In Episode 5, we explore building the Berkshire Hathaway of outer space. We’re joined by Dylan Taylor, Founder and CEO of Voyager Space Holdings. We cover the evolution of space technology, private space companies vs. the government, and exciting innovations in the space industry. “I’m in the camp that is…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares his advice for how to become a more extreme person. “I think it’s a really good step to practice being weird and be ok being weird.” Ultimately, if you want different results—especially extreme results—you have to make distinctly different…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares why only extreme people get extreme outcomes and why we should all be more accepting of people living extreme lives—whether as artists, founders, or creatives. Extreme results come from making distinctly different choices than the average person. Justin’s advice:…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares how he took the lessons he learned building Kettle & Fire and used them to launch Perfect Keto and Surely Non-Alcoholic Wine. Key changes: Hiring someone to lead finance as part of the first 10 hires. “The Iron Law…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares why every year he does an Annual Review as well as how he does it and what he’s learned iterating on their format over the years. Every year he sets goals in three areas: Health & Fitness, Emotional &…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares all of the painful lessons he’s learned founding, building, and scaling consumer brands. Including realizing with the help of an advisor that they had more than $800,000 in unpaid invoices from customers who already received their products. His advice…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares his perspective on raising venture capital. He’s raised more than $20M for Kettle & Fire. He shares why it’s a mistake to raise venture capital when you don’t have a venture scale business. As well as some of the…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares why companies who see early success often go on to subsequent failures. “It’s hard to get a business off the ground. It’s hard to get a business that’s sustainable. It’s hard to get a business that’s profitable and growing.…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares how he thinks about competing with generic store brands. He shares why they’ve always reinvesting profits back into the business to create a better product, better packaging, and better distribution. Success always attracts competition. Which is why you always…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares how he thinks about distribution for Kettle & Fire. While they started off 100% direct-to-consumer and online sales through their website KettleAndFire.com, over time as they expanded to Whole Foods their online D2C sales dropped to 70%, then 50%,…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares the other names they explored before landing on Kettle & Fire. Including Bone Broths Co, which was the original name of the company. He also shares why over time they’ve softened the brand to appeal more to women and…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares the origin story of bone broth maker Kettle & Fire. He shares how in their first month they did $20k in sales, then $40k, and then $60k in their third month. What does he credit that to? Mostly timing.…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares his journey to becoming an entrepreneur. After being fired from 13 jobs and being miserable at all of them he read The 4-Hour Workweek and suddenly discovered entrepreneurship. “It was a very informative book for me. It was the…

Learn how Justin Mares identifies trends and builds direct-to-consumer businesses (and brands) to own them. Including all of the hard lessons that Justin has learned along the way, from why he’s learned to bring on a head of finance early, why consumer business are “cashflow businesses”, to how he competes…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares his favorite books including The Three-Body Problem and The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea. “I’ve learned to appreciate that people systematically undervalue and write off things that are super weird or that they just don’t understand.…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares his exercise routine which includes three days of barbell olympic lifts per week with swimming, pickleball, and mobility work added in whenever he can find time. He shares why he avoids gluten, seed oils, and highly processed, packaged food.…

Justin Mares, who is a Venture Partner at Long Journey Ventures, shares the biggest lessons he’s learned as an investor and venture capitalist. He shares why he thinks the biggest challenge in venture capital is being contrarian and right. His secret: he looks for investments where most people think the…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares what he wishes someone sat him down and told him before founding his companies. He reflects on why he wishes he let him enjoy the ride and trust the process more. His advice: as long as you’re putting in…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—what he thinks most people would be surprised by if they could shadow him for an entire day. While Justin does a lot, he’s built talented teams at all of his companies, which allows him to manage from a distance…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares he thinks his superpower is his ability to spot trends very early. All of Justin’s companies are built around a trend with the goal of being the brand that can own that trend for a large mix of customers.…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares why he uses a Pomodoro timer for deep work. In between work sessions, he gives himself 5 minutes to stretch, doing a few pushups or pullups, walk, and generally move his body. By the end of the day, he…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares the advice he’d give his younger self if he could go back in time. Which is to slow down and try to spend more time working alongside and learning from others. He wishes that he was “lower ego” when…

Justin Mares—Founder of Kettle & Fire, Perfect Keto, and Surely Wine—shares why he’s been fascinated by environmental chemicals and what’s called “the lead-crime hypothesis.” Which is the idea that if you look at the introduction of lead into our bodies, thanks to all sorts of novel environmental exposures, that it…

Joey Cofone, Baronfig’s Founder & CEO, shares his favorite Baronfig products, including the Squire Pen, Confidant Notebook, and Strategist Index Cards, as well as how he worked with James Clear, the author of NYT Bestseller Atomic Habits, to personally design the Clear Habit Journal. “There’s a stereotype of creatives, which…