Welcome to episode 17 of the Hole in The Whole Podcast. Today Yana and Tom discuss the lessons they learned in 2019. They focus on what’s been going on in the industry, and talk about the ever-present entrepreneurial challenge of being judged and compared to others. Next week in episode 18, they will look in the mirror and become a bit more reflective. Stay tuned! 

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Today’s Episode:

• [01:30] Hello!!
• [01:35] Today, we are going to talk about the key takeaways from 2019.
• [02:01] Yana says one thing she learned this past year was improving time management both at work and personally, she explains.
• [03:51] Tom talks about wasting time participating in meetings that were just reruns from week to week and how they revised it.
• [04:58] Yana speaks about making the change to stop attending meetings and became more productive.
• [05:26] Tom asks how did not attending these meetings make you more productive?
• [06:43] Yana chats about the second lesson she learned and explained how she made the changes.
• [08:48] Tom comments on what Yana learned and how she used it to grow her business.
• [09:33] He speaks about what he saw when he spent time in Silicon Valley and the differences he saw compared to Europe and Asia.
• [11:44] She talks about not having to compromise profitability overgrowth in her business model.
• [14:08] Tom tells us about FinTech’s how get funded to operate and how dreams make startups valuable.
• [15:01] Yana gives her insight into the issues Tom was discussing and a book that she likes.
• [17:14] Tom talks about a statement lighting his red lamps, being economical with the truth.
• [18:24] They discuss the premise of the book, and the obstacles the lead faces and cutting corners is business.
• [20:09] Tom says that money is made when you take calculated risks.
• [21:59] He says you must be honest with yourself and show progress. Once you know that what you are doing won’t work, you need to take the loss and move on.
• [23:17] Thank you for listening and subscribe, so you don’t miss an episode.

Show links:

• How to get in touch with us, if you’d like to tell your startup story: Yana on Instagram, Tom on LinkedIn 
• Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou