Learn from every "no," w/Walker & Company's Tristan Walker
Masters of Scale
WaitWhat
4.6 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 17 May 2017
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The best business ideas often seem laughable at first glance. So if you’re hearing a chorus of “No’s” — it may actually be a good sign! Google, Facebook, LInkedIn, Airbnb — they all sounded crazy before they scaled spectacularly. So don’t be discouraged by rejection. Instead, learn to hear the nuance in the different kinds of “no.” That’s what Tristan Walker did. After stints at two successful startups, he launched out on his own with Walker & Company, makers of the Bevel razor — and learned to navigate the world of investors who may or may not share your vision.
Read a transcript of this interview at: https://mastersofscale.com/tristan-walker-beauty-of-a-bad-idea/
Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, it's Bob Safian. You've been hearing me as the host of rapid response in this feed for a few years now, |
| 0:07.8 | with short newsy interviews alongside the deeper dives of Masters of Scale. Well, I'm excited to share that rapid response is expanding into its own feed. |
| 0:17.0 | We'll be putting out shows twice a week, focusing on the urgent issues that business leaders are dealing with in real time. |
| 0:24.7 | So search for rapid response in your podcast player and subscribe to make sure you get all our episodes. |
| 0:31.2 | I'll see you on the other side. I had been turned down 148 times. |
| 0:36.0 | That's Catherine Minchou, co-founder and CEO of the Muse, a career development website that she |
| 0:41.0 | pitched to investors 148 times. |
| 0:45.0 | Not that she was counting. |
| 0:46.0 | There were literally days where I had a no over breakfast, a no over 1030 a.m. |
| 0:51.0 | coffee. |
| 0:52.0 | No. over a 1030 a.m. coffee. And no over lunch, you know disinterest at 2 p.m. somebody who left a |
| 0:59.8 | meeting early at 4 and then I would go to drinks and feel like I was being laughed out of the |
| 1:05.7 | moment and when we finally raised our seed round I went back and counted It was both painful and gratifying at the same time, looking at all those |
| 1:16.6 | names and thinking, I remember that no, I remember that no, I remember that no, and they sting, |
| 1:22.1 | everyone stings. |
| 1:23.0 | Today the Muse serves users in the millions. |
| 1:28.0 | Catherine raised 16 million dollars last year and her tale is the origin story of most great startups. |
| 1:34.0 | So if you're hearing a chorus of no's, you should look for other signs that you're on to something. |
| 1:39.0 | I believe that the best ideas often appear laughable at first glance. |
| 1:44.0 | You gotta have incredible talent at every position. |
| 1:47.0 | There are fires burning when you go on home. |
| 1:51.0 | Can you believe it? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WaitWhat, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of WaitWhat and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.