BusinessEntrepreneurshipMarketing

Idea to Startup

Brian Scordato | Tacklebox

A podcast for people working on startup ideas. We have 15-minute tactical episodes and occasional interviews with people who did the early things exceptionally well. We've helped launch hundreds of startups worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and these are the building blocks.

"This is, without a doubt, the best podcast for people trying to build startups out there."

"If you aren't listening to this podcast and you're considering building a business (or you're already building one), what are you doing?"

"Must listen for first-time entrepreneurs - excellent storyteller."

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20 episodes
Avg 21 min
English

Episodes 20

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S5 · E218
July 16 · 18 min
The Daniel Tiger SOP - How to Regularly Do Hard Things (ITS Classic)
Today, we'll talk about my favorite item from the Always Work List from a few weeks back - the Daniel Tiger SOP. Entrepreneurship requires you to do uncomfortable stuff constantly. This gets overwhelming and leads to founders sticking with the well-worn, safe path. That leads to startups with no differentiator and no reason to exist. The Daniel Tiger SOP helps you turn intimidating tasks into manageable ones. It lets you travel a unique road, which leads to a unique product. It's as good a techn
S5 · E217
July 1 · 17 min
Starting a wine company in 17 minutes (ITS CLASSIC)
Today, we start a wine business in 17 minutes. It's a classic episode and it's a good time.
S5 · E216
June 11 · 28 min
An Operating System to Help You Move Faster By Focusing On Less (feat. a monkey reciting Hamlet)
Today is part 2 of our series helping you build an internal operating system. We identify the four things you'll need to have happen for your startup to gain momentum, then we organize those into a system that'll help you move fast based on inertia.
S5 · E215
April 15 · 14 min
15 Min(ish) Skill: Script the Start and End (ITS Classic)
Today, we'll talk about one of the most effective methods to do hard things we've found at Tacklebox: Scripting the start and end.
S5 · E214
April 8 · 20 min
Thrust and Drag, Part 1: A System to Keep Momentum
Today we'll talk about thrust and drag, the components of momentum. Momentum is the lifeblood for startups, but most people leave it to chance. By focusing on the inputs of momentum - thrust and drag - you can build systems to ensure you keep moving forward. Gaps kill startups. This system removes them.
S5 · E213
March 25 · 25 min
A Framework to Make Sure You're Building Something Useful
Today, we'll help you make sure the thing you're building is wildly useful. Most startups fail because founders build stuff that customers don't care enough about to change their behavior for. We'll use The Usefulness Framework to ensure you don't do that, with help from Habit Kangaroo, a startup Brian ran back in 2014, and a GMAT training program his friend built to help people get into Harvard.
S5 · E212
March 18 · 24 min
Running a Concierge MVP Live (feat. the four-step Concierge MVP framework) ITS Classic
Today, we'll run through a Concierge MVP example live on the pod. Brian chooses an idea specifically because someone wrote in and said it was "un-Concierageable," which isn't a word but is the reason this podcast exists. We go through the four-part framework that'll help you build a Concierge MVP - The Three Components of Wild Success, Acquiring Customers, The Test, and Feedback Loops. And we get a little help from an alum helping people get grants and our old friend - the Monkey on the Pedestal
S4 · E17
March 5 · 22 min
Three Shortcuts to Actually Help You Get Started On Your Idea
Today, we talk through the Silk Sheet Problem - how to do something new and hard when your life is fairly... comfortable. We help a listener get started on their idea - an AI tutor's assistant - with three shortcuts to set their life up in a way that makes it easier to start a startup than to not. We talk through Just-In-Time Prep, Forcing Functions, and life design. This episode is meant to be a blueprint for you to take action and keep momentum.
S5 · E211
February 19 · 22 min
Start a Startup in Ten Days with Four Questions (ITS super-classic)
Today we'll talk through how to test out and build a startup idea in ~10 days by answering four questions. We'll use an idea that's oddly popped up a bunch lately: Kitchen Organizer. We do this with a little help from a story about a poker player and my good friend, Penne Vodka Pete.
S5 · E209
February 11 · 25 min
Giving Your Startup an Identity
Today, we’re talking about startup identity—why you need one, and how it makes every decision you face way easier. We’ll talk swimming and nervous systems, walk through the Decision Equation, and help our good friend Carl figure out which customer to start with for his AI tool that helps adults learn Spanish. Then we’ll wrap with a simple framework to help you clearly define your startup’s identity. It’s practical, a little weird, and really important. On to it.
S5 · E208
February 4 · 18 min
How to Get Your First Customers (The Trust to Risk Ratio)
Today, we'll help you get your first customers. We'll do it by learning how to use the trust to risk ratio - a way to identify the big risks that are holding your customer back and shoulder those risks early on to build trust. We talk through risk and trust with Find Your Lobster, Soona, and a finicky water pump.
S5 · E207
January 23 · 24 min
The One Thing That Matters - How to Find a Differentiator That'll Support Your Business (ITS Classic)
Today, we'll help you find a differentiator powerful enough that it can support your business. We'll talk through what a differentiator actually allows you to do, five prompts to help you uncover and test one for your business, and Brian's favorite current differentiator - Popup Bagels.
S5 · E206
January 14 · 23 min
How to Identify and Kill Bad Startup Ideas Masquerading As Good Ones (ITS Classic)
Today, we'll lay out a framework to help you identify and kill bad ideas. It's hard to objectively evaluate your idea early on - this framework helps you rise above your idea to do it effectively. A side-effect is that the framework will help you find and pursue the good ideas. We talk through 1) Finding and Evaluating the Real Risk, 2) Predicting Organic Growth Potential, and 3) Predicting the Likelihood of Converting Early Customers, using a startup idea from a listener as an example.
S5 · E205
January 7 · 27 min
The Three Pillars of Sales for Entrepreneurs Who Hate Sales (ITS Classic)
A 20(ish) minute skills episode on sales 101 for entrepreneurs who hate sales. We go through three tactics and a bunch of examples to help you build a system for sales that'll help you grow without making you feel slimy. We set up sales for a sabbaticals as a service startup. And we talk through why entrepreneurs hate sales and how to reframe the whole thing.
S5 · E204
Dec 31, 2025 · 17 min
Three Ways to Create Trust (ITS Classic - top 1%)
Today we'll talk about why people hand their keys over to random strangers on the street in New York City, how a person selling cures for baldness converts 80% of the people he speaks with, and how you can build a strategy to cultivate trust with your customers, too. An ITS classic.
S5 · E202
Dec 18, 2025 · 14 min
The One-Inch Picture Frame
Today we talk about two methods to help make your big startup plans for 2026 manageable. We borrow Short Assignments (The One-Inch Picture Frame) and Shitty Drafts from Anne Lamott, we get a little help from Martin Scorsese and a Bronx Tale, and we talk through a startup that's helping 40 year olds deal with loneliness. All in like 14 minutes. Not bad.
S5 · E201
Dec 5, 2025 · 13 min
How to Find Your Customers In-Person (Even If You're SURE You Can't)
Today, we'll talk through how you'll find customers in-person. This is the single most important acquisition tool for early-stage founders, and there's no excuse - any business targeting any customer can do it. We use a few Tacklebox examples and give you a framework to make it happen.
S5 · E200
Nov 26, 2025 · 21 min
The Coffee Truck Idea I'd Start Tomorrow (Thanksgiving Mailbag)
Today, we're digging into the mailbag for your Thanksgiving commute. First, what idea would Brian start if he had to start an idea? We go deep on why a coffee truck idea is the best possible business for this moment. Next, we talk through how to get your spouse on board with your idea, and finally we hit on the best gifts for new entrepreneurs. Take that, Kyle.
S5 · E199
Nov 20, 2025 · 17 min
How to Finally Get Your Ideas Into the World as a Right-Brain Founder
This episode is a toolkit for right-brain founders who get lost in ideas and struggle to execute. Brian shares three practical systems—AI as your left brain, the Regroup System, and the Ice Box—to help you make consistent progress, despite the whole right brain thing. This is a practical guide for turning creativity into momentum.
S5 · E198
Nov 13, 2025 · 32 min
How to Pick Your First Customer
Today, we'll help you pick your startup's first customer segment. This decision dooms a huge percentage of first time entrepreneurs - if you don't understand what the job of your first customer segment is, you'll likely pick a customer incapable of doing it. Your first customer has a unique responsibility that no other customer will have - you need to choose them carefully. Conversely, if you choose the right first customer, you'll set yourself up for serious growth. We go through the five ch

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