About
About This Podcast
There is a big myth that all founders and entrepreneurs around the world live great lives and retire rich and famous. The truth is that most of us struggle paycheck-to-paycheck and from failure to failure. We struggle with everything from high-stress environments and self-doubt to regretting missed opportunities and realizing we wasted years of our time on a dead end.
The dirty secret is that 9 out of 10 founders end up quitting and getting day jobs after failing to grow their business, raise venture capital or many other mistakes. Very few founders actually retire rich because they give up too quickly and never really discovered the craft behind entrepreneurship.
Some people believe that building a business is all about luck. The truth is that you are not a lottery ticket and there is a craft behind it that you can learn. You know that, that’s why you found this blog.
So how can you be an entrepreneur that beats the odds? How can you build a successful business that not only changes the world for the better, but creates generational wealth for you and your family?
That’s what this podcast is about… so who am I?
About Your Host: Lucas Carlson
Ten years ago, I wanted to start a business, raise venture capital, sell it for millions of dollars, and live a self-directed life with my wife, family and friends.
Over the last 10 years, I got everything I wanted, but none of it happened the way I expected.
For example, I failed dozens of times trying to start all sorts of terrible businesses. I invested my life savings in one idea that failed. I raised angel investment for another startup that failed.
Then in 2010, something changed. I started AppFog and raised $10M in venture capital. It was acquired just 3 years later after attracting over 100,000 users.
In my engineering career, I was the technical co-founder of MOG (acquired by Beats Music which was acquired by Apple). I also contracted as an engineer for a wide variety of startups including MeasureMap which was acquired by Google in 2006.
Why This Podcast?
I was honored to receive mentoring from some great minds. These people gave me countless hours of their time helping me in ways I will never be able to repay directly. But I can pay it forward, and this podcast is an attempt to codify the things that have been taught to me.
In fact, I started a podcast where I interview many of my mentors… both old and new.
Getting Started
Learn from the craftsman that have come before and paved the way. Remember to subscribe to the podcast.
- Dave Hersh, Founding CEO of a Billion Dollar Business
- Chris DeVore, Inside the Mind of a Professional Investor
- Neil Patel, Craftsman Marketing
Related Blog Posts
If you just discovered this podcast, you might also like to read some of these posts I wrote:
- 30 Things to Stop Doing As A Startup Founder
- Are You a Craftsman Founder?
- The #1 Fatal Flaw in Most Startup Ideas
Digging Deeper
If you want to dig deeper, check out:
Books
I also write books. I wrote the Ruby Cookbook (910 pages) which was published by O’Reilly in 2006 and has sold over 20,000 copies. In 2013, I wrote Programming for PaaS (144 pages) which was also published by O’Reilly. This year O’Reilly has asked me to update the Ruby Cookbook 2nd Edition. I also wrote the Craftsman Founder Manifesto.
I’m also a keynote speaker. I have spoken at nearly 30 conferences world-wide on technology, startups and entrepreneurship in the last few years.
I’m an open source programmer who’s code has been used by over a million people worldwide.
Authority Sites
I own and run various authority sites including Woodworking Toolkit.