Wake Up the Monster - What Happened After a Math Whiz's TV Appearance (Hint: He Started a Business)
Welcome, friends! 👋👋🏼👋🏾 Back at it with a new profile of an entrepreneur who has a lot to teach. Yusnier Viera is a Cuban math genius (and multiple Guinness World Record Holder) who partnered with Carlos Raúl and Yamel Barroso to create an education-related app, EducUp.
I devote this issue to Viera's unique journey and teachings. We'll learn about Carlos Raúl and Yamel Barroso and their advice in the next two issues.
For you regular readers of my newsletter (thank you), you'll notice I've moved the Tip Jar section closer to the top so you can get some of the specific tips right away. The headlines also give you key takeaways.
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GET YOUR SPECIAL TALENT NOTICED
Ellen De Generes is known for making people laugh. You probably didn’t know she helped create an entrepreneur by “waking up the monster”.
At least that’s how Yusnier Viera describes it.
“I’m the fastest person on Earth that can tell you the day of the week for any given date. I was on the Ellen Show, on Discovery Channel, got a lot of media attention because of my records.”
And that’s what Viera believes “woke up” the entrepreneur inside of him when he was on the daytime talk show for holding the Guinness World Record for Mental Calendar Calculations.
FOCUS ON WHERE YOU CAN MAKE AN IMPACT
“I’m like, okay, if I have a special talent, how can I… make an impact in the world? And, definitely, in my opinion, being an entrepreneur is the best way to reach billions of people in the world.”
Carlos Raúl and Yamel Barroso, his fellow Cuban partners at the edutech app company, EducUp, also believe their arrival in the U.S. stirred their entrepreneurial juices. I’ll share their personal stories in Parts Two and Three.
But first, here are the lessons Viera learned that he would like to pass on, based on where you are in your entrepreneurial journey.
THE TIP JAR (tips passed out courtesy of Yusnier Viera)
STARTING OUT: “I believe, if you are a tech founder, you need to be an outlier because there’s a lot of competition out there. And the only way to be an outlier is to definitely fail fast. It’s super hard… to find your product in your first attempt. You need to learn how to pivot. You need to learn how to adapt yourself.”
STEEPED IN SKILLS (mid career): “In my opinion, if you have a family, that changes the whole thing… And, in my case, I’m very passionate when it comes to my business, but there is nothing before my family. That’s the truth. So finding the balance is super hard. I can’t even find it nowadays. I’m trying to find the balance every single day. That’s going to be a struggle that you’re going to have, and you should be okay with that. So my advice for those people who want to switch [careers] is, are you sure?”
STARTING OVER: “You need to study about whatever you’re pursuing.”
Viera also believes, if you don’t have a family or other big responsibilities, “You have nothing to lose because, obviously, sometimes, just because you can [do something], doesn’t mean you should. But, at the same time, sometimes you should.”
Particularly if you’re going into a completely different career, your ace in the hole is that you don’t have a reputation to lose. Viera says, “Since you are not well-known, that’s your advantage right there. You can do whatever you want. Nobody will notice,” which allows you to experiment and make mistakes.
I’LL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN: “I used to be a software developer, but I didn’t like it as much as I like being an educator. But I regret not doing that faster. I think I spent too much time doing what I didn’t like.”
That’s why he encourages others to not waste time to find and pursue their passion.
BEST ADVICE FROM “LA CASA”/BEST “HOUSE” ADVICE:
“Moral values. It’s super important to have moral values… Whatever your dad was telling you when [you were a] kid that you were like, ‘Oh my God, I have to hear this again?’ That was, at least for me, that was always true. That was always the best advice I ever [got].”
Yusnier with the cover shot for Wikipedia
NOT READY? NO PROBLEM
Viera worked quickly to become an entrepreneur out of need. That’s because while making his media appearance on Ellen, he found himself claiming to be further along than he was. He went on TV and said he had a company, "which I didn’t have at the moment.”
He also said he had a location for his business, "which I didn’t have at the moment. But I actually saw the location.”
TURN NOTHING INTO SOMETHING
“It was crazy because I had nothing. But the next day I had people calling me.”
The people that called him said they wanted to be part of his math academy. So Viera told them, “Okay, we’re going to be open in a month.”
So with the money he collected, “pre-sales” as Raúl likes to refer to it, Viera rented a place for six months.
And that’s how Viera’s math tutoring company, Spicy Media, was born. But he realized his reach was limited with Spicy Media to just the Miami area.
By letting his tutoring idea evolve into a math game he created, Hectoc, his reach could expand with the help of Raúl and Barroso. That reach became worldwide with EducUp, the educational platform that the three men created.
Co-founders Carlos Raul, Yamel Barroso and Yusnier Viera launching math game, Hectoc
EXPAND ON WHAT YOU CAN OFFER
Even though Viera worked as a software developer for the first few years he lived in the U.S., he realized being an educator is his passion and true calling.
That’s why EducUp’s focus is not just on math, but it’s on different subjects. There are more than 60 courses on the platform, from personal finance to coding to German.
And that’s what excites Viera.
COME UP WITH SOMETHING CATCHY
He says, “Our secret sauce is our method… Our method is called 'GET' – 'G' as in gamify - because we have a super-gamified platform.”
“We have an 'E' as in educators… the educator is at the center of the course…. Plus, 'T' as in tutor. We have a tutor that, if after, you want to create a more personalized experience, you can count on a tutor on a 1 on 1 session.”
More than that, he found something that helped him “wake up the monster”. It helped him share his gift as an educator, not only to fulfill his purpose in life, but also to help others.
EXECUTE THE PLAN - OR DON'T BOTHER
It also demonstrates his belief in action. “Whatever you think is a good idea, do it. Execution is key. Execution is the most important. It doesn’t matter how good your idea is. If you can’t execute it, you’re done.”
DO IT WITH INTEGRITY
And he reminds others, as they go on their entrepreneurial journey, the straight and narrow path may be hard to see.
Guess what? It’s even harder to follow.
But, “it’s important to be a good person. Because it’s super hard, especially nowadays, to be a good person. Being a bad person is the easy way… But being a good entrepreneur with good moral values, I think that’s the most important thing I get from my parents.”
Yusnier Viera - aka "The Human Calculator"
INDUSTRY: EduTech
STARTED BUSINESS: 2020 (EducUp)
LATINO/HISPANIC CONNECTION:
Born in Cuba
Parents are Cuban
EDUCATION:
Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics - University of Havana
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (with honors) – University of Havana
DREAM JOB AS A KID: “In my case, I thought I was going to be a scientist.”
BIGGEST GOAL YET: “We want to do fundraising. We’re going to be doing a seed round of EducUp next month [April].” He says they’re looking to raise $2.25 million.
Ready to expand the entrepreneurial dream - EducUp Co-founders (left to right: Yamel Barroso, Carlos Raúl and Yusnier Viera)
NO NEED TO GO IT ALONE
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INSPIRATION FOR THIS ISSUE:
When I started to interview Carlos Raúl, Yusnier Viera and Yamel Barroso, I knew I’d have to keep a tight focus if I was going to be able to get my questions answered from all three guys in a limited amount of time.
From doing part of the interview in Spanish to experiencing Viera’s mental math magic in action (just from giving him my birthdate, he told me I was born on a Monday and that my birthday this year would be on a Wednesday – both things I didn’t know), the interview was fun.
I imagine that that’s part of what these guys bring to their education app – a sense of fun (as always, I don’t endorse or receive any compensation for any product or service of the people I feature).
I just want to hear how the founder went from the starting line to actually seeing their business get off the ground, with all the bumps and boosts in between.
Initially, I was going to do two parts to this interview. Then I realized this trio gave me so much material to work with, you, the reader would benefit the most from learning about the three men and how they approached entrepreneurship separately.
At first, I was taken aback that Viera admitted to me that he didn’t have a company nor location set up when he went on national TV and said he did. I needed to hear how he got himself out of that jam once the phones started ringing.
While I certainly don’t want to encourage that, I was impressed with how he used the situation he got himself into to actually start his business. It’s an example of one of those rare moments in life when you get a captive audience with someone pivotal (whether it’s on TV, social media or in the company of a powerful person). You either let the opportunity pass you by or you seize it and find a way to capitalize on it.
Viera capitalized on it, even though he wasn’t ready.
And that’s the point: we’re never fully ready for those big opportunities. But that’s exactly when you have to meet the moment and make something happen. So I hope that when that moment arrives for you, you’re able to go make some magic!
Yusnier (top row center) with kids, the focus of his role as an educator
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