The Badass CEO

Tamra Johnson is solving the pain points of entrepreneurs everywhere. From onboarding to building a financial model to invoices to market resources to keeping track of expenses, Tamra's two ventures have found a way to solve all of those problems. She's the co-founder of FlexTeam and Liquid with her fellow MIT alumni. Tune in to learn how you can outsource all of your daily headaches and focus on the parts of your business you enjoy. Table of Contents Starting Two Businesses Identifying Usual Pain Points in Business The Value of Prior Experience Being Specific Matters How The Finances Work Across Both Companies Advice for Other Entrepreneurs Juggling Family and Business Links Starting Two Businesses FlexTeam helps address business pain points Mimi: Hi. Welcome back to the Badass CEO. Today we have Tamra Johnson. She's the co founder of FlexTeam and Liquid with her fellow MIT alumni. FlexTeam is a mission based micro consulting firm doing on demand business projects, inclu...

This week, I interviewed Michelle Seiler Tucker, who is a Mergers and Acquisition Specialist and has bought and sold hundreds of businesses over the past 20 years. Michelle spoke about how she tells entrepreneurs to know their exit strategy when they start their company. The exit strategy at the forefront of the start-up is crucial because you set your company up correctly from the beginning to scale. Michelle breaks down the six areas that need to be addressed when building a company. 1. People. Employees are an essential part of any business. No company is successful unless it has good people. Every CEO tries to do it all and wear many hats, making it challenging to grow your company to a level where it can sell. You want to hire the right people you feel confident delegating tasks to, allowing you, the CEO, to focus on the strategy and vision. Take time and have a system to hire the right people and train them properly. 2. Product. How is your product different? Are you in a particu...

Are you worried about jumping into an industry that is historically male-dominated? The culinary industry would have to be one of the toughest and Giada de Laurentiis continues to succeed at so many levels. She is a chef, mother, author, restauranteur, and an Emmy award-winning television personality of many shows on the Food Network. She followed her passion and transformed her family's Italian traditional recipes into a successful culinary empire. Tune in to learn how to push past gender stereotypes and transform your passion into a successful business. Table of Contents Welcoming Giada De Laurentiis Defying Patriarchal Traditions To Be Taken Seriously Opening the Restaurant in Las Vegas Fighting For My Vision Learning Self Care And Self Trust The Need to Diversity in the Culinary Industry Many Family Recipes With Unique Spin Giada’s Tips On Starting in the Culinary Industry Investing in Myself without Funders A New Book With a Fresh Message The Joy is In the Process Links to G...

Targeting the Right Investor When you are at the stage to raise money and begin to target investors, it is essential to do your homework first. Did you know most investors have an investment strategy or investment thesis? If you are a product company, you would not want to be pitching to a tech investor. It is a waste of everyone's time and makes you look a little foolish. An investment strategy helps an investment fund focus and filter through deals. Most firms tend to have a particular strategy to become experts in that space, thus increasing deal flow specific to that field. There are other details you should be aware of when reaching out to an angel investor, venture capitalist, or private equity firm: Check size range a company typically writes Stage of the company depending on their risk preference - the earlier stage the company is in, the riskier the investment Industry / Type of company Return expectation- different sectors expect different returns The time horizon for the...

Jesse Draper, the founding partner of Halogen Ventures, gives us an inside perspective on what a venture capitalist looks for when investing in a company. There will be times when you have to raise money to grow and will need to present the perfect pitch to investors. This episode is full of advice from a successful early-stage venture capitalist that you won't want to miss. Table of Contents Introducing Jesse Draper A Fourth Generation Venture Capitalist Just Create Something Flipping My Mindset The Learning Journey Portfolio of Innovations The Impact of COVID Criteria Governing A Venture Capitalist Staying Involved with Companies Meet the Drapers Advice for CEOs Links Introducing Jesse Draper Venture Capitalist Jesse Draper Mimi: Welcome back to the Badass CEO podcast. I'm so excited to have Jesse Draper. Jesse Draper, venture capitalist who is a founding partner of Halogen Ventures as well as the creator and host of the Emmy nominated television series, The Valley Girl Sho...