Immad Akhund is the co-founder and CEO of Mercury, a business banking platform that has raised over $160M in funding and has over 100,000 customers. He has also founded two other companies – Clickpass and Heyzap; the latter of which was acquired in 2016. Immad is a husband and the father of two kids. In today's conversation we discussed:
Starting a family at a very young age (by San Francisco standards)
Navigating founding and running several companies, including Mercury
The difference between finding more time and finding more energy
How to think about skill building with your kids
Dealing with disagreements with your spouse
The parallels between being the co-founder of a company and the co-founder of a family
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Where to find Immad Akhund
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iakhund/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/immad
- Curiosity Podcast: https://curiositypodcast.substack.com/
Where to find Adam Fishman
- FishmanAF Newsletter: https://www.fishmanafnewsletter.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjfishman/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startupdadpod/
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In this episode, we cover
[1:31] Welcome
[1:46] Childhood
[2:44] Where does your extended family live now?
[3:19] Why keep doing startups?
[6:52] How did you meet your partner?
[7:56] Tell me about your kids
[8:42] Decision to start a family
[9:51] What does your wife do?
[10:59] Why did it feel like the right time to start a family?
[17:13] Earliest memory of being a dad?
[19:29] Advice for his younger self
[22:36] What is something you worked on after having kids?
[23:56] Skill building and teaching kids finance
[27:46] How has his parenting style evolved?
[30:29] What is an example of you getting out of balance w/kids
[31:29] Has being a dad changed how you run companies?
[34:36] Conflict/managing through disagreements
[39:10] Kids relationship w/tech
[42:07] Restore batteries
[44:08] What is a mistake you made as a dad?
[46:32] Follow along
[47:23] Rapid fire round
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Show references:
Mercury: https://mercury.com/
Model X: https://www.tesla.com/modelx
The Matrix: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/
Union Square Ventures: https://www.usv.com/
Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/
ClickPass: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/clickpass
Hayzap: https://www.linkedin.com/company/heyzap-com/
Inside Out: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2096673/
Frozen: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/
Teen Titans: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343314/
Doona: https://www.doona.com/en-us
Juni Learning: https://junilearning.com/
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For sponsorship inquiries email: podcast@fishmana.com.
For Startup Dad Merch: www.startupdadshop.com
Production support for Startup Dad is provided by Tommy Harron at http://www.armaziproductions.com/
