Greyt Big Talk w/ Mike Belsito
The Dark Side of Entrepreneurship
Mike Belsito talks candidly about his startup failure and the lessons learned through the experience.
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Mike Belsito
Head of Product Evangelism, Mind the Product
Mike Belsito is a startup business developer who loves creating something from nothing. He is Head of Product Evangelism for Pendo and Mind the Product, the world's largest product management community. Pendo brought Mind the Product together with Product Collective, the Cleveland-born community Mike co-founded and the home of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference, in September 2024. For his leadership there he has been named one of the top 40 influencers in product management several times, and he is now writing The Future-Proof Product Manager, due from Wiley in February 2027.
Before that, Mike spent about a decade in startups as an early employee, leader and co-founder. He was employee number one at Inc. 500 company Findaway, co-founded eFuneral and served as VP of Product at Movable. He wrote the book Startup Seed Funding for the Rest of Us, and products and businesses he has built have been featured in The Atlantic, Inc., CNN, PBS and The New York Times.
He holds an MBA from Case Western Reserve University and a bachelor's degree from Bowling Green State University. Mike, his wife, Hannah, and their son, Edison, live in Lakewood, Ohio, where he has served as the city's Entrepreneur-in-Residence.
Greyt Quote
“Sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something”
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Location
Cleveland Public Library
325 Superior Ave., Cleveland, OH, 44114
Cleveland Public Library's Main Library fills the downtown block of Superior Avenue between East 3rd and East 6th streets. The campus joins the 1925 Main Library building, designed by Cleveland architects Walker & Weeks, with the Louis Stokes Wing, completed in 1997, and the Eastman Reading Garden between them. Inside are Brett Hall's exhibit space, grand reading rooms, a Learning Commons and the subject departments of one of the largest public research libraries in the country. The library opened in 1869 as a public school library and was the first large public library to let people choose their own books straight from the shelves.
About this event
Mike Belsito talks candidly about his startup failure and the lessons learned through the experience.