Rewriting the Script: Reese Witherspoon's Entrepreneurial Leap to Impact | The Founder Mindset

Reese Witherspoon 0:00 I hope that people out here listening to this podcast will think, "I'm gonna have that Hello Sunshine," 'cause it is possible.

Reza Satchu 0:06 What was at stake for you if it didn't work?

Reese Witherspoon 0:09 There was something inside of me that could not let it go. It is a mindset.

Reza Satchu 0:13 Yes.

Reese Witherspoon 0:13 Like you talk about. Very much in the spirit of Elle Woods, I'm like, "What? Like it's hard?"

Speaker 0:19 This is The Founder Mindset with Reza Satchu.

Reza Satchu 0:24 Every year at Harvard Business School, hundreds of students compete to gain entrance into my class, one of the most popular courses on campus, The Founder Mindset. For those who make the cut, I take them on a journey, challenging them to take risks, make commitments, and most importantly, learn judgment. One of the most popular aspects of the course are the guests we bring in, outstanding entrepreneurs who've had a truly profound impact on the world. Now, I'm sharing my conversations with some of these founders on our show. I'm Reza Satchu, and this is The Founder Mindset.

Speaker 1:03 What does it take to be a founder? From one of Hollywood's biggest stars to one of its most influential founders, Reese Witherspoon built her company, Hello Sunshine, to change who gets to own stories and who gets to tell them. With a new blueprint for modern storytelling, Hello Sunshine turned projects like Little Fires Everywhere and The Morning Show into global hits, transforming the entire industry.

Reza Satchu 1:31 Reese Witherspoon, welcome. It's terrific to have you here.

Reese Witherspoon 1:34 Thank you, Reza.

Reza Satchu 1:35 You know what? Let's look back, okay? If you're up to it, what I'd love to do is sort of look back from the beginning of Reese Witherspoon, because I've got a theory that these founder journeys, especially one like yours, is a real hero's journey, but it comes from childhood experiences, and it influences us both in the best possible way and sometimes in the worst possible way. If I think about Reese Witherspoon, what I think about is tremendous warmth and tremendous ambition, okay? Those are two unusual things to have together.

Reese Witherspoon 2:01 Mm-hmm.

Reza Satchu 2:01 So where did that come from in your childhood?

Reese Witherspoon 2:05 Well, I think I went to all-girls high school, so I was always learning about female leadership and seeing it in action, uh, learning about the ways that, that we, we just weren't succeeding in, in large numbers in leadership positions in many different parts of the world. And so I saw this big problem-

Reza Satchu 2:26 Right

Reese Witherspoon 2:26 ... as a, as a young person. You know, there's not enough women-

Reza Satchu 2:30 Right

Reese Witherspoon 2:30 ... in, um, public office. There's not enough women in leadership roles in big tech. There's not enough women in leadership roles across any business.

Reza Satchu 2:39 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 2:40 Women don't own businesses.

Reza Satchu 2:41 Did you at that point in time feel like you might be able to solve this problem?

Reese Witherspoon 2:45 No.

Reza Satchu 2:46 Okay. So it was just you, you saw the problem, it upset you.

Reese Witherspoon 2:50 Yeah, but I just accepted that was status quo.

Reza Satchu 2:52 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 2:52 Women were never gonna be in positions of power in the entertainment business, in hospital structures-

Reza Satchu 2:57 Mm-hmm

Reese Witherspoon 2:57 ... where my parents worked. It just wasn't gonna happen.

Reza Satchu 2:59 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 3:00 I grew up with a really amazing mother who, uh, was a nurse on the weekends, and then during the week she taught nursing at the state university. Um, but we had some real financial disasters in my, um, teenage years, um, with-

Reza Satchu 3:18 It was volatile?

Reese Witherspoon 3:18 Yeah. With, um, some spending issues that my dad had, and we went, you know, to some pretty bad places, um, with the family finances, and I was kinda brought in to help a little bit-

Reza Satchu 3:33 Right

Reese Witherspoon 3:33 ... when I was 16 or 17. Um-

Reza Satchu 3:36 So how did that feel?

Reese Witherspoon 3:38 Well, there wasn't a feeling about it, it just was. So I was, always had this idea that no one's coming to save me. I didn't have-

Reza Satchu 3:45 Hmm

Reese Witherspoon 3:46 ... a, a financial, a safety net. I didn't have... My parents were loving and kind, but they didn't have the means to send me to college. Um, I knew I was gonna have to do it on my own, and if I didn't succeed, there wasn't anybody coming to save me.

Reza Satchu 4:01 Right. Right.

Reese Witherspoon 4:02 So when I ended up going to Stanford, um, about a year in I realized I couldn't pay the tuition. Um, it was costing, I remember it was $33,000 a year.

Reza Satchu 4:14 I mean, first of all, congratulations on getting into Stanford.

Reese Witherspoon 4:16 Thanks.

Reza Satchu 4:16 I mean, that's pretty damn good.

Reese Witherspoon 4:17 Thanks.

Reza Satchu 4:18 So this decision to drop out, was that a hard decision?

Reese Witherspoon 4:21 Well, it was an either/or, so I had to make this, this decision of I had friends who were going into, um, student debt and accumulating all this debt at an early age, and then I, on the other hand, I had movies that would pay me.

Reza Satchu 4:36 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 4:36 I think people try to paint my dropout story-

Reza Satchu 4:38 Yes

Reese Witherspoon 4:38 ... like I'm some sort of wunderkind that had-

Reza Satchu 4:40 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 4:40 ... some great business.

Reza Satchu 4:41 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 4:41 But it was literally just I didn't have-

Reza Satchu 4:43 You couldn't pay for it

Reese Witherspoon 4:43 ... I, I couldn't afford tuition. You know? And I would... I could start a career that... I wasn't sure I wanted to be in the movie business. I thought I was gonna be a doctor.

Reza Satchu 4:52 Hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 4:53 Um-

Reza Satchu 4:53 How'd your parents feel about you being in the movie business?

Reese Witherspoon 4:55 They thought it was a terrible idea.

Reza Satchu 4:57 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 4:58 My mother was like, "That's a hobby. That's not a-"

Reza Satchu 5:00 Hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 5:00 "... career."

Reza Satchu 5:01 Well, she just... The odds were so against you. I mean, it wasn't... It was reasonably rational for her-

Reese Witherspoon 5:05 The likelihood-

Reza Satchu 5:05 ... wanting you to be a doctor

Reese Witherspoon 5:06 ... of someone making it is-

Reza Satchu 5:09 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 5:09 ... you know-

Reza Satchu 5:09 Ridiculously small

Reese Witherspoon 5:10 ... less than 1%.

Reza Satchu 5:11 Yeah. Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 5:12 So, um, I'm a very pragmatic, um, person. I, I just was solving issue by issue. So right, at first I just had the tuition issue, and then I started really getting some momentum in my acting career, and then I had to make a decision, was I gonna go back to college or just keep on-

Reza Satchu 5:31 Right

Reese Witherspoon 5:31 ... the career path? And I stayed with it because it started to kindle and become a real... I started getting really great jobs.

Reza Satchu 5:40 Right.

Reza Satchu 5:40 What was it early on do you think you had that enabled you to be successful so quickly as an actress?

Reese Witherspoon 5:48 I think I didn't understand that some... A really great piece of my childhood was my parents were both in the military-

Reza Satchu 5:55 Hmm

Reese Witherspoon 5:55 ... and they were both in the medical field.

Reza Satchu 5:56 Oh, interesting.

Reese Witherspoon 5:57 So there was this feeling of You get up and you do the job, and you do it in service of other people. So I always thought about myself as a team player and a reliable-

Reza Satchu 6:09 Mm

Reese Witherspoon 6:09 ... team player.

Reza Satchu 6:10 So that, that sounds very different than most people who go into acting.

Reese Witherspoon 6:13 Yeah, I didn't have this big dream-

Reza Satchu 6:15 Right

Reese Witherspoon 6:15 ... of expressing myself.

Reza Satchu 6:16 Right, 'cause you... Right.

Reese Witherspoon 6:17 And, um, but I love storytelling, and I loved creating characters. And I was silly. I was like a-

Reza Satchu 6:22 Mm

Reese Witherspoon 6:22 ... silly, funny kid.

Reza Satchu 6:23 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 6:24 I, I always made everybody laugh. I was also very contrary. If everybody in my class was wearing red, I was wearing black.

Reza Satchu 6:32 Mm.

Reese Witherspoon 6:32 Um, I liked to stick out, and I also liked to, to challenge norms.

Reza Satchu 6:36 Yes.

Reese Witherspoon 6:37 I didn't like systems, and as soon as I discovered where I sat in a system, I was an- annoyed and irritated with myself, and I would break out of that system, whether that was a friend group or even at col- [laughs]

Reza Satchu 6:49 Right

Reese Witherspoon 6:49 ... Stanford, I started my- the Film Society. There was nobody making films at Stanford.

Reza Satchu 6:53 And what... I mean, that's very interesting behavior-

Reese Witherspoon 6:54 [laughs]

Reza Satchu 6:54 ... because obviously, that is probably highly correlated with some of your actions in the future. But-

Reese Witherspoon 6:58 Totally

Reza Satchu 6:58 ... I mean, what was it that was leading to this kind of behavior?

Reese Witherspoon 7:01 I don't know.

Reza Satchu 7:01 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 7:01 I think it's just my personality.

Reza Satchu 7:03 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 7:03 I like to be contrary. It's not my favorite part of my personality.

Reza Satchu 7:06 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 7:06 But sometimes-

Reza Satchu 7:07 But it's who you are

Reese Witherspoon 7:07 ... it, it helps.

Reza Satchu 7:08 Yeah. Where has it helped most?

Reese Witherspoon 7:11 When I looked at my, my business, when I was 34 years old, I'd worked inside of my business for 20 years, and I started seeing these systemic problems and getting really bothered by them in a way that never bothered me before. But we went through a really particularly bad period of time. Like, 2011, the scripts and parts for women were abysmal.

Reza Satchu 7:33 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 7:34 Um, really demeaning.

Reza Satchu 7:35 So talk to me about that.

Reese Witherspoon 7:36 Like-

Reza Satchu 7:36 Give me, give me examples of what you saw.

Reese Witherspoon 7:38 Um, well, the, the script that kinda started it all was this project that had this m- man at the center of it, and two women were just vying for his affection, and it was filled with gross jokes-

Reza Satchu 7:52 Mm

Reese Witherspoon 7:52 ... and scatological humor and poop jokes-

Reza Satchu 7:54 Mm

Reese Witherspoon 7:54 ... and boob jokes. I was... And I called my agent and I said, "I'm, I'm not auditioning for this, and I'm not... I don't even want to-"

Reza Satchu 8:01 You had no interest. Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 8:01 I had no interest.

Reza Satchu 8:02 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 8:02 And she's, "Every actress in Hollywood wants these two parts." And I thought, "That's what we're fighting for?"

Reza Satchu 8:08 Wow. And that's because there was nothing else.

Reese Witherspoon 8:10 So you gotta remember, there were seven studios.

Reza Satchu 8:12 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 8:12 Each studio made about 20 movies a year. And [laughs] this is what happened.

Reza Satchu 8:17 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 8:17 I started going on a listening tour 'cause I had worked at every studio, so went around to every studio head and I said, "How many movies are you developing right now that have a female lead?"

Reza Satchu 8:27 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 8:28 Every single one of them said, "We don't have anything."

Reza Satchu 8:30 Wow.

Reese Witherspoon 8:31 One of them said, "We did have it, but we already made one movie with a woman at the center of it, and we can't make two this year."

Reza Satchu 8:38 Yeah. Remarkable.

Reese Witherspoon 8:39 And I... First I got mad, and then I was like, wait.

Reza Satchu 8:41 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 8:42 This is a huge white space.

Reza Satchu 8:44 Opportunity, yeah. So why do they... I mean, you, like, we obviously see this all the time where incumbents miss things.

Reese Witherspoon 8:49 Mm.

Reza Satchu 8:49 Obvious things, but this just seems so ludicrously obvious in some ways. Why did they miss this? Like, what, what is... What was, what was the inertia that led to this kind of behavior?

Reese Witherspoon 9:01 It's a, a whole lot of stuff happened in our business when the DVD market-

Reza Satchu 9:05 Right

Reese Witherspoon 9:05 ... stopped, right?

Reza Satchu 9:06 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 9:06 That was about a third of the revenue that a lot of the studios were taking in, maybe a third, 40%.

Reza Satchu 9:12 Yeah, so pretty dramatic numbers.

Reese Witherspoon 9:13 Pretty dramatic.

Reza Satchu 9:14 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 9:14 So they had to really maximize for biggest profit. So they started going into superhero land.

Reza Satchu 9:20 Mm.

Reese Witherspoon 9:21 I'm sure everybody remembers the-

Reza Satchu 9:22 Yeah, it's-

Reese Witherspoon 9:23 ... 2010s were superhero time. That did not include stories about women. Stories that center women are usually romantic comedies, um, family dramas, a thriller.

Reza Satchu 9:35 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 9:35 But they're usually in the $30 to $40 million price range, sometimes up to 60. Well, that's immediately what they cut off of their development slate.

Reza Satchu 9:43 Mm.

Reese Witherspoon 9:43 And I thought, okay, well, what if I come in with independent financing and provide them solutions-

Reza Satchu 9:49 Right

Reese Witherspoon 9:49 ... and develop it myself with known IP and vetted filmmakers and just present the package?

Reza Satchu 9:55 Mm. Yeah, it's remarkable. So-

Reese Witherspoon 9:57 I'm solving an issue.

Reza Satchu 9:58 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 9:58 But the... It wasn't... It's, they didn't care 'cause it wasn't their problem to solve.

Reza Satchu 10:02 Yes. Well, they were quite happy with the way things were going in some senses.

Reese Witherspoon 10:05 I think they just, you know, they had to-

Reza Satchu 10:07 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 10:07 ... keep up with corporate-

Reza Satchu 10:08 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 10:08 ... mandates.

Reza Satchu 10:09 Well, you know, Reese, I say this all the time, which is that every founder that goes out and creates a business runs into this obstacle. I'll call it the refusal of the call, which is everyone else says, "There are others who have more resources than you do that could do this, okay? There are others that are there that have more information, more resources."

Reese Witherspoon 10:28 Mm-hmm.

Reza Satchu 10:29 "In your case, you're doing just fine as an actress."

Reese Witherspoon 10:31 Mm-hmm.

Reza Satchu 10:31 "There's lots of other people who are, who, who missed this and didn't do it, so why is it your job to do this, okay?" And so my-

Reese Witherspoon 10:38 [laughs]

Reza Satchu 10:38 ... my question is, what was it about this? Because it's hard what you had to do, and we'll talk about some of the difficult times. But buil- but creating Hello Sunshine was a really difficult and risky thing for you to do.

Reese Witherspoon 10:51 Well, I think every founder will agree with this. There was something inside of me that could not let it go.

Reza Satchu 10:59 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 11:00 It nagged at me. It kept me up at night. I would talk about it every dinner party. I bored my mother with it. Every one of my friends, every one of my colleagues. I was like, "Can you believe this? Can you believe this?"

Reza Satchu 11:09 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 11:09 And I realized I was admiring a problem.

Reza Satchu 11:12 Mm.

Reese Witherspoon 11:12 But I wasn't providing a solution.

Reza Satchu 11:14 Right. Right.

Reese Witherspoon 11:15 And it's, it's not enough to just admire the problem.

Reza Satchu 11:17 And at what point did you realize that you were the person to solve that problem? 'Cause that's a big difference, right? To go from admiring it-

Reese Witherspoon 11:24 Yes

Reza Satchu 11:24 ... to saying, "You know what? I'm the one to solve it."

Reese Witherspoon 11:28 I-

Reza Satchu 11:28 And it wasn't exactly a small problem.

Reese Witherspoon 11:30 No, it was a massive problem.

Reza Satchu 11:31 Can you define... How would you define the problem?

Reese Witherspoon 11:33 Well, I thought if, even if I could just chip away at it-

Reza Satchu 11:34 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 11:35 ... in an, just incrementally.

Reza Satchu 11:36 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 11:37 Even if I just make one movie a year, maybe I'll scale to two. Maybe then I can get to a TV show plus two movies.

Reza Satchu 11:43 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 11:44 I'm at least, at least I'm part of the solution.

Reza Satchu 11:46 Yeah, that's true. Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 11:48 And then when I started getting real traction, um, I, I did the first, the first books I optioned were Wild and Gone Girl, which both went to number one on The New York Times bestseller list.

Reza Satchu 11:59 Mm.

Reese Witherspoon 11:59 Non-fiction, fiction. And so then I turned-

Reza Satchu 12:02 This was at Pacific Stan-

Reese Witherspoon 12:03 At Pacific Standard, yeah

Reza Satchu 12:04 ... Pacific Standard, right.

Reese Witherspoon 12:05 And we turn them into movies, me and my per- um, producing partner Bruna, and that we got three Oscar nominations and over $600 million in the box office. And then we did Big Little Lies with Nicole Kidman.

Reza Satchu 12:18 Yes.

Reese Witherspoon 12:19 We, we co-produced it.

Reza Satchu 12:20 And first of all, what a run. I mean, it was-

Reese Witherspoon 12:22 It was such a good run

Reza Satchu 12:22 ... three incredible runs. Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 12:24 And it really, um, cemented the idea that we had great taste in books.

Reza Satchu 12:28 Yes.

Reese Witherspoon 12:28 We were the book people.

Reza Satchu 12:29 Yes.

Reese Witherspoon 12:30 Um, but that said, I was only working for producer fees. I had four employees, and I was only breaking even. I couldn't... I really-

Reza Satchu 12:38 So with that sort of a track record-

Reese Witherspoon 12:40 Yeah

Reza Satchu 12:40 ... you can barely pay your employees.

Reese Witherspoon 12:42 I could barely pay my employees what I considered a, a good wage plus benefits.

Reza Satchu 12:46 Right. Right.

Reese Witherspoon 12:47 And the overhead of the space. The overhead was eating me alive, and I was just break even.

Reza Satchu 12:52 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 12:53 And I was like, "That's not a real business."

Reza Satchu 12:55 Right. Right. See, it sounds- it strikes me you had two things going on. One is you had sort of at the highest level, this deep desire to have impact, right? To actually make the world a better place by-

Reese Witherspoon 13:04 Mm

Reza Satchu 13:04 ... creating more sensible roles for women.

Reese Witherspoon 13:07 Mm.

Reza Satchu 13:07 Okay? Um, but at the same time, you saw this economic opportunity, too.

Reese Witherspoon 13:12 Mm-hmm. I didn't care about the money first.

Reza Satchu 13:15 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 13:15 The purpose was more important to me than the money.

Reza Satchu 13:18 Yes. Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 13:19 So artists historically in the movie system don't own anything.

Reza Satchu 13:24 Right, right.

Reese Witherspoon 13:25 They, they give it to studios, and studios own it.

Reza Satchu 13:27 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 13:27 And they sell it again and again.

Reza Satchu 13:29 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 13:29 And each window they make money, right?

Reza Satchu 13:31 So artists basically make money sort of on a transactional basis.

Reese Witherspoon 13:34 Mm-hmm.

Reza Satchu 13:35 Um, but there's no-

Reese Witherspoon 13:35 And there's a few artists that make-

Reza Satchu 13:36 That, yeah

Reese Witherspoon 13:37 ... a tiny-

Reza Satchu 13:37 Right

Reese Witherspoon 13:38 ... p-

Reza Satchu 13:38 But there's no- there are very few-

Reese Witherspoon 13:39 Few, yeah

Reza Satchu 13:39 ... that have transitioned to a place where they're actually getting long-term equity value.

Reese Witherspoon 13:43 Correct. Right.

Reza Satchu 13:44 But you're thinking, "I'm working in an industry where I'm creating a lot of value-

Reese Witherspoon 13:47 Right

Reza Satchu 13:47 ... and getting a very small share of it."

Reese Witherspoon 13:50 Yeah. I can't keep the lights on-

Reza Satchu 13:51 Yeah, yeah

Reese Witherspoon 13:52 ... and four employees? This, there's something wrong.

Reza Satchu 13:54 In many ways, the status quo for you was pretty good.

Reese Witherspoon 13:58 Yeah.

Reza Satchu 13:58 Meaning, meaning for mo- most people who weren't as driven by purpose as you are would've said, "You know what? This is pretty good."

Reese Witherspoon 14:05 Mm.

Reza Satchu 14:05 And frankly, all the other actors or actresses that were making this kind of money were like, "I'll just keep going. I won't challenge the system." Tell me what was the, what was at stake for you if it didn't work?

Reese Witherspoon 14:17 Can I be really honest?

Reza Satchu 14:19 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 14:19 It was my daughter.

Reza Satchu 14:20 Yeah. Mm.

Reese Witherspoon 14:20 I saw a world where my daughter was watching television shows that really made women look terrible.

Reza Satchu 14:27 Yeah, right.

Reese Witherspoon 14:27 Overly sexualized-

Reza Satchu 14:29 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 14:29 ... or desperate for a man's attention or com- competition shows that really-

Reza Satchu 14:33 Mm

Reese Witherspoon 14:33 ... value how you look instead of the content of your character. And I realized if I felt like that-

Reza Satchu 14:40 Right

Reese Witherspoon 14:41 ... as a mom-

Reza Satchu 14:41 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 14:42 ... of a 13-year-old girl, I'm sure lots of people feel that way.

Reza Satchu 14:45 Mm.

Reese Witherspoon 14:46 I mean, you have two daughters.

Reza Satchu 14:47 Yes, I do. Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 14:48 This kind of stuff that you see-

Reza Satchu 14:50 Mm

Reese Witherspoon 14:51 ... is not the kind of women you want them to be.

Reza Satchu 14:53 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 14:54 So if I wasn't creating aspirational content, who was gonna do it?

Reza Satchu 14:58 Mm.

Reese Witherspoon 14:58 And like why not me?

Reza Satchu 14:59 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 14:59 I had the, I had the support, and I had the goodwill.

Reza Satchu 15:04 Mm-hmm. It's a beautiful thing.

Reese Witherspoon 15:06 It was.

Reza Satchu 15:06 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 15:06 And I had self-funded for a long time. Um, I was getting tired of self-funding-

Reza Satchu 15:11 Mm-hmm

Reese Witherspoon 15:11 ... 'cause I was exhausted. [laughs]

Reza Satchu 15:12 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 15:12 And I was like, "Oh, my God." So I got, um, I went and pitched investors, and I got two investors.

Reza Satchu 15:18 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 15:18 And that's all I ever got-

Reza Satchu 15:20 Yeah, right

Reese Witherspoon 15:20 ... before we sold.

Reza Satchu 15:21 You know, when... I'm sort of still thinking about your comment, and what's so beautiful about it is that, um, in your daughter you saw your ability to have posi- the impact that you wanted to have, right? Meaning you, you saw that if you could impact your daughter, clearly this would lead to much broader impact.

Reese Witherspoon 15:38 Media is so important.

Reza Satchu 15:40 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 15:40 What, the, the movies I grew up watching and the women I grew up watching had values.

Reza Satchu 15:44 Mm.

Reese Witherspoon 15:44 They had integrity. They had work ethic. When people knocked them down, they got back up. I'm thinking Goldie Hawn in Private Benjamin-

Reza Satchu 15:51 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 15:51 ... or Holly Hunter in Broadcast News or Sigourney Weaver in Aliens.

Reza Satchu 15:55 Yes, yes.

Reese Witherspoon 15:55 Women had agency and integrity.

Reza Satchu 15:58 Mm.

Reese Witherspoon 15:58 And I wasn't seeing that, and I thought, "If I'm one of the most hired actresses in Hollywood, and I'm not addressing this issue, come on."

Reza Satchu 16:08 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 16:08 Come on.

Reza Satchu 16:09 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 16:09 And, and a lot of people are... I, I don't mean to say this to diminish my colleagues. They are working on it. I just thought, I was an early adopter of social media, and I saw the opportunity to, to story tell on those platforms as well.

Reza Satchu 16:22 Right, right.

Reza Satchu 16:22 So if someone said to you, I feel like, and this is gonna be hard for you because I, I don't think you l- um, like answering questions like this, but I feel like every founder has a superpower, okay? There's something about them that feels special, okay? Now, there are lots of things that are potentially not special, but w- if I asked you what your founder superpower is, because you had to effectively sell a new vision of what the world looks like.

Reese Witherspoon 16:47 Mm-hmm.

Reza Satchu 16:48 And others had to buy into that vision. You mentioned investors, but also your employees had to leave high-paying jobs and come and buy into your vision. And so what was the Reese Witherspoon founder superpower?

Reese Witherspoon 17:10 I mean, I wanna be thoughtful about it.

Reza Satchu 17:13 Mm.

Reese Witherspoon 17:13 I think it's two things. I have extreme empathy, so I think about how m- the work will affect the world, right? I've had women come up to me, and l- I know I'm sitting at Harvard-

Reza Satchu 17:26 Mm

Reese Witherspoon 17:26 ... and it, it, [laughs] this isn't necessarily about Harvard.

Reza Satchu 17:29 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 17:30 But Legally Blonde had-

Reza Satchu 17:31 Yes

Reese Witherspoon 17:31 ... such a tremendous impact on young people.

Reza Satchu 17:34 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 17:34 I can-

Reza Satchu 17:35 I am sure the Harvard application team is sick of hearing about Legally Blonde, to give you a sense of your, the, the, the impact.

Reese Witherspoon 17:40 Well, they need to get over it.

Reza Satchu 17:42 Yes, exactly. [laughs]

Reese Witherspoon 17:42 Because I've had hundreds-

Reza Satchu 17:45 That's amazing

Reese Witherspoon 17:45 ... of women from different countries.

Reza Satchu 17:47 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 17:47 I'm talking about women from China, Africa, India, all parts of Europe, not to mention America-

Reza Satchu 17:53 Right

Reese Witherspoon 17:53 ... every state of America, come up to me and say, "I applied to law school because of Elle Woods."

Reza Satchu 17:58 Mm.

Reese Witherspoon 17:59 And you, when you think about how important movies are to people, they're formative.

Reza Satchu 18:06 Mm.

Reese Witherspoon 18:06 They're formative to young men, too.

Reza Satchu 18:08 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 18:08 Um- It just, it matters how we watch... Art is the way we process the, the human condition.

Reza Satchu 18:17 Yes, yes.

Reese Witherspoon 18:17 War, you know, uh, famine, love-

Reza Satchu 18:21 Right

Reese Witherspoon 18:22 ... divorce, breakups, new, having a new baby. Everything we can imagine a movie where we've seen something like that happen. So it's a extremely powerful medium. Um, and I will say another superpower that I have is ambition.

Reza Satchu 18:40 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 18:41 I, I truly b- I'm very much in the spirit of Elle Woods, I'm like, "What? Like it's hard?"

Reza Satchu 18:46 [laughs] That's great.

Reese Witherspoon 18:47 I'm not afraid of hard work.

Reza Satchu 18:49 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 18:49 I'll work harder than anybody.

Reza Satchu 18:51 And so why-

Reese Witherspoon 18:51 I'll stay up later and I'll wake up earlier and I'll do more work and more homework 'cause I care.

Reza Satchu 18:56 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 18:56 I just care.

Reza Satchu 18:57 So, so to you, there's a tremendously high correlation between effort and result.

Reese Witherspoon 19:04 Yes. Yes, and it doesn't mean you're always gonna have a great result-

Reza Satchu 19:08 Mm-hmm

Reese Witherspoon 19:08 ... but you'll never be able to say you didn't try-

Reza Satchu 19:11 Mm-hmm

Reese Witherspoon 19:11 ... really hard.

Reza Satchu 19:12 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 19:12 So if I give everything 100%. Now, that's a, I have to fight my perfectionist tendencies because I wanna show up perfect-

Reza Satchu 19:20 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 19:20 ... all the time.

Reza Satchu 19:21 And so let's talk a little bit about, 'cause if you have ambition, um, what that means is you're comfortable with failure. Because invariably, ambition, you're trying things that are hard.

Reese Witherspoon 19:33 Yeah.

Reza Satchu 19:33 Right? And so by definition, there will be things that you fail at.

Reese Witherspoon 19:37 Yeah, I love it.

Reza Satchu 19:37 Okay.

Reese Witherspoon 19:38 I love failure.

Reza Satchu 19:38 So tell me-

Reese Witherspoon 19:39 [laughs]

Reza Satchu 19:39 Okay, this is remarkable, because most people are so scared of failure, right?

Reese Witherspoon 19:44 Well, it sucks.

Reza Satchu 19:45 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 19:45 Right?

Reza Satchu 19:45 So why, why do you wanna be in an arena where you could fail?

Reese Witherspoon 19:50 First of all, you're probably in a arena with somebody who's better than you, so you're in the right arena.

Reza Satchu 19:54 Yes, yes.

Reese Witherspoon 19:55 I love that.

Reza Satchu 19:55 Correct. That's good.

Reese Witherspoon 19:56 Okay.

Reza Satchu 19:57 Good learning there.

Reese Witherspoon 19:57 So now I'm challenging myself to be better than-

Reza Satchu 20:01 Mm-hmm

Reese Witherspoon 20:01 ... or, or just as good as, and I love showing up against a worthy opponent.

Reza Satchu 20:06 Yes.

Reese Witherspoon 20:06 And, um, you know, a, a movie that did better than my movie, I wanna know why.

Reza Satchu 20:10 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 20:10 And then I get this great piece of analysis. I never go, "Ugh, poor..." I don't have a poor me phase. I go, "Why?"

Reza Satchu 20:16 Uh-huh.

Reese Witherspoon 20:17 "Let's talk about it. Oh, wait, you're totally ri- I missed that."

Reza Satchu 20:21 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 20:22 "That was tone deaf. I shouldn't have done that."

Reza Satchu 20:23 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 20:23 "I should've done that."

Reza Satchu 20:24 So give me an example of a time when you felt, uh, incredible discomfort. Like, a moment where you sort of pushed things-

Reese Witherspoon 20:32 Mm-hmm

Reza Satchu 20:33 ... you know, way ahead of potentially your capabilities.

Reese Witherspoon 20:35 Mm-hmm.

Reza Satchu 20:36 Right? I sort of have this point where you want your confidence to be in excess of your capabilities because in that gap lies your judgment. Now, your confidence can't be too great 'cause that's arrogance.

Reese Witherspoon 20:45 Okay.

Reza Satchu 20:45 Okay? But you have to be able to trust your judgment.

Reese Witherspoon 20:48 Mm-hmm.

Reza Satchu 20:48 And there's a gap there. And so I'm curious, 'cause you strike me as someone who does operate in that gap-

Reese Witherspoon 20:54 Mm-hmm

Reza Satchu 20:54 ... right, where it's not clear what's gonna happen. Like, you've got some volatility-

Reese Witherspoon 20:59 Mm-hmm

Reza Satchu 20:59 ... but you're comfortable with it because you know there's opportunity-

Reese Witherspoon 21:02 Yeah

Reza Satchu 21:02 ... there, too. Um-

Reese Witherspoon 21:04 Oh, okay. I have-

Reza Satchu 21:05 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 21:05 ... I have one.

Reza Satchu 21:05 Yeah, totally.

Reese Witherspoon 21:06 Thought about it. [laughs]

Reza Satchu 21:07 [laughs]

Reese Witherspoon 21:07 Okay, early days of Hello Sunshine, w- uh, we had a different leadership team, and they had this idea that I was gonna do an unscripted show with strangers. And so we went and shot two episodes of this television show where I went on vacation with strangers.

Reza Satchu 21:23 [laughs]

Reese Witherspoon 21:24 It was awful.

Reza Satchu 21:27 Oh, no, really? [laughs]

Reese Witherspoon 21:28 I think the kids would say cringe.

Reza Satchu 21:30 Yeah, right.

Reese Witherspoon 21:31 So cringe.

Reza Satchu 21:32 Because you can imagine it could've been pretty good-

Reese Witherspoon 21:33 It wasn't

Reza Satchu 21:33 ... depends who you were matched up with. It was bad?

Reese Witherspoon 21:36 It was so bad-

Reza Satchu 21:37 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 21:37 ... and I said, "Throw it in the can."

Reza Satchu 21:39 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 21:39 "Throw it in the garbage."

Reza Satchu 21:40 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 21:40 You know?

Reza Satchu 21:40 So what did you learn from that one?

Reese Witherspoon 21:41 We spent money on it, and I was like, "I, I'm sorry. It's terrible."

Reza Satchu 21:44 Yeah, yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 21:45 And we pivoted-

Reza Satchu 21:46 Right

Reese Witherspoon 21:46 ... to something that was more authentic to me. So instead, I said, "I wanna do a show where I call eight women I admire, and I'm gonna go to their place of work and I'm gonna interview them-

Reza Satchu 21:56 Interesting

Reese Witherspoon 21:57 ... and they're gonna show me their world."

Reza Satchu 21:58 Huh.

Reese Witherspoon 21:59 And so that actually felt like-

Reza Satchu 22:01 Yes

Reese Witherspoon 22:01 ... a Hello Sunshine show.

Reza Satchu 22:02 But it's interesting, per- perhaps that wouldn't have happened hadn't you done the eight stranger thing first.

Reese Witherspoon 22:06 Oh yeah, I had to do that.

Reza Satchu 22:08 Yeah-

Reese Witherspoon 22:08 And it-

Reza Satchu 22:08 ... to actually learn from it and say, "This is where I wanna go."

Reese Witherspoon 22:10 I mean, as I think about it, I wanna-

Reza Satchu 22:11 [laughs] Is that bad?

Reese Witherspoon 22:12 I wanna hide.

Reza Satchu 22:12 Who were these people?

Reese Witherspoon 22:14 I don't even know.

Reza Satchu 22:14 [laughs]

Reese Witherspoon 22:15 It, they were lovely people-

Reza Satchu 22:16 Yeah, yeah

Reese Witherspoon 22:16 ... but it, I didn't know what to say to them-

Reza Satchu 22:18 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 22:18 ... and they didn't know what to say to me.

Reza Satchu 22:19 Yeah, right.

Reese Witherspoon 22:19 It was a complete mismatch.

Reza Satchu 22:21 Right, right.

Reese Witherspoon 22:22 Um, and then when I found the right format, I was like, "This makes sense."

Reza Satchu 22:25 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 22:26 Felt like comfortable shoes.

Reza Satchu 22:27 Yes.

Reese Witherspoon 22:27 I was like, "Yes, I'm in my element."

Reza Satchu 22:29 Yes.

Reese Witherspoon 22:29 Asking women about their lives, and I was curious, and they were curious, and-

Reza Satchu 22:33 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 22:33 ... I get to shine the light on them,

Reese Witherspoon 22:35 so.

Reza Satchu 22:35 So I have a question about the brand, um, the brand you have built.

Reese Witherspoon 22:39 Okay.

Reza Satchu 22:41 Okay? So someone mentioned, uh, and I thought this was a very interesting comment, um, that when they think of the Reese Witherspoon brand, they think of a movement.

Reese Witherspoon 22:50 Oh, yeah.

Reza Satchu 22:50 Right? Which is a very interesting, meaning people def- define brands in different ways. Movement's a very interesting word.

Reese Witherspoon 22:58 Mm.

Reza Satchu 22:58 And I'm, I have an impression of what that means, but I'm very curious what you think that means, and whether you'd agree with that, um, and whether that's something you strive for.

Reese Witherspoon 23:07 I, I had never heard that before.

Reza Satchu 23:10 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 23:10 It made sense to me in terms of a collective group of people moving toward one idea.

Reza Satchu 23:16 Right. Right.

Reese Witherspoon 23:16 So I love that.

Reza Satchu 23:18 Yeah. And what idea, what idea would you want them moving towards?

Reese Witherspoon 23:23 This idea that women are 50% of the population-

Reza Satchu 23:26 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 23:26 ... we should be 50% of the stories, and those stories should be reflective of real women's lives.

Reza Satchu 23:30 Yes.

Reese Witherspoon 23:31 And I wanna see diversity, I wanna see complexity, I wanna see adversity.

Reza Satchu 23:35 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 23:36 I wanna see soc- socioeconomic struggle.

Reza Satchu 23:38 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 23:39 Because that's the real human experience.

Reza Satchu 23:42 Right, right. So do we, do you think you've moved the ball on that front?

Reese Witherspoon 23:45 I, I actually do.

Reza Satchu 23:46 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 23:46 I'm enormously proud of what-

Reza Satchu 23:47 Yes

Reese Witherspoon 23:48 ... m- my, my team has accomplished. I have a best-in-class team. They work so hard. Um, and we also have fun-

Reza Satchu 23:56 Right

Reese Witherspoon 23:56 ... while we do it.

Reza Satchu 23:57 I mean, it's remarkable, 'cause when you look at Hello Sunshine, you made a bunch of decisions. I have a... The initial decisions founders make ultimately instill the culture-

Reese Witherspoon 24:06 Mm-hmm

Reza Satchu 24:06 ... th- through those decisions, right? And so one decision you made was you were very generous with equity-

Reese Witherspoon 24:12 Mm-hmm

Reza Satchu 24:12 ... around your team. W- Many founders won't do that because it's just diluting themselves. So what was the What was the rationale for doing that?

Reese Witherspoon 24:22 Um, I wanted them to feel ownership in the company. I wanted them to feel like it was their company.

Reza Satchu 24:29 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 24:30 Um, and I wanted them to be rewarded for leaving their comfortable corporate jobs.

Reza Satchu 24:34 Yes, yes.

Reese Witherspoon 24:35 That in, in, in the upside, they would win quite a bit. I also, I think one of my passions is storytelling. My other passion is to help women make more money.

Reza Satchu 24:46 Yeah, yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 24:47 Because you can't really empower women if you're not making them money.

Reza Satchu 24:51 Right, right. You know what's interesting about that, and part of what's, what's an amazing part of, about Hello Sunshine is in many ways, not only did you make 'em, make the women on your team money, but you also created a business, um, that sold for a very large number. And so you've set an example of a female founder that has built something of real significance, um, and that will inspire many others because it's poss- they see that it's actually possible.

Reese Witherspoon 25:18 I hope so. I hope that people out here listening to this podcast will think, "I'm gonna have the next Hello Sunshine."

Reza Satchu 25:23 Yeah, right.

Reese Witherspoon 25:24 I really hope they do.

Reza Satchu 25:25 Yes, yes. You know-

Reese Witherspoon 25:26 'Cause it, 'cause it is possible.

Reza Satchu 25:27 Yeah, it is possible. And so the advice you would give to female founders in particular?

Reese Witherspoon 25:34 Partnership is really important. Make sure that you understand the gaps in your own, uh, knowledge-

Reza Satchu 25:38 Mm

Reese Witherspoon 25:39 ... and fill those gaps with people who are better than you.

Reza Satchu 25:42 And did you do that?

Reese Witherspoon 25:42 Absolutely.

Reza Satchu 25:43 Okay.

Reese Witherspoon 25:43 My team is filled with people who can do things that I don't even understand. [laughs]

Reza Satchu 25:46 So give me, give me examples of two or three things that-

Reese Witherspoon 25:48 Oh, just this finance piece is not my core competency. Um, I'm really good at story developing and working with filmmakers, and I'm really good at connecting with creators and creating community.

Reza Satchu 25:59 Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 25:59 But the backend production piece is not what I'm good at.

Reza Satchu 26:03 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 26:03 Um, and I would also say partnership is really important and asking questions, not being afraid to say, "Hey, I don't know what you're talking about. Can you just stop-

Reza Satchu 26:15 Right

Reese Witherspoon 26:16 ... and explain it to me?"

Reza Satchu 26:16 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 26:17 Because things can go really fast.

Reza Satchu 26:19 Right. See, it's remarkable 'cause even things like that, once you as a leader start doing that, you give permission to everyone else in the firm to do that as well.

Reese Witherspoon 26:25 Yeah, and then there's much more clarity-

Reza Satchu 26:26 Right

Reese Witherspoon 26:26 ... across the whole organization.

Reza Satchu 26:28 Right.

Reza Satchu 26:28 Reese, you know, if I look at you, you've gone from actress, producer, founder, thought leader, brand. I mean, where do you see yoursel- I mean, there's so many different ways to see you. Which one resonates most with you personally?

Reese Witherspoon 26:46 I would say right now, um, community builder-

Reza Satchu 26:49 Mm

Reese Witherspoon 26:49 ... and storyteller.

Reza Satchu 26:50 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 26:51 I like bridging the gaps for women in terms of, like I'm watching AI transform every industry in, before our eyes. So I go to a lot of conferences, and I gather a lot of intel, and I, I really hope that I can help bridge that gap-

Reza Satchu 27:08 Mm

Reese Witherspoon 27:08 ... for women, um, because I do think there's an inherent fear of what's about to happen in terms of job loss-

Reza Satchu 27:15 Yes

Reese Witherspoon 27:16 ... and redundancy, but I do think other industries are gonna pop up around it, and we have to be ready.

Reza Satchu 27:23 Right. Do you see AI as... I mean, you could argue it's a massive threat. You could also argue potentially it's a massive opportunity.

Reese Witherspoon 27:29 Mm-hmm.

Reza Satchu 27:30 Where, where are you on this?

Reese Witherspoon 27:31 I think it's both. [laughs]

Reza Satchu 27:32 Yeah, right, it is. [laughs]

Reese Witherspoon 27:33 It's, it's a threat to existing institutions-

Reza Satchu 27:35 Yes

Reese Witherspoon 27:35 ... and the, the ways that we have done things, but it's also a massive opportunity that's gonna emerge, and we just don't know what it is yet.

Reza Satchu 27:42 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 27:42 But there'll be entire industries that pop up around it.

Reza Satchu 27:45 Right. So Reese, you know, so many people watching want to enter into this founder journey, and they, or some are in it, and of course you and I both know it's a roller coaster.

Reese Witherspoon 27:54 Oh, my God.

Reza Satchu 27:54 Right? It is such a roller coaster.

Reese Witherspoon 27:55 The business that I thought we were starting, Reza-

Reza Satchu 27:57 Yes

Reese Witherspoon 27:57 ... was a newsletter.

Reza Satchu 27:58 Yeah, that's hilarious.

Reese Witherspoon 27:58 I thought Hello Sunshine was gonna be a newsletter.

Reza Satchu 28:00 That's so funny. Yeah. It's a little, a little more complicated than that.

Reese Witherspoon 28:02 I thought we were gonna make-

Reza Satchu 28:03 Yeah, yeah

Reese Witherspoon 28:03 ... I thought we were gonna make movies and television-

Reza Satchu 28:04 Yeah, yeah

Reese Witherspoon 28:04 ... and then have a newsletter and-

Reza Satchu 28:05 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 28:05 ... like get affiliate fees or something.

Reza Satchu 28:07 So talk, talk about some of the, you know, anxious, painful lo- what got you through these moments of crisis? Inevitable crisis, frankly.

Reese Witherspoon 28:19 I had a lot of anxiety.

Reza Satchu 28:20 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 28:20 In 2018, I was making three television shows at once.

Reza Satchu 28:23 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 28:23 And I don't know if people understand this, but each television show takes six months to make-

Reza Satchu 28:27 Mm

Reese Witherspoon 28:27 ... so they were stacked on top of each other.

Reza Satchu 28:29 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 28:29 I remember two weeks of my life-

Reza Satchu 28:31 Which shows were they?

Reese Witherspoon 28:32 I was on Morning Show-

Reza Satchu 28:33 Right

Reese Witherspoon 28:33 ... Big Little Lies, and Little Fires Everywhere.

Reza Satchu 28:35 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 28:36 So in the morning I'd go-

Reza Satchu 28:37 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 28:37 ... be dressed as Bradley Jackson, change my clothes, run to another sound stage-

Reza Satchu 28:42 You're crazy

Reese Witherspoon 28:43 ... be Madeline Martha Mackenzie-

Reza Satchu 28:44 Yeah, yeah

Reese Witherspoon 28:44 ... in Big Little Lies, and then go do a night shoot with Kerry Washington on Little Fires Everywhere.

Reza Satchu 28:48 But mentally that must be very difficult too, 'cause you're-

Reese Witherspoon 28:50 I wanted to-

Reza Satchu 28:50 ... three characters a day. Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 28:52 ... lay down sideways and melt into the earth.

Reza Satchu 28:56 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 28:56 I just cried and cried and cried.

Reza Satchu 28:57 Right, right.

Reese Witherspoon 28:58 And I'd done it to myself.

Reza Satchu 28:59 Yes, right. You had made-

Reese Witherspoon 29:01 I had no one to blame. [laughs]

Reza Satchu 29:01 You, you had made these decisions. Yeah, right. Right.

Reese Witherspoon 29:05 I had no one to blame.

Reza Satchu 29:06 Yes.

Reese Witherspoon 29:07 But it all worked out.

Reza Satchu 29:08 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 29:08 You know? And you can do really, really, really hard things.

Reza Satchu 29:11 Yeah. So you learned that you're... I mean, I guess what you learned of is when you commit to something, what you're capable of.

Reese Witherspoon 29:17 That's right. And w- I love what you say about radical commitment-

Reza Satchu 29:22 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 29:22 ... because that kind of, when you said it to me the first time, I was like, "Oh, that's me."

Reza Satchu 29:26 You know, Reese, I remember when we met and we had that bonding experience around commitment, and I said to you, "You know what? I'm thinking about doing this podcast," but I said, "I don't think I have what it takes," and I may not at all, but I will say we were in the car and you said, "Watch this, Reza. Start talking and you film me." That was the start of this misadventure, just so you know, so you're responsible for whatever this goes.

Reese Witherspoon 29:42 And I cold called on you.

Reza Satchu 29:44 You did cold call on me.

Reese Witherspoon 29:45 And I said, "Why do you wanna start a podcast? Go."

Reza Satchu 29:47 Yes, yes, yes, correct. [laughs]

Reese Witherspoon 29:48 And you did.

Reza Satchu 29:48 It was like reverse, reverse feedback on me. It was not very nice.

Reese Witherspoon 29:52 Yeah, and it worked.

Reza Satchu 29:52 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 29:52 And you go, "Send it to me. Send it to me." [laughs]

Reza Satchu 29:53 Yes, [laughs] exactly.

Reza Satchu 29:54 So that's good. Okay, so let's, let's talk about commitment, okay? Because to me, you embody commitment. A- and the reason the commitment is so important is because I think what you realized was, "I can't possibly achieve this outsized impact unless I dedicate myself fully for this." Okay? The outside impact being changing the way society looks at women.

Reese Witherspoon 30:16 Right.

Reza Satchu 30:17 I mean, that's a ridiculous vision Right? It's like a-

Reese Witherspoon 30:20 It's delusional

Reza Satchu 30:20 ... it, well, it's an amazing vision. Okay? But, but the-

Reese Witherspoon 30:23 But I didn't think about eating the whole elephant.

Reza Satchu 30:25 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 30:26 I just thought about do- eating the toe.

Reza Satchu 30:29 Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. Well, I know you. You start with the toe and then, you know.

Reese Witherspoon 30:33 And then I was like-

Reza Satchu 30:34 You go, "Yeah. Okay, that tastes pretty good."

Reese Witherspoon 30:35 ... I think I could do a little bit more.

Reza Satchu 30:37 Right. Yes, yes. What did you learn that you were capable of through committing?

Reese Witherspoon 30:43 I was, well, first of all, I didn't go to business school.

Reza Satchu 30:46 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 30:46 So I learned that I was able to merge onto the founder highway not knowing a lot of-

Reza Satchu 30:52 Mm-hmm

Reese Witherspoon 30:52 ... fundamental jargon. I didn't know a lot of what the benchmarks should have been.

Reza Satchu 30:58 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 30:58 I didn't understand how to forecast.

Reza Satchu 31:01 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 31:01 Um, so I had really great partners in Sarah Harden and-

Reza Satchu 31:04 Yes

Reese Witherspoon 31:04 ... Seth Rodsky helping me understand that part of it.

Reza Satchu 31:07 Right. But I mean, even that, the judgment to decide who to partner with-

Reese Witherspoon 31:11 Mm-hmm

Reza Satchu 31:11 ... uh, and the judgment to actually say, "I need these skills, and these are the right people to do it," is a terrific thing. The other piece I say about commitment, I'm curious whether you'd agree with this, is, yes, no question you learn what you're capable of when you commit to something, but the other thing that happens, I call it, it's sort of magic. Magic happens when you commit, which is suddenly precisely because of your commitment, others commit to you.

Reese Witherspoon 31:32 Mm-hmm.

Reza Satchu 31:33 Right? You get your first customer, you get your first... Because precisely 'cause they see what you're trading.

Reese Witherspoon 31:37 Mm-hmm.

Reza Satchu 31:37 And they see the fear and the ambition in your eyes.

Reese Witherspoon 31:40 Mm-hmm.

Reza Satchu 31:40 Did you have moments like that?

Reese Witherspoon 31:42 Well, a thing I al- used to always say to my kids when they were little was, uh, when they were... You know that horrible feeling when you're a parent of little toddlers and you're in a parking lot-

Reza Satchu 31:50 Yeah

Reese Witherspoon 31:50 ... and there's just cars zooming past everywhere and you have to get to the front of the grocery store?

Reza Satchu 31:53 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 31:54 And you just say, "Come on," and they wanna wander around.

Reza Satchu 31:57 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 31:57 And you know, and I used to always say to them, "Walk with purpose in the direction you're going."

Reza Satchu 32:01 Yes. Oh, interesting.

Reese Witherspoon 32:01 Okay?

Reza Satchu 32:02 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 32:03 And my kids will repeat it back to me all the time.

Reza Satchu 32:05 [laughs]

Reese Witherspoon 32:05 "Walk with purpose in the direction you're going."

Reza Satchu 32:06 They've heard it once or twice. Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 32:07 But walk with purpose in the direction you're going became this mantra when we started the business because it was like walk with purpose towards this mission-driven company and this idea, and people who are like-minded will start to walk with you.

Reza Satchu 32:22 Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 32:23 And they're, they're leading then their teams.

Reza Satchu 32:25 Yes.

Reese Witherspoon 32:26 And it was always so clear what we were trying to walk towards.

Reza Satchu 32:30 Right.

Reese Witherspoon 32:30 So I would say for founders out there, just be really clear. What are your goals? What is your intention?

Reza Satchu 32:36 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 32:38 And I have to say m- my team was really strong because of this, the impact piece of our mission.

Reza Satchu 32:44 Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Reese Witherspoon 32:44 They felt like they were changing their industry.

Reza Satchu 32:47 Right. So-

Reese Witherspoon 32:47 And they did.

Reza Satchu 32:48 No, they sure did. I mean, they absolutely did. On the theme of commitment, as a, a final thought, um, what are you, Reese Witherspoon, interested in committing to in the future?

Reese Witherspoon 33:00 Mm. I love that you're doing so much with young entrepreneurs.

Reza Satchu 33:08 Well, you've gotta join me and-

Reese Witherspoon 33:09 I know

Reza Satchu 33:09 ... I mean, you're doing it as well.

Reese Witherspoon 33:11 Well, look, I can come and be here and give you so much support-

Reza Satchu 33:14 Oh, yes

Reese Witherspoon 33:14 ... and tell my story anytime you want.

Reza Satchu 33:16 Amazing.

Reese Witherspoon 33:16 I think it's really important that we encourage young people to take big entrepreneurial leaps, and also give them the support they need, the mental health support, the, um, the institutional knowledge support, the financial support, because there are gonna be so many problems to solve in this new world order, and you ha- it is a mindset-

Reza Satchu 33:40 Yes

Reese Witherspoon 33:40 ... like you talk about.

Reza Satchu 33:41 Yeah.

Reese Witherspoon 33:42 Um, and it's not all win.

Reza Satchu 33:44 Yes.

Reese Witherspoon 33:44 But it's a really fun journey to be on.

Reza Satchu 33:46 It is a great journey. You know, and it's defined really by learning.

Reese Witherspoon 33:50 Mm-hmm.

Reza Satchu 33:50 Right? Like, really this journey is all about learning with the hope that through that learning you will have that impact that you wanna have. I mean, you've done it so beautifully. Right? So beautifully in that you sort of imagined what this world could look like, and you're well on your way to pulling that together. It's for that I'm very thankful.

Reese Witherspoon 34:07 Yeah.

Reza Satchu 34:07 Thanks, Reese.

Reese Witherspoon 34:08 Thank you, Reza.

Reza Satchu 34:09 Yeah. Oh.

Reese Witherspoon 34:10 Okay, great.

Reza Satchu 34:11 Thank you.

Reese Witherspoon 34:11 Awesome. You did great.

Reza Satchu 34:12 I did great.

Reese Witherspoon 34:13 You did great.

Speaker 34:14 You've been listening to The Founder Mindset with Reza Satchu.