Top Mentors Podcast

Ali Kriegsman is a powerhouse in the entrepreneur space. Co-founder and COO of Bulletin a venture-backed retail technology startup based in NYC. Named Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient and one of "The Most Creative People in Business" by Fast Company.

Ali has revolutionized the physical retail space while simultaneously empowering female entrepreneurs and promoting an authentic look into what life is like as a young entrepreneur and promoting an authentic look into life as a young entrepreneur in 2021.

Her story? In 2015 Bulletin started while Kriegsman andCo-founder, Alana Branston, had a dream of creating a magazine that would expose and promote female indie brands. A few years later after many pivots, Y-combinator accelerators, tears, laughs, and late nights, they landed on the sustainable business model that Bulletin is today. 

Ali isn't just a badass businesswoman; she is a spokesperson for the female entrepreneur by normalizing the less glamorous parts of entrepreneurship that often aren't talked about. She launched an IGTV series, "How to Build" where she interviews female leaders and trailblazers in their respective fields. On top of that, Kriegsman has written a book, "How to Build a Goddam Empire" which is set to release in April 2021. 

In her own words, "The book offers a candid, highly-transparent take on what it feels a like and loos like to turn nothing into something – to build a business from scratch. It features 40+ other female founders, and we discuss everything from imposter syndrome, to financing, to firing people, and the reality of making catastrophic mistakes you can't reverse."

Ali is not one to shy away from being transparent on social media or in her work, her passion for speaking to young female entrepreneurs is at the core of everything she does.

"Sometimes, it feels like "Female Founders" have to put on an always-crushing-it type "front" because there are so few of us who become household names, get that investor check, exit our companies, or achieve "peak success." We don't want to get vulnerable in public and risk seeming incapable, or worse, incompetent."

If Ali is one thing, she is creative. She finds ways to do things against the status quo, with a limited budget, and a lot of style. She not only thrives in all things fashion, copywriting, design, and music (find her as Ladylike on Spotify) but also in the way she approaches life. She is a creative thinker and it shows in everything she puts her hands on. 

Ali's creativity, innovation, and ability to pivot were what helped Bulletin evolve from a creative magazine into a multi-million-dollar empire that revolutionized the retail game. 

You can find Ali at her website www.alikriegsman.com and on Instagram at @alikriegs.

Audio: Break Point by Vendredi

Follow-up Interview

Written by Tayla Christensen, Content Marketer at MentorPass.

You talked a lot about your experience throughout high school and it clearly wasn’t all smooth sailing. I’m curious what your relationship with your teachers was like throughout school, did you have any teachers that stood out or impacted you?

 
I had very few teachers, faculty, or coaches who really cared about me as a person/student but the ones that did will forever be remembered and I would do anything for even to this day.

You’re over four and half years sober which is an incredible feat, were there any practical things you did that helped you through that transition?

 
Commit to it for sixty days and see how it changes your perspective. Give yourself the opportunity to identify with something different. You're going to find that some of the things you "couldn't live without" were actually standing between you and your best life.

 

From your experience being a part of and running multiple different companies, what do you feel are 3 key attributes of a successful (and happy) entrepreneur?

a.    Follow your passion

b.    Be willing to sacrifice in the short term and optimize for the long term

c.    Surround yourself with great people

A successful career requires a blend of soft and hard skills. When you start out, hard skills are considerably more important but as you continue down your journey, your soft skills are much more critical to your success. The "professional" world is littered with insanely talented individuals who never became leaders because they simply didn't learn how to improve themselves, influence others and most importantly, understand and manage their emotions.

  

Quick Fire:

·      Book Recommendation? The Fish That Ate The Whale

·      Podcast Recommendation? Invest Like The Best

·      Work hard play hard, right? What's your dream vacation spot? Santorini

·      If you had to stop working in your industry and switch things up, what other industry would you like to explore? Working with children that are experiencing the loss of a family member or experiencing run ins with the law (I volunteer at two organizations (Experience Camps and ARC-Anti Recidivism Coalition) that work on both separately

Dan Hannum
Twitter: @dhannum8
[email protected]

Kenny Hanson
IG: @Kenny_hanson_
Twitter: @nocodekenny
[email protected]

www.mentorpass.co

Audio: Break Point by Vendredi https://soundcloud.com/vendrediduo/vendredi-break-point/s-4k5WNjEHm4W