Ep. 31 - From Crowd Surfing To Crowdfunding HANSNAP - with Justis Earle

Today’s guest, Justis Earle, is a natural disruptor and innovator. He successfully Kickstarted HANSNAP, Inc., a mobile accessory design company focused on film stabilization for the active lifestyle. Their main product, the HANSNAP, is a hand-mounted smartphone filming system that folds neatly onto the back of your hand for quick access and hands-free filming.

Before launching HANSNAP Justis was at Tigo Energy, a highly disruptive startup that was one of the first companies to bring the Internet of Things (IoT) to the solar industry. He led the development of a mobile app-based IoT consumer solar system with three of the largest companies in the solar industry, founded the Product and Software Quality department, and designed the largest IoT solar system in Europe.

 

“I believe there’s a definite connection between entrepreneurship and the potential or risk factor of being a troublemaker.”

 

Justis sees a fine line between troublemakers and entrepreneurs. Some people are just natural disruptors, and unfortunately some disruptors don’t receive any guidance, mentorship or leadership. Ultimately, an entrepreneur is somebody who has to challenge the way other people do things.

 

“I look at crowdfunding as a microcosm of business.”

 

Justis actually launched two crowdfunding campaigns. The first attempt failed, but Justis learned a lot and still saw value in crowdfunding. He realized that the crowdfunding campaign had to be run like a microcosm of a business – accounting, engineering, development, photography, video, marketing and more need to be organized, started and completed in a very short period of time.

 

“A crowdfunding campaign is really a fantastic way to put all of those pieces together in a short amount of time and see if you even want to run your own business.”

 

If you want to disrupt a space with your own entrepreneurial vision, Justis has some awesome tips for small town entrepreneurs:

• One of the biggest mistakes you can make is telling the wrong people about your ideas. “An idea is like a seed. Seeds are pretty robust, but when a seed is cracked – when the idea is formed – it becomes very fragile, and it needs a nurturing environment to really grow and mature.”
• Do it. Just start doing it. There’s really no substitute for that. “It’s through doing that you understand whether you’re passionate enough about something to endure the hardship and the pain to get to where you want to go.”
• You have to have a regular influx of positive material in your life. You have to keep putting that stuff in to keep you motivated.

 

Keep your eyes locked to Justis Earle and HANSNAP to see some big announcements soon. I really appreciate his doer mentality, the fact that he doesn’t take no for an answer, and the example that he sets for other small town entrepreneurs.

 

Don’t be a podcast junkie…

Resources:

• HANSNAP
• Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
• Flow Genome Project
• The Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler
• The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss

 

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