Welcome to Invest in Yourself, the Digital Entrepreneur Podcast. Join the podcast mogul Phil Better as he interviews successful entrepreneurs that make their living in the digital world. Now, let's draw your host, Phil Better, as your special guest, today on Invest in Yourself, the Digital Entrepreneur Podcast.

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Invest in Yourself, the Digital Entrepreneur podcast. I'm your host Phil Better, the podcast mogul. And today, we have the pleasure of introducing a distinguished guest, a serials a serial entrepreneur, a devoted husband, and a father, and, of course, a passionate Formula 1 fan. My friends over in Ireland are gonna love this episode. Our guest entrepreneurial spirit, though, has been evident from a very young age because he was carrying a briefcase to school at 10 and starting 2 businesses out of his apartment by 21. With a track record of raising over $325,000,000 for a hedge fund at, you know, just the young age of 23, His journey has been marked by unique experiences and keen eye for innovation. He currently serves as a business coach, investor, and adviser to over 15 privately held businesses with, you know, annual revenues ranging from just a simply 250,000 to over $10,000,000. Our guest brings a wealth of experience.

His focus on condensing years into hours, eliminating the learning curve, and choosing execution over theory is what sets him apart. The last decade has been dedicated to being the number 2, silently, behind talented CEOs specializing in solving messy problems and tackling businesses' intricate complex aspects. Our guest might be the answer if you're ever wished for someone in your corner who understands your journey. Without further ado, please welcome our guest, Tim Killis, to the podcast. Tim, thank you so much for being here.

Oh, I'm thrilled to be here. And, hopefully, I can live up to the mantle. So I appreciate the kind words.

You're very welcome. I always think of myself as the, guest hype man. I've always wanted to be that hype man on the, MC. I was a fan of, you know, rap growing up. So you always had the hype, man. That's who I love to be. And for my guest, I think that's my job. So, Tim, it's my pleasure giving you the hype.

And I know you will, just from how we talked shortly before the show started. So let's just jump into it. Get the first question off the bat. Why at 10 were you bringing a briefcase to school, and was that your first entrepreneurial venture?

Yeah. So I think for me, it was a combination of environment, and, you know, just this I think I had something deep inside of me, which, was kind of this burning desire to tackle problems that I saw around me. So I grew up in an environment where my my dad was in professional services, you know, wore a suit and tie, took the train to work, you know, that that whole kind of thing. And I think I I always knew I was good with numbers, and things like that. I was always interested in money and investing. And I think as a as a young person, I tried to kind of combine this idea of how do I solve problems and get paid for it. And then I think the the briefcase was simply just mimicking, you know, what I saw around me. And I had 2 sisters, each of which loved the fact that I was such a cool kid, in middle school, that, that I took that briefcase to school.

So, I think it also taught me some lessons, very early on around, you know, they're really you know, at the end of the day, being an entrepreneur is solving a problem, for those around you and and ultimately also for yourself if you're the core audience. So I I kinda got bitten with that bug and, and have executed and followed that path a number of times throughout my career.

I love that. And so I wanna talk about starting your own business at 21 in your apartment. Yeah. First of all, what were the businesses, and, how did you come up with the idea?

Yeah. So, actually so I founded 2 companies while I was in college, and they could not have been more different. So the first was and and I'll say, I went to school in Washington, DC. And so for anyone who's familiar with the DC area, I was kinda down by the White House, you know, towards the Potomac River. And this is where, like, K Street is. And K Street is notorious for, you know, the it's where all the consultants and and lobbyists and things like that come in from Maryland and Virginia. But as a college kid, you know, this kind of ebb and flow of of people and traffic led to a lot of activity in the middle of the day. But then by, you know, 8, 9 o'clock at night, everybody left the city.