Entrepreneurs are working on projects right now that will disrupt and transform our lives in the next 5 years. So how do you thrive and even capitalize on all this disruption? For special guest Jay Samit, the answer is to disrupt yourself first.
3 Takeaways:
1. Be the best at what you do - or the only one doing it
2. View the world not as a series of obstacles but as problems that can be solved
3. Success doesn’t make you happy; happiness makes you successful
You only have to be right for a nanosecond to become a billionaire. -Jay Samit
In this very special interview episode, serial entrepreneur, digital innovator, industry disruptor and author Jay Samit joins us to share insights into how to capitalize on the coming disruptions and the mindset and strategies behind his repeated success.
We start by discussing how crowdfunding and the sharing economy are disrupting real estate finance and even the size of homes. Jay also shares what he believes is the most significant societal change affecting real estate today - women delaying the start of families.
Jay then shares his prediction for transportation (which generates more backlash than of his other predictions). He also reveals a strategy you can use to break down the value chain of any industry to uncover hidden opportunities, and shares why you only need to be right for a nanosecond to become a billionaire.
Next, Jay shares a daily exercise to create a ‘deal flow’ in your life that rivals the best VC firms, why you should kill your ideas until you find the Zombie Idea, and how most big disruptions don’t start with an “Aha moment.”
We finish up with a couple questions for Jay in which he outlines how to give yourself an unfair advantage in predicting disruption, what motivates him to keep achieving, the key to success as an entrepreneur and much more.
Show Highlights:
2:10 The secret to Jay’s repeated success - Looking at the world not as a series of obstacles but as problems that can be solved
2:35 The most significant trend in residential real estate - Women delaying families - How the sharing economy will affect home sizes
4:35 Crowdfunding and real estate
6:50 You only have to be right for a nanosecond to become a billionaire
7:23 Jay’s statement about the future of transportation that generated the most hate of any of his change predictions
11:04 How to look at a business and break down the value chain to find where the most value is made and could be unlocked
15:00 The daily exercise that creates a “deal flow” in your life that rivals the deal flow at billion dollar VC firms
19:00 The misconception of the “Aha moment” and why you should kill your idea instead of nurturing it
23:08 How to use Other People’s Money (OPM) by finding businesses who can benefit from you solving a problem
25:20 They key to success with VC firms - Learning how to speak in a way so that they want to give money to you. It’s the only test in your life where you get to write the questions
27:38 Be the best at what you do, or the only one doing it
28:22 How to have an unfair advantage in predicting change - Why you must commit to a lifetime of learning
30:27 How Jay stays motivated and why it actually gets easier to achieve as you develop your track record
34:10 Your career will be disrupted - Why the illusion of security robs ambition
36:34 Success doesn’t make you happy; happiness makes you successful
38:58 The definition of an entrepreneur
Toward the end of the interview, Jay challenged us to write down 3 problems every day to uncover disruption ideas, and then pitch our best disruption ideas to him on a future episode. We’re looking forward to going through that process and having Jay back on the show! If you’d like to join us in the challenge, download Jay’s 40 page companion workbook here.
Guest Bio
Jay Samit is a serial entrepreneur, intrapreneur, innovator and pioneer in the music, video distribution, social media and eCommerce space. His background includes stints as head of Digital Distribution at EMI, adjunct professor at USC, senior management roles at Sony and Universal Studios and taking the video chat service ooVoo to over 100 million users. He currently serves as the CEO of SeaChange Int’l, and recently released the book Disrupt You!
Visit JaySamit.com to receive a free copy of the 40 page Disrupt You! companion workbook.