147: A Conversation on Disruption, Entrepreneurship, and What it Means to Think Bigger with Matt Ward

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Matt Ward. Matt is an angel investor, startup advisor and serial entrepreneur that’s helped thousands build, grow and scale successful startup companies through his efforts with FBA ALLSTARS and The Syndicate podcast.

Thanks to three successful exits of companies he founded, Matt now runs an investment syndicate focused on seed stage tech companies, while also serving as an advisor for several startups.

Matt’s a frequent writer on Medium.com, author of Gods of the Valley – How Today’s Tech Giants Monopolize the Future and has been featured in Mattermark Daily, The Next Web, Inc, VentureBeat, Think Growth, Hackernoon and numerous other publications.

And if that is not enough, he’s also the founder of The Disruptors Podcast, a show that brings together scientists, startups, innovators and thought leaders to have discussions on the direction of humankind. With such a diverse background, there are is a lot we have to talk about in this episode.

www.Disruptors.fm

Get Matt’s Book, Gods of the Valley at https://disruptors.fm/gods-of-valley/

MattWard.io

Matt never really fit into a traditional job type roll and quickly found his way into solo-entrepreneurship. He built a couple of e-commerce companies that failed. Then, he stumble into crowdfunding. He was in southeast Asia and moved to China to start a new e-commerce business from the lessons he learned and have the products manufactured there.

He had designed a laptop case that opens into a standing desk and while he was waiting for his first prototype to be created, he decided to start selling already made products on Amazon and things took off. He ultimately sold the business and then used that money to fund his “phase 2.” He also started his podcasts.

The first phase for him was about making money. He was selling things, but wasn’t really passionate about the products, but knew he needed to do it to get to a point where he had the resources to focus on what actually mattered to him and that is where he is now.

Now, he works with startups as an advisor on growth marketing, scaling, and building their business larger. His big focus is Disruptors.FM looking at the future of technology and the convergence of all the technological progress. At the 8 min mark, Matt talks about what he is seeing happening in the technology space and why Disruptors is so important.

At the 9:22 mark, Matt explains what it means to “think bigger” and the challenge he gives to us to do so…

• Cliché is always cliché until you get it.
• It doesn’t take 10 or 100X the effort to attain 10 or 100x the results – it just takes thinking a little bit differently.
• Matt uses an example of how he wanted to make a impact by building homes for people. Instead of starting a business, make money and invest in 10 businesses doing it and your leverage is much bigger.
• The goal of entrepreneurship is to be the most effective possible and to get to the right finish line.
• Part of it is understanding the problem, but solving the right problem.
• People fall into the trap as entrepreneurs of just creating a job for themselves and end up hating it.
• Think about the way you approach the problem differently to avoid the trap.
• Matt gives the example of re-usable rockets from Space X taking the cost of Space travel down by over 90%.

What are the things you teach those your work with when it comes to thinking bigger. How do they do it? Where do they start?

At the 14 min mark, Matt asks me questions and uses Misfit as an example of how we can think bigger…

It’s what matters most…

Then asking the question, “What would have to change to 10x or 100x that metric?"

If you are measuring the right thing, then 10x and 100x become easier…

Things don’t scale the way you think. You have do things differently at each level to get to the next level.

The way that you think about starting something is not the way that you think about growing it and building a lasting organization. It is a different thought process and skillset.

What are some of the key thing you’ve learned along the way that have helped you succeed?

• Outsource everything you can – if it is not a core competency or something you really enjoy doing, offload it, or you will just create a job for yourself.
• You need to know the type of person you in terms of how you work and how you lead. Know thyself.
• Be honest with yourself.
• Balancing having an idea of where you want to be ahead of time with not be afraid to just try things and fail is critical.
• If you are doing something and it doesn’t feel right, then it is for good reason. Your gut is almost always right.
• It’s either a “hell yes” or no.
• Don’t only have business as your driving factor, you must have the health aspect as well. You can and will burn yourself out and will slip over time if you don’t take care of yourself.

If you had to choose one thing, that if you had known it before starting on your entrepreneur path, would have accelerated your success, what would it be?

• Spend money for help
• Podcasts are such a great way to grow yourself and get help
• Being busy isn’t productive – you are better off spending money to achieve results much faster.

Where do you see the state of humanity going? What’s coming?

• The biggest problem we have is “short-term thinking”
• We live in a world that incentivizes the here and now without regard to the consequences of our actions down the road.
• Most don’t focus on the future or think down the road – we are playing finite games and thinking as if it is winnable.
• The direction humanity is going is optimistic. Our quality of life and living is going up over time. We may not realize this because the influences such as advertisers and marketers are incentivized to sell us on things being bad and making us feel bad so we “need their solution.”
• AI is and will progress much faster than most think – especially in our health.

Where do you see the biggest disruption happening over the next 10-20 years?

• AGI moving to ASI will happen. This will transform all areas of our lives.
• Automation will have enormous implications.
• Yes, some jobs will cease to exist, but new ones will exist and be created.
• We will have to consider what life would be like if technology can take on many of the day to day things we do.
• The biotech and longevity space will see huge strides and lifespans will grow to allow us to live much longer and better.
• Think about this – 13 years ago we didn’t have IPhones and now technology is accelerating even faster than it was then. Where will we be 13 years from now?

At the 46 min mark, Matt talks about other areas that you should look at and keep tabs on.

 

Best Quote: “If you are doing something and it doesn’t feel right, then it is for good reason. Your gut is almost always right.”

 

Matt's Misfit 3: 

1. Rule #1 is that there are no rules.  Disregard what anyone tells you unless they are further along the life journey you want to have.  Otherwise, they are only giving you advice to their life and their life isn't yours.
2. Never stop learning.  Don't get stuck in a rut.  Find incredible podcasts and learn.
3. Focus more on feeling healthy and better.  When you are mentally and physically fit, your performance increases.  Try things out.