E3 // “Why Startups Fail” Brian Scordato, Founder at Tacklebox Accelerator

After a short hiatus, the Wizardest podcast is back!

This week I sat down with Brian Scordato, Founder at Tacklebox Accelerator, an early stage accelerator in NYC uniquely aimed at startups whose founders still have full time jobs elsewhere. Brian has a unique perspective in that he gets to work with many different startups doing many different things.

Brian recently returned to NY after spending 3 months at Y Combinator with Tacklebox alum Claire, a predictive AI tool for the apparel industry used by companies like Kohl’s to figure out what to sell.

He also writes for Fast Company, and his recent article, This Is Why Your Startup Will Fail, was the jumping off point for this conversation. In short, he thinks your idea probably sucks.

Prior to his starting Tacklebox, I worked with Brian on his company Find Your Lobster, one of the world’s first mobile dating apps. He also spent some time at MAZ helping develop and launch Stream Web and later Lynx. He has an incredible instinct for product and identifying market segments.

We were joined for this session by MAZ COO (and my brother!) Justin Canetti in our new studio located inside the MAZ offices. The studio is still a work in progress, but with each episode the production quality should get better and better.

The three of us cover topics ranging from common mistakes startups make, getting to know your customers, what Y Combinator is really like, key differences between B2C and B2B businesses, and which gym memberships include complimentary towels.

This episode is available via iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and other podcast-y apps and below via SoundCloud:

Related links:
Brian on Twitter
Tacklebox Accelerator
Fast Company: This Is Why Your Startup Will Fail