592: (Solo) The Truth About Originality: What Great Founders Really Do

The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

Nathan Chan

Marketing, Business, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 662 Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Most founders think they need a completely original idea to succeed. The truth? Great businesses are often built by borrowing brilliance — and putting your own spin on what already works. In this episode, I break down the concept of “good artists copy, great artists steal,” and show you how to apply it in your business. From how I grew Foundr’s Instagram to how I built and exited my ecommerce brand, Healthie, this approach has helped me create traction faster without reinventing the wheel. Here’s what you’ll take away: • Why borrowing proven strategies beats starting from scratch • Real examples of how top brands like Canva, Airbnb, and Dollar Shave Club modeled what worked • How to ethically “steal” ideas, put your own twist on them, and win in your market If you’re stuck thinking you need the next revolutionary idea, this episode will free you to focus on what matters most: finding what already works, making it better, and making it your own. This is a brand new solo series I’m testing, and I’d love your feedback. Email me directly at [email protected] — I read every reply. Hope you enjoy it. SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend with the code FOUNDR50. Just head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://your.omnisend.com/foundr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get started. HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+ Start your $1 trial → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING? → Starting from scratch? Apply here → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ → Already have a store? Apply here → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ BOOST REVENUE WITHOUT MORE ADS We use Aftersell for simple post-purchase offers that lift sales fast. ⁠⁠⁠https://try.aftersell.app/ptiz4gnmvff7⁠⁠⁠ to get started. CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN Instagram → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES YouTube → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Website → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/foundr/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/foundr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/foundr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.foundr.com/podcast⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey Founder Fam, I want to talk to you about something super exciting. We're officially partnered with Omniscend, the email marketing and SMS platform built specifically for e-commerce founders. We've been recommending OmnisCent to Founder students for a while now because it just works. Whether you're launching your first store or you're scaling the seven figures, it really helps you automate your marketing and get real results.
0:24.0	Did you know on average, Omnysend customers make $68 for every $1 they spend, which is an insanely good return on investment.
0:32.6	And because you're part of the founder community, you get 50% off your first three months with the code Founder 50.
0:39.3	Just head to Omnisend.com forward slash founder without the E to get started.
0:45.0	All right. Now let's jump back into the show.
0:49.0	Hey guys, Nathan, welcome back to another founder to founder solo episode.
0:53.0	These are bite-sized episodes where I share all the things that I've been learning
0:57.7	while building founder, quick, actionable takeaways that you can implement today
1:02.8	to help you start or grow your brand.
1:05.0	So today I want to talk about this concept of good artist copy, great artist steel.
1:11.7	Hear the stories. Learn the proven methods and accelerate your growth and future through
1:17.3	entrepreneurship. Welcome to the founder podcast with Nathan Chan.
1:24.8	The concept is there's nothing wrong with getting inspiration from other companies, other brands,
1:33.5	other influences, other thought leaders on what's working right now, and then drawing inspiration
1:40.4	from it and then making it your own. You don't want to be a copycap because that's not fun,
1:45.9	that's not cool, and you're not going to get traction, but you can get inspiration from what's working.
1:52.0	I love this concept. So you do not need to reinvent the wheel. It's not about what, it's about who.
1:59.2	Who has achieved what you want to achieve? What are they doing? How can you learn from them? How can you model? How can you draw inspiration? And then make it your own. And that's how you can build a business faster. So this is a famous quote actually by Steve Jobs. Good artist copy, great artist, steal. And there's a guy called Austin Cleon who wrote a whole book about this concept.
2:20.6	And I want to give you some examples on how powerful it's been for me and my journey.
2:24.9	So a good example of this for me was when I was trying to grow the founder Instagram account.
2:30.2	We had no marketing channels that were working.
2:32.3	I was trying to build a magazine.
	...

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