
Zen Founder Podcast
We want to help entrepreneurs practice better mental health. The ZenFounder podcast is a combination of interviews with successful entrepreneurs, conversations with experts, and honest reflections on entrepreneur life. Forbes called it one of the 12 best podcasts for entrepreneurs.
Listen to Episodes Below 👇
Episode 82: Podcasts and Tattoos
Rob and Sherry talk about some of the podcasts they are enjoying recently, and why they think they can be beneficial to the listeners. They give some detailed descriptions of these podcasts and point out specific episodes.
Episode 81: Founder Origin Stories: Hiten Shah
Rob and Sherry revisit an interview with Hiten Shah from their Founder Origin Stories series.
Episode 80: Air Freshener for your Brain
Sherry talks about one of the psychological theories she often comes back to in her interactions with founders. Its called cognitive theory, a focus on understanding how thoughts shape our behaviors. She gives some techniques that can help with the mentioned cognitive distortions that founders often deal with.
Episode 79: Embrace the Chaos
Rob and Sherry talk about the process of getting settled into a new place. They speak from their own experiences, making points that can help people deal with all different types of traditions in life.
Episode 78: Slogging Through Failure
Sherry interviews a listener of the podcast, Zach Kessin, about his struggle with self confidence. Zach shares the ups and downs about his startup and battles with depression. Sherry offers ways that he can get the support he needs.
Episode 77: The Other Side of the Story: An Interview with Clay Collins of Leadpages
To complete the Drip acquisition story Sherry interviews Clay Collins of Lead Pages to get his side of the story about the acquisition process. Clay shares his thoughts on the ups and downs of the negotiations and his plans for the future.
Episode 76: The Family Side of A Startup Acquisition: Part 2
Rob and Sherry continue their conversation about the struggles faced during Rob's company's acquisition. They talk about all the different elements that impacted them and the family and discuss what may lie ahead.
Episode 75: The Family Side of A Startup Acquisition: Part 1
Rob and Sherry talk about Rob's company Drip, being acquired by LeadPages, and the struggles they had to face during the process of the acquisition. Rob shares insights of the negotiation timeline and how if personally affected him, the stresses he had to deal with, and how it therefore affected the family. Sherry gives her side of the story and what she did to prepare for a possible move while not being able to make the news public.
Episode 74: Entrepreneurship & Kids
Sherry interviews her 9 year old and her 5 year old about their understanding of how entrepreneurship and creativity fit together. They talk about some of their interests, hobbies, and entrepreneurial endeavors. Rob answers a listener question about how to foster and encourage entrepreneurship in children.
Episode 73: Avoiding Burnout
Rob talks about the mental burnout he recently experienced and how his constant thinking about work attributed to this. He shares some of the changes he made in order to help refresh and recharge his mind. Sherry helps define what a burnout is and provides some helpful solutions to the issue.
Episode 72: Happy Place
Rob and Sherry talk about the significance of their beach apartment they own as a second home. They talk about how they use it as their "happy place" and make it a routine part of their lives to go there and escape the stresses of life. They discuss the importance of finding a place that makes you feel blissful and making it a regular part of your own life.
Episode 71: Derailed
Rob and Sherry share their story on a recent challenge they encountered during the process of selling their house. They talk about how the culmination of things in both their personal and professional lives derailed them from some of their other commitments. They also share some thoughts on how to help keep you from getting derailed.
Episode 70: How Your Relationship Can Make You a Better Founder
Rob interviews Derrick Reimer, co-founder of Drip, about how his marriage has been a super power during his founder journey. He talks about the ways he gets support from marriage, how it has helped him be more efficient with his time, as well as some of the struggles a founder may face.
Episode 69: How to Deal with Negative Emotions
In this episode of ZenFounder, Rob interviews Anna Jacobsen, head of customer success at Drip about how to deal with other people's negativity. Anna shares her approach and insight on the matter when having to deal with dissatisfied customers.
Episode 68: How to Make Your Relationship One of Your Business Superpowers
Rob and Sherry talk about how your key relationship can be one of your business superpowers. Rob shares some relevant points from a book he recently read and Sherry reveals some details on her and Rob's relationship in the early years, including how they first met.
Episode 67: Becoming a Stress Ninja
Rob and Sherry talk about their favorite tactics for mastering stress.
Episode 66: How To Run The Room
Rob and Sherry discuss the topics of charisma, warmth, power and presence. They also talk about how body language can effect the mind and mood.
Episode 65: Playing Longball
In this episode of ZenFounder, Rob and Sherry discuss the topic of longball, the idea of having a long term point of view in terms of career and how that can also be applicable to life.
Episode 64: Self Care Level 2
After returning home from MicroConf 2016, Rob and Sherry discuss some self care strategies including the importance of protecting your time and focus.
Episode 63: Mental Health Concerns Are The Rule
In this episode of ZenFounder, Sherry interviews Dr. Michael A. Freeman, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UC San Francisco school of medicine about the prevalence of mental health conditions in founders.