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In Today’s Issue:
Intro to the Guest and Topic: Will Hickl — Taking on the Music Giant: Spotify
Core Takeaway: Build for the Long Haul
Episode References
Select Quotes
Key Moments
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Today’s Topic & Guest:
Will Hickl |Fio, Novum Records
I’ve known Will for a while now. Ever since he liked one of my posts about Catholic Founders stuff, he’s been ensnared in my web muahhahaha. Just kidding.
However, when he liked that post, I reached out to see what he thought of the content. This led to him eventually joining the Catholic Founders Guild and becoming one of the most active members. Always being helpful and shares his witness with the world.
In the time we’ve known each other, I’ve seen Will go through some challenging times in life, things out of his control, and the way he handled them was truly inspiring to me. It was about time we had him on the podcast to tell his story and to share more about what he’s doing to take on Spotify (among other things).
It’s also because of Will that I ended up getting to record these in-person interviews in Dallas at the YCP conference. So… shoutout to him for that.
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Core Lesson:
Taking the Long view is, in most cases, the Catholic ‘way’ to be an entrepreneur.
This manifests in two ways with Will’s story.
First, he’s building Fio slowly but surely. He hasn’t given up despite not seeing huge uptake from day one. He’s building the business slowly but surely. He takes his excess income and invests it in Fio to keep it going. This has led to them having a strong position in the market, and the compounding continues. Also worth noting that in some cases this has meant not focusing solely on the artists ‘financial appeal’ so that he can invest in them and give them a chance when others may not.
Second is building a platform that rewards the artists more than Spotify. He’s taking a long view on this, meaning that he’ll draw in more artists who want better payment per stream. Sure, they are giving up more of the profit to the artists, but the artists make the platform. This is the key behind Catholic entrepreneurship. We do the right thing in the long view. We build companies that make a profit for the long term. Not just for one quarter.
This is how we win. Build good companies that do good, for the long haul.
God Bless & Happy Building!
~Silas Mähner
Hire Catholic Overseas Talent
In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.
Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.
So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).
With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.
How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.
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Key Episode References:
Select Quotes:
“ I think entrepreneurs and business people should know their industry or what they're trying to do, I think they should know it well. I think they should be a subject matter expert if they want to do it well” - Will Hickl
“ You need to understand the basics and be willing to have that learning spirit the same way that we have to have that learning and willingness in our faith. ” - Silas Mähner
“ God is not going to ask me, you know, hopefully I'm talking to him before the gates of heaven and he's not going to be like, hey, how many artists did you like get a million streams for? How many artists got like big Instagram followings? He's going to be like, hey, like, did you love them well? Did you treat them with dignity? Did you help them glorify me through their gifts? ” - Will Hickl
“ I genuinely think it'll be a different generation will see it and I'm okay with that and I love that idea even that I like I want to build something that like, you know will last generations ” - Will Hickl
“ I think the church deserves excellence… I have zero qualms with ambition as a Catholic. I think, honestly, think God deserves it. ” - Will Hickl
“… regardless if you have a lot of horsepower upstairs or you don't, like you are called to use whatever horsepower you were given to take it as far as God will take you. ” - Silas Mähner
“ If you know, if you think to yourself, if you go to bed and you're like, I should do this, but I don't know, and you dream about like, or you think to yourself like, am I gonna regret this in 30 years that I didn't do this? And the answer is strongly yes, you've got your answer. ” - Will Hickl
“ …no matter what anxieties I had about work like once I see the crucifix and I realized like none of that stuff matters like eternity is all that matters… ” - Silas Mähner
Key Moments: (outline)
00:26 - Podcast Introduction : Silas welcomes listeners to the episode recorded live at the YCP conference in Dallas and introduces Will Hickl.
02:32 - Architectural Motivations and Childhood Legos : Will shares how his love for building Lego sets guided his approach to early ideation and starting new projects.
05:32 - The Origin Story of Novum Records : Will recounts a powerful moment of prayer in adoration that led him to establish an infrastructure for Catholic artists.
08:55 - Subject Matter Expertise in Code and Business : A deep dive into why founders should study the core components of their industry, referencing books on music contracts and Android development.
14:01 - Answering the Call and the Concept of Late Bloomers : The discussion centers on matching God’s timeline instead of forcing immediate professional milestones.
18:18 - Discernment and Navigating Dry Seasons : Will shares his personal benchmark for evaluating entrepreneurial initiatives based on active prayer and spiritual fruitfulness.
20:02 - Redefining Balance Sheets by Eternal Standards : Will explains how he evaluates success based on the dignity and care of creators rather than conventional corporate metrics.
34:00 - Holy Ambition and the Parable of the Talents : An exploration of why excellence is an offering to God and how burying gifts out of fear harms the church.
46:10 - Cultivating Communities for Catholic Creators : Will and Silas discuss the value of the Catholic Founders Guild and the significance of intentional consumer habits.
53:19 - Embracing Calculated Risks and Overcoming Regret : A tactical discussion about calculating personal runway and following a clear path of long-term vocational clarity.
58:13 - The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as a Centerpiece : Silas emphasizes utilizing the flexibility of entrepreneurship to visit daily Mass to calm professional anxieties.
1:02:59 - Outro and Call to Support Creators : Silas wraps up the episode by encouraging listeners to leave reviews and download the Fio app to directly support independent Catholic content.
Hire Catholic Overseas Talent
In LatAm and the Philippines, there are millions of Catholic remote workers (across all domains) who want to work for ethical bosses.
Often, they’re treated as second-class citizens or work for organizations that ask them to do questionable things. They reach out to us in search of a Catholic boss.
So, we started ParacleteVA (website coming soon).
With ParacleteVA, we’ll find you vetted, Catholic overseas talent who will help you move your business forward.
How it works: Pay a $500 finders fee when the candidate starts, and $500 if you’re still happy with them after 30 days.
To get started, reach out to catholicfounders@gmail.com with what you’re looking for, and we’ll get started.
