Ep. #1000 - The Episode 1000, 5th Birthday, 4 Million Downloads Extravaganza

Matt DeCoursey 00:00
And we’re back! Back for another episode of Startup Hustle. Normally, I’d say hi, Matt. But I’m gonna say hi, Lauren, Andrew, and Matt. Hello, guys. Yeah, it is time for episode 1,000th birthday, 4 million downloads extravaganza. That’s where we would normally insert the stadium noise. Well, you know, here we are. And, you know, the weirdest thing has happened. This is the 1,000th episode of Startup Hustle. Tomorrow is Startup Hustle’s fifth birthday. And we just had our four million downloads. How do you get all that stuff to happen in the same couple of days?

Andrew Morgans 00:48
Consistency?

Matt DeCoursey 00:54
Yeah, that. And, you know, I mentioned that’s a couple people, like, oh, did you plan that? Nope. It was the natural production timeline. Yeah, it’ll happen anyway. Well, happy birthday, guys. Were five.

Andrew Morgans 01:08
Feels good to feel good.

Matt DeCoursey 01:12
I feel like five, and in the startup, years are like 75. So it sounds about right. Watson, you should turn your microphone on.

Matt Watson 01:23
I’m ready for kindergarten. I’m five.

Matt DeCoursey 01:25
Five years later, Matt has learned how to turn on his walker farm. Anyway, we’ve got an extra special version of the show. All four of us are here together, and we’re going to talk about so much stuff. Before we get started, today’s episode of Startup Hustle is powered by FullScale.io. Hiring software developers is difficult. And Full Scale can help you build a software development team quickly and affordably. And has the platform to help you manage that team. Visit FullScale.io to learn more. Who knows how to say those lines in their sleep?

Lauren Conaway 01:56
I dream about it.

Matt DeCoursey 02:02
Sometimes you do. That’s what I like to hear. I’m happy to say “affordably,” man. Quickly and affordably. So I want to start the episode but with a couple of things in our timeline. So first off, the very first episode of Startup Hustle aired on December 7, 2017. That’s five years ago tomorrow. Episode 500 aired on January 13, 2021. So look how long it took us to get to 500 as compared to 501 to 1000. And we celebrated our two million downloads and had that episode on August 27, 2021. So much like most startups are aiming to do, we have had a hockey stick trajectory over this last second half of the timeline. But you know, I think first off, it will start ladies first. I mean, Lauren, how does it feel to reach this milestone?

Lauren Conaway 02:56
Amazing, like surprising. Nobody is awesome. Yeah, I don’t think there’s any one of us. You’re gonna be like, well, it’s super shitty, but we’re gonna get through it together. But I don’t know. I mean, it feels like a huge honor. For me. The only reason that we have made it this far is because people continue to listen, right? I just feel really honored and privileged that people come along on the journey with us.

Matt DeCoursey 03:21
Think of the next in line. Let’s give the guy who did the first many episodes with me. And I guess we could say the co-founder of the podcasts in general. Mr. Midas, I mean, Mr. Watson, the other Matt.

Matt Watson 03:37
You know, it’s crazy to me that we’ve done this for five years. And, you know, I have to thank all of you for your help, your hosts, you know, being co-host and everything, but especially Matt, who has done, you know, a huge part of the work for five years. So, a lot of times, you know, I’m just Ron Burgundy. I come in and just do the thing and walk away. But he’s doing a lot of work behind the scenes. So big. Thank you, Matt, for keeping this going for five years. Here, here.

Matt DeCoursey 04:04
Not me. I’m not doing the hard work. We’ll get to that in a second. Mr. Morgans. How do you feel about this milestone?

Andrew Morgans 04:12
That came up quickly. I think we were talking on a road trip recently. And I just didn’t realize how many downloads we were getting monthly and was quoting old numbers. It was just like, you know, he just, I feel like a year ago, came and went so fast that that last episode we did, I can’t believe it August last year. So just, it’s been amazing. I think I’ve been a part of the team as a host since 2020. And it’s been an awesome journey. I think I’ve met so many people and women through this show. So I’m just really thankful not only for the listeners but for all the guests that have jumped on and, you know, gave value. I really enjoy it.

Matt DeCoursey 04:54
You know, for and thank you for your Thank you, Mr. Watson. If it wasn’t for Are Matt and me sitting down one day? And we’re like, you know, we should do a podcast? It’s, well, what should we do about it? I don’t know. Let’s just not do it about being successful because that’s already been done. It feels pretentious. And I was like, you know, we should just tell people how it is. Now, it’s like, you know what, I think I could get behind that. So we sat down to write out our first couple of episodes, which, you know, the first episode was Welcome to Startup Hustle. Episode Two was titled, Getting Funded Sucks. And I feel like that set the tone for what later became. We also went ahead and marked every single episode explicitly. Because we figured that if we were going to talk to entrepreneurs about entrepreneurship, the idea that we weren’t gonna probably get through 40 to 60 minutes of discussion without anybody swearing was probably impossible. Now, at that time. The whole podcast was a Yeti microphone that we all sat around in kind of a kumbaya kind of way. Actually, Lauren, that is the microphone. Lauren, Lauren has the original OG microphone.

Lauren Conaway 06:14
I have a piece of Startup Hustle history, even realized that you did not answer Andrew. You were once a guest.

Matt DeCoursey 06:18
And you got to do the huddle around the microphone. And in my office kind of thing. Do you remember that?

Andrew Morgans 06:29
I think it was probably my first five or six, maybe even more like being in the office. I definitely did quite a few there in the first couple of years. I was just like, I was like Amazon, checking or Amazon update the Amazon update events. Those were a lot of fun. I love that office.

Matt DeCoursey 06:45
It was about episode 50 that we actually got serious about our microphone game. And a funny note, we actually recorded episode 50 With Donald Hawkins and forgot to turn on the new microphones. Do you remember that, Matt? Yeah. And had to redo it? Yeah, we had to have them come back. We had. Yeah, so you love, and you learn now, you know, without me mentioning that. I think that all of us have an easy job. We show up and talk. And you know, without, I gotta thank a whole lot of people. Let’s start with Jessica Powell. Who keeps the ball moving on so many different things. It’s such a planner. She’s the queen of the show.

Andrew Morgans 07:26
If you, nav for sure.

Matt DeCoursey 07:29
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And if it wasn’t for all the work that Jessica does, I’m not sure we would make it to Episode 1000. So thank you, Jessica. I also want to thank Jhoey at the Full Scale office in the Philippines. Who is noted here as our death from 1000 cuts, savior? Jhoey handles so many different things, from coordinating all of them. I mean, there’s a lot that goes on, like after we hit stop on the recording, there are people that listen to the show they create blogs around images the promotion of it without we’ve got Hannah, who works on QA. We have Tini, who has been quoted as the setlist queen. Would we be able to have good shows without the setlist guys? Well? Yeah, so there are people that make us sound and feel a lot smarter than we might actually be. You know, Darrell, the CEO at Full Scale, for dealing with negotiating with our sponsors. Mitch Lee, he’s the guy that makes the audio happen. We got Meryl and Andrew that handled blogs. That’s right, two different writers. Go to StartupHustle.xyz if you want to read those. And, you know, Kyle, our marketing manager at Full Scale, who in 2020 joined us and has helped keep so much stuff moving forward. So thank you to everyone that has helped make the show go and with that. I also want to thank our sponsor’s Full Scale, that’s, our company, mountainous Silicon Valley Bank, Gusto, Universal Registered Agents, Lending Standard, Launch KC, Pipeline, Chat Desk, Equip-Bid, Double, Wix, and the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City. Thank you for sponsoring. Well, you know, in regards to sponsors, we made it 300 episodes before we even started mentioning our own company or brand. And one thing that we have done terribly, and I’m going to ask our listeners to give us a reprieve, please scroll down and click that fifth star or that subscribe button. We have been so bad about asking you to do that. And we’ve also saved you the effort of listening for us shill for your reviews or fifth star, so please help us make up for that. So we spend a lot of work goes into hosting a podcast. Andrew, why do you do it?

Andrew Morgans 09:57
Well, for me, it was like whenever I was asked to be a host. Initially, the pandemic was happening. And it was an opportunity. I had been speaking a lot and was trying to push my business that way. And that was gone. I was taking it for myself. So, you know, as I wanted to stay connected, Startup Hustle was a way for me to just try something new and push myself into something new. I didn’t know. It’d be like, honestly, the thing that I enjoyed the most, you know, getting to talk with people outside of just the Amazon industry has been awesome. Just across e-commerce and entrepreneurship is opening up my network, you know, opening up my, my, I guess my breadth of, like, who I get to talk to on a weekly basis has been amazing. I love trying to bring value. As you said, it’s a show by founders, for founders, and we just try to talk about the real shit. And I try to bring that every week as much as I can. You know, whatever, I’m, whatever I’m going through, whatever the entrepreneur that I’m talking to, is going through, I try to pull that out, where we’re not just talking about, you know, plug your email into here, use this kind of headline do this amount of characters, but like just real shit, getting to know people. So I do it for the listeners as much as for myself to continue to educate. I think it’s an amazing way for me to almost every single week to at least get three-four hours sometimes of talking to some of the most brilliant minds I’ve ever talked to. So do it for me, and I do it for everyone that’s listening.

Lauren Conaway 11:29
I mean, Andrew said it really, really well. I love storytelling. And so for me, as I get to, I am privileged to tell the stories of innovator Casey, members, just total badass founders. You know, I love the topics that I get to explore. But yeah, I mean, very, very selfishly, I like to talk, and I like to hear stories, and I like to learn about people. And then I really, really like to make the entrepreneurial journey easier for the badass founders, the awesome startup leaders that we know of, and even those that we know, we don’t know about there. So there are a lot of reasons. You know, it’s not always easy to work, although our production team makes it super easy on us. But I do it because I just love it. I love it so much.

Matt Watson 12:23
Mr. Watson. You know, I just love talking to other entrepreneurs. I really, really enjoy learning from them. You know, maybe I can provide some, you know, tips for them along the way through the podcast as well. And I think I’ve told you this recently, there’s, I think there’s part of me now that enjoys talking more about the work and the grind of actually doing it. I’m getting, I’m getting that old.

Lauren Conaway 12:48
I know, you’ve earned it.

Matt Watson 12:51
So I just love talking to people about business. And let’s be honest, in our normal day-to-day lives, there’s not a lot of people we know that we can have those same conversations with, right, so it’s great to meet just totally random people from all over the country and over all over the world and, and geek out about business and entrepreneur topics.

Andrew Morgans 13:09
So I think that’s really what I was getting at is just like, you know, we live in these bubbles of Amazon for me, you know, I’m just living and breathing Amazon e-commerce. And then just get to talk to someone from Israel, or from the UK, or from Germany, or all over the world, really. I know we pull in guests from Russia, just people dealing with different things, different types of business, and different angles. It’s super amazing. And if people are not tuning in to everyone else’s guests, I know we have a wide variety of who that is. But yeah, just absolutely enjoy it.

Matt DeCoursey 13:45
I enjoy it for all the reasons you mentioned. And you know, like all three of you, I share a commonality. And in my love for the show, I think that Startup Hustle has provided me with an education that I wouldn’t have had. Without it. You know, I’ve learned so much from so many different people. And then I think one thing that I think all of you will agree on, you know, we’re all from Kansas City. And this show has originally started as us, you know, kind of spotlighting and highlighting the entrepreneur and startup scene in our hometown. It clearly grew past that. But I’ve enjoyed showing the world. And well, we’re gonna get into some stats later. And stay tuned because we’re going to do our first-ever game show. And I’m going to donate $1,000 In honor of 1000 episodes to the charity or organization of any blonde’s choice that was to win that, so yeah, I think that, you know, I’ve enjoyed the interaction. I’ve enjoyed just doing this with you guys, too. You know, like, I look at all three of you as extended family. And in that regard, and you know, I’m hoping that the show has Helped your business, your organization’s, or maybe even your sanity on some days because I think that talking to others like Matt said, it’s hard to find people to talk to that, that go walk the walk and go down the road. I’ve had a great opportunity to talk to many people and, you know, with that, I mean, Watson when you think about your favorite, or are some of the memorable episodes that you’ve you’ve participated in what comes to mind?

Matt Watson 15:30
Well, we’ve talked to some amazing entrepreneurs you know, little old Sandy Kemper Ross from viewership, Ruslan Mark, I mean, a lot of different people that I think we’re amazing to talk to. But I was thinking about this as we were prepping for the show. And honestly, one of the episodes I always remember that was just the weirdest for me, was the lady who did Victorian hair art. Now, that was the one that I always liked, I can’t forget. Yes, yeah. Because that, to me, was just like, it was so interesting. So different.

Matt DeCoursey 16:05
Yeah. And what about you, which episodes, you been involved with that stands out?

Lauren Conaway 16:10
Um, so I really, like I, I like most of the episodes that I’m involved in, but the ones where I get to talk about like, kind of ethereal topics tend to be my favorite. So like, when we’re talking about matters of ethics, or like new industries that are now like, unregulated and it like, how do you create ethical products? So there’s, there are a few where I’ve gotten to do that, you know, talking about privacy and AI, and that was like personal AI assume on common Gonti I think his name is that’s not his last name. I’m sure I just butchered it. But that was a really interesting episode. For me. I just did one with another med tech founder, where we were talking about, you know, medical ethics and things like that. So I really like those where you can kind of pull the thread of a new industry and talk about these really, I guess, philosophical topics. That’s when I tend to be at my best as a host, I think.

Andrew Morgans 17:15
Well, I wrote down, it’s hard for me because I don’t listen to all of them guys. I’m stoked that we have 10 people on the Full Scale team that do it’s like guaranteed 10 people per my episode, and that makes

Matt DeCoursey 17:28
a lot of your downloads actually, that’s most of your downloads are come from our internal I’m

Andrew Morgans 17:34
okay with that. I’m okay with that. Like it’s part of their big fans. I chose to use community and content to drive sales. I want specific downloads of Carlos Alvarez. He’s a great friend and amazing entrepreneur down in Miami absolutely kills it with you. I think he created five ecommerce brands last year alone. So he’s an absolutely amazing guy who had him on the show a couple times. That was a great episode. He’s really outside the box with ways that he drives content and then the family entrepreneurship episode. That was a special one for me, I brought in my sisters. And I got to chat with the three of them individually just about building a business together. You know, and what that looks like. And that one was fun, just because I was hitting a milestone. And it’s usually just me and I got to bring in kind of the women behind me at Mark Knology and gotta highlight them and that was that was a lot of fun.

Matt DeCoursey 18:31
You know, I think about memorable episodes, and I have a few. There was an episode where Watson had a couple too many lunchtime cocktails. And which led to someone somewhere leaving a review that’s the episode that that listener started on. And they got mad about that. Was that the food truck one? Yes. Yeah. And by the way, I want to point out that two dudes from Kansas City when asked what the most popular kind of food truck was, we both gave four or five answers without saying barbecue.

Matt DeCoursey 19:18
that one. I also think about like, I’ve got you know, my episodes with Sandy Kemper were always great. I think that Sandy’s love for the show. If you’re not aware of Sandy Kemper is a personal mentor of Matt and eyes. He has been involved with Full Scale in some regards, and he’s also the CEO and founder of CTFO. But Sandy comes prepared at a level that no other guests TAs and just says some really insightful shit that I get off the episode and I’m like, Man, I got a lot of work to do. Just thinking about trying to get to that level. What’s that learn?

Lauren Conaway 19:57
I was just gonna say did you do preset questions with Sandy, no.

Matt DeCoursey 20:01
Sandy gives me the questions. Maybe one of the only Yeah. And I always give him a hard time. So we’ve done it a few times. And Matt and I have hosted them and I when we switch to our format, and that’s right that you know, if you haven’t figured it out, listen to our format as one host, one guest, which changed the format, Allah will talk about that down the road. I also think of memorable episodes. Do you remember the lady that got really mad at me, man, that for me saying that once I had a daughter, it changed my view on it changed my worldviews there. Yeah, I was like, how she was so mad. I didn’t mean to offend anybody, but I did. And then another one. Zack, the CTO of Link tree, said something to me that has always stood out. And I often ask similar questions. And I said, What’s something you’ve really learned about entrepreneurship? And he said, The tough reality is that sometimes the people that get you from level zero to 10 are not always the people that get you from level 11 to 2000. And so, Joe, yeah, just some interesting things that you talk about, like one line or phrase that someone can say to you that will stick out now. You know, so much of this is about the topic. And so much of this is about people. Andrew, do you care more about the topic or the person you’re talking to? Like, how do you assess if you’re excited when you sit down to record or not?

Andrew Morgans 21:33
I try to set expectations.

Matt DeCoursey 21:35
I’m really excited for every guest.

Andrew Morgans 21:37
I’m always excited to get on the podcast, I’ll be honest, if it’s a topic that I personally am, like, living, it gets a little exciting for me. Like if it’s like, like, I just talked about supply chain, and like supply chains, my world, I’m like sourcing and supply chain. It might sound boring, but it’s like, that’s my favorite topic.

Andrew Morgans 21:58
I just know a lot. Like, it’s like, the questions come natural. I know what I’m trying to learn. And I just feel like I can really get in there. But also, I’m, I’ve been pleasantly surprised so many times, like just just talking to a guest, you know, some of them come in through my own network, and others just come in by requesting the show or any number of reasons. And so not every time do I know them? Or have I met them? And I’ll be doing my research to think of one thing. So I have to say, as a person over the topic, because well, sometimes we’ll just start getting to know each other and start just like seeing where the conversation goes. And it’s not exactly the title. It’s not always focused that way. And I’ve had to go to Jessica and be like, Jess, we really need to revisit this title we went, we went completely down a rabbit hole. So those are my favorite episodes. You know, and I just kind of fill out the person. And I think sometimes we can get so far into just understanding the mindset behind the entrepreneur on the show. Like they haven’t been asked those questions before, they haven’t really gotten into their wisdom in a while. And it can just be a lot of fun just digging into that. And we stay away from the title. So long answer, but I’m going with the guests, Watson.

Matt Watson 23:09
90% of the time, I have no idea who the guest is. So, you know, to me, it’s to be honest, it’s about the topic, right. And most of the time, the topics are great. And weirdly enough, it seems like a lot of them relate to me in some way or another and they’re topics that I you know even can provide some input into. I do have to say almost all the guests we’ve ever had have been amazing. I did have one that when we were starting the show, he was like really, he was really mad that I didn’t like knowing who he was and how to introduce him and I hadn’t researched all the notes that his assistant had sent over. And he was just like a total asshat and the episode actually came out really good and was one of my favorite episodes I ever did. And I bought the guy’s book even. But he’s been the one guest that I’ve ever had that like I like started out totally bad. I’m like, This is gonna be horrible. I do not like this guy, but it ended up being a great episode. Anyways, Miss Lauren.

Lauren Conaway 24:09
Alright, see? That’s a weird question for me, because I’m just so excited to be here.

Matt DeCoursey 24:16
Like, whenever I sit down like I’m excited to be here with you, Lauren.

Lauren Conaway 24:17
Yeah. Oh, thanks, guy. But no, I mean, I’m excited to be doing a Startup Hustle recording. But to Andrew’s point, like sometimes the TAT like sometimes I don’t even look really at the topic. Like I’ll kind of be like, Oh, that episode title is this but then I forget about it, because I just want to have a conversation with the founder, you know, and so I don’t really pay an incredible amount of attention to that. And more often than not to Matt’s point like I don’t know who the guest is I maybe have vaguely heard of them. So for me, it’s once we get into the episode, the guests that I get really excited about are the ones that will play with Me, and Mike will just talk to me like a human being. And those are going to be really good conversations. So I get really excited about the quality of conversation that has had, you know, the guest and the topic are immaterial, because you can have a good conversation about pretty much anything.

Matt DeCoursey 25:17
Let’s key that word conversation, because it was a couple of 100 episodes and, and we really changed the tone, like setting the tone. So before we talk to a guest, saying, Hey, this is a conversation, you can ask me questions, this isn’t an interview. And I think that that was a key inflection point. And you know, 1000 episodes later, I look back and the show’s evolved. Because, you know, at first, so many of the episodes were with Matt and I, and we’ve tried to preserve that, that authentic quality of the mountain match shows while still, you know, branching out to having our own episodes and having you and Lauren and Andrew as hosts. But you know, people kept getting comments, they’re like, you’re not letting the less you’re not letting your guests speak. What we were but we wanted to have a conversation with him. I think the truth is, is that I don’t know if I had to ask the same questions and and like, truly, quote, interview people and not have a conversation with him, I’m not sure I’d be at Episode 1000, I think I might have, I might have burnout and fade away on this or lost my appetite for it. Now you talk about the topic or the person or if you’re excited to sit down and record. Look, the reality human nature is that, you know, we all this isn’t what any of us do as a quote, job, you know, this is on for all intents and purposes a hobby for us, meaning like we don’t, we don’t do it, you know, like, so, you know, we don’t wake up every morning. It’s not Startup Hustle, Startup, Hustle, we all have other things. So sometimes, you know, the time that it is to record and we have to schedule this stuff and plan it and work it out, you know, sometimes months in advance to make it work with other people. And sometimes you get that moment where you’re like, oh, shit, your other expletives coming out, because you’ve got nine other things going, you might have to shift from a shitty moment in life or business. And then here you are signed to record the podcast. So it’s not the guests fault that something lame happened on the other side of it. So you have to kind of deal with that and take that all in. You know, I like that topic, but as some of you mentioned, sometimes we get to the end of it, and have a recording and realize we didn’t really talk about the topic that was assigned. So, you know, it was a couple of 100 episodes ago that we, you know, we all fill out a little form at the end of each show and one of the things that asks is, Did you actually talk about the topic that was chosen? And if you say no, it’s, well, what should we call this show? And, you know, that’s always interesting. And, you know, I’ll throw this back around. Like, for me, I enjoy the sales and marketing topics the most. I find that if I look back at my, like, the shows that I’ve recorded, those are the ones of mine that end up being the longest, which means I’m probably the most interested in them. I feel most comfortable with that and excited about it. I mean, Watson, when you think about your most exciting stuff, I have a feeling that’s technology, but prove me wrong.

Matt Watson 28:36
Well, so our podcast episodes don’t get real deep into technology, you know, they’re usually higher, higher level, you know, but I love talking about products. You know, I’m a product guy. So I love talking to people that just have a cool business, a cool service, whatever it is that they do and the problem that it solves, and I love talking about those sorts of things. And there’s been a few of them. I’ve ended up buying the book signed up for the thing recommended, whatever. So I’m feeling I’m sort of shopping when I’m a host.

Matt DeCoursey 29:06
Yeah, I’ll tell you right off camera and if you want to watch this episode now we don’t normally publish the videos we can talk about why we didn’t in a second, but yeah, right off camera. I’ve got a stack of books that I’ve probably never read. But I’ve yeah, I’ve made a habit of when I get a guest that’s been an author I like right there clicking on Amazon and I kind of skim through the books, um, I might add prevents me from reading too much, Lauren. How about you?

Lauren Conaway 29:38
I mean, I feel anytime we’re talking about de EIB diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging. That’s a wheelhouse that I feel super comfortable in and super knowledgeable about and so I feel like I can participate in the conversation more fully. So I was like, I always like talking about those. I also tend to like the ones again, And we’re talking about new industries. So like cannabusiness and AI and the far reaching implications, you know, there was a really cool episode that I did with a woman who was an astrophysicist. And she was talking about, you know, space technology, you know, so those always get me really excited. Even though I don’t have more than a surface level knowledge. So I don’t know. I mean, I am passionate about a lot of things. I’m really interested in a lot of things as I know, all of you are. And so so I don’t know, I just, I like Startup Hustle shows. Those are my favorite.

Matt DeCoursey 30:39
Andy.

Andrew Morgans 30:43
I’ll keep it short and sweet. For me. It’s like, like, kind of like what I was saying before the topic. The topics are like, obviously, if I, if I know it, well, it’s a little bit more fun, because I feel like I can just set them up with some just great questions to, you know, based on my knowledge of it, but from my aspect, like I’m, I’m younger man. And I get a lot of opportunities to just like, there’s a lot of wisdom on the show and the guests. And so you know, depending on what I’m not necessarily going through, but I’m always thinking about something. And so like, a lot of times the mindset shows the balancing like I just had Mack lackey on the show, I don’t think he’s episodes posted yet. He’s from exit DNA has been a part of 6x. He’s an amazing, amazing guy. And I got to just pick his brain for an hour. I think that’s absolutely crazy. So I enjoy the ones where, you know, there’s someone that’s accomplished something that I’m looking toward, or that I’m studying and I just get an absolute hour to just glean information from them, and hopefully some other people learn from, you know, my questions as well.

Matt DeCoursey 31:48
Great answer. Now I’ve got some more fun and interesting questions as we delve into the interview as we look behind the curtain, the digital curtain. Before I get into those, I want to remind everyone that finding expert software developers doesn’t have to be difficult, especially when you visit FullScale.io where you can build a software team quickly and affordably. Use the Full Scale platform to define your technical needs. And then see what developers, testers, and leaders are ready to join your team. Visit FullScale.io to learn more. Now, an impromptu question. As many of you know, I like to consider myself as the Picasso of ad insertions. Everyone’s laughing because see, there are usually very wait wait when we record this, it’s almost usually virtual and even when in person I can tell when I’ve recorded with all of you, when I’ve done exactly that painted a beautiful picture because our goal is to you know, we introduced sponsors at one point, and we use that to help us promote the show but true or false is Matt DeCoursey. The Picasso of ad insertion Lauren, yet true. Watson, one. What does that mean? Yes, true. True. And Andrew may not know you’re Andrews go on with true.

Andrew Morgans 33:14
Yeah, I’m definitely bad at it. So I’m going to give you Picasa. Thank you.

Lauren Conaway 33:18
You are bad at it.

Matt DeCoursey 33:20
Thank you for validating my own thing that I needed to know.

Lauren Conaway 33:27
It was coming though because you know, his insertion skills with midroll sponsor.

Matt DeCoursey 33:35
Never also hardware. The one in the middle. Please, easiest to forget, is that the mid roll? Because I’m voting for that one? Yes, yeah. Okay. And for those of you listening, thank you for putting up with all of that and just know that producing the show is, I mean, this isn’t free. So you know, some of that is we’re very picky about the sponsors that we bring in and and want to try to keep the quote advertising to a minimum. So yeah. All right. So we’ve talked so much about the different stuff that goes into hosting the show and why we do it’s favorite episodes, and one of the things that we haven’t really gotten into is what happens in the moments before a show occurs. Do any of you have a pre show routine? I’m gonna start with Andrew Morgans on that one.

Andrew Morgans 34:37
Pre-show routine. Be honest. I’m like kind of the master of like, trying to time management everything and take like maximize I’m not sitting there for 10 minutes before the show goes live like you know, so I’m like, Okay, I think with the next nine minutes, I can go have that conversation with Vern, I need to have go the restroom, grab a water. Say hi. Did dad get back to the chair? I have my notes up, you know, and I’m ready to go. I also think like, if I sit there too long, I just get a little bit anxious like coming in. So I almost like to sit down as if it’s a conversation. I wouldn’t like waiting on someone to have 10 minutes to have a conversation, then we jump in. You know, I think I don’t really have the same routine, I would just say that the routine is no routine. And I just like to sit down, I want to know, I obviously look at them before early in the day, like who I’m talking to. And then when it goes, when it’s time to get ready, I just sit down. I’m ready to roll.

Matt DeCoursey 35:38
I think with nine I’m gonna guess that with nine minutes of preparation, you may be outclassing the other three of us by seven to eight minutes. Watson? What’s your take on this?

Matt Watson 35:51
So I put the coffee mug on the coffee machine. I start making the coffee, I go pee and then I come back and get the coffee. And then I record.

Matt DeCoursey 36:01
I believe that that was about to say I’ve witnessed it but then that sounds really weird. But yeah, Lauren would have wished I did more.

Matt Watson 36:11
I wish I did more prep. I mean one thing I do every day early in the day is I double check. Thank you Jessica cuz she sends out reminders everyday to us about oh, you’re recording at two o’clock. So you know I usually double check that and sometimes we have time blocked off and we don’t actually record so big. Thank you to Jessica and the team that helped with all the notes and all the things they put together so I don’t know.

Matt DeCoursey 36:36
We should probably we should probably thank Gigabook.com for doing a lot of that work for us to man it I look back at like I know but like tools and things that that without them like I mean without online booking and then I think one of the things was early was we programmed Gigaba to to collect a lot of info up front and do that preparation so like you look at like there’s like 12 questions that and at first we’re like John are people going to want to fill this out and then you know I kind of came to the realization that if they if they won’t answer a few questions to try to help us promote them then we shouldn’t even have them on the show but Lauren what’s your what’s your run up to the show look like?

Lauren Conaway 37:19
I mean it looks just like that, like it’s a run up about five minutes before I’m set to record. I skidded into the office, opened up my laptop, got into Zencaster, pulled up my setlist and the only reason like Matt, Matt just touched on it. But the only reason that we’re able to do that is because there’s a whole team of people who are doing prep to help us very seamlessly do what we do so thank you, Startup Hustle production team, because without you I would look like an idiot. But yeah, like I don’t do an incredible amount of preparation. I just kind of have a very specific setup though, and y’all are gonna laugh at me. But Zen caster has to be on the left. My setlist has to be on the right I have to have my notebook and my special my special pen ready to go because that’s kind of how I move the conversation forward I write down notes as we’re talking and so I do you have a very specific setup like but beyond that you don’t really prep a whole lot like that counts.

Andrew Morgans 38:23
I know that everybody has like their intro though that is set like you say the same things when you bring in a guest.

Lauren Conaway 38:31
Matts, I say and we’re back.

Matt DeCoursey 38:35
And both of you before you were about to join the team, both Lauren and Andrew asked me off like just privately what can I do to prepare to be ready I said you got to practice your intro. You got to practice your intro and you guys I think I see everybody nodding their head right now on the video once again, go to Startup Hustle YouTube channel if you want to. If you are curious what we look like you can also see that on the gram in the Startup Hustle Facebook chat and a lot of different things but you know, yeah, I was talking about preparation for me. I honestly learned I logged on like three minutes before. But because the setlist are good I’ve probably spent more time with Jessica and our local team trying to perfect the how the setlist, like the order that they’re in, because you know as Matt as Watson mentioned, sometimes Ron Burgundy just reads what’s on the teleprompter, but that’s true. So some of that, you know, has to flow from top to bottom. And I think that you know, when it comes to prep, the majority of my prep occurs in the three to five minutes from when the guest joins us and in the virtual studio or real studio and I sit down and that’s where I like to reinforce Hey, this is a conversation not an interview. It’s just you talking to me cuz some people are nervous. Some people are legitimately nervous. You know, I see everyone nodding their head on that. Yeah. What’s up, Matt? You’re nervous?

Matt Watson 40:10
No. One thing I always do in the pre routine is I ask them, how did they end up on the show? Like how we connected with them? That is something I always do. And I always, a lot of times, I’ll double check with him about the topic if the topic seems kind of off maybe a little bit. And my favorite is when I asked him about the topic, and I’m like, Oh, we’re supposed to talk about XYZ. And is that okay with talking about that? And my favorite is when they’re like, What in the hell is that? Like, no. They’re like, where did that shit come from? And I’m like, I don’t know. Our assistants got together and came up with this crap. I have no idea. What are we really going to talk about today? What happened?

Matt DeCoursey 40:49
Well, yeah, well, in that little prep, when I’m on with them, I’ll say, you know, I make sure I can pronounce their name, that the title is correct. Like, are you the CEO and founder, everything like and you know, the thing is, despite the fact that these are questions that Giga book asks them on the way on, I make I make, I made quite a few corrections. I’m really glad that I and, you know, having done that, it’s like the same thing for me every time it’s the same, it’s the same thing. And in fact, I found it to be so reliable. I even passed that on to you guys at one point down in.

Lauren Conaway 41:27
It’s written in the setlist the rule that I do for pre show for guest prep, like I do have a pretty, it’s a monologue that I give, I’m just like, Okay, I’m gonna hop right in and you know, talk to you about what we’re going to be doing. But I say the same things in the same order every single time. And a lot of it comes from the setlist that you put your, like what you do for guest prep in there, and I just gotta follow that makes it super easy.

Matt DeCoursey 41:57
Okay, so we’ve talked so much about the things that go well, and the things that we’ve done well, and the stuff that we look back at and like, Oh, that was amazing. Have you had any embarrassing moments or things occur that, you know, were either catastrophic, or even on a guest? list. Now, look, let’s not throw people under the bus. Okay. Meaning guests, because I think they show up with the best intent but, and I’ll go ahead and start here. I’ll go first this time. You know, I did have one recording that never aired, and I sat down to talk to the guy and I introduced him. I said, Give me a little bit about your backstory. And about 14 minutes later, he stopped talking.

Lauren Conaway 42:41
I can have somebody do 17 minutes. I clocked it.

Matt DeCoursey 42:45
Did that make it to air?

Lauren Conaway 42:48
No, I had to go back and be like, Look, you know, I appreciate all of that. But I mean, at some point in my head, it would become like a game. I was like, let’s just see how long she keeps talking. But I was like, we can’t use that we’re gonna have to chunk it up. And so we restarted.

Matt DeCoursey 43:02
Well, I think we’re kind of famous for our quote, warts and all publication standards, meaning like, we really try as hard as possible to hit records, and not have to do anything until it’s done. Like, meaning like it has to, there has to be something that has to occur for us to edit. And that’s what’s made it lightweight and easy. I mean, if this was an editing heavy show, oh my god, we would probably be at episode 100. Right now. Matt, do you have anything that comes to mind?

Matt Watson 43:33
No, I haven’t had any real major challenges with guests like that. I mean, I had the one I mentioned earlier, that kind of frustrated me to start. Mostly, it’s just random technical issues. I’ve had somewhere tried to record and they’re on their phone or on a Google Chromebook, and it won’t work and, you know, just just some of those kinds of challenges.

Matt DeCoursey 43:53
Definitely had a few of those myself along the way. Like someone’s showing up and they’re using their laptop to ask for their mic and their earbuds and they’re outside at a park and you can like yeah, like a class like playing Red Rover Red Rover, like behind them. You’re like, you know, and that’s been a challenge for us because we try to always respect the guests time, but at the same time, like we also don’t want this to sound like shit. Yeah. Oh, that’s, I mean, I think if anything, the things that have caused editing or anything are usually related to poor sound quality. We have had, I mean, I think considering that there’s been 1000 episodes the fact that we’ve only had to throw a couple of them away without air is pretty damn good. Andrew, do you have anything that stands out or that you can think about?

Andrew Morgans 44:45
I’m pretty easy to get along with. I mean, like, you know, I’ll just roll with the punches but it’s been some of those things like, you know, the recording audio has been added or something like that they definitely have the guests that, like, don’t know how to have a conversation. And it’s a monologue, you know, for sure. I’m like, I’m gonna make you look good. If you just let me ask some questions. You know, I’m going to set you up. I’m trying to give you a T ball home run here. But besides that, like, nothing crazy has happened.

Matt DeCoursey 45:24
Like, I haven’t thrown up mid set, or like, you know, to where I started coughing and couldn’t stop.

Lauren Conaway 45:28
I’ve choked on my own spit multiple times. And that’s really humbling when you’re filling out the form on the back end, and you’re like, 1839 I choked on my own spit for like a minute, can you please? I think I’ve done that twice. And I’m just like, why can I not speak and swallow at the same time? I don’t know what to do.

Matt Watson 45:48
I’ve had my kids barge in on me while I was recording a podcast a couple times.

Matt DeCoursey 45:56
Do that at the end of one. And I just went ahead and incorporated them into the show. Are you there to zoom in and nail the ad insert?

Matt Watson 46:06
Didn’t I?

Matt DeCoursey 46:08
Yeah, no, you just kind of came and he was like, son?

Lauren Conaway 46:10
Is that what we’re thinking?

Matt DeCoursey 46:15
I made a couple of comments. And that was about all it. All it took now. These are the things that we would call, quote, challenges. But when you think of what I mean, what’s the biggest challenge when it comes to hosting a podcast in general?

Matt Watson 46:30
I think making it entertaining. I mean, you know, Andrew, as you just said, you know, you don’t want it to be a really boring monologue. You don’t want somebody to ramble on for 17 minutes. And I hate listening to podcasts that feel like very dry q&a, like obviously, whoever’s asking the questions, like doesn’t know anything about anything. And they’re just, they’re just asking the question, somebody answers, and then there’s a question. Mechanics are very robotic. And so I think the hard part is trying to make it kind of entertaining and very conversational, and kind of very fluid conversation.

Matt DeCoursey 47:03
What do you do to try to improve that? If you feel like that needs to happen?

Matt Watson 47:07
I mean, I feel like I tried to also add to the conversation, right? So I’m not just only asking a question, like, you know, trying to continue talking about whatever the thing is. So it’s just not a robotic Q&A, Lauren.

Lauren Conaway 47:23
I always say, I agree, like, the biggest challenge that I have are the folks who are clearly just very uncomfortable with our format, you know, whenever somebody emails me in advance of a show, and it’s like, are you going to send me the questions? I’m like, gosh, shit, like, because they’re accustomed to that question, answer question answer kind of thing. And they’re, they’re not gonna be super open to, I call it playing with me. But really, what I mean is like, just talk to me, like, I’m a human. So I mean, I always try to make people laugh. Like, when I’m doing that, because I figure if I can make them laugh, then I can, like, loosen them up a little bit, and they’re gonna be more willing to go with me, not at me. And so that’s always something that I tried to do. But yeah, like, pre show, PrEP is always the easiest way for me to get a guest to like, loosen up and get on my side. Because I always tell them, you know, my goals are to get good information out of you, to make you look good, and to make you feel comfortable. And hopefully, we’ll have a little bit of fun along the way. And like, that’s, that’s what I hoped for out of the show. So on the shows that I don’t want, I don’t get that it is a little disappointing. It’s like, Ah, that didn’t feel good. You know?

Matt DeCoursey 48:39
What about you, Andrew?

Andrew Morgans 48:42
I would say it’s just like consistency and showing up, not just finding the time to do it, but like, you know, we talked about we’re in year five, and I haven’t been here the whole time. But you know, that’s week after week after week. I know for me it’s it’s two or three a week you know, always trying to be ahead and so you know, you have people miss you have people drive and you got to make them up and it’s just like things happen in life like you know, you get in an accident or you have someone gets sick or you have the holidays and like just just continuing to show up consistently to put in episodes and then putting that face on. You know, I definitely think that I tried to show up real as real drew every time but like you said, you can have something like horribly going wrong the hour the 15 minutes before and then you got to show up and bring your best not just for that guests that set aside their time but for all our listeners and for the respect of the show the brand of the show. So just being on your A game, you know, you can’t ask questions and be like, have habit haphazard with it. So, you know, I think it’s just that consistency that no matter how you’re feeling to show up and be the best you can be.

Matt DeCoursey 49:50
I think for me, one of the biggest challenges is continuing to try to guide the show to a place where we all have quality guests. And at the same time, I like to diversify topics and everything. You know, I’ve had a lot of people ask me over the years over the last couple of years, you know why we added more hosts. And I said that, you know, 2020 had rolled around. And it was pretty clear to myself and to Matt, that we had created a pretty robust platform to stand on. And I felt that we needed to widen the lens of our topics. You know, thus Lauren, and Andrew, entering you know, while mountain I have familiarity with ecommerce, certainly, and I’m not going to pretend that we have any with Amazon, other than purchasing on Amazon. And the same thing with Lauren, you know, with. A lot of people don’t know this, but we have a brand standard that that says, religion, sex and politics are not to be discussed, except for Lauren gets a pass on. Thank you. Thank you, Lauren, for handling the many, many topics that our own naivety, and maybe a misunderstanding of the subject may get us canceled.

Lauren Conaway 51:16
Getting canceled? Is that what we’re thinking? Yeah.

Matt DeCoursey 51:23
I think one of the things that’s been the most challenging for myself is, you know, and the production meetings and the things that we do off air is continuing to find quality guests and topics. And you know, we’ll talk a little bit about that here in a second, because we’ve even done in-depth series and other stuff. And then, you know, one of the things I think that has been a challenge is, you know, we put this show out there for free, and we’ve had this money back guarantee, ever since. If you don’t like the show, we’ll give you your money back. But shade deflection, you know, like, I mean, I’ve found that there’s just some people that ended up not liking me, or Startup Hustle or something. Because of whatever I don’t even know, I think it’s kind of like, you know, the, the biggest challenge is sometimes coming to the acceptance that not everyone’s going to like what you say, or what your topic is, or whatever, you know, and that’ll kind of lead us into our next question is, you know, what, how has been a host on the show? Has it had a personal effect on any of your lives? Let’s start with Matt Watson.

Matt Watson 52:34
I mean, I would say more than any, it’s just I really enjoy doing it. You mentioned before, this is kind of a hobby for all of us. And so, you know, early on, you’ve probably had to nag me to get me to do this more more often than not to try to keep it going. But over the years, I mean, I think I’ve really enjoyed doing it, and I look forward to continuing doing it. So you know, otherwise, I wouldn’t say it’s, you know, done anything significant for me, like, personally, or for my career or anything like that, but just more just enjoy doing it. Andrew.

Andrew Morgans 53:08
I think it’s easier for me to say what is done professionally.

Matt DeCoursey 53:13
But let’s, you know, let’s lump that in, because that’s the next question. And it’s probably easiest to go ahead and hit both of those on the way through.

Andrew Morgans 53:20
So for me, I mean, there’s been times where I’m showing up at an event, and someone has listened to every episode of Startup Hustle, like, front to back. They know everything about me, in regards to like, just on the show, and that was like the most humbling thing ever. So I know, like, professionally, there’s been a branding aspect to it, you know, a reputation and trust thing, it’s gotten me chances to talk to people I would have never talked to, you know, outside of the Amazon or the E commerce ecosystem. So just amazing opportunities in that regard. I think, personally, for me, it was a source of inspiration, especially during the pandemic is really where I started getting my groove. I feel like whenever we went digital instead of just in person, and started being able to just reach people all over going through a lot of the same things. So it was, you know, a lot of times you’re just like in this tunnel, you’re in this tunnel, you’re doing stuff by yourself, like Matt said, Matt Watson, we don’t get to talk to people that much about what we do. And then all of a sudden, it was like, wow, you know, my networks are quite a bit bigger as an entrepreneur. And I just felt like, you know, I record on Thursdays and it would be like I was looking forward to Thursday and a chance to just talk to some brilliant minds and leave a little bit. And not just thinking about my why’s and my problems but thinking about why other people did what they did. And a lot of those stories are really, really inspiring. So for me personally, I think it brought inspiration and professionally definitely had my reach way outside Kansas City. I can’t think of the podcasts enough for that professionally and who knows, like I’ve been on a million podcasts might Self I’m because of this podcast. So those types of things, those ROIs are not exactly an easy straight line to draw, but I know that I’ve had a lot of opportunities from the show.

Matt DeCoursey 55:12
What about you, Lauren? I mean, I think that Startup Hustle has profoundly impacted me personally, for sure.

Lauren Conaway 55:15
I’ve mentioned on the show before that, like, prior to innovator, I was always kind of second in command, you know, the tactician to someone else’s vision. And so it’s been a real adjustment for me like being out in front. But Startup Hustle helped me get really, really comfortable with, you know, just kind of putting myself out there like Startup Hustle TV, I was deeply, deeply uncomfortable being on video. And then I just did it often enough through Startup Hustle TV that I was like, Yeah, screw it, it’s fine. You know, I got used to it. So personally, I feel like I’ve become very acclimated to being more public than I had ever been in the past. And it’s just been a huge help to me professionally. What’s interesting for me is like I say, so I operate in different spaces than you guys in certain ways. And so not a lot of people in my day to day had heard of Startup Hustle until I started doing Startup Hustle, because they’re not they they’re not all high growth, scalable tech companies, you know, I’m dealing with folks who are much more grassroots. But over the course of time, like I’ve picked up speaking engagements I’ve picked out like you tell people that you’re affiliated with Startup Hustle, and people get very impressed. And that I mean, I’m confident that that has helped me. Again, like Andrew said, you know, it’s not really super easy to track that, to exactly track the ROI. But I know that people like I’ll see people out. And they’ll be like, Oh, you’re with Startup Hustle, right? I mean, that’s always really weird. I never know how to react. But it’s super cool.

Matt DeCoursey 57:06
I agree with everything you guys said. It had the same thing. I’m always humbled when I am, you know, so much of the show, half of the show’s timeline was during the pandemic, when we weren’t interacting with people. And now that I’m getting out and doing that, it’s unbelievable. Like, I’ll go to an entrepreneur event and see 20 People that have been guests on the show, and then there’s 15 or 20 other people that will come up to me. I was at the pipeline entrepreneurs Gala. And I just had people after people, just tons of people coming up to me, saying that they love the show, these are like, these are strangers. And you know, I think that when I think about personally, professionally, but first off, the show’s done a great and amazing job of driving business to Full Scale, which has grown exponentially a lot like just the same way that the show has. And when you look at, we’re going to share some stats and some other stuffs and and play a game show our first ever game show here in a minute and share some of that stuff, but it just so weird to like, look at a number and be like, Wow, 200,000 lessons in a month. And you’re like, uh, you know, who are you people? And with that, so many of them have reached out, you know, we’ve had listeners, I’ve had listeners reach out from Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Germany, all over the United States. You know, you know, and Lauren, go do that.

Lauren Conaway 58:41
That’s not a good stopping point.

Matt DeCoursey 58:42
That’s a good stopping point. You can go ahead, we’ll, we’ll keep going. Lauren needs to go get her charger. So we talked about pre show prep, and the importance of it. You know, now with that, I mean, there’s, you know, Lauren mentioned Startup Hustle TV, and we should chat about that for a second because at the end of 2020, we got pretty ambitious and wanted to share more of our stuff on video. And I’ve had some people ask me, they’re like, well, whatever happened to that, it was a lot of work. It was a lot of work. And in the context of all of our rapidly growing businesses, Watson went through an exit Andrews businesses, you know, hockey stick, Lauren has has, you know, found and experienced, you know, tremendous growth and innovate her. And, you know, we’re still out there, I still think it’s a really interesting, you know, set of videos, we’ve added a few more after that, that maybe not with the regularity. You know, one thing when it comes to you know, producing a video is tremendously more work than a pod. I mean, it is just like, it is just significantly harder to do if you want to do it with any kind of quality and you know, Watson and I have always thrown around the term world class. And we want everything from our sound quality to our planning and everything to be world class. Now, you know, one thing I wanted to talk about before we played the first ever episode: 1,000th birthday, 4 million. It’s still crazy that that all happened like all at once, 4 million downloads, fifth birthday 1000 episodes all occurring in the same week. But it’s it’s it occurred because of listeners. And you know, and we don’t probably thank the listeners enough, I think that there’s an infinite amount of things that you can pay attention to. So anytime someone’s choosing to spend their time or energy paying attention to what you’re doing, like let it humble you. I mean, I really have had so many people. And then I think the thing that personally professionally stands out the most is the stories that get shared back to me, from our guests or listeners about how what we’re doing had an impact on.

Lauren Conaway 1:01:02
A really, really good one, didn’t you? Yeah.

Matt DeCoursey 1:01:05
Yeah, that was reaching out from England. And they were, you know, well, well, before we get into that, let’s actually talk about how we’ve evolved, we’ve actually done quite a few series. And we have also introduced the guest hosts and our guest hosts have been Melissa Vincent from Pipeline Entrepreneurs, Heather Steppy, who did a cannabusiness series. Steven Hoffman, who’s known as Captain Hoff. Hernan saw who was our friend and brother from Startup Hustle TV and the business bros podcast. Ron Shigeta. You talk about guests that have some education, caliber, bronze. That’s like one of those people I would talk to. I’m like, Dude, I need to go back to school or something. genetic damage is probably one of the greatest success stories. She started as a guest and told us later that she got her first like four or five clients from being a guest. Like her show came out and that provided her with leads. And she has since exited that business and came back to be a guest tell us later. And if that’s not a full circle of awesomeness, I don’t know what it is. And then next month, we’ve got a former guest, Frank CAC. Which Frank Do you remember the guy that told the story about meeting Patch Adams? Watson shaking his head. Anyway, that’s Frank and he’ll be a guest. You know, another thing too is we’ve had some people so it wasn’t exactly a one of the I should have mentioned this earlier, I recorded an episode with Eddie George NFL Hall of Famer to launch their NF T. Help them announced their NFT that they had around some of the structure content that him and Jerome Bettis did. But when you talk about series that have been hosted, this is funny. So Matt, back in 2017, we did five, five episodes on how to start a startup and feel like we may have done 900. That followed up and that I did in 2018, I did a four part series, the million dollar bedroom story. And I actually had Darrell Blackburn, who was a part of that whole story, come in and told some of the stories that went along with the book. What I remember in 2019, a two part we did it on business failure with a guy named Jake Randall, I think you may have remembered that at some point, not that he was the guy that had the donut shop that like went to the moon with sales and everything and then came crashing down in a hurry. And I’ve never probably been on a show or a series with anybody that had been so open and willing to talk about creatively. He’s very open about that. And then in 2020, I did a very short series, the corona diaries, I almost got stuck in the Philippines. And you know, an interesting fact with that, because that ended up being really really listened to. So I was planning on being back about a week earlier and we ran out and we were gonna run out of shows. So with that with a pandemic up in our face, and no one no and stuff, I recorded some things four or five. And by the way, there’s links to all this stuff in the show notes. We have a whole bunch of links in the show notes today but recording that kind of feeling of not knowing and what we were going to look at and I’m planning on doing a follow up to that I’m gonna go back and I would need to find the time to listen to him. I’m curious about what of that series ended up being right and what didn’t. And then it was in 2021. That was when the real series started ticking off. And now when I think about things I’m probably the most proud of when it comes to the show, you know our 5052 part series about how to start a tech company. Matt, do you have any comments on that?

Matt Watson 1:05:04
That was a lot of fun. And that took some serious dedication. I mean, we did that every week. And we ended up like, “What about probably six to eight weeks behind schedule?”

Matt DeCoursey 1:05:14
Yes. Very authentic as far as startups and launching software.

Matt Watson 1:05:19
But I mean, it took a legit almost a year or so to record all of them. So I mean, it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed that series.

Matt DeCoursey 1:05:28
At one point, we realized we were going to be grossly behind on delivery and we talked about it and we’re like we wanted to tell the real story of entrepreneurship. So being over budget and behind on timelines felt pretty authentic. Also in 2021, we did a cannabis series with Heather Steppy, who was also her and her husband from KC Hempco. We’re on Startup Hustle TV, Hernan Scioscia, the digital marketing series, which ended up being really popular with Stephen, Captain Hoff. And he’s the guy from founder space. So he hosted Silicon Valley investment trends. Ron Shigeta, who I mentioned earlier, did a guest series on food innovation. And then pipeline entrepreneurs series with Melissa Benson and 2022, which is this year, we did a series about NF Ts and what was the what was the conclusion that we came up with, after all of that, Matt, when it came to NFTs.

Matt Watson 1:06:25
That NFT’s were bullshit. And I still think that’s the case, they’ve all since crashed until we did that several months ago. True.

Matt DeCoursey 1:06:31
True. As mentioned, genetic damage, former guests came back and did a mental health series, there has been a social venturing series in which we have all participated in. And then we met, we also did the software development lifecycle series. And for those of you that have been listening recently, you also just embraced and enjoyed our Inc 5000 series, Full Scale, the parent, the owner of Startup Hustle is really what that comes down to made the Inc 5000 in 22 in the first year eligible, so we wanted to highlight other entrepreneurs and businesses in our hometown that it did that so and then, you know, we’ll be kicking off in 2023 with Frank Keck hosting his series now, you know, mention a series Lauren and I have kind of found a groove with, you know, we’ve been recording the top startup cities. And what Lauren, when did we start doing that together? Because it was kind of a mixed bag at first. And now that’s kind of been like what we do.

Lauren Conaway 1:07:39
I actually have no idea when we started. They’re my favorite episodes to record, though, are always willing to play and talk about some really, really interesting things.

Matt DeCoursey 1:07:56
Why are so many of their names so difficult to read, can we buy a vowel please?

Lauren Conaway 1:07:59
No, no. Remove vowels, like all of their names.

Matt DeCoursey 1:08:07
Google Translate doesn’t help with pronouncing startup names.

Lauren Conaway 1:08:11
It does not do well, and then they all seem to do with supply chain, which I am well on record as VA like, I do not understand it. I don’t. I don’t know. I just, I can’t do it. And they all seem to deal with all of the startups we talk about seem to deal with supply chains.

Matt DeCoursey 1:08:28
2020 20. We only did three settees and then in 2021, we did six and then now that’s a monthly thing. And that’s there’s no that’s our plan is to keep that part consistent and keep it moving. You know, Matt, when I was thinking about something when it came to funny clips, do you remember the soundtracks we used to do and the earlier where we would do that? I’m going to try if, okay, if I can actually find the highlight reel of that, then this is it. And if you didn’t just hear a reel there, that’s because I couldn’t find the highlight reel for that with microphones you want to check. You want to check a pop filter, so we would always say the word Poop. Poop poop. Yeah, so there’s about two minutes of different people saying the word Poop, poop. Poop. So, okay, so now it’s time for a couple stats and it’s time for us to play. How well do you know Startup Hustle? And once again, I’m going to be your host Matt DeCoursey. Here for another, add their first and probably only episode because I don’t think I can afford to give a $1,000 donation every time we record an episode. Now I mentioned that we have achieved our 4 million downloads as of yay. No, it’s a lot of men. So okay, so I have asked all of you To have a piece of paper prepared. And of course, for those of you listening, integrity and answering is easily the most important thing here.

Lauren Conaway 1:10:14
We’re gonna start right now, but I have no idea what’s about to happen.

Matt DeCoursey 1:10:19
Nobody has any idea what’s about to happen, including me, because I’m trying to get this out of the way once again, a $1,000 prize to the organization or charity of the winner’s choice. Okay, so I mentioned 4 million downloads. Now, here’s the thing. The United States has more listeners than any other country. What are the next five? I want you to write down five countries that you believe are after the United States the most. Listen has the most downloads and listeners in the history of the show. Five countries down.

Matt Watson 1:11:02
Doo doo doo doo.

Matt DeCoursey 1:11:06
Yep, yep. Yeah. There’s this button that says dramatic piano. Hang on, dude. There you go. All right. Does everybody have their answers written down?

Lauren Conaway 1:11:22
You have to be an order. Yes.

Matt DeCoursey 1:11:24
We’ll write down five countries. But yes, order does matter.

1:11:28
Okay, okay. Okay. Okay. Hurry up. Lauren.

Lauren Conaway 1:11:32
Bite me. This is $1,000 on the line.

Matt DeCoursey 1:11:36
I know. Turn the piano back on.

Andrew Morgans 1:11:40
Okay, I’m ready. Okay.

Matt DeCoursey 1:11:44
Lauren, do you have your countries written down?

Lauren Conaway 1:11:46
I do not. So somebody else will go.

Andrew Morgans 1:11:52
First, why did I fail out in high school? All right.

Matt DeCoursey 1:12:03
So I can’t think of five countries.

Lauren Conaway 1:12:07
I was trying to think of the right order.

Matt DeCoursey 1:12:10
So actually, I’m pulling. Oh, no, quit buying time. Do you have five countries written down? Countries here?

Lauren Conaway 1:12:17
Right. And I selected them because the last time we recorded like a retrospective, I remember thinking it was weird that so many countries started with the letter. I loved us.

Matt DeCoursey 1:12:35
And I remember the five countries that start, let’s start with that. And then five countries start with the latter.

Matt Watson 1:12:42
Iceland, and we love man, good.

Matt DeCoursey 1:12:51
Iraq, Iran, Iran, none of which are on the list. Okay. Everyone has. Everybody has five countries written down. Okay. Does anybody have Canada and their top spot? Morin and Matt.

Matt Watson 1:13:10
It’s on my list.

Matt DeCoursey 1:13:11
Is it number one? No. Does anybody have Canada as number one?

Lauren Conaway 1:13:17
Me, Lauren.

Matt DeCoursey 1:13:21
Okay, Canada, the most popular country for downloads after the United States which by the way represents like 97% of the action. It’s pretty close. Okay. No one. All right. Does anybody have Australia as number two? Is it on the last or is it number two?

Matt Watson 1:13:45
Well, I had it number one.

Matt DeCoursey 1:13:47
Okay. Does anybody have Australia as number two? Now? Okay. Number three, the United Kingdom. Anybody have the UK as number three?

Lauren Conaway 1:14:04
I have it on the list. It’s in the third spot.

Andrew Morgans 1:14:06
to the third spot.

Matt DeCoursey 1:14:08
Oh, nice. Andrew Morgans. Okay. This is a surprise for South Africa.

Andrew Morgans 1:14:16
I got fans.

Matt DeCoursey 1:14:21
Does anybody have South Africa and the four positions and then the very last one, number five, Germany. Tour. Germany is number five.

Andrew Morgans 1:14:37
These are huge ecommerce markets. That’s all I’m saying.

Matt DeCoursey 1:14:40
Okay, so back to this now. Canada, Australia, the UK, South Africa and Germany. How many did you guys have in any order? Watson had three. Andrew and one. And Lauren had one. Okay. Now here’s the thing. Lauren for having the correct position for Canada you earned five points. And then Andrew Morgans earned three for having the United Kingdom. And then Matt Watson earns three points for having three on the list. Andrew gets a fourth point. And Lauren gets us six points. So currently in the lead after one round is Lauren Conaway six points for Andrew Morgans and three for Matt Watson on to the next round United States, as mentioned out of 90 beds, about 95% of lessons come from the United States. But what states write down five states in the order that you think that they come in? Now you’re kind of getting how the scoring works.

Matt Watson 1:15:55
Wait a minute. Yeah, it’s more about the position than getting it on the list.

Matt DeCoursey 1:16:00
Well, you can, you can win. It’s kind of like in the it’s like you get the Moneyball you can earn some bonus points, but yes. Okay, so hang on, let me turn the piano back on. That’s the sound of three people thinking. writing down answers.

Lauren Conaway 1:16:18
I wish my thought process sounded that pretty. I know.

Matt DeCoursey 1:16:21
Mine sounds more like this. Alright. Oh, by the way, with Lauren being in the lead.

Matt Watson 1:16:36
This is hard. This is really hard.

Matt DeCoursey 1:16:38
To write down five states to get this right is gonna be really hard. I have filled in: does everyone have their states written down? Yeah. Andrew looks like he’s still working. Hold your answers up to show so we know you’re not cheating. Like Lauren’s gonna try to cheat.

Andrew Morgans 1:16:58
I do have one crossed out early. I want y’all to know I rewrote it.

Matt DeCoursey 1:17:01
Okay. Does anybody have California as number one? Well, that’s fine, but it’s not number one.

Lauren Conaway 1:17:12
All right.

Matt DeCoursey 1:17:15
With five. All right, who has Texas? Yes. Watson again? Yes, here we go. Oh, not cheating. Oh, man. That’s gonna be hard for kids to overcome.

Lauren Conaway 1:17:28
Dammit.

Matt DeCoursey 1:17:30
I have a house in Florida as number three. Nope. No one.

Lauren Conaway 1:17:37
I have it on the list.

Matt DeCoursey 1:17:39
Who has Georgia as number four? Dang. Nope. I know because you guys thought Kansas and Missouri. Okay, and now for number five. Number five, who has Missouri?

Matt Watson 1:17:58
I had Missouri on my list. Number five.

Lauren Conaway 1:18:03
Is number one.

Matt DeCoursey 1:18:05
Oh, Watson scored big on that. Man. That puts him up to 12. And then who? So who has individual entries for California? Texas, Florida, Georgia or Missouri? I got three. I have three.

Matt Watson 1:18:19
Okay, it’s really hard because it was easy to think it would be Kansas, Missouri because of our location. Yeah, probably three or four years ago that would have made sense. But it’s obvious that we have totally outgrown Kansas, Missouri. Oh, yeah.

Matt DeCoursey 1:18:31
So Missouri is number five and Kansas. So New York was number six, Illinois was number seven and Kansas. In the top five, all right, Kansas. We’ve got another round here. We’re gonna go now right down. Now you know what the top states are? What’s the score? What are the five top cities?

Andrew Morgans 1:18:57
What’s the total score?

Matt DeCoursey 1:19:00
Oh, that is currently Matt Watson. 12. Yeah, more than nine and Andrew seven cities. Five Cities. You have less than 10 seconds.

Andrew Morgans 1:19:15
Oh, USA.

Matt DeCoursey 1:19:18
The USA is not a city, Andrew.

Andrew Morgans 1:19:22
No in the USA, top cities in the United

Matt DeCoursey 1:19:24
States who have their cities written down?

Lauren Conaway 1:19:28
Not even a little bit.

Matt DeCoursey 1:19:36
Anyone? All right. You have your cities written down? written down. Andrew. You’re running out of time. Hurry up.

Lauren Conaway 1:19:48
But yes, they are written down.

Matt DeCoursey 1:19:51
By the way, Watson with 12. Lauren with nine and Andrew seven.

Andrew Morgans 1:20:00
Whatever, whatever. Are you ready? I don’t check followers.

Matt DeCoursey 1:20:04
Are you ready? Okay. By the way, this is the first time I have had this in a while. Number one. Gotham, New York City. Does anybody have New York City?

Andrew Morgans 1:20:17
Nowhere on my list now.

Matt DeCoursey 1:20:19
Okay, number two. Number two, Kansas City, Kansas side.

Lauren Conaway 1:20:27
Shut up.

Matt DeCoursey 1:20:28
Wait. Number two. Does anybody have Kansas City? Number two? No, no. Number one in the two possession number three Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Lauren Conaway 1:20:44
Well, that’s super cool on my list.

Matt DeCoursey 1:20:47
It’s on your last Nada. Nada. Next Atlanta number.

Andrew Morgans 1:20:56
No, no, you have that in the fourth spot on my list.

Matt DeCoursey 1:20:59
I’m just happy to see number five. Kansas City, the Missouri side. Yeah, yeah. You had Kansas City and number five.

Matt Watson 1:21:08
I had Kansas City in the five spot.

Matt DeCoursey 1:21:11
We’re gonna give you a point for that. Watson.

Andrew Morgans 1:21:13
What if I had Overland Park?

Lauren Conaway 1:21:15
I also had what I put in.

Matt DeCoursey 1:21:20
So with that, New York, New York, Kansas City twice, Los Angeles and Atlanta who had entries for that individual points. Andrew was three bringing them up to 10 points Watson have to bringing them up to 15 and Lauren, one what?

Lauren Conaway 1:21:39
I don’t think you heard me. I did have Kansas City and the five spots. So that counts, right? Okay.

Matt DeCoursey 1:21:48
Then you have 11 points. Here you go to validate that. Okay. Following number five was Chicago and number six, Dallas number seven, Houston number eight, Newark, number nine and good old Philly, and number 10. As a quick reminder, if you need to hire software engineers, testers and leaders let Full Scale help. We have the people on the platform to help you build and manage a team of experts when you visit FullScale.io. All you need to do is answer a few questions and let our platform match you up with our fully vetted, highly experienced team of software engineers, testers and leaders. At Full Scale we specialize in building long term teams that work only for you to learn more when you visit FullScale.io Okay, this next one is a little easier. We’re doing a simple over under. So on your sheet we’re going to move faster here. Okay, we are going to move faster here. So you’re gonna ride over under. I’m gonna give you a number and you think the real answer is over or under. Roy Scott from healthy hip hop has appeared on the podcast three times. Is that correct? Do you think it’s over or under or correct? three possible answers. What do you get?

Matt Watson 1:23:10
So far? So if I say that if I say under I think he’s really been on more than three times you think.

Matt DeCoursey 1:23:15
He’s been on twice? So okay.

Lauren Conaway 1:23:19
So I think that’s accurate.

Matt DeCoursey 1:23:22
it’s been on three times. Yeah, it’s over correct or under? Andrew, what do you got?

Andrew Morgans 1:23:28
Over means he’s been on more than three more than three times over.

Matt DeCoursey 1:23:31
Two, he has been on four times. So that is an over as an over one point for Watson burning into 16. One point for Andrew bringing them to 11 and tying in with Lauren but well behind. Okay. How many? The number of episodes that Matt and Matt have been on together. 300 Over Under or right on the money 321 What do you get? I have Lawrence going with what Andrew? Over. Watson over? You are all correct. We 118 episodes with man hat involved in Wow. Okay, everyone got that right. No change in status. All right. The number of episodes that Matt DeCoursey has been a solo host on meaning without Matt Watson 350 Over Under or right on the money cipher answers. What do you got?

Andrew Morgans 1:24:59
Go. For the win over your first.

Matt DeCoursey 1:25:03
Over everyone you went under. Yeah. But over and over. Lauren over.

Matt DeCoursey 1:25:13
Over is correct. I have done the host of 357 shows without the other map as well.

Matt Watson 1:25:23
Wow.

Matt DeCoursey 1:25:24
Okay for the win win for those who have that right, Watson they did away with this shit and Lauren 13 It’s 18 to 13 to Andrew has some points that 12 Okay. The number of episodes that Lauren has hosted not including top cities episodes is 110 Over Under or correct.

Matt Watson 1:25:58
I can’t believe the answer to these is all over though.

Matt DeCoursey 1:26:03
It could be over under or on the money. All right. All right. I’m still looking for answers for your first Watson under.

Lauren Conaway 1:26:15
Thanks, man.

Matt DeCoursey 1:26:16
Andrew.

Andrew Morgans 1:26:17
Wonder barely.

Lauren Conaway 1:26:20
But only because my heart is correct.

Matt DeCoursey 1:26:22
Lauren has hosted 126 episodes by herself without not counting. Top said. Lauren up to 14 points. User you’re in last place. Congratulations. All right. Any number of episodes Andrew has hosted is 120 Over Under or on the money.

Matt Watson 1:26:52
Well, we know the answer to every question is over. So I’m going over

Lauren Conaway 1:26:56
I actually was an outlier. I actually went.

Matt DeCoursey 1:27:01
Alright, who’s got the answer? Andrew? Over, over as correct Lauren. Lauren went with under um, she’s over.

Lauren Conaway 1:27:15
Not that was not directed at you in any way. It was mostly like we’ve surely got to have an under at some point here.

Matt DeCoursey 1:27:25
Next question. The number of individual episodes Watson hosted without DeCoursey is 45. Over Under or on the money? 54321 Watson, what’s your answer under Andrew?

Andrew Morgans 1:27:52
On the money.

Matt DeCoursey 1:27:53
On the money. Lauren?

Lauren Conaway 1:27:56
Also on the money.

Matt DeCoursey 1:27:58
And the correct number as 34 under gets Watson 20 points. Andrew 13 and Lauren with 14. Okay. Now for the snooper that we’re almost done here, the super duper bonus round is worth two points apiece. Who has been the HoH Okay, we have two different hosting platforms, only the one that we’ve been using since 2019, which represents 70-80% of our total stats. The first part of it was a little sketchy. Who was the host of the most popular episode in modern platform history. Write down a host for all three of you. This is for two points each. Three to one Lauren, what’s your answer? DeCoursey. Watson DeCoursey.

Matt Watson 1:29:01
And Andrew.

Andrew Morgans 1:29:02
Me.

Matt DeCoursey 1:29:05
The correct answer is Andrew Morgans. Yes. Starting an E commerce business please now oh this is starting an E commerce business is the most popular episode in recent history. All right. The second most popular episode was hosted by three to listen to Andrew you go, Lauren, Watson.

Matt Watson 1:29:38
I’m gonna say Lauren.

Lauren Conaway 1:29:41
DeCoursey because I don’t think my episodes are that.

Matt DeCoursey 1:29:45
All are incorrect. Matt and Matt. Oh, all right. To go to market strategy. No one gets it.

Lauren Conaway 1:29:54
I get the point.

Matt DeCoursey 1:29:56
I get the point on one. He’s worth five points, and that’s only so I can give Lauren and Andrew Morgans a chance to catch up with Watson, who is running away with this. The third most popular episode in modern platform history was hosted by You have five seconds to come up with your answers. Lauren, what do you got?

Lauren Conaway 1:30:24
I said me because I think Kristen Thomas was a really popular episode, right?

Matt DeCoursey 1:30:32
My grandmother, what’s your answer? Lauren? Watson.

Matt Watson 1:30:36
DeCoursey.

Matt DeCoursey 1:30:38
DeCoursey is correct. Watson. Well, Watson, you ran away with this. Do you have an organization or charity in mind for the $1,000 donation?

Matt Watson 1:30:52
Can we give it to her?

Matt DeCoursey 1:30:54
We can. All right. Congratulations. On having the worst point total but having the most benefit from the show. There’s the crescendo and the ultimate when of the episode 1,000th birthday 4 million downloads extravaganza.

Lauren Conaway 1:31:22
For you.

Matt DeCoursey 1:31:23
And the world’s quickest outro. What does everyone want to say on the way out, Lauren?

Lauren Conaway 1:31:29
Catch you on the flip side.

Matt DeCoursey 1:31:31
Andrew?

Andrew Morgans 1:31:32
Thank you, Hustlers. We’ll see you next time.

Matt Watson 1:31:34
Watson, can’t wait to do this for another five years.

Matt DeCoursey 1:31:38
I just want to say thank you to all the people that paid attention to all of our bullshit over the last five years if you didn’t listen. We are just sitting here talking to each other. I’m going to catch up with you guys. Maybe in another 1000 episodes and hopefully 10 million more downloads next time. See you around.