00:00:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to Possible Now Stories of Possibilities, the podcast where we dive into the leadership frameworks, bold ideas and personal stories shaping the future of marketing, technology and leadership. How many great ideas never see the light of day, not because they were wrong, but because someone waited too long to feel ready. This is Possible Now Stories of Possibilities. I'm Christian Mucher, Global President, founder of Possible and your host. Today's conversation is about a truth most people don't like to hear. Ideas don't win. Confidence doesn't win. Even timing doesn't win. Execution does. My guest today didn't learn that once. She learned it over and over again by building, risking, and starting again. She began her first company at a kitchen table. She turned early ideas into real businesses. She scaled them, exited them, and did it again across different cycles, technologies and moments when most people would have chosen safety over momentum. Kimperrell is not just a serial entrepreneur. She is someone founders look to when the past isn't clear, when the doubt is loud, the clock is sticking, and action feels uncomfortable. She's founded and exited nine companies, she'specked hundreds of early stage founders, and through her platform hundred dot Co, she is now doing something even more powerful, turning execution into a skill that can be learned, practiced, and mastered. A best selling author of The Execution Factor, Jump and Mistakes That Made Me a Millionaire, Kim is widely recognized for her practical, no nonsense approach to entrepreneurship, emphasizing action over perfection and momentum over fear. Her insights have made her a frequent guest on major media outlets including CNBC, Blomberg, Fox Business, and The Today's Show. What sets Kim apart isn't the exits or the headlines. It's a clarity. She doesn't glamorize the journey. She talks openly about fear, about rejection, about moving forward before you feel ready, because waiting can cost you everything. This is a conversation about momentum over perfection, action over certainty, and why the boldest move is often the first one. Kim perrell A very well. Welcome Kim to Possible now.
00:02:29
Speaker 2: Ah, thank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled to be here.
00:02:33
Speaker 1: I'm absolutely thrilled to have you as my first guest of our season three. So Kim, before we really dig into the details, I would like to ask you to take us back a moment when you were not ready or when you didn't feel to be ready, especially before your first venture. I would assume you didn't have certainty, confidence and permission, but you acted anyway. So what did you do before you felt ready? And what would have happened if you would wait?
00:03:00
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, if I take myself back, that was a good twenty years ago, at the height of the dot com and what an amazing opportunity to create and to build at that time. And I worked for a great internet company that had raised one hundred million in funding, and I thought I was going to via dot com millionaire, probably like everyone today that's starting AI companies, right, And unfortunately, you know, the operating costs were too high and the company couldn't sustain And it was a precursor to Dropbox, so just cloud computing wasn't even a thing. We had a lot of servers, a lot of infrastructure, and not a lot of customers, and unfortunately, just the economics of the business didn't work and the company went bankrupt, and I found myself unemployed, jobless, devastated, depressed, and like so many people at any time. It could have been twenty years ago, it could be today, where you just don't know what you want to do next. And to your point, the uncertainty and the fears that I had around starting my own company in the midst of the dot com bubble bursting and a minefield of internet graveyards, I didn't feel ready.
00:04:18
Speaker 1: You know.
00:04:18
Speaker 3: I was twenty three years old. I didn't have experience, I didn't have any money. I was broke, you know, I had never started a company before, and I thought if I could just get more experience, or maybe get another degree, then I would feel ready.
00:04:34
Speaker 2: To start this company. That's what I think most.
00:04:37
Speaker 3: People is probably listening right now, think they have a great idea and they're waiting to feel ready.
00:04:43
Speaker 1: We would come back to this, for sure, and as you said, we will have definitely a lot of people who have something in mind like this. But you didn't decide to be an entrepreneur. You didn't wake up that morning, you know, and said I need to be or want to be an entrepreneur. I assume so you became one, and I can't imagine this because I was in a pretty similar situation. So what was the moment you realized there is no going back? And what did that cost you at this time? Maybe in your private life. I mean, these are tough decisions for sure.
00:05:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, to your point, I never wanted to be an entrepreneur.
00:05:15
Speaker 3: Both my parents are entrepreneur and growing up it was a never ending roller coaster ride of uncertainty. I was always worried my dad was going to go bankrupt or we couldn't pay the bills. It was this as a small child. It's really nerve wracking. And so I thought, I'm going to get a stable job and I'm going to work with the corporate ladder and I'm going to have security. And what I realized is there is no job security, and the best bet you can make is the bet on yourself. And at that point, after I thought I had job security and I thought I was going to climb the corporate ladder, and then I got fired and I had hit rock bottom, I decided to make that bet, and that is why I became an entrepreneur.
00:05:57
Speaker 2: Not because I wanted to.
00:05:58
Speaker 3: I wasn't thinking I'm going to be entrepreneur, but because I realize that there was no job security, and so if I wanted security, I had to make it on my own.
00:06:08
Speaker 1: Or you have an idea in mind which you believe and only you can do it, right, I mean, this is it comes together, right, It is you know, to have maybe no other option, which is a fair reason. Sometimes on the other hand, you know, sometimes you wake up and think, that's it, this is something I have to do. Right.
00:06:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, I had a crystal clear vision of what I wanted to create in my mind, and most people do. They have this vision and that clarity of thought, and that vision is so important. However, ideas are a DIMA doesn't and putting that vision and grounding it in reality is so difficult, and so that's why so many people never actually get started. Because it's easy to dream, it's so hard to do.
00:06:51
Speaker 1: Let's come back for a moment. When you start such a business and earlier on, how did you know which ideas deserved your energy and which ones where just distractions? Stressed up as opportunity you. I mean, as as an entrepreneur, you talk to so many people. Normally, you know, I have always people with you know, a good intention behind and you're pushed into different directions. So how could you identify what deserves your energy?
00:07:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, for me, it was very clear where there was opportunity in the market that I thought I could take advantage of and regardless of And this is what most happens to most people is people say you're crazy, People say you should get a real job. People say why it's not going to work, why it shouldn't work, why it can't work, And they're actually imposing their own beliefs onto you. And so even trying to say I have an idea and I believe more than you doubt me. That's what you have to believe, and that's why you have to That belief will carry you through. And that's when I took the first step because everyone told me not to do it. The internets are fad, it will never be vague, and obviously you know we see how that worked out. But I had a belief and most entrepreneurs do that. I had a belief in my vision and I had the passion to bring it.
00:08:09
Speaker 1: To life right right when I listened to your recent interviews and of course reading your books, et cetera, you talk a lot about your kind of failures or mistakes, say it like this, is there a specific mistake, maybe out of many, but one you want to share with our audience from your early career that still influences how you build today, how you act today, something which comes immeting to your mind.
00:08:36
Speaker 3: Well, I started making my mistakes really, really young, and so not even early in my career, early in my life. So honestly, I think a lot of the mistakes we may come back to beliefs that we held from a very young age and I'd say childhood. And this is beliefs that you know, I have a twin sister, and growing up she was smarter and faster and better basically at everything, and I believed I was underqualified and I was not as good as her. And so that belief is something that stayed with me for, you know, decades. And I think the challenge is is most of us are still carrying beliefs that we learn at a young age that are just fundamentally not true, and we're still carrying them around with us. And so we had to ask ourselves what limiting beliefs are we caring with us today that are inhibiting us from becoming the best versions of ourselves. And so, for me, that was really believing I was underqualified and to be a woman of business and really young founder at the start of the Internet. There was a lot of things that, you know, really reminded me of that limiting belief And so how do you push through those limiting beliefs and become confident in your own beliefs and your own talents and your own strengths. And so for me, that was a huge mistake I made ear on which unfortunately it started, you know, from when I was young. And people can relate to that because a lot of people had a sister like my sister, who's really smart, and you just assume these these these labels and they're fundamentally not true. So trying to make sure that you are able to push past that and create regardless of circumstance. And I think that's really important for anyone right now, is what are those beliefs that we think about? And for me, it was really believing I was underqualified?
00:10:31
Speaker 1: Right, I think this is definitely also something I felt over the last years. How can you sometimes change such an experience or such a feeling into a positive momentum And sometimes you have to just ignore things like this, right, negative things, whether it comes from a childhood or you know, from recent events. I think that's definitely one one challenge every day, again and again. So how did your relationship with risk taking all these risks change as you moved from first time founder to serial builder? Did success ever make you too cautious or maybe at some stage altitude reckless? I'll have you experienced both situations.
00:11:13
Speaker 3: I have experienced both, and I think I've learned more from my failures than I have from all my successes.
00:11:19
Speaker 2: I truly have.
00:11:20
Speaker 3: And when I was growing up, you know, it's interesting how much your parents do make an impact on you. You know, my parents would sit around the table and they'd say, hey, Kim, what's the worst thing that happened to you today. They didn't talk about school, they didn't talk about sports. They were entrepreneurs. They talked about business. And so imagine being nine and debating business resilience over macaroni and cheese. It is something that just wasn't normal. But the reality that I face is that they were teaching me how to embrace failure and risk and normalize it from a very young age. So after you get fired and hit rock bottom, I mean, listen, the only place to go is up, so that really is a great place to start.
00:12:03
Speaker 2: And for me, having seen that, you know.
00:12:06
Speaker 3: Personally growing up made me more secure in watching my own parents have some of those challenges that Okay, I can do this.
00:12:15
Speaker 2: I can do hard things.
00:12:17
Speaker 3: And it's hard whether you're working for someone or working someone for someone else.
00:12:22
Speaker 2: Right, it's all hard to too hard.
00:12:25
Speaker 1: That's true. That's true. So at the very beginning you've mentioned that waiting would have cost you everything. How do foundos recognize the moment when action beats preparation. What is the danger of waiting just a little too long? Obviously somebody else can come up with a similar year, right, this is an obvious one. It's sometimes, like you know, based on my own experience, there is maybe not the completely new product or idea you have in mind, but you need to adjust it into a way which provides completely new experiences. When was the moment for you? You or were there are several moments because you found it a couple of companies.
00:13:06
Speaker 3: I'm a perfectionist, right, so after I didn't want to fail.
00:13:09
Speaker 2: No one wants to fail. No one shows up thinking you're going to fail.
00:13:12
Speaker 3: And I remember when I had started early on my kitchen table, and I remember listening to this Marine Corps general talking about what he used in battle, and it was called the seventy percent rule. So if you have seventy percent enough information, you should move. If you get to a hundred, you've already lost. And so I said, hey, if he's using that, that's a good that's a good rule for me to use. And so I started using the seventy percent and everything I did seventy percent of my pitch, seventy percent of my marketing. If it was seventy percent ready and I felt seventy percent ready, I would act. And it really helped me find the balance between analysis and action. And that's where everyone gets stuck. It's just waiting to feel one hundred percent ready. You will never be one hundred percent ready. You just have to have the courage to start. And seventy percent is a good place to start.
00:14:01
Speaker 1: It sounds like a good number, yes, for sure. For sure. You also mentioned that your ideas were not you know, or at least it looked like you know good enough to convince others. So rejection is part of your story obviously, as for any many other founders, as well, at what point did rejection stop feeling personal? Which is hard right to take this? And at what point did rejections start feeling more directional for you that you could turn it into your own kind of power, right, that you pushed and you knew which direction you need to go.
00:14:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, for me, rejection hurts.
00:14:37
Speaker 3: It doesn't matter if it's sad day and I still get rejected. So if you're not getting rejected, you're not trying hard enough. I truly believe that. And very early on I had a great mentor that said rejection is your best friend. It's a numbers game and each rejection will get you closer to success because you learn and you grow and you adapt and you pivot. So if you look at rejection in a new way and say, if I have to get a hundred rejections, then what number am I now? And like, go for the know, So every time I get rejected, I'm just going for the no.
00:15:12
Speaker 2: Eventually someone's going to say yes.
00:15:14
Speaker 3: And it's a mindset shift, so it doesn't hurt so bad when someone rejects. I mean, it always kind of stings, but now it makes you stronger and better, and failure is feedback and so every time I get rejected, I learn what about the product?
00:15:27
Speaker 2: Is it working? Why is it the pricing?
00:15:29
Speaker 1: Like?
00:15:29
Speaker 3: What is it about what I'm offering you? Why you won't want to buy? And I think it's been a but that mindset shift is about going out and being okay with rejection. Yeah, is really a unique way to view success.
00:15:45
Speaker 1: Actually, yeah, yeah, I think that's very important. That's very valuable. So in my intro, I've mentioned that it's all about execution. Many funders believe execution skills. You know, it's something you either have or you don't. Would you agree or disagree?
00:16:00
Speaker 3: Now I completely disagree execution is a skill you can learn. Yeah, it truly is. I mean I wrote a whole book on it. So I definitely believe it's a skill that you can learn. And I've invested a metric tens of thousands of people. I've invested in so many entrepreneurs, and the one thing that separates the good from the great is their ability to execute. And today's world of AI, it's even more important speed agility. This is so important to every single founder out there, in every single business owner. They need to be able to move quickly. The market is moving regardless that they do or not.
00:16:40
Speaker 1: When do you intend to start a business when scaling? What is the first I don't know, let's call it system or infrastructure or network. Founders should build, but almost never do. So you're an advisor, You're investing into so many companies, what should they think about from the start on? You know, when having a scaling business in front of you.
00:17:02
Speaker 3: The most important thing for me that has been really pivotal to my success was getting a mentor in a vertical specific category that's been there, that's done that to help me in any business I choose to get into. That is a game changer. They don't have to be twenty years ahead. They can be ten years, they can be one year. But they have to know more than me, and they have to have been successful and having those mentors and I still have them in every single one of my companies, and they're different. Whether it's a CpG category, a tech doesn't matter. But having those mentors increases your likelihood of success by ten times. So why wouldn't you do it? That is so important? So many I mean I get it because I am as an entrepreneur, you have like a lone wolf characteristic.
00:17:49
Speaker 2: Like I can do it myself.
00:17:50
Speaker 3: I can do everything myself, and it's so wrong actually, because.
00:17:54
Speaker 2: No one's successful alone.
00:17:56
Speaker 3: So you have to surround yourself with people that are able to help you get to the next level.
00:18:02
Speaker 1: How do you fund mentors? I mean you have your networking know people, but not necessary you know, you don't have such a mentor in this group of people surrounding you. Right, great people, but not necessarily a mentor. So how can you do this? For me?
00:18:18
Speaker 3: To be honest, I've had a lot of great mentors on the boards that I've sat on, or the companies I've run that had boards that became my mentors.
00:18:24
Speaker 2: Over time, investments that I've.
00:18:26
Speaker 3: Made that I found, you know, synergies with individuals I think. To be honest, I really look category specific and ask who do you know that's great at this Who can you introduce me to? Again, I'm risking rejection every single time I ask, but I don't care because I know I'm getting closer to success. So you have to ask for a mentorship, and the easiest way is finding someone. Let's say you can look out on LinkedIn someone you admire. Make a list of ten people that you admire that's close that you think have done something that you want to do. And literally the easiest way to ask is I mean, I ask for coffee. You know, it's so simple, like, let's have coffee, Christian, Let's sit down for fifteen minutes and have coffee and let's see if there's a synergy between us.
00:19:10
Speaker 2: Because mentorship is not a paid relationship.
00:19:13
Speaker 3: It is I want to help you because I know I can contribute something to what you're building.
00:19:19
Speaker 1: Right, And I think it's also fair to say that, you know, when it comes to such a tremendous experience as entrepreneur, based on your story, you're one of my mentors, right, I mean I founded two companies, not nine, not ten, like you and others. And therefore, you know, I remember when we sat down and talked about this idea of possible et cetera. You became my mentor in many ways. You know when it came, you know, from the entrepreneurship and when it comes to you know that you follow your past. But let's talk about this for a second, because there also there's also a challenge when when you have to know when it's time to pivot versus push through discomfort. Yeah, have your idea in mind, this is the way I want to go. But of course it's not always like this, right, so when is set moment?
00:20:11
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, well, thank you very much.
00:20:13
Speaker 3: I talk about pivoting a lot, especially in entrepreneurs and mentors can help guide you because they've been there. And I think think of the most successful companies that we know, I mean, YouTube started as a dating platform, Twitter started as podcasts, write, Netflix started sending DVDs by mail. Every single company has pivoted at least once. Even if I look at the investments that I've made, ninety nine percent of pivoted, and I think that's okay because they're adjusting, they're iterating, they're trying and testing and learning and failing and growing. And it's so important because to your point, if you just think it's one way, you know, there's only one way.
00:20:49
Speaker 2: To get to it A to Z, that is a mistake.
00:20:52
Speaker 3: There's a lot of different ways, and success is not a straight line, right, So looking back, thinking about what are the detours, the off rance, the setbacks, like what other ways could I do it?
00:21:02
Speaker 2: And could I do it better?
00:21:03
Speaker 3: I'm always open to learning, and I think for me being really curious and now being across so many different industries, just continuously understanding and learning from individuals that are smarter than myself.
00:21:19
Speaker 1: Let's talk about you as an engine investor. We've mentioned this sever times. How many companies you invested? More than one hundred.
00:21:25
Speaker 2: Early one hundred and fifty now maybe more.
00:21:28
Speaker 1: Oh wow, that's unbelievable.
00:21:29
Speaker 3: A lot of good exits I've had, you know, at least half.
00:21:31
Speaker 2: Of them have exited.
00:21:32
Speaker 1: So that's good on you. Good on you. Also, when you look into something new, now, another company you might be interested in, what do you notice about founders within the first ten minutes that others miss? And I'm not talking about the typical elevator speech, right, and not not about the presentation itself, more maybe about the personality, how people talk to you and try to sell this idea to you.
00:21:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, for me, look at founders right now. I know how hard it is to be a founder. So I am a founder. So I'm not just an investor. I'm a founder. I've an operator. I've scaled businesses to a billion dollars. I know how hard it is, and I've sat there at my kitchen table wondering if I'm ever going to get out of my own house, right, And so when I invest in individuals now, and honestly, I invest one hundred percent. Yes, you have to have a great idea, and yes there has to be a great market opportunity, but at the end of the day, I'm investing in the individual and their ability when something goes wrong. They gotta have grit, like, can't quit. They have to keep going no matter how bad it gets. And that's what I'm looking for in the individuals that I'm backing, the ones that are open to pivoting, open to the new ideas, open to find a solution. Because the market again is moving so fast that we don't know what's going to happen.
00:22:53
Speaker 2: We just know.
00:22:54
Speaker 3: I mean in my world, I just know something bad is going to happen. So I need to bet on a founder that is resilient and has the tenacity to keep pushing forward.
00:23:04
Speaker 1: And how do you support founders, you know, without taking the wheel. I mean, if they need some adjustments and some guidance, I think that's a tricky part, right to give them advice, but not taking the wheel. So when do you step in heart?
00:23:15
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Well, you have to know in any relationship.
00:23:18
Speaker 3: I think this goes with marriage or friendships, like am I the passenger or am I the driver?
00:23:22
Speaker 1: Right? Well, in the marriage you never step in heart for sure.
00:23:25
Speaker 2: No, No, I'm the passenger of the driver. You have to know in any situation, where are you?
00:23:31
Speaker 3: And if I'm investing, if I'm co founding, I'm also you know we're co drivers.
00:23:35
Speaker 1: Right.
00:23:36
Speaker 3: If I'm just investing, you're the driver and I'm here to just offer support and guidance and you know a network, right, And so I don't lean in because unless you want me to, I have a lot of found Usually if founders call me something is really really wrong, like really wrong, and they're calling me as like the lifeline, like Kim, what should I do? Either I lost my best employee or I I'm going to run out of cash, or the market changed or something happened really dramatic, And I feel I'm a really good mentor and advisor and investor at that point because I'm an entrepreneur, so like I will always favor the entrepreneur, which is a difference than being a VC who really has different motives.
00:24:20
Speaker 2: They're not on the ground, they don't know how hard it is.
00:24:23
Speaker 1: Something I can definitely confirm yes, that's yeah.
00:24:26
Speaker 2: You know how hard it is, man, No, I.
00:24:29
Speaker 1: Know how good you are, you know, having you up next to me and giving me that kind of advice and guidance all the time. So let's talk about something very serious. In twenty four to twenty five, VC funding for all women funding teams remain, though consist instantly hovering around two percent to two point three or two five percent of total US and global VC capital, which is unbelievable. Our women founders being evaluated on traction while others are evaluated on potential. What is the reason for that?
00:25:16
Speaker 2: Actually, I don't think so. I don't think that's it, to be honest.
00:25:20
Speaker 3: When I look at how much deal flow I get, and I get a lot, one out of twenty is probably a woman founder asking me for investment.
00:25:28
Speaker 2: Maybe less.
00:25:29
Speaker 3: So there's just not enough women coming to the plate. There's not enough woman asking for the money in my experience, and I invest across category. So it's interesting and I think, a there should be more, But you can't be what you can't see. And so what I try to do in most of in everything that I do, I mean, I love the entrepreneurs like is to try to be a role model, like you can do it, you need to help. I'm actually mentoring at least six women right now, women founders. So I think just trying to like in whatever way you can, helping to understand how to raise capital, helping to expand the network, and helping to show that you can ask for help because as women, we don't ask for help, like we just don't for whatever reason.
00:26:16
Speaker 1: Right, So in other words, you're saying they're not falling out, you know in pitch meetings or term sheets or follow on rounds. It's really at the beginning, right when sourcing, Yes, when getting the attention coming out and say hey, I'm the one I know how to do.
00:26:32
Speaker 3: This well, because they'll wait likely till they're one hundred percent ready. Where the guys are like I'm seventy let's go seventy percent, they're like, I'm going to pitch you.
00:26:41
Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, pitch me. You should pitch me at seventy percent.
00:26:44
Speaker 3: The women wait till there one hundred percent the business is already formed, right, and then at that point, you know, usually they're cash flowings, so maybe they don't need investment, but they do need the support, which is interesting, but it's not personally from what I've seen, it's at the beginning, and we need words more women to ask.
00:27:02
Speaker 1: Okay, let's do this. Let's start with that podcast here. For sure, we would like to see more applications reaching out to you in the next couple of base.
00:27:11
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh my gosh, because actually it's interesting.
00:27:14
Speaker 3: I personally try to prioritize women founders, underrepresented founder like founders that I know I can help, right, And but the reality is when I look at who's pitching, it's a very small sliver, and I think that's reflected in the funding.
00:27:31
Speaker 1: Right. You already mentioned AI and touch based on the influence of AI. But let's talk about technology in general, because technology always played a role, right, I mean when we started our businesses, what is it, twenty years ago, twenty five some whatever, there was already a lot of technology developments. So how has technology changed who gets to be an entrepreneur? Not just how companies are built, which is obvious. You know, with technology you can do it fast and easier and da da da, But how technology changed the entrepreneur themselves. Do you see a difference there?
00:28:06
Speaker 3: Yes, it's never been easier to start a company.
00:28:09
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness.
00:28:10
Speaker 1: Why is that?
00:28:11
Speaker 3: Oh, because there's so many tools you can test and iterate and get something to market within literally an hour. It's insane, right, And I think about all the companies that I'm working and mentoring. You can test and learn so quickly and get proof of concept, get out to market now with all of the tools, it's never been easier, which is so exciting because it lowers the barrier to entry, but it also makes it, you know, more competitive.
00:28:42
Speaker 1: What about the VC market? I think you also found it a company recently or maybe some time ago already, so please correct me. Which use AI you know to change the investment market the VC market itself? So how will this impact how you could collect money as an entrepreneur, as a founder.
00:29:04
Speaker 3: Well, when you cut the VC market, you want to especially because there's tools.
00:29:11
Speaker 2: You're looking for more, you know, you see later.
00:29:13
Speaker 3: Later stage, right, because you're seeing less money go into early stage, A lot more money's going into later stage.
00:29:19
Speaker 2: Because you now want to see traction.
00:29:21
Speaker 3: You want to see a path of profitability, you want to see consumer adoption. There's a lot more metrics that you're looking at because you want to be more confident in your investment, which I get as an investor.
00:29:34
Speaker 2: I do. I do too.
00:29:35
Speaker 3: The other day someone was pitching me and they didn't have one. They hadn't even gotten to market. I'm like, this is amazing idea, absolutely amazing. How many consumers are actually testing it?
00:29:44
Speaker 2: None? Like this is ridiculous. How are you even pitching me right now?
00:29:49
Speaker 3: Like get to market stuff, Like you've been doing this for a year a year. I'm like, you should be doing this for a month and then get to market, get some feedback, go back, develop Like think of money right now, you could have ten solid engineers, which kind of goes back to twenty years, Like really, you can get a lot of smart people that move really really really quickly, Like ten solid engineers could be as much as one hundred if you're actually all focused on executing at the same time.
00:30:20
Speaker 1: So the right balance between the latest tech stack using in some way at the same time, at least, I believe, you know, funding starting a business make it its successful also depends on some I would say, I would call it some kind of traditional values. Still, so what opportunities do you believe most founders are overlooking right now? Independent from all these technology influenced decisions because it feels two unglomrous. Is there anything you would say, Hey, let's go back to the old values, you know, which are still relevant in today's time as well.
00:31:01
Speaker 3: I think it's about not getting caught up in the hype, to be honest and just building a great Let's go back to basics. Let's just build a great business, a business that makes money, a business that has a path of profitability, like those businesses will always.
00:31:17
Speaker 2: Have a great outcome.
00:31:18
Speaker 3: Like business fundamentals should not get lost. And I think that's really important because now it reminds me of twenty years ago. We're just trying to get millions and millions of consumers, but there's no actual business, Like we have to have a functioning business that people are willing to pay for. And I think that's really important to just let's go back to basics at this point.
00:31:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, not running crazy because of the hype. This is I think absolutely true. Find the right balance, which is also speaking on my own experience, one of the biggest challenges. You wake up every morning and you think, you know, the world changed completely. It feels quite often feels like this, but then looking stepping back for a second and say, okay, what has redium impact on societes, on your own business and the market you're acting And that's then potentially not always as you look into this in the first second. So I think that makes absolute sense. So we talked about glamour. Especially when you're successful, you only see quite often, you only see the big successes, right, the multimillionaires and the billionaires who did this several times. What part of the journey deserves far more honesty?
00:32:26
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, yes, you see.
00:32:29
Speaker 3: Even in my case, you see two hundred and thirty five million dollar exit. You do not see the decades I spent just grinding it out, flying and traveling and you know, having the worst things that you could possibly get sued. And then it's so tragic, so many mistakes, right, And honestly, that's why I wrote a book about mistakes, because I wanted to share it because everyone wait till the end and they say, oh, look at this great exit.
00:32:54
Speaker 2: But the reality is that exit is one.
00:32:58
Speaker 3: Moment, and that journey was so hard, and I made so many mistakes that I wish I wouldn't have, and you learn from them and you grow. But reminding ourselves that like it's a marathon, not a sprint. Success is a very is a long game. And I think actually in companies too, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs are not built overnight. The companies I invest in, it is a five to ten year, day to day, twenty four to seven grind.
00:33:27
Speaker 1: But it's motivating at the same time, right, it's fun. It's so fun forward all the time in most cases, at least so right now. As we said, we also have listeners maybe in this situation right now, thinking about the next great idea, good idea, and a long list of reasons to wait. So if they don't act in the next thirty days, what do you believe they will lose? Not theoretically but in real life.
00:33:56
Speaker 3: I think looking back at my own life right thinking, you're listening right now, where do you want to be one year from today? If it is not moving forward, I would say you have failed yourself, truly, because we should always be learning, we should always be growing, we should always be taking that risk and pushing it to the next level. And if you're not, and if you're not stepping outside your comfort zone, if you're not taking risks, you're going to regret it. And who you don't want to regret, right, I don't want to look back as I regret not doing it, because you will regret it, and the market's moving.
00:34:31
Speaker 2: There'll never be a better time to start.
00:34:33
Speaker 3: It doesn't matter how old you are, it doesn't matter how much experience you have. Nothing matters other than the desire and the belief in your idea and the courage would take that first step. So whatever fear you have that you're telling yourself like, it's all a lie and you're just making excuses.
00:34:52
Speaker 1: What a great final statement of our conversation. And for those who are interested, right and maybe would like to reach out, So where can people find you? What is the best? Please?
00:35:01
Speaker 3: Yes, connect with me on LinkedIn, on Instagram, on my website kimparel dot com.
00:35:08
Speaker 2: I've got some.
00:35:08
Speaker 3: Amazing tools for putting your dreams into actual reality and executing, and I would love to connect. I love hearing about the stories and actually, to your point, Christian, what are you going to do in the next thirty days?
00:35:21
Speaker 2: Please reach out and tell me.
00:35:24
Speaker 1: Okay, So that's a clear call for everybody out there. Kim, thank you so much for reminding us that success rarely belongs to the most prepared. It belongs to the ones willing to move forward and to everyone listening. The distance between an idea and a life changing outcome is almost always execution. As we now said, and learn, start before you feel ready, because waiting might be the biggest risk of all. I'm Christian Mucher and this is Possible Now Stories of Possibilities. Thank you. If you're curious to learn more about Possible, sign up for our newsage, or if you want to join us at the Possible Show in Miami, visit possibleevent dot com. Possible Now is a co production of iHeartMedia and Possible. Our executive producers are Ryan Marx and Jasmin Melendez. Our supervising producer is Meredith Barnes. Special thanks to Colleen Lawrence Mack from our programming team. Our theme music is composed by Anthony Ketticoli. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeart app Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Possible Now Stories of Possibilities, the podcast where we dive into the leadership frameworks, bold ideas and personal stories shaping the future of marketing, technology and leadership. How many great ideas never see the light of day, not because they were wrong, but because someone waited too long to feel ready. This is Possible Now Stories of Possibilities. I'm Christian Mucher, Global President, founder of Possible and your host. Today's conversation is about a truth most people don't like to hear. Ideas don't win. Confidence doesn't win. Even timing doesn't win. Execution does. My guest today didn't learn that once. She learned it over and over again by building, risking, and starting again. She began her first company at a kitchen table. She turned early ideas into real businesses. She scaled them, exited them, and did it again across different cycles, technologies and moments when most people would have chosen safety over momentum. Kimperrell is not just a serial entrepreneur. She is someone founders look to when the past isn't clear, when the doubt is loud, the clock is sticking, and action feels uncomfortable. She's founded and exited nine companies, she'specked hundreds of early stage founders, and through her platform hundred dot Co, she is now doing something even more powerful, turning execution into a skill that can be learned, practiced, and mastered. A best selling author of The Execution Factor, Jump and Mistakes That Made Me a Millionaire, Kim is widely recognized for her practical, no nonsense approach to entrepreneurship, emphasizing action over perfection and momentum over fear. Her insights have made her a frequent guest on major media outlets including CNBC, Blomberg, Fox Business, and The Today's Show. What sets Kim apart isn't the exits or the headlines. It's a clarity. She doesn't glamorize the journey. She talks openly about fear, about rejection, about moving forward before you feel ready, because waiting can cost you everything. This is a conversation about momentum over perfection, action over certainty, and why the boldest move is often the first one. Kim perrell A very well. Welcome Kim to Possible now.
00:02:29
Speaker 2: Ah, thank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled to be here.
00:02:33
Speaker 1: I'm absolutely thrilled to have you as my first guest of our season three. So Kim, before we really dig into the details, I would like to ask you to take us back a moment when you were not ready or when you didn't feel to be ready, especially before your first venture. I would assume you didn't have certainty, confidence and permission, but you acted anyway. So what did you do before you felt ready? And what would have happened if you would wait?
00:03:00
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, if I take myself back, that was a good twenty years ago, at the height of the dot com and what an amazing opportunity to create and to build at that time. And I worked for a great internet company that had raised one hundred million in funding, and I thought I was going to via dot com millionaire, probably like everyone today that's starting AI companies, right, And unfortunately, you know, the operating costs were too high and the company couldn't sustain And it was a precursor to Dropbox, so just cloud computing wasn't even a thing. We had a lot of servers, a lot of infrastructure, and not a lot of customers, and unfortunately, just the economics of the business didn't work and the company went bankrupt, and I found myself unemployed, jobless, devastated, depressed, and like so many people at any time. It could have been twenty years ago, it could be today, where you just don't know what you want to do next. And to your point, the uncertainty and the fears that I had around starting my own company in the midst of the dot com bubble bursting and a minefield of internet graveyards, I didn't feel ready.
00:04:18
Speaker 1: You know.
00:04:18
Speaker 3: I was twenty three years old. I didn't have experience, I didn't have any money. I was broke, you know, I had never started a company before, and I thought if I could just get more experience, or maybe get another degree, then I would feel ready.
00:04:34
Speaker 2: To start this company. That's what I think most.
00:04:37
Speaker 3: People is probably listening right now, think they have a great idea and they're waiting to feel ready.
00:04:43
Speaker 1: We would come back to this, for sure, and as you said, we will have definitely a lot of people who have something in mind like this. But you didn't decide to be an entrepreneur. You didn't wake up that morning, you know, and said I need to be or want to be an entrepreneur. I assume so you became one, and I can't imagine this because I was in a pretty similar situation. So what was the moment you realized there is no going back? And what did that cost you at this time? Maybe in your private life. I mean, these are tough decisions for sure.
00:05:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, to your point, I never wanted to be an entrepreneur.
00:05:15
Speaker 3: Both my parents are entrepreneur and growing up it was a never ending roller coaster ride of uncertainty. I was always worried my dad was going to go bankrupt or we couldn't pay the bills. It was this as a small child. It's really nerve wracking. And so I thought, I'm going to get a stable job and I'm going to work with the corporate ladder and I'm going to have security. And what I realized is there is no job security, and the best bet you can make is the bet on yourself. And at that point, after I thought I had job security and I thought I was going to climb the corporate ladder, and then I got fired and I had hit rock bottom, I decided to make that bet, and that is why I became an entrepreneur.
00:05:57
Speaker 2: Not because I wanted to.
00:05:58
Speaker 3: I wasn't thinking I'm going to be entrepreneur, but because I realize that there was no job security, and so if I wanted security, I had to make it on my own.
00:06:08
Speaker 1: Or you have an idea in mind which you believe and only you can do it, right, I mean, this is it comes together, right, It is you know, to have maybe no other option, which is a fair reason. Sometimes on the other hand, you know, sometimes you wake up and think, that's it, this is something I have to do. Right.
00:06:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, I had a crystal clear vision of what I wanted to create in my mind, and most people do. They have this vision and that clarity of thought, and that vision is so important. However, ideas are a DIMA doesn't and putting that vision and grounding it in reality is so difficult, and so that's why so many people never actually get started. Because it's easy to dream, it's so hard to do.
00:06:51
Speaker 1: Let's come back for a moment. When you start such a business and earlier on, how did you know which ideas deserved your energy and which ones where just distractions? Stressed up as opportunity you. I mean, as as an entrepreneur, you talk to so many people. Normally, you know, I have always people with you know, a good intention behind and you're pushed into different directions. So how could you identify what deserves your energy?
00:07:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, for me, it was very clear where there was opportunity in the market that I thought I could take advantage of and regardless of And this is what most happens to most people is people say you're crazy, People say you should get a real job. People say why it's not going to work, why it shouldn't work, why it can't work, And they're actually imposing their own beliefs onto you. And so even trying to say I have an idea and I believe more than you doubt me. That's what you have to believe, and that's why you have to That belief will carry you through. And that's when I took the first step because everyone told me not to do it. The internets are fad, it will never be vague, and obviously you know we see how that worked out. But I had a belief and most entrepreneurs do that. I had a belief in my vision and I had the passion to bring it.
00:08:09
Speaker 1: To life right right when I listened to your recent interviews and of course reading your books, et cetera, you talk a lot about your kind of failures or mistakes, say it like this, is there a specific mistake, maybe out of many, but one you want to share with our audience from your early career that still influences how you build today, how you act today, something which comes immeting to your mind.
00:08:36
Speaker 3: Well, I started making my mistakes really, really young, and so not even early in my career, early in my life. So honestly, I think a lot of the mistakes we may come back to beliefs that we held from a very young age and I'd say childhood. And this is beliefs that you know, I have a twin sister, and growing up she was smarter and faster and better basically at everything, and I believed I was underqualified and I was not as good as her. And so that belief is something that stayed with me for, you know, decades. And I think the challenge is is most of us are still carrying beliefs that we learn at a young age that are just fundamentally not true, and we're still carrying them around with us. And so we had to ask ourselves what limiting beliefs are we caring with us today that are inhibiting us from becoming the best versions of ourselves. And so, for me, that was really believing I was underqualified and to be a woman of business and really young founder at the start of the Internet. There was a lot of things that, you know, really reminded me of that limiting belief And so how do you push through those limiting beliefs and become confident in your own beliefs and your own talents and your own strengths. And so for me, that was a huge mistake I made ear on which unfortunately it started, you know, from when I was young. And people can relate to that because a lot of people had a sister like my sister, who's really smart, and you just assume these these these labels and they're fundamentally not true. So trying to make sure that you are able to push past that and create regardless of circumstance. And I think that's really important for anyone right now, is what are those beliefs that we think about? And for me, it was really believing I was underqualified?
00:10:31
Speaker 1: Right, I think this is definitely also something I felt over the last years. How can you sometimes change such an experience or such a feeling into a positive momentum And sometimes you have to just ignore things like this, right, negative things, whether it comes from a childhood or you know, from recent events. I think that's definitely one one challenge every day, again and again. So how did your relationship with risk taking all these risks change as you moved from first time founder to serial builder? Did success ever make you too cautious or maybe at some stage altitude reckless? I'll have you experienced both situations.
00:11:13
Speaker 3: I have experienced both, and I think I've learned more from my failures than I have from all my successes.
00:11:19
Speaker 2: I truly have.
00:11:20
Speaker 3: And when I was growing up, you know, it's interesting how much your parents do make an impact on you. You know, my parents would sit around the table and they'd say, hey, Kim, what's the worst thing that happened to you today. They didn't talk about school, they didn't talk about sports. They were entrepreneurs. They talked about business. And so imagine being nine and debating business resilience over macaroni and cheese. It is something that just wasn't normal. But the reality that I face is that they were teaching me how to embrace failure and risk and normalize it from a very young age. So after you get fired and hit rock bottom, I mean, listen, the only place to go is up, so that really is a great place to start.
00:12:03
Speaker 2: And for me, having seen that, you know.
00:12:06
Speaker 3: Personally growing up made me more secure in watching my own parents have some of those challenges that Okay, I can do this.
00:12:15
Speaker 2: I can do hard things.
00:12:17
Speaker 3: And it's hard whether you're working for someone or working someone for someone else.
00:12:22
Speaker 2: Right, it's all hard to too hard.
00:12:25
Speaker 1: That's true. That's true. So at the very beginning you've mentioned that waiting would have cost you everything. How do foundos recognize the moment when action beats preparation. What is the danger of waiting just a little too long? Obviously somebody else can come up with a similar year, right, this is an obvious one. It's sometimes, like you know, based on my own experience, there is maybe not the completely new product or idea you have in mind, but you need to adjust it into a way which provides completely new experiences. When was the moment for you? You or were there are several moments because you found it a couple of companies.
00:13:06
Speaker 3: I'm a perfectionist, right, so after I didn't want to fail.
00:13:09
Speaker 2: No one wants to fail. No one shows up thinking you're going to fail.
00:13:12
Speaker 3: And I remember when I had started early on my kitchen table, and I remember listening to this Marine Corps general talking about what he used in battle, and it was called the seventy percent rule. So if you have seventy percent enough information, you should move. If you get to a hundred, you've already lost. And so I said, hey, if he's using that, that's a good that's a good rule for me to use. And so I started using the seventy percent and everything I did seventy percent of my pitch, seventy percent of my marketing. If it was seventy percent ready and I felt seventy percent ready, I would act. And it really helped me find the balance between analysis and action. And that's where everyone gets stuck. It's just waiting to feel one hundred percent ready. You will never be one hundred percent ready. You just have to have the courage to start. And seventy percent is a good place to start.
00:14:01
Speaker 1: It sounds like a good number, yes, for sure. For sure. You also mentioned that your ideas were not you know, or at least it looked like you know good enough to convince others. So rejection is part of your story obviously, as for any many other founders, as well, at what point did rejection stop feeling personal? Which is hard right to take this? And at what point did rejections start feeling more directional for you that you could turn it into your own kind of power, right, that you pushed and you knew which direction you need to go.
00:14:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, for me, rejection hurts.
00:14:37
Speaker 3: It doesn't matter if it's sad day and I still get rejected. So if you're not getting rejected, you're not trying hard enough. I truly believe that. And very early on I had a great mentor that said rejection is your best friend. It's a numbers game and each rejection will get you closer to success because you learn and you grow and you adapt and you pivot. So if you look at rejection in a new way and say, if I have to get a hundred rejections, then what number am I now? And like, go for the know, So every time I get rejected, I'm just going for the no.
00:15:12
Speaker 2: Eventually someone's going to say yes.
00:15:14
Speaker 3: And it's a mindset shift, so it doesn't hurt so bad when someone rejects. I mean, it always kind of stings, but now it makes you stronger and better, and failure is feedback and so every time I get rejected, I learn what about the product?
00:15:27
Speaker 2: Is it working? Why is it the pricing?
00:15:29
Speaker 1: Like?
00:15:29
Speaker 3: What is it about what I'm offering you? Why you won't want to buy? And I think it's been a but that mindset shift is about going out and being okay with rejection. Yeah, is really a unique way to view success.
00:15:45
Speaker 1: Actually, yeah, yeah, I think that's very important. That's very valuable. So in my intro, I've mentioned that it's all about execution. Many funders believe execution skills. You know, it's something you either have or you don't. Would you agree or disagree?
00:16:00
Speaker 3: Now I completely disagree execution is a skill you can learn. Yeah, it truly is. I mean I wrote a whole book on it. So I definitely believe it's a skill that you can learn. And I've invested a metric tens of thousands of people. I've invested in so many entrepreneurs, and the one thing that separates the good from the great is their ability to execute. And today's world of AI, it's even more important speed agility. This is so important to every single founder out there, in every single business owner. They need to be able to move quickly. The market is moving regardless that they do or not.
00:16:40
Speaker 1: When do you intend to start a business when scaling? What is the first I don't know, let's call it system or infrastructure or network. Founders should build, but almost never do. So you're an advisor, You're investing into so many companies, what should they think about from the start on? You know, when having a scaling business in front of you.
00:17:02
Speaker 3: The most important thing for me that has been really pivotal to my success was getting a mentor in a vertical specific category that's been there, that's done that to help me in any business I choose to get into. That is a game changer. They don't have to be twenty years ahead. They can be ten years, they can be one year. But they have to know more than me, and they have to have been successful and having those mentors and I still have them in every single one of my companies, and they're different. Whether it's a CpG category, a tech doesn't matter. But having those mentors increases your likelihood of success by ten times. So why wouldn't you do it? That is so important? So many I mean I get it because I am as an entrepreneur, you have like a lone wolf characteristic.
00:17:49
Speaker 2: Like I can do it myself.
00:17:50
Speaker 3: I can do everything myself, and it's so wrong actually, because.
00:17:54
Speaker 2: No one's successful alone.
00:17:56
Speaker 3: So you have to surround yourself with people that are able to help you get to the next level.
00:18:02
Speaker 1: How do you fund mentors? I mean you have your networking know people, but not necessary you know, you don't have such a mentor in this group of people surrounding you. Right, great people, but not necessarily a mentor. So how can you do this? For me?
00:18:18
Speaker 3: To be honest, I've had a lot of great mentors on the boards that I've sat on, or the companies I've run that had boards that became my mentors.
00:18:24
Speaker 2: Over time, investments that I've.
00:18:26
Speaker 3: Made that I found, you know, synergies with individuals I think. To be honest, I really look category specific and ask who do you know that's great at this Who can you introduce me to? Again, I'm risking rejection every single time I ask, but I don't care because I know I'm getting closer to success. So you have to ask for a mentorship, and the easiest way is finding someone. Let's say you can look out on LinkedIn someone you admire. Make a list of ten people that you admire that's close that you think have done something that you want to do. And literally the easiest way to ask is I mean, I ask for coffee. You know, it's so simple, like, let's have coffee, Christian, Let's sit down for fifteen minutes and have coffee and let's see if there's a synergy between us.
00:19:10
Speaker 2: Because mentorship is not a paid relationship.
00:19:13
Speaker 3: It is I want to help you because I know I can contribute something to what you're building.
00:19:19
Speaker 1: Right, And I think it's also fair to say that, you know, when it comes to such a tremendous experience as entrepreneur, based on your story, you're one of my mentors, right, I mean I founded two companies, not nine, not ten, like you and others. And therefore, you know, I remember when we sat down and talked about this idea of possible et cetera. You became my mentor in many ways. You know when it came, you know, from the entrepreneurship and when it comes to you know that you follow your past. But let's talk about this for a second, because there also there's also a challenge when when you have to know when it's time to pivot versus push through discomfort. Yeah, have your idea in mind, this is the way I want to go. But of course it's not always like this, right, so when is set moment?
00:20:11
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, well, thank you very much.
00:20:13
Speaker 3: I talk about pivoting a lot, especially in entrepreneurs and mentors can help guide you because they've been there. And I think think of the most successful companies that we know, I mean, YouTube started as a dating platform, Twitter started as podcasts, write, Netflix started sending DVDs by mail. Every single company has pivoted at least once. Even if I look at the investments that I've made, ninety nine percent of pivoted, and I think that's okay because they're adjusting, they're iterating, they're trying and testing and learning and failing and growing. And it's so important because to your point, if you just think it's one way, you know, there's only one way.
00:20:49
Speaker 2: To get to it A to Z, that is a mistake.
00:20:52
Speaker 3: There's a lot of different ways, and success is not a straight line, right, So looking back, thinking about what are the detours, the off rance, the setbacks, like what other ways could I do it?
00:21:02
Speaker 2: And could I do it better?
00:21:03
Speaker 3: I'm always open to learning, and I think for me being really curious and now being across so many different industries, just continuously understanding and learning from individuals that are smarter than myself.
00:21:19
Speaker 1: Let's talk about you as an engine investor. We've mentioned this sever times. How many companies you invested? More than one hundred.
00:21:25
Speaker 2: Early one hundred and fifty now maybe more.
00:21:28
Speaker 1: Oh wow, that's unbelievable.
00:21:29
Speaker 3: A lot of good exits I've had, you know, at least half.
00:21:31
Speaker 2: Of them have exited.
00:21:32
Speaker 1: So that's good on you. Good on you. Also, when you look into something new, now, another company you might be interested in, what do you notice about founders within the first ten minutes that others miss? And I'm not talking about the typical elevator speech, right, and not not about the presentation itself, more maybe about the personality, how people talk to you and try to sell this idea to you.
00:21:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, for me, look at founders right now. I know how hard it is to be a founder. So I am a founder. So I'm not just an investor. I'm a founder. I've an operator. I've scaled businesses to a billion dollars. I know how hard it is, and I've sat there at my kitchen table wondering if I'm ever going to get out of my own house, right, And so when I invest in individuals now, and honestly, I invest one hundred percent. Yes, you have to have a great idea, and yes there has to be a great market opportunity, but at the end of the day, I'm investing in the individual and their ability when something goes wrong. They gotta have grit, like, can't quit. They have to keep going no matter how bad it gets. And that's what I'm looking for in the individuals that I'm backing, the ones that are open to pivoting, open to the new ideas, open to find a solution. Because the market again is moving so fast that we don't know what's going to happen.
00:22:53
Speaker 2: We just know.
00:22:54
Speaker 3: I mean in my world, I just know something bad is going to happen. So I need to bet on a founder that is resilient and has the tenacity to keep pushing forward.
00:23:04
Speaker 1: And how do you support founders, you know, without taking the wheel. I mean, if they need some adjustments and some guidance, I think that's a tricky part, right to give them advice, but not taking the wheel. So when do you step in heart?
00:23:15
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Well, you have to know in any relationship.
00:23:18
Speaker 3: I think this goes with marriage or friendships, like am I the passenger or am I the driver?
00:23:22
Speaker 1: Right? Well, in the marriage you never step in heart for sure.
00:23:25
Speaker 2: No, No, I'm the passenger of the driver. You have to know in any situation, where are you?
00:23:31
Speaker 3: And if I'm investing, if I'm co founding, I'm also you know we're co drivers.
00:23:35
Speaker 1: Right.
00:23:36
Speaker 3: If I'm just investing, you're the driver and I'm here to just offer support and guidance and you know a network, right, And so I don't lean in because unless you want me to, I have a lot of found Usually if founders call me something is really really wrong, like really wrong, and they're calling me as like the lifeline, like Kim, what should I do? Either I lost my best employee or I I'm going to run out of cash, or the market changed or something happened really dramatic, And I feel I'm a really good mentor and advisor and investor at that point because I'm an entrepreneur, so like I will always favor the entrepreneur, which is a difference than being a VC who really has different motives.
00:24:20
Speaker 2: They're not on the ground, they don't know how hard it is.
00:24:23
Speaker 1: Something I can definitely confirm yes, that's yeah.
00:24:26
Speaker 2: You know how hard it is, man, No, I.
00:24:29
Speaker 1: Know how good you are, you know, having you up next to me and giving me that kind of advice and guidance all the time. So let's talk about something very serious. In twenty four to twenty five, VC funding for all women funding teams remain, though consist instantly hovering around two percent to two point three or two five percent of total US and global VC capital, which is unbelievable. Our women founders being evaluated on traction while others are evaluated on potential. What is the reason for that?
00:25:16
Speaker 2: Actually, I don't think so. I don't think that's it, to be honest.
00:25:20
Speaker 3: When I look at how much deal flow I get, and I get a lot, one out of twenty is probably a woman founder asking me for investment.
00:25:28
Speaker 2: Maybe less.
00:25:29
Speaker 3: So there's just not enough women coming to the plate. There's not enough woman asking for the money in my experience, and I invest across category. So it's interesting and I think, a there should be more, But you can't be what you can't see. And so what I try to do in most of in everything that I do, I mean, I love the entrepreneurs like is to try to be a role model, like you can do it, you need to help. I'm actually mentoring at least six women right now, women founders. So I think just trying to like in whatever way you can, helping to understand how to raise capital, helping to expand the network, and helping to show that you can ask for help because as women, we don't ask for help, like we just don't for whatever reason.
00:26:16
Speaker 1: Right, So in other words, you're saying they're not falling out, you know in pitch meetings or term sheets or follow on rounds. It's really at the beginning, right when sourcing, Yes, when getting the attention coming out and say hey, I'm the one I know how to do.
00:26:32
Speaker 3: This well, because they'll wait likely till they're one hundred percent ready. Where the guys are like I'm seventy let's go seventy percent, they're like, I'm going to pitch you.
00:26:41
Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, pitch me. You should pitch me at seventy percent.
00:26:44
Speaker 3: The women wait till there one hundred percent the business is already formed, right, and then at that point, you know, usually they're cash flowings, so maybe they don't need investment, but they do need the support, which is interesting, but it's not personally from what I've seen, it's at the beginning, and we need words more women to ask.
00:27:02
Speaker 1: Okay, let's do this. Let's start with that podcast here. For sure, we would like to see more applications reaching out to you in the next couple of base.
00:27:11
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh my gosh, because actually it's interesting.
00:27:14
Speaker 3: I personally try to prioritize women founders, underrepresented founder like founders that I know I can help, right, And but the reality is when I look at who's pitching, it's a very small sliver, and I think that's reflected in the funding.
00:27:31
Speaker 1: Right. You already mentioned AI and touch based on the influence of AI. But let's talk about technology in general, because technology always played a role, right, I mean when we started our businesses, what is it, twenty years ago, twenty five some whatever, there was already a lot of technology developments. So how has technology changed who gets to be an entrepreneur? Not just how companies are built, which is obvious. You know, with technology you can do it fast and easier and da da da, But how technology changed the entrepreneur themselves. Do you see a difference there?
00:28:06
Speaker 3: Yes, it's never been easier to start a company.
00:28:09
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness.
00:28:10
Speaker 1: Why is that?
00:28:11
Speaker 3: Oh, because there's so many tools you can test and iterate and get something to market within literally an hour. It's insane, right, And I think about all the companies that I'm working and mentoring. You can test and learn so quickly and get proof of concept, get out to market now with all of the tools, it's never been easier, which is so exciting because it lowers the barrier to entry, but it also makes it, you know, more competitive.
00:28:42
Speaker 1: What about the VC market? I think you also found it a company recently or maybe some time ago already, so please correct me. Which use AI you know to change the investment market the VC market itself? So how will this impact how you could collect money as an entrepreneur, as a founder.
00:29:04
Speaker 3: Well, when you cut the VC market, you want to especially because there's tools.
00:29:11
Speaker 2: You're looking for more, you know, you see later.
00:29:13
Speaker 3: Later stage, right, because you're seeing less money go into early stage, A lot more money's going into later stage.
00:29:19
Speaker 2: Because you now want to see traction.
00:29:21
Speaker 3: You want to see a path of profitability, you want to see consumer adoption. There's a lot more metrics that you're looking at because you want to be more confident in your investment, which I get as an investor.
00:29:34
Speaker 2: I do. I do too.
00:29:35
Speaker 3: The other day someone was pitching me and they didn't have one. They hadn't even gotten to market. I'm like, this is amazing idea, absolutely amazing. How many consumers are actually testing it?
00:29:44
Speaker 2: None? Like this is ridiculous. How are you even pitching me right now?
00:29:49
Speaker 3: Like get to market stuff, Like you've been doing this for a year a year. I'm like, you should be doing this for a month and then get to market, get some feedback, go back, develop Like think of money right now, you could have ten solid engineers, which kind of goes back to twenty years, Like really, you can get a lot of smart people that move really really really quickly, Like ten solid engineers could be as much as one hundred if you're actually all focused on executing at the same time.
00:30:20
Speaker 1: So the right balance between the latest tech stack using in some way at the same time, at least, I believe, you know, funding starting a business make it its successful also depends on some I would say, I would call it some kind of traditional values. Still, so what opportunities do you believe most founders are overlooking right now? Independent from all these technology influenced decisions because it feels two unglomrous. Is there anything you would say, Hey, let's go back to the old values, you know, which are still relevant in today's time as well.
00:31:01
Speaker 3: I think it's about not getting caught up in the hype, to be honest and just building a great Let's go back to basics. Let's just build a great business, a business that makes money, a business that has a path of profitability, like those businesses will always.
00:31:17
Speaker 2: Have a great outcome.
00:31:18
Speaker 3: Like business fundamentals should not get lost. And I think that's really important because now it reminds me of twenty years ago. We're just trying to get millions and millions of consumers, but there's no actual business, Like we have to have a functioning business that people are willing to pay for. And I think that's really important to just let's go back to basics at this point.
00:31:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, not running crazy because of the hype. This is I think absolutely true. Find the right balance, which is also speaking on my own experience, one of the biggest challenges. You wake up every morning and you think, you know, the world changed completely. It feels quite often feels like this, but then looking stepping back for a second and say, okay, what has redium impact on societes, on your own business and the market you're acting And that's then potentially not always as you look into this in the first second. So I think that makes absolute sense. So we talked about glamour. Especially when you're successful, you only see quite often, you only see the big successes, right, the multimillionaires and the billionaires who did this several times. What part of the journey deserves far more honesty?
00:32:26
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, yes, you see.
00:32:29
Speaker 3: Even in my case, you see two hundred and thirty five million dollar exit. You do not see the decades I spent just grinding it out, flying and traveling and you know, having the worst things that you could possibly get sued. And then it's so tragic, so many mistakes, right, And honestly, that's why I wrote a book about mistakes, because I wanted to share it because everyone wait till the end and they say, oh, look at this great exit.
00:32:54
Speaker 2: But the reality is that exit is one.
00:32:58
Speaker 3: Moment, and that journey was so hard, and I made so many mistakes that I wish I wouldn't have, and you learn from them and you grow. But reminding ourselves that like it's a marathon, not a sprint. Success is a very is a long game. And I think actually in companies too, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs are not built overnight. The companies I invest in, it is a five to ten year, day to day, twenty four to seven grind.
00:33:27
Speaker 1: But it's motivating at the same time, right, it's fun. It's so fun forward all the time in most cases, at least so right now. As we said, we also have listeners maybe in this situation right now, thinking about the next great idea, good idea, and a long list of reasons to wait. So if they don't act in the next thirty days, what do you believe they will lose? Not theoretically but in real life.
00:33:56
Speaker 3: I think looking back at my own life right thinking, you're listening right now, where do you want to be one year from today? If it is not moving forward, I would say you have failed yourself, truly, because we should always be learning, we should always be growing, we should always be taking that risk and pushing it to the next level. And if you're not, and if you're not stepping outside your comfort zone, if you're not taking risks, you're going to regret it. And who you don't want to regret, right, I don't want to look back as I regret not doing it, because you will regret it, and the market's moving.
00:34:31
Speaker 2: There'll never be a better time to start.
00:34:33
Speaker 3: It doesn't matter how old you are, it doesn't matter how much experience you have. Nothing matters other than the desire and the belief in your idea and the courage would take that first step. So whatever fear you have that you're telling yourself like, it's all a lie and you're just making excuses.
00:34:52
Speaker 1: What a great final statement of our conversation. And for those who are interested, right and maybe would like to reach out, So where can people find you? What is the best? Please?
00:35:01
Speaker 3: Yes, connect with me on LinkedIn, on Instagram, on my website kimparel dot com.
00:35:08
Speaker 2: I've got some.
00:35:08
Speaker 3: Amazing tools for putting your dreams into actual reality and executing, and I would love to connect. I love hearing about the stories and actually, to your point, Christian, what are you going to do in the next thirty days?
00:35:21
Speaker 2: Please reach out and tell me.
00:35:24
Speaker 1: Okay, So that's a clear call for everybody out there. Kim, thank you so much for reminding us that success rarely belongs to the most prepared. It belongs to the ones willing to move forward and to everyone listening. The distance between an idea and a life changing outcome is almost always execution. As we now said, and learn, start before you feel ready, because waiting might be the biggest risk of all. I'm Christian Mucher and this is Possible Now Stories of Possibilities. Thank you. If you're curious to learn more about Possible, sign up for our newsage, or if you want to join us at the Possible Show in Miami, visit possibleevent dot com. Possible Now is a co production of iHeartMedia and Possible. Our executive producers are Ryan Marx and Jasmin Melendez. Our supervising producer is Meredith Barnes. Special thanks to Colleen Lawrence Mack from our programming team. Our theme music is composed by Anthony Ketticoli. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeart app Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
