Marc Champagne, entrepreneur and host of Behind the Human podcast talks to Ed Andrew about closing his app KYO which had 87m impressions and 200,000 subscribers. In this humbling and honest conversation Marc details for the first time the closing of his business and the mental and emotional strain that goes with it. 

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Ed was privileged to talk to Marc as he shares the mental emotional and financial consequences of closing his business for the first time. Marc is a returning guest and you can listen to the original episode as he grow his company here.    

 

Really diving into where it went wrong, letting go of ego, finding his identity again and what the future offers for meditation apps. A sobering and real episode of a founders journey through the start up world.

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Talking Points

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• discussing the problem that he was solving - digital journaling, and how had a social responsibility to move on, lacking the technical expertise and the reasons behind the financial failure (5)

 

• having a brand strategy and building a successful commercial business (8)

 

• learning to spot red flags and act on them - explaining how quickly the failures snowball 

 

• the difference between the product that we want to give them and product they want from us - why user testing is so important and deciding when to close

 

• discussing capital raising - Calm and Headspce are now valued at $1bn

 

• explaining why keeping the podcast going is so important as meditation and mindfulness become mainstream

 

• discussing letting go of ego and the beginning of the next journey (21)

 

• why relationships have been the main value of the journey (26)

 

• creating space when shut down need to stabilise life, what am I, what do I want to do and what do I not want to do - understanding his identity 

 

• my no 1 job every day is my mental health, “shutting the company down is harder than actually starting it”  technically and emotionally

 

• the states of emotion of closing down - what is my identity now, seeing the skills that he has to go and help others, having self awareness and gratitude and having no financial payoff

 

• talking to founders of Calm, about his user base, usually journalling before and after meditation 

 

• discussing the transition to his next venture or job and not jumping into anything else too quickly, balancing financial needs and creativity (42)

 

• "just make sure that you keep falling forward” (43)

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• survival or primal state of mind being powerful driven motivated excited and never in both, being always in one or the other, his 5 go to practices to get back quicker into a power state, to live in the present moment

 

• follow your intuition, what are we pretending not to know, ask that question, can you identify it (49)

 

• discussing being in a mens group for a year or so, that group has been a big crutch, safe space and no judgement and how are you feeling right now in the moment and we are not alone, don’t let the narratives start and be kind to yourself 

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• success is linked to happiness, what really lights me up as a human, talking to connecting and interviewing people, then set business and personal life to support that (54)     

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To contact Marc click on the following social links

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https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kyo-conversations