Inside Content Crib 5.0: Thought Leadership, Venture Backing, And Real-Time Creation #18

We unpack how Content Crib 5.0 turned hesitation into action, with founders, clinicians, and investors building clear voices and posting in real time. Exit 156 Capital brought portfolio leaders and reinforced why thought leadership drives real outcomes in healthcare and beyond.

• recap of the Bentonville event and sponsor alignment
• portfolio impact stories and credibility in the room
• why thought leadership matters for founders and operators
• humility over hierarchy and fast collaboration
• exercises: talking logo and brand DNA
• moving from perfectionism to momentum
• LinkedIn strategy and audience focus
• plans for 6.0: live video creation and outside voices
• invite-only structure and community standards

If you do hear this episode and you’re interested in Content Crib 6.0, if we have spots open, DM myself or Chris on LinkedIn and we’ll get it figured out

Transcript

Opening And Bentonville Recap

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And Mike Nathan made a very interesting remark during the interview. He said, About a year and a half ago, I realized that the world was completely changing. And the only way that I was going to be relevant at scale was I had to share, you know, I had to be a thought leader in my space. And I needed to do that through different social media platforms.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Welcome to the Content Crib Podcast. We think we're on episode uh 19 or 18. We don't know. But that's uh we had to take a little break because of the the actual content crib in Bentonville. So I think our heads are still spinning from that event. What a good time, huh?

Portfolio Stories And Impact

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Man, it was a great time. It was uh our biggest one yet. Um I like to say we had 65, but I think we had more than that. I think we had a uh it was a packed house and uh lots of new faces, which was great. I mean, that was exciting. A lot of a lot of new people. Um, obviously a lot of our usual um people who come to quite a few content cribs, repeat customers, repeat friends. So it was uh it was it was a lot of fun. We uh we had some something new this time. We had organizations that uh organizations that um that sponsored the content crib, which was really cool. Exit 156 Capital out of Minnesota, and then uh oh there you got the Yeti. Look at if you're only listening, Chris is showing everybody his very cool Yeti 156 cup that he has. Uh also Impero Ventures, which is something that uh Mike Nathan, it's one of his organizations, but I I thought it was great, man. It was um I thought what they lent to the whole content crib meeting was their belief in what we can all do together. And what I mean by that is they brought every single one of their portfolio companies, they brought all of their CEOs, uh, upper level management of each one of those organizations. And it was uh it was impressive, man. I I was I the the companies that they brought along that you know anywhere from a device that reading someone's breath in order to find out if they have sepsis, I mean, it uh could be life-changing technology that um they've invested in and they're bringing to the marketplace, as well as others as well. And uh Josh Robinson, Mike Nathan, uh the whole group that was there, they're the the managing partners of Exit 156, but they have a really interesting niche in the respect that they focus on startup healthcare companies uh that are not you know 10 or 20 million, but they're smaller or pre-revenue type opportunities. And uh, I don't know, man. It was cool. I I really I really enjoyed talking to everybody from those organizations, and they came to Content Crib because they wanted to be able to share their message and have share their thought leadership within the marketplace. So what'd you think?

Thought Leadership As A Growth Engine

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Yeah, no, yeah, I thought I thought it was super fun. The you know, the the companies and the the CEOs that they brought, like you mentioned, and how kind of nervous the a couple of them were in the beginning. They're like, I don't know what I've got myself into with this, what this like voodoo magic is. And then you know, they were just kind of nervous talking when I started to like introduce myself in the beginning, which is you know, it's not unusual, you know, you're in a big group of people, and a lot of people know each other, right? It's kind of like a family reunion and you don't really know anybody, or like a high school reunion kind of thing going on, but uh yeah, but as soon as they you know they all jumped in like full full into the deep end of the pool and like got to work with the rest of us uh on on everything that we kind of you know you know, all the exercises we did. We'll get into that in a little bit, but I wanted to I didn't want to lose track of just talking about exit 156 and the you know the people they brought and why why they're such a perfect fit as a sponsor because they're like not even really a sponsor because they're friends of ours, you know, partners in business, partners in, you know, and everything you know we do, they do. It's just a you know endless collaboration of building, right? And they're builders, they get the spirit of the crypt. It's about creating, experimenting, and and backing people who are trying something new. And it was just a natural alignment. And they added credibility, right? They have a you know, as a sponsor who actually invests in in the innovation we talk about, just made the room feel even more serious. Like, you know, those the CEOs they brought and the owners of these companies are they're they're a big deal, you know. They're they're saving, as you said, you know, millions of lives potentially. You know, we could look back on this a few years from now and say, you know, we were in the room with them, and I think that's pretty cool. And you know, what exit 156 and what people should really know, kind of what they do, is not only do they help existing companies from the venture capitalist point of view, but their partner and how they can turn any idea into reality, right? Whether that you know anything from health and wellness to I think there are, you know, they have some beverage, uh they have some beverage uh projects they're working on. And you know, when people see what it looks like when a real company believes in what we believe in, that's kind of the grassroots brand building, and uh, you know that that external validation matters, and people can see that. I know it was contagious.

Community, Collaboration, And Credibility

SPEAKER_00 5:50

It really was. That's a great word for it, contagious, because you know, having Josh Robinson and Mike Nathan there, ultra, ultra successful guys. I mean, literally, Mike Nathan one week before Content Crib exited a company, you know, is an eight-figure exit. So if you want to learn how to do it the right way, if or if you want to learn how he did it all the wrong ways he did it, he'll tell you that too. And uh he's gonna be launching something called Imperial Ventures, where he's going to coach early stage founders and early entrepreneurs and enable them to you know take their idea from just being an idea to fruition, which is really cool. And so, you know, bringing all that back to content crib, you know, both Mike Nathan and Josh Robinson, you know, uh repeatedly I see them on LinkedIn, and they they they were really bought in on the use of thought leadership in order to have others understand their message and understand why they do what they do, what they do, and of that nature. And it's just really cool to see it all come together because as they kind of did their interview with us, you know, they talked about what they look for, why they look for it, what's that, you know, and all these different, you know, these different aspects of their business. Um it was it was great. And you know, they practice what they preach. I see Josh Robinson and Mike Nathan on LinkedIn all the time. I see Mike Nathan out on Instagram and you know, several different platforms that are going to. And Mike Nathan made a very interesting remark during the interview. He said, about a year and a half ago, I realized that the world was completely changing. And the only way that I was going to be relevant at scale was I had to share, you know, I had to be a thought leader in my space, and I needed to do that through different social media platforms. And that's what he did. And the rest is history. I mean, he's a walking example of success in a content crib alum. He had been a content crib before, so um, it was exciting. So anyway, I don't want to make this sound like the exit 156 commercial, but it was just really uh just a really cool meeting. It was really, it was a fantastic way to kind of share what they do with the entire group. And hey, as we say at every single content crib, look to your left, look to your right, you're gonna go into business with someone like, or they're going to help you in your business, or you're gonna help them in their business. So um, and it comes true every single meeting.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Yeah, and it you know, I think the content crib is such a it's a it's such a funny name for what we what it is, because it's it's uh it's uh you know, a power networking, power mastermind, slash meets purpose finding, slash uh entrepreneurial, slash personal development and marketing and finding your voice. Like it just you know, it's not uh solely vote uh you know focused on creating content, right? It's just it's so interesting because the biggest breakthroughs, and I want to get your opinion on kind of your biggest breakthrough aha moment that you saw maybe from some people or just what you what you witness overall, but it's more that they haven't really been told how to explain what they do and why they do it. And a lot of us go through several decades of our life trying to figure that out. And most people that are coming to this event, which is by the way, so friggin' fun. I have like the most amount of fun. Obviously, we're biased, but what a fun weekend. It's just so uplifting. But um, besides that, it's just it's it's amazing to to see the power of people shifting into really what they want to bring to the world business-wise or purpose-wise. So it's pretty cool. But yeah, I want to just kind of get your kind of opinion. What are your biggest kind of breakthrough moment from what you saw at 5.0?

Diversity In The Room And No Egos

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Well, it's funny. So after 5.0, we kind of have our meeting that we we convene afterwards, and of course, it usually involves pizza, non-alcoholic beer, cigars, something of that nature. Um crazy, but you know, we we we talked about should we change the name of the meeting? I don't know if you remember that. Like, yeah, I do. We were like, should we because we don't want to say content, it's not all about content, and we're all just came to the you know, we we just we're like, that's the name of the meeting. It is content crib, maybe one day we'll change it, but it's really becoming less and less about content. So my my big aha moment was just the number, the diversity of who was in the crowd. I think I say this every meeting, but this one just really struck me. I mean, we had this time around, we not only had orthopedic surgeons, we had interventional pain, we had spine surgeons, we had founders, we had entrepreneurs, we had professional salespeople, we had entrepreneurs that owned clinics, we had venture capital people in the room, we had startup. I mean, I I've never I I just thought about this uh before we got on the podcast. But the amount of people that we had in that room. Two Navy SEALs. Somehow we had two Navy SEALs. Two Navy SEALs. I did. I said when I when I when Scott walked in, I was like, oh, I didn't realize you were a SEAL. I go, here's another guy who liked to drown himself on purpose. And so, you know, I got they did some secret handshake, and then all I know is that they were, you know, they spoke another language and the rest was history. But yeah, two Navy SEALs. Um not to mention how many. That's the other really weird thing. How many military academy graduates we have that come to content grip? Doesn't it make you feel like pretty like unaccomplished? Oh yeah, it's like I uh you know, yeah, exactly. Like, you know, getting up for early in college for me was just getting up at all that day. Um, but you know, so um anyway, yeah, it's uh pretty pretty impressive people all in the same room. But my biggest takeaway from the weekend was just how nobody's bigger than anybody else. Nobody's bigger than anybody else. Let me tell you, they could absolutely there's people, some people in that room with credentials that you kind of go, wow, okay. And if you're a little arrogant, I get it. You know, you you you that's probably goes with the territory. There's none of that there. So not a bit. And it's and it's like, so we're you know, with with with 6.0, we are 100% invite-only again. We've already started having some signups happen. We're gonna try to get everything, we're gonna try to get it filled by November 1st, is the plan of, or at least invitations out to alumni of past content cribs, which now there are hundreds, um, which is wild, but uh yeah, there are hundreds of people now. Um we're gonna invite them and and we do we're just gonna do the invite only because be perfectly honest, we want to keep that same kind of type type. I hate the word culture, but same type of just understanding amongst everybody that we're family. Yeah, I know, exactly. Uh Phil, it's like I started NFL team here. Um, but yeah, no, it's it's um yeah, it's my big that was that was my big takeaway from 5.0, just how everybody was had the same mission and there was not a sliver of arrogance in the room whatsoever.

Invite-Only 6.0 And Culture

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Yeah, I want to I could not agree more. I love that about the room, and it's because it is so many different personalities, but people are so humble to share help, and it it's yeah, it's really cool. But when you go when you you said that when we were talking about you know changing the name at at the the the actual content crib, which is the house that uh we rented across from the ledger, which that was such a cool spot, an old doctor's house with a nice pad. I I think yeah, that was that was an awesome spot. Nice job picking that out. But um it started to make me think as you were talking about that. You know, content crib is probably the best name because it's it's so foundational, you know. You know, what we do is so foundational to build people to create the content in the right way, right? So you know, it's obvious, these things are obvious, I guess, but it is true, right? You know, building this foundation by you know understanding how to craft your voice and go through all these exercises and learn from other people, and then watch the you know, the alumni in the room that are helping some of the newbies, or not even newbies, some of the other alumni that are ready to take that next step forward and you know craft and hit post. So it's it's pretty cool, you know. And then there's a big faction of the room that are there just for the networking, and that's fine too. And some of them you start to see start to be inspired to create content too, or up their commenting, or uh start to utilize video a little bit more. So, you know, for my biggest kind of breakthrough moment, aha moment is just seeing how fast people shifted from consuming, you know, us at the front of the room uh you know, talking and then right into creating and getting to work, right? And these things you always, you know, whether you're at a corporate meeting or you know, something like what we do, which is very anti-corporate, right? People are people are attending this you know more than 75% on their own dime. Some some companies are smart enough to sponsor people that come to this these things. Um very rare, right? Um so it's you know, at the start of the day, you always have these kind of hesitations, folks worried about you know speaking up or you know, if they have the right angle. But within a, you know, within an hour, people were producing content, you know, sharing drafts, giving feedback, going around, helping each other, getting stuck and talking through it. And the moment where the theory turned into action kind of showed me that you know the formula that we've built over time, if you create the right environment and people unlock what's already inside them, and it's like it's just such a breakthrough. And I'm you know, remember seeing you know, Tony, who was at our you know, a long time alum and friends of ours, and then did our contact career RX cohort, you know, he had like the biggest breakthrough of the weekend. He's uh you know, he's a vet. So that was cool. Then he was helping others too. So I thought that was awesome.

Breakthroughs: From Consuming To Creating

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Yeah, yeah. No, it's it's that's what's uh really cool too. The other takeaway is how you know multiple, and we we literally have attendees that have been to every single content crib now that that uh you know that you know, not necessarily 1.0 because that was a ragtag group of people who was actually no, I think Lindsay was at one at content crib one and well, he came something like 11 o'clock at night. But um, you know, I I uh we've got so many so those people are now helping others in the room. Yeah, and that's that's really cool. And and there's you know, I won't mention names on the stuff, but yeah, there's some people also they were going through some things, like they, you know, had some tough situations that are going on, and there are people jumping in, like, well, wait a minute, let's hey you, let's have can we get I'm gonna introduce you to this, and I'm gonna introduce you to this person. And you know, they I know they're looking for somebody to do this, and I know there's you know, that was just pretty um, I don't know. It's kind of makes you go, I'm part of something really cool, and that's uh that's that's it's inspiring for sure.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Yeah, it's a big mindset, mindset shift when you see it happen, and I really notice the shift of around perfectionism, right? People walk in and they think they need to have everything dialed in and their strategy airtight before they start to create, but you know, there's a collecting, you know, a collective understanding, just overall, of momentum beats perfection, right? People understanding that you know, pen to paper, consistency builds the I think that clarity, right? The clarity and understand you know, to understand what's gonna move the needle for the people that they're trying to connect with. And uh that that was really cool. And I wanted to see what you thought, which exercise that we did sparked the most breakthroughs that we did this past weekend.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

Wow, that's uh that's a great question. Um, you know, that talking logo, I'm not gonna say that's it. It's every time it's always that's it because uh you know we have people who go, I've done this exercise now. Every time I come to Content Crib, and it's always now it's different. Every time I come, it's different. So it really works out well that we we do it, and you know, it's it's it's hard for some people to describe, okay. We want you to tell us what you do. Well, you know, I am an entrepreneur who focused no, no, you need to tell the world what do you do? And we action verb and talk about how to exactly how to accomplish that. But um, yeah, it's uh it's always interesting to me. We do that first, and it always is something that somebody gets up and you're like, whoa, you know, just knocks it out of the park. And uh, you know, I remember when Blake got up and I I will never forget Formally Fit Fathers. Oh no, that's stuck in my brain. That's it's is that right quote unquote formally fit fathers. I'm like, oh, so you mean all the fat guys in the room? I gotcha, I like it. Yeah, that was good, yeah.

Exercises: Talking Logo And Brand DNA

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Well, how about for you? Uh yeah, you stole mine. I mean, talking logo, uh, but we can talk about you know any of them. I think the I think the brand DNA was was super challenging. I even had a hard time with that one uh because I hadn't broken down. I'll tell you why I had a hard time because each of us kind of wears a different hat in our life and we have a talking logo for every every hat we wear. And I'm not just talking about jobs, right? It's like we're we're we have talking logos for who we are for our family and our relationships too, right? So um people that are understanding that they have different talking logos and they're developing them, or the talking logos where there's different audiences within the segment that they're speaking to, and that they need to develop those as well. And then maybe they go back and then fix their talking logo to be able to speak to all the segments, so which only is gonna help create because everything starts there, right? Everything's everything from how your outreach is to your ideal clients or your content that you're creating, right? That needs to start, it has to be there. It's not there. People are gonna have a hard time understanding you know who you are and what you have to say. And I I fall in that trap. I'm not perfect by any means, you know, because I have a lot to say and I have a lot of people that I'm trying to talk to, and recently I've tried to take a step back and really focus on, you know, one or two particular audiences based on you know where my you know full commitments are. But you know, at times I do kind of you know spread it out a little bit because I know that you know, a big thing for you know, mindsets, a big topic for me, I like to talk about. And you know, doctors and clinic owners struggle with that as well, and and also do salespeople and marketers, right? And everybody does. So it's it can be a little overwhelming to understand exactly who you want to speak to, but in terms of capturing your ideal clients into your funnel of content and then supporting your ideal clients by commenting and engaging on their content, that definitely needs to be dialed in, you know, six fifty to sixty percent of the time that you are trying to build a you know brand funnel on social media, especially the one we talk about the most being you know, LinkedIn, where we're out the most.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

Yeah, no, that's very well said. And I think a lot of the new well, I know that we did, I know we had a lot of breakthroughs because a lot of the new people that came are already signing up to come to 6.0 in six months. So they obviously got what we wanted them to get out of it. And again, you know, not to not gonna out exactly all who was in the room, but some pretty impressive people who have decided, you know what, I'm gonna come back to 6.0 and um and you know, learn what I can learn. So it was uh it was a great time in Bentonville, and we're gonna be right back in Bentonville March 20th and 21st. Um invites have gone out to uh alumni of Content Crib and those people that we want to invite. And then uh after November 1st, we'll uh see where we are and go from there.

Audience Focus And LinkedIn Strategy

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Yeah, I want to uh before we wrap up this episode, maybe a couple more minutes on what's on the horizon for 6.0 because I had some some thoughts and wanted to run them by you. Yeah, yeah, please go shoot, shoot. Yeah, so I think doubling down and where we're going and how this is all evolving. I think a really cool way we could take this, and we're still in development stages, right? You um you, Matthew, and I were talking about this, I think it was last night, actually, uh kind of where we're gonna take this. You came up with some awesome ideas and you know, sparked me to come up with these ideas which are very similar to what you said, but doubling down on I think live creation, right? More standing, more filming, more posting, refining in real time. Um, and that could be, you know, everyone giving feedback in the room on content that we're creating live in person, creating videos, learning how to create reels and and all that, I think would be a really cool way to take this.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

100%, man. I you you've read my mind. I I I will I think that we need to look at the you know, video is where it's all going. We can all agree on that, you know, that and and not AI goofy video. It's like, you know, although AI video is getting a lot better, but real, genuine video, real genuine thought leadership. Hey, I'm walking through the airport and I've got an idea and I want to share it with everybody right now, boop, and away you go. Those that start mastering that, those that start really are able to share at a larger volume are the ones who are really going to accelerate where they want to go.

Momentum, Accountability, And Returning Alumni

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Yeah, and I think it would be really cool to kind of continue bringing into the room people from outside of the industry that have strong strategies, have a dialed-in voice that can share, you know, how niched down they are and how they can do it too. You know, it doesn't have to be healthcare, it can be completely outside of the realm. We have a few of those come by, but um, I think that would be a good idea too. And I, you know, if someone's on the fence about coming in uh to 6.0 and what they'll miss, to me, you know, when I get that question asked, because I do get that question, is like, why do I why should I come to this? You know, what what am I gonna miss if I don't come to this? You know, and I I always just tell them, you're gonna miss the momentum of where you want to go and how you want to craft your future, right? And I they can do that on their own time and what and they could join other, but I think what we really do is we do it as a group. There's accountability, there's live feedback, and a sense of community that I think is hard to find. Um it just can't really be replicated. And I don't know of any other group, there's not many other groups out there that do it, I think, in the way that we do it, which I think is just awesome. So I think you're missing that spark that pushes you to actually do the thing that maybe you've been putting off.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

Yeah, and and I think yeah, I really can't say it any better. I mean, you know, it what what it is is a it's a judgment-free zone and people there to help. And so that's a very different thought process that people have where, oh no, they're gonna be critiquing me on what I'm doing. No, it's the exact opposite. They're gonna be jumping in with you and going, locking arms and going, hey, let's do this together, let's figure it out, and we're all gonna be better together.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 26:24

All right, well, I think that wraps up another episode. That's another episode in the books. Um, and I I know I realized as I was talking, like, oh, by October 31st, this is going to be out after that. So if you do hear this episode and uh you're interested in content crib 6.0, if we have spots open, you know, DM myself or Chris on LinkedIn and we'll get it figured out. Exactly. Sounds good. See you guys. See you.