Why a San Francisco Startup Founder and Investor Moved to Bentonville with Phil Libin

Summary

On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Phil Libin, a software engineer turned serial entrepreneur. Phil’s currently the Founder and CEO of All Turtles, an early-stage product studio, as well as the startup mmhmm, a video software business that aims to create more sustainable and joyful ways to work and collaborate. With a long history of success, Phil has extensive experience with transforming ideas into companies. Throughout the episode, James and Phil discuss Bentonville's economic ecosystem and the complexities behind founding a startup. 

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Show Notes:

(0:54) Introduction to Phil

(2:33) About All Turtles

(3:30) About mmhmm

(8:27) Phil’s Journey to Bentonville

(12:12) Surprising Aspects of NWA

(18:59) Entrepreneurial Opportunities in NWA

(20:30) About Bentonville’s Economic Ecosystem

(27:01) The Intricacies of Being a Founder

(31:42) Raising Venture Capital

(38:10) Learning from Failure

(42:59) Closing Questions

‍Links

James Bell

Bentonville Economic Development 

Phil Libin

All Turtles

Mmhmm

Dean Matt Waller

Sam M. Walton College of Business

University of Arkansas

Quotes

“I think it’s a more humane way to live. People spend a lot of time talking about work-life balance, and when you frame it like that, those two things are pulling against each other…It’s only fairly recent that those two were seperate things.” - Phil Libin, (7:02)

“The companies I’ve seen here tend to focus on more real problems, and the companies I’ve seen in the Bay Area and San Francisco tend to chase opportunities more than focus on problems.” - Phil Libin, (21:01)

“That’ll be the next version of economic development, which is different from what it used to be before because before you had to start thinking about the company first, now you can start thinking about the people.” - Phil Libin, (23:30)

“At All Turtles, when we hear a pitch, we internally talk about what is the most likely way for it to fail so we know what to work on first, because we always want to run at the hardest problems first, because that’s what’s going to kill us.” - Phil Libin, (41:06)