How a trip to India led to a cabin in the woods, a business idea and an antidote to endless Zoom meetings

Intellectual Software

I went into this episode thinking I'd learn about travel during covid and the tiny house movement. I came out learning about habits, reading books, journaling, meditation, engineering luck, and much more. Last year, Hector was working in a startup as the head of growth and getting burned out when he went to a 10-day silent retreat in the Himalayas. He returned to chaos. The latest round of funding had fallen through and half of the company was fired. That's when Hector decided to try his idea -> a 3-day experience in a cabin in the woods, with your phones locked away in a box, among birds and grass and books and binoculars. National media loved it, the customers are booked for all of 2020 and they're expanding. One of the joys of doing the podcast is talking to founders very early in their journey. This was one :)

SHOW NOTES

01:16 - Introduction

03:02 - The unplugged experience

04:13 - Locking away customers' phone

05:32 - Growing up in the countryside

06:50 - Joining a startup

08:17 - Failing in sales, product, and growth

10:44 - Learning from being around founders

12:23 - Expansion, distribution, and mistakes

14:54 - Quitting drinking, meditation, traveling to India and the birth of an idea

19:42 - Reading, Headspace, Transcendental meditation and changing bad habits

26:00 - Making peace with your mistakes

29:32 - Social Media and our relationship with our devices

31:30 - Journaling and how the trip to India changed me

37:05 - Tiny house movement and Unplugged

40:06 - Learning from customers and experimentation

43:24 - Cost of buying cabins and my first one

45:38 - First Principles and cultural nuances in your startup experience

49:38 - Expanding with the 2nd cabin and a subscription box

52:32 - Getting covered in national media and engineering luck

54:27 - Customer Demographic of Unplugged and reaching out to them

58:24 - Connect with me

I share all the articles/podcasts/books I consume during researching my guests as well as other stuff I find interesting in the newsletter (https://stealmymarketing.substack.com)

You can also follow me on Twitter for similar stuff. My DMs are open (https://twitter.com/AbhishekLpd)

Hector's Newsletter (https://unplugging.substack.com)

Hector's LinkedIn (https://linkedin.com/in/hector-hughes-10082195/)

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