Founder Fumbles Podcast
Welcome to Founder Fumbles podcast, where we dig deep into real life startup struggles and comeback strategies. My hope is for entrepreneurs to learn how to bounce back, from real entrepreneurs that had real struggles.
Founder Fumbles Podcast
From Books to Startups | Kyle Colley | #20
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Welcome back to Founder Fumbles — where we dig deep into real startup struggles and comeback strategies.
In this episode, host Dahmari Taplin sits down with Kyle Colley, Cofounder of Bookum, to talk about building a startup rooted in storytelling, community, and connection. From the grind of entrepreneurship to lessons learned along the way, this episode is packed with real insight for founders at every stage.
Meet the Guest: Kyle Colley
Cofounder of Bookum
Access Mode Alumni
Host of the Bookum Nook Show
Building tech that sparks book-driven conversations
What We Cover
The reality of the startup grind
Kyle’s experience with Access Mode
Building and growing Bookum
The power of books for entrepreneurs
Biggest challenges as a founder
Motivation, discipline, and mindset
Advice for new entrepreneurs
Recommended for:
Entrepreneurs, founders, creatives, and anyone trying to turn an idea into a real business.
Connect with Kyle Colley
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-colley-a8306212b/
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/bookum_app/
Connect with Dahmari Taplin & Ziga
🌐 Website: https://ziga.app
📱 Instagram: @taplino
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Welcome to the Founder Fumbles Podcast where we go deep into real life entrepreneur struggles and comeback strategies. I'm your host, Damari Tapman, and today we got my boy Kyle. What's up, man? What's good, G, good. Thank you. Appreciate you for having me, man. For sure. So gotta let y'all know about my boy Kyle, man. He's the co-founder of the Bookem app. Um he's an Access Mode alumni, just like myself. Um he's the host of the Book'em Nook Show. Um, and now he's starting bookish conversations through tech, one author at a time. Hey, appreciate you. For sure, G. Um, so what's been going on with you, man? You good?
SPEAKER_01Man, everything's good, man. You know, doing business, traveling, meeting up with friends, trying to do, trying to keep a balanced life, you know. Well, it's hard to be balanced in an entrepreneur, kind of more how they talk about just having harmony amongst your life. So trying to get everything in order, but enjoy life as I I build a great company.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. And uh that great company is Book'em. Yeah. What's what's telling them let's tell them about Book'em?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so it's a social book club and app for um book content creators, authors, and readers, really focusing on like dynamic online book clubs because what kind of happened during COVID, you saw, was that if you had in-person book clubs, you got suddenly thrown onto the internet. You either have to use Zoom, email, you're kind of juggling all of these different um platforms. So we, I mean all these different tools, so we ran it all through a um one app, so you can use all these different things so you can do real-time audio, real-time conversations, which is great for authors. And then on the other side, we're in a very creator economy type of um environment. So allowing content creators that have been proportionally not able to monetize as content creators in the book space specifically to um host dynamic online book clubs, so then you can set it for a price, and then people can pay to be in your book club. So if you're like, you know, tend to be more of a speaker, you can kind of give them you know exclusive conversations or host dynamic um conversations with authors. So you can kind of do a bunch on the app. Um and we just allow it to be a very creator-focused app.
SPEAKER_00Because I'm uh I'm definitely thinking about releasing dropping the app soon. Yeah, I mean not an app, sorry, a book. Okay soon. Oh, writing a book. I'm writing a book now. The book is pretty much already written. So the met the where I messed up is that I actually wrote it, and now I gotta go back and type the oh, you handwritten.
SPEAKER_02I handwritten.
SPEAKER_00I made a huge mistake, man. Yeah, I mean, congrats to you. Yeah, I've been trying to type it for the longest, but um but anyway, I heard you get you got a you got I I ain't here. I seen your podcast. Oh yeah. What's yeah, what's what's going on with the podcast?
SPEAKER_01So what we kind of figured out was that again to this creator economy, I wanted to also show that as a founder on our because we've been content creators for a really long time, and just in the book space, like we had um another reading educational more form company called Read More, and that kind of helped us spin into what we're kind of doing with Book'em. But um mostly I just wanted to show that as a founder, I can connect with the people I'm talking to, kind of like what you're doing now. You want to talk to business owners, you want to talk to, like I said, founders, creators. So specifically having face-to-face with my users was really important to me. So having a podcast kind of felt really natural to do, and it's been really helpful because as you know, podcasts are kind of like relationships at scale. Because you can really connect, not just with the people that are listening, but obviously the people that come onto your platform, they look out for you. Anything that's going on in your world, they kind of take care of you. So it's been really, it's like a very unique environment to have a podcast. And I always see people like, oh, take the mics away and stop talking podcasts. But I'm like, if you really understand podcasting and what it does for even like just the natural listener who doesn't know how to start a business, doesn't know how to do anything, right, and you give them that moment to listen to a 45-minute podcast, you get to listen. It's like reading books, like you get to pick the brains of the greatest minds that are in this current generation. It's like, why not do podcasting? And if you can, if you're and if you enjoy it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you know, and um, and if you do it right, you sponsor it right, you know, this can make you money forever. You put it out there and you put the right sponsorship or whatever, it could just continue to make money, money, money, money.
SPEAKER_01I should add to that. Um, the other reason for our podcast is because on our app we do uh this thing called Nooks, so it's like real-time audio, kind of like I was talking about. And at first, obviously, we couldn't that like we didn't have the save Nook feature on the app. So I wanted to make sure that these really dynamic conversations that we're having could live somewhere. And naturally it's easier to be like, hey, come on my podcast, I'll live stream it to all my users anyway. So now my users can listen to it, how add a question. I can now take the question from my app, and now people can listen to it on like the whole podcast. So just it really worked really naturally. So, really, it is an opportunity for our users to have really great content as well.
SPEAKER_00So, how uh how do you make money with the book and app?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so it runs basically the obvious one is you pay$9.99 a month for a book club that gives you the ability to do the hosting, the tools, and everything else. And then for the content creator, they get to set their price. So they can set it at whatever they feel that their audience wants to you know support them at. Um, also that gives us opportunities for I've been talking to a few like really great cookbook authors, so then cookbook authors can also come on and do it. So we kind of allow them to set their own price. From that, they get the majority we get as the platform for hosting it, and um, we get our 20%, and then from there each month we get revenue as well as the the creator does. So it's really, really helpful for creators that are that have built a significant following to be a part of Bookham because then now you get to talk to your community like very more niche-based.
SPEAKER_00That's dope. So are you doing uh Bookham like full-time?
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes and no. Like I'm always doing other jobs, I I have to take care of you know my living. Um, but in the meantime, like Bookham really is my full-time, and I do other part-times. That's the way I think about it.
SPEAKER_00Okay, okay. So um, so um, you know, read more CO. Like uh, what did you so tell us a little bit more about that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so it worked, it really started as like an educational company. Um mostly what we noticed was that a lot of people weren't reading. Um, so we were like, we did we wanted to encourage reading. So like things from James Baldwin, uh Fire Next Time, and all these books. And I just remember one time I said, man, people need to read more Baldwin. Imagine what could happen. He has like his perspective is unique, or you know, anything which you uh people think about now, like Plato or Stada, like all these unique characters. I'm like, imagine if you just read more of these people, right? Imagine where the world would be. So from that premise, we're like, well, shoot, people just need to read more in general. It doesn't, you know, it doesn't matter who the author is. If it if one idea sparks, you know, yeah, uh something for you, it's it's worth reading. So we started with that, and then what we realized is that we need to be more like an education company based. So we started doing summer programs for like 13, 19-year-old um students, taught them entrepreneurship and leadership. Right. And that was kind of like the origin of us being in the book space, and then you learn about all these content creators and kind of how the book market runs and how you can connect with authors that are on press tours, and you're like, oh yeah, we need to really work hard on supporting authors and stuff.
SPEAKER_00How did you get in into this book stuff, man?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, just one book, man. Like literally, like there's not when I say one book, I'm like one book leads you to the next. Like books are always in conversation with each other. So whether it's shoe dogs by Phil Knight, and you're just like reading that, and you're like, wow, I didn't know you could start a company. What it who's this guy named Phil Knight? He's the guy behind Nike, you know, and that leads you into entrepreneurship. And then once you get into entrepreneurship, it's all about learning stories because you don't want to keep falling on your face. You want to learn from other people's mistakes. You want to make um Charlie Munger, one of Will Um Warren Buffett's uh business partners, he talks about making friends with the imminent dead, right? So like books are a great opportunity, like whether it's reading about Martin Luther King, like all these people that have lived lives, you know, you get the opportunity to learn from them from like a 999 book. Like, why would you not learn that? So that's where I got in the book.
SPEAKER_00So, well, no, I'm I'm asking, like, what's your background? You know what I mean? Like, how did you get into this book space? You just you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01You know, it's not it's not even really all that crazy. Like, I literally was a high school athlete. Um once you finish high school at like um athletics, you're you're trying to figure out what you want to do next. I went to Morehouse College, um, same school that Spike Lee went to, my uh Martin Luther King went to, Samuel L. Jackson kind of list goes on of like a lot of it's a HBCU, so historically black college. So being around people like that, and you come from just athleticism, and then you come to that school and you're like, whoa, all these kids are smart. You know, just to just to have a conversation with you, I gotta read more, right? So that kind of was the trigger of it. Like, I have to become better. And you there's only so many ways you can get better. You gotta travel, you gotta be around mentors, you gotta be around great people, and then obviously reading is another great chance, and it helps you, you know, expand quicker.
SPEAKER_00So, speaking of reading, bro, what you got here, man? We didn't even talk about this.
SPEAKER_01We did it, we did it. So I brought this book. Um, our book club of the pick of the month is called uh Lead Boldly. It's uh this book is by um Robert F. Smith, and we picked it as a book of the month. Uh, we're gonna have conversations throughout. It's about him learning through Martin Luther King, so all the things that he read through his speeches and conversations is um this book. So we're really excited. If anybody just wants to read with us, join download the app and um it's called Book'em, Bookemapp.com. Come read with us. We'll be discussing this all all throughout the month of August and September. I have a few surprises, but I'll I'll I'll let uh I'll let people see.
SPEAKER_00You know, I I don't know if I saw this book from from your you know stuff on social media, but I saw this book and I want to read it. Yeah, you know, when did it when did it come out? It just came out yesterday. Okay, literally, so August 12th probably wasn't okay. Gotcha. Yeah, probably uh it probably I don't know if it was or wasn't, but I saw this book. I'm gonna read it. Yeah, uh because it's about the seven principles uh but that that uh Martin Luther King went by, basically, right?
SPEAKER_01So he basically takes seven speeches from Martin Luther King. That's what I thought. So then after that, he's telling you like the principles he received from those conversations. Oh how he's now leading boldly from these words of Martin Luther King. Gotcha. And it's unique because you just don't some people don't know, like don't some people only know Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech, but this goes through seven of his like just all through out his books. So yeah, come read with us August and September. Um, like I said, we'll have some guests come through and it'll be a really great time. What about this one? What's that? So this one's a little different. Um, this is a I haven't actually cracked this one up, I just got it, but I'm excited to read this one as well. Um it's called Afro Sheen, it's by the guy that created it. So he also did um soul train and everything in between, like the Afro Sheen um hair gel.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it's the guy that created the Afro Sheen, it's by that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I like I said, I enjoy reading about founder stories. So he's 99, still alive, which is kind of cool. So I just saw this on the internet. I've been looking for more just like black founders, because you know, I you know, as a founder, is you don't always see our stories as much. So anytime I can find someone that's like has done it at a really high level and looks like us, I'm like, oh yeah, let me let me see what y'all are doing. So both these books are by black founders too. Are you gonna uh drop a book soon? Anytime? I don't really so my writing isn't necessarily like in in a book form at right now. Like I don't want to I don't have a book in me. I have a lot of like obviously films and and stuff like that. So screenwriting really comes natural to me. Music obviously comes naturally to me, but not so much a book yet, but I have I have ideas for books I want to either be publishing, like you know, work with people to um publish or be a part of in some form. So I like how he did this book where he's not writing the entire book, but he's he's a part of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man. I feel like you should you should write a book about your story, man. Oh yeah, of course. My book is gonna be called uh I don't even want to say what's gonna be. I think it but I'm writing a book about my story. Okay, like I don't want the name to be stolen because it's a dope name, you know what I mean? Um but yeah, man, I'm I'm trying to write, I think you should too, bro. Because everything everything that you said just this from the start of this episode shows that you have an amazing story to tell. I appreciate it, yeah. And if if anything, you can at least talk about your story. Oh, of course. You know what I'm saying? Um so give give us give us like two solid books that you would recommend to like startup companies.
SPEAKER_01So startups, people are gonna hate me on this one because you know it's like kind of like don't kill the messenger. But um, there's a book called Zero to One by uh Peter Teal. And that book, if you want to start a technology startup company, that one is truly a must just because honestly, I would not start a company unless you kind of read that book. Um, if you're in tech, like tech really focused, because it's gonna help you, you know, make sure that you're you're going into a niche-based company um space, like like we're doing with books, and you can expand in it. You want to take over markets, like there's a lot into this. Like he talks about like comp competition is the enemy, and there's a reason why, and you start seeing all these things, and then you want to validate your company. Right. I know sometimes you get an idea and you just like want to jump forward, but as I've learned as a founder, you know, talk about founder fumbles and stuff. Sometimes it does matter how you approach an idea and what skills you have from it. So sometimes taking in that knowledge to you know take a second back so you can jump forward really matters. So, I mean, things with AI is kind of making it easier for you to start companies without feeling like the financial stress of running a company, but you know, you want to make sure that you are setting yourself up for the best possible outcomes, even though entrepreneurship is like very, very tough, you know.
SPEAKER_00So we got from zero to one. Zero to one for sure. And don't say the lean startup.
SPEAKER_01No, no, no. I hate the lean startup.
SPEAKER_00You hate you hate the lean startup?
SPEAKER_01It's a direct contradiction to zero to one. He literally talks about how it's not the same. So now I'm not a lean startup.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, I read both of them. I think both of them are great. They got their own points, but what's your next one? So you're saying specifically to entrepreneurship? To startups. Startups, okay. People that's getting into business, what book do they need to read? Okay, so I was beautiful.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, zero to one's great for like the practicality of business, and then I would probably choose a book where you see someone go through like struggles, like really where it's kind of hard, they're not getting it right away. So I would pick a book that's more based in like an entrepreneurial story. So I know I said shoe dogs, I would I know that's one of my favorites. Um I'm trying to think of one that like people may not have heard as much, but I think shoe dogs is phenomenal. I don't think I it's by uh the founder of Nike. So oh I'll give you one. I'll give you one. Um the moment I mean what's this? Oh no, I'll give you even a better one. Um, who is Michael Vitz? I love who is Michael Vitz. It's a story about the guy that like he was the founder of CAA, which is like a creative artist um agency in Hollywood. So he did everything from Jurassic Park to Schindler's List to Goonies. I mean, yeah, Goonies, and he did Goodfellas, and it just shows you how to age it, you know, like in a lack of a better term, how to work with people, how to get the right deal, how to package deals. Because Hollywood is all built on that, right? Like you want to bring a whole um piece to a uh studio before they're like, okay, we'll buy. And he was like the or he was like kind of originator of that. So I think it's really good for business people because then you show how to use how to understand leverage, packaging, all that. So when you come to a market and want to sell an idea to somebody, you're like, okay, what are all the places where people might say no, and how can I alleviate that for them? So it's a very simple yes. So I think that book is really good. That's one of my favorites.
SPEAKER_00That's dope. That's dope. So um we both us us both being access mode alumni.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Um, what was your biggest takeaway from access mode?
SPEAKER_01Community, man. And I say this for specifically to founders. I think founders, we have a um a conversation, like our access mode group. So shout out to Donovan, Caleb, Chris, my brother, who's also my founder of Bookham. We have this like seasonal, like we meet up once a year to have a podcast where we just talk about like being in the trenches of um I've seen it. That's fire. The trenches of being a founder. And what I learned from Access Mode the most is like founders need friends, right? Um, you need people that have gone through the war of figuring out how to start a company, bringing it again from zero to one. Like you need people that have understand that understand that. So whether like you're doing with podcasting, you're talking to business founders all the time. Like that's why we do it. We don't know we need it as a founder until you've been in this in the trenches and you're like, okay. Yeah. So I learned that the most, probably like above anything. And I would just say like pitching, because there's a they axe mode is gonna make you pitch for over and over and over and over and over again. Yeah, so when you get on that stage, you might be nervous, but as soon as that first word clicks, you're gonna be like, okay, I remember what I'm you know, then you're off to races. And plus, it is your business at the end of the day, so it's like kind of easy, but you still need those reps uh to really pitch.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man, pitching is hard, man. I suck at that pitching, man. Do you feel like you're good at pitching yet?
SPEAKER_01So it's interesting. Like I took some classes in college um that helped me kind of do like personal, um, you know, like whatever, whatever you call them, um on stage speaking. But it was like public speaking, it was a public speaking class. And that helped me a lot. I mean, I'm not, I probably am not the most charismatic speaker. I probably can figure out how to, you know, say things slower, you know, do things quicker. Uh, but in the grand scheme of things, it did help me. So I don't have a problem with public speaking. It's just one of those things that you, you know, it's it's always gonna be a you're always gonna be a slightly nervous, but um, my even my college professors even said that's good. Like nerves are good. You want to have those butterflies because it means you're alive and you care about it. So you I always I turn that around. So like if I feel butterflies, I feel nervous, like I appreciate it because I'm like, okay, this matters to me. Good. Go do go go do something exceptional, go be different, you know, go be great, you know, have a moment to be special.
SPEAKER_00You know, I found out that, you know, when I like doing like a presentation of something for a company I work for, I have no nerves. I'm not nervous, my heart ain't beating fast. I'm like, I'm not scared and I'm gonna mess up. I just go. You know, I have full confidence. But when I'm pitching my business, the nerves is out there, yo. The first time I ever been nervous like on stage is when I was pitching. See, and I was like, oh my god, I tell you, my heart's about to beat up.
SPEAKER_01Oh, do y'all forget? Right. It's funny because no one else knows you're messing up, and like a lot of other people just struggle with public speaking. So you're really it's just all personal. Like it's unless you're really messing up, where people are like, that's a little that's a little off. But in general, like public speaking is one of those things, it's a very much, it's it's kind of an internal game, and then you get comfortable. So like I look at something like Martin Luther King, I'm like, dude, if I can get half of how you speak, like the comp how he's how compelling he is as a speaker, how he slows down, makes sure everything's good. I'm I'm like that. Make sure you hear everything. That's where I want to get half of it. I don't even have to get you're never this is one of the greatest speakers of all time. But if I can be half as good, that would be amazing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he makes sure you hear every single word. Like nothing, you don't miss nothing anymore. Nothing. Like so many people knows the the I Have a Dream speech is crazy. Yep. Like it's like probably the most popular speech in the whole world. That's insane to think about. Um so what would you say the biggest lesson you learned as a founder?
SPEAKER_01Um, I would say team. Team, team, team. I I think so many founders. And and when you funny enough, the one thing that investors always say is like, who's the founder and who's the team? But you are so like, no, no, no, my product. Look at the product. It's the product, come watch it. But I guarantee you, without a great team, that product's going nowhere. And that's just the truth. And and I didn't realize that until I got around a good team. Like my team is so amazing. Like, I'm like, hey, let's get this done. They're getting it done. Like, I have we have an idea, we get it out. Then we're timing it. So team, when you get around a team and you get around a players, you're only gonna want to be around a players. Like you're only gonna want to associate with them. So it's really hard to get a team. Like, I should say that. It's not like it's easy, and it's obviously like what you do.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. It's our heart.
SPEAKER_01Your company is doing the Lord's work because it is so hard to find a founder, and it's so fun to have find. I'm blessed I have uh a brother who is business-minded, who's leads, you know, is just as much of a leader as I am. So we work together, it's easy working with my brother. But I've started companies with founders where I've had to fall out with them. Like I've been through those experiences. Like we talk about founder fumbles, like I've been through those moments where the trenches, as we say, where you're like, okay, well, this founder's not gonna work. Yeah, we gotta do something else. So yeah, I would say team is top of the top of the charts.
SPEAKER_00Let's let's talk about some of those moments though. Yeah. All right, let's do it. What's what's like your uh what would you say is like your lowest moment as a founder? All right, I'll tell you what. You can go this year or you can go like your absolute lowest.
SPEAKER_01No, I want it, it's one easy, it wasn't even that. It was just um, I you know, you learn so much as a founder. Um, I one of the things when we we were doing our business read more, um, I remember just getting a knock at the door one day. I'm like, uh oh. I open the door, and it's like you've been served. Boom, federal lawsuit, bam, on you for real. And I'm looking at it, I'm like, why? How do what a what small company do we do? And I guess we had you, but basically I had interview we had someone interview somebody, and we used one of the photos from Google, and this dude was like a shark, and he was like, anybody that uses my photos is getting this this lawsuit. So he I guess he has his lawyers just send out tons of lawsuits on people that use his photos, and we just were on the bad side of it. And man, imagine getting sued as a low little company. I'm like, Do we gotta bankrupt? Do we gotta do this? Like, how do we figure this thing out? How did you get out of that situation? Man, again, grace, bro, because um we ended up finding some. Some of the lawyers that worked with us as you know, I mean we just told our story. Like, first of all, we're an educational company. Yeah. So it was used for educational purposes. So we kind of went through now the whole lines. We found an attorney that's like, nah, we've been, we've dealt with sharks like this, and we're gonna take them out. And they like really wanted to work with us because they're like, I hate people that do this. So blessing in disguise, learned a lot, learned, like now. I'm so like timid to use anybody else's content. Like even in AI, I see like, okay, now AI is allowing us to use it. Even me, I'm like, okay, I wonder if these AI companies will ever get just hit. I bet they, I mean, some of them, a lot of them have. Like, you just get hit with these crazy IP lawsuits, and it's it's it kind of sucks. But that I mean, was it was it low or was it a learning experiment? It was a mix of both. In the midst of it, it's like, holy crap. Only thing you want to do is be like a wartime CEO, and like, how the heck do we get out of this? Right. But afterwards, you're like, yeah, there's probably some trauma there.
SPEAKER_00You learn from it, you're like, okay, we'll get better next week. You need all that stuff too in order to get better. Yeah, the the Lord gave you that because he didn't want you to make a bigger mistake. You know, um that's right.
SPEAKER_01And you need those moments as a founder because then you tell real stories and real real honesty with people, because then you can say, like, yo, I've been through everything. You know, it's the Nipsey Hustle. It's like I went through every emotion. The only difference between me and the people that don't make is I just didn't quit. You know what I mean? Like, I went through everyone. And then and when you can when you can go through every emotion and still be like, no, this is what I want to do, then you become a really great founder.
SPEAKER_00Have you ever got to that point where you felt like quitting?
SPEAKER_01No, not really. Like, I always just feel like I'm gonna be successful. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I just believe in my companies. If if I have to pivot, that's fine. If I gotta change up things, that's cool. Like, I don't know, I just don't linger on failure. I know it's an option. You know, you have to understand that as a founder. Actually, it's a very high, you know, it's a very high chance, but I don't look at it like that. I look at it like how can I continue to add value to my customers? If I do that right, if I can figure out, because most people don't, most people can't get that part right. How do I serve my customers at the highest level? And then once I do that, how do I continue to build revenue through my company because I'm adding great value to my customers? If I do all those things, what benefits come through? What opportunities open up? All these things. It's like uh YC talks about like sometimes you have to be a cockroach. You know, you gotta stay in the game long enough to survive, where then you get the opportunity of whether it's an investor or whether it's this or anything that you are looking for. You've been looking for that one customer that opens up 40,000 accounts for you because you're like, hey, I should have known to win here. You didn't even know. Um, but that's kind of how like being an entrepreneur is. You just have to stay in the game. You gotta be a learning machine. That's why I read all the time. You gotta continue to improve your game. You're like, you're like a high functioning athlete. You know what I mean? Like the way LeBron would play basketball, he's he's putting up a hundred shots every day, he's recovering. Like you gotta do all those things as a founder. I know there's this this need of like fool in the business every single day, but I've learned sometimes like, hey, if I just like go walk, I might have solved seven problems for my company. So like sometimes not doing the the just being in the work head on the computer is so useful as a founder. Because you're you're paid, well at least for me, I'm paid for creativity. Like the better ideas I can have and partnerships I think about and relationships I can build, that makes my company money. It opens up these these opportunities. So I really focus on like trying to do all those things to make it really work.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's why it's important to you know go on those walks, go hiking, go hoop with founders, networking, all that stuff. You know what I mean? So uh what type of uh like daily routine? You got any daily routines, you know, like when I'm putting up 100 shots a day. What you man?
SPEAKER_01Well, I usually just wake up from 7:30, work, and then I'll go play basketball, or I'll uh just work out. You know, that's kind of like my schedule. So seven to seven, seven thirty to six, just kind of work. I might get a little food in between, but like mostly just work on the business. Then obviously I'll uh go work out, and then maybe when I get home, I'll work for another two hours. So right before 11, you know, relax, take a shower, and then back to work. I kind of like I like doing routines in that sense. So that's that's your routine. Yeah, pretty much. That's like that's my I think you know, to everything there is a season, right? So like this is my current summer schedule. I used to be that person where I was like, oh, this is my schedule every time, but then you just gotta kind of feel like what season you're in, and then you're like, okay, this is the best schedule right now. Because I also like working at night, so I try to stay up like you know, 11, because there's like there's some creativity that goes there. And then sometimes it's like, hey, I'm working till two. But I try to, as best I can, at least get seven to seven to you know, seven hours of sleep, hopefully. Right, right. But I'm not gonna be a great founder if I'm sleep deprived, not for a long period of time.
SPEAKER_00I can't sleep that long, bro. I I only can sleep like six hours.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was saying, like, you know, sometimes it is six. Like, I'm not I'm it's not always six, but I'm a great, like I enjoy sleep because I think it allows me to do what I'm saying, recover and and and think on a high level. Um so I like and getting that sleep, like you know, I might I might do like finish up one more task, I'm like, okay, but I'm gonna wake up early tomorrow. So like if I do go to sleep early, I'm gonna make sure I get up early and just knock it out the next day, too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. So um, like for new new founders, like just starting up, getting in business, you know, um, what advice would you give these new founders, y'all? So they do they have an idea? They have an idea, okay, but it but you know, they don't know where to start or like they they don't know what the true entrepreneur struggle journey is about. Well how what would you do to prepare them for what's really about to happen?
SPEAKER_01My new advice would just be like, hey, take your idea and see if you can run it through AI and see how quickly you can just get it done today. You know, they got this uh why not why wait why wait?
SPEAKER_00They got uh they got websites. Oh no, yeah, they got websites out there, web apps. You can just put your idea in, um, you know, your target market, you know, all that good stuff, hit a button, and it'll be it does it love lovable, all these apps, literally, you can throw your whole app in.
SPEAKER_01I sometimes will throw my own company into the app and see if I can compete with it. Like I know I you know it's like there's some things it can't do, but I was like, shoot, it can do a good amount. So again, even with that part of it, is like the moat for businesses has changed so directly. Like now the moat's like, how do you have distribution? So, like again, podcasting, distribution. How is your brand is becoming strong? Does it want to be a company people want to be around? Do you have a vision? Do you speak values to people that people care about? Like, there's so many people that are saying everything. Do you are you saying something that actually speaks to people that they want to be a part of and invest in your company? So I think those things matter so much. And like as the founder, you are the guardian of the company's soul. You have to be the one, you have to be the biggest cheerleader, you gotta be the biggest advocate, you gotta uplift your team, all of that matters. So um, yeah, I mean, that's kind of how I think about it. That's dope, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So uh at the beginning of your startup journey, if you can go back, like with the with the education that you have now, if you can go back and tell yourself something, uh, what you think that'd be?
SPEAKER_01Funny enough, it's it's the advice that no founder wants to hear. Um, you hear like Paul Graham and some people say it too. It's like if you don't have like a really great idea, I would say go join a startup, go work underneath the startup, you get paid, you might get equity in that company, then get a good team around you. So, like if you're around a startup, you're gonna be around other smart people. If the startup doesn't end up going long, or if it does go long, you might have people that really enjoyed the early startup thing, and you guys can now you have advocates that you can work with and you can build a really great company. Uh like I said, you literally can I didn't realize that as a founder. I think I think especially, especially being like African-American founders, they're like, they're like, they ask you, hey, are you a full-time founder? And you're like, Yes, I'm dedicated, I do this, I you know, every you can say everything in the book. You're like, I'm perfect, I wake up at times, but you still might not get that funded, right? So I was just about to say and so what I'm saying is that what I would tell founders now, I'm like, the most important thing is to make sure that your company survives. So if you need to take out a nine to five, do it. You know what I'm saying? Now your company works from five to eleven and enjoy that hustle. Um, I would just say focus on you and not listen to all the other. I know, even though I'm on a podcast, you know, talking, but like block out a lot of those noises so you can focus on really um, you know, driving results for your company. Because a lot of people give you so many bad, so much, so much bad advice. And I think what when I say looking back on, I'm like, the thing that I should have just been doing is always like making sure I can have enough money for my company to grow and everything in between, paying my team. Like, there's so many things that you you will have to have to do as a founder, um, especially if you're like haven't raised or anything like that, that you're gonna like, hey, I'm gonna have to pay for this company anyway. So I would say choose the best method for you.
SPEAKER_00That's dope, bro. Um so if everything went right for Bookham this year, um for you, I'm gonna ask this question. This year and overall, you know, if every everything went right, perfect, what does that look like? What is what is the dream, what does your dream look like for Bookham?
SPEAKER_01Well, I have some I have some really cool ideas that I mean I just don't want to give away all the time. But um I think what you're seeing with Bookham is that we are building community in a time where a lot of people don't have community, and community can scale, right? And when you have community, I think about like a Tyler Perry, like this dude could, I know bad example, but like he can always sell out, like when he was coming up, he could put butts in seats. So then when you can validate that you can put butts in seats, especially when most people can't do it, like uh Sam Altman talks about you want a hundred people that love you, then a thousand people that look, you know, I mean a million people that lukewarm love you.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01So you want to make sure that you can have a community that really enjoys your product. So first and foremost, what does Book'em look like this year that I want to do? I want to make sure when people come on this app, they enjoy every minute. Like no regrettable minutes. You enjoy the conversations, you're getting you're getting something from it because a lot of social media sometimes you're not getting something. I want that to be number one. And then number two, obviously, is like I want to grow way past it. Like, so right now we have like 30 32 clubs on our platform. I want to go up to 100 by the end of the year. That would be amazing. Yeah, and I want to bring on very good um influencers, like not influenced, but content creators specifically. Um, because influencers and content creators tend to be slightly different. Um, but content creators that are really great at you know, work talking to their people and hosting dynamic book clubs. We do those things, we're setting ourselves up amazing. Because like we have, we're that means our our our our media side is growing, our app is growing, we're getting the connections, and we can build it. Because again, I I think about it like this. I'm in the storytelling business, right? As much as like books are just stories, they're tools to tell stories. Exactly. So having ownership of stories and community and conversations, like you see all these great companies that have that, like think about Meta and all these people. There's the sky's a limit of what you can do when you have that correct.
SPEAKER_00So you gotta have that community and you gotta get your book out, yeah. So you can tell your story. It's coming eventually. I will write it. So um, what new do you got coming out, man? You got any new stuff, uh anything that we should be aware of that we can look out for?
SPEAKER_01Well, funny, you you already already brought it up, but I'd say definitely get this copy of uh Lee Bowley. Come hang out with us and talk about this book. Um, again, I have something nice for everybody come September. So make sure you come join us, have a conversation with us, and um it'll be excited to um and then you can do this on Book'em, right? So just download the app at Bookemapp.com. You can get Apple, Android, and we also do web. Um our team is launching the V2 of web. Um so that's gonna be even dope. So, like, you know, just stay tuned. We got a lot of cool things going on.
SPEAKER_00So let's do something real sweet, yo. This is the first time thing. You you don't have to do this if you're not okay with it, but let's put some accountability on this, yo. So this episode ain't gonna drop in September. Okay. Why don't you let the people know? You know, so by the time this video drops, it's gonna already be out. They can go down to the link and they can get all that stuff. Oh, it's all it's out now, so you can do this. Are you talking about the conversation? Well, I'm talking about the new stuff that you you got coming out.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, so yeah, by the time people hear this, V2 on the web is gonna be ready. So you can go down to go to bookem at wwwbookemapp.com. Okay. That's gonna be good. All right. Um, we're gonna actually have Robert Smith come talk to us for yeah, September 30th. That's why I was I hadn't said it yet, but September 30th, Robert Smith's. I was gonna ask you that.
SPEAKER_00I meant to ask you that earlier, too. I was like, I because I heard you had somebody very special coming on board, yeah, but Regis didn't want to tell me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so Robert Smith is coming on. That's dope. Hey, it's amazing, man. I'm so blessed, bro. So I'm excited to see that. He's like rich as hell, ain't he? Uh he's the first or second richest African American in the United States. Damn.
SPEAKER_00How you get him on the podcast?
SPEAKER_01Hey, man, life's good, bro.
SPEAKER_00Life's good. You blessed, bro. Thank you. Every day I'd say thank you. But you know, so I I think that's that's all my questions. G, I appreciate you. Uh, let everybody know where they can find you.
SPEAKER_01Okay, yeah. Download um book them at www.bookemapp.com again on Apple, Android, and um web as well. I don't really use my other social medias, but if you find me on, I guess, what is it, Twitter or X, I'm on there as well. LinkedIn too, right? J.Colly. I'm on LinkedIn. It's like I I just use them, I've gotten so much, like everything's just become business for my thing, so it's hard to use. But like you find me on it. I'm I'm always gonna be Kyle Khali, C-O-L-L-E-Y.
SPEAKER_00You'll probably you'll probably find me. For sure, for sure. Um, well, I'm just gonna say this before I end the show. The funny thing is, bro, I thought I was following you on Insta on uh LinkedIn the whole time. I was following your brother, yo. All right, Chris is he's part of looking too.
SPEAKER_01Shout out to Chris Kali, that's my brother, and he's my business partner. So if you follow him, you're you're following me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, he's a twin. So I was following his twin brother, thinking it was him the whole time. You're not twins! Everybody says it now. Yo, no, he's he's he's uh older than me.
SPEAKER_01He's an older brother.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh, I thought y'all was twin. That's crazy. That's even more crazy. But anyway, bro, thanks for having me. I appreciate you for having me, man.
SPEAKER_01Keep doing what you're doing, man. And like I said, if you're a founder and you're looking for somebody, yeah, definitely follow Zenga because you guys are doing great work.
SPEAKER_00Please do, please do. But anyway, uh thank you everybody for joining this episode of Founder Fumbles. If Kyle inspired you in any way, shape, or form, please reach out to him. I'm gonna put all the links that we talked about in the description. Uh yeah, in the description. And please do not forget to like, subscribe, comment, and share this with all your friends. Pretty please share with all your friends. Let's go. Until next time. Peace.