364: Risking it All and Achieving Your Dreams with Lloyed Lobo

Summary Welcome to another great episode of the Startup Junkie Podcast! On this episode of Startup Junkies, hosts Caleb Talley, Jeff Amerine, and Grace Gill sit down with serial entrepreneur Lloyed Lobo, co-founder of Boast.ai, a company accelerating the success of innovation by helping eligible companies get quicker access to R&D tax credits. Lloyed has been involved in the startup ecosystem for more than fifteen years as an entrepreneur, community builder, and angel investor. Throughout the episode, Lloyed talks about dealing with his sharp rise to success, the power of having a tribe, and his Wall Street Journal bestseller From Grassroots to Greatness.   Show Notes (1:01) Introducing Lloyed Lobo (3:13) Lloyed’s Origin Story (14:04) The Inspiration behind From Grassroots to Greatness (24:50) Balancing Resilience and New Opportunities (29:01) The Process of Idea Validation (39: 13) Advice to Younger Self (45:46) Closing Thoughts   Links Caleb Talley Jeff Amerine  Grace Gill Lloyed Lobo Boast.ai From Grassroots to Greatness   Quotes “...when we ask what entrepreneurship is today, it’s all about making money. But to me, what entrepreneurship is, is taking an obscure idea to execution and impact while dealing with extreme risk. There’s no bigger risk than being in the middle of a war. The other thing I learned was about leadership. Great leaders cascade purpose, not just goals.” - Lloyed Lobo, (5:50) “The only way to learn something that you suck at is to put yourself in an environment that forces you to do that something over and over again. Now, another key lesson here is the importance of the people you surround yourself with, right? You become the average of the people you surround yourself with.” - Lloyed Lobo, (9:59) “Every obscure idea that eventually went on to become this enduring global phenomenon had four stages in common. People listen to you or buy your product or service. You have an audience. When you bring that audience together to interact with one another, it becomes a community. Now, when the community comes together to create impact towards a greater purpose far greater than your product or profit, it becomes a movement. And when that movement has undying faith in its purpose through sustained rituals, over time it becomes a cult or religion. So audience, community, movement, religion.” - Lloyed Lobo, (20:59) “What I tell people is if you have an idea and you don’t have an ideal customer profile, then figure out who you’re going to serve. Understand their pains and goals, but also understand their aspirations because the aspiration is forever. Your customer problem or goal will give you the first product, but if you understand the customer’s aspiration, then you will go on the journey of building your future products.” - Lloyed Lobo, (30:11)