places and theplaces that I wasn't, like the
accounting and then for theproduct design and like real
high fidelity UIUX, obviouslyfor engineering, I found
talented people who could handlethat part of the business for
me.
And at that point, it was justpatience and making it all come
together.

SPEAKER_01 (07:08):
Jumping back, like almost before any of this, were
you always really curiousgrowing up?
Did you like lean into liketrying to figure out how things
worked?

SPEAKER_00 (07:18):
Oh, yeah.
So growing up, people call meGeorge.
So curious George was a lot ofmy nicknames.
That was a big part of mynicknames back in the day
because I was always extremelycurious.
You know, my mom and my dad usedto get really mad about this,
but I was the type of kid ifthey would say, Go do this, I
would ask why.
When I would go to class andthey'd say, All right, you need
to learn how to do quadraticformulas, I would ask the
teacher why.

(07:39):
You know, if I am at a job andthey say, you need to clean this
or you need to do this or learnthis, I would ask why.
I've always been a verywhy-oriented person.
I feel like when we get to thewhy, you know, there's um, I've
I've learned a lot of veryrandom things in my life.
And so one of the random littleside quests I had in my
education journey was I got agreen belt in Lean Six Sigma.

(08:02):
And so in Lean Six Sigma, whenthey talk about, you know,
Kanban systems and all thesedifferent systems, I can't
remember exactly what theJapanese word for it is, but so
Toyota created this system aboutwhy, why, why, why.
And I asked like five to sevenwhys about something to really
get to the root of the issue, toget to the root of what's
actually happening there.
And even before I knew that,that was always something that I

(08:24):
felt very strongly to.
I gravitated towards in myprocess of understanding the
things around me.
It wasn't that, oh, you need tolearn algebra just because you
need to learn algebra, that'swhy.
It's like, oh, well, it's gonnabe on the test.
Well, why is it on the test?
It's part of the curriculum.
Why is it part of thecurriculum?
It's like, oh, because it's animportant thing for you to know.
Why is it an important thing forme to know?
Because that's how you're gonnabe able to understand how much
you're gonna get paid this week.

(08:45):
And you're gonna understand thatif you have this goal and you
make this much, how many weeks,how many years will it take to
get there?
When you're looking like therule 72, that's algebra, you
know?
That's all these differentfunctions and formulas that make
sense.
And so in my mind, I was like,oh, that's important.
Now really focus in on it.
And now I was a I was a greatmath student.
You know, I got 34 on the mathsection of the ACT.

(09:06):
So I'm like, oh, I can see howmath is practical for me.
On the flip side, science wasnot like that for me.
Because in my mind, I was like,okay, why do I need to know
about chloroplasts andmitochondria?
It's like, oh, well, you shouldjust know those things.
I'm like, okay, that's cool.
But will I ever really need itin my day-to-day life?
If I don't want to be abiologist or be into floral
stuff, you know, do I need toknow that?

(09:27):
And it's like, not really.
So, you know, my grade inbiology wasn't as good as my
grade in algebra.
Because my brain has always beenvery like, why do I need to know
this?
And once the why is solidified,now I can actually put my mental
thought process into that thing.
And so, yeah, why has alwaysbeen really important to me
because, you know, you havefinite time.
You know, you get 24 hours,hopefully you sleep at least six

(09:49):
of those.
You got to go to work, you gottago and do your personal stuff.
Hopefully you're going to thegym.
You got time with your socialcircles and whatnot.
And so maybe outside of yourwork and outside of sleep and
eating and all that, you've gotmaybe three to four hours that
you can really commit hard time,whether you're a student,
whether you're a professional,that you can invest in being the

(10:10):
best version of yourself thatyou can be.
And so the understanding of whyam I learning this, why am I
doing this really helps you findthat self-actualization and how
I'm using my time and whatthings I'm focused on.
Because yeah, I got a 3.0 GPA,but you know, in the grand
scheme of things, I was reallygood at the things I wanted to
be and I didn't really careabout the things I didn't.
And I think that served me wellthan trying to be good at

(10:30):
everything because I understoodthe why of what I wanted to do
and focused and double down onthat.

SPEAKER_01 (10:35):
And it sounds like that hasn't changed.
You've probably just refined ita little bit more with age, is
like, you know exactly how toask the why or how to dig as
deep as you need to be to becommitted to like, hey, this is
gonna serve me, or this is gonnaserve members who are are
utilizing the cardio app.
Now you've fine-tuned it, itsounds like.

SPEAKER_00 (10:55):
Yeah, exactly.
Because with anything, productdesign, financial literacy,
dealing with people, itliterally doesn't matter.
Selling a product, understandingthe why behind anything is
important.
Oh, we're having a lot of churnfrom this step of the onboarding
process to this step of theonboarding process.

(11:16):
Well, why is that happening?
Oh, because people don't feelcomfortable putting in a phone
number.
Oh, let's change it to email.
Now all of a sudden, conversionon onboarding from this page to
this page increases 40%.
Oh, people are forgetting totrack their runs.
Why is that?
It's because, oh, they'reliterally just forgetting to
track the runs.
Not they don't like the app,they're just forgetting to track
it.
Okay, well, let's add anotification where if they move
more than 50 meters, they'll geta notification that pops up to

(11:38):
say, hey, we see you're on themove.
Would you like to track yourrun?
Then all of a sudden, conversionof new downloads to running on
the app at the first timeincreases 15%.
In a sales conversation, youknow, the whole sell me the pin
angle is not really abouttalking about all the features
of a pen, but it's asking thewhys of your customer.
Why are you in the market for apen?
Why do you want this pen?

(11:59):
Why are you looking for that?
What is this?
What is this?
Do you care about this?
The viscosity of the ink?
Do you care about that?
You know, asking all these whysgets you to the place that you
want to be, which isunderstanding where their pain
points are, understanding whatthe value they're seeking is,
and then being able to executeon that and getting down to
that, you know, vital few piecesof information versus all this

(12:21):
trivial mini noise that you geton the outside from things that
aren't really a part of the bigwhy.

SPEAKER_01 (12:27):
Well, that curiosity led you to have millions watch
you on Shark Tank and strike adeal.
But I'm curious, what's the partof the story that we didn't see
on TV that changed you most as aleader?

SPEAKER_00 (12:41):
I think the thing that changed me the most as a
leader, gosh, so man, there's somany different things that just
happened in my life that I feelthat way.
I'm going to say that the thingthat changed me the most as a
leader was as I was younger, youknow, high school, college age,
and I'm working jobs.
You know, I'm working yourtypical serving job, and I'm

(13:02):
working on campus jobs.
I got an internship at a bigcompany when I was a junior
doing sales internship workthere.
And being under other people andseeing how other people led just
taught me all the things that Idid not want to be when I led
other people.
It's not very democratic.

(13:23):
This is what we do.
Don't ask why we do it.
It's just how we do things.
It's very dogmatic.
It's very utilitarian.
It's very authoritarian.
We're going to do this.
This is how we've always doneit.
This is the way I like it to bedone.
And nothing else really matters.
The only thing that's importantis that this is what I, the
person who's in charge, tellsyou to do.
Oh, well, I have this differentperspective and it's backed by

(13:45):
data and it has these resultsand whatnot.
Doesn't matter.
That's your idea of how thingsshould be.
This is how my idea of thingsshould be.
And I just realized that, man, Ihate working for people like
that.
I don't want to be that type ofleader.
I want to be the type of leaderthat people are not afraid to
disagree with.
I want to be the type of leaderthat people believe that if they

(14:06):
come with unique ideas, theywill not only receive credit for
those ideas, but then thoseideas could actually be executed
on and they could be used inwhatever the future
ramifications of whatever it isthat we're doing in that
category is.
And then honestly, I just wantto be the type of leader that
people would go run through awall for.
I want to be the type of leader,especially in the startup space,

(14:26):
you know.
Being a startup, you can't paypeople their market rate,
especially if you're talkingabout really good talent.
The equity in your company isinteresting, but especially when
you're early, it's all basicallya lottery ticket.
It's like the equivalent ofgoing to Vegas and putting all
your money on double zero.
So you don't really have anyguarantees of that really
churning out.
So the main thing people aredoing, the same way investors

(14:48):
do, is betting on you, bettingon you as a leader, as a
founder, as an executive, as theperson that they should follow
into war and being the type ofleader that people want to
follow behind, especially in theearly stages when it's really
all about building a strongculture and getting people to
run through a wall for lessmoney than they're worth,
working 80 hours instead of 40hours, not seeing their friends

(15:09):
on the weekends or hanging outwith their family on their
birthday and all this differentstuff that is required to grow a
company.
I think that all comes down todo I want to work with this guy
or this girl?
And if they say no, well, thenyou're screwed.
You know, you're not gonnarecruit good talent.
You're not gonna get investorsto believe in you early on when
you don't have a track record.
And frankly, nobody's gonna likeyou.

(15:30):
And this is a people business.

SPEAKER_01 (15:33):
I'm guessing that given you are so inquisitive,
it's important for you to conveythe why behind your vision and
why behind for for each of thepeople that are on your team.
And I think that is the partthat people miss sometimes.
That's sometimes left out toyour point.
Like if they have a verydemocratic or authoritative
approach, you don't need to knowthe why.
Just follow me because I sayfollow me and into you know

(15:55):
whatever this future is.
Well, oftentimes as leaders, weare leading people into futures
that like don't even exist yet.
We're we're we're like in themotion of creating in the
moment.
But I think that's how you getpeople bought in and locking
arms and running through a wallfor you is when you're like,
hey, I want to, I want toconnect all these dots for you
so that you can feel the visionthe same way I see it.

SPEAKER_00 (16:17):
Exactly.
Exactly, 100%.
And that's how I want to leadbecause eventually the day will
become where the people who youcreate.
I'm a big fan of John C.
Maxwell, the author.
And so one of the books he talksabout the five stages of
leadership.
And so as you move up thelevels, the thing that
differentiates, I won't gothrough the entire book because
obviously it's a great read.
I I think that anybody who wantsto be a founder or a manager or

(16:38):
a leader in their company,whatever it is that you're
doing, should read it because ithelps you really contextualize
what it takes to be a goodleader and what makes people bad
leaders and good leaders.
But one of the things that Ireally internalize about that is
that what really defines a greatleader is not only somebody who
can lead people directly, butsomebody who can lead people to
a point where they become theirown leaders and it becomes this

(17:00):
spider web of leadership whereyou create people who become
great leaders, who then leadtheir departments, who then grow
upon themselves and become thisorganization top-down based on
this democratic understanding,open to ideas, open door policy
type of organization whereeverybody is a leader in their
own right and is willing tospeak out to build that culture

(17:21):
and then also just take radicalownership of whatever it is that
they're doing versus just beingtold and doing what they feel
like they're being monitored andwatched and you know, basically
forced to do.
So that that's something that Ireally take to heart and trying
to become that type of leader.

SPEAKER_01 (17:36):
Yeah, there's one thing, and I and I'm very
familiar with that book.
And there's one thing when itcomes to a title, right?
Title power is very differentthan like influence power.
And it doesn't matter what yourrole is, I would strongly
encourage that read because itis, it's very eye-opening.
And some people who have beenled in the old way of
leadership, they have a tendencyto lead that way.

(17:57):
Those who say, ooh, maybe I'velearned more examples of what
not to do than what to do, startopening themselves to new ways
of being and new ways ofleading.
And I think that the goal ofmultiplying leaders as a leader,
that should be all of our goal.

SPEAKER_00 (18:12):
The goal with any company is that it's
exponentially growing beyondyour scope.
Like if the business can't runwithout you, then you don't
really own a business, you own ajob.
And of course, owning a job isbetter than having a job working
under somebody else who tellsyou what to do.
But the goal for anyentrepreneur is eventually to
get to a point where if you wereindisposed, if you had surgery

(18:32):
or you fell into a coma, or youjust wanted to go hang out with
your wife for a week in theBahamas for her birthday or
something like that, that youcome back and the business has
not imploded on itself.
And a big part of that isdeveloping your internal talent
to become leaders in their ownright.
And so that should be the goalof anybody who wants to build a
scalable operation that goesbeyond their 24 hours put into

(18:53):
it every day.

SPEAKER_01 (18:55):
Yeah.
And I think a portion of that isrecognizing talent around you.
That's not like the, that's notthe shiny talent all the time.
Sometimes the talent is like thehidden gem that's really rough
around the edges.
But being able to recognize thattalent around you and then
helping polish people andhelping them figure out what

(19:15):
that next step looks like.
And I think even sometimesstretching them beyond what they
think is possible, right?
And having them explore thingsthat maybe scare them a little
bit.
But I think that is like thetrue root of creating bench
strength within your company oryour idea.

unknown (19:31):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (19:31):
Oh, yeah, 100%.
I feel like I was that down inthe rough, because especially
when I was in college, justfresh out of college, I was
rough around the edges.
You know, I had a problem withauthority, and I was very
strong-willed and veryconfident, and I did not feel
the need to dumb myself down totalk to other people.
And I spoke with this gravitasand whatnot.
And there's even times I talked,like, even to Damon and Rashawn,

(19:54):
where they're like, you know,when you first talked, you had
this level of energy andconfidence and brashness that
came off as arrogant and thisand that.
But really, as I got to knowyou, I really understood you a
little bit more.
But they saw, like, hey, thisguy's got some real latent
potential that if we can helprough, you know, sand him out a
little bit, you know, buff theedges and the scratches out a
bit and really smooth him out,he's going to be a really solid

(20:16):
guy.
And I think you as a leader haveto always be looking, especially
for, you know, people who aren'tsure about themselves yet,
especially young talent,post-college grad talent, who
have a lot of ambition, butthey're not really sure exactly
where to point all this energyto help narrow them out and give
them a direction to shoot for,but also allowing them to get

(20:37):
outside of those guardrails tostart expanding their knowledge
and get uncomfortable and getcomfortable in that
uncomfortability.
So it's really difficult to do,especially as a startup, because
you know, every decision is lifeor death.
So it's kind of hard to helpyour talent be uncomfortable
with uncomfortability because ifyou screw up somewhere, well,
dang, that really set us back.
We got limited time, limitedresources, and really don't want

(21:00):
to.
And I've even struggled withthat sometimes of allowing
people to go beyond what theirskill sets are because a mess up
is not like, oh, you mess up atGoogle.
Oh, okay, they'll fix itimmediately.
They got a staff of a thousandother engineers who can clean
that up.
If you only have the one or twoengineers on your team, if one
of them starts screwing stuffup, that's 50% of your work
staff messing up.

(21:21):
So it gets very difficult.
It definitely is a lot larger inscope and a lot more risky to do
it.
But usually if you have theright kind of talent who really
care and are smart and havethat, you know, neuroplasticity
to pick things up and startdeveloping these new habits, new
skill sets, it's it's worth italong.

SPEAKER_01 (21:39):
Going back to Sharp Tank, there was a moment with
your mom on Sharp Tank that wasso powerful.
And you shared this when we wereon the Outlier project with
Scott.
And I'm curious, you know, asyou think about that and that
role that your mom has played,how has that shaped you when it
comes to having resilience?

SPEAKER_00 (21:57):
Well, a ton.
You know, my mom, she's asuperhero to me.
When I was younger, like I said,I mentioned it a little bit
before, didn't have a great GPA.
I was definitely not anhonor-roll A-B student, cut
class a lot.
I didn't do my homework.
I got in fights.
I was always in detention, and Ididn't really care much.
And a lot of my teachers didn'treally care for me.

(22:18):
I wasn't like this huge socialbutterfly, but I was always
focused on things that weredifferent than a lot of people
my age, you know, where peoplereally were into sports, which I
was.
I played basketball, andobviously I was really into
that.
But I spent more time readingbooks and like wanting to go
with my mom to networking eventsand wanting to learn how to be a
better speaker.
And, you know, of course, wegrew up watching Shark Tank

(22:41):
together, and that was somethingthat she brought me into.
But eventually I had my owngenuine interest in business.
I used to read economictextbooks in high school that
were for college kids just tostart understanding micro and
macroeconomics and understandingthings like supply and demand
and elasticity of markets andall these different things.
But it didn't really manifestinto the ways that typically a

(23:01):
high school student is judged,or GPA, and how popular they are
and how many friends they have.
I wasn't really that kind ofkid.
And a lot of my family and a lotof my friends and a lot of other
people, even my dad in thelevel, they just didn't really
get that.
And they always brought thisnegativity and criticism of me.
And my mom was really the onlyperson at that point in my life

(23:21):
who was consistently like, nah,I believe in my son.
I think he's got it going on,and I will support him to the
ends of the earth.
Even when he gets kicked out ofschool or suspended, even when
he brings home a D and P Eclass, even when he has a 1.8
GPA that semester, I believe inmy son, and I will always double
down and believe in his plans,his ideas, his strategies.

(23:41):
And I just appreciate that a tonbecause it's hard to believe in
yourself when no one else does.
At least having that one personthat you can go to who know who
you know if I call them and Ihave this crazy radical idea of
making a cardio fitness app willsay you're not crazy and you get
a real job.
Even if it's only one person,having that one person is really
important for you to feel likeyou should even try.

(24:03):
And she has always been thatperson.

SPEAKER_01 (24:05):
Okay, you know how this goes.
Time to hit the pause button.
I want to make sure that youcheck back next week for part
two, where Destin and I diveinto the setbacks that almost
broke him, the leadershipchallenges that tested
everything he believed abouthimself, and the shark tank
moment that flipped it allaround.
We talk about co-founderbreakups, rebuilding from ground

(24:28):
zero, and the mindset requiredto turn a loss into legacy.
And his answer to what he'dleave the world if today were
his last day, you are gonna wantto write that one down.
So don't miss it.
Make sure to check back nextweek.
If today's episode challengedyou, moved you, or lit a fire in

(24:50):
your soul, don't keep it toyourself.
Share it with somebody who'sready to rise.
Can I ask you to take 30 secondsto leave a review?
It's the best way to say thankyou and help this show reach
more bold leaders like you.
Because this isn't just apodcast, it's a movement.
We're not here to play small.
We're here to lead loud, onebold and unapologetic step at a

(25:12):
time.
Until next time, stay bold, staygrounded, and make moves that
make mediocre uncomfortable.