Fitstar

Fitstar adapted iPad video workouts to each user's level and topped the charts. Mike Maser started Fitstar in 2011 as an iPad video workout app that adjusted to the user's fitness level. Apple noticed it, it often ranked at the top of the health and fitness charts, and in November 2014 Fitbit's head of product, Tim Roberts, told Mike "we want to buy the company."

The idea came on a long hike in New Zealand, where Mike tracked his heart rate and mileage and realized he loved endorphins, health and sharing them with a community. He went there after his first startup idea flopped within about three months because he wasn't connected to it, and his investors Mike Maples and Roger McNamee refused his offer to return their money. Mike calls the Fitbit offer a founder's dream, since the best companies are bought, not sold; his stage four cancer diagnosis came a week later.

Subversive

Replace meetings with a clear plan and action. At Fitstar, Mike pulled his co-founders and tech team into many meetings because he lacked a clear plan, hoping that talking would produce answers. He now says he would get clear and act instead.

In his words, the meetings were "almost an excuse for not having a clear plan."

Subversive▶ 50:00