Olivia Owens is the Creator & General Manager of IFundWomen of Color , the platform for women of color to raise capital through crowdfunding, grants, coaching, and the connections needed to launch and grow successful businesses. This funding ecosystem is designed to empower early-stage, women entrepreneurs and bridge the funding gap for women of color. Olivia was a founding team member of IFundWomen and managed Business Development and Partnerships. IFundWomen launched in 2016 and continues ...
Aug 03, 2020•33 min
Chad moved to the DC area for school, attending the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was a D1 collegiate decathlete in their Track & Field program. He began his post-collegiate career in the residential remodeling industry, and noticed that it typically took 6 people and multiple touches from each person to help one customer renovate a bathroom. He understood what may have worked 70+ years ago, just doesn’t work today. The renovation process needed, well…a renovation. At Living...
Aug 02, 2020•55 min
Max de Melo is a real estate entrepreneur based in Scottsdale, Arizona. After moving to the U.S. from Germany, Max and his business partner and friend Patrick Niederdrenk started from humble beginnings in the real estate industry with the first home they flipped and from there have grown an empire of real estate, as co-owners and managing partners of America One Luxury Real Estate , in addition to doing remodels and rebuilds of multi-million dollar homes in the Paradise Valley area. America One ...
Aug 01, 2020•56 min
Saurav Agarwal is an entrepreneur and engineer. He is currently the founder, CEO & CTO at his second startup, SIERA.AI , which uses AI-driven solutions to boost compliance, prevent accidents, and fill labor shortages in logistics through digital inspection software, forklift collision prevention, and automated material handling. Saurav got his start in robotics during his undergrad at IIT Bombay. He went on to do an M.S. and Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University in the E...
Jul 26, 2020•42 min
Peter Peng is the founder and CEO of Jetson , the Shopify of voice commerce. It is voice-first marketplace technology that adds true commerce capabilities to voice assistants such as Alexa and Google Home by enabling multi-step conversations, which allow you to explore a menu or catalog, customize products, and transact them in a natural and unconstrained way. Jetson also enables businesses of any size to easily sell products and services through voice interfaces using Jetson's end to end platfo...
Jul 19, 2020•51 min
Christian is the Co-Founder and CEO of We Are No Code , an educational platform that empowers non-technical founders through No-code technology. WeAreNoCode prepares startups for accelerators, investment, and revenue growth through an 8-module guided course. Christian is a serial entrepreneur and digital strategist with over 12 years experience building startups, running accelerators and consulting for fortune 500 companies and celebrities. As a trainer, he served as the co-director of a startup...
Jul 12, 2020•56 min
Sabena was born on Long Island and raised in the Bay Area. She realized her heart was in SoCal and traded in the City by the Bay for the sunnier skies of Los Angeles. Ever the USC over-achiever—student government chair by day and leadership fraternity by night—she was selected as a USC Global Fellow, earning a 3-month summer fellowship in Hong Kong with Burberry and graduated magna cum laude with a BA in PR. In 2014, Sabena and her two co-founders, Chelsea Moore and Jenni Olivero, were inspired ...
Jul 05, 2020•55 min
Loren Brill is an entrepreneur with a mission to make clean food delicious and more accessible. After overcoming cancer after college, she cut out most dairy, artificial and highly processed ingredients. When she couldn’t find anything to satisfy her sweet tooth with, she made up her own recipes. Sweet Loren’s was born. Loren is the CEO & Founder of Sweet Loren's , a clean food CPG company transforming what is means to be convenient, insanely tasty, and more sustainable. Their first product ...
Jun 29, 2020•42 min
Jacob Pace is the CEO of Flighthouse , the largest media brand on TikTok. Flighthouse has almost 25 million followers and over 2 billion likes. They also operate an agency that works with a variety of brands and labels on TikTok marketing campaigns. A native of El Paso, Texas, Jacob started working for record labels and PR firms remotely as a teenager. Just after graduating from high school, he moved out to L.A. to work for Create Music Group. He has since become one of the youngest CEOs in the ...
Jun 14, 2020•30 min
Chris and Nicholas are the founders of www.WithClutch.com . The two met at Stanford Business School in 2011 and started their first company, Carlypso, in 2013. After going through YCombinator and raising $10M in venture funding, Chris and Nicholas sold Carlypso to Carvana in 2017. Their new business, WithClutch, allows car owners to calculate savings and refinance their loans from the comfort of their home. Chris is a huge car enthusiast. He went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT...
Jun 07, 2020•52 min
Samantha Patil is the founder and CEO of Well Traveled , a members only platform for trusted travel recommendations and reviews. The growing platform, currently in beta, is designed to streamline travel discovery and planning, through a community driven approach to content curation. Well Traveled's content library of trending hotel, restaurant, nightlife and activity recommendations is member sourced and endorsed and is constantly evolving based on member feedback. Membership is on an applicatio...
May 24, 2020•40 min
Adam Mendler is the Chief Executive Officer of The Veloz Group , where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries: Beverly Hills Chairs, a leading office furniture e-tailer; Custom Tobacco, a one-of-a-kind cigar customization e-commerce platform; and Veloz Solutions, a technology consulting and software development practice. Adam remains active in each portfolio company, providing strategic guidance and support. Adam also provides business thought leadership as a spe...
May 17, 2020•46 min
Victoria Repa is the CEO & Co-Founder of BetterMe , a health and fitness app empire with more than 50 million installs, 400,000+ paid subscribers, and annual revenue of more than $60 million. BetterMe's flagship app often ranks as one of the top #5 apps on the App store in the health and fitness section. Connect with Victoria Repa LinkedIn Instagram Some of the Topics Covered by Victoria Repa in this Episode How Victoria started BetterMe How Victoria decided on the initial version of the app...
May 10, 2020•42 min
Lauryn Nwankpa , Head of Social Impact at Dave and former Head of Social Impact at Headspace , is drawn to impact driven organizations, her work primarily focuses on developing and implementing effective strategies to eradicate poverty, increase access to education, and alleviate wealth and income inequality. From outreach and advocacy, to philanthropy and community engagement, she brings together critical stakeholders to increase access to key resources leading to the empowerment and self-actua...
Apr 26, 2020•55 min
Ed Buckley is the CEO of Peerfit , a digital platform that makes it easy for employers, insurance carriers, and brokers to offer fitness classes to their clients and employees. Peerfit users gain access to a variety of services and experiences, empowering them to personalize your journey to wellness, to lead a more active and healthier lifestyle. Peerfit is on a mission to empower individuals to live healthy and active lifestyles. They believe wellness is personal and fitness is more fun with fr...
Apr 12, 2020•50 min
Dan is the founder of e-commerce brand, Unbound Merino , which is a maker of quality merino wool clothing. The company was started as a crowdfunding campaign , raising $380,000 in its first 2 months. After just 3-years in business, they are now doing $4m in revenue.
Apr 05, 2020•53 min
Sam Adams serves as chief executive of dot.LA . A former financial journalist for Bloomberg and Reuters, Adams moved to the business side of media as a strategy consultant at Activate, helping legacy companies develop new digital strategies. Adams holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and an MBA from the University of Southern California. A Santa Monica native, he can most often be found at Bay Cities deli with a Godmother sub or at McCabe's with a 12-string guitar. His favorite colors ...
Mar 29, 2020•45 min
Kari's story: "During my first week back from maternity leave, my daughter’s daycare closed for two weeks because they accidentally left a kid at the park. Rough start, and it didn’t get easier from there. I used to question every decision I made as a mom and would end up crying in the bathroom at work. I just felt like I was reinventing the wheel each day, which is why I knew I had to build something to help myself (I was basically my own guinea pig) and the countless other ambitious women out ...
Mar 23, 2020•49 min
Asa Firestone is an avid rock climber and entrepreneur based in Boulder, Colorado. He often describes himself as a washed up explorer turned hotelier. He is the co-founder of the Boulder Adventure Lodge ( A-Lodge ). He also co-founded several successful non-profit organizations focused on introducing the outdoors to at-risk youth; Climb for Colorado, Adventure Forward, and the Centro de Escalada Urbana. He also founded BeyondGear, a social enterprise selling lifestyle gear to the outdoor communi...
Mar 17, 2020•1 hr 4 min
Blaine founded what's now known as Student Brands in 1999 as a freshman in college. He didn't raise any money and Barnes and Noble Education (NYSE:BNED) bought it for $58.5 million in August 2017. Blaine enjoys investing in for-profit and nonprofit organizations, especially when his experience is helpful to the founders. He's acquired about ten businesses as well. Blaine has also co-created a couple of television shows and has produced some films. He's particularly interested in investing in mea...
Mar 11, 2020•57 min
Phil O’Brien is the founder and publisher of W42ST , a hyperlocal lifestyle print magazine and media brand that connects readers to the New York City experience. As others migrate toward a more digital presence, W42ST Magazine is a successful print magazine for and about Hell’s Kitchen. Under Phil’s leadership, W42ST Magazine has a circulation of over 30,000 and has featured original interviews with local luminaries like Broadway leading man Max von Essen; New York politician Corey Johnson; The ...
Mar 02, 2020•52 min
Lauren Foundos is the Founder and CEO of FORTË , a company that streams live and on-demand boutique fitness classes from the hottest studios worldwide directly to you. Founded in 2015, FORTË has revolutionized the fitness industry by providing access to avant-garde boutique studio classes coached by leading fitness experts worldwide. Both a technology and subscription based streaming platform, FORTË installs hardware and software into boutique studios, which enable the classes to be streamed liv...
Feb 24, 2020•54 min
Nicaila Matthews Okome is a Jamaican born, Bronx bred marketer and side hustler turned full-time podcaster and entrepreneur. In 2016, she created the Side Hustle Pro podcast . Side Hustle Pro is the first and only podcast to spotlight bold, black women entrepreneurs who have scaled from side hustle to profitable business. Since launch, it’s has been named “the perfect entrepreneurship podcast” by Mashable, featured on the TODAY show, earned over three million downloads, and amassed a loyal socia...
Feb 19, 2020•52 min
Malaria kills about 400,000 people per year with millions more falling ill - 70% of these people are children under 5 years old. Rob Mather and his team at the Against Malaria Foundation are working to solve this massive problem. Rob Mather is the founder and CEO of The Against Malaria Foundation . AMF has now raised more than $230 million, funding more than 100 million anti-mosquito bed nets protecting millions of people. AMF uses technology, rigorous processes and clear accountability to ensur...
Feb 10, 2020•49 min
Zach Beinlich is the bass player of Yam Haus , a band which exploded in popularity in 2019. With "electro-poppy grooves and swooning vocals” (Star Tribune, June 2018), Minneapolis-based pop group, Yam Haus, is challenging the indie dominated scene of the Twin Cities. Tight guitars, dreamy synths, and clean production from Grammy award-winning producer Mark Heimermann, helped drive year one successes. Their debut album, “Stargazer,” lands with the energy of WALK THE MOON, the charisma of Coldplay...
Feb 03, 2020•48 min
Tara, a scientist-turned-general-manager with over 14-years of cross-functional healthcare experience at Johnson & Johnson, co-founded DIG Labs in 2019 when she decided to dedicate the next chapter of her life to closing the gaps between human and pet healthcare. She holds a B.S. in Materials Science & Biomedical Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from NYU Stern. Tara is also a registered patent agent. She holds six patents spanning biomedical nanotechnology to consumer produ...
Jan 27, 2020•52 min
Brittany Laughlin , is Head of Investor Relations at Blockstack PBC. She’s spent 6 years investing in blockchain and network effect businesses through her own firm, Lattice Ventures, and on the investment team at Union Square Ventures. A serial entrepreneur, she's built 3 companies, including gtrot which sold to Groupon. Her work focuses on the intersection of community and technology. In the past few months since Blockstack’s historic SEC-approved Regulation A+ filing in the United States, Bloc...
Jan 21, 2020•42 min
Brian Conyer is the co-founder and CEO of GIBLIB , a company he started in 2015 with fellow USC Trojan Jihye Shin. GIBLIB curates and creates high quality educational videos from expert physicians at the leading academic medical centers and streams the library on-demand to medical professionals globally. Want to connect with other go-getters? Join The Grind ! The Grind is a community where entrepreneurs, creators, and other go-getters can connect digitally and in-person to build their businesses...
Jan 13, 2020•45 min
Christina founded The New Quo because she believes story is one of our most powerful tools for change. The New Quo is a content platform and communications consultancy helping leaders and companies rebrand and rewrite their voice to convey their unique purpose, navigate change, gain buy-in, and create status-quo breaking communications that shift hearts, mindsets, and culture for the better. Christina has spent the past 10 years using story to drive action — from motivating 300,000 young people ...
Jan 06, 2020•49 min
Liz Long is on a mission to help "makers" succeed! She's the creator of Learn To Make A Product™ and contributing writer at Forbes, where she covers the world of physical product entrepreneurship. Learn To Make A Product is serving makers from all over the world. Their workshops, digital products, and support packages have reached over 5,000 people and Liz has educated groups at MIT, Babson, General Assembly and beyond! Want to build your business? Join The Grind ! The Grind is a community where...
Jan 02, 2020•36 min
