Welcome to The Kurty D Show, a podcast presenting unique perspectives shaping the world. Each week will showcase conversations and stories of personal fulfillment and overcoming what life throws your way. In this episode, Kurt welcomes to the show Steve Ressler. Steve is a serial entrepreneur with three exits under his belt, including his most recent company sale to Motorola. In this episode, Kurt and Steve unpack Steve’s journey from academia into the public sector and now into the exciting world of Search Funds, which is a burgeoning new category of investment into the small and medium business market. Steve gets specific and talks about his entrepreneurial origin story as well as the obstacles and challenges he’s had to overcome. Steve loves to be of service to others and provides some best practices on how to win in business and in the job market. Finally, Steve answers some rapid-fire questions and share's how the audience can collaborate.
What we covered:
01:45 – Kurt welcomes to the show, Steve Ressler, who shares his background in government and as an entrepreneur and the work he’s doing with Search Funds
08:50 – Steve’s entrepreneurial origin story
12:30 – GovLoop
16:18 – Search Funds explained
22:04 – What’s driving the demand for Search Funds
29:33 – Spending time on Twitter
32:23 – Steve speaks to the challenges and obstacles he’s overcome throughout his career
39:34 – Learning how to win
42:20 – The best boss Steve ever had, an unknown fact about Steve and the one band Steve would go see play live if he could
45:53 – Kurt thanks Steve for joining the show and let’s listeners know where they can connect with him and how they can be of service to Steve
Episode Sponsor:
Tweetable Quotes:
“A lot of people go into working as a political appointee or working on Capitol Hill, but not many go into bread and butter government. So a friend and I started a Happy Hour for young government employees that grew from two, to twenty, to fifty, to one hundred plus. Eventually, a reporter called and asked us the name of our group. We didn’t have a group, we had a Happy Hour. But it got us thinking that maybe this should be more., and that's how Young Government Leaders, and eventually GovLoop got started”
“Steve Jobs was just a guy going to work every day. And Mark Zuckerberg was just a guy with an idea. When you think of these stories, they’re just people executing on concepts.”
“I think there’s a lot of folks that are just interested in entrepreneurship. It’s one of the most popular topics at undergrad and business school. A lot of people want to be entrepreneurs but don’t have the idea, and why Search Funds have become so popular.”
“It’s a sales game, getting a job. So you need to think, ‘What is the story I’m telling?’ And you need to be able to say that succinctly when you get that thirty-second or minute pitch, not just why you but how you can help that organization.”
Links Mentioned: