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Jun 4, 2016 · 17m · top-founders

Is It Possible To Launch a Startup And a Baby At The Same Time? EP 257: Arry Yu

Nathan Latka · 8m spoken Ari Ewan · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In episode 257 of The Top podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews Giftstarter founder and CEO Ari Ewan about raising $525,000, pivoting to a multi-payer platform, and managing cap table equity while caring for an eight-week-old newborn.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 55.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 3.2 Guest teaching 1.4 Guest disagreement 0.6 Nathan pushing back 1.4
05100:0010:000:27–4:13 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 FreshBooks Sponsorship and Weekly Subscriber Giveaway Nathan introduces the guest and asks probing questions about her transition from consulting and why her technical co-founder left early on. The exchange is friendly and collaborative.4:13–7:57 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Giftstarter Consumer Mechanics and Revenue Model Nathan drills into the unit economics, e-commerce mechanics, and pivot history of Giftstarter, which Ari explains clearly without conflict.7:57–11:00 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Balancing a Newborn and Startup with Family Support Nathan pulls Ari's mother Sabrina onto the call briefly and discusses startup equity vesting cliffs and angel investor expectations.11:00–13:21 · Nathan as informed peer 0/10 FreshBooks, HostGator Sponsorships, and Episode Archives Solo sponsor read and mid-roll housekeeping by Nathan for FreshBooks and HostGator.13:21–16:07 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions with Ari Ewan Standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering favorite business books, investors, sleep schedule, and advice to younger self.0:27–4:13 · Guest teaching 2/10 FreshBooks Sponsorship and Weekly Subscriber Giveaway Nathan introduces the guest and asks probing questions about her transition from consulting and why her technical co-founder left early on. The exchange is friendly and collaborative.4:13–7:57 · Guest teaching 3/10 Giftstarter Consumer Mechanics and Revenue Model Nathan drills into the unit economics, e-commerce mechanics, and pivot history of Giftstarter, which Ari explains clearly without conflict.7:57–11:00 · Guest teaching 1/10 Balancing a Newborn and Startup with Family Support Nathan pulls Ari's mother Sabrina onto the call briefly and discusses startup equity vesting cliffs and angel investor expectations.11:00–13:21 · Guest teaching 0/10 FreshBooks, HostGator Sponsorships, and Episode Archives Solo sponsor read and mid-roll housekeeping by Nathan for FreshBooks and HostGator.13:21–16:07 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions with Ari Ewan Standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering favorite business books, investors, sleep schedule, and advice to younger self.0:27–4:13 · Guest disagreement 1/10 FreshBooks Sponsorship and Weekly Subscriber Giveaway Nathan introduces the guest and asks probing questions about her transition from consulting and why her technical co-founder left early on. The exchange is friendly and collaborative.4:13–7:57 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Giftstarter Consumer Mechanics and Revenue Model Nathan drills into the unit economics, e-commerce mechanics, and pivot history of Giftstarter, which Ari explains clearly without conflict.7:57–11:00 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Balancing a Newborn and Startup with Family Support Nathan pulls Ari's mother Sabrina onto the call briefly and discusses startup equity vesting cliffs and angel investor expectations.11:00–13:21 · Guest disagreement 0/10 FreshBooks, HostGator Sponsorships, and Episode Archives Solo sponsor read and mid-roll housekeeping by Nathan for FreshBooks and HostGator.13:21–16:07 · Guest disagreement 0/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions with Ari Ewan Standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering favorite business books, investors, sleep schedule, and advice to younger self.0:27–4:13 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 FreshBooks Sponsorship and Weekly Subscriber Giveaway Nathan introduces the guest and asks probing questions about her transition from consulting and why her technical co-founder left early on. The exchange is friendly and collaborative.4:13–7:57 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Giftstarter Consumer Mechanics and Revenue Model Nathan drills into the unit economics, e-commerce mechanics, and pivot history of Giftstarter, which Ari explains clearly without conflict.7:57–11:00 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Balancing a Newborn and Startup with Family Support Nathan pulls Ari's mother Sabrina onto the call briefly and discusses startup equity vesting cliffs and angel investor expectations.11:00–13:21 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 FreshBooks, HostGator Sponsorships, and Episode Archives Solo sponsor read and mid-roll housekeeping by Nathan for FreshBooks and HostGator.13:21–16:07 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions with Ari Ewan Standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering favorite business books, investors, sleep schedule, and advice to younger self.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 80.6% · guest 19.4%0:00 · Nathan 80.6% · guest 19.4%3:00 · Nathan 18.1% · guest 81.9%3:00 · Nathan 18.1% · guest 81.9%6:00 · Nathan 36.3% · guest 63.7%6:00 · Nathan 36.3% · guest 63.7%9:00 · Nathan 62.6% · guest 37.4%9:00 · Nathan 62.6% · guest 37.4%12:00 · Nathan 66.5% · guest 33.5%12:00 · Nathan 66.5% · guest 33.5%15:00 · Nathan 69.6% · guest 30.4%15:00 · Nathan 69.6% · guest 30.4%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 2:32 Ari corrects Nathan on services tenure

Ari playfully corrects Nathan's shock about spending a decade in services by clarifying it was actually 12 years.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 3:24 Nathan probes why the co-founder left

Nathan pushes past vague answers to find out whether the co-founder left due to the business model or other issues.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 7:27 Ari explains the pivot from gifting to payments API

Ari explains that customers valued their checkout and multi-payer payment rail rather than the gifting destination, prompting their B2B pivot.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 9:39 Nathan summarizes the one-year vesting cliff

Nathan demonstrates knowledge of startup cap table mechanics by succinctly summarizing the one-year cliff structure.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
FreshBooks Sponsorship and Weekly Subscriber Giveaway 4212 Nathan introduces the guest and asks probing questions about her transition from consulting and why her technical co-founder left early on. The exchange is friendly and collaborative.
Giftstarter Consumer Mechanics and Revenue Model 5312 Nathan drills into the unit economics, e-commerce mechanics, and pivot history of Giftstarter, which Ari explains clearly without conflict.
Balancing a Newborn and Startup with Family Support 4112 Nathan pulls Ari's mother Sabrina onto the call briefly and discusses startup equity vesting cliffs and angel investor expectations.
FreshBooks, HostGator Sponsorships, and Episode Archives 0000 Solo sponsor read and mid-roll housekeeping by Nathan for FreshBooks and HostGator.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions with Ari Ewan 3101 Standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions covering favorite business books, investors, sleep schedule, and advice to younger self.

Statements from this episode (6)

Disclosure
Giftstarter monetizes via an 8% transaction fee to consumers
“We make money in a couple of ways. One, we have a transaction fee to the consumer. It's eight percent, but you know, think of a hundred dollar item. It's eight dollars broken into a bunch of pieces, maybe it's 40 pieces. No one person is paying the fee. And th…”
Ari Ewan Jun 4, 2016 ▶ 5:40
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Giftstarter hopes to reach $50,000 in revenue in 2016
“We are hoping to get more towards 50 K.”
Ari Ewan Jun 4, 2016 ▶ 6:26
Assertion Supported
Giftstarter has raised approximately $525,000 in angel capital
“We've raised some angel capital about 525,000 dollars.”
Ari Ewan Jun 4, 2016 ▶ 6:39
Disclosure
Arry Yu is running Giftstarter with an eight-week-old newborn
“I just had a baby two two months ago, eight weeks ago. And so my mother has been coming over, helping take care of the baby while I do work stuff.”
Ari Ewan Jun 4, 2016 ▶ 8:49
Disclosure
Giftstarter co-founder left with zero equity due to one-year cliff
“We set up the company to be very company favorable in, in how we manage the founders, and the idea was if you can make it to the end of the, at least one year, then you should walk away with some equity if you decide to leave that point, because you were right…”
Ari Ewan Jun 4, 2016 ▶ 9:21
Assertion Supported
Jonathan Sposato is the only person to sell two companies to Google
“He was the only guy to sell two companies to Google so successfully.”
Ari Ewan Jun 4, 2016 ▶ 14:06
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