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Welcome to Future Sharks Luke, thank you for joining us today! Tell us a little about yourself:

Luke Faulconer is a 22 year-old entrepreneur from Kansas City. He is the CMO for a company called My Cape, Inc., founder of a nonprofit organization called Troolu, and is working on a few other ventures including a digital media company and pursuing his passion for real estate investing.

City where you’re from: Kansas City

Hobbies: traveling, running, tennis, reading and socializing with like-minded individuals.

Favorite quote: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lukefaulc8

Background

Why did you decide to become an entrepreneur?

I first learned what entrepreneurship really meant through reading. I never knew what career I wanted to pursue, but realized how many ideas I was always creating throughout high school with friends and dreaming of these ideas felt so good.

I’m very passionate about growing purpose-driven businesses and have found that entrepreneurship is the only path that will help me achieve my goals of financial freedom, creating tangible change in the world and finding true happiness in life.

Who were your biggest influences? Was there a defining moment in your life?

My biggest influences have been my parents. They have always supported me along this amazing, yet extremely challenging path and it would be difficult to maintain the motivation and vision I have without their support. I wouldn’t say there has been a defining moment in my life because I truly have always been entrepreneurial and couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

Now

What are you working on? How did you come up with this idea?

Right now I’m working on a few different things which is a lot to manage, but is allowing me to find what my true interests and skill sets are.

I recently joined an amazing company called Cape where I am the CMO. Cape connects standby passengers to unsold seats from airlines. Right now, 20% of all the seats on their flights never get sold. After exhausting all their other sales channels, airlines turn unsold seats over to us a few days before departure. We make those seats available to our users who are ready and willing to fly standby at a moment’s notice. I discovered Cape in an article and really loved the idea and innovation behind it. Between my interest for startups and traveling, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to join this team filled of entrepreneurs all working on amazing things.

I am also the founder of a nonprofit organization called Troolu. Troolu is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that empowers and recognizes young people that can change the world. We do so through scholarship and grant programs, encouraging our youth to tackle social issues and create effective solutions. I came up with this idea because of my love for entrepreneurship and innovation and believe everybody should have an opportunity to use their creativity to respond to social issues and contribute to building a better world everyday.

Along with these two things, I’m also working on an early-stage digital media company with some amazing minds and I’m beginning to pursue my passion for real estate investing. Real estate is something I’ve always been interested in and have read dozens and dozens of books about. I hope to start my investing career this summer with a great friend of mine and work our way up to apartment complexes and commercial developments.  

Value-add questions

Give the readers the best entrepreneurship advice you have.

Entrepreneurship is definitely not for everyone. Many people like the idea for entrepreneurship because they believe it’s an easy way to become successful. If you decide you want to start a business you need to put in the work, out-work others, out-think others, and realize there are no shortcuts. Entrepreneurship is a marathon and there will be many bumps in the road. If you learn from these bumps and stick to your vision, you will be successful in so many ways.

Teach us something about {internet marketing, social media ads, fundraising, sales funnels or another topic} Can you recommend any favorite websites to learn that topic?

From my experience in marketing, I’ve found the importance of creating content that is engaging and valuable to your target market. Companies often want to be too straight to the point and salesy, but with the emergence of social media, we’re really seeing how important it is to first build relationships and a community and then sell. If you do it the other way around, it’ll be very difficult to build a solid brand, especially with millennials and Generation Z. If you can draw people in by creating content they actually align with rather than offering no value to the consumer, you will eventually create a following and generate sales.

Some of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs that I’ve learned so much from are Influencive and Prsuit. I’m old-school and prefer books over most online publications, but these two sites along with some others produce some really valuable content.

What should an entrepreneur focus on?

I think an entrepreneur should focus on creating a solid vision and creating sales. I’ve had the tendency in the past to just sit and think too much and develop analysis paralysis, while I could have been applying myself. When it comes down to it, sales are the most important thing in any business, so no amount of time spent on this is wasted time. You can also learn a lot from the process of selling such as proof of concept and learning about your market.

What are some of your favorite books?

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. This book is a must read for anyone, especially entrepreneurs. It dives deep in psychology and will help anyone develop people skills and selling skills.

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. This was the first business book I ever read so it holds a lot of value to me.

The E Myth by Michael Gerber. Another one of my first business books, this was the catalyst for my entrepreneurial path.

Where do you see yourself and your product in a couple years?

This has always been a tough question for me because I’ve found the harder you work, the luckier you get and that more opportunities come your way. Ideally, I’d like to see Cape grow into something huge in a couple years, which I have great confidence in. I’d like to have a couple businesses of my own that are more passive and that can provide good jobs for others. And I’d like to have a couple investment properties under my belt, leveraging these into more and more investments. I hope to be able to work remotely and travel the world, discovering and learning from other people and new cultures.

I’m really excited for the next couple years and hope to continue growing as a person and as a businessman.

How is your product/service different and unique? What’s the vision?

I’ll stick to Cape for this question! We are the first-to-market in this category and our partnerships with the airlines are exclusive. We believe that our ability to execute and knowledge of the industry is our primary competitive advantage.

The vision for Cape is to enable people that may have not been able to beforehand, to fly and travel, giving them access to adventure and learning opportunities, while seeing new perspectives. Life’s too short to stay in the same place all the time.

Who are your customers? How do you find them?

Our customers are last-minute travelers who would otherwise not travel at all. We are focused on adventure-seeking and free-spirited people who have a passion and desire to travel. We find these people through social media, forums, events and groups. We are building a community comprised with people that fit this description.

Did you experience failure along the way? What did you learn from it?

I have definitely experienced some failures along the way. From realizing some of my ideas were not worth pursuing to simply not having the means and resources to continue a project, there have been setbacks. I know it’s cliche, but these failures truly do make you a stronger person and there is no better way to learn. I am light years ahead of where I was even 6 months ago in terms of business knowledge and people skills. Experience is what allowed me to learn and know what not to do again. Entrepreneurship is really just problem solving and if you can solve difficult problems, you’ll find yourself in a much better position again and again.

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