CEO and Investor Kurt Wilkin on Why Being a "Proud Mistake Maker" is Key to Business Success

<p>CEO of HireBetter and managing partner of Bee Cave Capital.</p> <p><a href="https://markgraban.com/mistake193">Episode page with video, transcript, and more</a></p> <p>My guest for Episode #193 of the <a href="http://myfavoritemistakepodcast.com/">My Favorite Mistake</a> podcast is <a href="https://www.kurtwilkin.com/">Kurt Wilkin</a>, a co-founder and CEO of <a href="https://hirebetter.com/">HireBetter</a> and managing partner of <a href="https://www.beecavecapital.com/">Bee Cave Capital</a>. His bio says he's “coach, mentor, entrepreneur… and proud mistake-maker.”</p> <p>Prior to founding HireBetter, Kurt founded and led The Controller Group (TCG), a professional services firm focused on accounting, technology and recruiting, which was acquired by Tatum in 2006.</p> <p>He’s the author of a new book, <a href="https://amzn.to/3VjAFBr"><em>Who's Your Mike?: A No-Bullshit Guide to the People You'll Meet on Your Entrepreneurial Journey</em></a><em>.</em> You can learn more at <a href="https://whosyourmike.com/">WhosYourMike.com</a>.</p> <p>His quiz that he mentioned in the episode: <a href="http://whosyourmike.com/QUIZ">WHOSYOURMIKE.COM/QUIZ</a></p> <p>In this episode, Kurt tells his favorite mistake story about not having a complementary “execution partner” to help him run a business. How (and why) did he adjust? Why did he step aside from the CEO role and what did he learn from this entire experience that serves him well today?</p> <p>We also talk about questions and topics, including:</p> <ul> <li>What does it mean to you to be a “proud mistake maker”??”</li> <li>How do you try to create a culture where people can also be proud mistake makers? Leading by example?</li> <li>Investing in people who are humble enough to learn…</li> <li>Learning from mistakes vs. avoiding company-killing mistakes?</li> <li>You’ve said that you saw your dad struggle as an entrepreneur. Were you able to learn from any of his mistakes?</li> <li>You joined a failed startup in the dot-com bubble… any lessons learned from that?</