00:00:00 moving the Neto unfound your failure one conversation at a time I'm your host Justin Gordon and welcome to startup 2.0 by spark XYZ join us each week as we give you access to some of the top investors and entrepreneurs in the country to help you think through and overcome the top challenges that startups face today's guest is Kat ulleung who is the managing director of pixel exchange which is the center of innovation and technology in the Los Angeles area chamber of commerce Kat welcome to the show thank you to get

00:00:40 things started for those who don't know what is bixell exchange pixel exchange is a non-profit first and most first and foremost we're in the public private and tech space we are a technology incubator that provides free mentorship and advising for early-stage entrepreneurs awesome and I know you have a couple of different programs and talk about those a little bit sure so everything we do at bixell is community focus so we it's on the baseline of talent is equally distributed opportunities not yeah and

00:01:10 so my program is focused on the technology incubator inclusive ecosystem and then on the other side we help connect underserved community college students and high school students into jobs in tech awesome and then with that too I mean how are people finding you how to find out about your programs how do they get to you in the first place sure so we are housed at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce so people find us through partnerships we work with community partners all over LA so specifically on the incubator front 80%

00:01:38 of the people coming through our doors we serve about 300 startups a year ok so 80% of the people coming through are referred through startups partners of ours that love us yeah other advisors and we have a team of 40 advisers so people that just adore and really find value in the people and the community and the resources yeah and with those resources dimension like the advisors as well I mean how do you build that out how do you kind of source those partnerships and what does it look like in terms of their involvement with your

00:02:02 program as well sure I'm a true believer in the community in order for people to find and access resources you have to go to them Los Angeles is super spread out I mean yes as we all know it's not easy to get from one neighborhood to the other yeah so one is just being involved in any entrepreneurial spaces whether that's in other nonprofits that are supporting entrepreneurship education and or going where there's events whether it's south-central whether it's the South Bay whether it's closer to downtown you know

00:02:31 a lot of the technology ecosystem is quote-unquote on the west side and their house there but there's little communities that are popping up everywhere so it's meaning people when you're out and about who are already advising that are working with startups and getting to know them and inviting them into the fold yeah and I was like I'm just crazy on that is it like they're committed to a year or just like a certain amount of time or they're just like they help out whenever you need them how does that

00:02:55 work with your advisor for advisors sure no our advisors weep so my budget because we're nonprofit or my budget actually goes to paying my advisors okay so they we match all the startups that go through a program are matched to one advisor okay and they're their core advisor and so that core advisor is an accountability partner a thought partner helps to Shepherd them through their blocks and challenges and then works with them to achieve we all operate on an okay our basis so that's our tool that we use objective key results to

00:03:24 hold our startups accountable and that's what we use to help them find their North Star and then help identify you know what are the what is the nee milestone in the needle that'll help them get quicker to their Northstar yeah and then with these stirrups in the first place like what is the process for them to even get into your program sure we are yes referral but there's an online application we really because we're a free model so no costs non-equity we look for coachability or mentorship programs so I tell

00:03:54 everyone we can I help you if you're not coachable right and open to feedback and so we test for Coach ability we test for commitment in terms of I tell everyone our assessment process is really just to get a feel for who you are as a person why you're doing what you're doing what problem you're solving so it's getting to know where you're at in the startup stage your team and then where you're moving forward so we we get to know the person on a very personal level because matching them to a mentor and and

00:04:20 there's sass is also based on you know how well they vibe and help yeah yeah and you said you take a few hundred people every year we are here alone we've worked with 320 whoa start up so we see I'm pretty sure we see the highest volume in Los Angeles yeah and so we recently expanded our core advising team from 15 to 40 okay in the last few months and so it just means a stronger diverse network of people who represent LA and can be examples for other future generation of entrepreneurs so when I think about

00:04:54 advice recruiting my advisors I think of people who are passionate about the community who have really diverse backgrounds experiences all every sense of the word diversity and I want them to be examples of not just the entrepreneurs were serving but other future potential entrepreneurs that that might encounter us on on this program or you programs yeah I things like that so yeah we definitely have I didn't mention this but we we definitely work with a lot of half-hour entrepreneurs our minority underrepresented so

00:05:22 underrepresented for us means black brown founders LGTBQ veterans the full spectrum yeah and then with that to just kind of think about your program are there other programs like that other across the nation or is just like an LA thing where you have this program with pixel exchange like how's that work sure Bixel exchange is definitely Los Angeles but yes our model is unique in that it's in the public private and tech space because we're hosted at a chamber we work with a lot of big corporate companies but we

00:05:51 also work with community partners and then we're also in text that's translating that but some of the other community partners that I'm a big fan of that are resources for people and underrepresented minority space backstage capital to five ventures is formally incarcerated gosh nifty network for teaching entrepreneurship is high school focused there's there's quite a few yeah but they're they're all none too represented minority space yeah and I keep I it truly it does take a village to raise early stage yeah so we have to

00:06:22 work together in order to yako you know what challenges they're facing yeah and just thinking to that especially because there are other programs potentially outside of Los Angeles if you know of any because I've cuz pixel change is la focusone but if someone's watching and listening that is not in LA and perhaps think of what resources they might have so you can look into those ones I guess about do you know what programs are doing like pretty much the same besides them that are in other major cities or you're not

00:06:46 really familiar like this okay question I don't know you know for everyone that asks I say Google is your best force when it comes but it's also we don't know what we don't know so it's what you Google also matters yeah right and so it's whether your women founder whether you're a black founder where a lot NEX founder yeah googling not just googling but identifying on LinkedIn you know don't for those that are out there that are younger college students who like what do I look what if I get into

00:07:17 startups how do I get into tech I have not always been in tech and didn't know what an entrepreneur or VC was going up right and I'm a big believer if you can't become what you've never seen so finding people online that are mentors of yours whether you know them or not yeah it can be on Twitter they can be on LinkedIn they can be on Instagram and identifying you know what whether it's in tech or whether they're an entrepreneur yeah don't hesitate I always tell if you like don't hesitate to just paint you'd be shocked at how

00:07:48 many CEOs and founders yeah even from big companies will respond from a quick message like I really love what you're doing at your company would you have time for a 15-minute call right interview I know Lucas does this a lot and if you don't ask the answers always no no you're never gonna get what you don't ask for so you kind of have to which for some people though that's not they just not taught there they're not they don't know of that but like that's why I think it's helpful to hear from different entrepreneurs or VCS who like

00:08:15 say that you you have to just ask to start with so you have a chance to even play the game and with two different mentors and resources like pixel exchange has I mean knowing that you have these though what are the problems that these startups are facing or these founders are facing and how do you help them through those sure common problems and common threads yeah majority people I would say 90% of people come to us and say we want money we need money funding yes and one of the hardest parts about my job is

00:08:43 identifying okay you say any money you say you want but what is actually the block and challenge from you getting to the next step whether this building your product and so what I find is is a huge common thread and problem for early-stage founders is a lot of assumptions right and potentially just being very attached to a solution so obviously you have to be the biggest champion for what you're building yeah what problem it is but really identifying even some of just who it what is the problem that you're

00:09:18 solving and for who like what is that specific pain point because then you can laser focus on that problem and your product you know yes service solving that problem but then it's testing right a lot of founders just dive into I'm gonna build this up I'm gonna build this service whatever it may be and they forget I'm you know there's all these hypotheses and test that in assumptions that you're making and you used to break it down before you spend forty K or whatever it is yeah okay five K whatever

00:09:47 yeah anything on diving into a path that may not be what the market needs right yeah so it's not being attached to the solution of it and I mean so really I think customer discovery is a big piece of it when I I always ask people so how many potential customers have you spoke to and some are taking it back and talking to potential customers maybe five and if you're talking to them is it friends and family or a bit actually strangers and people that can give you a real feedback on whether or not your

00:10:21 product or solution what you're building is meeting an actual problem or pain point yeah and you mention those assumptions too it's like what are those assumptions around who that people might be and you're you talking on those people cuz you're friends of family may not be the market even though you're like oh they're right here I'll just talk to them but getting out and talking those actual people that might be your target market but you think at least is obviously important what else I mean what else do you see from these startups

00:10:43 founders really a to more so like the team issues is there anything you can help them with or like struggles they have and how you don't help them through those sure I think with team issues I think it's really being honest with your co-founder and/or yourself on your strengths and weaknesses Yeah right and knowing where we have we work with a lot of solo founders in our program and we work with some a handful of first-time founders absolutely and so when you're building a product and you're building your service and

00:11:11 identifying you know a lot of the conflict comes from I'm doing more work from than you or how much equity do you need or you know being extra clear this is my strength is my weakness what what our expectations of each other and how are we pushing this forward like this is your lane you're gonna focus on this whether you're CEO CEO or whatever roles I mean in a startup you're doing everything together yeah right so you and me - yeah you need to be in the trenches and be able to work through conflict right and so just sharing

00:11:41 whatever feedback immediately versus waiting for a day or two because you're too scared of offending your friend or you know it's always treading lightly like knowing when you pick who you're gonna work with especially on a co-founder and early startup stage you need to like like in the dating world you're not gonna marry someone after our first date y'all need to you know work together on way that's going through physical challenges and doing a mud run together or getting through a project together or just spending traveling

00:12:09 together and getting to know each other on a personal basis because all of those things directly impact whether or not you're gonna be successful as co-founders in a company yeah so I don't think sometimes when we have Entrepreneurship comfy conversations we don't talk enough about personal mental mind health but that's such a big part of you know yeah whether or not your company moves forward and how you know how successful you and your team are yeah and then how do you talk through that though with with the solo founders

00:12:36 because that's a whole different thing than if you're solo like how do you talk through that with them or what do you suggest maybe to them when they're just working by themselves yeah I think it's even thought they're working by themselves they're still working with contractors right or interns and so it's identifying you know or stepping back and saying do I actually need to have a co-founder right now is yeah is am I at this time and my you know one of women founders that I work with she's I mean a

00:13:03 lot of badass women founders are like I can do this alone but to a certain extent you get to a point and in order to scale up to the next level you absolutely need second-person right and that person and it's letting go of the trust and letting go of that control so it's it's absolutely a you know we as advisors in the startup space where oftentimes lifetime good life coaches in my opinion we're like coaches or mentors or advisers colleges with all of the above everything so you just have to wrap that

00:13:28 all in one and I think it's asking them the right questions right and it's less about helping less about imposing what I think they should do and it's not it's exactly what what where they need to go and so asking the right questions of what's the best next step for them yeah on their team and then also as a solo founder you know where how are they spending 40 hours of their day yeah how are they dividing that time yeah is it actually being spent on what will move the needle to the next milestone yeah

00:13:58 and one thing is to like a lot of startups to fail obviously that's a big part of being a start-up at Lavin fail but how do you either walk them through that or tell them like if they're struggling with their company potentially I mean what's that conversation like or how are you helping in through like yeah this might be time to shut it down or pivot or like how do you talk about that with these founders I had that conversation this week yeah she is in the comic book space yeah and just so passionate about the idea in

00:14:29 loves when people light up about it yeah and is building something that just it's not her domain expertise right and I think she's finally come to the conclusion of it just Judy's keeps hitting a wall and keeps hitting a wall and the product isn't building and there's not enough traction and I think it's it's just sitting down and talking through ok what are the options let's just let's just talk them out you know like they're not gonna happen today or tomorrow but let's discussion yeah just the discussion let's just think through

00:14:54 the options right you could pass you know pass it on to another team and you keep doing this you could you know exit or potentially try and sell their quote-unquote graveyard assets right yeah and just talking through the options and kind of letting letting them figure out you know where does this where do you think this needs to go yeah right without yeah and to that point that and with waste ARBs feeling I mean what are some of those reasons you see why they fail first place like why are some of those

00:15:26 things you see like they fail because XYZ a what are some of those reasons why startups fail mm-hmm I think it's team a lot of the time it's because I businesses direct reflection of what's going on personally in your life I mean entrepreneurship in life is just it's the same right and my definition of entrepreneurship is creative problem-solving and so you're identifying a problem and and sometimes it's not honing in on what specific problem it is because there are some say they're trying to solve it all for

00:15:56 everyone but you can't you absolutely can't do that as well yeah and so the entrepreneurs that I found to be most successful are the ones who don't even call themselves an entrepreneur like this was a problem that kept me up at night and it was so personal in near and dear to me and I needed it I could not not build this in order to solve what was happening so I would say team and I think being attached to you know my business yeah my company my startup is the only solution to this those kind of that

00:16:28 mentality and that attitude around yeah you know being attached to the specific way versus letting the market the market will dictate the people and the market will dictate how your product and service needs to evolve and yeah and transform yeah and then one thing too just going back to like the program's a big so exchange how long are these programs or how long do they last sure so we're unique in that mentorship advising people stay with us on average of a year ok and so we're very complementary to we've had people from

00:16:53 YC come to us and just say I just need someone to help navigate me through this ok we've had you know a handful of startups go to tech stars so very complimentary to those cohort based programs so we're not cohort based we're definitely like open applications running through and people working with us on an average of a year yeah and so it's I say that the are entrepreneurs drive what kind of mentorship and rising you do so we we know the entrepreneurial journey as you know is up and down it's a roller coaster so things come in and

00:17:24 out yeah and so people you know work with us on what their core advisor maybe once a month maybe it's an in person maybe it's 15 minutes others depending on what stage you're in and what what pain point and problem they're solving whether it's um hey we're getting through building our MVP or we're getting through our fundraising so we have three different stages of our program and startup stage mid stage and investor ready and investor ready doesn't mean they haven't raised it just means whether they're just raising again

00:17:52 they weren't there you know they're there yeah and each stage has specific milestones that they're marching towards so it's really clear cut as to hey in order for us to get you to the next stage you know let's make sure you've hit all of these and then you know Shepherd you to the next next part and the path to success then for us that we've identified is there's more clarity of okay if I haven't hit these milestones if you haven't hit all of these this list of things quote-unquote for us you're not investor ready yeah right and

00:18:24 our my advisors are divided into different teams so they're there's a money team so until you talk to the wrong team you know you need to make sure you've hit all of these yeah you know you checklist F of where you've gone in your startup and yeah and with that too then and what are some of those milestones what at different stages people have an idea what do they even might look like yeah we have a happy to share that we can point that in but yeah some of them is just quite simply how much time are you committing to this you

00:18:57 know in one week are you committing more than 50% or 70% have you hired someone full-time or part-time have you had business certification I mean those are more things in the small business and ownership side yeah have you do you have a product is it an MVP or is it a prototype how many paid customers you have how many users do you have you know how long just just different directions on the investor ready side it's you know if you have partners are there letters of intent around partners yeah not just

00:19:30 conversations right how many people have committed to you know how many of you I don't know views downloads there's all kinds of different milestones and metrics just depends on what's face but those are some examples yeah but yeah I definitely have to have something to track like where are you err are you progressing or not yeah and it's seeing that come ease that don't have that just like how do you know if you're getting better if you're improving your company you have to have these metrics I

00:19:54 think one of the other interviews we've had as well I think Sean Sean cheek mentions that the same type of thing like we have to have a clear list of these metrics and this is what we're trying to hit and then if we're hitting him okay great why either case it's like why why are we hitting why aren't we hitting am sure I'm gonna just from there yeah and I think it's also defining as a founder and entrepreneur you need to define what success is for you both qualitatively and quantitatively yeah and so that's why we

00:20:18 use objective key results because it allows for flexibility when people aren't hitting you can reevaluate and say whoa were these okay ours that we had too ambitious too easy and are we marching towards the wrong okay ours yeah that makes sense right and okay ours accounts for qualitative and quantitative and then being able to ask your advisors ask people close to you ask the team that you trust are these okay ours realistic for us right or you know are we and then ask your team right so I don't believe in just asking you

00:20:51 know you have you have coordinators you have him you know you have people around you who are cheerleaders and it doesn't matter their title yeah you need to you know I think be humble enough to ask for feedback on is this working what's not working what are we missing as a team with our blind spots and now we'll take a quick break and hear from our sponsor Breck's a big heartfelt thank you to Breck's who is out there support this show would not be possible we've seen firsthand the difficulties accessing basic corporate

00:21:17 credit without providing a security deposit or personal guarantee early on as companies grow managing expenses has become more difficult and time-consuming which is why we've partnered with Breck's to offer a corporate credit card that is not personally guaranteed offers higher credit limits provides Auto reconciliation and integrates with ERPs using receipt capture Breck's is the credit card let's start ecosystem and we highly encourage you to check them out and back to the show cat which areas of

00:21:47 the startup landscape are you most excited about now moving forward I absolutely love anything in the wellness and health space okay because our world there is so much stress and and in so much you know pressure just to to do and perform yeah I think just disrupting even just the broken health care system period is is great yeah I like fin tach one of my favorite fin tech companies is Tala I don't know if you're familiar with Tala but she's just a badass female founder and has raised over sixty

00:22:24 million and she is building credit and data points in the underserved global market yeah where that data is not being captured anywhere around the world so those are kind of my two areas that I think I would like to see more of when I think of you know for the students that are listening and you're thinking of what you're building yes identify a problem that you can't keep out of your head and out of your mind but something that is near and dear to you that you're Pat crazy passionate about right and it'll keep you up at

00:22:57 night and dreaming right when I went when people come and say oh I have so many ideas and I'm like okay ideas or ideas whatever yeah identify that one thing that you know you talk to your friends about your dream about your reading books about you can't stop thinking about because that's what will drive whatever it is but yeah finance financial literacy yeah our world needs more financial literacy period yeah there's no education around that and and similarly an entrepreneurship state actually it's it's almost the same

00:23:28 as saying okay everyone who comes and asks for money and then it applies for a program if I gave you two million dollar check today would you know what to do with it today five years from now and ten years from now and it's managing money right it's money management yeah um before you get the check during the track and after the check and I know that's that's also something I think a gap in the space that needs to be yeah and then for I mean for just looking back to actual pixel exchange then what

00:23:54 are you most excited about with where they're going where you guys are going yeah where we're going I think as I mentioned just this year alone we've worked with 320 startups yeah which is in the same volume crazy right and what I love about my role is that the face of entrepreneurs that I work with and that I'm very passionate out sharing with we can't become what we have never seen is the entrepreneurs that I work with our women are Latin X or brown founders are LGTBQ founders are veteran founders and the media doesn't

00:24:25 see that right the large media the larger media and in the conversation and so I think being able to build programming and be able to share their story more of the story of what are your different backgrounds or your different experiences where you come from why did you start and that it's their path is not linear so the students that are listening people were like I don't know in entrepreneurial ways I don't know what I want to do yeah you know I want to build a company about I've never seen that you know I grew up I grew up

00:24:52 in an area United States we didn't you know I was telling you earlier I didn't know what an entrepreneur was in college I was at university as going through a program and I was going through I did mechanical engineering for a couple years and then I went into marketing and I didn't want to convince people to buy things they didn't need it and I went into international business in HR but I remember there was an entrepreneurial program and I had no idea what that meant yeah and then similarly with what

00:25:15 the definition of venture capital I did not know what a venture capitalist was I remember hearing the word in wedding crashers it was and now that's all that's my conversation today that's you I mean way that's its meaning with resources right yeah and so it's that's what I'm most excited about being sure that those stories for people and next generation of entrepreneurs being able to see more people that look like them building companies yeah and it's a point to I mean a lot of people you work with

00:25:40 as well don't get a lot of funding typically so even in that front then looking at the fundraising side of things like what advice or any insights you have into like what they should be asking or in that process of fundraising or what they should be thinking about in terms of raising funds and for their company I think I would almost turn that question to to the VC space yeah and say how are you sourcing for startups and how how are you bringing more diverse investors into this yeah because I think

00:26:12 it's a you know it's like a two-fold you have to startup and you have the investors less than two percent going a venture capital going to women and even less than women of color yeah around so question four and what do you say to you know women underrepresented founders looking for money it's getting you know it's it's online networking in a person I think you're never getting what you don't ask for I think the imposter syndrome is a real thing and a challenge for people especially where you were raised in a

00:26:46 neighborhood where you didn't see people around you yeah doing anything that we do in this room yeah and so you know understanding like don't getting and getting in your own head even even people I know today who are running humans and accelerators tell me or or VCS and investors today they're like I still struggle with impostor syndrome sometimes right and so it's that those issues will come up right those like mental box will come up and so as an entrepreneur people in startups and building companies it's it's not

00:27:17 being afraid to ask don't be afraid to ask for help to be afraid to reach out to people on the LinkedIn those on the Twitter's on the socials and say I'm running into this problem you know whether it's a brass mini shoe or whether it's like a I don't know what to do talk to 50 people and they've all told me no what am I missing yeah asking yeah and I'm even looking at programs then in the different cities like looking at Los Angeles with obviously pixel exchange help a deal in that way we've had great 110 same type

00:27:42 of thing there are resources out there for helping you grow your company you get fundraising all of that it's like do pursue those as well in your city because there are resources there there's so many resources and I think the hardest part is people identifying or knowing about those resources because group for example grid 110 McKee and I are close friends and yeah they're excited that we work together General Assembly we're excited that our next rules now were able to you know lift the la larger la tech community yeah sure

00:28:08 it's inclusive and accessible and and work together on that but there's so many not only organizations that are doing this but individuals in the community that truly care about that so it's identifying people in that community whatever city that you're in whether you're using meetup comm whether you're using hashtags on Twitter or hashtags on LinkedIn to find those people who care about startups sure and who care about whatever problem you're solving where industry you're working in it's identifying those

00:28:36 people and reaching out and saying you know how can I help or what resources do you have for me or can you point me to other resources because there are a lot out there yeah it's just knowing where to go where to go or look yeah and it's you know we're busy you know we're - I'm a two-person team we work with three or twenty startups a year I have a team of 40 advisers that are remote and we're you know I tell people we need help with spreading the word because it's just and similarly with grid 110 where you know

00:29:03 we're local to Los Angeles but it's it's when we're busy doing the work it's like how are we yeah sorry no word but this is one example but you know yeah I gotta find us and then also um you know word of mouth yeah and then going back to Justin there are many different paths to becoming an entrepreneur and like giving getting into the space and you have quite unique path to pick Sol can you talk about how you got here exactly yeah the Peace Corps and everything out like there's so much to it yeah Chris about

00:29:31 that side too so I talked about the face of entrepreneurship right and my face of entrepreneurs is is very much the reason why we're called entrepreneurs today is I had a homestay mom when I was in college my junior year in South Africa when I studied an international environment development for a quick semester and she was teaching wealth skills business skills entrepreneurial skills to women in a village whose husbands abandon them because they were looking for jobs and and livelihood and so that was my beginning face of what an

00:30:05 entrepreneur eyes for me and I said whatever I'm doing in life I just want to be working and doing something in that space of whatever my her name is Patricia yeah her Patricia's doing and I was able to see her again four years later which is amazing but after I had that experience I told myself after college that I paid my way through college work two jobs the whole time by the university and so after I had that experience I knew that I wanted to volunteer be in another culture and language and just learned from the world

00:30:40 yeah it was my first time going out of country and I was looking for all these volunteer opportunities and required money to go on tyr so people who are you know listening and who want who want to be international yes go figure so I applied for Peace Corps and Peace Corps just took me on this journey the I applied in December left in May and it's crazy turning around some Peace Corps volunteers wait a year but the invitation was to teach a small business development sector so it was to teach entrepreneurs and high schools and first

00:31:15 of all I was like crazy teaching in high school that's intimidating first of all yeah I got I used to want to be a teacher but Elementary School because that's fun playtime but high school is another level so that and his small business advice and so that took me on a journey I ended up staying for four years when I came back the definition another definition of entrepreneurs right had changed so one from South Africa to Nicaragua and then coming back I came back into a world of I left with the flip phone in 2008 2011 I came back

00:31:43 and everyone was like looking at their phones talking to her phones much different what world do we live in and so after actually I went home to help a friend open up a sports bar for a few months it's just all these startup things I noticed some of those thread in my life as I was always at the bottom helping friends build up things or the tree you know with trenches with founders so I decided to move to San Francisco because I knew in San Francisco there was this tech scene entrepreneurial scene I didn't

00:32:11 understand and so that was my first foray into tech and I ended up working for a YC hardware company in Arduinos and your field communication space got fired from that because I'm a really awful office manager but also to the three-person team and they hired me as an office manager so for those in Jack you know but that getting fired from that first job and company propelled me to work for eight other startups just understanding their why understanding operations understanding all these things that I didn't know and that's

00:32:42 what how I fell into the tech space and so moving to Los Angeles was literally just better weather cheaper living and so general assembly and for those that know scaled really quickly I was there I helped start the Santa Monica general assembly space and was there for three years and that scaled from nine campuses 215 really quickly yeah that pixel exchange I was were a partner of theirs for two years at General Assembly and saw what they were doing loved what they were doing and knew that they were not vocalizing the impact that

00:33:12 they were making to help underserved community college students get into jobs in tech but also even on the Entrepreneurship side he was doing Kevin previous doctor was doing a lot of incredible work wasn't hearing so when this when I was transitioning out of GA just this role came along yeah I think it's important for people to hear that one just to show that there are many paths even again do this and even just show within that to like you can be working at startup so you do other stuff to get experienced to and I also could

00:33:37 contribute you then you starting a company later building more skills to start that company building your network to start that company there's just many different ways to go and I would say there are so many jobs out there that you don't even know exists that I don't even know exists that are being created with the new economy with the AI economy every single day almost right there I don't know anyone who grow that you know I I'm the director of an incubator right now yeah who's growing up in this world

00:34:03 today that's like come on a few director of an incubator right like there's so many jobs like that that don't exist so it's just being open and I tell younger people when I go in and speak to them is just telling them you know take all the internships volunteer expose yourself to as many things as possible because you just won't know you don't know yeah you don't know what you don't know and it's just you will only know your passions and where its leading you to if you know if it's an entrepreneurial path or its

00:34:26 solving a problem but you just don't know until you expose yourself to do all of it yeah and then just kind of wrapping things up is there anything else to kind of suggest or any other advice for entrepreneurs out there help them grow their businesses or find resources for them anything at all really on that yeah balance entrepreneurs you know we're working with 320 and yes remote through our team of advisers but we also host monthly events getting them together supporting each other you know so many

00:34:57 thing that they're going through this the challenges that they're going through alone and oftentimes it's it's not the case you there's ten other founders that are going to be exact same problem and right getting said no to or I just keep running to this issue and is not working on Bill is MVP in my application or whatever it is yeah taking a step back and finding finding people in your community and and sharing those challenges together because because people in your community will help you get through those those

00:35:24 blocks whether there's mentor of yours or other pello yeah fellow entrepreneurs yes startups right but finding the balance piece is directly related to as I said before your personal life is and your business is a direct reflection of what's going on your personal life so taking a step back and finding what but balances you because your company will be better your team will be better you will be better if you take better care of yourself I think the self-care journey isn't talked about enough yeah at all on the startup

00:35:51 in entrepreneurship space when we're you know doing doing entrepreneurs are always doing a million things yes yeah I mean well just just to go deeper on that you self-care part that no one talks about I mean we're some things they can do because obviously there's a difficulty right trying to find that balance I mean what would you tell him on that because they're trying to do everything they can to grow his company or a fundraiser whatever like how can they think through building that into their day-to-day life sure it was World

00:36:17 Mental Health Awareness Day recently yep and on Twitter there was a the five things I do to stay balanced in life right from many influencers and whatever celebrities and sure just people on Twitter sharing and so I think it's the five things that just bring you joy that help you check out right some little things that I do you know before I do anything look at my phone I meditate for three minutes I'm a little corner I love dancing dancing is something that I know will help me stay in the present moment

00:36:52 right there are things they don't need to be you know ten to a minutes to an hour but those things literally will add clarity clarity to your life and help bring your company to a better place whether that's you know sitting under a tree for five minutes I one of mine was hugging a tree it takes five seconds to tie you just hug a tree provides me pretending to be a starfish yeah how do you present to be a starfish cat you noticed our crush looks like yeah there it is there it is how to do is go like this for five

00:37:23 seconds and there's those moments right that will just you got to do those things yeah yeah when you're just doing doing now you got to do those things and take time for yourself and I know you know we have a lot of entrepreneurs who are moms dads kids and so I know that balance is is it's hard yeah for everyone regardless of where you're at but also as an entrepreneur because you're balancing your business and you're balancing everything else so yeah I think the self-care journeys is knowing that it doesn't need to be an

00:37:53 hour long commitment in a dark room by yourself right yeah it can be a lot of things with other people yeah and take a few moments a quicker thing to you essentially yeah and cat where can people go to connect with you and also learn more about big sollux - sure pixel exchange comm right uh I tell people admittedly I'm awful on emails so find us on LinkedIn I'm on the Twitter's around the social medias we're on Instagram pixel exchange we're on snapchat we work with stuff a lot yeah and the social media is but

00:38:21 don't hesitate to reach out ask questions be curious awesome so thank you so much for come and show today thank you for having us thanks for checking out step 2.0 from spark XYZ if you want to learn more about startups and investing and check us out join the ecosystem at spark XYZ dot IO