EP 165 – Kastytis Kemezys – CEO of WhatNot StartUp Studio – I Always Saw Startups as Art

by Michael Waitze | Dec 22, 2021

Asia Tech Podcast welcomed Kastytis Kemezys – CEO of WhatNot StartUp Studio for a really great face-to-face chat. Kas is a co-Founder and the CEO of WhatNot, turning it into an idea powerhouse with a commercial interest in big, scalable ideas.

Some of the topics that Kas and I discussed:

The belief that there is NOT a 10 step process to building a successful startup
The rebranding of WhatNot from a corporate venture builder into a startup studio
Some of the difficulties of building startups with corporates
Trying to formulate a new mission and vision during a trip back to Lithuania
Having the courage to admit that you are not what society wants you to be
Creating his own empire as a child and having the paperwork to prove it
The throughline from his childhood empire to building startups
Designers versus artists and imagining how the world should be
Caring about the output of your effort
Building the ‘House of Yes’
The three things that Grandpa says matter the most (Spoiler Alert – Adventures, Love, and Being Proud of Your Work)

Other titles we considered for this episode:

I Did Road Trips With My Grandpa
Let’s Just Do a Leap of Faith
They Read Too Much
This Was Harder Than We Expected
I Can Tolerate a Lot of Risk
The Child In Me Always Loved Playing with Different Ideas
I Can’t Have Shallow Conversations
Building Startups for Nature and Culture

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