Steph Smith: Leading Trends at The Hustle, Living A Nomadic Life, & Professional Chess
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Welcome to Episode 25 of the Ben & Tony Podcast, where the world’s most interesting people tell their stories!
Steph Smith is the Head of Trends at the Hustle, which was recently acquired by Hubspot. Trends helps 10k+ entrepreneurs stay ahead of the curve, by providing thousands of vetted business ideas and a community that helps make your next venture a reality.
Steph is originally from Canada and is a data-driven writer and growth marketer, with a passion for progressive, early-medium stage technology companies. Steph spent three and a half years at Toptal scaling their hypergrowth design function and then leading their Publications team.
In mid-2019, Steph founded Integral Labs to be able to service more companies, while working independently on my own projects. Steph loves making products, coding, and hopping across the globe. She reaches hundreds of thousands of readers on her personal blog, where she actively writes about remote work, productivity, and women in tech: https://blog.stephsmith.io
Anthony’s Take:
Steph Smith represents a new type of professional - a remote, prolific creator eagerly focused on learning and exploring the new internet economy. Her growth mindset has taken her around the world as a global nomad living across six continents exploring and then pioneering business ideas as the head of Trends for The Hustle. Steph has a very thoughtful perspective on the world and her many frameworks (like exploring vs. exploiting) really helped me think about the way I’m approaching life.
Ben’s Take:
Between writing a love letter to Excel, and playing chess at a national level, it’s clear that Steph approaches life with an analytical skew. I found this particularly interesting given the nomadic, free-flowing lifestyle that Steph has chosen to live by. Listen to this conversation for discussions on culture shock, remote work hubs, approaches to lifelong learning, and more.
What did we talk about?
Opening up to the world through study abroad
A Love Letter to Excel
How people impose self-limitations on travel
Remote Work hubs around the world
Approaching life through an analytical lens
Global nomad stories from Canada to Laos
Exploring vs. Exploiting
How to view life, growth, and societal incentives for learning
Building in public
Leading Trends at The Hustle
Our bitcoin bet on the future of Clubhouse
Life lessons from chess, Queen’s Gambit and Steve Jobs
Find Steph Here: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio
Find Ben Here: https://twitter.com/mrhartben
Find Anthony Here: https://twitter.com/AnthonyMcG2
We’re learning podcasting with you, so do get in touch & let us know if you have any ideas on how we can improve, or guests you’d like to see.
We hope you enjoyed this one & look forward to seeing you next time!
Your friends,
Ben & Tony