Valuetainment - ＂Building A Unicorn＂ - Venture Capitalist SPARKS DEBATE Over 7-Day Grind Schedule

00:00:00.960 VC behind 996, work culture debate says five-day weeks won't build billion-dollar startups.

00:00:10.420 Look what he says here. Pretty wild, Rob. You have a video on this?

00:00:13.240 I do. So the actual statement that you're going to read from the story is from this LinkedIn post,

00:00:19.000 but then I also found a video from this gentleman from August that we can play.

00:00:23.740 It's about him starting his podcast, and the same strategy applies to the podcast building

00:00:29.180 as this post.

00:00:30.760 Does he say that in the video or not?

00:00:32.480 Yeah, here. I'll show you the video first.

00:00:33.640 Okay, go for it.

00:00:35.480 So I'll read this here. Venture capitalist Henry, oh, this is the one?

00:00:39.400 Yes, sir.

00:00:39.660 Go for it.

00:00:41.100 What do you think were the traits that allowed you to be so successful?

00:00:44.780 Honestly, just unwavering persistence. I've worked for 10 years for seven days a week.

00:00:49.740 Every single weekend I'm in the studio. Every single one.

00:00:52.240 And everyone just gives up. With content, everyone expects an ROI sooner than it comes.

00:00:56.980 But in the venture business, in like business content, you're not going to know for 18 months

00:01:01.040 if you are really working at all. We did 300 shows before we got 1,000 plays. For two years,

00:01:07.780 I didn't make a dollar. Never planned to make a dollar. But everyone quits before. This is a

00:01:12.580 game of who can survive the longest.

00:01:14.440 So seven days a week is a required velocity to win right now. When you go to the Valley now,

00:01:19.880 and when you go to China now, they are working seven days a week in the fastest growing company.

00:01:23.600 It's that simple. So if you want to be a $10 billion company in Europe, competing against

00:01:27.680 them, you can't do it on a 9 to 5. Monday through Friday, Sarah Werner, co-founder of

00:01:33.480 Husmus, counter what Europe really needs isn't more hustle porn. It's more aggressive funding,

00:01:39.920 highlighting Europe's $375 billion shortfall in growth funding since 2015. Tom, what do you

00:01:46.340 think about what he's saying here with the seven days a week to build a unicorn?

00:01:48.720 He's right. He's absolutely right. People that, and by the way, there are people that have,

00:01:57.640 you know, typical jobs, corporate jobs, that you hear what I'm saying or hear what he's saying.

00:02:02.320 You're sounding like Vivek, Tom. Watch your way.

00:02:04.460 No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

00:02:06.240 Don't piss off.

00:02:06.780 That's not what I'm saying. There are people who have not worked at a startup, and I'm going to name

00:02:12.860 some conditions here, who don't understand, because they work at Johnson & Johnson, work at

00:02:19.200 General Motors, and they work 9 to 5, and, you know, they get paid, and that's what they're there

00:02:24.440 to do. It's not their company. They are paid to perform a service, and they can rent the title and

00:02:30.740 the logo for the price of their salary. That's how it works, and they get experience doing that.

00:02:35.620 If you're going to go build the company, and you feel passionate about something, and it's early

00:02:40.860 stage, you're trying to do something no one else is doing, and there's a little bit of paranoia inside

00:02:46.000 that you got to move fast because you have to prove it, and you probably have limited resources,

00:02:50.740 time and money. When money runs out, and money tends to run out before time runs out, you are

00:02:56.120 busting it trying to make it, trying to prove it, trying to prove product market fit, get your first

00:03:01.180 customer before somebody else figures it out, and if you have venture-funded money, they all talk

00:03:07.900 about things they've invested in, so other people are going to find it out, and there's usually two

00:03:12.740 or three things. There's no mistake that Lyft and Uber were founded in roughly the same era and end up

00:03:19.240 competing with each other. That's no mistake, but you, when you're there, it is seven days a week,

00:03:25.300 and you run the sweat of you're going to run out of money, and listen to what he said.

00:03:29.260 We did 300 shows before we had a thousand plays, but I didn't give up. You can't give up,

00:03:36.940 and so there is a point where startups give up. They run out of money. They run out of things. They

00:03:41.860 give up. We've been part of it. I've invested in them. I've had my smoking craters, but the point is

00:03:48.340 if you're going to start something, and you're going to build something, and it's your company,

00:03:53.280 and you're not working for somebody else, it's a whole different mindset. There's a video you can

00:03:59.240 go find by Pat that talks about part-timers, full-timers, and all the timers. All the timers

00:04:03.980 are the people that are completely committed to their craft, to their business, to what they built,

00:04:09.640 to what they're doing. It's a different mindset. It's not punishment. It's passion.

00:04:15.260 There you go, and I agree with this. I agree with the whole seven-day thing. It's not for

00:04:19.400 everybody. It's a lot of work, but to build a unicorn, not something that's a million out

00:04:25.780 of business, 10 million out of business, 100 million out of business. You want to build a

00:04:29.100 unicorn. You got to work a certain schedule you've never worked before, and that's what it

00:04:32.600 takes. It's not, I'm not surprised with what the guy's saying. Same with podcasts. I'm having a

00:04:37.200 conversation with a guy yesterday. I told him something. This was an elite mastermind we're holding

00:04:41.400 with BedDavid Consulting for some of the guys that are not part of masterminds. You're running a

00:04:44.640 business. You have to be part of a mastermind, because your brain has to constantly be challenged.

00:04:49.980 If you go to BedDavid.com, fill out the information. Somebody from our group will get a hold of you.

00:04:54.180 We run a consulting firm that does engagements for 10,000 businesses or 60-plus countries,

00:04:59.720 and we process different items. One guy asked me a question about, so look, my business, I'm supposed

00:05:03.900 to do $10 million of revenue. That was my goal. I'm at $4 million for the first six months of the year.

00:05:07.880 How do I hit my 10 million? What do I do about this? I said, let me tell you what two things I fear

00:05:11.940 in life. He says, what's that? I said, the number one thing I fear is, you know how the phrase wisdom

00:05:21.180 comes when you have fear in the Lord? I don't fear anything more than a man upstairs. You have no idea

00:05:26.960 how much I fear the man upstairs. I go from this, you know, tough, strong personality guy to all of a

00:05:32.100 sudden, I'm a nobody, okay? I fear the Lord. I fear the man upstairs heavily in every possible way

00:05:40.840 because I can't believe the life he's given me. You know what's the second thing I fear the most?

00:05:44.960 The second thing I fear the most is fear of losing momentum. And by the way, put the fear of the Lord

00:05:51.800 in its own category. Nothing in life comes close to fear of losing momentum. Now, somebody may say,

00:05:59.020 how about parenting? How about kids? That's all linked to fear of the Lord. Parenting, family,

00:06:04.080 all that is fear of the Lord. Momentum, losing momentum. Oh my God. You'll see people that have

00:06:12.220 momentum in their business and they'll have momentum in their podcasts. They'll have momentum in what

00:06:17.140 they're doing and they're thinking this thing's going to go on its own and they'll let it go.

00:06:21.920 You'll see people that are having momentum and all of a sudden there's one setback. Oh my God,

00:06:26.140 it's not working out. They're out. You'll see some people have momentum because what momentum

00:06:29.960 does to you is the following. If you're five as a leader in intelligence, momentum behind you makes

00:06:36.540 you look like you're seven. If you have momentum, you're six, but you have momentum in your business,

00:06:41.620 you look like an eight. If you're seven, you have momentum, you look like a nine. It's kind of like

00:06:45.040 this. We're flying to, you know, let's just say Texas. We're going 450 miles an hour, but flying back,

00:06:53.020 we're going 600 miles an hour. How the hell are we coming back 600 miles an hour versus 450?

00:06:56.820 The plane is not built to go 600 miles an hour. The only reason it's going 600 miles an hour is

00:07:01.200 because it's got what? Momentum behind it. So you, with momentum, you go 600. You're not a 600 mile an

00:07:07.060 hour plane. You're doing it because you have the momentum behind you. Too often people take momentum

00:07:12.540 for granted. And when they do, they lose what they have. Whether you're a executive helping grow a

00:07:20.840 company, that you have, you know, participation in the upside of the company, whether you're the

00:07:24.580 founder, whether you're building a podcast, whether you're doing a show, whether you're

00:07:27.860 doing anything, the moment you become arrogant with momentum, she leaves you for somebody else.

00:07:33.380 Because everybody in the world who's ever had momentum knows how hard it is to get it

00:07:38.900 and how easy it is to lose it. And when you lose it after you've had it, it takes so much work to

00:07:45.880 bring it back. And too many people in business don't realize the value of momentum. And in life,

00:07:51.880 they fully, fully devalue it. And they're ungrateful for it. They're entitled. They think

00:07:57.260 they own her. No, you don't. You got to take care of her. She's very demanding, but she will 0.52

00:08:00.960 change your life. Momentum will change your, change your life. Adam, you think you, I think

00:08:04.840 you want to say something? Yeah. Well, I mean, going back to this whole concept of this 996,

00:08:08.420 you know what the 996 stands for? Porsche. I don't know. I can't afford one of those these

00:08:13.660 days, but the whole concept of what it stands for is 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week. So which

00:08:19.620 comes out to 72 hours a week. How much are you willing to work? So I'm not in the camp that I'm

00:08:25.280 trying to work seven days a week, 24 hours a day, bro. It's like you need a life. But what I do

00:08:31.100 subscribe to is the 80-20 rule. 80% of what I try to do is be productive and get shit done. GSD. 0.98

00:08:38.100 But 20%, I'd like to actually have a good time. Do you know that there was almost nine months,

00:08:44.180 nine months, PBD, I didn't go to one club. I didn't talk to one girl. No one leaves you.

00:08:49.660 Yeah, it was called a lockdown during COVID. I was stuck in Dallas and Addison. Nothing. Forced.

00:08:54.780 But now I'm getting back in the lifestyle, guys. But everything that we're talking about here is...

00:09:00.140 What point are you going to make on this story, bro? How committed...

00:09:02.720 If you don't have a point, don't give it on this story. Don't cut me off.

00:09:05.820 Let it just go by. Before I get to my point. This story is about building a unicorn and

00:09:12.540 this guy's saying there's no way... Let me tell you something, buddy. I didn't go to one

00:09:17.200 club. I went to all of them. You said a porch. Bro, give a point. Here's the point. Everyone's

00:09:22.140 so obsessed with work-life balance these days. If you want to build something big, you can't

00:09:26.320 have balance. You're going to need to be... You're going to need a sacrifice. So for anyone

00:09:32.440 who has success, they're going to have to sacrifice something, whether it's health, whether it's

00:09:35.700 family, whether it's friends, whether it's lifestyle. Work-life balance is not something

00:09:39.320 that people who become billionaires or unicorns actually can achieve. So I'm not in the camp

00:09:45.960 right there on work-life balance. Hold on, old man. I'm going to stop you right there.

00:09:49.960 Work-life balance is being described by people through their own perspective. You talk to entrepreneurs

00:09:56.440 are building something. It's some of the most joyful days of your life. You're working 12 hours

00:10:01.060 and it felt like two and you love what you're doing and you're passionate about it and you think

00:10:05.620 you're having... And it's fun. I agree with you. Yeah, you're obsessed with satisfaction.

00:10:10.500 You're incredibly satisfied. You're incredibly inspired by it. It's not purgatory and it's not

00:10:15.940 punishment. People that want to work nine to five are not bad. They just will get jobs that do

00:10:22.240 certain things and they will define work-life balance on their own terms. For me, at times

00:10:27.480 when I was building things, it was some of the most joyous times of my life. Emotionally.

00:10:31.600 They taught... And that's why I've always said I would rather climb to the top of Mount Everest

00:10:37.160 and one step from the top, fall to my death, than wake up 70 years old feeding pigeons in the park and

00:10:45.200 look up at the top of that mountain and say, why didn't I try? Because it's the journey. Phil Knight

00:10:50.880 said, the act of running is what the joy is. That is what the destination is. The act of running.

00:10:57.240 You got to understand that. And it's not bad if people want an eight hour job and they don't want

00:11:03.600 the stress of knowing if a paycheck is going to be there for their people. They don't want the stress

00:11:07.460 of knowing if someone else is building up down the street. They don't want the stress of knowing,

00:11:12.080 did their investor tell somebody else a secret and now they're going to get flinged? They don't want

00:11:16.020 the stress of thinking, what if this becomes a smoking crater? You say Edison had a hundred

00:11:22.620 smoking craters before he invented the light bulb. There's a different wiring. And I think articles

00:11:28.280 like this are designed to make entrepreneurs seem like these people that are soulless minions out

00:11:34.400 there just slaughtering people to get. No, it's passion. And it's some of the most brightest,

00:11:40.060 most beautiful, most wonderful, most fulfilling days is when you look up and say, have I really

00:11:45.580 been here 14 hours? Have I really gotten like two steps closer on this? Oh my gosh. It's the best.

00:11:51.160 And it's love. Because you're purpose driven, not money driven, correct? When you're building and

00:11:56.960 you're working 14 hour days and you're sleeping on the floor, you're not like, I'm going to be a

00:12:00.280 billionaire. It's no, I'm building something that's going to make a massive difference in the

00:12:04.380 world. And most people that are doing that are not doing it because they want to be a billionaire.

00:12:08.460 They're doing it because the purpose, the cause and the love. Exactly. Exactly. Because money

00:12:13.940 will not be your greatest motivator. Okay, guys, it'd be something building something. I got you guys

00:12:18.080 can fight afterwards. I'm going to the next story. I think we're agreeing for some reason. We have a

00:12:23.900 goal of a million people wearing the future looks bright gear. The brand's becoming more and more

00:12:28.140 recognizable. Very excited about what's going on. So what we're announcing today, I don't know if

00:12:33.880 you're aware of this, this category that is now on vtmerge.com for certain selected hats,

00:12:38.460 that's a buy one, get one free. You buy one at $34.99, you get the second one for free. Rob,

00:12:44.000 if you can go to it so the audience can see it. These are the hats that are on there. You simply add

00:12:49.740 one and then add another one. And the second one will automatically from this category be added in

00:12:54.760 the buy one, get one free. Rob, does the video work on the other side? Yes. Can you go to that one

00:12:58.820 to show some of the hats? These are the hats that are in the category of it. The PBD podcast,

00:13:03.180 you got the value attainment logo one, that's sick. The OG one, blue, keep going. Black PBD 1.00

00:13:08.860 podcast, keep going, keep going. The red one, the U.S. flag. Future looks bright, red one,

00:13:17.260 keep going. Military camo, the black on black. There's a blue one that looks, the blue one,

00:13:23.780 we don't have a lot left. The blue one's going to go very quickly. I shouldn't have said that.

00:13:27.400 There you go. The pink ones that also, every time people ask about the pink ones,

00:13:30.560 they disappear. Keep going. That's a sick one. Yeah. That's the blue one. That's the blue one.

00:13:35.620 Keep going. What's it called? Royal, not royal. I think it's like a royal blue-ish,

00:13:40.080 but the idea is buy one, get one free. Guys, sport it, give it as gifts to others. If you're

00:13:44.440 running a sales office, order 50 of them and give it to your guys. But anyways, go to vtmerge.com,

00:13:50.600 place your order of the hats. We have a million people we want to wear a future looks bright. We are

00:13:55.440 nearing 300,000 people right now that are wearing the gear. We're 700,000 away of people wearing

00:14:01.680 the future looks bright gear. Go place your order. And as always, we're going to have a few

00:14:06.400 additional prizes that we'll put in there as well. The future looks bright sticker magnet,

00:14:10.240 couple other things that will be added to it. If you enjoy this video, you want to watch more

00:14:13.340 videos like this, click here. And if you want to watch the entire podcast, click here.

Valuetainment - July 15, 2025

＂Building A Unicorn＂ - Venture Capitalist SPARKS DEBATE Over 7-Day Grind Schedule

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