From Dorm Room Startup to $100M Valuation with Alex Smereczniak, Founder of Franzy

This transcript has been generated using AI technology. There may be errors or discrepancies in the text. The opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the show or its hosts.

Susan Sly: 00:00

Well, hey there. Welcome to Raw and Real Entrepreneurship®. I am so excited you're here. The vision for the show, and it is a brand new era, is the bottom line—to make entrepreneurship accessible. So whether you have a high degree of risk and a lot of capital to invest, or you are someone who is putting your toe in the water, and maybe you want something low risk and you don't have a lot of capital, I interview founders that range in age from 12 right up until their 80s.

We've had Glenn Stearns—Undercover Billionaire season one—on the show. We have had Shadi, who's a 12-year-old cosmetics founder on Instagram, on the show. And my goal is that you always leave every episode not just inspired, but empowered and with knowledge.

And we talk about everything from the grit of fundraising to getting over social awkwardness to what it's like to build a business when you have the odds stacked against you. And today's episode—I'm super excited—is with my new friend Alex Smereczniak. And Alex is the founder of a company called Franzy, and his vision is to empower the next generation of 1 million entrepreneurs through franchising.

And it is so cool, and we are going to get into talking about different types of franchising and his new company, which essentially is like the Zillow of franchising. And I went through the onboarding experience myself, and it was absolutely awesome, and it was so fast, and it spit out different franchise opportunities for me based on my investment level, my risk tolerance, the amount of time I had, my interest. And so I encourage you to check out Franzy and make sure that you definitely listen to the entire show, because Alex, at the end, shares his wisdom and how he deals with challenges.

And so whether you are thinking about starting a business or you already have one, this is going to be an amazing episode. And before we jump in, I just want to give a shout-out to Alex and the folks at Franzy. I’m so excited about their mission. They have just raised some incredible pre-seed funding. They are partnering with hundreds of different brands out there. And whether you are interested in starting a franchise or not, just go through their process, because it is super cool.

And Alex is a second-time entrepreneur, so mad respect. His previous business—he grew it to a $100 million valuation—and less than 0.4% of all SaaS companies reach $10 million a year in ARR, and he is one of those 0.4 percenters. So absolutely amazing.

What’s been going on for me personally is I have spent a few weeks prior to the show in reflection, also just getting healthy again. I was running at a million miles an hour—fundraising for thePause®, speaking at events and doing workshops, flying overseas—and I ended up getting really, really run down.

And it was a time of reflection, where I said, you know what, I am looking at making some shifts in my life, and one of the shifts is definitely taking better care of myself. And for years and years and years, I have been doing, you know, incredible in my nutrition regime, but I haven’t been doing incredible in terms of focusing on tracking things like my sleep or my overall well-being.

And so that is one of many reasons we created thePause® app—Dr. Mia Chorney and myself. It is a female-founded company, and one of the first companies in the entire world to be using true artificial intelligence to do AI-based coaching within the app, focusing on women who are going through perimenopause and menopause.

And one of the new features is our sleep tracker. And I started tracking that, and it was embarrassing—and no wonder I got run down. My sleep hasn’t been great. And so that new tracker is helping me be able to take a look at how much sleep I’m actually getting—my quality of sleep. It’s absolutely amazing.

And the other thing that we are adding to is our insights. So whether you have a wearable device or you don’t, you can track insights like your mood, and you can see trends over time. And here was the interesting thing—I noticed that just before I got sick, my overall mood trends had been down. And I’m like, oh wow, that’s interesting.

And in my past, yeah, I met amazing people like Louise Hay, Dr. Wayne Dyer, and we know there’s an emotional cause to most illnesses. Or, you know, some people would believe—myself included—that all illnesses that I’ve ever had, it has been my body being out of alignment.

So I am using our Pause app to be able to track those things and get those insights and use Harmony, our AI agent, to have conversations. And our team is really building fast and furious. So every single week, we are coming out with updated features and just new things to really improve that user journey.

And we’re just getting started. The company hasn’t even been out for a year yet, and building technology is crazy. So I would just encourage you to share it with any woman in your life who is going through perimenopause and menopause. And you can find it if you search thePause® Menopause App in the App Store or in the Play Store, and I would love for you to support this business, because it is our vision to powerfully and positively impact 10 million women globally who are navigating perimenopause and menopause.

So with that, let’s get into this show with the amazing founder of Franzy and my new friend, Alex Smereczniak.

Voice Over: 06:06

This is Raw and Real Entrepreneurship®, the show that brings the no-nonsense truth of what is required to start, grow, and scale your business. I am your host, Susan Sly.

Susan Sly: 06:20

Alex, I am so excited to have you on Raw and Real Entrepreneurship®. And for everyone listening, Alex and I have been jamming out talking for almost 20 minutes, and I—there’s so many things in this episode we're going to cover, and the first one is really around inclusivity. So first and foremost, Alex, it's great to have you here on the show.

Alex Smereczniak: 06:41

Susan, it's great to be here. And I wish we would have recorded the prior 20 minutes, because I feel there's a ton of gems, but we're gonna—we're gonna hit them all, and then some here as well.

Susan Sly: 06:50

Oh yeah, we're gonna polish those gems. And for the Australians—Australia is one of our top five listening areas—yeah, gems, not nuggets. Anyway, that's a little Aussie joke there. So Alex, Franzy—this vision to essentially co-create a million entrepreneurs—is massive. And I went through the whole onboarding experience. I think it's genius. In fact, I just said to my husband Chris prior to the show, I'm like, oh my gosh, this company is going to change the landscape of—when I say inclusivity, inclusivity for accessibility—for anyone to become an entrepreneur. And my first question out of the gate is, you're going to create all of these entrepreneurs. And do you think anyone can be an entrepreneur?

Alex Smereczniak: 07:41

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think, you know, I've talked about it with my co-founder before, but we compare it to, like, competitive sport or athletes. There's definitely people that are more naturally gifted—you know, out of the womb they're destined to go play golf or basketball. LeBron, you know, as an example. But then there's also those individuals that really refine and hone their craft through the sheer dedication, willpower, work ethic—and they're in the gym 10 hours a day, shooting hoops—and eventually still made it to the NBA, still got to the same destination as someone who's more naturally gifted. And don't get me wrong—LeBron had to put in the hours too. But I think entrepreneurship is the same way. There's some people that are just born to problem solve, and they're creative, and they have no risk tolerance, you know, or they're—you know—they're not afraid of risk at all. And then there's others that have to get comfortable and educate themselves a little more and refine and flex that muscle a little—a little bit. And so to answer your question, I think you—entrepreneurs can be created if you have the attitude and willingness to put in the work.

Susan Sly: 08:42

So with the Franzy onboarding—you know, the questions are, you know, how soon are you ready to start? And I—you and I were talking, and we're going to get into this—like, with the AI revolution, which obviously I talk about all the time on the show. We also—the—when we're recording the show, there's a bunch of layoffs happening, and especially in the tech sector. We talked about the diminishing white collar jobs—also entry-level jobs—you know, people graduating university and their degree is already obsolete. The—when in the onboarding, the questions are very deliberate. So how soon are you ready? So going back to—Alex, in your expert opinion, because you're a multi-time founder, this isn't your first rodeo—how does someone know they're actually ready to be an entrepreneur?

Alex Smereczniak: 09:35

That's a great question. I think the feedback—the advice that I give to people typically is there's never a good time. It's probably like having kids to a degree, or starting a new job, or any of these big, seemingly risky things in life, is that once you do it, you look back, you're like, no, that wasn't so bad. And we figured it out. I think starting a business or becoming an entrepreneur is the same way. And so my thought is that anyone can be ready tomorrow, but not everyone has that—that, you know, level of maybe confidence or comfortability. But we ask people so that we know—you know, we want to meet them where they are. If they're just more passively exploring, we're not going to put the full court press on them. That might actually deter them from getting comfortable and, you know, accepting—you know, that decision. Versus others are like, yep, I'm ready to go. I've been thinking about this for years. I'm finally ready to, like, as Nike says, just do it and leave my job and go start a business. So we ask to get a sense for where are they on that spectrum of comfortability and readiness to dive into the deep end.

Susan Sly: 10:37

And thinking about the readiness, right? Some people are impulsive. I know I have made impulse decisions. We were talking about—prior to starting the show, I'm recording today from my house in Whitefish, Montana, which we're putting on the market. I just don't have time to be here right now—honestly, building thePause®. And it was an impulse decision. I was literally here on vacation getting a pedicure and bought a house. Now, for—for saying, I'm going to jump in and be an entrepreneur, let's dissect it a little bit, because a lot of people do make impulse decisions. But I know for Franzy it's important—there's also a financial readiness component to it. Can you talk about that?

Alex Smereczniak: 11:21

Yeah. So the good thing about Franzy is, like, our goal isn't like, oh, let's put anyone that comes to the site into the business. It's really—let's democratize access to entrepreneurship through franchising to start. And so if you do have that mindset, and you are ready, and maybe you just have some fears that might not actually be fears—it's like, it's you getting in front of your own—you know, you getting in your own way—we'll help uncover that.

There's also that group of people that come, and they're like, I'm, you know, 100k in debt, and I don't have, you know, two nickels to rub, and I'm trying to figure out my, you know, living situation and how to take care of my family. We'll tell those people directly, like, now is not the time for you. You have other things to, you know, work on and figure out first.

So our goal isn't to convince people why they should buy a business. It's to better understand their risk tolerance, their readiness financially, their operational background, what their goals and interests are. Then if the right number of ingredients are there, we're there to clear the road—whether that's yourself getting in your own way, it's not, you know, not knowing what brands to look at or the best fit—and then also helping you find the right lenders, the right franchise CPA, attorney, commercial real estate folks, to help support you.

All those things that, you know, maybe in isolation—especially together—seem scary and daunting, are actually very solvable, you know, overcomeable things that, with enough coaching, guidance, support from, you know, from us, as well as the brand you're going to work with—in hindsight—look incredibly easy. And, you know, allow you to be on your way to ownership and entrepreneurship.

Susan Sly: 12:46

Which makes so much sense, right? And—and for everyone listening, it is accessible. And I have—I have friends that own multiple franchises and different kinds of franchises. We've had franchise concierges on the show before, and—and—and there are so many types.

And a lot of people think, when they're thinking franchises, they're thinking, oh, McDonald’s. Or they're thinking, you know, Taco Bell, that kind of thing. But expansively, looking at Franzy and all of the different types of franchises, I was actually amazed.

So let me ask you this—a kid from Minnesota—what was the first franchise you fell in love with, or had like a heart connection to, that has a special place for you?

Alex Smereczniak: 13:30

Well, growing up—I mean, I grew up in a small town in Minnesota, 15,000 people. My co-founder—when we used to—because he's also from where I'm from, Red Wing—when we would meet investors or other people, I would tell them where I was from, and he's like, why do you always say Red Wing? No one knows what that is. Just say Minneapolis because it's, you know...

The funny thing is, is eight out of ten people-ish knew what Red Wing was because of Red Wing Shoes or Red Wing Boots, which is this famous—they make work boots, but they also partner with J.Crew, and Drake rapped about them in a song. And they've—they've got a global brand.

And so, while it's a unique franchise model, I'd say Red Wing Shoes is actually one of my—like—close to home, because it's where I'm from and where I grew up. But they do like more of a licensed franchise model, where you and I could buy a shoe store, and they, you know, they provide the shoes and the branding and whatnot. So that one definitely is at my heart.

But I would say, you know, as I've grown up and have moved cross-country—I live in Charlotte now—either a Culver also, because it has Midwest roots. There's one here in Charlotte, so it's kind of like that nice reminder of home. They have cheese curds, which is big in the Midwest—and things like Canada.

Susan Sly: 14:41

Too, by the way.

Alex Smereczniak: 14:45

Cheese curds, yeah—everywhere. Midwest and Canada. And Culver’s is like the only place that seems to be able to get it right, you know, down in Charlotte, North Carolina. So that one's got a special place too, just because of the reminder of home.

Susan Sly: 14:59

Well, you can't make poutine without cheese curds. Really. It's fake poutine if it doesn't have cheese curds. That's like—so kids, just so you know, wherever you are in the world, you just learned something about poutine.

But the—the—when I think about the franchises, and I think about some of the ones—especially that we become endeared to—can you—you have fallen in love with this model of entrepreneurship. And there are many kinds of entrepreneurship for people out there.

I mean, some people—it, you know, one of the things that I've always shared on the show, Alex, is about the risk tolerance, right? And the thing with franchising is it's not like you and I doing tech startups, which is high risk, high reward, high time—80 hours a week. And don't let anyone tell you—this is Raw and Real Entrepreneurship®—we're here to tell you that.

And then there's low, low, low risk, but high effort. And that can be things like doing direct selling, or, you know, anything along those lines. Even, you know, real estate and being part of that, where you're—you're an owner-operator, and you're in that business. But franchises kind of fall nicely in the middle.

When did you fall in love with them as a business model?

Alex Smereczniak: 16:11

Yeah, so I think, like many people, when I first think of franchising, it's like you said—it’s McDonald's, it’s Subway. I actually kind of had this, like, negative connotation or undertone, and I think it was because there are a lot of bad actors in franchising because of—sometimes—the lack of regulation, at least on how they're sold. And so there's misalignment on people buying into the right concept or the wrong concept, and it not working out—you know, them having a bad experience.

But the more I got into it from my previous business, which was a laundromat franchise, and I saw some of those pain points firsthand, I realized, yeah, this is the, you know, kind of the exception, not the norm. And then I’d meet these folks that have, like, 10 Orange Theories and 15 Dave’s Hot Chickens, and they are wildly wealthy, very happy, very successful—scratching the entrepreneurial itch, but in a way that was a little bit de-risked. They don’t have to go start the next Uber or Facebook—and are truly entrepreneurial and happy doing it.

And so I saw that, and that's where Franzy really came to me—and why I became in love with this model—is I saw how big it is. From an impact perspective, 8% of our country’s GDP is from franchise businesses. Massive. And it spans everything beyond—you know, it’s not just food—it’s home services, health and wellness, it’s beauty, it’s early childhood development, it’s—there, you know, it’s health, mental health and wellness, home services—like, everything is franchisable to a degree.

And when I saw how big it was, and then saw how unaccessible it was—misaligned—I thought, I need to come in and democratize this and build a platform that really puts a positive spotlight on this pathway to entrepreneurship. Because it is de-risked. And I have so many friends, family members, co-workers from past experiences that have always said, “I hate my job. I’m not fulfilled. I want to do my own thing—but I don’t know what.” I was like, well—shit—there’s probably a franchise out there, because there’s 4,000 of them. But they just—they didn’t know.

And so my mission, you know, is—how do we go enable that next million entrepreneurs to have access to these types of resources—for diligence, for narrowing down the focus, to overcoming some of their fears and checking the box on some of those things that you have to do in any business: like finding financing and setting up your entity, and—again—just finding the right business to begin with.

Susan Sly: 18:33

So let’s talk about this. It’s like—you say this is like the Zillow of connecting entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs with franchises. So let’s get into—let’s play a little bit of, like, myth and truth, right?

So the thing with a franchise is, there is a variety of entry points. Can you talk about that financially? So the person listening to this or watching on YouTube, they're like, “Oh, could this be for me?” So can you talk about that range? We were talking about some of them before we got into the show.

Alex Smereczniak: 19:09

Yep. So the myth is, I can't run a franchise because I need a million dollars to get going. It's a McDonald's, it’s a Subway—I’m gonna need so much money. I don't have it. I can't do it. Dream's dead.

I think the reality is, there are franchises that range anywhere from $10,000 to get into, all the way up to 5 million. On that lower end, it's things like—there’s a brand called Card My Yard. And we've probably all seen them in our neighbor's yard or driving around, where it's like, “Congratulations to the new graduate” or “Happy Birthday, Susan,” or whatever the yard sign may be. That’s a franchise. And it’s $10,000 to get into it, and it generates 20 to 30 grand in additional, you know, income each year.

So there's things like that—all the way up to a $5 million swim school, where they have—you’re putting in seven pools, and you're teaching hundreds, if not thousands, of kids how to swim. And it's a massive business.

And there’s everything in between. I mean, there's hospitality, home services—all the things we mentioned. And so that also really excites me, knowing that if you're willing to bet on yourself, if you're willing to do the work, there is likely a franchise out there for you. You just gotta start doing the research and find that right fit.

Susan Sly: 20:14

And so what is the—what is the usual ROI to get to profitability from the initial investment, in terms of length of time?

Alex Smereczniak: 20:23

Yeah, so it—I hate this answer—but it depends on the concept. And so one rule of—one rule of thumb that I personally look for is, if this business costs—let's call it 250K to get open—it should have a two—you know, on the low end, if possible. Sometimes one can be okay, but two on the low end—multiple of revenue that it generates.

So if it's 250K to get into it, it should at least be able to generate half a million in revenue. And the higher from there—750 to a million dollars—the higher that multiple is, the more likely this is going to have a higher payback period. It's going to pay your initial investment back faster, and it’s going to be a business that you could scale into two, three, four of them, and really have a very healthy portfolio of companies that more than replace the income that you're generating at your W-2 today.

Susan Sly: 21:12

Absolutely. And let's talk about what the reality is—especially with what's coming, what's happening with AI, with robotics. We—Alex and I were talking about job displacement.

ck—I mean, I believe it was: 2019

Then the pandemic accelerated that because we saw companies going, hey—you know, Amazon accelerating its robotics program. We saw companies saying, hey, we have to still deploy products. We—you know, people can’t work. We see how fragile the workforce is. We’ve got to do something.

Now we're seeing—I was at the Finger Lakes Summit, and as an investor, I have seven portcos, and then I’m a startup founder, and I was there. And one of the big things they were all saying—whether it was Jack Selby or any of the VCs—and, you know, we all know Jack and Peter Thiel—part of the PayPal Mafia, right? With Elon.

But we're seeing this—companies have to be AI-first. They are. They're wanting smaller workforces and—people, even my son—his degree in design was obsolete by the time he walked the stage to get—you know, to get his diploma or his degree.

So, Alex, we see it. Not enough people are talking about it. You and I are technology optimists because we’re actually doing something about it. But in your opinion, what is the thing that scares you the most? And what is driving you to put in the long days with Franzy? Because a million entrepreneurs is not a small mission statement.

Alex Smereczniak: 23:12

Yeah, I think something that keeps me up at night—or that I'm thinking about, and you said really well—is that we see how fast technology is moving and changing because we’re some of the earliest adopters of it.

And even with you and I, there's another level above us—people where this is all they think about and work on all day long. To a degree, even more so than you and I. And they’re in the top, you know, tenth or a hundredth of a percent.

And when you think about that—you and I are probably maybe in the top, like, half a percent or one percent—so that means 99% of the population is probably not seeing or aware of how fast AI is improving. How the quality is increasing, the speed it's improving, the capabilities improving—and what the ramifications of that are going to be over the next few years.

ng around right now called AI: 2027

I think this is gonna increase productivity drastically, which is a great thing. But as a society, we’re also gonna have to figure out—what does this mean for the bottom 30 to 40% of people that may get displaced by this type of technology?

And people are like, “Oh, it’s blue-collar jobs.” You know? “They’re the ones always impacted by some of these changes.” And they’re wrong.

It’s going to be mostly the white-collar jobs. Like, do you need analysts anymore? Do you need designers anymore? Do you need bankers? Do you need radiologists? People have gone to med school for 10 years reading charts—AI is already doing that better than them.

And so you think about all these people being displaced—I get excited about the technology, but I’m terrified about what are these people going to do? And can they react fast enough?

I think the time you have to start reacting is today. Honestly, it was probably a year ago. And so I think about the timing—Franzy—and part of the reason we're behind this mission is, as a society, we're gonna have to enter what I've started calling this bet-on-yourself economy.

And that doesn't mean it has to be franchising. It could be—bet on yourself and learn a new skill. Be the top 50% that uses AI better than anyone else and is in that top 5% of people using the technologies. Or bet on yourself and open a franchise that’s not going to be disrupted—like gutter cleaning or home services or whatever other business it may be. Or bet on yourself and get a portfolio of short-term rentals. Or bet on yourself and start a tech company.

The theme, though, is just—start to figure out: how are you going to take control over your career and your destiny? Because if you sit around and wait and wait and let it happen to you, it’ll already be too late.

And I think some people’s jobs, again, are at risk. And, you know, that’s what’s top of mind for me. It’s—how do we build a platform and a tool that can help enable that group that’s willing to be ready to take the risk and to jump into the deep end and start swimming?

Susan Sly: 25:58

Yeah, and—and for those of us—and I love, Alex, how you articulated it—because I know just from my research on you, you and I can sit in a tech meeting, we can look at architecture, we can look at backend. You and I were talking about the AI that Franzy is using, also the AI roadmap for Franzy. And even with what we're doing at thePause® and the—you know—there's—this is—these are not big rooms. They're small rooms that we're having this conversation, but we're seeing around corners.

And there are a lot of people out there that are truly burying their head in the sand until they get the layoff notice. And, you know, we're the—to your point, I was—you and I were talking about this. So I was on Charles Schwartz’s show. We were just having this AI riff-off. And one of the things we talked about—to your point—analysts. Why would you use an analyst?

I was doing—we're applying for our first patent, and I negotiated the fee down for the patent. And I used a custom GPT to do research on other patents in the space. Then I validated—myself, human in the loop—all of the different ones that were listed on the USPTO so we could go in. And I essentially did the work of a legal aide in under an hour, so I didn’t have to pay that as a billable rate—inflated.

And so we see all of these different ways the AI is getting better. And building financial forecasts—that’s where CPAs are, or reading tax code, or doing all of those things. And I know people listening are like, oh my gosh. Some of them are freaking out. And that's why the goal is—with the show—is to make entrepreneurship accessible.

You know, we've had—you know, to the conversation you were—we were having—I’ve had 12-year-old founders. A little girl—her name was Shadi—and she started her own cosmetics business on Instagram. She was, like, just killing it. And I had another 12-year-old founder—he started a YouTube channel reviewing camping equipment. He’s making multiple six figures.

I mean, entrepreneurship is accessible. And this is, in my opinion, a great way to—to go in with a level of de-risk. You maybe are still working.

And my burning question for you—some of these franchises do not require humans to work at them. Some of them do. So what about the person who's like, “Oh my gosh, I’m already working a full-time job. I don’t have time to supervise humans.” How does that work in terms of some of the franchises?

Alex Smereczniak: 28:41

Yeah. So there are some kind of rare instances where there’s brands—and we talked about it, you know, at the beginning, right before we started the show—is, I’m actually a franchisee in a brand called Another Nine, because I am busy as all get out and, you know, working 80 hours a week on Franzy. And what—what my main mission and focus is.

But I also like the franchise model, and I see opportunity and, of course, want to capitalize on it. And so there's a brand called Another Nine that’s an indoor golf simulator franchise where there’s zero employees, there’s zero food and bev, but it’s private bays for people to go play—you know—simulation golf, or sim golf, and go practice.

If it’s in the middle of winter, it’s 100 degrees out—40 bucks for an hour—you can go get some buddies and, here, take your family and go have some fun. And it'll kick off 80 to 150K in cash flow and 300 to 400K in revenue with not a ton of operational work.

Now I have to go find the site and the architect, and I get support from the franchisor to do that. So it’s still work. But once it’s up and running, it’s another source of income and cash flow.

And there's other examples like that. But like you said, I think this is also the raw and real part of entrepreneurship.

Anyone—a coach, a consultant—that says, “Susan, this is going to be mailbox money, and it’s going to be a cakewalk”—run the other way, because they're clearly trying to get some sort of commission or benefit. Because every bit of entrepreneurship is going to take work, and you have to have a work ethic and put in the hours.

That doesn’t mean you need to quit your job and drop everything. Like, I know people that maintain their jobs and have two or three units of, you know, pretty intensive operational franchise businesses.

But what they’ve done is they’ve hired a GM—you know, they’ve—they’ve worked—they’ve worked themselves out of the business. And between them and their spouse, or them and a business partner, they’re able to figure it out while working full time.

And it’s really what I call getting through that first year of suck. It’s like—the first year is gonna suck. But if you’re willing to get through it, you’ll—you’ll be happy you did it, and you’ll be better off. And honestly, at some point, will probably replace your income and can go full time on it anyway.

Susan Sly: 35:42

Yeah, I—I think we're probably very similar. So if I get a no—the VCs say no in so many different ways—but it is very much like dating. And so the no is like, “Oh, it just doesn’t align with our thesis right now,” or, “We’re changing our thesis,” or, “It doesn’t align with the thesis that we’re going to have.” And—or, you know, whatever—they have their ways of not saying no, but they say no.

And it just drives me. I’m like, you have no idea what you just said no to. Because—look at Canva. Like, I always use—you know, Melanie—as an example, right? Like, you don’t know what you said no to. Because it just makes me hungrier.

And you know, I’m the girl who did an Ironman triathlon and finished top 10 in the pro women with a fractured pelvis. I got my pelvis fractured. I’m a Boston Marathon bombing survivor. I helped get my previous startup bootstrapped with a massive, multiple eight-figure deal—like this, let’s go. That’s the way I feel.

But to your point—it’s also like—you’re, you know, as a founder—and I want to talk about that as we’re coming in close—but as a founder, we’re juggling, you know, the vision and the execution and the digging in and the raising money and dealing with the no’s, looking for the yeses.

How do you personally balance all of that?

Alex Smereczniak: 37:08

Yeah, so this is a really good question. I used to—this was my early 20s, when I started YouLaundry—like, I would lose sleep. Like, I would sit and toss and turn, and I’d be like, oh my gosh, this and what if I upset these investors, or what if this doesn’t work out, and all these people that bet on me and came to work with us are out of a job?

And I would just stress and stress and stress. And I finally—I can't remember if it was another founder who told me, or if I just finally had this realization on my own—but I started—I’m a very logical, reason-oriented thinker. And I started, like, decision tree or, like, pathwaying these things out.

So I was like, alright, what happens if this thing I’m so worried about actually happens? The company fails. We lose this money we raised. And like—what actually happens?

I was like, well, some of our investors—I let down. And, you know, wealthy people are a little less wealthy. And I was like, okay, maybe that’s not a terrible thing. I still don’t want that to happen, but it’s not—no one’s dying.

And the team that I built—I—you have to be biased and say I probably hired really good people for the most part. And those really good people will find other great jobs because they’re really good people and they’re good at what they do.

Then I think about our customers—like, oh, they’ll go back to doing their laundry the way they did. So like, I played it all out, and the worst-case scenario actually wasn’t that bad.

And that’s what allowed me to just, like, sleep. Ever since I went through that exercise, I sleep seven, eight hours a night—I’m like a big baby. And I still have the drive, and I still have some of that, like, anxiety that fuels me. But it’s not debilitating. And it’s not like I’ll stay up till 2 a.m. worrying about every decision I make.

I’m still very thoughtful. But I’m just way more clear-headed, focused, and dialed-in as a result of it, without the unnecessary stress. Because at the end of the day, I’m happier doing what I’m doing. I’m supporting people, creating jobs, impacting people at the highest degree by doing what I’m doing—and like, that feels good.

And, you know, that’s enough. As long as I come in and I’m putting everything I can into this—within reason—then that’s—that’s all I can do. And I’m just so at peace with that.

Susan Sly: 39:14

That’s—that’s huge advice. And that—I call it something different, like worst-case scenario. And I interviewed a guy on the show—this is, like, many years ago—and he—he—the police show up at his door, and they’re like, “You are going to jail.”

He was—wrong place, wrong time. Did a deal with a guy who he didn’t know—he was like, in rocketeering and stuff. But the guy didn’t know. And it was a real estate transaction. He was a realtor.

Anyway, they tell him on Friday, you’re going to jail. You know, this is—so he—he writes this whole worst-case scenario. “Okay, if I go to jail, this is how long I’ll likely go for. I would see my wife,” and—you know, all this stuff.

And what ends up happening is—my day—they’re supposed to come and take him away, and the attorney finds this loophole of some description, and he doesn’t end up going.

And it was the—that was a huge pivotal moment for me. Because I do that as a founder too. I’ll go, okay, this is the worst-case scenario. Worst-case scenario. And I keep drilling down until it’s not that bad. And then I can let it go.

But to your point that you said—that as founders, there’s this healthy anxiety that fuels us. And that can be like, oh my gosh, you know, we—we’ve got to be the best, the first, the only. And that drive.

And then there’s the unhealthy anxiety, where we’re not sleeping. It impacts our performance. And so I hope everyone is taking that away.

Alex, final question I have for you—out of curiosity. So going back to franchises—and I want it—I think everyone should go on the Franzy website, whether you’re ready to be an entrepreneur now or not. It’s excellent to go through the process, just to see how you might get matched, right? And what would make sense for you.

I want to give you the opportunity—just from your heart—because obviously you’re a very heart-centered person, mission-driven—speak to the person out there who’s listening.

We have a lot of people who work in tech who listen to the show, and they’re trying to get the courage, and they have money in savings. They’re—financially, they’ve done okay, but they’re so nervous. But they know they want to do something.

Please speak to that person listening.

Alex Smereczniak: 41:35

Yeah, Susan, I think something I think about a lot, and that again really drives me, is—I don’t care what someone’s religious affiliation is or political—something I know for certain, though, is like, we’re all here on this earth right now, in this moment. And I know for sure we all at least have one shot. I don’t know if there’s anything after this or not.

And I know that entrepreneurship, for me, has been this, like, incredibly fulfilling, rewarding, exciting, challenging—I mean, all these things on a level that I just didn’t think was possible to feel.

I remember growing up, people would tell me, like, you get good grades, you get a good job, you build a family. And I’m like—boom, you know, that’s it? I was like, there’s gotta be more than that. Or, you know, there’s more to this than that.

And once I got exposed to entrepreneurship at an early age, I was like—holy shit, this is my thing. This is the thing that I wake up every day getting excited about, passionate about.

And I have, you know, siblings and family members that are in their 40s that haven’t figured that out yet. And I can just see the difference in, like, fulfillment and happiness that—you know—that I have in life, versus what they have in life.

And so I think if you're listening to this and you've thought about starting—you’re maybe feeling that way of like, I don’t have a purpose or a passion, or I’m not sure what I’m doing—like, just start trying a bunch of things.

And I think passion can be developed and found. And I’d say—come check out Franzy if business ownership has been one of those paths that you’ve been curious about but didn’t know where to start. And that’s why our mission is to help the next million get access to business ownership—whether it’s franchising or something else—because it has made such a profound impact on my own life, my sense of purpose, and my fulfillment and happiness.

Susan Sly: 43:13

I love it. And Alex, thank you for that so much. And I think for everyone listening, you never know when you need this episode, right? Or, you know—and I would just say, like, listen again and follow Franzy and follow Alex and myself on social and get connected.

And just consider listening to this as your day one. And your day ready might be 30 days from now, maybe six months from now, it might be a year from now—but I don’t think you’re here for an accident. I really don’t.

So Alex, thank you again for being on Raw and Real Entrepreneurship®.

Alex Smereczniak: 43:50

Thanks for having me. This was an incredible conversation, and very much a supporter of what you're doing and the message you're getting out. So thank you for having me.

Susan Sly: 43:59

Thank you.

Alright friends, to everyone listening—wherever you are in the world—Alex and I would love a five-star review. Share the show, subscribe, do all the good stuff. And I hope you go out there, rock your day, and I will see you in the next episode.

Voice Over: 44:12

Hey, this is Susan, and thanks so much for listening to this episode on Raw and Real Entrepreneurship®. If this episode—or any episode—has been helpful to you, you’ve gotten at least one solid tip from myself or my guests, I would love it if you would leave a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts.

After you leave your review, go ahead and email reviews@susansly.com. Let us know where you left the review. And if I read your review on air, you could get a $50 Amazon gift card. And we would so appreciate it, because reviews do help boost the show and get this message all over the world.

If you’re interested in any of the resources we discussed on the show, go to susansly.com. That’s where all the show notes live. And with that—go out there, rock your day. God bless, and I will see you in the next episode.

This transcript has been generated using AI technology. There may be errors or discrepancies in the text. The opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the show or its hosts.