Jeff Kofman, CEO and founder of Trint, is a tech entrepreneur with an unusual backstory. As an Emmy award-winning network television news foreign correspondent and war correspondent with ABC, CBS and CBC News he spent more than three decades reporting from around the world. Jeff has covered many of the biggest stories of our time including the Iraq War, the Arab Spring, Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf Oil Spill and the Chile Mine Rescue. He’s won an Edward R. Murrow Award, a duPont Award and two Emmys, including one for his coverage of the fall of Muammar Gadhafi in Libya in 2011.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
None
When business started difficulties overcame:
“I think it was that learning curve, I think it was just learning basic business skills. I had no experience in finance, in business structure and shares… and everything was new and so I think I spent a huge amount of time talking to people, learning, as I said making mistakes. Some of the most important people frankly to get to know more people on the same journey but a year or two ahead. I think you get a lot of people who think that they can help you, you know people who are wealthy and who are investors and who have the most part good intentions. But if they haven’t done the journey as a bootstrapped entrepreneur their advice can be of mixed value at best”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
Shackleton’s Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer Book by Margot Morrell and Stephanie CapparellFavourite Quote:
“I value the respect of those whom I respect” Ian Forster
Recommended Online Resources:
- Google LLC – is an American multinational technology company that specializes in Internet-related services and products, which include online advertising technologies, search engine, cloud computing, software, and hardware.
- The Guardian – Latest news, sport, business, comment, analysis and reviews from the Guardian.
- The New York Times Find breaking news, multimedia, reviews opinion on Washington, business, sports, movies, travel, books, jobs, education, real estate, cars
- The Washington Post – The Washington Post is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area. Daily broadsheet editions are printed for the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. The newspaper has won 69 Pulitzer Prizes.
- The Globe and Mail – The Globe and Mail: Canadian, World, Politics and Business News & Analysis. The Globe and Mail offers the news in Canada, featuring national and international news
- Toronto Star is Canada s largest online news site From national coverage and issues to local headlines and stories across the country
- Miami Herald – Miami Breaking News, Sports, Crime & More. Read today s latest updates on Florida news, including Miami Dade, the Keys and Broward Follow crime, local business, environment, transportation, schools, politics, sports and Latin America updates
- Podcasts
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“make sure that your idea really is a sustainable business. I think it’s the most simple advice and it’s really important to say yeah but who is going to pay for it? And why would they pay? …I think first of all does the world need it? I think that’s a question you need to ask. Is this a nice to have or a need to have?… I think the does the world need this question is a really important one. You could argue with a gamer for example does the world need a game? No but the next question is, does the world want this and want it enough to pay for it in a monetizable sustainable scalable way? And I think that’s the second question you have got to answer… You really need to answer the first and you absolutely must answer the second ”…[Listen for More]
More About Jeff Kofman:
Trint https://trint.com/
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“I can’t imagine a person becoming a success who doesn’t give this game of life everything he’s got.” Walter Cronkite
Other Quotes From the Chat with Jeff Kofman:
- “I think there are three kinds of advice, there is good advice, there is bad advice and there is confusing advice. And I think it’s very hard at times to know how to distinguish between three”
- “I understand why seasoned investors are sceptical or cautious when dealing with first-time entrepreneurs. The learning curve is so steep and the inevitability of consequential mistakes is so certain that you had better be very self-aware as an entrepreneur and you better communicate that to your investors and your employees. That gives you a pretty wide berth for making mistakes. Because if you have the maturity to acknowledge them and create a culture where mistakes that aren’t sloppy are part of the journey, owning those mistakes, fixing them, learning from them and not making those same mistakes again that’s what I say to the team. ”
- “The three things I brought to this journey are vision, passion and authenticity. I had a good idea based on my 30 years in journalism, the vision for the product…”
- “People would say guard you have got the passion of a kid. And you know what I kind of do and I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It drives people, it drives me and it motivates others”
- “I think that when we are young we tend to worry about what everyone thinks. I think you need to get over that in life. And I think huge number of people don’t get over it but I think selecting and knowing who you care about, who you respect. When they say hey ‘you are out of line there’, ‘you shouldn’t have done that’ or ‘you need to apologise’ or ‘are you sure you’re doing the right thing?’ I listen. When it somebody who I don’t know or some Twitter turkey just making nasty comments who I know nothing about I don’t really care. I am pretty resilient about arm’s-length insults. Not that I get them candidly that much. My point being more that I really focus on the people who I respect and who I care about and what they say and I don’t really worry about the rest”
- “it’s the difference between fast-food and a great meal. And so, I absolutely love the growth of podcasts”
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