Welcome to the second part of In Search of Excellence, featuring an exceptional man and a good friend of mine, David Kidder. David is a serial entrepreneur, active angel investor, advisor to Fortune 500 companies, sought-after speaker, and author of four books, including two New York Times bestsellers, “The startup playbook” and “The intellectual devotional”. David has been a co-founder and CEO of three venture-backed startups, including Clickable, SmartRay, and Bionic, where he is currently a CEO. We are discussing if an entrepreneur is born or made, what is the right motivation to start a business, how to learn from hardships, what is the concept of TOAD, and the concept of Becoming. Tune in to hear more!   00:35 Are you born as an entrepreneur or you can become one? - Born entrepreneurs are very rare - Mostly conditioned at home - Creativeness and problem-solving   09:52 The motivation for starting a business - Those who earn $100 million are rare - You can't be a billionaire without being lucky - Compounding is the secret to long-term wealth   16:51 Extreme preparation and its importance for the success - Extreme preparation benefits greatly - For public speaking, David prepares like hell - Do not love people just to get something from them   23:20 Transition from an entrepreneur to an angle investor - 70% of all of our returns come from 7% of all capital deployed - There are two investment signals - You have to put yourself in a network   27:47 Dealing with difficult people and hardships - You have to have the ability to say no to people - Best books about entrepreneurship - Success is a bad educator - Growth lives in discomfort   33:34 Three most important things to look for in an entrepreneur - Why them? What is their secret? What is their proprietary gift? - Timing, their understanding of the forces within the next 3-5 years - The ability to solve a problem and create an unfair advantage   35:24 Three worst things that an entrepreneur can do - Overconfidence - Ambition, not obsession, as a drive - Urgency bias   37:14 What motivates David to be self-aware and constantly grow? - The Becoming Journey - The second stage is Love Loving point - Mike Tyson – an incredible human being - Toad principle   44:28 What is a toad and how it changes people’s lives? - It's a natural psychedelic that exists in both biological and organic form - The conscious physical reality that we live in is a part of the larger nature of our creation - These are not toys, they're not recreational, they're profoundly powerful - You’d probably want to experience them later in your life, in your 40s and 50s   48:12 Fill in the blank to excellence - When I started my career I wish I had known     - The biggest lesson I've learned in my life is - My number one professional goal is - My biggest regret in life is Sponsors: Sandee | Bliss: Beaches Want to Connect? Reach out to us online! Website | Instagram | LinkedIn