Advice Line with Miguel McKelvey of WeWork

Key takeaways

Social media tools and apps are essential for maintaining teen safety online.
Entrepreneurship involves highs and lows, and every experience is an opportunity for growth.
Effective branding depends heavily on storytelling and connecting your brand's values to your consumers.
Diversifying marketing strategies can help counteract diminishing returns in digital advertising.

Summary

Navigating Teen Social Media and Technology

The episode begins by addressing the challenges parents face regarding teens and social media. It highlights Instagram's teen accounts that come with automatic protections to enhance safety and privacy, ensuring age-appropriate experiences. There’s an emphasis on how parents can utilize these tools for better communication and regulation of their teens’ social media activities.

The Entrepreneurial Journey with Miguel McKelvey

Guy Roz welcomes Miguel McKelvey, the co-founder of WeWork, who shares insights from his entrepreneurial journey. Reflecting on his experiences, Miguel discusses the ups and downs of starting a business, the important life lessons he learned, and how these experiences continue to shape his perspective on entrepreneurship.

Callers Seeking Business Advice

The core of the episode revolves around listener calls. Jane from Minnesota seeks guidance on scaling her colorful women's pants brand while maintaining high manufacturing standards. Melissa from New Mexico explores options for diversifying her marketing approach after witnessing a decline in digital ad effectiveness for her grief care packages. Meanwhile, Lee from Massachusetts aims to reduce customer acquisition costs for his history merchandise brand as the 250th anniversary of America approaches.

Strategies for Growth and Branding

In response to the callers, Miguel emphasizes the importance of storytelling in branding. For Jane, he suggests leveraging social media to convey the values and uniqueness of her products. Melissa can benefit from creating useful content that resonates with her audience, while Lee should explore partnerships and collaborations to tap into niche markets, especially through history-focused podcasts.

Show notes

Today’s callers: Jane in Minnesota wants to scale her artful pants brand while staying true to her locally-made mission. Then Melissa in New Mexico wonders how to respond to diminishing returns on digital advertising for her grief care packages. And Lee in Massachusetts hopes to decrease customer acquisition costs for his history merch brand ahead of America’s 250th anniversary.
Plus, Miguel reflects on his WeWork experience and the similarities he sees in today’s AI-dominated tech industry. Miguel’s latest venture, Unbound, seeks to disrupt healthcare in the United Kingdom.
Thank you to the founders of Copa Threads, Good Grief, and The History List Store for being a part of our show.

If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com or call 1-800-433-1298.
And be sure to listen to WeWork’s founding story as told by Miguel in 2017, as well as his second appearance on the show in 2022.

This episode was produced by Sam Paulson with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Kwesi Lee.
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