Leore Avidar - Creating and Selling Superpowers - [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.3]

My guest today is Leore Avidar. Leore is the co-founder and CEO of Lob, a company which makes it easy to send direct mail programmatically. He’s also the founder of a new company focusing on sports card collectibles, Alt, which is how we originally connected. Our conversation ranges from building Lob, buying a Lebron James rookie card, starting a 2nd business while operating his first and how Leore tries to create and sell superpowers. Like my conversation with Rahul Vohra from Superhuman, I think this conversation will inspire entrepreneurs out there to start building aggressively. Please enjoy. This episode is brought to you by Microsoft for Startups . Microsoft for Startups is a global program dedicated to helping “enterprise-ready” B2B startups successfully scale their companies. If you’re a founder running a B2B company targeting the enterprise, you should definitely check them out. This episode is also sponsored by Vanta . Vanta has built software that makes it easier to both get and maintain your SOC 2 report, at a fraction of the normal cost. Founders Field Guide listeners can redeem a $1k off coupon at vanta.com/patrick . For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast . Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub . Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag Show Notes (2:55) – (First question) – Origin of Lob (6:14) – Creating and selling superpowers to other people and its value proposition (7:23) – Defining an API in his words (8:44) – Early breaks for Lob (10:45) – Early lessons in responsible growth (12:19) – Physical infrastructure behind Lob (14:14) – Surprises in mail delivery (15:00) – Progression through their pricing models (18:10) – Leaders in the world of making the world programmable (19:07) – Their interest in the physical world (19:45) – Hardest part of scaling a physical business (21:09) – Building a culture that keeps people around (23:13) – Why he is fascinated by negotiations and what he’s learned from it (25:20) – Scarcity, time, and leverage impact’s on negotiations (26:35) – His interest in collectibles and the formation of Alt (30:18) – Size of the alternative market he focuses on (30:54) – The focus on cards (32:18) – An overview of collectible cards industry (33:19) – What is the API of card collection and trading (35:51) – Competitors in the space (37:19) – Buying a Lebron James card (38:21) – Building a fund around the collectibles and the strategy (39:45) – What it means to be a technology company (40:23) – Collectibles beyond sports (41:30) – Defining a good investor (43:32) – Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts (43:43) – Qualities he looks for in investors (45:03) – What does the collectible universe look like over the next 5-7 years (45:43) – Cultural value of assets (48:50) – Managing his time while launching two businesses (49:51) – What he’s most excited about over the next 6 months (51:45) – Consolidation of API businesses (52:19) – Kindest thing anyone has done for him Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast . Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub . Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag