Phil Santoro | SpeakerHub

Personal Details

Bio

Phil Santoro is an entrepreneur and a co-founder of the startup studio Wilbur Labs.

Phil Santoro co-founded Wilbur Labs in 2016 alongside David Kolodny. Based in Miami, Florida, Wilbur Labs turns bold ideas into market-leading companies, having built and invested in over 21 ventures since its inception. Notable portfolio companies include VacationRenter, which became the fastest-growing travel startup to reach $1 billion in gross bookings, and the mobile pet grooming platform Barkbus.

Prior to founding Wilbur Labs, Phil served as a Growth Strategist at Google (2013–2016) in Mountain View, California. His entrepreneurial career began early, he founded FreeForums.org while still in high school. Phil scaled the hosting platform to 125 million monthly pageviews before leading it to a strategic acquisition by the publicly traded company CrowdGather Inc. in 2010.

Phil is a frequent speaker on entrepreneurship and a contributing author for Inc. Magazine and Fast Company. He holds a BBA in Finance from the University of Cincinnati Carl H. Lindner College of Business. Phil currently lives in Miami, Florida, with his wife, Rubi, and their son.

Current position (1)

Co-Founder

Wilbur Labs

Degrees (1)

BBA, Finance

University of Cincinnati Carl H. Lindner College of Business

2008 to 2013

Presentations

Presentations (4)

Why Startups Fail

Many entrepreneurs and investors opine on this question, but few offer data-driven answers. Phil will share clear learnings on this subject, using internal research and learnings from Wilbur Labs.

One great way to raise the odds of startup success is to learn from current and past entrepreneurs. Towards that end, Wilbur Labs surveyed more than 150 startup founders about the pressures that threatened their businesses. We also pulled records of 350 startup failures from CB Insights and Autopsy then analyzed them for patterns. The resulting insights can help founders improve their odds of success this year and beyond.

How To Turn An Idea Into A Business

A blueprint for turning an idea into a business will increase success as a founder. As a startup studio, we have systemized how to start a business, and detail the steps we use to build companies.

Lessons From Building Several Companies Every Year

Phil has learned a lot from building and investing in 21 businesses since founding Wilbur Labs in 2016. Every day, he is working alongside founders and their teams to build and scale companies-from high-level strategy, down to the lowest levels of execution. Today, Wilbur Labs' companies are part of daily life and have helped hundreds of millions of people travel the world, find a job, order everyday essentials, and take care of their pets – generating billions of dollars in sales each year.

How to Personally Prepare to Start a Company

With smart preparation, leaving a job to start a company is not as intimidating as it may seem. In 2016, I quit my job at Google to launch Wilbur Labs, a startup studio that builds companies. I remember wanting to work at Google since I was 14, so leaving after three years felt risky at the time. Before long, others in my network were reaching out to me saying: I’m thinking about leaving my job to start a new business. How did you do it?