Digital Social Hour
Why Focus Is Every Entrepreneur's Superpower | Kass & Mike Lazerow DSH #1365
Wed, 07 May
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Discover why focus is every entrepreneur's superpower in this exciting episode of the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀 Joined by powerhouse entrepreneurs Kass and Mike Lazerow, who’ve been working together for an incredible 28 years, this conversation is packed with valuable insights on building successful ventures, mastering focus, and creating a culture of excellence. 💡From their $750 million exit with Buddy Media to investing in over 100 companies, Cas and Mike share the secrets behind their entrepreneurial journey, including how focus, communication, and teamwork have been their ultimate cheat codes for success. 🏆 Learn how to identify your top priorities, surround yourself with the right people, and balance passion with practicality to build a thriving business.Plus, hear their thoughts on staying healthy while grinding, the challenges of remote work, and the importance of leading by example. Whether you're an entrepreneur, investor, or just curious about business, this episode is your guide to unlocking your potential. 🌟Join the conversation and get inspired! Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets. 📺 Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🎙️🔥CHAPTERS:00:00 - Intro00:32 - Working with Your Spouse02:32 - Focus Techniques03:18 - Today's Sponsor08:09 - Investing in Entrepreneurs10:08 - Investment Strategy Insights12:02 - Global Investment Opportunities14:24 - Shift from Engineers to Marketers16:38 - Business Launch Focus17:20 - Uniqueness of Ideas18:53 - Best Age for Parenthood20:57 - College Necessity for Kids23:56 - Resume Importance26:18 - Master's Degree Utilization27:28 - Importance of Repetition29:10 - Leading by Example32:40 - Overcoming Fear of Loss34:04 - Remembering VC Rejections37:04 - Cultivating Company Culture39:02 - Team Pivots and Retention41:08 - Importance of In-Person Work44:14 - Job Change Frequency47:54 - Email Checking Habits49:18 - Parenthood Timing50:55 - Book Release Information51:15 - End APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [email protected] GUEST: Kass & Mike Lazerow https://www.instagram.com/kasslazerow/ https://www.instagram.com/lazerow/ https://kassandmike.com/ https://shovelingshit.com/ SPONSORS: NOTION: https://www.notion.com/dsh LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ The views and opinions expressed by guests on Digital Social Hour are solely those of the individuals appearing on the podcast and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the host, Sean Kelly, or the Digital Social Hour team. While we encourage open and honest conversations, Sean Kelly is not legally responsible for any statements, claims, or opinions made by guests during the show. Listeners are encouraged to form their own opinions and consult professionals for advice where appropriate. Content on this podcast is for entertainment and informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, medical, financial, or professional advice.#entrepreneurlife #selfimprovement #selfdevelopment #moneymindset #business
Chapter 1: What is the significance of focus for entrepreneurs?
You do something over and over and over again, good things happen. Find something that you're good at and do it again and again and again.
Chapter 2: How do Kass and Mike manage their personal and professional relationship?
Yeah. It's rare that your passion will make the money that you need to afford your life. Keep the passion, but figure out what your talents are and then surround yourself with people who fill in the gaps and then supplement your life with the things you love.
All right, guys, we got Cass and Mike here in Las Vegas. Thanks for having us. Let's do this thing. You guys have accomplished a lot. Let's go. You've been working together for 28 years.
Chapter 3: What are the best techniques for maintaining focus?
Yes. You have to remind us. Yeah. Well done though. 28 is big. That's very hard to do while you're dating or now married. We love each other and we like each other. So we laugh a lot and we fight well. We get over our arguments.
We don't take anything personally. I think that really helps in our relationship. personal side of things, but like at work, like we're just like, Hey, I didn't like that. Or like, you got to do this better. Why didn't you do this? And we've taken that home, which has really been effective.
Chapter 4: What investment strategies do Kass and Mike advocate for?
Yes. It's very aggressive. So are you, I'm not passive aggressive. What he's saying is I'm aggressive, aggressive. I appreciate it. You're more direct. Yeah. You need that. Yeah. Everyone needs it. Just communicate. Yeah. Communication's important. How do you not let the business bleed over into the personal though? That's super impressive to me. Well, it's hard sometimes.
I think our love language is work, right? Like if you look at our book, it's basically our love story while it's also a love story to all entrepreneurs. And I, we met, we were dating while we were working. We started our first company while we were dating and we both, I think have the same values and work ethic and that's our love language. Yeah, because a lot of people say not to mix the two.
I know. I just think if you can't work with people you love, who do you work with? People you hate, like people you can't stand. But you can't have overlapping skills. That's a key here. We don't, but we don't think, we think that if you are in different lanes, it's much better than if we overlap and we're in very different lanes.
That's true, because sometimes you'll work with a close friend, you have similar skill sets, and then you guys just... Well, you fight or you have like paralysis of decisions.
You can't do anything because you're both micromanaging the process or you both want your input heard, as opposed to like clear divisions, which is what Mike and I have. We just know each other and we know who has the expertise in that lane. And I was talking to Mike out there. It seems like you guys are grinding as much as you had in the past. We're working harder than we've ever worked.
Which is insane. And we love it. And we love it. Yeah, because you guys had, you know, $750 million exit and no slowing down. No, no, no, no.
It's a lot easier now because our kids are older and we're healthier. At the end of Buddy Media, which we sold, you know, to Salesforce. We're close to a billion dollars. We weren't very healthy. I weighed 40 pounds more. I was not the best version of myself. We are with older kids. We're able to kind of focus on ourself a little more, which is hard for entrepreneurs.
As you know, I mean, look at how you're hustling.
i'm getting more picky on what i say no to yeah because i'm getting so many opportunities now but if i said yes to all of them i wouldn't i'd be too distracted i think it's one of the key cheat codes from the books focus yeah like focus use how to use it as a superpower and the entrepreneurs who focus who know how to say no and know what to say yes to can do whatever they want um most entrepreneurs can do anything they want they just can't do everything
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Chapter 5: How do Kass and Mike approach company culture?
And oftentimes you're tripped up by stuff that you didn't focus on that you should have. And so focus as, you know, we've been over a hundred investments into other entrepreneurs and we support them every day. And the question I ask every time is what are your top three priorities? And if they don't know it, they're fucked. Damn.
If they don't know it, then their organization doesn't know it. Their investors don't know it. The market...
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doesn't know it but if an entrepreneur is like you know we've got to sell got to build product got to service it with excellence got to build you know culture that scales like then you're like oh this person has their stuff together yeah because a lot of people focus on the wrong things right in business especially Or they don't focus at all.
Like we're in a world where you could do anything like, and you've inbound through like. And it's scope creep. I mean, you know, all these entrepreneurs, everything's cool. Everything's the newest thing and they can't really draw a circle around what is it that they're going to build, right? Or what is it that they're trying to come up with? But focus is the thing they have to.
Yeah. Yeah. I've never struggled with focus and work ethic. And a lot of people are like way smarter than me, but I feel like those two skills are what got me to a pretty good level. I am definitely not the smartest in the room, but I can outwork anyone. Cass is smarter. Wait, wait, wait. You can't outwork me. You cannot outwork me. I love it.
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Chapter 6: What is their perspective on the necessity of college education?
You cannot. I used to be able to. I don't work as hard. You lost a step? I did. But Cass is, yeah, Cass is a monster. That's good. You guys compliment each other well. Yes, very well. I'm in a similar relationship. My wife, my soon to be wife is way smarter than me. It's a way to go. It is a way to go. Punch up. You're really smart. You got to punch up.
Yeah. No, it keeps me grounded. It keeps me, she keeps good people around me. Yeah. Yeah. I always love smart women. None of them like me. That was the problem. But yes, smart, strong women, nothing better. Yeah. I'm a sapiosexual actually. Do you know what that is? I have heard of it, but I cannot tell you what it is. Basically it's if you're attracted to intelligence. Yeah.
Chapter 7: How do they evaluate potential investments?
So in friendships and in dating, that's my number one quality. Like that comes before looks, it comes before everything else. I love that. Maybe that's what you are also. It definitely wasn't the look. It wasn't the cross eyes. It was definitely the mind. It was definitely the mind. I like that.
Yeah. Yeah. Look into that, man. You might need a little diagnosis or not. Yeah. Let's go. Good therapy. So you guys have invested in over a hundred companies, you said. Yeah. That's insane. Is it still actively going on right now?
Chapter 8: What challenges do entrepreneurs face today?
Yes, for sure. We're addicted to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship and companies and going from zero to one and then one to a hundred. Not all of them go from one to a hundred. Some of them die, but we think there's nothing more exciting. It's our sport.
Yeah. And there's beauty in the struggle, right? J Cole said it. Our son, actually our oldest son has this tattoo, you know, beauty in the struggle and there's nothing more we'd rather do. And there's nothing more miserable. than being an entrepreneur because, you know, all the shit that's thrown, you know, you know what it's like your way every single day. There's no perfect day.
I don't think we've ever met an entrepreneur who's like, yeah, this is easy. You're telling me. Or, oh, I have enough sleep and I work out every day and everything's great. My kids are happy. I'm totally thriving. That's not what entrepreneurs say and they love it.
Yeah, he got two extremes. I just measured my stress levels yesterday and they were off the charts. Would you do cortisol measurement? It was a crazy test. He's coming on after you guys if you want to do it. Basically, you speak into his computer and it measures everything. Like technology and AI is just so interesting to me. That's awesome. Yeah, it's insane.
I'm sure my cortisol levels are always high. Yeah, my adrenals were high and everything. All from my voice. Like he knew every single organ that was having an issue. That's crazy. Crazy. That's what I'm excited about.
I'd be interested to see if you could do that and then overlay it to like Pernuvo. I took a Pernuvo. Right, and then like do full body scan. And then blood work. And then blood work. So I did all these tests. I put it into ChatGBT and asked for like a plan on how to fix all my issues within three seconds. Yeah, that's the best. I mean, before you had to go to five doctors in person.
Who would say no. Yeah, they would give you Western medicine. It's working, whatever you're doing. You look great. Thank you. You guys too, though. Thank you. For 28 years of hard work. Yeah. For 51 years on this earth. She's a little older, so she had a few more years. I'm 54. Okay. Yeah. Let's go. It's just a fact. It's not editorial. Whatever.
What percentage are you guys shooting out of those 100 investments? Because you hear these crazy stats with VCs, one out of every 10 or whatever.
So we don't believe in that. We believe like everything we do, we want to do well. And we don't assume some are going out of business. Having said that, you know, we've had... Out of those hundred, about 35 exits, there are about 10 of them that are transformative. Those are companies like Scopely, which we seeded, which sold for $5 billion, and companies that haven't exited.
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