Finding More Time vs. More Energy | Immad Akhund (father of 2, co-founder and CEO, Mercury)

Startup Dad

Immad Akhund is the co-founder and CEO of Mercury, a business banking platform that has raised over $160M in funding and has over 100,000 customers. He has also founded two other companies – Clickpass and Heyzap; the latter of which was acquired in 2016. Immad is a husband and the father of two kids. In today's conversation we discussed:

* Starting a family at a very young age (by San Francisco standards)

* Navigating founding and running several companies, including Mercury

* The difference between finding more time and finding more energy

* How to think about skill building with your kids

* Dealing with disagreements with your spouse

* The parallels between being the co-founder of a company and the co-founder of a family

Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Overcast and YouTube.

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Where to find Immad Akhund

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iakhund/

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/immad

- Curiosity Podcast: https://curiositypodcast.substack.com/

Where to find Adam Fishman

- FishmanAF Newsletter: www.FishmanAFNewsletter.com

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjfishman/

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startupdadpod/

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In this episode, we cover

[1:31] Welcome

[1:46] Childhood

[2:44] Where does your extended family live now?

[3:19] Why keep doing startups?

[6:52] How did you meet your partner?

[7:56] Tell me about your kids

[8:42] Decision to start a family

[9:51] What does your wife do?

[10:59] Why did it feel like the right time to start a family?

[17:13] Earliest memory of being a dad?

[19:29] Advice for his younger self

[22:36] What is something you worked on after having kids?

[23:56] Skill building and teaching kids finance

[27:46] How has his parenting style evolved?

[30:29] What is an example of you getting out of balance w/kids

[31:29] Has being a dad changed how you run companies?

[34:36] Conflict/managing through disagreements

[39:10] Kids relationship w/tech

[42:07] Restore batteries

[44:08] What is a mistake you made as a dad?

[46:32] Follow along

[47:23] Rapid fire round

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Show references:

Mercury: https://mercury.com/

Model X: https://www.tesla.com/modelx

The Matrix: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/

Union Square Ventures: https://www.usv.com/

Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/

ClickPass: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/clickpass

Hayzap: https://www.linkedin.com/company/heyzap-com/

Inside Out: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2096673/

Frozen: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/

Teen Titans: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343314/

Doona: https://www.doona.com/en-us

Juni Learning: https://junilearning.com/

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