66. From Navy Seal to Entrepreneur with Kill Cliff Founder Todd Ehrlich
My Guest today is Todd Ehrlich, former Navy Seal, Founder of Kill Cliff Recovery Drinks, Venture Capitalist and Philanthropist. Todd shares how fortitude and resilience helped him get through SEAL training while other elite athletes failed, and how these same traits helped Todd thrive as an entrepreneur. Todd continues to invest in early stage companies and provides needed resources and perspective to founders that he learned throughout his journey.
“[SEAL Training] is really meant to weed out people that don't have the ability to embrace the fortitude needed to make it.” – Todd Ehrlich
Highlights:
02:54 – Intro, The Navy SEALs
05:10 – Fortitude vs Physical Speciman
08:39 – Does Military success translate to Business Success?
11:50 – Uncertainty in SEALs and business
14:57 Transition from Navy to Business
17:05 Starting Kill Cliff
22:41 The purpose behind Kill Cliff
25:01 Culture is the most import thing
28:09 Trust
30:00 Psychological Testing for new partners and employees
34:20 Failure vs Sub-Optimal results
40:40 – The Start Up Culture
43:24 - What does it mean to be a man?
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Quotes from Episode
“Going through SEAL training made me a much better person all the way around.”
“Just because someone is a really great military person, does not mean they are going to be a great entrepreneur.”
“If you are surprised that you are still wet and sandy, it means you shouldn’t be here.”
“I think that some people will realize that there is a path forward in business - you just have to find it.”
“Starting [Kill Cliff] was just an exercise in straight up TENACITY”
“Anytime you can weave a real, authentic purpose into building a business the better it is.”
“When everything sucks, having a purpose is very motivating.”
“If [employees] aren't clicking with the culture of the organization, they're probably not happy, and if they're not happy, it's time for them to go somewhere else.”
“It's very pragmatic, at the end of the day, whereas before I was trying to not be all things to all people, I was really trying to make everybody happy.”
“Trust is so critical. It’s kind of everything. You’re lost in business without it.”
“If you can identify suboptimal results early and what's causing them, or if you're on the wrong path, it prevents TOTAL failure”
“One thing that people often screw up is they don't realize the length of time it's going to take to sell somebody something.”
“I think there's this big tendency of start-up CEO's to do urgent things instead of important things.”
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