You Can Start That Business. Here’s How.

Thinking about starting a business but don’t know where to begin? In this solo episode, Emma breaks down the 10-step blueprint every first-time founder needs to turn an idea into a real company. From testing your idea to understanding the completion and market landscape to building a brand, pricing for profit, and leading a team — Emma shares the lessons she’s learned building multiple brands into a global powerhouses. This is the real, unfiltered roadmap to launching your business — no investors, no fluff, just the mindset, structure, and execution you actually need to succeed. In this episode, you’ll learn: • How to start before you feel ready • Why execution matters more than ideas • How to research your market and find your customer • The smartest way to manage money and risk • Why brand and product have to deliver — every time • How to lead, hire, and grow sustainably

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:09Emma Grede?

  Hi everyone, it's Emma and welcome back to Aspire. So for those of you who have ever thought about starting a business, here's a number that stopped me in my tracks. Forty percent of new businesses fail within three years and nearly half are gone by year five. But the ones that make it, well, they often follow the same playbook. And today, I'm breaking down the exact playbook, the 10 steps every first-time founder needs to get started. So stick with me because this is the blueprint to finally starting your business journey.

• 0:46Speaker 01

  Our presenting sponsor today is Anthropic, the team behind Claude. Anthropic is a research company first, built to make sure the transition to powerful AI goes well. When they launched Claude in 2023, its first users were businesses. Since then, it's been tested inside leading startups and enterprises. At DoorDash, a code migration that would have taken four engineers months to complete took one person three weeks. At Carvana, one team used to hunt through old tickets and code to answer a question. With Claude, they get answers 65% faster. And at Rakuten, engineers have achieved 99.9% accuracy on tough coding jobs using Claude.

• 1:28Speaker 01

  Today, nine Fortune 10 companies run on Claude for the work they want to get right. And these businesses are helping Anthropic shape what comes next. Build your business with support from Claude at claude.ai/odyssey.

• 1:47Emma Grede?

  So back in 2017, I was obsessed with getting out of the agency and consultancy business and starting a brand that I could be proud of. But absolutely nothing was aligning. I couldn't quite get enough money together. Even the fabric I needed, I couldn't get my hands on. But I launched anyway with my second choice and without a clue of how I would make it. Make everything work. That messy start turned into Good American, a company that now has hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. And here's the truth, the number one mistake new founders make is waiting until everything feels perfect. If you wanna start a business, you can not wait. You need a roadmap that gets you moving today.

• 2:32Emma Grede?

  Starting a business really is one of the most exhilarating, terrifying and transformative decisions you will ever make. I've done it more than once and I will tell you, I've succeeded, I've failed multiple times. And having mentored and invested in countless ideas and founders, I've learned that most people overcomplicate the process. And they fail to start. So today, I'm gonna walk you step by step through exactly what you need to do. What you need to think about and the mistakes that you absolutely cannot afford to make, based on my own experience. So here we go. Step one, let's remove the barriers and talk risk.

• 3:15Emma Grede?

  So the first thing I wanna tell you, and you should grab your pens, is that you have to start. It's that simple. For so many of us, and I've been guilty of this too, an idea can live in our heads for years. A half written business plan can sit on a desktop forever. You might even have gotten as far as a prototype or a red page, but it's not enough. You have to start. You have to get really comfortable with taking a risk and it not working out and failing. It's true that for so many of us, taking a risk is hard. If you're able to get to the truth, that no one is watching you, so you don't actually need to concern yourself with what everyone else is thinking. Then the next thing can hold you back is the responsibility part.

• 3:58Emma Grede?

  We all have bills to pay, people that rely on us, children, parents, significant others, and that's real. But the truth is, taking a risk actually is part of starting a company. Risk is not something that you can get rid of, it's something that you need to plan for. And I wanna give you a way to reframe how you think about risk altogether. Got to redefine risk as not something to avoid, but as something to manage, to learn from and even to leverage. Now, if you're smart, you'll learn valuable lessons, make you better. Because every business decision is an opportunity to gather data and refine your approach. So many of us think this is risky because we think to ourselves, I don't know the outcome, there's too much uncertainty.

• 4:43Emma Grede?

  But I'm going to talk you through a process that can reduce uncertainty with some planning, some research and testing. The next thing I want to level with you on is how hard it is to actually start a successful business. If you're a perfectionist, starting a business will be really hard. If you're ambitious, if you're doing well at your current job, if you're on a path to promotion, it's hard. If you're busy with your kids and your life and you have no time, it's hard. But guess what? Even without all of those things, starting a business is hard as fuck. So the best way I find to manage hard things is by planning and anticipating them. Anticipating how much work goes in is a really good place to start.

• 5:27Emma Grede?

  Knowing you're going to need to make huge sacrifices and leveling with yourself that nothing happens overnight. And that this will take time. It's not a nice to do, it's a must do. Anticipating fear and knowing how hard it can get is your starting point. Step two, the idea. So the first thing I want to say is that an idea isn't a business, your execution is. Having a good idea alone doesn't make for a successful company. What matters is how well you bring that idea to life. Ideas are plentiful. So many people have ideas and often multiple people are working on similar ones at the same time.

• 6:07Emma Grede?

  A quote that I love from Samantha Wills is, originality is a myth, authenticity isn't. It's never been down by you through your lens, your lived experience, your perspective, make it your own. It's such a true quote because the uniqueness of an idea is rarely what creates lasting value. Think about how many companies make computers. There's still only one at Apple. Ideas don't generate revenue either. An idea by itself doesn't attract customers, build systems or pay salaries. But execution does, and execution is everything. The reason execution is everything is because creating the right product,

• 6:49Emma Grede?

  obsessing over every single solitary detail of that product, hiring the right people, designing the right systems and eventually the right processes, marketing effectively and obsessing your customer consistently will turn your vision into a reality. Two companies can start with the same idea, but the one that executes better, faster, with more discipline, at a higher quality, with better storytelling and a deeply understood connection with their customer, that's the one that wins. Think about how many social networks existed before Facebook, or how many streaming services before Netflix. How you differentiate against the competition is the difference between success and failure.

• 7:34Emma Grede?

  Let me give you an example. Back in twenty seventeen, I started ideating on what would eventually become Good American. Now, for those of you that don't know, Good American started life as a premium denim brand that was made for women of all sizes. Fast forward eight years, we now sell hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of denim online in our own stores and in every major department store globally. But most importantly, we rewrote the rules around sizing in fashion and the brand Good American is largely credited in the industry as doing so. But no one in their right mind would have said then or now that the world needed yet another denim brand.

• 8:14Emma Grede?

  And I would agree, except I had an idea about how to execute that was totally missing from the market. Now, cast your mind back to twenty seventeen, the body positivity movement was in full swing, but women's clothing and retail hadn't quite evolved to meet the moment. I saw what was happening and I saw clearly that there was a business opportunity. Thin women bought from one set of brands and plus-size women from another. And the options for the plus customer were dire. I had a couple of key insights that led to me having the conviction to start a new business. I had read somewhere that plus size women made up sixty eight percent of the female population here in the U S.

• 8:55Emma Grede?

  If you walked into a mall, a small handful of the stores catered to curvy bodies. Plus size women were relegated to unfashionable, poor quality brands. But honestly, anyone with curves was actually putting up with poorly fitted jeans. Now, armed with that information, we created a brand that would be focused on this customer. And for over a year, I obsessed perfecting the perfect fitting jeans for this body type and truly understanding this customer. What was out there for her? What did she really want and what was missing? The more research I did on denim, the more I actually realised a lot of women had issues finding perfect fitting denim. Petite girls needed to do alterations to their jeans.

• 9:37Emma Grede?

  Tall women had limited options and so I pivoted from the original idea and the original plan. And the world's most inclusive denim brand was born. What I knew for sure is that plus size women were sick of not having the options that slimmer women had. And what I needed to do was make all the sizes, sizes zero, zero through to a plus size twenty four. Now, for sure, I chose a great partner. And better than just being one of the most famous women on the planet, Khloe was someone who uniquely understood the problem of being taller than most and curvier than most. Khloe Kardashian's fame, popularity, curves and her lovability helped catapult the business for sure. But the product also lived up to its promise.

• 10:21Emma Grede?

  And we all know that no matter how much of a fan you are of someone, no one spends a hundred and sixty bucks on jeans that aren't great. Eight years after launch, the original idea of Good American still stands. And that was because the execution was flawless. We were able to build a real company around a couple of key insights and the strong desire to give a customer what she wanted and what she needed. Honestly, I think I had a pretty average idea. Only existed in the marketplace already, we just did it better than everybody else. And as the market changed and adapted, so did we. So what I wanted to say, as you get to thinking about execution, you have to ask yourself these questions.

• 11:04Emma Grede?

  What is the one problem that I'm solving? Number two, exactly who am I solving it for? And three, why am I the person to solve it? My advice is don't chase trends, trends come and they go. You have to start where your conviction is strongest, especially because when it gets hard, you're going to need your conviction and that thing that got you started to carry you through. If you are just an opportunist, you're going to struggle with motivation when the going gets tough. Now, moving on to step three for starting a business, we're going to talk about research. So listen, for all of you solo openers out there, research isn't academic.

• 11:45Emma Grede?

  When you're just starting out, it's about being obsessed with your customer and the potential of what you're creating. Plus, I want you to be armed with some key insights that will help you when the fear creeps in. We all know people that let fear get in the way. So do me a favor and share this episode with anyone that you think could benefit from what I'm about to share. I want to split research into two distinct buckets for you. First, we're going to talk about understanding your market. And then we're going to talk about the market opportunity. Put simply, this is understanding your customer and understanding the business opportunity. So let's start with understanding your market.

• 12:24Emma Grede?

  To run a successful business, you need to be able to find a customer and market to that customer effectively. To do that well, you've got to get close to them and you've got to understand them. Where do they shop? How do they live? What frustrates them? What brands are they currently buying? Now, you can go deep, deep, deep into this, and I suggest you do. But I want you to focus on the things that you categorically must do. First, you must build an initial ideal customer profile. This helps you avoid wasting time on customer segments that don't match your product offering. Speak to whoever you can, friends, family, colleagues, reach out to whoever you can. When you create a customer profile or profiles,

• 13:08Emma Grede?

  you're figuring out who your target customer is. Their age, gender, income level, education, occupation. Figure out what motivates these people, their values and their lifestyles. And you ask questions like, how do they discover products like mine? Through search, through social, through word of mouth? And how much are they willing to pay? And then finally, you ask yourself, where are they purchasing? Where do they prefer to buy? Is it an online store? Is it through physical retail or by subscription? Next, I want you to obsess the competition. You need to know everything about the competitor set. So let me share how I usually do this.

• 13:50Emma Grede?

  Take three brands that are in the category of what you'd be launching or that have relevant adjacencies and study the life out of them. Learn their product and what makes it great. Understand their pricing, obsess the language that they use in marketing. Sign up for all of their emails and look at what they do, how often they launch, when they go on sale, what changes they make to their website. Go on LinkedIn and look at their staff and piece together an org chart. You basically need to be like a crazy bitch for business. And you know, it's always good for us girls to channel our energy into something. So you need to look daily at the businesses in your competitor set.

• 14:31Emma Grede?

  Now, you can use tools like Google searches, review sites, Yelp, G2, TrustPilot, social media chatter and competitor websites. And you can ask yourself and ask your friends, what do they do well? Why are customers dissatisfied? Where are there gaps that you can exploit? Moving on from understanding your market, now you have to do some market research. How big is this market is the question? But be sure to keep it super focused. The goal isn't to know everything. The goal is actually just to reduce risk and sharpen your idea. You can use publicly available reports, government data, industry publications, competitor filings, but you're looking for the following.

• 15:15Emma Grede?

  Information, TAM, SAM and SOM. So TAM stands for Total Addressable Market. Essentially, if everyone who could did buy, what is the size of that? SAM is the serviceable, available market. The portion of TAM that you can realistically serve with your offering. And then SOM, serviceable, attainable market. The realistic slice that you could capture in the next three to five years. Now, next, if you can, talk to customers or people that you believe would be your potential audience about your actual offering, doing interviews, surveys, focus groups.

• 15:57Emma Grede?

  All of this can be a game changer at the start of your business journey. Even a handful of conversations can reveal real pain points that you, who is so engrossed in your idea, can so easily miss. Don't pitch, ask open-ended questions. What frustrates you the most about the problem that you're trying to solve? How do you currently solve it? What would make it better? And be sure to record patterns, not one-off comments. Lastly, you want to synthesize all of these insights into action. This part is easy, but don't skip it thinking that it's just gonna live in your head. Getting everything down on paper and pulling together your findings into a simple brief is actually really going to serve you so well.

• 16:40Emma Grede?

  And by the end of this process, you'll be able to carefully articulate firstly, who is your customer? And second, how big is the opportunity? Third, who else is playing in the space? And lastly, what is the problem you're solving and how will you stand out? These things are key. Now, step four, the business model and money, my favorite part. So my advice here is simple. You have to start lean. You've got to be scrappy as fuck. Reinvest every penny in growth, period, end of. Detail planning around the business model and money is where most founders get really stuck. But if you don't spend the time and do the work here, you can't create a business.

• 17:25Emma Grede?

  That will thrive. I also hear a lot of first time founders say, well, I'm not good with numbers or I'm not a finance person. And let me just say for the record, I definitely fall into that category. But here's the thing, when you're a founder, the buck stops with you and only you. And if you've listened to me enough, you'll know that one of my principles is to always be in learning mode. Now, if you didn't listen to my first solo episode of this podcast, you should. It's called Emma's Blueprint for a Successful Life. Bookmark that for later after you finish this episode. So let's go back to finances. Even if this isn't an area of strength for you, you can count, right? I know when the math ain't mathing. You know, if you buy something at a certain cost

• 18:09Emma Grede?

  and you're selling it at another cost without enough of a margin in the middle, you're not going to be able to make money. Sometimes things are way more simple than when we first give credit to them. So what I want you to do is break down simply, how will the money come in? And how will the money go out? And what are the costs associated with you doing business? You should always slightly overestimate to give yourself some cushion. The most common mistakes that I see are not pricing for profit. And you have to create a margin that allows you to operate with some flexibility. So margin, put simply, is the amount of money a business makes after covering the cost of the product. But what I want you to focus on is net margin, not gross margin.

• 18:54Emma Grede?

  Net margin is what matters. That's the money that's left after paying for the product or the service, plus all of the business expenses. Never ever underestimate costs, thinking that investors will swoop in. Because listen, my experience tells me they absolutely won't. I really, really advocate for no investors in the start of a business. And let me tell you why. Firstly, you stay in control. In the beginning, you don't actually want investors telling you how to run a company. You get to keep a hundred percent of the equity and the decision making power, more importantly. You have the freedom to experiment and pivot, or even walk away without external pressure. Next, and this is a big one, you learn discipline early.

• 19:39Emma Grede?

  Limited funds actually force you to be resourceful, to be scrappy and to stay super focused. You prioritise essentials and you cut out waste and that builds really strong business habits. This muscle of efficiency actually serves you for life, even if you do end up raising money later. And the next thing, you prove the model before you're risking any big capital. Bootstrapping forces you to validate whether your product actually sells. Revenue from real customers becomes proof that your idea works. And when and if you approach investors later, you're negotiating from a place of strength. Then you avoid premature scaling.

• 20:21Emma Grede?

  Raising money too early often leads to chasing growth before finding a product market fit. And that can be death to a new business. Also, it builds founder credibility. Investors, partners and customers respect founders who have skin in the game. A track record of bootstrapping shows grit, resilience and execution ability. Lastly, and honestly, less stress equals more freedom. Without external investors, you can grow at your own pace. You decide whether the business is a lifestyle company, a fast growing start up or something in between. Okay, so we've talked about money, the part that makes most founders sweat. But don't go anywhere because after the break, I'm going to share the unglamorous,

• 21:05Emma Grede?

  but absolutely essential step that most first time founders skip. And it's the thing that can save your business from crumbling later.

• 21:23Emma Grede?

  All right, we're back and now it's time to get into the nitty gritty structure every business needs to survive. Trust me, this isn't glamorous, but it's what separates the hobbyists from the real founders. Step five is setting up the structure. Now, this is the practical side that most first time founders ignore. It's boring, it's not glamorous, but if you don't. Build your foundation right, it crumbles later. We could do a whole episode on this stuff, but the basics are this. You need to register the business and choose a business structure. You have to get a bank account, set up any contracts you might need, protect intellectual property, meaning whatever you've created needs to be legally protected.

• 22:05Emma Grede?

  All of this is easily searchable online, so I won't go into the details of every step. But what I want you to know is that you might cringe at the cost, but I promise you that if you're putting your sweat equity into a new business, these aren't steps that you can afford to skip. If you have anyone at your disposal, a lawyer in the family, a friend who's an accountant, someone you know who has a business, ask questions and lean on them for advice, but whatever you do, don't skip this crucial, crucial step. Step six, the next thing to do is to build the brand and the product. Now, listen, brand is not your logo.

• 22:44Emma Grede?

  It's how people feel when they interact with you. I think Simon Sinek says it best. He says, people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Sinek actually popularised the idea that ethos, your why, is the primary driver of brand loyalty. He argues that when a company clearly communicates its values and beliefs, it creates emotional resonance. Products change, markets shift, but a clear ethos endures. Your brand ethos sets the tone for the story that customers tell themselves about your brand, and without it, you're just selling commodities. If you haven't watched Steve Jobs' famous nineteen ninety seven Apple keynote, you should.

• 23:27Emma Grede?

  But he reminded the world that ethos comes before features. Apple's ethos, creativity, simplicity, challenging the status quo, was deliberately reinforced in every touch point. That's why something like the Think Different campaign still resonates decades later. World-class marketers see brand ethos as like a compass that guides every decision, how you show up, what you say no to, why customers should believe in you. It's not decoration. It's completely foundational. And I will tell you, every single touch point matters. Your website design, your social captions, the packaging, your overall tone of voice, what you say in emails, how you speak at customer service, and on and on and on.

• 24:11Emma Grede?

  A framework that I like to use constantly is to obsess everything your customer sees and touches. Even now, I force myself to behave exactly as a customer would all the time. I'm always in stores. I'll go on to our sites monthly and I experience firsthand the shopping experience. I take myself through the checkout, I wait for the product to arrive, I unbox all the while, comparing myself to other experiences that I'm having with other brands. And let me tell you, it is a great way to keep your focus on what's actually happening in your business, rather than what you think is happening based on the work you're doing and the decisions that you're making.

• 24:52Emma Grede?

  You need to train yourself to know that the only thing that matters is what the customer sees. But never ever forget that product has to live up to the promise. No brand story saves a bad product. So step seven, getting out of the gate. So next you need to start selling. And I recommend for all first time founders that you get out of the gate with a minimum viable product or MVP. This is like a basic stripped down version of the product that includes just enough core features to solve the main problem for early users and test whether the idea works in the real world. Meaning, it doesn't need to be a hundred percent.

• 25:36Emma Grede?

  Like I mentioned earlier, when we started Good American, I launched with what was actually my second favorite fabric. Because what I wanted was only available in huge quantities. It was going to be at least five or six months before I could get orders in at that level required. But I knew that I just needed to start. No one knew that and it never ever hurt us. The purpose of an MVP is not to be perfect or complete, it's to learn quickly. By launching something more simple, you Can validate demand, see if people actually want to use the product before investing heavily. You can get feedback early, learn what customers really care about instead of you just guessing.

• 26:17Emma Grede?

  You'll actually save resources, so you avoid wasting time and money building unnecessary features. Also, you can test assumptions. You'll see if your idea actually does solve the problem as you had imagined. Doing small tests when it comes to investing your own cash isn't just smart, it's prudent. You need to start with enough that it makes for a decent test, but not too much that you'll be saddled with excess product if it doesn't work out. Now, look, this is different for everyone, but the investment you make upfront is one of the most fundamental decisions that you'll make as a founder. It's about doing what's comfortable based on your circumstances, but don't mortgage your mum's house.

• 26:58Emma Grede?

  All right, step eight, let's talk about getting your very first customers. Early traction is about storytelling and hustling, and the best founders take us on a journey to making something. It doesn't just pop up and come from nowhere. A really great example of this is Offseason and a brilliant young founder that I invested in called Kristin Usecheck. So for years and years, Kristin's been making her own outfits and sewing on her sewing machine ahead of all of her husband's games he plays in the NFL. She's actually brought us on a journey and her social media following has really kind of built over time. Her audiences loved getting to see what she's going to wear week after week.

• 27:40Emma Grede?

  So when Kristin and I started Offseason, that spirit continued and she took us on the journey of building the brand, like even into the factory when she made her first samples. And when it came down to our launch, Kristin's followers, the people that had been along the journey for years and years before she ever started anything, they came out in force to support her new business. And so a new brand and a brilliant new founder was born. So I want you to use your network, no matter the size of it. Don't worry about them. You can DM people, be shameless. Like, at the end of the day, what do you have to lose? By the way, you can't be a shy founder. You need to ask for stuff all the time.

• 28:21Emma Grede?

  It's imperative that you create a content strategy that will educate, entertain, and inspire. Don't wait for like, perfect branding or a viral moment. Start talking about what you're building every day to anyone that will listen. So here we are. You've got your first customers. Amazing. But listen, this is just the beginning. After the break, I'm going to tell you how to build the right team around you and the leadership lessons that I had to learn the hard way.

• 28:56Speaker 02

  Hi, everyone. This is Kara Swisher.

• 28:57Speaker 03

  And I'm Scott Galloway.

• 28:58Speaker 02

  And we want to tell you about Pivot, our twice-weekly podcast.

• 29:02Speaker 03

  That's right, Kara. What a thrill. It's a chance for us to break down all the big things happening in tech, business, and politics.

• 29:08Speaker 02

  Yes, and I keep you in check so people can make it through each episode, whether it's digging into constant changes in the world of AI and social media, or trying to keep up with whatever the fuck Elon is doing. We're here to give you our take on all of that.

• 29:20Speaker 03

  Every Tuesday and Friday morning, we drop a new episode about some of the major stories of the moment.

• 29:25Speaker 02

  And Scott is a prediction machine, gazing into his crystal ball to tell you about where it's all heading.

• 29:30Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 29:31Speaker 02

  So if that sounds like a good time for you, especially Mr. That's Right, you can follow us on your favorite podcast app to get new episodes every week.

• 29:48Emma Grede?

  Welcome back. You've hustled, you've got customers, and now the big question is, who's going to help you scale? That brings me to step nine, building the team and learning to lead. Now, in the beginning, you are the team, but as soon as you can, you must hire for your weaknesses. This takes a lot of honesty, a lot of self-reflection, and a lot of interviewing, which is a skill all by itself. Finding the right people to help you bring your vision to life is another thing I could do an entire episode about. But one thing I've learned is that in the beginning, when you're starting out, you have to hire. For values, not just for skills. I've said it so many times, but I hire for attitude over experience all day long.

• 30:33Emma Grede?

  Because in those early days, you just want people that believe in what you're doing and see their role as more than just a paycheck. One of the more important lessons that I've learned the hard way, by the way, is that you have to trust people that you bring in. You have to be able to delegate in order to grow and you've got to empower those around you to make decisions. I have never met a rich, successful micromanager. Let me tell you, I really tried to be the first one. It doesn't work, doesn't work at all. Now, being a good employer or creating a great environment to work is key to building a great company at any size. And you, as the founder, have to make that a central part of what you do. Not an afterthought because you're running on empty.

• 31:17Emma Grede?

  People are your greatest leverage in any business, especially in startups or growing companies. Your team is everything. The right people in the right environment can 10x your output. And great talent is a multiplier. But let me tell you, poor leadership or toxic culture kills it just as quickly. Great environments actually attract great people and culture builds a brand inside and out. Your internal culture is your external brand. Employees talk, customers notice and culture like leaks into product decisions, into customer support, into your brand, tone of voice, like everything. Lastly, retention, keeping your staff saves time, money and momentum.

• 32:01Emma Grede?

  Because hiring is expensive and losing great people is even more expensive. When your team feels respected, safe and valued, they stay. And when they stay, they grow and your business grows with them. High turnover kills velocity and a healthy culture compounds over time. So I want you to get feedback from your staff. Be open to critique and above all, be honest. If you don't hire well, fire quickly and put yourself and whoever you've brought in out of their misery fast. Know that business can only grow as fast as you do as a leader. So invest in becoming the best leader that you can.

• 32:45Emma Grede?

  Okay, step 10, the real truth about being a founder.

• 32:50Emma Grede?

  Entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint. My experience is that nothing really good happens that quickly. I really want you to think about that because the culture tells us differently. And I know that sounds like a cliche, but cliches exist for a reason. They're usually true. When I started, I thought success would come so fast. I thought if I just worked hard enough, if I burned the candle at both ends, if I chased quick results, if I chased hype, and I learned the hard way that nothing truly meaningful, nothing truly great happens overnight. The companies that last, the ideas that stick, the products that change people's life, they all take time, time to build, time to fail and time to learn,

• 33:36Emma Grede?

  and time to become something really real. So if you're in the early days and it feels like you're moving slowly, I wanna remind you, forward is forward, progress is progress. Your job actually isn't to explode out of the gate, it's to keep showing up, to keep footing one foot in front of the other, even on the days when it feels like nothing is working. As a founder, urgency, curiosity and a willingness to learn are the most important traits. You've got to wanna win more than you want to be right. If you keep focusing on solving your customer's problem and putting your customers' needs first and at the centre of every decision you make, you will win.

• 34:19Emma Grede?

  And if you keep learning and you keep getting better, you will win. Because I promise you that that is when the magic actually happens. It's in the quiet consistency, in the unglamorous grind, in the decisions that nobody sees. And listen, you don't have to win today, you just have to last long enough to matter. Don't wait until you feel ready, you will never feel ready. Just start and then refuse to stop. So stay patient, stay focused and most of all, stay in the game because you deserve to be in it. Okay, so let's bring this home. I've just walked you through 10 big steps. And I don't want you to leave this episode just thinking about them.

• 35:02Emma Grede?

  I want you to actually put pen to paper, write it down, make it real and share it with a friend who's been talking about starting something too. Here we go. Step one, start. Don't overthink it. Don't wait for perfect. Just begin selling something, testing something. Forward is forward. Step two, the idea. Remember, an idea is not a business. Execution is everything. How you bring it to life is what actually matters. Step three, research. Obsess over your customer. Know your competition. Size the opportunity. Get close enough to understand the real pain points and how you'll solve them. Step four, the business model and money. Keep it lean. Price for profit. Don't rely on investors at the start.

• 35:47Emma Grede?

  Prove your idea with real revenue. Step five, structure. Do the unglamorous but essential stuff. Register your business. Set up your bank account. Protect your IP and build a foundation that can actually last. Step six, brand and product. Brand isn't your logo. It's how people feel when they interact with you. And no story saves a bad product. Make sure your product delivers on its promise. Step seven, getting out of the gate. Launch with an MVP. The Minimum Viable Product. The most basic stripped down version of your product. Test, learn and then adjust. You don't need to be perfect. You just need momentum. Step eight, first customers.

• 36:30Emma Grede?

  Hustle, use your network, share your journey and be shameless about telling people your story and asking for support. Step nine, team and leadership. Higher values, not just skills. Build culture early, empower people and grow as a leader alongside your company. Step 10, the truth about being a founder. It is a marathon. Stay patient, stay consistent and stay focused. Your only job is to stay in the game. So that's it. That's your roadmap. 10 steps. Write them down. Stick them on your mirror. Share them with someone who needs to hear this because starting is hard, but it's even harder to do it alone. And you never know who might get the push they need when you share.

• 37:12Emma Grede?

  See you next time and don't forget to always bet on yourself.

• 37:22Emma Grede?

  If you're loving this podcast, be sure to click Follow on your favourite listening platform. While you're there, give us a review and a five-star rating and share an episode you loved with a friend. We'll be so grateful. Aspire with Emma Grede is presented by Odyssey. I'm your host, Emma Grede. Our executive producers are Corinne, Gilliard Fisher, Derek Brown and me. Our executive producers from Odyssey are Maddie Sprung Kaiser, Leah Reese Dennis, Asha Saluja and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Stephen Key is our senior producer. Sound design and engineering by Bill Schultz. Angela Peluso is our booker. Original music by Charles Black. Video production by Evan Cox, Kirk Courtney, Andrew Steele, Carlos Delgado and Arnie Agassi. Social media by Olivia Homan.

• 38:07Emma Grede?

  Special thanks to Brittany Smith, Sidney Ford, my teams at The Lead Company and WME, Maura Curran, Josefina Francis, Hilary Schuff, Eric Donnelly, Kate Hutchinson Rose, Tim McCall, Sean Cherry and Lauren Vieira. If you have questions for me, you can DM me at aspirewithemmagreed. Grede is spelt G R E D E. That's aspire, A S P I R E with Emma Grede. Or you can submit a question to me on my website, emmagreed.me.

• 38:41Speaker 04

  Today's episode is sponsored by NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast. Ever Google a money question and end up 12 tabs deep with 12 different answers? This podcast is your shortcut back to clarity. NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast breaks down financial decisions with a team of trusted journalists. They explain the why behind decisions like investing, home buying and choosing credit cards with clear, research-backed insights. No jargon, no misinformation. Make your next financial move with confidence. Follow NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast on your favourite podcast app.