The Predictable B2B Success Podcast

Host: Great to have you on, John. You’re an investor, tech founder, bestselling author of Corporate Finance ASAP and over 60 other books. You founded MBA ASAP, which has trained over 30,000 students in 165+ countries and served companies including Adidas, Apple, Pinterest, PayPal, and Volkswagen. You’ve taught MBA students at universities worldwide and you’re currently a General Partner at Tatrais Global, a quantitative hedge fund that’s an early investor in many successful tech companies and crypto protocols. You were also CEO and CFO of two public companies for 15 years.

Given that impressive journey—especially taking companies public—why create MBA ASAP? What problem were you trying to solve, and does that problem still exist today?

John: Excellent question—and thank you for the kind introduction. I started as an electrical engineer designing TV facilities for ABC back when network television mattered. I later got my MBA from Wharton to combine technical and business skills, build companies, and create value.

My sister, who also had an MBA, was teaching finance part-time at a New Jersey university. I thought, “That looks like fun—sharing knowledge, meeting students.” Richard Feynman said you don’t truly understand something until you can teach it. So I started teaching MBA classes.

What I quickly realized was a big disconnect: textbooks were 800 pages long, outdated in places (especially marketing after digital), and overloaded students with information without context. They were drinking from a fire hose but couldn’t tell what was truly important for running a business day-to-day.

I began boiling concepts down to fundamentals and giving students a mental framework so they could slot new information into the right “boxes.” My classroom became a lab—I tested what made light bulbs go on.

One memorable moment: I asked a group of MBA students, “What’s a balance sheet?” They panicked and threw out buzzwords—debits, credits, assets—but couldn’t explain how it all worked together. By the end of that session they said, “I’ve taken four courses on this and never really understood it until now.”

That experience led to white papers, slide decks, then books via Kindle Direct Publishing (frictionless, print-on-demand, easy to revise). Later I added short videos (5–10 minutes), PDFs, and full courses on platforms like Udemy.

The original problem—practical business education that’s concise, contextual, and accessible—still exists. I now have students in 168 countries. People everywhere want to escape the 9-to-5, start side hustles, invest better, or level up existing businesses (bakeries, auto shops, etc.). MBA ASAP fills that gap organically.

Host: You clearly believe strongly in practical education. You also use mental models to help people grasp concepts and think strategically—is that fair?

John: Absolutely. Education is the best investment you can make—no one can take it away. Warren Buffett and especially Charlie Munger emphasized a “latticework of mental models”—frameworks that help us quickly understand situations and make better decisions.

Even a small, consistent edge in decision quality compounds dramatically over decades. Munger collected models from many disciplines; I’ve done the same and recently published a book on the topic.

We also have to be aware of heuristics (fast thinking shortcuts—see Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow), cognitive biases, and the value of probabilistic (Bayesian) thinking. Avoid “resulting”—judging a decision by the outcome instead of the quality of reasoning at the time.

Host: What’s your personal area of strength?

John: General curiosity—a strength and sometimes a weakness. In today’s world specialists (deep PhD-level expertise) can win, but I’m a generalist. I love pulling ideas from one field into another to spark creativity. The challenge is focus—saying no to shiny objects so I actually finish things. That took years to learn.

Host: What’s something businesses don’t know but should?

John: The speed of AI development and how quickly it will reshape companies. Many will be blindsided like Kodak was by digital photography. We may soon see the first one-person billion-dollar (“solopreneur”) companies powered by AI.

At MBA ASAP it’s basically me + AI tools. I’m currently building a business simulation game using Unity + ChatGPT/Claude as co-developers. I describe what I want; they write, debug, and iterate code in languages I don’t even know. Six months ago this wasn’t realistic.

Incumbents with legacy structures and large teams are vulnerable. Nimble players using AI can leapfrog them fast. Complacency is dangerous.

Host: How would you help founders use mental models to solve specific revenue challenges?

John: Start with the Pareto Principle (80/20). Identify the 20% of efforts/channels that drive 80% of revenue. Run small experiments constantly. Modern LLMs (Claude, ChatGPT, NotebookLM) are excellent at suggesting tailored models when you feed them your context and ask good follow-up questions.

Host: What three mental models would help non-financial founders overcome resistance to learning accounting?

John: The most important “model” is simply accepting that financial literacy is non-negotiable—the lifeblood of any company.

Three helpful frames:

  1. Personal household analogy — Your salary = revenue, rent/food/bills = expenses, what’s left = profit/loss. Everyone already understands this intuitively.
  2. House purchase analogy for the balance sheet — House = asset, mortgage = liability, down payment + appreciation – debt = equity. Assets = Liabilities + Equity.
  3. Rear-view mirror vs. windshield — Bookkeeping & accounting look backward (reports), finance looks forward (forecasts, budgets, discounted cash flows).

Once people see accounting as practical navigation tools—not abstract theory—resistance usually drops.

Host: You’ve advocated “Ready, Fire, Aim.” How would you apply that to test market demand via email courses/sequences?

John: “Ready, Fire, Aim” = minimal preparation → ship fast → measure data → iterate.

Translate to email:

  • Launch a short MVP course/lead magnet quickly (don’t over-perfect)
  • A/B test subject lines, offers, pricing
  • Track open rates, click rates, completion %, refund %, revenue per subscriber
  • Use Google Analytics 4 + tag manager for funnel visibility
  • Adjust based on real behavior (not opinions)

Combine with customer discovery, but remember Henry Ford’s faster-horse quote—breakthrough innovations sometimes require vision beyond what customers can articulate. Most of the time, though, listen hard to what they actually do.

Also test price elasticity deliberately. Many founders underprice, starve marketing budgets, and stay small. Marc Andreessen’s billboard advice: “You’re priced too low.”

Host: Any writing techniques that make financial concepts “sticky” for books or emails?

John:

  • Start ridiculously simple—build confidence with tiny wins
  • Eliminate buzzword confusion early (profit = net income = earnings)
  • Anchor to everyday life (personal budget, buying a house)
  • Create momentum: once someone understands one concept, the next feels achievable
  • Use progression: bookkeeping → accounting → financial statements → forward-looking finance

The goal is to turn opaque, intimidating material into “Oh, I already basically know this—I just didn’t have the labels.”

Host: Outside of writing, what three non-writing skills help people better articulate business concepts (especially in email)?

John:

  1. Deep, wide reading — Long-form builds vocabulary, models good style, gives you more to draw from
  2. Sales & persuasion — Everything involves selling ideas, value, trust
  3. Negotiation — Craft win-win agreements that preserve relationships; we get what we negotiate, not what we deserve

Host: How do you adapt your “groping” philosophy (figure out the next step as you go) to creating courses while still projecting authority?

John: Have a clear end vision—reverse-engineer the major milestones—but stay flexible on the exact path. Take one well-considered step, get feedback, adjust. Courses evolve organically: add new content, prune bloat, split sequences when they grow too large.

Authority comes from results + candor, not from pretending everything was perfectly planned from day one. Imperfect but continuously improving content usually wins.

Host: What areas do people most often gloss over in practical MBA-style education?

John: Finance/numbers. Strategy and marketing feel exciting; bookkeeping, accounting, and financial statements feel dry. Yet they’re the rear-view mirror and dashboard. Skip them and you limit how far you can scale or how well you can lead.

Host: Top takeaway for listeners?

John: Read more. Master financial literacy. Stay curious. Don’t fear failure—it’s just feedback. Iterate, grope forward, and contribute.

Host: Where can people find you?

John: mba-asap.com is the best starting point—sign up for the email list there. I personally answer questions sent to john@mba-asap.com. LinkedIn is also good.

Host: John, thank you—this has been excellent.

John: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

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