“If you go in with the right mindset, the mindset of there’s incredible surplus in the world and there’s tons of money out there to be had and there’s a lot of people looking for solutions. And if you go out there and you go in with a growth mindset and focus on just learning, pushing yourself outside your comfort zone, trying new things, sticking with it, having resilience, having grit over a long enough period of time, you have a very high likelihood of success.” – Mike Molinet
This week on the podcast, Paul interviews Michael Molinet the founder of Branch, a 500-employee, unicorn company that powers mobile apps, mobile linking, and Attribution for the top apps in the world. He is a mechanical engineer and MBA, and has been on an unplanned journey since moving to California in 2012.
The son of Cuban immigrants who had moved to the US with just $20 and encouraged him to secure a job at a big company and retire with a pension. But after meeting some people and working on a couple of projects, he ended up moving to California and started his own business. He watched his parents work hard and sacrifice for him and his brothers and it inspired him to take the risk and push himself out of his comfort zone. With the right mindset, he learned that success was accessible and with a long enough time horizon, he had a high likelihood of success. He had to let go of and change his beliefs, including the idea that not everyone has the same work ethic or motivation, and that it’s okay to have different types of motivation.
In this episode, you will learn the following:
- How Immigrant Parents Inspire Success: Exploring the impact of growing up in an immigrant family and how it can lead to success.
- Unlocking the Potential of a Growth Mindset: Discovering the power of developing a growth mindset and how it can lead to remarkable outcomes.
- Maximizing Employee Motivation: Examining the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivators and how to identify which type motivates each employee.
About Mike Molinet:
Michael Molinet, Founder and COO / President of Branch Metrics, Inc., a mobile tech startup founded in 2014 that provides software that powers the world’s biggest apps to make them work better / faster / smoother, including companies like Uber, Spotify, and Airbnb. In his role, Michael led the company to 9-figure annual recurring revenue, have raised $600M, and have achieved a $B valuation (last round was at $4B, but it was a hot market, so he’d discount that some). Prior to founding Branch, Michael and his cofounders worked on a mobile app in 2013 (Kindred Prints), which was featured on both the Apple App Store and Android Play Store. During the challenges of scaling that app, we discovered the opportunity to start Branch to solve the technological challenges for apps everywhere. Before that, he started a few other companies, including a real estate investment company, a food vending company, and a customizable shot glass hardware company. Michael studied Mechanical Engineering (BS from Bucknell University) and got his MBA from Stanford in 2014. He have a dozen patents, some from his time as an engineer at 3M and some from Branch. As COO, Michael scaled Branch from 0 to 450 employees in 6 years (2014-2020) while maintaining a great culture and strong internal operations.
Connect with Mike here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemolinet/
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/mikemolinet
Connect with Paul
Website: https://innovativewealth.com/
Insatrgam: https://businesslegacypodcast.com/
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How do you keep your family business legacy alive?
Understanding the Five Stages of Grief when Selling a Business
Chapter Summary below
Chapter Summaries:
[00:00:01]
Business Legacy Podcast features Michael Molinet, founder of Branch. Branch is a 500 employee, a company, unicorn company based on last evaluation. We power basically mobile apps, mobile linking, and Attribution for basically the top apps in the world.
[00:01:45]
My parents sacrificed so much for me and my two brothers. They worked their butts off. They were the hardest working people I know. Just watching that really instilled a combination of humility and incredible work ethic. That combination is really dangerous in a really positive way.
[00:03:47]
I’ve been most surprised at how accessible building a business is. Both the right mindset and a long enough time horizon, you actually do have a very high likelihood of success. And when you do have that success, the upside is crazy high.
[00:06:56]
Having a growth mindset frees you up to say, you know what, anyone can get better at anything. Not everyone is the same and not everyone has the same motivation or motivating factors.
[00:13:10]
If you were to define your intrinsic motivation, what are your intrinsic motivations? One is taking pride in my work. The second is just kind of working hard and feeling like I gave it my all. The third is growth and learning.
[00:15:43]
I’m really passionate and really intense with making sure that we are as successful as possible. On the flip side, I’ll also try to be as compassionate, as empathetic and as accessible as I possibly can. I try to balance that passion and that intensity with being available, being accessible and always trying to be helpful.
[00:18:18]
When it comes to legacy, I think it’s about what do you leave behind for your family and then also the world. I want to leave the world hopefully better than I came into it and having added more value than I have consumed. My hope is that I can give my family’s next generation an even better life.
[00:21:36]
Mike Molinet: Where can we find more about you? He says the best place is going to be on LinkedIn, where he’s posting daily. Give him a follow. Give me a connection request.