Leap Academy with Ilana Golan - Emmy Nominee, Bastiano Ferrari: From Broke and Sleeping on Beanbags to Building Hollywood Success

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

Bastiano Ferrari’s journey is one of resilience and perseverance against all odds. At just 11 years old, he faced financial hardship when his father lost everything. Despite his family’s disapproval, he pursued his passion for acting, even when it meant sleeping on beanbags and struggling to eat. But with his mother to care for, Bastiano had to pause acting to launch a tech company that ultimately gave him the financial freedom to return to Hollywood, where he earned an Emmy nomination. In this episode, Bastiano joins Ilana to share how resilience and bold decisions shaped his success in both Hollywood and tech, bridging two seemingly different worlds. Bastiano Ferrari is an Emmy-nominated producer, actor, and entrepreneur. Despite setbacks, Bastiano leveraged his experiences to create a unique portfolio career that spans film, tech, and entrepreneurship. In this episode, Ilana and Bastiano will discuss: (00:00) Introduction  (01:20) From Wealth to Hardship as a Child (05:11) Pursuing Acting Despite Family Opposition (06:36) Launching and Selling His Startup (07:38) Balancing a Career in Tech and Film (10:37) Overcoming Challenges Through Resilience (15:28) The Key to Thriving in Adversity (17:43) How to Build Valuable Connections (21:14) Thriving in Multiple Careers Without Burning Out (23:39) Hollywood vs. Tech: The Illusion of Success (28:20) The Power of Big, Scary Dreams (31:29) Why He Has No Regrets About Failure (33:30) New Film Project and AI Innovations Bastiano Ferrari is an Emmy-nominated producer, actor, and entrepreneur. After facing significant financial hardship, he took a break from acting and co-founded a tech startup that was acquired in 2013. Returning to Hollywood, he worked with major stars like Will Smith, earning Emmy nominations along the way. Despite setbacks, Bastiano leveraged his experiences to create a unique portfolio career that spans film, tech, and entrepreneurship. Connect with Bastiano: Bastiano’s Instagram: instagram.com/bastianoferrari  Resources Mentioned: Bad Boys for Life: imdb.com/title/tt1502397  Leap Academy: Ready to make the LEAP in your career? There is a NEW way for professionals to Advance Their Careers & Make 5-6 figures of EXTRA INCOME in Record Time. Check out our free training today at leapacademy.com/training

Well, I am so excited about the show today, and I'm sure you're going to have an amazing time listening. But I have a favor to ask. See, I'm on a mission to help millions leap their careers, elevate their careers, land their dream rules, fast-track to leadership, jump to entrepreneurship, create portfolio careers. And this podcast is about giving you the map of how some of the biggest leaders of our time reach success.

So subscribe, download to never miss it. Plus it really, really helps us continue to bring amazing guests your way. So let's dive in. Fear is temporary, but regret is permanent. Bastianno Ferrari, actor, Emmy nominated producer, entrepreneur. My family looked down on acting.

They were like Bastianno, you cannot be an actor. We will disown you, more or less. There was a year where I had no money. I was drinking protein shakes for food because I couldn't afford a meal. I almost lost my life once. So I promised myself that if I'm going to survive that, I'm going to do things differently. Got Emmy nominated last year and have a few projects with the biggest names in

Hollywood. If you're given a big problem it's because you can handle it, it's because that's how big of a person you are. Just don't wait for things to come your way, you create it. How do you know there's something beautiful on the other side versus that's it? I have a unique perspective. Bastiano Ferrari, actor, Emmy nominated producer, entrepreneur. It's just incredible. You've been in so many films. Thank you for being on the show.

Thank you for having me. I'm excited for this. Tell us a little bit about how you grew up and how did that shape you, Bustiano? I grew up in a multiple geography, if it makes sense. I grew up between Europe, Middle East and Africa. And I feel that just made me connect with people on a different level. I understand the different cultural nuances. I understand why people do certain things that they do. And I just relate to them more organically.

And that helped me in my work and that helped me in my career. And that just helped me with my end of or. And I feel my childhood tremendously shaped who I am today and why I do what I do. Tell me about a story that you think maybe some people don't know or most people don't know that shaped you. My childhood was a little bit unique. It was an incredible childhood up until 11, and then it went into a Hollywood movie, if it makes sense.

I grew up with a father that was a farmer and entrepreneur, moved to the Middle East, to Kuwait, not myself, just him before I was born, to work in gold, then traveled around to work in agriculture, farm and gold, among other stuff. And we were very well off in my childhood. I'm the youngest, and we were very well off in my childhood. I'm the youngest and we were very well off until I was 11. And then when I turned 11, my dad had a problem and he lost all his money and I never saw

him up until I was 24. And that was the best thing that ever happened to me, to be honest, because my older sibling is about 10 years, even more age gap. So I'm very young compared to my siblings. And they lived a very comfortable life. Meanwhile, in the ages and days that are very critical to how I am shaped as a human, I had to go through certain difficulties.

One example, my brother, I was begging him for new shoes at some point, and we didn't have the money to buy new shoes. So I had to stick with my old shoe for a couple of years before we swapped it. With that, it was a bit of a shock for me. Because coming from a lavish life where I was spoiled, very spoiled, anything I wanted,

my father does it for me. You have to go to school and you have to work and you have to do all of these things to continue your education. And my brother was a kid also, so it was tough on him. He didn't know how to handle it the best way, so he was very mad at me, if it makes sense. And that gave me a bit of perspective about life. And then at the age of 16, I accidentally was in the middle of war, which is a second story that shaped my life, and I almost lost my life.

In those few minutes where I really thought that I'm going to use my life, it kind of changed who I am forever. I realized that fear is temporary, but regret is permanent. So I promised myself that if I'm going to survive that, I'm going to do things differently, and I'm going to go for whatever I want to achieve in a way where cultural norms that people think this is how you should live your life

is not necessarily how you should live your life, and you should actually go for what you want. And then I moved from just being a dreamer to being a dreamer, a doer, and an executor. And I just went after it and things kept happening. That was a big life lesson. So first of all, just this one quote, fear is temporary, regret is permanent.

Oh my God. But learning this at such a young age is so rare because I feel like when we're young, we don't really understand regret. We're just living life. And to some extent, we're sleepwalking through life and we just stumble upon luck. And it takes a little bit of that wake up, which I guess you got in a very early age. So talk to us a little bit. How did that shape you and how eventually, I don't know when exactly you got to Hollywood,

but is somebody that is not coming from the Hollywood scene, clearly it doesn't sound like your parents who are actors. So how did you even break that ceiling that looks so impossible to most people? That event was the start and not magically after that day I became a superhero. It was just one thing that clicked in my head. And it did change me as a person and I wanted to pursue acting. I loved acting. I studied acting in my school and my teacher was,

Bastianu, you have to do this. You have talent in it. However, I don't believe talent is the most important ingredient for success in general. That said, I studied computer science in university because my family wanted me to be an engineer, which I love engineering. However, my family looked down on acting. They were like, Bastianu, you cannot be an actor. We will disown you more or less. And what happened is I landed an acting gig when I was 18. And I was like, if I'm not going to study acting, if my family is not going to let me study acting, I'm going to just do it for fun because I believe that I can do it. And I landed a lead role.

It was supporting, they moved me into a lead character. However, reality hit, life happens, and I wasn't making money as an actor, and I needed to support my mother. I faced reality and I left acting, and I thought that was the end of it. I'm never going to go back into acting ever again. I started tech, worked in McKinsey,

which I learned a lot of strategy there, started the corporate life and corporate career, which is tremendous, to be honest. Met brush shoulders with magnificent people, very smart individuals. And I started a company with my brother, a tech company. We got acquired in 2013, which got us some funding, some liquidity. Granted, we tried, I don't know how many hundred ideas that didn't work before that one worked, but that's another story maybe. So the one idea that worked and we made it work

got me enough money to do things with less pressure. I started choosing what I want to do in life. So I started advising more and I started in 2020, I had a role offered to me in Bad Boys for Life. I was consulting for Carnival Cruise Lines, building synchrosets and $8 billion product. Revenue wise, not for me, for them, just to be clear. And what happened is on set, seeing Will Smith do his thing,

I just ignited something. And I was like, you know, I love this. Why don't I just do both? And I started thinking about it. Hollywood is so good at storytelling. Tech is great at strategy and execution. Tech is not great at storytelling. Hollywood is not great in business and tech and execution.

So there was a gap where I could be the bridge in the middle of those two things. Granted, both of them rely on vision. Both of them rely on aspirations and big goals. So I found a lot of commonalities in both. I moved to Los Angeles, landed an acting role, and I positioned myself in a way, in tech we're problem solvers.

That's the key to everything I believe, finding a problem to solve. I started looking at opportunities where I can help people solve key problems even before they realized that they had a problem. And I feel that helped me bridge a huge gap in Hollywood and become, you know, people are really having high regards for me. People really wanted me to be part of their projects, work on honing my talent with resilience and got Emmy nominated last year. And I have a few projects with Jenny Ortega, with Terrence Howard, with Dove Cameron, the biggest names in Hollywood.

And tech still, I'm very passionate about tech. I'm starting an AI project right now. I'm doing a lot of AI work for eBay and I'm doing an AI project for myself as well. So I'm very, very happy to do both. Still challenging, nevertheless, failing every day, which is why I'm succeeding. That was an incredible recap. I will probably take you back in time because I'm sure there's just so much learning on this incredible journey of yours.

I think we grew up in a similar environment in the sense of between two options, I could either be a doctor or I can be a lawyer and if I have to then maybe an engineer. But these were the options, you know, I was just like, you know, choose one of two or three that is your life. I just love the fact that you were able to say, you know, we are big believers in portfolio careers and that in the future of work, everybody will have a portfolio and not just one thing. I do believe that there's this whole thing of portfolio career, but take me back in time a little bit.

So I'm sure throughout your career, there was like some really core challenges, and we always learn more from failures than from the successes. Can you share a moment that you're like, oh my God, huge challenge, but huge learning opportunity? When I first finished my master's degree here in the States, there was a year where I had no money. I was drinking protein shakes for food because I couldn't afford a meal and one of my good friends hosted me in his

dorm room on a bean bag for a year. I was sleeping on a bean bag, imagine. And my family were pressuring me. They were telling me they cut off funding which they did that priorly and they were telling me that I need to go back to either Europe or anywhere else. And I didn't want to I really believed in America. I really believe in this country. And I really believe in the people here and the

possibilities in America, the American dream pretty much. And I stayed consistent and resilient for a year of everybody telling me that it's not going to work. There were very few people telling me, hey, there's a possibility. And every maybe week or so trying something that it's not working. And then eventually, even I got somebody that wanted to put me in touch with Meta for an

acquisition and then he had a tragic event in his family and I lost that connection so every glimpse of hope and then going back to even below zero and it's just my mindset was I've really positioned myself all my life to be here and this is what I actually want and I'm not gonna stop I had that vision and I really had that aspiration and I just couldn't let go. So I kept trying different things and pivoting until it worked. We started the tech, my brother and I, and started getting some positive feedback around it.

Found another person that put me in touch with some people in tech and it worked. We developed it. It's a massive project that was built with $20,000 and a team of engineers that helped me do it for free. So just people believed in it and we have a lot of speculation. So for that year of struggle was the building block

of my entire career until today. It doesn't mean everything afterwards was success. No, I still get punched every day, you know, and you stand back up. And this is true for both the tech world and Hollywood. If you think about it, Picasso, the painter and the artist, he created, I believe, 20,000 pieces of art before he got recognized as a genius. Oprah got fired as a news anchor, now she's a billionaire. Spielberg got rejected from three acting schools, and now look who he is. Michael Jordan, another industry, 9,000 missed shots before he's the goat now. And maybe a more recent example is Mr. Beast had about around 440 or 50 videos before he

went viral for the first time. So all of these great people, it's not about having the best idea because guess what? Your first idea is going to suck. Your second idea is going to suck too. Your third probably going to suck as well. It's just how resilient, how can you learn from all of those? Do you have a vision? Do you have a goal?

Do you know what you want? Do you want it enough to get all the punches? And sticking to that learning, agile, you know, and then just trying to go for it and keep resilient and stay at it and execute. It's not about the best idea. It's about the great execution, bringing everybody on board. Don't wait for people to make you feel positive. Be the person that makes people feel positive. Just don't wait for things to come your way. You create it. And Eliana, there was a great example, if I may share with you, that somebody mentioned it.

And I'm gonna phrase it in my words, and I'm gonna tie it back to the example that I said about all these geniuses that I mentioned. The one thing they have in common is they kept knocking and knocking and knocking on the door. Nobody opened the door. So they created their own stage. They created their own house.

And they let people knock on their house instead. So if you don't find the opportunity, just create it. It's okay. Don't be mad at it. Just create it. Create something for others. You know what I mean? Ooh, I love that. And for the audience, if you didn't catch this,

if you can't get in the door, maybe you need to build your own door, right? And just carve your own door and get in, right? I mean, I just love that, right? But Bastiano, sometimes, and I think for many of our listeners, sometimes life gets so hard, right? It's like you're trying so hard, things are still punching you, things are not falling into place, you slept on a beanbag.

Maybe some people here lost their jobs, some of them are in some kind of financial stress. How do you train that well enough? Just keep on going, keep on believing, keep on taking one step at a time? What works for you, Bustiano? So that's a very good question, actually. There's two aspects of it. The harder your problems, the more you are shaped to face bigger ones.

And if you're given a big problem, it's because you can handle it. It's because that's how big of a person you are. You're not going to be given a problem, a small problem, unless you are a person that can only handle small problems. And that's how I always think about it. If my problems are large, it means that's what I can handle. It means I'm doing things great. I didn't have money multiple times in my life, not just once, you know? I almost lost my life once. A lot of things happen and each time,

I just think sometimes you don't get what you want because you deserve better. And sometimes whatever it is, I'm saying that in the term where the example you mentioned, if somebody lost their job, maybe they didn't get what they want because they deserve something better, it's true. And sometimes the hardship is there just to shape you

for something that is as great as you want it to be. Because, and this is key, if you're getting successes in small doses and that's it, it's like a drug that keeps you mediocre. But if you're challenged, then that's what builds you to become great. Because when you overcome all of these things, you develop skill set and it's true, you develop certain skill set resiliency that lets you face the final boss, if you want to call it from a game perspective. So just understand

what you're working with your network, shape yourself in a way that once that door is created by you or once that door opens, you're ready to take the reins and you've been shaping yourself and training yourself and gaining that knowledge to be able to take the reins. Oh, such a beautiful way to put it. I do believe that you're building a muscle to become the legend that you were supposed to be, but that muscle needs to be built by some challenges that come your way to create that and to build you to the next version of you. And Bastiana, you also talked about network, and I think that's really, really important because I'm pretty sure every opportunity you've ever gotten is through people bringing you opportunities.

It's not job boards. These opportunities are not coming from the newspaper. So can you give an example of how exactly that worked for you? So I'm going to give a tactical example there. I love people. I have an introvert extrovert piece of me. I'm an introvert when I want to study something and just geek on something and I have my times where I'm an extrovert. Loses my energy and I have to go back to

being an introvert. You have to understand who you are. Networking is a skill set that can be built but also until you build it you can hang out with people that are great networkers and help each other. You have a skill set that they would need and vice versa. They help you with networking piece. So it's really important to understand who you surround yourself with and give value. I think the biggest thing I've received in my life, where after I've given something to somebody or, you know, given away something, not after taking something. So the more you give, the more value you create.

I think I mentioned something at some point, find problems that you can solve for people, even without them knowing that they have that problem. And help people out. If you're helping people, if you're building together, that is the best thing that you can do. Understanding your strength, understanding areas that you can improve on, and understanding the strength of

your circle and network, and collectively positioning yourself and the collective self in a way that can have a competitive advantage out there, whether it's in acting, whether it's in anywhere, and I think that's both tech and acting. Networking is very important. So I would say if you feel like you need help networking, start with public speaking, start with some courses or putting yourself out there to speak publicly, push yourself out of your comfort zone,

find friends that are really good at it, find a good role model like yourself, Ilana for example, I'm pretty sure people use you as an example. So find an example and hone your skill set. But don't wait until you're perfect. It's okay if you're not perfect. Just know who your team is because you can achieve way more as a team than as an individual. Hey, I'm pausing here for a second. I hope you're enjoying this amazing conversation. Don't forget to subscribe and download. Now if you're looking to leap your own career, figure out what's next for you, fast-track your own growth, and create portfolio career?

Check out my free 30-minute training at leapacademy.com slash training. That's leapacademy.com slash training. Now back to the show. First of all, the notion of give, give, give. Yes, I understand it's a chess game and you want to do this right. And there's also an ask that we need to get better at asking what we need. But if we don't give, we become that person that is just taking, taking, taking. And eventually the squeaky wheel maybe gets the oil,

but it's the first thing you're going to get rid of. Right. So at some point point it's really important to understand What is the other person? What can I help? What can I offer? Because when there's really specific things that you can give and you're seeing as that indispensable It's just incredible and I love the example of public speaking for me public speaking changed my life It's just such a great way to be on one hand more of a thought leader, on the other hand, give a lot back. Just love all of this

Paciano. And I think we both share kind of what we talked about these portfolio careers. You don't have to do just one. There's like an element of multiple things that can actually create a ripple of the value that you bring of create this like incredible snowball. How do you juggle all of this because sometimes it gets daunting, it can get a lot of work. I get asked that a lot and I don't spend my time in avenues where it doesn't bring value to my life. That's number one. We have a lot of time. Time is the most valuable resource out there. It's not money. We have a lot of

time though. Time box, it's a tech term. If you time box correctly and if you prioritize, so identify what is the key things that you can focus on in a lean way and eliminate waste. So activities that don't matter, just don't focus on them and focus on activities that matter on both sides. So prioritization and eliminating waste is key. And on the ground, you don't have to do everything on your own.

In Hollywood, for example, I know what my key skill sets are and I know what I want. And I know certain avenues that skill sets are and I know what I want and I know certain avenues that people are better than me at. So I focus on the areas that are important for me and I delegate some avenues that other people can help me with. So as a team, we're succeeding. And then tech tech takes most of my time, to be honest, and it's very similar in tech. I feel film is more of a passion to me. Film, acting, producing, all the above is more of a passion for me. It's like somebody playing tennis.

You spend time maybe every day sometimes or three times a day playing tennis. I spend that time doing film, if it makes sense. But prioritization and eliminating waste, I would say are the key aspects that allow me to diversify in both avenues. Ooh, I love that, Bastiano. And for you, the audience listening to this or seeing us on YouTube, I love looking at this as BREAD, B-R-E-A-D.

So batch, reduce, eliminate, automate, and delegate. So if you can look at your life and decide what can you reduce, what you can eliminate altogether, what you can automate, what you can delegate, it's gonna make such a big difference. But yeah, I know that was amazing. And I love that acting on one hand is your fun area,

but that's maybe also why, you know, in such a short time you've been able to be Emmy nominated and like it's probably because you're having a blast. Can you give us a glimpse into this world? So I come from the tech world, but I think Hollywood is this thing that we just see on the screen. Can you give us a glimpse of what does that feel like?

What does it look like? And what's next there? It's very exciting, Hollywood. It's nice because I'm going to tell you a funny example in a little bit, but you grew up watching these people that inspire you on the big screen and you think it's the others, it's them. It's like in Mars. It's not real life. It's not the big screen. And you think it's the others, it's them. It's like in Mars, it's not real life. It's not the real world.

And it's unattainable sometimes. And then the more you get closer to it, you just realize it just, to me, it was very motivating and very inspiring. And I didn't believe it at first. I had the imposters in them for a little bit. I was like, am I really doing this? No, there's no way.

I come from a small farm town in the middle of nowhere and I'm here right now. So I had this dilemma in my head of is this real? And it's just very inspiring and something very funny between the tech world and the film world. In the film world, if you tell somebody that I'm about to do a movie with Will Smith, for example, they find it harder to believe, like, no way, that is not true.

It's a big aw. Vice versa. In Hollywood, if you tell somebody I'm building a billion-dollar product, they're going to be like, yeah, right, that is not going to happen versus in the tech industry, like, oh, really, what are you solving? What market are you focused on? What's your go-to-market strategy? What's your technology?

So it's more real to them. They're still impressed, but it's more real to them. So any limitation, it's there because of something you don't understand, not something you're incapable of. And I really believe that. I feel like sometimes we put limitations on ourselves because we just were told by somebody that didn't believe they can make it or somebody that tried once or maybe ten times, which ten times is not enough. If you're anybody successful, they will tell you ten times is very little.

They tried ten times and decided they can't do it. And they tell you that you cannot do it. In reality, they're projecting their own experiences on you. So a lot of the self-inflicted limitations are because of something that we don't know, we don't understand, and not something that we're incapable of, or we're incapable of acquiring or learning. For example, I know you're part of the entrepreneurial world and to you maybe it's very surprising if somebody's working with Will Smith versus somebody on Will's team is very surprised

by the things that you accomplished because they don't understand this. I totally know because, you know, I started my career in the Air Force as an F-16 flight instructor. And for most people, that's weird. What did you do? But for me, that was my life.

That's what I knew at age 18, 19, 20. But I think the interesting thing is what you just said that is so important. Usually the people that will kill those dreams are not where you wanna be. So I think one of the biggest things that I want people to listen to, the reason why I'm so passionate about this podcast

is because we're bringing these blueprints and these proofs basically, this evidence that, yes, you can come from a small town and still make it to tech in Hollywood. And I think that just so, so, so important for people to hear. It's like, okay, so I just need to try harder. I love that story, Bustiano. Thank you.

You said it very well, by the way, very nicely put. I should listen more to your podcast so that my English is as articulate as yours, Elana. Oh, I don't know if that's what I would say. Taking my Italian spring language and changing it into articulate terms. Oh, I see. No, you're awesome, Vassiano. But seriously, we just had Cez Godin on the show, and one of the things that he says, which I think is interesting, and I would love your perspective, sometimes you persevere

through something, but it's actually what he calls a cul-de-sac or a dead end. You're persevering through something, but it's clearly not going to have some major success on the other side. So you're actually kind of wasting your time. On the other hand, many times there's just this amazing thing that's going to happen on the other side. So work harder, persevere, try again.

What works for you? How do you know, you know, when things are really challenging, like when you sleep on a bean bag, how do you know there's something beautiful on the other side versus that's it, I'm done, this is never going to work, let me pull the towel and that's it, I'm done. this is never gonna work, let me pull the towel and that's it, I'm done. What is that for you, Bustiano? I have a unique perspective on that avenue, particularly. I'm gonna tie a very blanket, big coat that I'm in love with,

into the reality of what you just said right now. There's a quote that I love, if your dreams don't scare you, then you're not dreaming big enough. And why is that important? Think of what you just said. You always try things that don't work, but if your dreams were this small, then that thing that didn't work will define you. Versus if those things that didn't work are just part of a bigger vision and bigger dream then it's okay to fail continuously and quickly and learn and pivot because your goal is much bigger than that and all of these

are tactical moves and milestone for you to achieve your big goal and vision that's why dream big have big vision vision, don't be scared. And those failures would be just milestones and stepping stones, and they won't be your entire self. And that term is also related to sunk costs. Sunk costs in the business world means when you've invested resources and time on a product or an idea and it's not working. However, because you spend so much resources on it, time and money, you continue to bleed and you continue to spend more resources on it without letting go. Now, some cost is not good. These are, I believe you were talking on these terms as well. It is

important to understand when you need to pivot, not give up, but pivot. If you're already investing too much resources on something, stop doing the exact same thing and repeating your mistakes. Learn from them. Let go of some costs. Pull the plug on something and start something new, or reshape it, or reimagine it into something. And I feel continuing to do that,

understanding what is working, what is not working. There's nothing that you can do where everything's working. That's unrealistic. That's an unrealistic expectation on yourself, and it's not fair for yourself. It's unrealistic for you to expect everything's gonna go well, and everything you're gonna try is just gonna work magically. Nobody's that brilliant, especially successful people.

So have this big vision and everything you do on a tactical level is a milestone to achieve that big goal. That's when little failures and things that are not working are easy to let go of or pivot from because your goal is much bigger and you understand where you're heading towards. I love this, Bastiano. This is super, super, super true. And I think that if you can dream really big, but then take those imperfect steps every single day, suddenly the clarity comes from action, not just thinking about it, dreaming about it. That just creates fear and doubt. But, Stano, if you're looking at your younger self, what are some of the things that you know today

that maybe would have shaped you differently based on where you are right now? I will tell you something very interesting that I thought about this for the longest time. And I had GQ, I had an interview with GQ, they asked me the same question. But I'm going to give you a different answer than them because I gave them an answer that later I kept thinking about it, and I decided that I would do something differently. So can I give you a new answer to that question?

I would love that. I wouldn't tell them a single thing. Because if you go back to my story of I had a lavish life as a kid and then it became very tough. I think that question mark, that unknown and those hardships were the main things that shaped me the way I am today. Had my dad continued to have money and be rich throughout my teenage life, I would not be here today.

I would be in a different position completely. So I would maybe just go and enjoy watching myself go through those things with a different perspective and know that, hey man, I thought that's the end of the world and I thought that is gonna be the way it is forever. But something inside of me, since I was a kid, knew that I will do something that is big,

and I never let go of that all my life until today. I would be worried to tell myself that it's gonna be fantastic, and give myself that reassurance of taking it easy. I don't want to take it easy at that age. I think all the hardships meant great things. Maybe I will tell myself to buy a thousand Bitcoin. Or.

I love that. And just don't sell them until 2025, trust me on that. I'm not going to sell them until 2025. Trust me on that. And it sounds like you have some big plans in tech and in Hollywood. Anything you want to share? Yeah. So I'm very excited to work on some new film projects. I hope everybody watches my journey in Hollywood and watches the movies that we're creating.

Very excited for them. One of them is called Love Me Dead with Dove Cameron. I'm really, really a big fan of Dove Cameron. I think she's fantastic. And I got to work with her on this project. It's coming to the theaters in August. And I'm also working on an AI company. So stay tuned for that.

It scans your face and gives you some fun stuff. I'll say more in time. And we're rolling out some new AI technologies with eBay as well. So I would love for you to go test them out, test the AI help experience with eBay and let me know if you have any feedback there. That would be amazing. And I would leave you with something that I just noticed as I do product training. When I do agile and product strategy and execution,

there's a ball game where we take iterations, different sprints. Each time the team, we split people into different teams and the teams have to meet back and decide how can they do things better and how can they improve the quality of the product. Now on the third or fourth sprint I just give them one piece of information their scores would be around 10, 15, 20. I just tell them when I did this exercise for the first time my score was 2,400 instead of 20. of 2400. That little piece of

information, which they hate me for it at that moment of time, they're like, why are you bragging, but I do it on purpose. The next sprint, every single time I do this training, the same thing happens. The next sprint, everybody score more than doubles automatically. So they move from 15 points per sprint to 100 something points per sprint automatically. And I realized that it's because of a limitation that they had on themselves. It's because they believed, all right, everybody's just doing this good.

So this is the norm. And then it shifted to something out there could be done that is greater. And they just opened their minds into different possibilities. And that's how life is. The moment you realize that there is something bigger that you can do, not somebody else that you can do, it's magical how your outcome, performance, mindset, and yourself becomes that much better, bigger, and grander. So you broke the four-minute mile for them, and since then, they know that it's possible,

so now they're aiming for bigger things. I love that. Thank you so, so, so much for joining us. I can't wait to see you and one of the film fancy things that you're doing. And I'm really, really excited that you made it to the show, Bastianu. Thank you so much. Thank you, Eliana. It's been a pleasure and stay in touch. Hopefully we'll meet in person sometime soon and best of luck on the remaining podcasts and everything you're feeling stuck or simply want more from your own career, watch this 30-minute free training at leapacademy.com slash training.

That's leapacademy.com slash training. Now I will see you in the next episode of the Leap Academy with Ilana Golancho.