Mike Stemple is the founder/CEO and Entrepreneur in Residence of Inspirer. He is also a proud veteran of the US Army. Mike helps corporate executives to think and act more entrepreneurially. This is accomplished through client workshops and Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) consulting. Recently, Mike embedded for 2 years with Molson Coors as their EIR where he provided the entrepreneurial mindset for global innovation teams. Mike has built 20+ startups, is an expert at ideation, innovation, startup psychology, and brand creation, and is a mentor at Techstars, a global seed accelerator.

In this episode we discuss:

• Mike discusses working with his brothers on businesses [3:20]
• His inspiration for SkinIt [5:32]
• Mike’s SkinIt idea was rejected by a VC [9:31]
• The hardest part of running SkinIt in the early days [14:51]
• Being banned from all the electronic retailers in his area [17:14]
• What is an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) [19:55]
• How he started EIR’ing for a company [22:00]
• How he built his brand, working with big companies [24:00]
• Scaling a small company VS a large company [26:04]
• Example of a company that has unnecessary processes [27:20]
• The psychology of innovation in a black swan event [29:39]
• Massive opportunities from the pandemic [30:43]

Quotable Quotes:

• Most unicorns are created in the startup world and not the corporate world.
• If the world needs my help, I’m more than happy to give it. Because that’s what you do in a black swan event.
• Build for sale, not for scale. Stop building to be a global product, just focus on building a product that you can get your first sale.

Links to sources and tools:

• Connect with Mike Stemple on LinkedIn
  • https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikestemple
• For startup psychology training and consulting, check Inspirer
  • https://www.inspirer.com
• Get access to Mike’s courses on Udemy
  • https://www.udemy.com/user/mikestemple
• Follow his social media accounts
  • Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/iamainspirer
  • Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/inspirermike
  • Twitter – http://twitter.com/mikestemple

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