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JimJim's Reinvention Revolution Podcast


Feb 12, 2020

Ben Hughes is a serial entrepreneur and author who, after a couple lackluster ventures, found his home in the startup world as employee #1 of learning app Blinkist.com. Listen to JJRR 64 as Ben shares how after adventures in Australia and Berlin, he ended up back in his hometown of Helsinki, Finland managing remotely Blinkist's content creation team (in Berlin). Recently co-authoring the Loop Approach, Ben shares his thoughts on decentralized organizational management and his practice of meditation.

https://www.blinkist.com/

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/L/bo52824093.html

https://www.amazon.com/Search-Inside-Yourself-Unexpected-Achieving/dp/0062116932

https://www.penguinhug.de/

http://handbookofawesome.com/intro/

05:02s Is Finland the  happiest country on Earth?

07:04s Finland and invention of the suana

09:14s Learning and apps, Blinkist.com, and content curation

11:59s Not a book summary company, offering key insights instead

15:47s Typical Blinkist customers / use cases

18:12s 2 minutes with Seth Godin audio blink from Blinkist

18:49s Joining Blinkist in 2012 as the first full time employee

21:38s Starting out as a management consultant and crashing into a kangaroo

25:17s Quitting the dayjob and moving to Berlin to start businesses with Sebastian Klein

30:40s Pivoting from first business Penguin Hug to wellness blogging

32:55s The genesis of Blinkist in Berlin, while Ben is in Helsinki

38:03s Creating content and tackling scalability in Berlin from Helsinki

45:02s The Loop Approach, Ben and Sebastian’s new management book

49:0s Pace of change driving distributed / decentralized management structure

53:49s Broader technology changes / opportunities / challenges

57:30s Staying curious to keep your mind open and honoring the finite time we all have

01:01:38s Opening up a new dimension with meditation and mindfulness

“Our purpose is basically just to inspire people to keep learning. We try to give them content that you know fits into this kind of modern, busy lifestyle that we’re all leading today.”

“I think it was confidence bordering on arrogance. I’m smart, you’re smart, how could we possibly fail to create a like million dollar business in a matter of months.”

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