Calm App Founder: From $0 To $2 Billion By Making The World Meditate: Michael Acton Smith

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

FlightStory

Society & Culture, Business, Education

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2022

⏱️ 93 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Michael Acton-Smith is best known as the co-founder of Calm, the $2 billion meditation, sleep and wellness app, but he is so much more than that. Because Calm is just one of four companies Michael has built. Michael has also built Moshi Monsters, the breakout success web-based children’s game, which after rapid growth suffered a loss in users and for a while Michael wasn’t sure whether the business could survive. Michael has experienced the highs, but also the challenges, of growing big businesses. These are just two of four companies Michael has built. Michael is a natural entrepreneur who’s been founding businesses his entire adult life. To talk to him and share in his wisdom was a privilege I’m immensely grateful for. Follow Michael: Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/michaelacton Twitter - https://twitter.com/acton LinkedIn - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/michaelactonsmith Calm: https://www.calm.com Follow me: https://beacons.ai/diaryofaceo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Solving the global mental health crisis, it's a first order problem.
0:04.1	One in three of us will experience depression or anxiety.
0:07.6	And I realize that this could be one of the biggest opportunities and businesses in the world.
0:11.6	Michael Acton Smith, he's the billionaire founder of the mindful,
0:16.4	meditation and sleep app, calm.
0:18.8	Everyone thought we were crazy.
0:20.3	The bridge between the seed money we raised and getting to a series A took years and years.
0:25.8	And then that was where the point was like we're taking off.
0:28.6	It's happening.
0:29.6	Never have we been assailed with more noise and stimulation from social media to billboards to TV.
0:37.4	It's coming at us constantly.
0:39.3	One of the most valuable skills in the 21st century is to be able to decide where and how and when we put our
0:46.4	attention. The human brain is the most complex thing in the known universe and
0:50.6	yet it doesn't come with an instruction manual.
0:55.0	Michael Acton Smith, he's the billionaire founder of the Mindful Meditation and Sleep App,
1:08.6	calm. For the last 10 years Michael has been one of the great UK entrepreneurial success stories but the really
1:15.6	staggering thing about Michael's story is how many successes he had that turned quickly into failures and honestly how he rose time and time and
1:27.4	time again from those ashes to rebuild an even more successful business.
1:32.3	Most people would give up and you almost wouldn't blame
1:35.9	them when you hear what Michael's been through. His most recent success, Karmap, is worth billions and
1:42.1	billions of dollars and it helps people who are going
1:45.2	through hard times or any pain at all reach mindfulness. It teaches them the
	...

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