In this episode of Failure the Podcast, the hosts dissect a recently‑released book that chronicles startup journeys. They explain that the book is organized chapter‑by‑chapter, beginning with founders’ personal problems or business situations that sparked ideas, then moving through stories of growth, scaling successes and failures, and concluding with reflections on diverse companies. The narrative spans a wide range of startups—from Boston‑to‑Silicon‑Valley moves to Midwestern ventures—showcasing varied sizes, sectors, and regional challenges. The authors rely heavily on interviews, notably a conversation with Mick Williams at a Startup Grind event, to provide authentic, first‑hand insights. Throughout the discussion the hosts also joke about the episode’s tonal direction, contrasting a cheery “Good Morning America” style with a more sneering, sarcastic approach, highlighting how presentation choices shape listener experience.
Chapters
So I'm clearing my throat. Not successfully either. No.
Okay, so where were you guys when we walked in?
I asked him to take me through what's the journey the book takes you through. In other words, what do you get out of reading the damn thing? It looks like it's 700 or 800 pages long.
We had an idea for this podcast, unlike, I mean, this particular episode. Imagine we're doing Good Morning America and all the questions are friendly and there's cheering people outside and And that's the tone of today's podcast. Protesters. That's the tone of today's podcast.
In your case, it's sneering, not cheering.
Okay, so answer the question.
Yeah, so basically the journey of the book is, you know, each chapter— so at the beginning, there's a couple stories from startups that are in the idea phase, how they came up with their company from either Personal problems they were seeing, or or like business situations they were in that led to an idea for their startup.
Did you interview people like Mick Williams to get those stories?
He did. He did interview me. He got a little closer, dude.
I interviewed Mick at one of our startup grind events really last year.
Yeah. Oh cool. Keep going. You just ply him with alcohol. He'll talk to anybody. Right. Yeah, basically.
Yeah. So, no, so it starts off, yeah, more of the idea phase goes through, you know, some companies that had successful and unsuccessful, like, ways of growing and scaling their business that basically, yeah, they're telling their stories in this. And then, you know, a couple, so some of them are, you know, smaller scale startups, like try to bring a variety from like Boston to Silicon Valley and then some like Midwestern companies too. And, you know, vary the types of, types of people, types of stories, and like the phases they were in when, yeah, when they were going through this process.
So we should— you first. So we should do what they do on Good Morning America, which is make them read
