The entrepreneurial lifestyle is definitely not for the faint of heart, as it comes with loads of hard work, nerve-wrecking risk taking, personal sacrifices and a high mental health price tag. Today, our host Donna Loughlin chats with Silicon Valley thought leader Vitaly Golomb, to talk about his amazing journey in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Vitaly migrated to the US as a child, and had to quickly adapt to this new environment. Little did he and his family know that Silicon Valley would transform his destiny completely. Join this fascinating conversation around startups, the future of mobility, and the importance of mental health in an environment where only a small few triumph.
Before any world-changing innovation, there was a moment, an event, a realization that sparked the idea before it happened. This is a podcast about that moment — about that idea. Before IT Happened takes you on a journey with the innovators who imagined — and are still imagining — our future. Join host Donna Loughlin as her guests tell their stories of how they brought their visions to life.
JUMP STRAIGHT INTO:
(02:54) - From Ukraine to Silicon Valley - “I was plunked right into a normal third grade class not speaking any English, starting from scratch, but somehow miraculously, by the end of that school year I was pretty fluent in English.”
(09:10) - Vitaly’s teenage years - “By the time I was 15, I went to Kinko's and became a designer. So while my friends were making and delivering pizzas or working at Starbucks, I was out there in an office crunching away on documents and websites.”
(17:52) - The struggles of entrepreneurship - “When you don't have much, you're not going to lose money, you're starting from zero anyway.”
(23:41) - The art of mentorship: On Startup Adventure and Accelerated Startup - “From everything that I did, I learned that I need to also say ‘no’ a lot more, and then really focus my efforts.”
(31:20) - From scrappy entrepreneur to settled venture capitalist and the future of mobility - “Electrification is something that's quite interesting and I don't think we've seen its final form yet. We're talking about a major transition in one of the most important business categories, if not the most important: that moves people and goods around the planet.”
(37:26) - On the development of the Hyperloop - “Hyperloop has been talked about for so many years as this very futuristic thing, but we're really only a few years away at this point from buying a ticket and riding it.”
(39:52) - The startup toll: On the importance of prioritizing mental health - “A lot of people really struggle because they have to be out there cheerleading and saying everything is amazing, everything is great. They put up a nice smiling face out to the outside world, but inside they're very miserable.”
EPISODE RESOURCES:
Connect with Vitaly through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, & Golomb.net
Get Vitaly’s book: Accelerated Startup
Watch Vitaly’s Tedx San Francisco talk: Time to be more culturally fluid
Listen to Vitaly’s podcast Accelerated
Learn more about Drake Star Partners
Learn more about Hyperloop Transportation Technologies
Read Tesla’s Hyperloop Alpha proposal
Get Michael Malone’s book Infinite Loop
Thank you for listening! Follow Before IT Happened on Instagram and Twitter, and don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share the show wherever you listen to podcasts!
Before IT Happened is produced by Donna Loughlin and StudioPod Media with additional editing and sound design by Nodalab. The Executive Producer is Katie Sunku Wood and all episodes are written by Jack Buehrer.
