John Koelliker is the Co-Founder and CEO of Leland, a marketplace for ambitious people to access coaching, classes, mentorship, and community, to reach their career and educational goals. From growing in your career ladder, to taking a test, finding the right school—discover a friend and mentor to guide you through.
In this episode, John and Aishwarya discuss all about how side projects help with validating ideas and building a good pathway for converting something to a full-time foundership; we also discuss what it takes for a first-time founder to fundraise, build a marketplace, sustain the growth loops, and publish content to establish branding.
00:00 Intro to John & Leland
01:10 Why entrepreneurship and the steps that led to this path
06:14 What's the difference between a side hustle and full-time foundership?
10:36 What John learned from his Stanford days about side projects
12:48 Finding the initial audience that believes in your mission
16:57 Building a conviction for others to trust in you
17:46 What's it like to build a sustainable growth engine for a product?
22:04 Mistakes: As a room for improvement for first-time founders
26:47 Product manager to founder: PM lessons that come handy
30:55 Successfully raising $4M seed funding and tips for new founders
36:09 Finding the right VCs who support your journey
37:36 Sharing lessons with fellow founders—a healthy community
Check out Leland - https://joinleland.com/
The Founder's Foyer on:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thefoundersfoyer/
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/7xov9chTGQ5F9rP5N0J78v
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/the-founders-foyer-with-aishwarya-ashok/id1628603555
Newsletter - https://aishwarya.substack.com/