Bootstrapping to Exit & Disrupting B2B Sales, with Nick Telson, Co-Founder of Trumpet

40 Minute Mentor

“Becoming financially free but not being a Unicorn, is still success.”

Today's 40 Minute Mentor is Nick Telson, exited Founder of DesignMyNight, Co-Founder of Trumpet, Angel Investor and Podcast Host of the popular Pitch Deck show.

With so many hats to wear, we loved diving into Nick’s story and career from starting at L’Oreal to scratching that entrepreneurial itch by building DesignMyNight to 100+ employees with minimal angel funding and finally returning to the Founder seat to disrupt B2B sales.

There is SO much to unpack from Nick's impressive story, from his views on failures to what it really feels like to exit and start again, and so much more:

➡️ Having ‘failure moments’ and the glorification of entrepreneurship [02:37]

➡️ Growing up with a creative brain and unconventional paths [03:50]

➡️ The idea of DesignMyNight from the streets of NYC [06:46]

➡️ From side hustle to exit [10:55]

➡️ More about JBM [18:13]

➡️ Round 2 of Founder life: Trumpet’s origin story [19:21]

➡️ Being VC backed and hiring principles [22:17]

➡️ Building in public and fundraising journey [23:52]

➡️ Fundraising advice [34:35]

➡️ Hiring advice for securing your initial team [37:09]

➡️ Applying to and joining Trumpet [39:50]

➡️ Audience question: Making the startup world more inclusive [42:25]

⛳ Helpful links:

➡️ Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicktelson/

➡️ Find out more about Trumpet: https://www.sendtrumpet.com/?ref=linkedin

➡️ Listen to Pitch Deck: https://www.nicktelson.com/podcast

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