10x Growth Strategies: Barry Stamos on Building a Top Advisory Team

Jason Kirby (00:00.054) get it all dialed in and then as always we can always just like chop up bits and pieces if we want to stop something you know it's like has to be stopped and start back over.

Barry Stamos (00:05.966) Great.

Jason Kirby (00:11.026) Everyone welcome back to fundraising demystified today. We're talking everything about advisors and mentors when it comes to building your company. And today I have Barry Stamos with us. Founder of. Co-founder of. Wow. Supernova. Yeah. So co-founder and CEO of supernova. Welcome to the show, Barry.

Barry Stamos (00:27.33) CEO and founder of Supernova.

Barry Stamos (00:34.37) Well, thanks for having me. Excited to be here today.

Jason Kirby (00:36.48) So Barry, you come to us as a 3X Exit a Founder, one of those companies actually being a unicorn. And I think it's safe to say that as much as you contributed to building these companies and making them a reality, you've now set your life on helping other founders get access to great advisors, mentors, and that's what you're building at Supernova. But to kind of help the audience understand a little bit more about you, your background, tell us a little bit about... kind of your journey as a founder and ultimately what led you to exiting from a unicorn.

Barry Stamos (01:10.488) Yeah, so it's been quite the journey. I will begin by just acknowledging that having the right people supporting you is everything. And my first startup, I was a total newbie, didn't know what I was doing. It was in the email space and it was definitely a space race. I quickly added many advisors to my PowerPoint slide thinking that that would impress others and I would get VC funding as a result of having just win by association. That was not a good move. I ended up giving away a lot of equity and had a lot of disappointments in terms of people not coming. Through for me. I felt like I was walking on eggshells like please. Can you make an introduction? Please? Can I just you know, have a little bit of your time? Meanwhile looking back in hindsight the equity that I gave away was worth a fortune and so we ended up We ended up actually getting acquired having an IPO selling to Oracle for 1. 6 billion. So yeah, you learn a thing or two along the way Suffice to say my second startup.

I thought I was the shit.

Jason Kirby (01:55.936) You

Barry Stamos (02:20.538) legit and yeah, had to call it quits after about four years of raising capital and not being able to find product market fit. so humbling experience, you know, with my tail between my legs, I ventured on with a chip on my shoulder, you know, was I just a one hit wonder? And, you know, like so many founders, know, serial founders, you know, just kept at it. through sure will and being relentless and resourceful was able to have an another exit and then another started getting really into advising not because, you know, more to give back and pay it forward and had this like aha moment with, you know, one of the companies that I had been advising that ended up just hitting incredible success and then another and then another and just realizing, my goodness, like magic happens when. when we come together. So many founders are so on their own and there's such a big opportunity for us to team up, like all-star teams, like Olympic teams. mean, we're powerful creators, manifestors, and magic happens when we team up. And so that was the impetus for what is now Supernova.

Jason Kirby (03:35.541) So let's talk about that. The founder journey is often quite lonely. And I had a very similar experience. My startup that we sold at Walmart, we stacked with advisors because we thought that's what you had to do when you're a first time founder. And yeah, we overpaid dramatically on those deals. So I know the pain, but kind of walk me through like a little bit about this journey of like, how do you find, manage, and engage advisors?

Barry Stamos (04:05.25) Yeah, well, first I'll just say most founders really suck at it, including me back in the day. I mean, like investors, it's like we just reach out to whoever's in close proximity, right? It could be friend of a friend. It could be, you're an investor. Join me as an advisor. I mean, there's a bunch of investors that like to double dip in that way, you know, and get a little more equity. And that's not to say that they're not qualified or could be or would be great advisors. I think, you know, there's a number of major breakthroughs that I've had and that we're having within Supernova and learning what effectively allows you to operationalize or maximize an advisory team. And one of them is to treat it no differently than how you treat your management team. So, you know, does everybody have clearly defined roles and responsibilities? Are they being held accountable to OKRs or KPIs? And are they operating from a place of, you know, these are, you in our instance within Supernova, these are all successfully exited founders. There's hundreds of us. And so if we can operate as if we were co-founders of the company, that doesn't mean we are. We certainly don't have those decision rights. But like if we're approaching it with that kind of, you know, sincerity, then there's a difference. There's just a distinction for, you know, how, you know, who shows up, how we show up, and especially how we play together and win together. I will also, yeah, go ahead.

Jason Kirby (05:38.645) So, well, I just wanted to say like going back to your experience with your first company and kind of stacking the board with advisors, like maybe some good ones, maybe some bad ones, like what was the success story? Like, were there some that stood out that helped you understand what makes a good advisor? Can you share that story?

Barry Stamos (05:56.588) Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, definitely. So I would say that first and foremost, with my first venture, the ones that showed up, mean, showing up is half the battle. you know, having a regular reoccurring cadence to calls, going beyond just armchair gurus where I ask for advice and they bestow wisdom, right? It's and verse like actually getting hands on and, you know, being collaborative. you know, here is something, here's a problem I'm focused on right now that's a blocker. you know, or an impediment to my growth or success and, you know, not only telling me how they would, you know, approach it, but actively supporting me in approaching it. mean, having someone demo something is a very different learning experience, it's experiential. And so, you know, real teachers, I mean, to transfer wisdom is wonderful and incredibly valuable. you know, at the early stage, you know, it was helpful to have more generalists and then in the scale up stage, it was very helpful to have specialists. So I started kind of learning how to focus each advisor on a swim lane. you know, so I had an advisor specifically focused on growth and sales. had another one that was just a master in marketing who oversaw and mentored my know, CMO, had another one that helped us, you know, with, fundraising or product. mean, it's just, it's like having that kind of, you know, support system in place and having an objective third party who understands the business was also really key. I mean, I found not in the first venture, but in the third, you know, it's very different when I'm getting counsel or advice from someone who doesn't understand the day to day dynamics of the

Barry Stamos (07:57.486) company and actually their advice can be sometimes more harmful than helpful if they don't truly understand the nature of things. So pattern recognition is also a powerful power. this isn't to say, I mean, the board has its place, the management team has its place. Advisors though, especially in our instance with Supernova, successfully exited founders can... can just be absolute game changers at every stage of the journey, if wielded properly.

Jason Kirby (08:30.303) So. I'm going to pause real quick. is just being you at the set. So what I, what, what usually resonates with the audience is like a very specific story of I brought on, you said growth advisor. Okay. What did that growth advisor do and how did you manage them? And, what was the input outcome? How did you structure the deal? Like, how do we make this like a how to for the founders listening? do you, do you have an example in mind that you're.

Barry Stamos (08:35.01) Yeah. Yeah.

Barry Stamos (08:39.566) Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Barry Stamos (08:56.62) Yeah. Yeah.

Barry Stamos (09:02.222) I have an example, I'd rather give it from me being an advisor. think I can talk more, I can give a better example, I think that way. I can try that. Do you want to ask an example, like do you want to say, can you give an example of like, you know, how you advised a company, you know, or something like that? Would that be okay?

Jason Kirby (09:17.629) Okay. Yeah, I'll do that. All right. So, I'll because I'll be asking you as an advisor and we were just talking about you hiring advisors. Let's I'll bring it up in a little bit. All right. So the next question I want to bring up is like, when is the right time? So I'll switch into that now. Okay. So when is the right time for a founder to consider advisor? You mentioned early on is more generalist later on it's more specialist. Like when is the right time? When, how do you advise founders on when to go out and get an advisor?

Barry Stamos (09:24.086) Yeah, yeah, yeah, like, yeah. Yeah, okay.

Barry Stamos (09:47.436) Yeah, so mean, Jason, obviously every founder's hero's journey is personal and it's up to them. What I will say is that there's going to be over three million startups that launched this year, likely more now because of AI. One in five will die within a year. 90 plus percent will die within five years. only 9 % will ever hit a million dollars in revenue a year. And while we all dream of creating maybe a unicorn, not all of us, many founders, there's only 1,500 in the world today and even fewer kind of dekakorns. so the odds are obviously stacked against us as creators and problem solvers for a better tomorrow. I... I personally believe that the best time to bring on wise counsel is yesterday, right? mean, whether it's like Luke Skywalker and Yoda, like bringing on a mentor, bring on a coach. mean, all the top CEOs from Bezos to Gates onward all say everybody needs a coach. Well, everybody needs an advisor. And you likely need more than one advisor because one person can't cover everything, all of the myriad of blind spots and all of the accelerants and proven playbooks and lots of things that advisors bring to the table. Their network, their resources, their experiences, their expertise.

Barry Stamos (11:19.128) I would say as soon as possible, if you're an early stage company, then it's critical you bring on an advisor, because it can literally save you weeks, months, years, and can be the difference of you finding product market fit or not, or finding funding or not. Many startups I found, especially early stage, myself back in the day included, sucked at financials and numbers, and realizing that the universe is mathematics, and so are startups. And then many scale ups. man, there's million dollar decisions that get to be made monthly. And it's great to have the council, board and others around you and advisors can be absolutely vital and really make sure that we're reducing risks and upping returns. And so yeah, I would say that it isn't a question of if it's, it's less a question of like, it's like everybody should have an advisory board. should be actively being mentored and guided and really from advisors, the role is well beyond kind of part CEO coach, part consultant, part fractal executive, part. Who do I call when I'm having an existential crisis as a founder? Because it happens frequently. mean, we're founders and so we're used to everything that needs to be done, taking the trash out, like whatever needs to be done. And there's plenty of opportunities to do that if you're showing up.

Jason Kirby (12:49.173) So from your perspective now, so you've now had multiple exits, you're now advising several companies and have had multiple experiences doing so. What's a success story that you can share working with founders and helping them achieve their goals?

Barry Stamos (13:08.982) Yeah, yeah. one example is a company that was based out of Phoenix, Arizona, and actually was, they believe they're the first Casper started weeks later. So. mattress and a box companies. And so and that company is tough to needle. Casper went on to raise I think over 350 plus million dollars. We raised zero, we bootstrapped the company. And I was a founding advisor. JT and Tehi were the co-founders. Together ramped to 250 million in annual recurring revenue within five years. Not only was the growth, you know, trajectory impressive and had a lot to do by the way of Really understanding who our customers were so we realized you early on that we were striking a chord with minimalists and those were our super Super fans if you will and we're finding kind of evidence of that on reddit and elsewhere. So really understood our audience Really were you know among the first to leverage social proof and ratings reviews were on the know top rated mattresses on Amazon and in other channels and so Now there are a number of ingredients that kind of went into a successful formula with that company, one of the other things that I'm really proud of is that changed the game in terms of mattress returns. So previously when you would return a mattress, they would go into a landfill. You know, they actually cleaned the mattresses and then gave them to orphanages so kids could have beds. then when the volume increased substantially, was able to give it to Goodwill and others. And that's actually

Barry Stamos (14:55.34) shifted the whole mattress industry that now is following suit. Not everybody does it and they should. And so, you know, that's a success story. The company was sold to Sirta Simmons Betting, which is the largest player in the space. So, you every founder's dream of a successful exit. And then sadly, P. E. didn't get it across the finish line of an IPO and ended up filing for bankruptcy just a few years ago. And so the two co-founders that had the largest share in Sir Desemons' betting, which it was a merger, not an acquisition, they still did well. We all did well. All the employees, everybody did well and could have been, should have been, would have been like much bigger, right? And so, you know, great story of an example of what's possible with

Jason Kirby (15:34.452)

Barry Stamos (15:48.782) incredibly brilliant co-founders, attacking a problem, real innovation, incredible growth trajectory, awesome advisory. And even when you do everything right, there still is a cautionary tale for founders because what if, of course, they ponder, what if they would have not sold it and they would have kept the golden goose and. you know, continue to have full ownership of their company and be able to continue its trajectory or diversification. So, yeah, so many lessons go into every single story, if you will, and experience. And one of the things that I've kind of come into an awakening around is that each one of us as founders goes through this incredible story and journey, and yet there's not kind of a collective consciousness. Like there's no place for us to pour in our our insights and our wisdom and these cautionary tales to benefit the next generation. we're stepping up and showing up as advisors in various kind of micro circles, there's not yet been a macro opportunity to do that and really come together in a full force.

Jason Kirby (17:06.175) So how did the tough and needle advisor, so from you being an advisor, like how did that relationship happen?

Barry Stamos (17:12.406) Yeah, so that relationship is special because Dehi, the co-founder, actually worked with me. I ran globally Axiom's strategy innovation practice. And so we hired Dehi out of university. I remember his first day showing up on the job and he was asking like 40 questions. It was like a chihuahua at my ankle. I was so annoyed. I'm like, God, this is... new hire student, know, it's going to be painful, you know, like, and he came back after the weekend on Monday and said, Barry, I just want to make sure I understood you correctly with your answers and, and revealed this like 60 page PowerPoint deck that we ended up using that, you know, those slides for the next couple years, very successfully to grow. So we built a $350 million practice and so from scratch and so he's, you know, he's extraordinary. You know one of the best I've worked with and so when he decided to start a new company He asked me to be a co-founder. I said I can't get excited about mattresses. I'm sorry if it's a smart bet I'm in if it's just a mattress company. I'm out. We please be an advisor Begrudge sure, you know, I know it's gonna be a lot of work, but I love you and I want to support you and in your dream sure you know, I will and and you know after a few years, it became very clear to me on the advisor side, not only is it an amazing experience for me as an exited founder to pay it forward and give back and the right thing to do, it's also incredibly lucrative. mean, if you're on, know, VCs invest in 10 companies hoping that one, you know, generates a large return. If you're an advisor and you're actively stewarding capital and supporting them and growing the business, and you're good at it and you bring in other people who are good at it, then your odds of winning increase dramatically. And so, and there's a comp model that works really well there. So yeah, I would encourage more, many, many people that are advising look at it like, you know, it's just something I do on the side for fun. you know, I would.

Barry Stamos (19:26.796) I would like to challenge that and say that if we got as serious about advising as we do anything and everything else, it's an incredibly effective way for us to play team and back a worthy dream.

Barry Stamos (19:52.034) I lost your audio. Yeah it's okay.

Jason Kirby (19:52.361) Sorry, that was muted. Yeah.

Jason Kirby (19:52.361) So I want to pause for a second. So we'll cut this part out again. I'm asking you question, then you go into like a really long. Yeah. It's going to be really hard to get snippets out of it. So, so what I want you to do when you, when I ask these questions, try to tie in a story.

Barry Stamos (20:04.728) I'm going into a longer version. Yeah, yeah, okay. All right. Okay. Yeah. All right.

Jason Kirby (20:18.453) you know, try to like, you know, traditional storytelling, like, you know, who's the protagonist of the story? What's the challenge they had to overcome? And what was that? What was the result? Um, and, you know, and then I'm, if I catch you kind of like running on, I'm going to go like this. I'll do this. And then you wrap up the point. Cause I don't want to interrupt you because then that looks bad for both of us. Um, so just going to do this. It'll, you know, recognize that you need to wrap up the point, but remember the story arc. just like.

Barry Stamos (20:21.73) Yep. Yep.

Barry Stamos (20:27.31) Okay.

Barry Stamos (20:32.844) Yeah, yeah. You can just pause me.

Jason Kirby (20:40.79) Yeah, that's fine.

Barry Stamos (20:40.79) Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Jason Kirby (20:48.085) You who's the, who's the protagonist? What was their objective? What challenge did they have and what was the result? No, it was good, but just, you kept adding. Yeah. Like if you would have just like, tighten it up. And then also remember we're selling, we're selling founders, the idea of hiring advisors, not becoming advisors. So that last, that last day was about like, you can make a lot of money being an advisor. Uh, and we want to be more about.

Barry Stamos (20:51.19) Yeah.

Barry Stamos (21:09.206) Yeah. No, I gotcha.

Barry Stamos (21:14.702) Yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. Well, do you want to? Yeah. So hold on. Let me bring up your questions because I feel like you got your questions were pretty like

Jason Kirby (21:23.055) That's what I want to try to bring back to the conversation. just say, I've only asked like two or three.

Barry Stamos (21:26.157) Yeah, like.

Barry Stamos (21:29.558) Yeah, yeah, sorry. I can be more ninja. I see where we are in time. Yeah, yeah, no, I just brought up your question. like, yeah, like trusting their own instincts and like, you know, it's, okay, I gotcha.

Jason Kirby (21:45.279) So let's talk about what's the best way to structure and manage advisor relationships. right. So Barry, how does a founder manage an advisor relationship to lead to be the most successful possible relationship they can have?

Barry Stamos (21:49.038) Okay.

Barry Stamos (22:01.324) just pause you again. That's different than like the comp structure, right? yeah. I'm just saying if you want it, yeah. That's, that's, you want to just read that in the question? Cause I think that'll be good. Otherwise I'm talking about comp on.

Jason Kirby (22:06.741) No, I'm talking to, no, give me a comment. It's like, how do you manage a relationship? How do you manage the communication back and How do you compensate them?

Jason Kirby (22:19.903) Okay. All right.

Jason Kirby (22:19.903) So, so Barry, how does a founder set up a relation, an advisor relationship for success from the beginning when it comes to negotiating the scope of work, how they're going to be compensated and how they're going to be measured against performance?

Barry Stamos (22:37.122) Yeah, that's an excellent question. I mean, traditionally the role of the advisor is allocating some percentage of equity based on some vesting schedule. So, Founder Institute, others will offer up some formula. So, maybe the advisor gets a 10th of a point vested over a year or three year vest schedule with some... Assumed amount of hours, you know allocated I can share with you that in my experience that doesn't work Doesn't work for the advisors doesn't work for startups What? Is much more effective is aligning on? Actual like merit so having know, success factors. So I know, you know, as an exited founder that I show up differently when I'm working with a company and, you know, sure there's equity and I want to grow the value of that equity. And if I can, you know, have an equity accelerator based on bringing in, you know, seven, eight, know, nine figure deals for a scale up or, or there's a, you know, an opportunity for me to help place, you know, key executive talent, you know, there's just gonna be a distinction in terms of my level of motivation, engagement, and ultimately impact. And so at Supernova, we like to make quarterly distributions to advisors based on performance. So we will onboard advisors and measure each one effectively and then make allocations based on who showed up and had the biggest impact. And those that do get paid more those that don't, don't. And together we're creating value as a team. And so I think that's a really good model for founders to follow.

Jason Kirby (24:31.721) When it comes to like setting the objectives of the impact of that advisor, because you mentioned something earlier on of like, okay, you have your growth advisor, you have maybe your team management or culture advisor of like how to scale your team or these problems that you're going to face as a founder that you might not have exposure to. And you're kind of picking these advisors. When it comes to like sourcing, so obviously there's Supernova. We'll talk more about Supernova and how you guys set up. the, this kind of like as a service for, for setting up these kinds of teams. But as a founder is just like trying to figure things out, how do they go about finding these advisors?

Barry Stamos (25:10.54) Yeah, so great question. I mean, just like talent, it makes a lot of sense to be clear on the need. So I would go need first problem, opportunity driven, if you will. So really clearly carving out like what are their biggest challenges right now as a company or what are our biggest opportunities as a company? And once you're really clear on that. having an opportunity then to share that. It could be with the board, it could be with key management so that there's an opportunity to get a little clearer on what we're sourcing someone to come in to help us solve. And you may or may not know the value of that or the full impact of that, but that also could affect, if you will, the caliber or the credentials of who you're looking for. mean, as an advisor, obviously, as a founder, I'd be looking for somebody who's ideally been in my industry and have solved that problem repeatedly can come in at a level of mastery. And while there's a running joke, like I can't play the same lottery number that you did to become a unicorn. It's like, what they can bring is a lot of, not only good questions after listening and guidance and counsel, but hopefully, they're bringing proven partners to the table. So this is who I've hired previously that got this done for me, that's showed up successfully. And so now instead of making a critical hire that doesn't work out, that sets me back on a trajectory, six to nine months, I can go with a go-to resource who's delivered time and time again for somebody else or a critical intro to an investor at a time of need where I'm short on cashflow or I don't have the runway or a game-changing partnership. can open up a new channel for distribution or fulfillment or supplier, what have you. These are the ongoing opportunities. I also would just acknowledge that founders get to be really clear with their asks. So ask for what you need. Be unreasonable with your request. Advisors can acknowledge, well, I can help you, I can help you. But if you're incredibly

Barry Stamos (27:30.251) with the ask and even if it's aggressive it's like it's a challenge and so there's an opportunity to either show up or not.

Jason Kirby (27:36.981) Who would be an example of an aggressive ask?

Barry Stamos (27:40.334) Yeah, like an aggressive ask would be, join my company. Right? mean, you know, asking an advisor, you know, will you join my company? And many advisors, you know, aren't full time on the next venture. They might be available as a fractal executive or an interim role. And, you know, they might be able to take on a day a week to actually, you know, get hands on and quarterback something and lead something and prove something and

Jason Kirby (27:45.589) you

Barry Stamos (28:08.846) and reveal the potential value of something and then from that place justify why the company would invest deeper in it and then they could advise, then they can go back to being an advisor as that grows in terms of, and grows and thrives. And so, yeah, in many ways they can land and expand opportunities that otherwise wouldn't be possible. And so that would be an. example of aggressive ask. The other aggressive ask is, I mean as an example, when I was raising money for a company I was starting in Miami, I reached out to a local founder who had just completed his round and I said I have three questions for you. Who wrote the biggest checks locally the fastest? Would you accept a check from them again? If so, would you mind making an introduction? And that led to two super angels investing a half a million dollars in my round within 35 days. you know, being really like other founders might be shy to ask that question, you know, they might not be as aggressive and, you know, and saying, Hey, can you do this for me? mean, I'm a giver and also I like to receive it's, it's, it's, you know, it's important to have that nature to feel long time in my life and my work and in my personal life to to realize that it's really important to allow both the giving and the receiving to flow fully.

Jason Kirby (29:36.533) Yeah. And I think that's something a lot of founders get kind of fearful of to make them ask. So many people just don't, you know, they get scared. Oh, maybe they don't want it. It's like, don't make that decision for them. You know, let, you know, ask the question and then they'll tell you if they don't want it, but don't fear the rejection, you know, but the missed opportunity could be much worse than the rejection.

Barry Stamos (29:55.638) It's a huge opportunity. Yeah. And I see it all the time. Even when we're supporting founders, like, you we're not a broker dealer, so we don't, you know, we don't raise money, but we're helping founders with their, you know, like. like in meetings and like we'll be in a meeting and it'll be clear that they're not going to invest. And this is a connected VC that has access to other portfolio companies and lots of, you know, a partner ecosystem. And so there's so many other asks if they, if they just put, you know, them on the table and it's sometimes it's really easy for us advisors to just send an email and make a connection that's game changing, especially for, you know, startups at various stages. And so yeah, it's the worst thing that can happen as we say no.

Jason Kirby (30:37.333) So what are some of the advisor horror stories that you've come across that founders had to deal with?

Barry Stamos (30:45.262) well, I mean, we were advising a company. Yeah, last year, actually, where an advisor ended up deciding to have a midlife midlife crisis, basically, and I won't go into the details, but kept kind of promising things and, you know, and then kept failing. And it was it was critical. It was absolutely like critical that they came through on what they had committed to doing. And so not only was that a poor reflection of them, but upon us and it really set the founder back. As founders, we rely tremendously on our... people and our teams and especially in early stages, if people don't come through, can be devastating. so, you know, everything from founders like from advisors not showing up, you know, promising things that they don't deliver on, you know, probably one of the worst things that I see, unfortunately, more regularly than not, is just bad advice. We tend to give a lot of really bad advice and it's not out of like, that's not the intention, right? But like just because you did something a certain way and it worked for you doesn't mean that's at all going to work for the founder that you're sharing that, you know, counsel with. And so it's really important to understand, you know, them.

Barry Stamos (32:20.014) and their business intimately. And it's really important for founders to trust themselves. One of the most important things founders can do in working with board members or anybody that's whispering in their ear is to discern is this truth for me? Is this something that I want to embrace and act upon? mean, trusting their sixth sense, so to speak, as well as their gut, mean, really, really important. And the best advisors, I believe, are mentors in that way. They're helping the founders and the management team, leadership team come into a evolved state of maturity in knowing how to level up and skill up and be in a really good place to do it. discernment, making better, smarter decisions that ultimately lead to more consistent and positive outcomes.

Jason Kirby (33:20.757) So I think this definitely remains true with me. It's like, I always respect the founders that I work with and advise the most when they listen to, they ask me for my advice and they take that as like a, as a nugget of information. And then they could cross compare that to like five other people they asked for advice from. And I find that those are the founders that ultimately have a clear vision and a clear, clear path is when they have multiple advisors at the table that they can go to ask for an opinion.

Barry Stamos (33:30.232) Yeah.

Jason Kirby (33:50.037) and then take the pieces of all those opinions and chart their own path. I found that to be successful for my own self as well as, you know, deals that I've been involved with and founders that have been involved with that, you know, take that path.

Barry Stamos (34:04.778) Absolutely. We run a meeting we call a spark where all the advisors are present and we're there to focus on solving one problem, making one really important decision and capitalizing on one key opportunity. And the best to me is when there's an open debate, an open discussion, an open debate, everyone can challenge one another and ultimately come through with the founder being in a good position to, now that we've kind of talked about it and and explored all angles, they now get to make the decision that they're going to ultimately live with and hopefully it's the right one for them.

Jason Kirby (34:41.545) Well, let's take that as an opportunity to lean in more on what you do at Supernova. Can you give the audience a quick high level on how Supernova is structured and how founders take advantage of it?

Barry Stamos (34:51.296) Yeah, so Supernova is... Hundreds of successfully exited founders that have come together as Tiger teams to back other founders dreams. I like to say and we do that by serving as mentors, advisors and investors in companies that are at the intersection of kind of profit and purpose. So really looking for mission driven companies are actually solving real problems in the world that can positively impact the lives of others. And so we typically begin with and application and what we call a star. So the company, depending on where they are in their stage and what their biggest opportunities or challenges are, will match them up with a star, a successfully exited founder who specifically can address those areas in a timely and valuable fashion. And assuming that's working, we then have an opportunity to layer on additional stars to create an all-star trained team that really helps accelerate key milestones. milestones and having what we hope will be an oversized impact in terms of value together. We also within Supernova have a fund and so for certain companies we typically will back between 10 and 12 per year. Scale-ups, so they're typically doing five million plus in revenue and they're in a good place and we're able to take them to an even better place by giving them the full support that that we can and do bring to the table.

Jason Kirby (36:28.885) Yeah. And I find that to be a fascinating model of like, not just having this ecosystem of amazing exited founders that all have their bespoke expertise that founders can now tap a definitive credible source in terms of sourcing advisors. Cause you know, it's one thing to maybe stumble across them in the, you know, the wild or to maybe get your rifle out and try to hunt, hunt one down and lock it down, but to kind of come to supernova and kind of know that you have vetted access to advisors. that have been in your shoes, have built companies, scaled companies and exited to be able to come in as your advisory squad. We'll call it your spark, as you had mentioned, to help advise founders. guess, and it's also interesting you can actually invest in these companies. So, you know, being a fund on top of that service side, I think is the unique angle for founders to take into consideration, especially those scale-ups, as you mentioned. So when it comes to the matching of an advisor to a founder, like what's your process? What's your secret sauce there?

Barry Stamos (37:36.044) Yeah, so we run an analysis akin to... elite VC kind of due diligence. So we score every company as an exited founder team. We've also brought in some pretty elite VCs like Tim Chang's part of our crew, two time Midas List VC from founding partner Mayfield. I there's just some incredible people that are contributing to this, to Supernova. Once we have the kind of... version of the truth. mean founders don't always like to hear it, but I think one of the best things we can do is give them, you know, the truth in terms of like you're not ready for institutional capital or you know, or you're, you know, you're gonna likely fail if you don't shore up, you know, these things fast and you know, some founders have a good finger on the pulse of those things. Others don't and these are blind spots. So we're giving them a complimentary assessment, essentially a scorecard on, you know, where they they rank and what we see are the the biggest opportunities and challenges and then based on where we think we can have the most value can make an intro a match to their first star. And we then provide them with access to that exited founder or founders. They have an opportunity to talk to them and engage on complimentary calls so they can learn more about what they can bring to the table. it's kind of, we get to hear back from the founder. Yes, I think they're amazing. I would love to work with them. the exit founders also come back to us and said, yes, I believe I can add tremendous value. They were listening, I can work with this individual or no, I'm gonna pass on the opportunity. If there was a match, that's when we formally paper and engage. then based on the success of that, we can choose to unlock other levels or value over time. yeah, so.

Jason Kirby (39:23.945) and

Jason Kirby (39:34.749) And, you know, as you guys kind of provide this one-stop shop for credible vetted executive founder advisors, you know, what, what's the alternative out there right now for, for founders when they're trying to bring advisors to the table, what's some other general advice that they could potentially consider?

Barry Stamos (39:52.086) Yeah, I mean, I would say, I mean, there are many investors who also like to advise and it's also a way that they can get additional equity. And obviously if they've got skin in the game too, they can bring more than just money. They can kind of help steward that capital. and they have a vested interest in seeing it grow. And so that's a, it's an easier way to go to existing investors and form kind of an advisory board or engage advisors that way. There are, I'm very active on LinkedIn, so I find just like, you know, connecting with somebody and dropping them like a DM and saying, you know, hey, I'd love to share with you my company and I'm not looking for money, but I'm looking for, you know, mentorship or advisory, you know, like adding a member to my advisor team. Not everyone's going to respond to that. And I think you'll get, I've seen founders have some success with just direct outreach, especially if they know exactly what they're looking for and that person lines up in terms of their background and skill set. The majority of exited founders that I know do actively invest and advise. And so that's kind of been an obvious for Supernova, but also too, a founder could reach out to whomever for access that way, just directly.

Jason Kirby (41:16.309) Yeah, I think it's really coming down to knowing, knowing what the problem you are trying to solve. so we've had a good conversation talking about advisors and what they can do to a business. what would be the best way for founders to learn more about, you know, you and supernova.

Barry Stamos (41:35.756) Yeah, so. You can Google Barry Stamos right now. There's only one of me in the world. So that's an easy way to find me or, you know, connected me on LinkedIn. In terms of Supernova, Supernova's websites, the number one supernova.com supernova.com was for sale for two over $2 million. So we're holding on to that right now. It's a vanity for it would be a vanity purchase and, and not really justified, but yeah, that's, that's

Jason Kirby (41:58.869) Not quite there.

Barry Stamos (42:07.716) That's an easy way for folks to find us.

Jason Kirby (42:11.861) I appreciate that. if a founder wants to engage and what should they expect with your process?

Barry Stamos (42:18.742) Yeah, I mean, I would encourage any and every founder just to upload their deck and get a free scorecard and assessment from Supernova knowing that exited founders get to huddle and give them the honest truth regarding where their business is today and where it needs to go and how they can shore up the gap. So I think that's a really simple and easy way to leverage Supernova in a way that can benefit any and every founder.

Jason Kirby (42:48.373) So any stage founder can come in, upload their deck, and basically get a raw critique on what's next for them.

Barry Stamos (42:56.436) Absolutely. And for scale-ups, we can provide a lot of support. And so any company that's actively scaling their company... I used to think after my first exit it got easier. Or, man, once I get this capital or once I hire these resources or once I hit this MRR, I'm set. There's so many layers of complexity every stage of the journey. And so we're here to help.

Jason Kirby (43:29.985) And just for fun, who would be some of the names that you can share of the exited founders in your community or maybe some of the companies that they have built in Seoul? That'd be more notable.

Barry Stamos (43:38.434) Yeah, so I mean, Ben Lamb, who's the founding. who's the CEO and co-founder of Colossal Biosciences, who we just announced as a techicorn within four years, is not only a portfolio company of Supernova, but he's also an advisor to scale-ups within Supernova. So he's an example founder who's both been a portfolio company and could be an active advisor for your company or others. So on our website, have...

Jason Kirby (43:48.654) yeah.

Barry Stamos (44:13.102) We've got like 50 or 60, you example, successfully exited founders that you can see online, but behind the scenes, we've got hundreds and we've got a pretty large ecosystem of go to partners and agencies and providers that we've leveraged as successfully exited founders successfully to, yeah, to play the game and win. And so we're looking to bring that forward for worthy ventures that are Yeah, they're doing good by doing well.

Jason Kirby (44:46.291) Yeah. Just for example, you got like Andrew Trader who exited Zynga. you have just trying to find some couple other guns when we can site off here, senior advisor for and A at MasterCard. I previously sold this company to MasterCard, for the FinTech side, companies that have raised series B, series D, trying to find a couple other good ones to pop out here. Alex Simpson, I know him. He's a great guy.

Barry Stamos (45:01.646) Yeah,

Jason Kirby (45:16.245) running a secondary's platform and had multiple exits and had raised over 200 million. So some really, really strong A-hitters as far as the talent that people can get access to. Both investors and operators that are really active in the market, which I think is something to, you speaks volume of what you're able to attract at Supernova.

Barry Stamos (45:40.674) Yeah, I think the major difference or distinction is that there are other services that provide access. That's different than value. so, you know, this isn't just getting on the call on a call with a successfully exited founder. This is actively engaging an exited founder as an extension of your team that gets hands on that, you know, helps you achieve key milestones faster. That's the kind of difference, if you will. And so, yeah, yeah, all these folks have been vetted. Many of them have already actively engaged in portfolio companies successfully. really excited about finding more founders who are really good listeners, who are like sponges, can absorb the wisdom and accept the abundance of resources and connections and wield it to do a lot of good.

Jason Kirby (46:41.481) Well, Barry, it's been an absolute pleasure having you on the show. We'll make sure to include the links that you mentioned in the show description for anyone that's interested in learning more. And then of course, we're big partners with Supernova when it comes to accessing mentors across the stack of your business, stacking your team. It's not just about having a name and a picture on your deck. It's about them actually getting their hands dirty and helping you solve and overcome problems. And that's what actually makes great advisors, not just listing names on the deck. So thanks so much for coming on, Barry.

Barry Stamos (47:14.476) Well said. Well said. Thank you so much, Jason. Appreciate it. And thanks for all that you do for founders at large. So appreciate you.

Jason Kirby (47:24.821) I'll go ahead and stop.

Barry Stamos (47:25.838) Alright, yeah, sorry, but I wasn't as like me