No. 1 mistake: Going it alone or being terrible at delegation
Today's Entrepreneur is Ian Stephens. Ian is a Founder and CEO at Magnolia Moonshine and a Co-Founder and CMO at Reely.
Magnolia Moonshine Cocktails are old-fashioned recipes made to serve, while Reely is an end-to-end content solution for sports leagues and content providers. They have created an automated highlight generation system that uses computer vision and deep learning artificial intelligence to instantly identify, generate, and distribute highlight plays from sporting events.
Here's a little about Ian:
I am a(n): Entrepreneur
Companies I've founded or co-founded: Magnolia Moonshine, Reely
Companies I work or worked for: Feeling Smitten
Achievements (products built, personal awards won):
Performing in Carnegie Hall, Building a brand (Feeling Smitten) that's been featured by Oprah and carried in thousands of shops, hotels and spas, publishing my first comic book.
If you are an entrepreneur, why? Because I love the ultimate challenge. If you want to enjoy the view you have to climb the mountain.
My favorite startups: Dollar Shave Club, Uber, Kiva, Airbnb, Choremonster, Kickstarter
What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation? I'm impatient so the frustrating part is that things are NEVER moving as fast as I want them to. So much of entrepreneurship is just putting one foot in front of the other every single day. Innovation is as close to creation as we mortals can reach. It's our opportunity to grasp the Promethean flame and change the future.
What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs make? Going it alone or being terrible at delegation. You're only as good as the team around you. Choose wisely.
What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?
You're only as good as the team you've surrounded yourself with.
If your message isn't crystal clear, you'll never be heard.
Every day there is something you can do or something you can improve that will put you closer to realizing your future. Find that thing and...DO IT!
Full bio:
My passion is building brands. The following are examples of recent ventures:
Founder // Reely
Reely is the future of sports highlight delivery. We use our proprietary computer vision software to to deliver streaming video highlights straight to your mobile device. Simply select your favorite sports teams and you'll be able to vote on highlights, save them to your own personalized highlight reel and share across media platforms.
No more searching through social media or waiting on SportsCenter to watch the big play you missed. Reely is instant gratification for mobile sports lovers everywhere.
Founder & CEO // Magnolia Moonshine
Magnolia Moonshine spirits are old-fashioned recipes made to serve. Each small batch is handcrafted with 100% fruit and aged with non GMO Georgia corn whiskey for natural sweetness and a smooth finish. Magnolia Moonshine can be found in premier steakhouses around the Pacific Northwest and will launch on the East Coast in 2017.
Owner // Feeling Smitten Bath & Body
As featured by Oprah, People Magazine, Good Morning America and many more, Feeling Smitten's line of bakery themed bath and beauty products are carried in over 2,000 gift shops, spas and hotels from Seattle to Dubai.
Editor's Note: Splash is Vator's startup conference, gathering top CEOs to share their lessons learned, and highlighting promising new ones. This year's winner and runner-up were Industry and Arbiclaims, respective. Reely was one of the top 8 finalist at the Global Splash competition.
Our annual Post Seed conference is around the corner on Dec. 1 at The Village in San Francisco. Speakers include Chamath Palihapitiya (Founder & CEO, Social Capital LP) and Jeff Lawson (Founder, CEO & Chairman,Twilio) and many more. Join us! REGISTER HERE. Be eligible to get a complimentary ticket to Post Seed. Join the Vator Investment Club before Thanksgiving. Join VIC.
