Hacks and Hobbies with Junaid Ahmed
Oct 8, 2026 · 26 min · 10 segments
### **5 key takeaways** - How an internship at Tough Mudder redirected Brian from a traditional legal career toward entrepreneurship. - Why being clear, following through, and building genuine…
Brian Von AnckenGuestJunaid AhmedHostNow, Brian, what did you think you needed to know about sales and marketing back then? Because you were, you're just an intern, you know, third year law school, and what did you learn the hard way and, you know, what was those, those things?
I think in the beginning when you come from a legal background, you're taught to risk aversion, right? And it's something they try to instill in you.
And I also think that it teaches you that, that there's a right answer to everything.
But the, what I learned very, very quickly when it came to, you know, becoming an expert in growth and sales and marketing is, is that there really is no playbook.
... things you can follow and, and you can try your best, but, um, it's funny.
It, it's, it's really, really hard and really simple at the same time, I think.
but at the same time, some of those really just easy things you knew growing up of, like, being a good person, being somebody other people wanna be around-
... making, being really clear, uh, being someone who follows up and does what they say they're gonna do.
You know, those things ended up going really, really far when it came to building partnerships-
when it came to, you know, creating the right type of narratives that people resonate with.
And so I think what I w- what I learned is that trusting my gut on what I feel like is correct is the best-
... thing to do, as opposed to outsourcing my expertise to some playbook or something like that.
And, and the reason those people write those books about those expertise is because they went with the gut and it worked for them, right? And some books do mention that, "Hey, go with your gut," but most people, we go through school to, you know, just follow the narrative.
Now, Brian, what did you think you needed to know about sales and marketing back then? Because you were, you're just an intern, you know, third year law school, and what did you learn the hard way and, you know, what was those, those things?
I think in the beginning when you come from a legal background, you're taught to risk aversion, right? And it's something they try to instill in you.
And I also think that it teaches you that, that there's a right answer to everything.
But the, what I learned very, very quickly when it came to, you know, becoming an expert in growth and sales and marketing is, is that there really is no playbook.
... things you can follow and, and you can try your best, but, um, it's funny.
It, it's, it's really, really hard and really simple at the same time, I think.
but at the same time, some of those really just easy things you knew growing up of, like, being a good person, being somebody other people wanna be around-
... making, being really clear, uh, being someone who follows up and does what they say they're gonna do.
You know, those things ended up going really, really far when it came to building partnerships-
when it came to, you know, creating the right type of narratives that people resonate with.
And so I think what I w- what I learned is that trusting my gut on what I feel like is correct is the best-
... thing to do, as opposed to outsourcing my expertise to some playbook or something like that.
And, and the reason those people write those books about those expertise is because they went with the gut and it worked for them, right? And some books do mention that, "Hey, go with your gut," but most people, we go through school to, you know, just follow the narrative.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
