Zack DeFord joined me to discuss his experiences as a lifelong gamer, and how his younger brother was bullied while playing online games. Zack's desire to make gaming safer and more fun for his brother led him to start Smerf, and that authenticity has served him well as he's built the company. Zack and his co-founder, Ben, have developed Smerf to be a critical identity and social layer across gaming platforms, and they're being noticed by some of the largest gaming companies in the world. We talked about his experience engaging with the CEO of one of them early in Smerf's life.
I've also seen Zack mature so rapidly as a founder becoming the CEO of a company with incredible potential to impact millions of gamers in a positive way. It's such a pleasure to get to work with him through Operate. Enjoy this conversation!
Building a Personal Brand and Enjoying It - Teddy Mitrosilis of The Mitrosilis Group
Community-building as a Path to a VC Career - Rex Salisbury, Founder & GP at Cambrian
Charles Potts - Chief Innovation Officer at ICBA
Eric Sprink - President & CEO of Coastal Community Bank
Wayne Miller - SVP Innovation Programs at ICBA
Brent Jackson - Founder & CEO of Torpago
Ron Shevlin - Chief Research Officer at Cornerstone; Senior Contributor at Forbes
Howard Makler - Founder & CEO of Innovation Refunds
David Wexler - Co-founder & CEO of PortX
Cat Berman - Co-founder & CEO of CNote
Jason Yeh - Founder of Adamant, Teaching Founders To Be Better Fundraisers
Bradley Leimer - Co-founder of Unconventional Ventures, Author of Beyond Good
Kiah Haslett - Managing Editor of Bank Director
Mark Forbis - Former CTO of Jack Henry; now Board Director & Fintech Investor
Alice Frazier - President & CEO of Bank of Charles Town (BCT)
Doug Holte - Founder & CEO of Agile Workweek Investments
Fred Thiel - CEO of Marathon Digital Holdings
Dave Ferrera - General Partner of Treadstone Holdings
Sloane Keane - CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County and Inland Empire
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Commercial Edge: Unleash the Power of People
The emPOWERed Half Hour
Aligned Money Show
Dubai Property Podcast
IBKR Podcasts
The Ramsey Show
The Clark Howard Podcast