Empowering Bright Ideas with Stephan Mazokha

In 2024, building a personal brand and building a business are processes that are quite synonymous to one another. But the process of doing so -- of building your brand -- is time-consuming and full of cliche's that might not yield the result you're looking for. And that's why today's guest -- Bobby Gillespie -- built his career around helping founders & organizations building their brands properly, around their reputation and community. Bobby's an author of a book "Build your brand like you give a sh*t" and founder of an agency Propr. Join us, as we dive into his journey and lessons he teaches to his readers and clients. Bobby's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thatbobbyg/ Propr Agency: https://propragency.com/ Follow my journey: My agency: https://www.universium.co/clutch X: ⁠⁠https://x.com/stephanmazokha⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠https://instagram.com/stephanmazokha ⁠⁠LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://linkedin.com/in/stephanmazokha⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠https://tiktok.com/smazokha

The interview you're about to experience is one of the reasons why I started this podcast in the first place. The person you're about to meet - Eric Michael Collins. He's a lifetime entrepreneur, and my team has been working with him for a couple of years, helping him build a product called Goald.ai. This discussion is about Eric's career: from the first dollars he made to now - a pivoting moment in his career when it's launching his SaaS product. Please enjoy! Eric's Goald.ai: https://goald.ai/ Looking for experts to help you design or build your product? Consider Universium: https://www.universium.co/clutch Follow my journey: X: ⁠⁠https://x.com/stephanmazokha ⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠⁠https://instagram.com/stephanmazokha⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://linkedin.com/in/stephanmazokha⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠https://tiktok.com/smazokha

When you hear about business acquisitions - these are usually stories about large corporations or startups, and rarely agencies. However, as it turns out, for a small business owner, this can very much be a strategy to grow (or to exit a business). But what does it take to sell your business? What does it take to buy one? This is what we're discussing today with my guest Karl Hughes. Karl started his own agency, Draft.dev, in 2020 and later acquired another one - The Podcast Consultant - in 2023. Curious to learn his strategy and the journey so far? Tune in. Karl's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karllhughes/ Need help in designing or building your startup: ⁠https://www.universium.co/clutch My projects and links: X: ⁠https://x.com/stephanmazokha⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://instagram.com/stephanmazokha⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://linkedin.com/in/stephanmazokha⁠ TikTok: ⁠https://tiktok.com/smazokha

Welcome back! Over the last decade, I've had opportunities to collaborate with various startups, and even pitch to a few investors. However, the mindset of the latter has always remained enigmatic to me. Today I got a chance to fix that and interview Madin Akpo-Esambe -- an investment partner at Tacoma Venture Fund, a VC fund focusing on helping early-stage startups. Madin and I discuss various stages of his entrepreneurial journey (from his young years in consulting to running his own startup -- Trava, to later joining TVF earlier last year). Please, enjoy! TVF: https://tacomaventurefund.com/ Madin's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjakpoesambe/ Need help in designing or building your startup: https://www.universium.co/clutch 00:00 - Introduction & early years in consulting 05:15 - Switching to build a startup, Trava 11:06 - What's unique about Trava? 16:48 - Joining the Tacoma Venture Fund 22:38 - Operator's mindset and helping founders succeed 28:28 - How did Madin learn to become an investor 35:30 - What does Madin's day-to-day look like? 40:26 - Delegating responsibilities & replacing yourself in a business 46:49 - The key factor which helps founders succeed My projects and links: X: https://x.com/stephanmazokha Instagram: https://instagram.com/stephanmazokha LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/stephanmazokha TikTok: https://tiktok.com/smazokha

Welcome back! It's been a while. After a long pause, I'm finally back with another episode from the vault. At the end of last summer, I was very fortunate to interview Jessica Beaver - an associate director at Florida Atlantic University TechRunway, an accelerator for early-stage startups in Boca Raton, FL. Jessica shares her insights on what it takes to join the program, the challenges she often encounters with startups, and how she manages the team. After completing the TR program a few years ago, I am excited to peek behind the curtain and explore what it takes to run a successful startup accelerator. Learn about FAU Tech Runway: https://www.fau.edu/techrunway/ Hire experts to help you design and build your startup: https://www.universium.co/clutch My projects and links: X: https://x.com/stephanmazokha Instagram: https://instagram.com/stephanmazokha LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/stephanmazokha TikTok: https://tiktok.com/smazokha

Welcome to EBI! This interview is very special to me, as I'm chatting with a Florida-based founder - Nick Mohnacky. Nick is building a platform called BundleIQ, which helps businesses accelerate research using an AI assistant, ALANI. Join us as we discuss Nick's story and his vision for the role of AI in our future. Learn about BundleIQ: https://bundleiq.com Nick's new release, ALANI: https://www.askalani.ai My SoMe: X: https://x.com/stephanmazokha Instagram: https://instagram.com/stephanmazokha LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/stephanmazokha TikTok: https://tiktok.com/smazokha Looking for exceptional design for your startup? Find out more here: universium.co/clutch

In this podcast, I'm chatting with Anders Lillevik. Anders has over 25 years of experience in the procurement industry and runs a successful startup - Focal Point. Tune in to learn how Anders launched his venture, the challenges of marketing and selling to enterprise clients, and Anders's approach to building a great team culture. My business (exceptional design for marketing & product teams): https://universium.co/clutch Subscribe to my social pages: X: https://x.com/stephanmazokha Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephanmazokha LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanmazokha TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@smazokha #podcast #entrepreneur #procurement #saas

Today's podcast is an exciting conversation with Piotr Nowak - founder of a web design and dev agency, Nopio. We discussed the challenges of running and scaling a digital design agency, lead generation, and offering excellent customer service. I hope you enjoy! Timestamps: 00:00 Intro & trip to Colombia 05:40 Introducing Nopio 15:01 Why Piotr decided to start an agency (vs. being a full-time engineer) 17:21 How Nopio generates leads (sales & marketing channels) 21:52 Troubles with cold email and warming up leads 28:33 Thoughts on producing content for Social Media 34:15 How to delegate and deliver great customer experience 42:54 Do you need to run agency as a U.S. LLC 49:18 Piotr's vision for Nopio for the next decade 52:38 Being tech-agnostic as a service provider 57:45 How to handle overflow of work 01:01:00 Piotr's thoughts on working with startups 01:11:59 Niching down as a service provider 01:15:39 How would Piotr start an agency from scratch? 01:19:45 Talking about the value of SEO 01:25:13 Offering higher-end services 01:29:13 More talk about sales & marketing strategies Subscribe to my social pages: X: https://x.com/stephanmazokha Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephanmazokha LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanmazokha TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@smazokha Explore the projects I participate in: Inspire your audience with exceptional design: https://www.universium.co/ Mobility intelligence in West Palm Beach, FL: https://www.mobintel.org/ #podcast #entrepreneur #agency #seo #webdesign #wordpress

In this podcast, I'm interviewing Sidney Burks, co-founder of Boundless Digital. Sidney has a B.Sc. in Physics from MIT and a Ph.D. in Physics from Pierre and Marie Curie University. At Boundless, Sidney works closely with Cisco to build the future of networking for many enterprise clients. Join us as we discuss Sidney's path of building his company, the value of getting a Ph.D., the challenges of building a startup for enterprise clients, and much more. Subscribe to my social pages: Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephanmazokha Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephanmazokha LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanmazokha TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@smazokha Explore the projects I participate in: Inspire your audience with exceptional design: https://www.universium.co/ Mobility intelligence in West Palm Beach, FL: https://www.mobintel.org/

Today, I'm chatting with Ryan Gallagher -- entrepreneur and a fractional CTO. Ryan has a unique story because he has technical and leadership experience. He usually spends his time between a couple of ventures simultaneously, which makes him always a great source of inspiring stories to tell and a lot of interesting lessons to learn from. Join us as we discuss his path to becoming a fractional CTO, the challenges associated with this position, and his latest projects.

Today, I'm joined by Alex Reynolds, founder and CEO at Vendelux. Vendelux is a successful startup that helps event organizers and marketers maximize the ROI of organized events. Alex has a tremendous amount of experience in management consulting at Bain and YP, as well as leadership at Shutterstock. This helped Alex build a truly inspiring startup. I hope you enjoy our chat about Alex's story of building his startup and his experiences in consulting, negotiations, and building a great team. Learn more about Vendelux: https://vendelux.com/ Learn more about Alex: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexreynolds1/ Subscribe to my social pages: Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephanmazokha Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephanmazokha LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanmazokha TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@smazokha Explore the projects I participate in: Build the most inspiring UX for your SaaS: https://www.universium.co/ Mobility intelligence in West Palm Beach, FL: https://www.mobintel.org/ #podcast #entrepreneur #software #saas #vendelux #shutterstock #startup

Are you using YouTube Music, or have you ever tried Google Play Music? Well, if you have, your experience has likely been impacted by my guest today – Eric Davich. Eric is a lifetime musician, long-time Google employee, and co-founder at Songza – a music streaming and recommendation service that has been funded by Amazon and later acquired by Google. I hope you will enjoy this podcast as I'm trying to discover Eric's lessons from running a startup, not being afraid to send cold emails and the stories about Jeff Bezos and Larry Page 😉 Learn More about Songza: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songza Eric's New Company: https://jammy.chat Subscribe to my social pages: Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephanmazokha Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephanmazokha/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanmazokha/ Explore the projects I participate in: Best client portal for consulting agencies: https://www.omnidock.io/ Digital product agency: https://www.universium.co/ Mobility intelligence in West Palm Beach, FL: https://www.mobintel.org/ Best software for field service professionals: https://serviceraider.com/

For today's podcast, I've had a chance to have a super insightful conversation with Max Sher - founder and CEO at Sher Agency. Max's team of 25 has helped design and build WordPress websites since 2019. We discuss his story of scaling the agency, best practices for finding leads, dealing with Upwork and Clutch, and growing his online presence on TikTok.  I hope you enjoy! Max'es Agency: https://sheragency.com/ Max'es TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@maxlsher Subscribe to my social pages: Twitter: https://twitter.com/stephanmazokha Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephanmazokha/LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/stephanmazokha Explore the projects I participate in: Best client portal for consulting agencies: https://www.omnidock.io/ Mobility intelligence in West Palm Beach, FL: https://www.mobintel.org/ Best software for field service professionals: https://serviceraider.com/

Perhaps, in not such a distant future, if you live in the U.S. and have something in your house that you need to get rid of – you will be working with teams or using the product built by my guest today – Ted Bullard. Ted is a serial entrepreneur with more than two decades of experience in leadership, sales, and marketing. He started his career in franchising by selling wireless and telecom services in Boston. As his career continued to grow, he managed marketing and advertising at NASCAR, Curvature, and TopCoder. Now he's busy running a junk removal franchise, Junk Raider, as well as building a SaaS platform, Service Raider. In this conversation, I'm hoping to learn about his path and the challenges he's had along the way. I hope you enjoy it! #podcast⁠ ⁠#entrepreneur⁠ ⁠#software⁠ ⁠#saas⁠ ⁠#nascar⁠ ⁠#junkremoval⁠ ⁠#franchise⁠