Ep 42: Joe De Sena: Founder and CEO of Spartan

Joe is the founder and CEO of Spartan, the largest obstacle racing series in the world. He is also a New York Times bestselling author of multiple books including Spartan Up, Spartan Fit, and most recently The Spartan Way.

 

Some interesting insights from this episode:

  • The most grueling endurance event he’s ever done is running a business.
  • “Death is the price we pay for life so make it worth it.”
  • Learn how he built the largest participatory endurance sport in the world with over a million annual participants and 275 events spread across 42 countries.
  • It took over a decade of losing money and tweaking the product until he finally figured out a formula that worked. He stuck with it for so long because he knew it was his true north.
  • Branding matters. They’re probably 10x more successful because of the name Spartan.
  • Intermittent fasting can make you feel better and it increases performance.
  • The best way to physically train is to focus on flexibility and mobility.
  • The ambitious mission of Spartan is to change 100 million lives.
  • “Excellence is giving it everything you’ve got. When you’re up against a wall and you refuse to give up, that’s excellence.”

Ep 40: Seth Godin: Marketing Maven

Seth is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker.  He has written 19 best-selling books, publishes one of the most popular marketing blogs, and speaks to audiences around the world. He also founded two companies, Squidoo and Yoyodyne which was acquired by Yahoo.  Seth has been inducted into both the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame and the Marketing Hall of Fame. His latest book is called This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See.

 

Some interesting insights from this episode:

  • In the old days, money bought you attention and you could use that attention to grow your business. Today attention is too precious for you to buy at any cost.
  • Being an effective marketer in this day and age means having the empathy to see what the other person dreams of and what they fear.
  • Since 1997 not one significant brand has been built with consumer advertising.
  • There’s no longer any advantage to being a mass marketer. There’s only an advantage to being a very specific marketer.
  • If you build a network effect, if you understand people’s status roles, if you engage with people where they need to be, with a product or service that helps them get to where they want to go, that is marketing.
  • Marketing is about how human beings are going to interact with what you make and whether or not they will talk about it and miss you if you’re gone.
  • The mistake most marketers make is to sell average stuff for average people in an attempt to appease everyone. But what’s most important for brand building today is to find a “minimal viable market”. The idea is to pick the smallest possible group of people that can sustain you and delight them so they will then tell their friends and spread the word.
  • A brand is not a logo. Rather, a brand is a promise, an expectation of what you’re going to get.
  • People don’t generally know what they want. It’s our job to watch people, figure out what they dream of, and then create a transaction that can deliver that feeling.

 

Links

Book: THIS IS MARKETING: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn To See  This is Marketing

Seth Godin blog: Seth Godin blog

Seth Godin website: Seth Godin website