847: ACTION SATURDAY (be resilient w/ Danny Nathan)
When the road to entrepreneurial success throws curveballs, Danny Nathan stands firmly at the plate, ready to swing. As the founder and CEO of Apollo 21 and our featured guest in Episode 845, Danny joins us once again, embodying the very essence of determination that he insists is paramount for anyone daring to navigate the tumultuous waters of business. His 20 years of diverse experience across product development and technology have seen him don the hats of a UX designer, a strategist, and even a marketer, equipping him with a wealth of knowledge that he generously imparts to companies ranging from startups to Fortune 100 behemoths such as American Express and Dyson.
This Action Saturday session with Danny is a solid reminder in the art of resilience. He recounts a pivotal moment when questioned about his readiness to lead, a moment that sparked introspection and a poignant realization about the relentless learning journey that is entrepreneurship. It’s a narrative that not only underscores the undervalued yet essential quality of determination but also delves into the relationship between embracing failure and the growth it fosters. Tune in for a a direct call-to-action and reminder that promises to leave you with a mindset geared towards action and an inspiring reflection on the growth that lies in wait beyond every entrepreneurial challenge.
ABOUT DANNY
After 20 years of product and technology experience, Danny Nathan has developed a habit of helping companies create new products & services and launch new ventures. In the past, he’s been called a product person, a UX guy, a designer, a strategist, a marketer, a creative (and a few other choice names like “The Cleaner”).
Danny has led product build and launch efforts at an international scale, run countless design sprints, and founded multiple companies. He’s applied his expertise to a variety of companies ranging from pre-seed startups to Fortune 100 corporations, including: American Express, Dyson, General Mills, the MoMA, Getty Images, Legendary Pictures, and many more.
LINKS & RESOURCES
WEBVTT
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Hey, what is up?
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Wontrepreneurs and entrepreneurs all over the world, it's Brian LoFermento here, host of the Wontrepreneur to Entrepreneur podcast, and this is an Action Saturday episode with a guest that you all already know and love.
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He was our featured guest in Wednesday's episode, which was episode 845.
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His name is Danny Nathan.
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Danny is the founder and CEO of Apollo 21.
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I loved the way he shared his entrepreneurial mindset, his strategies, the way that he views technology and scale all in Wednesday's episode.
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So definitely go back and check that episode out Episode 845, if you haven't listened to it already.
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And just to give you a recap of and a reminder of who Danny is.
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After 20 years of product and technology experience, danny has developed a reminder of who Danny is.
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After 20 years of product and technology experience, danny has developed a habit of helping companies create new products and services and launch new ventures.
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In the past, he's been called a product person, a UX guy, a designer, a strategist, a marketer, a creative.
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He's worn so many different hats.
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Danny has led product build and launch efforts at an international scale.
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He's run countless design sprints and he's founded multiple companies.
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He's applied his expertise to a variety of companies, ranging from pre-seed startups to Fortune 100 corporations, including American Express, dyson, general Mills, getty Images, so many more.
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In today's Action, saturday episode.
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I'll tell you what I really love, where Danny's going to take us into today's episode.
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It's such a strong reminder, no matter where we are in our journey, about resilience, and it's an action that we all need a reminder of.
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So I'm excited Danny, take it away.
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Hey there, brian.
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Thanks for the intro.
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I'm so excited to be back.
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I have been thinking a lot about what to share for Action Saturday and there's a story that comes to mind that kind of underpins my thought around Action Saturday and what action to take, and it circles back to a quote from Sam Holtman who said at one point the most underrated quality of a founder is being really determined.
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So much about being a successful entrepreneur is just not giving up, and it rings so true to me.
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On to the story, it brings to mind when I was starting Apollo 21,.
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Someone who I respected deeply asked me if I was ready to be a CEO, and the question kind of caught me off guard at the time and I stopped to think about it for a moment and in that moment I could see sort of my entire entrepreneurial career flying before my eyes, if you will, and in that moment I couldn't begin to think that there was an answer other than no, I'm not ready.
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There was no world in which I was ready to be a CEO, to lead a company, etc.
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And I had led teams before, I had founded a company before, but I also knew that there was so much that I didn't know about how to run a company and how to support the team that supports that company.
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So in that moment I just couldn't imagine anyone ever answering yes to the question are you ready you know, I who in their right mind would think that they were ready to take on the endeavor that is starting a company and hiring people and being responsible for their livelihood and keeping clients happy if you're in client services or customers, if you're in a customer-driven business.
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And I think back on that a lot.
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And at the time, after having that sort of massive epiphany all in the blink of an eye, of course my answer was not no, I'm not ready, but rather I'm ready to figure it out.
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And I had no idea at the time just how much truth there was behind that statement of I'm ready to figure it out.
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And I think the reality was I had no idea what I was committing to quote figuring out.
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I think I've learned more in the last couple of years of running Apollo 21 than I probably ever did in the decades leading up to starting this company.
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And of course, if you had asked me then if I was learning throughout my career, I would have absolutely said that I had learned a ton, so it just sort of builds on itself, and so I guess all of it comes back to determination for me, and it also comes back to something that we talked about last time we spoke, which is failure, which you know.
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Failure is something that rings true and thinks runs through my mind all the time.
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You know I mentioned previously that I have sort of a personal mantra that is fail beautifully, and it's a reminder to myself that in order to accomplish things, you have to try and you have to fail.
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So that brings me to my action point for Action Saturday, which is try.
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It's really that simple.
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If you want to build a business, if you want to start a company, if you want to become an entrepreneur, try and don't give up.
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It really all comes down to that, and I think Sam Altman really nailed it in his quote.
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So much about being an entrepreneur is just not giving up.
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So that's my advice for Action Saturday and that's today's Action Saturday episode.
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So now it's time to take action.
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Thanks again.
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