Ep 55: Solving Big Problems, Best Practices For a Mission-Driven Startup – with  Joshua Wohle CEO Mindstone

Ep 55: Solving Big Problems, Best Practices For a Mission-Driven Startup – with  Joshua Wohle CEO Mindstone

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Solving big problems takes a different approach – in this interview with Co-Founder Joshua Whole, we dive into the topic from top to bottom. The show is a bit longer than the normal 30’minutes but well worth the insights.

Mindstone’s mission and the big hairy problem is “to surface and accelerate the world’s informal learning.” Self-learning has two big problems:

Current institutions, their degrees, and certifications serve as a proxy for companies to make hiring decisions. So if you self-learn, if you don’t have the right stamps from the right universities, then you are still left behind and don’t get hired.

Secondly, very few self-learners know how to learn.

Mindstone aims to help people learn faster, and remember more of what they learn; and then unlock opportunities for them to demonstrate the skills that they have learned and know.  “At a high level, we are building out the Fitbit and StackOverflow for learning”

From this big mission, the interview dives into:

• Massive Open Online Course
• From idea to business.
• Researching a fundamental hypothesis
  • Is the market ready? Is the market providing tailwinds?
  • Is the technology ready?
  • Are the consequences of the market and technology inevitable?
• Product-market fit vs Language-market fit
  • Customer interviews, not product interviews
  • Nail It Then Scale It.
  • Restricting signup users to the target users.
  • Mark Lerner – Language-market fit
  • Avoid the leaky bucket, user churn; avoid buying users: focus on dedicated users.
• Building a product
  • Learning from Nike
• Founder skills
  • Don’t underestimate the power of “grit”
  • The bigger your network, in your startup industry space, the quicker you can start; otherwise, you have to build your network first.
  • Replace work-life balance with work-life integration.
  • The power of checklists.

About the Guest:

Joshua has started multiple businesses, helping scale them to 150+ people and $100m+ in revenue. Today, he is CEO @ of Mindstone focusing on building a platform that helps people learn faster. remember more and get things done. Previously, he was Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at SuperAwesome the biggest kids technology company in the world, acquired by Epic Games in the summer of 2020. Before that, he was a Co-Founder & CEO @ Targetz, as well as CJ Online Works and worked for Richemont International to build their Intellectual Property database systems across multiple continents. Joshua was born in the Netherlands, attended High School in Switzerland, and speaks five languages. After studying Computer Science at King’s College London, he finished his MBA at the Open University and has completed MOOCs ranging from the Science of Learning to the application of Artificial Intelligence. Joshua is an EdTech enthusiast, advisor, and Investor.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuawohle
https://twitter.com/MindstoneHQ
https://www.instagram.com/mindstoneapp/
https://www.facebook.com/MindstoneHQ
https://www.linkedin.com/company/mindstonehq/

About the Host:

Philip Topham is The Savvy Founder. Philip has an inquisitive mind and a passion for ideas. He’s impatient to see tomorrow’s future today. He helps technical founders build the business they want. He helps established businesses tap into their start-up founder to conquer a changing world.  With more than 25 years across start-ups and corporate roles, Philip has been everything from janitor to the Founder and Chief Everything Officer.

Words of Wisdom

• Ideas are worthless; revenues are priceless; surround yourself with smart people.
• Life is a journey – molehills or mountains? it’s your choice.

Connect or Book with The Savvy Founder:

https://linktr.ee/thesavvyfounder

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