Dylan Gambardella
Dylan is the Co-founder and CEO of Next Gen HQ, a hub empowering entrepreneurs with the tools and resources to excel at business and life. Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, and startup investor, he is recognized for his work leading a venture-backed, scaling startup.
On his morning routine
When it comes to morning routines, I always say it happens the night before. I have a great morning routine whenever I have a great evening routine. Life design is interconnected, and by that logic, I am protective of my time.
I wake up around 5:30 am and try to meditate, pray, and journal first thing in the morning—before I even turn on my phone. Journaling is something I recently incorporated into my routine through reading The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. It’s a compelling book that provides direction and shares the tools to cultivate a fulfilling life.
On what life design means to him
Life design to me means living with intentionality. I like to think of entrepreneurship as a vehicle to design my life, and what I get to do day-to-day is building the life of my dreams—through my business.
Not what the world thinks for Dylan, but what Dylan actually wants.
That can be tough to separate, but you have to tap into that side of you a bit.
On his Northstar
Freedom is the word I would use, and I think it is a little bit more in-depth beyond that. It is to do things that matter to me, with people I want to be learning from. I'm a big believer that you're either growing or not, and I never want to be content with kicking back and passing the time. This is why my curiosity has always driven me to new challenges and projects. I hope to curate the freedom to be intentional about where I spend my time because that's all we got, right?
Working towards a vision, step by step
I’ll give a quick shout-out to one of our early team members, Dan Russo; he coined the phrase after a few of my town hall rants:
“You have to be a bird in the sky, thinking high level, but have your feet in the ground.”
The point is that you need to embody your why and not get caught up and forget about your long-term purpose. Getting out of bed and going a million miles an hour to get that thing done.
Traction by Gino Wickman is a book I read which was pivotal in my journey. I would recommend it to any entrepreneur who’s starting a business. It's about the EOS system and talks about structures that businesses can flourish and operate under.
The fruits of putting in the work
When we had Ray Dalio on our podcast about a year ago, everybody was like, “Oh, you landed Ray Dalio. That's amazing. How'd you do it?”
My answer: try for six years.
There's no secret recipe. I truly believe if you're willing to put in the work, it will come around. You have to work smart and efficiently. This can happen through mentors, authentic relationships, and partnerships, but it all starts and ends really with just putting in the work.
The power of entrepreneurship
I first got to explore the power of entrepreneurship by a selfish desire. I wanted to connect with other like-minded people who were having thought-provoking conversations, asking questions to make sense of the business world—and how they fit into it. Like we are, sharing knowledge to build your best entrepreneurial self.
On curating proof of concept
My Co-founder Justin and I couldn't find a community for early-stage entrepreneurs who were at an inflection point in their journey. There were several for established businesses, but there wasn't really anything for the “just getting started entrepreneur.” We wanted to surround ourselves with others on our stage, learn from them, and build our peer network. This came to fruition for us in Austin, Texas, back in summer 2015.
The Next Gen Summit—our first event. Maybe the worst-produced event of all time. My mom and dad handing out badges and checking people in. Justin's parents helping with table setups. The design of our event may have been terrible, but in its essence, it was it. The conversations, quality of the people, and relationships formed bred Thiel fellows, seven years later entrepreneurs who have sold nine-digit businesses. It proved to us that there was a need for NextGen.
On fighting dysfunctional beliefs
For me, growing up and even to some level today— the mentality of “I want it now.” I want the billion-dollar business today; I want to be living my dream life at this very moment. I've come around to realize it’s about the journey.
Shout out to late Kobe Bryant— a superstar. He made a great speech about waking up early, still tired, and working out anyways. That is the dream; that's everything. I'm enjoying the journey and often remind myself to relax, not rush or be in a hurry. That’s been powerful.
On embracing imposter syndrome and stepping into your why
We did not decide to take the accelerator route because we wanted to invest in individuals. The media, content, experiences that we're curating are about helping you find momentum in your own journey—through community, education, resources, and mentorship.
So yes, I sometimes face imposter syndrome, lack of confidence, in other words. Perhaps every single day. If you’re an entrepreneur, you have to embrace that. It’s part of the course.
If you wake up one day and think:
“What the heck are we doing? We have this great mission, 20 employees on the payroll, and the desire to scale to a billion dollars? But—I have no clue what I'm doing today?”
That's the norm.
Sometimes that is the opportunity, the motivation, the importance for innovation. You have to embrace that and step into it.
