This interview is an expert from a special 500 podcast episode of Foundr Magazine and has been edited and condensed for clarity.
After five hundred podcast episodes, Nathan Chan is still hungry for the next open book conversation. In a special 500th episode of the Founder PodcastChan is putting it all on the table for a special AMA (ask me anything) from his favorite founders – YOU!
Ask Me Anything with Founder CEO Nathan Chan
Q: Vica Gafur asks: “What was the most inspiring story that made you who you are today?”
Nathan Chan: I want to tell a story that happened to me and made me who I am today.
I want to tell a story that happened to me and made me who I am today.
That would have been at least 13 years ago, when I had my job in IT support. Part of my job was to support team members in the areas of technology and infrastructure. Complaints were received from over 200 employees saying they never received a response when they created a ticket requesting help.
So the order was issued to work in shifts, walk around the office floors and ask people if they needed help.
My boss at the time told me about this idea and I said, “I’m not going to do that.” It’s a waste of time.”
I was dragged into the office by my boss’s boss and she totally beat me up. And after that meeting, I literally felt like I wanted to cry. It was such a crazy feeling that someone could have so much influence in my life and have so much power over the work I wanted to do.
Exactly the way it made me feel, and this particular story that I’ve carried with me my whole life, because afterward I said to myself, “I never want to be in the position that someone was in again can treat like that.” ”
In the end, I started Foundr because I wanted to do my own thing and find a job that I was passionate about. And here we are 13 years later.
Q: Why did you start the Foundr podcast?
NC: I started Foundr as a digital magazine because I wanted to find successful people, tell their stories, and share them with the world.
I wanted to find successful people, tell their stories and share them with the world.
I used to put these interviews in the digital magazine so you could actually read the story, but then you could listen to the interviews in the magazine.
Our former marketing director at the time, Dave, suggested starting a podcast, but I wasn’t sure if that would cannibalize the digital magazine. He said to me, “Nathan, let’s make a bet. If someone complains in the next six months, you can always take it back, but just see what happens.”
After publishing the magazine for about a year, I took the best interviews and started this podcast. I started doing that Founder Podcast because I felt there was an opportunity to widely share the stories of some of the world’s greatest founders.
Ten years ago I thought podcasting was huge and I was missing the boat. Nowadays people look at podcasts and say, “Wow, the podcast market is huge and I missed the boat.”
It never ends, does it? People always think that an industry is too big. It’s not too big.
I think Dave won the bet.
Q: What makes an incredible guest?
NC: An incredible guest is a vulnerable founder who can talk about interesting, fascinating stories, really open up and share the hard times, the lessons they’ve learned, and the battle scars they’ve left behind to prove it. An incredible guest is someone who is entertaining, truly present, and who is there to serve you and help you.
They don’t want to sell anything. They just really want to help and give back from their journey because they understand that entrepreneurship comes full circle, and that’s what the entrepreneurship circle is all about.
It’s about paying it forward, and that’s what Foundr is all about. That’s why Foundr exists.
It’s about paying it forward, and that’s what Foundr is all about. That’s why Foundr exists.
We want to help you accelerate your growth and future through entrepreneurship. We want to help you as best we can and help you.
Q: What makes a difficult interview guest?
NC: This is probably the exact opposite of what makes an incredible interview guest. Someone who gives short answers has a hard time opening up, so I really have to push him. If they’re not there, it’s obvious they don’t want to be there, but their PR team convinced them to do this interview because it would be good for the brand.
If they are not present, it is obvious that they do not want to be there.
Q: Can you share a story about an awkward or funny moment that happened during an interview?
NC: When I interviewed Melanie Perkins, the founder of Canva, it was the founder’s beginnings, namely the beginnings of Canva.
I interviewed her in my parents’ basement, and there was no Zoom back then. I used to use Skype. We started the interview and I talked to her for about 20 minutes and forgot to hit the record button. I was like, “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I have to press record,” and she just started again.
I forgot to click record.
She was so professional, she was so polite and I will never forget it. I have a lot of respect for her and it is a testament to the character of a founder and person that she is.
Q: Sade Cole asks: “What was the most common response from guests about how to scale their business?”
NC: It’s about people.
It’s not just about becoming a better leader, but also about how to hire, find, identify and attract great talent to your company, because companies are built by people.
It’s not a sexy topic and it doesn’t become clickbait, right? But I guarantee that every single founder I talk to is facing challenges and wants to hire better people.
It’s not a sexy topic and it doesn’t become clickbait, right? But I guarantee that every single founder I talk to is facing challenges and wants to hire better people.
Yes, the founder is the leader. Yes, the speed at which a company grows is a direct correlation and reflection of the CEO or founder. But at the same time, that founder has to have great people around him, and every single company, every super successful founder that I’ve interviewed that has a huge company has been able to attract incredible people to help them build that business.
Q: Anne Reyes asks, “What do you think is the most common pitfall for someone who is a complete beginner starting a business, especially in e-commerce?”
NC: From my experience and from thousands of founders over the past few years, the most common pitfall is that people fall in love with the idea and not the problem they are solving for the customer.
That’s the most important thing when it comes to building a successful eCommerce business or building a company that gives you the lifestyle you’re looking for, gives you the freedom you’re looking for, or builds something that you truly are to be proud of and be able to truly help others.
Building a business can give you the lifestyle you are looking for and give you the freedom you are looking for.
It’s really fun to build a company. There are hard times, don’t get me wrong, but it’s fun to create. I think the biggest problem for e-commerce founders is product selection and proper implementation. I’ve seen really successful founders come from nothing very, very quickly because they took the time to select products and implement them correctly.
Q: Paris Stringfellow asks, “How much capital should a typical e-commerce brand budget for in the first year?” And what would be the timing of these capital infusions?”
NC: So I could throw away a number, right? But I will speak from experience.
When I started the Healthish brand with my ex-partner Emily, the domain name cost $3,000. We didn’t have to spend that. We could have spent $20 on the domain name, but I wanted a solid domain name. We purchased about 3,000 units, which was the MOQ (minimum order quantity), and that cost about $2 per unit. So that would have been about $6,000.
Then there were things on the branding side, and then the website was created and we used Instagram to expand it. So it cost us around $7,000 to $8,000 in total to create the MOQ to get the website up and running with Shopify. And then all the marketing was taken over by us.
In total, the commissioning cost around $10,000, including the expensive domain name. Then the brand took off and grew into a seven-figure e-commerce store, and the rest is history.
Q: Vivian Teresa asks: “What does the future of Foundr look like and how do you plan to revolutionize the coaching space, online courses and the entire e-commerce community?”
NC: I love this question. So what does the future hold for Foundr?
We’re going all out Founder+, our all-access membership platform. We produce lots of content for you, including learning paths, live workshops, an expanded community platform, new courses and one-on-one coaching.
I see a world where we can help founders in a variety of ways, from coaching to Founder+ Service sector perspective on courses, education, software, agency and marketing. So there’s a lot going on and we really want to continue creating incredible content to help you.
I see a world where we can help founders in a variety of ways.
I want us to be the co-pilot to support you on your entrepreneurial journey.
Keep learning: 5 proven business truths from startup entrepreneurs who have made it
What Nathan Chan learned from 500 founders
- Fall in love with the problem, not the idea.
- Make your product selection correctly.
- An industry is never too big to revolutionize.
- Speed is everything.
- Growth comes from hiring good people.
- Entrepreneurship is about pushing it forward.
