In this episode, of How I'm Building This, Prateek interviews Zak Kidd, founder of AskHumans, who shares his journey from childhood entrepreneurship to building a successful startup. Zak discusses the challenges and triumphs of transitioning from a service-based business to a product-focused company, the importance of accelerators, and strategies for hiring and marketing. He emphasizes the significance of self-reflection and maintaining strong relationships with clients and investors as key components of success in the startup world.
Takeaways:
- Zak's early experiences selling with his mother shaped his entrepreneurial spirit.
- The transition from a service-based business to a product-focused company can be challenging but rewarding.
- Building strong relationships with investors is crucial, especially in the early stages.
- Participating in an accelerator can provide valuable feedback and connections.
- Hiring should focus on finding generalists who can adapt as the company grows.
- Self-reflection and team retrospectives can help improve company culture and performance.
- Networking through intimate events can be more effective than traditional sales tactics.
- Understanding client pain points is essential for developing a successful product.
- Marketing should focus on building relationships rather than direct selling.
- The future of AskHumans is focused on leveraging human feedback alongside AI advancements.
Sound Bites:
- "I want to be a landlord."
- "It's less of a pain, it's more of an opportunity."
- "You should be able to sell what you're doing to at least one of every five people you meet."
In this episode, we cover:
00:00 Zach's Early Entrepreneurial Journey
03:02 Transitioning to Ask Humans
05:46 Navigating Investor Relationships
09:02 The Value of Accelerators
12:01 Hiring Strategies for Startups
17:56 Understanding Customer Pain Points
21:06 Building Relationships with Clients
28:11 Marketing and Customer Acquisition Strategies
35:59 Reflecting on Mistakes and Growth
43:00 Future Plans for AskHumans
Where to find Zak:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zkidd
AskHumans: https://www.askhumans.io/
Where to find Prateek:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateekmathur
Activated Scale: https://www.activatedscale.com
For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email prateek@activatedscale.com
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.