Curiosity #24 - Melissa Kwan - Doing the right thing

🏆 The Quiet Power of Doing the Right Thing

🎤Quotable Quote: "Doing the right thing is never the wrong thing." — Ted Lasso

It’s a line that seems simple—until you realize how often the world tells us otherwise. But this week’s guest, Melissa Kwan, lives this mantra in business and life. From building three companies without outside funding to redefining what success looks like, Melissa reminds us that integrity isn’t a strategy—it’s a standard. Hear what she has to say...

Melissa is the co-founder and CEO of eWebinar, a game-changing tool for automating webinars — and a three-time bootstrapper who built her companies without a dime of venture capital. She’s a digital nomad with a home base in Amsterdam, a global citizen, a truth-teller, and a relentless advocate for designing a life where happiness comes first — not as an afterthought.

In this edition of Weekly Curiosities, we explore how Melissa pairs grit with grace, how she leads with integrity, and how she’s building a life-first legacy (spoiler: it’s not about building software, it’s about building community).

🔍 Here’s what you’ll discover when you tune in:

• Why Melissa believes bootstrapping is both an art and a mindset — and how she learned (the hard way) which strategies to ditch even after spending $130K.
• How to know whether your startup strategy is bold... or just delusional.
• The truth about personal branding: Why being “Your Founder Next Door” may matter more than being on TechCrunch.
• Why integrity isn't just how you treat people — it's the extra 2% you put into your product when no one’s looking.
• How taking a break (and then fighting your way back to discipline) can actually sharpen your leadership edge.
• What legacy really looks like — and how Melissa’s community-building passion fuels everything she does.

More Musings

🍪 Biscuits with the Boss:

“What’s something you used to see as a strength that you now realize was a blind spot?”
Melissa shares a raw moment from early in her career—a humbling reminder that confidence without self-awareness isn’t leadership, it’s noise. What’s something you’ve had to unlearn?

🏅 Whistle. Whistle.

Alright, listen up. Here’s your Roy Kent reality check for the week:

It’s not about working more. It’s about working with meaning. If you’re building something worth believing in, then every choice—every email, every edit, every delay—is either adding trust or eroding it. Melissa said it best: “Integrity is not just how you treat people. It’s the extra 2% you build when no one’s watching.”

So ask yourself: Are you showing up with intention… or just showing up?

📚Beard’s collection: (and some books Melissa might like ;))

📖 Jarvis, Paul. Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019.

A must-read for anyone rethinking what growth should look like. Jarvis challenges the startup status quo and explores how staying intentionally small can lead to more freedom, impact, and sustainability. Melissa’s bootstrapped mindset and focus on life-first leadership align perfectly with this philosophy.

📖 Sivers, Derek. Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur. Portfolio, 2015.

Short, wise, and refreshingly honest, this book is a powerful reminder that business should serve your life—not consume it. Sivers shares lessons from building (and selling) CD Baby without outside funding, making it a natural match for Melissa’s approach to entrepreneurship and values-driven decision-making.

📖 Zander, Rosamund Stone, and Benjamin Zander. The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life. Harvard Business Review Press, 2000.

An inspiring exploration of leadership through the lens of creativity, reframing, and possibility. The Zanders challenge readers to see the world differently and lead from abundance rather than scarcity. Melissa’s focus on mindset, integrity, and redefining legacy makes this a book that would likely resonate deeply.

🌎 This week in Here - There - Every F’ing where

In case the internet was broken at your house, we wanted to make sure you knew...

What leadership lessons do you think Ted will handle in this season?

Speaking of leadership lessons - we were very lucky to get to talk to Phil Freidhoff of TANG about Season 2 | Episode 11 Midnight Train to Royston. Listen in! 

Barbecue Sauce!

Marnie & Nick

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