Sit at a roundtable with some of this generation’s most successful entrepreneurs

Once upon a time, publisher of Foundr magazine, Nathan Chan, found himself down and out.

Although he admits never being a particularly good student and failing most of his classes at university, he achieved a Masters of Marketing. But despite being highly qualified, he couldn’t land a corporate job and found himself going through the motions and working in IT support at a travel company.

Like so many brave entrepreneurs out there, Chan set out to create a job for himself as the publisher of Foundr magazine. Armed with just AUD $3,000 in his pocket, Chan set out to achieve the seemingly unachievable: to start a successful online business.

Fast-forward 3 and a half years and Chan is surrounded by a team of people and Foundr is releasing its first coffee table book. Clearly, Chan’s belief in himself and gamble more than paid off with Foundr’s reach now at over 1 million each month.

After chatting with Chan, it quickly becomes clear that Foundr’s success in itself isn’t enough to satisfy him. He and his team are now on a mission to reach as many budding entrepreneurs as possible in order to give them the chance to sit at a roundtable with some of the most successful entrepreneurs of our generation, including Arianna Huffington, Richard Branson, Tim Ferris, Seth Godin, Barbara Corcoran and more.

Described by Chan as “Foundr’s best of album,” the beautifully designed coffee table book boasts everything a business person could dream of. Business advice, tips, lessons, actionable case studies and so on from a pool of the most successful business minds of our time.

“We’ve broken the book down into different sections like idea validation, funding, team building, hustle, passion, you name it and it’s included,” said Chan.

“We may be competing with a lot of noise but our team knows that this book has the ability to change the game for so many entrepreneurs out there.”

On a far more personal note, knowing Chan had met the incredible Arianna Huffington, I couldn’t pass up the chance to ask more about a woman who’s been incredibly influential on my own career. Not only because she is inspirational to women in the publishing space such as me, but also because she’s helped me to carve out a career doing what I love.

Rewind back to two years ago and I’m happy to admit that I was nothing but a lost writer trying to make a living out of what I love doing. I quit my job at the time to take a leap of faith but I recall how lost and overwhelmed I felt while trying to start my professional writing business. After reaching out to Huffington with an article I’d written about gender, she invited me to become a Huffington Post blogger and I’ve never looked back since. It’s a gesture I’ll never forget.

That said, I was interested to hear Chan’s thoughts after he was lucky enough to interview Huffington for the Foundr magazine and meet her in person.

“She’s amazing, it was an incredible experience. Not only is she a humble person, she knows a lot about what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur but is really passionate about having a balanced lifestyle,” said Chan.

“It’s incredible how Huffington has opened up about running herself into the ground in the past. She’s now dedicating herself to passing on the message about the importance of taking care of yourself and how your wellbeing contributes to success.”

As a fellow publisher trying to make my own business dreams come true, Chan’s passion is incredibly infectious and his desire to pass on knowledge is inspiring.

You can learn more about the Foundr V1.0 coffee table book and gain invaluable insights from our generation’s most successful entrepreneurs by going to: foundrmag.com/book. As I type away, the book is currently 168% funded with 16 days to go via its Crowdfunding campaign.

Sarah Cannata is the founder and editor-in-chief of This Woman Can.