Stairway to CEO

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:How she discovered, that she really loved retail and how that was helpful as she began to build BOXFOXHow wanting to send a thoughtful and comforting gift box to a friend who was sick sparked the idea for BOXFOX when Chelsea and two good friends saw that there wasn’t really a great way to do this yetHow the three Co-Founders work together and get a long and how they worked to get ready for launch in 2014What companies Chelsea and her Co-Founders look for when building partnerships with brands that will be part of the platform for their boxes and why these characteristics are important to them and to their customersHow they managed to build this company without any investor help and what steps they took to stay the course and grow organically with self-funding and revenueHow they have navigated COVID, what positives and negatives came from it all, and how they continue to move forward with every job still in tact within the companyWhy partnerships BOXFOX has entered into with companies like Nordstrom, Anthropologie, The Bachelorette, Girlboss, and others have been impactful and meaningful What Chelsea looks for when hiring, what she’s learned as the company has grown, and what advice she has for othersTo Find Out More:Shopboxfox.comQuotes:“It is kind of interesting how certain qualities lend themselves to ending up being entrepreneurial, or you could just be straight up, I want to be an entrepreneur, and then those qualities, find you.”“We were not going to shut it down for anything. Like come hell or high water we were just going to keep going now with time. That was our attitude at the time.”“I remember we were like, “What are all the reasons and seasons?” Which is a phrase we use. And we are trying to figure out what was the need for people? And that's really what dictated the original curation.”“It's really important for us that they're utilitarian and useful products. They're not throwaway products, and they're well designed and beautiful and they come from companies run by good people.”“We had a phenomenal year in that sense because part of our ethos is being there when you can't physically be there. We've been saying that for six years and it just became super true last year.”“The management of people is really hard...that's stuff that weighs on us. And in a good way, like we care about it. But it is a lot of work, too.”“Honestly, putting my phone down when I get home, if I'm done for the day, I'm done for the day. And that alone will set me up for success the next day because I just feel refreshed and better.”“Being a manager means you're responsible for guiding and shepherding and advocating for the people that work for you.” “Being super open and honest with people, being super kind to one another, and also just empathetic... We're really pro humanity here.”“It's a lot of responsibility, but don't feel like you need to do everything at once. Nobody's an overnight success at all. I mean, there's so many things you need to get your ducks in a row when it comes to supply chain, operations, marketing. And it's OK if it takes a little bit of time.”

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:How growing up with an entrepreneurial dad helped him experience the ups and downs of business at an early age and how being on the water polo team, even though he wasn’t good at it, taught him perseverance and time managementHow his time in investment banking after college went and why he was thankful to move on to something else after being laid off, but then had to deal with being laid off a few more times within the next few years What led Daniel to fall in love with retail, what ideas that love for retail sparked, and how he got started in the retail industry What he learned during his time at the Gap, Old Navy, and American Eagle and what finally gave him the push to start FourlapsWhat difficulties he experienced in the beginning of getting his company launched and why a trip to China revealed what he needed to do to save the businessHow lots of good press led to some growing pains, but ultimately set them up to be ready to be catapulted forward because of their partnership with Peloton and the fact that so many people were working out at home and looking for good athletic apparel during the pandemicHow he has worked through anxiety and depression and what he has done to make sure he stays connected with his community in valuable ways that help him stay groundedWhat advice Daniel shares for those who are entrepreneurs and who have an idea and want to go for it but perhaps don’t feel ready or feel afraid to make that leapTo Find Out More:Fourlaps.comQuotes:“I think the best bosses that I've had have embraced my energy and my craziness and my ideas and motivated me by encouraging those things, but also teaching me different ways of doing things.”“I learned so much there. I would say from a career point of view, it was the best career decision I could have made. But it was a very tough personal move.”“Our tagline for the brand is "Start before you're ready." And that's also my personal mantra, I would say, because if you wait for the perfect moment, it will not present itself.”“I think failure was the biggest thing that was holding me back. And I think you actually learn way more through failures than you do through successes.”“I think when you come out of a really tough situation, then it kind of puts things in perspective. And I think what I thought was what's the worst thing that can happen to me is that I have to find another job.”“I just knew that it was the right thing. And I just knew that what was out there was lackluster and was overseen and over logo-ed and neon and made from nasty materials, and I saw that people were going to start dressing differently. ““I did not pay myself a salary until last year, the middle of last year, like four years later.”“The combination of the pandemic plus Peloton, I think kind of catapulted us.”“In the beginning, your gut is all you have. You don't have data. You don't have data. You don't have science. You just have your gut. And if you have a bad feeling about something, you need to listen to that feeling.”“One of the things that I learned, now that I have a team, is that you really need to focus on the things that you're good at and you need to hire people to do the things that you're not good at.”“You have to be surrounded by people that you love, that are positive, that are going to encourage you and want to be on this journey with you.”

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:How his parents’ business and his upbringing created the drive to work hard and how Amit’s always been an entrepreneurWhat he learned in college at Penn, why he went into investment banking upon graduation, and what got him back into being an operator What valuable business lessons he learned while in private equity working with a variety of companies and processing a lot of what would become a part of his leadership styleWhat he learned from his ten years of building Arctic Zero, self-funded, with a supportive team and why his wife won’t go grocery shopping with him anymoreWhat led to the start of Velocity Snack Brands and why they are able to create incredible opportunities for great brands who serve a niche better-for-you snack marketWhat lessons were learned and difficulties persevered through during COVID and what has changed within the organization because of itHow Amit and his team do meetings differently and why they are always striving to make meetings more efficient, more decision oriented, and time sensitive for everyone on the teamWhy the way interviews are conducted at Velocity helps train the whole team to be more equipped for future leadership and also gives everyone ownership in the processWhy Amit believes that vulnerability and transparency are crucial in leading a successful organization and scaling a company for the long termTo Find Out More:VelocitySnackBrands.comQuotes:“I feel like this is why representation actually matters so much. You have to be able to see something and see yourself in that position in order to achieve it.”“Really if I can do your job better than you, you shouldn't work for me. I really shouldn't be able to do anyone's job.” “I really believe in the best idea winning regardless of the position or title.”“I also think there's no job that I won't do. I mean, whether it's wiping counters, taking out the trash, I believe no job is beneath any of us. And we're all rowing on the boat together. So all the efforts help.”“At some point, you have to understand that there has to be a market and a price fit for your product.”“I always tell my team, never, never accept the status quo. Never accept no. Or "That's the way it is." Or "That's the way other people do it." “I think bringing a data driven approach to both pitching the product, to developing the product, to selling the product is really critical in today's marketplace.”“You have to have some emotional connectivity to consumers. You have to resonate with them.”“I think the magic is really in figuring out what consumers love your brand or what consumers to target and what is the true messaging that resonates with them.”“My belief is that there are a lot of great brands out there who do have that emotional connectivity to their consumer base and do service a niche demographic. And they deserve to be.”“If you're only in a swirl, you can't think upstream. And it's really as a leader, it's our job to think upstream.”“Meetings should not just be informational, because then you should just share the info. Send an email. Right? And so just even little things like that free up people's time and energy to focus on strategy.”“All meetings need to have in the first sentence of the invite, "This meeting is to discuss X in order to decide Y." And so that forces a decision from each meeting. Meetings should be 10 percent informational, 50 percent discussion, 40 percent decision or action oriented.”“I think that I get the best out of my team when I'm honest with them, when I'm human with them and we make mistakes like the rest of them. And so I think just being able to say that allows you to be human.”“I can't expect transparency and accountability from my team if I can't be transparent and accountable to them.”“Hopefully every mistake and everything you want to change, you change. There's always time. There's time now. Let's make that impact and move forward.”“You have to empower the team to do the work, and you have to empower the team to make the decisions. And part of that is trusting. Part of that is verifying. And part of that is training.”

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:How growing up in Whiteland, Indiana and going into public school after his parents’ divorce led to years of bullying, fighting, and eventually juvenile detentionWhy goal setting and processing what he could do differently led Dylan to a complete turn around in high school and beyondHow his grandparents were examples of entrepreneurship and why working with his grandfather in his TV repair business was influential in his drive to work for money any way he couldHow a good idea sparked from the realization that there were devices that were not as easy to repair that could be a good business, like iPhones and iPods, and why that led to Dylan’s first companyWhy his time at Purdue to pursue engineering was actually short lived, and why he left school to focus on his growing businessHow he came up with the initial idea for BrüMate and why his first plan to sell his products in a local brewery ended up being a great successWhy they were positioned uniquely in the drinkware space to benefit when brands like White Claw and Truly were growing in popularityWhat advice Dylan has for hiring and building a team, letting yourself dive in to building the business you’ve created, and why seeing feedback as constructive criticism that can help you move forward is imperative to not giving upTo Find Out More:BruMate.comQuotes:“I understood that I was the reason this was happening to me and I understood where I went wrong and like what I'm doing to correct it. So that sort of signified what I call the new beginning.”“From a pretty young age, I had the drive. I've always been super ADHD. I can't stop, can't sit still. So I've always got to be fidgeting or doing something.”“My pipe dream as an entrepreneur was I wanted to be able to build and create something that I walk around and see people using.”“We would basically start doing pre orders 30 days before the production would actually be leaving. We would use that to pay the 30 percent deposit. And then once the inventory would come in, we'd fully sell through it, and then pay the manufacturer.” “By 2018 White Claw, Truly, and all these other brands that were using slim cans were really booming, and we were the only brand in the world that had a solution for those.”“If you're working with our brand, I want to make sure that you're coming, stepping into a role that they not only have the expertise with, but like they understand how to use that situationally for a brand like ours.”“Be a little less concerned about how you be a leader for the people, but more of like how do you be a leader for the company? How do you drive the company forward and focus on what the future of the brand is going to be?” “When I actually took the dive and kind of jumped off into the deep end and said, "I can do this, I am going to do this, I have no other option but doing it." That was when things really changed for me.”“You should be starting a company because you believe you can create value and value creates money and money generates wealth. There are steps in between.”“The ones that do succeed are the ones that are able to look at it and go like, "Well, here's why it's not working and I'm going to change it to try and make it work. It's not a failure.’”“I think the biggest thing that I've learned over the years is the ability to listen to feedback and not take it as criticism, but rather like try and pick out little things that can help me become better or help the company become better or products become better. That is how you see evolution of a brand, is the capability to listen.

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:Why as a kid she thought she’d one day be involved in the fashion industry and what kind of dreams and aspirations that desire led toHow her parents, who are both doctors, were instrumental in the mindset Nina grew up with of listening to the body and taking care of yourself in as many natural ways as possibleHow she gained a wide array of experience with internships during college and learned a lot about business and people at companies like Theory and KekstWhy her time at Bain was a great way for her to learn and understand so many aspects of business and be exposed to a variety of different industries, which led her to falling in love with startup cultureHow the idea for Hilma came about after an aha moment between three friends and how the name Hilma was chosen for the companyWhat the process of starting a company like Hilma was, how they measured success and proof of concept, and how they took off from thereWhat it is like to have Co-Founders and Co-CEOs and why that works really well for Nina, Hilary, and LilyWhat is next from Hilma and what they’ve learned as a DTC brand that is going to help them in their launch into retailWhat it is like to be a Founder and CEO and what advice she has for other aspiring and/or existing entrepreneurs out thereTo Find Out More:Hilma.coQuotes:“My parents are both doctors. Their approach to medicine and caregiving in the home is very much focused on kind of listening to your body and waiting before you take anything or kind of overreact to something.”“I knew I wanted to be in business, but I really hadn't picked a lane yet. And I thought that consulting was a great way to get exposure to a lot of different types of businesses, a lot of different industries, and also just gain that quantitative skill set that I felt was really important.”"Why is it that the medicine cabinet really feels stuck in the past when all of these other consumer categories have leapfrogged towards natural as being totally mainstream?" “We didn't even know what products we were going to start with. So talking to people and getting advice and just hearing how they react to you and engage with you was a very important part of the process.”“Our metrics for success were did people think the product worked and did people want to recommend it to their friends and family? Both of which very much we were able to prove.”“I think, in the beginning, a really big thing that we kind of misunderstood was the mindset of our target customer.”“I think viewing an investor as a potential consumer and kind of testing out what rationale works with them if I'm trying to convince them and how do I bucket this type of person and think about how to use that to my advantage in the future is kind of the positive thing that we're able to take away from those experiences.”“There also is a lot of interesting research that's been done on women as Co-CEOs and Co-Founders versus men, which tend to struggle in those types of relationships, whereas women tend to thrive, which is not shocking in my opinion.”“We are a category that the vast majority of consumers, even today, shop in-store. And so for us, it was less of an if. It was really a when. And I think having that in our sights and as part of our focus from day one was really important because as you know, like there's a million different priorities. And if you want to make a true retail launch work, it needs to be a focus.”“There are a lot of good moments and there are a lot of bad moments. And both of those moments need to be kept in perspective. Not one thing is going to make your business and not one thing is going to break your business.”“Those at bats of having negative things happen to you just naturally make you stronger over time. And you view them as opportunities, number one, to make a positive interaction, if you can.”“I really view "negative pitches," whether it's to an investor or a manufacturer or whoever it might be, as opportunities to get better at what you're doing, because you can always get better at selling your vision and your brand.”“One thing that worked for us and our founding team is just I do think that it's worthwhile to work on your idea for as long as you can before committing to it, mostly as a test of commitment to yourself.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About:How being born and raised in New York City and growing up as a gymnast gave her a drive for setting big goals, handling challenges, and working hardWhy walking into the wrong room by accident during a Harvard Crimson information session changed her life trajectory because it was there that she fell in love with branding, marketing, and finance as career optionsHow her time at Goldman on Wall Street and in private equity taught her so much in a short period of time with a lot of hard work and long hoursWhy Amanda’s time at Estee Lauder was an incredible experience where she was able to learn from great leaders and grow in her own leadership styleHow a networking friendship led to an opportunity to become President and later CEO of Supergoop!Why team building, company culture fit, and great training within the company are a priority and why they are making a difference at Supergoop!How Amanda led, and still is leading, the company through COVID meanwhile embracing challenges along the wayWhy morning runs are an important part of her day and a crucial part of being a great leaderWhat is coming up at Supergoop! and why they are committed to going where no SPF has gone before###To Find Out More:https://supergoop.com/###Quotes:“I was always listening to what was going on around me and trying to sort of soak it up as a sponge. And I would just take on whatever was thrown at me.”“I remember going to my boss and sort of talking to him about how I was really interested in the "other side of the table" and him being really supportive of me applying to go. And that's sort of what pivoted me to apply to business school. And I did write my business school essay about how I wanted to be a beauty CEO one day.”“Finding people who've been on common paths is often a great way to open doors because they understand what you're bringing to the table in a way that somebody who doesn't have your background maybe needs a little bit more education to understand.”“I just felt like I was speaking a language that was my native tongue and that I kind of just instinctively knew how to do it. It didn't seem so hard. And that to me was a sign of it making sense.”“I think that real leadership is about seeing the future, piecing together where the world is going and being brave enough to kind of go for it.”“You don't get anywhere by being stressed out or being angry or not handling things in a professional manner. People look up to you, you're the calm, and you've got to reflect that.”“A team is really successful because of all the different kinds of voices in the room and different sets of expertise and different viewpoints and different ways that people are looking at information.”“The number one thing is building the team, and building the culture that supports that team. The first thing I think about this morning and the last thing I think about before I go to bed.”“It is my responsibility to make sure that there's a very clear idea of what our goals are, of what order of operations we're going to do things in. And then also along the way, I also think of it as sort of my job to clear the hurdles, to open the doors and clear the hurdles.”“I think really creating a space where people are encouraged to take risks. There's nothing wrong with failure, and there's a premium put on learning. I think it's really, really important. Because you don't grow and you don't learn unless you are given the freedom to go and do that.”“I think that a great board is meant to give input. I always say I look forward to our board meetings, that I want the input, I want the advice. So that's why we have to shape the materials that we present to sort of help us extract that advice from our board.”“You can either decide to survive or you can decide to thrive.”“A great CEO is also sort of knowing when you don't know and being OK with that and sort of thinking through who might know the answer.”“When you're in my shoes you don't go home at night and put down your laptop and stop thinking about it or stop caring about the people or stop caring about the business. It is a 24/7 job.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: Why growing up on a farm in a very small town led her to New York City to try an acting and modeling career What brought her to Chicago, led to a career in hotel management, and then brought her out to San Francisco where she saw so much innovation and was inspired by entrepreneurship How the idea for Farmgirl Flowers came about and why she knew this idea was better than all of her other ideas What the early days of Farmgirl was like and how Christina worked hard and bootstrapped the whole operation How the attempt at fundraising went and why she decided to forgo the painful process and continue forward self-funded What Christina would have done differently looking back over the past 10 years of Farmgirl and why Why opening another facility in another country right before the pandemic led to the main distribution center in San Francisco getting shut down which helped save the company throughout 2020 and into 2021 How they have grown to include three full fledged distribution centers with plans to add another this year and six partner fulfillment centers with plans to add 20 to 30 more this year How Christina has grown as a leader, some of the challenges she has faced as a female leader, and what her strengths are as she continues to lead a growing company What’s on the horizon for Farmgirl Flowers and why it is an exciting time for the company and the people who have fallen in love with it as consumers ###To Find Out More: https://farmgirlflowers.com/ ###Quotes: “I'm a firm believer that you can't be what you can't see.” “I think all of my friends and family were just sick of hearing that idea every single week and kind of sighed a unified sigh of relief when I finally started Farmgirl.” “I would go pick up burlap at the coffee shops. I'd come back and cut it. I'd make the arrangements, have them ready for them to pick up, and then I would do customer service and I would do sales and all day long and I'd go to bed around midnight and get back up at 3:00. And I did that for the first two years from my dining room.” “I think you have to be very realistic and be self aware... Like everything in life, be really self aware of what you're doing.” “I honestly did not think there was another way. “I never thought that I could bootstrap to a hundred million dollars. I did not think that that was possible. I just had never heard of it.” “I've decided I'm not wasting any more time. There are years that I wasted. Thirty percent of my time was trying to fundraise. Thirty percent.” “So now I'm making the decisions, we're buying the properties, and we're providing benefits that I would never be able to do for my team.” “We need to do the hard things no matter what.” “I think that I made a lot of mistakes as a leader that I'm OK with because I learned from them and then hopefully become a better leader.” “Moving very quickly to the solution phase and the problem solving phase, I think has really made me a strong leader and has kept us alive, especially this last year where I don't get so emotionally tied to what the issue is. Let's just get to the outcome.” “I decided very quickly that we might go under. We very much might go under, but I'm going to give it the fight of my life. So if I do go under, I have no regrets later on.” “I think I would have not given thirty percent of my time to try to raise capital. I would have if I have a two percent chance as a solo female founder, I would give it two percent of my time.” “You don't fall quietly anymore because everybody is writing about it when you fall. And social media or the press, but just don't worry about it. Don't look around. Just get back up and do it.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: Why Coral moved from China at the age of five and what her childhood was like in a beautiful bicultural home in the US Why she felt called in a different direction after a summer internship in investment banking How she met her husband and also started working with Bain and was based in the Hong Kong office where she worked on projects throughout Asia How the culmination of her time at Stanford getting an MBA, learning about different luxury brands around the world, and her time at Medallia software company, led to a profound understanding that it was time to start her own company Why being a young mom and feeling the pull between work and motherhood really brought the urgency to move forward with her idea for Senreve What it was like to start Senreve, what her philosophy was regarding funding in the beginning, and how that changed after tremendous success as a company How Coral and her team have managed to quickly expand beyond the US so much so that 50 percent of their business is actually outside of the US How she was very intentional throughout 2020 especially to grow as a leader and learn how to support her team through the ups and downs of everything that was going on from the pandemic, to social issues, to political issues, to family issues What business advice she has for wantrepreneurs and future founders with ideas they are passionate about ###To Find Out More: https://www.senreve.com/ ###Quotes: “I would say that kind of throughout my life and throughout my career, I've never had a shortage of ideas. So my brain was always thinking, ‘Is this something I could pursue?’” “They kind of taught me to really invest in my education, invest my career, and that's what's most important. And all of a sudden, I was this young mom and my priorities were totally changed. So it was like a huge identity crisis.” “One of the things that I would say is probably most surprising about the Senreve journey is that the business plan that I wrote back in the day, kind of off the cuff on that plane ride, is pretty much still the vision for the company. And we haven't deviated from that.” “There're so many responsibilities, demands, and facets to a woman's life. But products and brands haven't really kept up with that.” “I think my philosophy at a high-level about fundraising was that I wanted to raise capital that was appropriate for the stage that we were at, not ahead or behind that.” “Late 2019 I took on institutional capital and that was really because I felt like the company was at a juncture where it really needed to scale and professionalize and again meet the demand that was in the market.” “Don't take it personally. And it's actually objectively true. Because oftentimes the rejection has nothing to do with you, the idea, your traction, the company, the data, or the team that you built. It really has certain things to do with them, like where they are in their fund cycle or their partnership dynamics or where they are in their own career as an investor.” “It's like once you take that investment, I mean, you are really in it together, and it's so hard to unwind.” “So to me, it was really important that our investors understood and embraced my vision and really embraced some of the strategic risks that we were taking.” “We have a really sustainable manufacturing model where we focus on zero waste and we never overproduce. And so having two and a half months of gap in terms of production was really incredibly challenging for our business. So that was something that we had to overcome.” “Obviously, 2020 in the US also had a lot of social and political issues that really affected people. And so that was something that I was very intentional about in terms of allowing the team to support each other.” “It's an obsession and you really have to be that passionate about it. And you really have to wake up every day feeling as energetic as you were the prior day, even if things are not going well or things are totally sideways.” “It's the type of thing where once you do it actually in a way becomes a lot easier. So it's really that first step to me that's the most intimidating.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How she always had an interest in fashion and just knew she wanted to be a part of the industry somehow one day Where Sarah worked in her early years and how she got the chance of a lifetime to work for Tory Burch when Tory’s business was brand new and still being run out of her apartment Why Sarah left Tory Burch after over 10 years and then went into consulting for brands How consulting for Chris Burch led to meeting Isaac Ross, the Founder of Solid & Striped, and then led to the opportunity to become CEO where her skill set was a perfect fit for what was next for the company What it was like to become a first time CEO and then have COVID hit only five months later How Sarah functions as a leader and what amazing advice she has for how to successfully manage, but not micromanage, her team, especially now when work is still mostly remote What is next for Solid & Striped and why there is so much to be excited about as they continue to collaborate, innovate, and expand into new categories ###To Find Out More: https://www.solidandstriped.com/ ###Quotes: “And after going through the summer interning for her {Tory}, it was so clear that this was something different and that it would absolutely last and did have staying power. And just sort of the passion that she had for her business and how much people respected her was really amazing. And so that was definitely a turning point for me.” “But my passion was always product. And so I really just wanted to follow where the product and the merchandising roles were.” “It's amazing how much you can actually take on and how you can compartmentalize. And no one can do it all perfectly, but you can do a lot more than you think you can.” “It helped set the path to really understanding the importance of culture and being approachable and making sure that your team feels comfortable talking to you and admitting when they make mistakes because everyone does.” “If you invest in your people, and it doesn't have to be from a monetary perspective, but if you really make them feel like you love working with them and that you want them there, it just makes a big difference in the end result in what you're trying to achieve.” “I think that if I can make the right hires and build a team of people that are experts in their divisions or their sort of competencies, that we all work well together.” “I think the biggest motivation is my family for sure. My kids seeing their mom go to work every day even while trying to sort of figure out the home school thing in the early days of COVID. That was really motivational for me. And just showing them that you have to persevere and if you believe in something, you have to continue to work at it.” “I realize that you can't do it all and that you have to delegate and that you have to trust the people that you work with. You also have to hold them accountable.” “I think if you as a leader don't communicate that someone is missing something or not delivering, then you can't expect them to hold themselves accountable.” “I'm a young female CEO and I had been consulting for a period of time, so it wasn't sort of a natural progression. But I knew that I had the right skill set. And I also know that you learn every day, and I know that if you hire the right team, that anything's possible.” “I think transparency is so critical in a small business. So I think that I encourage my team to give me feedback about how I lead and my management style. I encourage my investors also to give me feedback. And so I think listening is how I improve myself.” “I think it's not about me saying I don't know the answer to this question. It's more about, "Ok, we have an option to go down path A or path B, what does everyone think we should do? Let's collectively have a discussion about it.’" “Working harder than everyone else actually does does pay off.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How she grew up in a family of sisters with parents who were great at setting high expectations but also providing lots of freedom to learn and grow How even as a kid, Dawn was very entrepreneurial and had businesses throughout childhood and into adulthood that provided good memories of making money How she went from a retail sales associate after college at Espirit to an entry level position at the headquarters of that company because she reached out to the CEO with ideas for improvement What happened on her first day after being recruited to The Gap, how she worked her way up and created an opportunity for herself while learning from the great people around her Why her time as a consultant was short even though she worked for a great company and loved the people, and what she learned from that experience How she went on to launch OldNavy.com and learned the ins and outs of every aspect of the business throughout the stages of growth and development How Dawn became the CEO at Credo and why she finally felt that she was able to blend her passion for social impact with what she was good at How the decision to keep every employee in their job after COVID and shutting down all of their stores turned out to be what saved the company through the back half of 2020 and prepared them for the insane growth that would come during the pandemic Why the company started Credo for Change, which is a BIPOC mentorship program for people of color who are Founders in the clean beauty space, and how that has created opportunities for many new business owners who have had the network and support to cast a wider net with their clean beauty brands What changed within the company because of COVID, the many social and natural disaster issues that continued throughout 2020, and how Dawn and her leadership have navigated that in healthy ways What advice she offers as an ambitious working mom and how she cultivates a healthy balance of ambition and kindness within the company culture ###To Find Out More: https://credobeauty.com/ ###Quotes: “I've never felt super intimidated by reaching out to people.” “I have tried a lot of things in my life and found that when you take that first step, there's been a lot of rewards.” “Just like going on these journeys and seeing what you'll find or what you can do has been really, really a big part of my story.” “When you get around good talent, good things happen. So get yourself in the right position and don't worry so much about your job. I got myself around what I consider greatness, got great training from awesome people. And again, I was able to get myself in a really good position.” “Create your own opportunities.” “While I've gone deep into a couple areas, this idea of a generalist has been really helpful for me as I've stepped into greater roles of responsibility and leadership.” “A healthy dose of knowing where your impact can be greatest and not needing the spotlight at all times I think is important.” “If you ever have an opportunity to blend your passion with whatever you're good at and do it in a social impact way, like to me, it is just this jewel of an opportunity.” “And so it has taught me along the way to be much more aware of the lateral or the other opportunities of learning things and experiencing new things because you can't tell where it's going to build.” “So I wish I had gone back and told myself, like, it's not a straight line. That's part of it that got me to where I am now. And so I would embrace the non straight line.” “My kids are a little bit older now, and I am so thankful that I listened to kind of what worked for me and what worked for them, dialed up and dialed down as I needed to, because it matters in the long run.” “Surrounding yourself with great talent and people that you can ask questions of is also, when I experience either self-doubt or have questions or don't know what to do next, that sounding area, for me, female CEOs, it's been really, really helpful.” “We play to win, but we're going to play nicely.” “I try to be very transparent and I also try to be very accessible.” “The expectation is not that everything goes perfectly, it's that you keep getting better every step of the way.” “You know, hard work, perseverance, like kind of the standard things. But getting yourself in the right spot to be able to do that comes from knowing yourself and trusting your gut on the decisions.” “About women and about female leadership... I see this over and over again. Get yourself a seat at the table. I mean, look, get yourself in the room. Get yourself a seat at the table. Don't wait for an invitation. It's not probably going to come.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How being born in Israel and raised in New York City in an entrepreneurial family shaped a lot of how she approaches life and work How learning to stand out in the real estate market in New York City taught her skills and ways to think about standing out in the cereal aisle of a grocery store Why working with her husband on his advertising agency, helping big brands with their campaigns and new brands build everything from the bottom up, really helped them develop the know how and confidence to build something themselves What led Margaret to realize how much the cereal category lacked innovation, healthy, quality ingredients and options for adults and children How they came up with the name Three Wishes Why the process to develop the perfect product took two years, why they started building strong relationships with retailers before their final product was ready, and how that set them up for success as soon as they launched the product officially What fundraising was like as a husband and wife team and what lessons they learned along the way What advice she has for moms who want to build a business and how she manages work and family life each day What’s next for Three Wishes Cereal, how they are striving for excellence, and why you’ll love what they have coming up ###To Find Out More: https://threewishescereal.com/ ###Quotes: “My dad always likes to say some people work with their brain and some work with their hands. So for me, it wasn't school. It was really getting in the workforce and understanding how to navigate within a company, what culture looks like, and how to just build products and build businesses has been a real interest for me.” “But for me, it was I couldn't sell someone else's product. It needed to be mine. So that's kind of like the beginning of realizing I wanted to do something on my own, but really, truly mine.” “We really covered all parts of the brands that we worked with... It was everything, A to Z of understanding the brand, the consumer, and how to mesh those two together. And I think that really gave us an advantage coming out of the gate.” “I couldn't believe that cereal was one of these categories, and granted, this is now probably three years ago, but one of these categories that had no innovation. It was still literally every cereal I had as a kid, which is crazy.” “It took us two years of product development, hundreds and thousands of pounds of crappy cereal that we did not like until we got to the product that we truly, really loved.” “Eventually we got to someone and we kind of gave the parameters of here are the ingredients we want to work with. This is what we want it to taste like, the experience, the shape, all these different things to help narrow down what we wanted. And then the next part of that step was now that we found someone that could create the product or test to create it, how do we find the right facility?” “Before we launched, we started having conversations with retailers. And for them, they were so excited to have something that allowed the consumer that left cereal to come back and eat cereal again.” “Taking people along the ride makes them feel really invested in your brand.” “It's practice not makes perfect, but practice makes you pretty good. So you learn what to expect that investors are going to ask you or to be prepared for those questions. It helps you also fine tune your strategy.” “‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast.’" “I reach out to almost all my customer service requests personally, because I think it's so important that they hear from a Founder. I really want to help resolve those issues and I want to make sure that everyone loves the product as much as we do.” “it's tough. There's a ton of rejection. There's a ton of doubt. Then you have the investors that tell you like, "Oh, I don't know if it's going to happen." And then you prove them wrong. And that's really fun.” “If you really think you've found a solution to a real, existing problem, don't let anybody tell you otherwise.” “Building your own and molding your own destiny is really a beautiful, liberating thing.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Andrea grew up in Barcelona in a family of entrepreneurs, which made her comfortable with the lifestyle and why she always knew she wanted to start a business Why she wanted to create a product that would change the world and always knew that one day she would Why observing how Americans used hand sanitizer even though they didn’t like anything about the experience led her to an idea while she was in college in the US How the Swine Flu in 2010 created an urgency for her to take her hand sanitizer idea and build on that instead of continuing fashion school Why she took five whole years of researching and gathering information about hand sanitizer and getting feedback from industries and people who use hand sanitizer in order to understand what would improve the experience and what was needed to create the perfect formula What it was like to launch in the US in 2018, why she is passionate about offering the world a hand sanitizer that is effective and also enjoyable to use, and how they’ve grown over 1000% even before the COVID pandemic Why the design and branding was very important in the development of the product and why people love the look, feel, and smell of the product so much Why their move to the US was a huge step that has payed off dramatically, how she has grown her team to twelve now and advice she offers when it comes to hiring How fundraising before COVID went, what it was like being ahead of the trend that happened with the hand sanitizer category, and what lessons she learned from the process that will assist her in future fundraising opportunities How the difficult circumstances over the course of building a company can be exhausting but also make you stronger and more resilient long term Why Andrea continues to listen to other people’s stories of success to encourage her in the day to day life of an entrepreneur ###To Find Out More: https://touchland.com/ ###Quotes: “When you are thinking about coming up with that revolutionary solution, it's always good to not take anything for granted and not have any false reality, but really understand the industry from the inside.” “We truly believe that 10 years from now, five years from now, everyone will have a hand sanitizer and nothing to do with a pandemic. It has nothing to do with fear. It just makes your life easier.” “We did not want to only disrupt the category, but also the way this product was sold and marketed. So we said instead of going the easy way, which is we're going to go to pharmacies and supermarkets, we said this is a lifestyle product and we're going to be the first hand sanitizer to be sold in all fashion and beauty retailers in the US.” “I think we live in a society, especially millennials and Gen Z, that we like good vibes, and selling through fear is not a long term strategy.” “We're going to create a product that is going to help you stay healthy on the go and that it's going to make you live to the fullest.” “We wanted to create a bottle that's like an icon, something that you are really proud to use. And many people said it like "I never thought I would be excited about hand sanitizer or thought I would get more compliments for my hand sanitizer than for my bag.’" “We've been able to create a product that people buy in bundles either for themselves as a collection or they buy it as a birthday gift or like for parties or as a wedding gift. So our current AOV is about $60. So that's six times the unit price. So people on average buy, in our eCommerce, six units.” “I think the best part of Touchland is seeing the share-ability component that the brand has been able to create.” “That's the moment that it changed. We moved here to the US. We launched a Kickstarter campaign that was fully funded in twenty four hours. Then we launched eCommerce, and it exploded.” “I'm a very stubborn person and I never give up. Never. Especially as I truly believed that this was going to be like the way Apple changed the phone industry or the music industry. I really believed that this was going to be something that would change people's lives.” “When I listen to my team talk about Touchland, I get so proud because this was my vision initially. And to see people that are sharing with the same passion my vision, I feel like that's something to be very proud of for any Founder.” “I hire not on resumes, I hire on values.” “I think many people can learn. I prefer to invest in some people that I really like as humans rather than someone that has an amazing resume, but I feel like that maybe the character or the personality is not there.” “Again, no great growth comes without obstacles.” “Operationally it was a very challenging year, especially growing so fast. But again, that's why I think it's really good that you select investors that you're not going to have to be fighting because you already have a lot of things going on in your business.” “I always say, CEO is not first Chief Executive Officer

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in Laguna Beach, CA with a strong, supportive family led to an early confidence in creating and developing ideas, such as a documentary he made about local skimboarders that made him some money and planted seeds of entrepreneurship in his teens How his time at Boston University was an important experience that led him to the world of Silicon Valley and startups in San Francisco Why he felt empowered at a startup he joined right out of college that didn’t make it, but that provided lots of opportunities to learn and recognize that he had a knack for seeing trends before they hit How his time at AdRoll, back when it was brand new, really helped him see the inside of a company as it scales successfully and, after working his way up in the company, helped him realize that he should go start something himself What it means to find “founder market fit” How he learned that a great idea is one thing, but being able to execute it authentically is what really matters How becoming a consumer of CBD oil and seeing the value of the product started to spark the idea for Recess and why CBD has the potential to be its own category in the market, as common as caffeine for example What led him to New York where he worked with a couple of friends on ideas that eventually led him to founding Recess and why they launched direct to consumer first Why brand voice is so important and how they have accomplished that beautifully at Recess, creating a feeling and a story that is fun, refreshing, and relevant to their audience What’s next for Recess, why they are set up to become a leader in their category and how regulations around CBD are a part of how their company is growing when, where, and how ###To Find Out More: https://takearecess.com/ ###Quotes: “You can be in a space and have a good idea, but ideas are worthless. It's about the execution of it.” “I was empowered to recognize that start ups are started by anyone, and it's actually being ‘inexperienced’ that can be like a competitive advantage.” “If I was going to go start my own company, I wanted it to be a kind of a consumer brand or experience of some kind.” "Pay attention to what you pay attention to." “I believe in the idea of ‘founder market fit’. Most startups fail. Right? And so to have a chance at success, you want to focus on things that play to your strengths.” “I think that creating a brand or a startup is like producing a movie in terms of bringing the pieces and the team and different talent together to create something.” “The way to think about CBD is as a compound no more interesting than caffeine, just a commoditized functional ingredient that will serve alongside other functional ingredients such as adaptogens, things like magnesium and nootropics, at the base of an emerge of the next big category in the beverage and supplement and even food industry focused on relaxation.” “It's not like vitamin C, it's like caffeine. And caffeine is about the feeling. And so you want to build the brand not around the ingredient, but around the feeling.” “So I think the first thing to do as an entrepreneur is just like break things down into their components. The first principle is thinking, basically. Like go ask why a lot.” “I think in entrepreneurship your market matters a lot.” “I think in business, you're either creating a category or you're going into an existing category and trying to capture market share. And those are like two very different things. I think recognizing what you're doing is very important.” “And so the business plan of Recess has been to navigate this period of regulatory uncertainty to arrive at the other side is like the category leading brand best positioned to scale.” “There's just no question in my mind that this category that's developing over the coming years is going to be a massive category. And I think Recess is very well positioned to lead it.” “I think the most important thing in marketing is your brand voice. Because once your brand has to exist digitally, you need to be able to engage with your customers and community every single day, whether that's through Instagram or through email or podcasts.” “I think another secret to entrepreneurship is identifying undervalued talent and bringing together the people that can help you actually execute.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How being homeschooled in a house and neighborhood full of kids gave Bailey a love for learning and time to be creative, while also getting lots of experience in seeing how her parents’ jobs as first responders mattered and affected them Why she loved her time at Santa Rosa JC and then UC Berkeley, providing more opportunities for her love of learning and earned her the nickname, Leslie Knope How she started college studying rhetoric and added cognitive science after a summer entrepreneurship program that took her abroad where she learned how important it is to have skills of empathy and understanding people when it comes to running a successful business How she got the job at Anodot, even without being qualified, and why that was such a rich learning experience and growth opportunity for her that would be so valuable as she began Perimeter Why selling cookies door to door as a kid, going through Rejection Therapy during her summer abroad entrepreneurship program in college, and going to business door to door with Anodot built her confidence and her ability to be comfortable with rejection and how that has helped her as a Founder today How she began to research geospatial information and what was available to first responders after her family was evacuated during the Tubbs fire of 2017 and found the alarming truth that they did not have updated systems in place to provide the geo information they needed How fundraising looks different for a company like Perimeter, what has worked for Bailey already in her pre-seed round, and what answers to questions she has already prepared as she confidently goes into her next fundraising round soon Why their vision as a company is not just about the big emergencies but also the day to day basic medical emergencies and common scenarios as well, so that first responders are provided with the best real time geospatial information available to keep them and their communities more safe consistently What Bailey has learned as a Founder and how important it is to keep pressing forward with big vision goals as well as smaller incremental ones so that you can accomplish things quickly, especially in difficult situations such as COVID ###To Find Out More: https://perimeterplatform.com/ ###Quotes: “Being able to empathize with your customers, understand their pain points, and understand what they need is so important. And it's really not a skill that many people talk about when they talk about what it means to be an entrepreneur.” “I think what it means to be an entrepreneur is to be someone who pays so much attention to their environment that they recognize when the status quo isn't good enough for people who are being affected.” “There's always a reason behind why someone is gritty and why they're resilient. And I think if you feel the pain of your user, you really understand where they are coming from.” “As a Founder, outreach has to be a major skill set of yours. And that could be reaching out to customers. It could be reaching out to the venture capitalists and angel investors that you need to work with or even recruiting new talent.” “First responders are primarily relying on paper maps and radios to contain some of the biggest wildfire, floods, hurricanes, tornado incidents that we've ever seen.” “You can't overwhelm someone with information that isn't relevant when what they need is to respond.” “I would know whether or not I chose something to be kind of safe and comfortable for me, or knowing that I did everything I could to protect the lives and livelihoods of the communities that are so affected by wildfires and other disasters.” “We're sending them to these fires with World War II technology. And we can and we have to do better than that.” “The government is the largest buyer of goods and services in the world. And so some of my earlier investors, I think when they started to hear about the work that we were doing, I think a lot of them got pretty excited.” “I think there's a big difference for us between operating tactically versus operating strategically.” “If you're not willing to get out there and do something imperfectly, then you don't stand a chance at creating the thing and having the impact that you want to have.” “You don't lose when you get knocked down. You lose when you stop standing up.” “I think one of the most important things about achieving those larger goals have to do with being able to break it down and set my mile markers that we can see that we can immediately achieve.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How as the son of a dentist and entrepreneurial parents who founded the company Go Smile, Julian learned a lot about building a business, oral health, and wellness, which later led to he and his brother founding Twice How sports played a big part in his life and why he studied business and finance at Cornell University, where he also played lacrosse and had a major life lesson as a result What internships and jobs in the finance world helped build his experience and expertise in understanding the investment banking industry and raising funds for consumer and retail companies How over time, hearing so many great stories of Founders and companies that were doing things right and making a difference in their industries really inspired him and why that planted seeds in his mind to one day become a Founder How his parents' second company they founded, Glo Science, and their non-profit organization, Glo Good Foundation led to Lenny Kravitz asking for them to come to his home nation, the Bahamas, to help people there who didn’t have access to oral care. How Julian and his brother Cody spent 18 months formulating a toothpaste that takes the ethos of natural toothpaste and infuses it with the performance of big brands What it is like to have a brother as a Co-Founder, how they balance work with family life and how Julian keeps himself healthy and well-balanced What’s next for Twice and how the company continues to give back ###To Find Out More: https://www.smiletwice.com/ ###Quotes: “My dad always talks about this idea that really it's like staying with it until you succeed. It's about having the grit and the will and the determination to succeed and basically surviving to thrive. Survive until you thrive.” “I think we get blindsided every day by these beautiful, amazing stories of companies selling for billions of dollars that are creating so much amazing impact and not enough attention gets put on the journey.” “Those missions were the inspiration to wanting to create a business that could improve health and hygiene, give back to this mission and cause, try to create a brand in oral care that made people smile and had people actually think twice and brush twice.” “So what we wanted to do is really take the ethos of natural, but infuse it with the performance of the big brands.” “We want to build this world around oral wellness. And so in our toothpaste, we have three antioxidant vitamins, vitamin A, C and E, which are great for your gums, great for saliva production, bacteria regulation, really more about the mouth versus the teeth.” “So it's kind of like this science meets wellness approach and that's what we call a toothpaste.” “Understanding who is the right investor is not an easy thing to figure out, especially not only just your stage, but your focus and your company.” “You have a vision. And the more clear your vision can be, the easier it is to manage and operate around that. But for us as passion and purpose-led entrepreneurs, roadblocks are inevitable, challenges are inevitable.” “We are out of control passionate about toothpaste and the smile and trying to grow this brand that we so truly believe deserves to exist and become a leader.” “I think success is a very relative measure.” “You're putting your life, your reputation, you're being behind a brand. And so you want it to be the best in whatever that means.” “I think a big thing for me as a small team with a lot to do is really about time management.” “If you think around true product market fit, it'll help increase your chances for success.”

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:How Alix got the language bug early on and was able to travel abroad in exchange programs while in middle school and high schoolHow her time at Dartmouth went and how she realized that entering the world of finance was not actually what she wanted to doWhy serious reproductive health issues in her mid-twenties created a huge shift in her perspective on what being a woman in business looked like and what it could look likeHow she started to formulate her idea of addressing the party and drinking culture to make it something more unifying and positive for everyoneHow fundraising for Bev has gone and what advice Alix has for entrepreneurs who are fundraisingWhat challenges can occur when you’re a new small company and then how the challenges change with growth and how they are continually conquering them at BevHow Alix has grown as a leader and how she works hard to keep a balance between life and work while leading a team and growing Bev to continued successTo Find Out More:https://drinkbev.com/Quotes:“If I want to really go build something and do something, I need to figure out my path there that doesn't necessarily have to mean being the boss the whole way through. You start small.”“I had a brand and an ethos before I had a product... Sort of a message I wanted to put out and a dream I had about a different way of interacting and caring about each other.”“I think part of me wanted to build something that could say, hey, there's a way that we can do this that's unifying, that's approachable and that's really positive.”“Having that sort of unapologetic brand and point of view... You can't be everything to everyone, but you can be a lot to someone. And that's what I hope that we can be.”“I think the part that's been hardest about hiring is that as the company scales and grows, not everyone scales with it.”“If you have someone that kind of claims to know how to do exactly what you're asking them to do, especially in the early stages, that could be a red flag to me. There has to be humility around what we're doing because it hasn't been done in this way.”“Fundraising is grueling. And I think people don't teach you how to do it. It's a skill in its own right.”“You have to create a sense of urgency while staying true to who you are and true to what the business is doing and how you're performing, and there are tricks of the trade-in doing that.”“You have to remember that your investment is just a deal passing someone's desk. And so how do you make that pop off the desk?”“I try to start my meetings nowadays where it's like, OK, what stage do you do? What's your investment thesis? What's your process look like in terms of timeline? What's your check size? Do you have an ownership threshold? Like getting all of those things out fast, furiously and early, I think is really important.”“You can be doing great and have 300K in your bank account when literally two days ago you had three million dollars because you had to buy all this product. And I think it's a common misconception that a company that's doing well is always OK. Because that's not the case.”“The problems don't get easier, they get different.”“You have to be the foundation for other people. And so you really need to learn how to motivate and pick yourself up. And resilience is so important.”“If you're in early stages, just keep going. And I know it sounds so silly and simple, but I think founders often fail because they give up and there is a way to build something that you want to build and that you're proud of. And you really just have to keep going.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Liz grew up in New Jersey with great parents and a naturally talented salesperson father who was a mentor to her Why, even though she had a great home life, she ran away from home with a friend when still a young teenager and what she learned from that experience How she studied at an art school in Florence, Italy and why that was a transformative time in her life What it was like living in New York as an actress and dancer, making a living and supporting herself in the City How taking the initiative to send a tape and ask for a job as producer on one of her favorite radio talk shows actually led to accepting a marriage proposal on a second date What led to Liz starting her first company called Muffin A Day and what she learned from that experience What she learned from working at Alvarado Street Bakery after she sold her first company, Muffin A Day, and how she found herself on the journey of breaking into the more natural, salty snack market with Pirate’s Booty How an advanced cancer diagnosis brought an even more urgent personal journey with her health that led to the discovery of the pili nut How she began Lavva, what fundraising was like, and what is next for Lavva ###To Find Out More: https://lovvelavva.com/ ###Quotes: “Continue putting one foot in front of the next and the customers will meet you there if you have something special.” “The consumer really is the strongest advocate you can have.” “I guess that's really kind of the takeaway is you're never really washed up.” “Because I'm looking at these macros for how they perform in the body.” “We're looking at the right kind of fat paired with whole food to make this cultured medium which became plant yogurt.” “It doesn't happen overnight. It takes time…” “I think that there are more and more people who are feeling better longer and want to keep it that way. And they've made themselves students of what works for them.” “If you're not there for yourself, you really can't be there for anyone else.” “I do think people want what they want when they want it. And I do think the consumer, our consumer certainly, they're not going to settle.” “I've had so many failures and so many false starts, and it's about just cut yourself a break and lighten up a little bit. You're doing your best. And just go forward.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in New Jersey/New York with an entrepreneurial father laid the groundwork for both he and his brother to become entrepreneurs as well How he learned to be adaptive and find the good in change after his mom became an entrepreneur following a major shift in his home life Why he left college to work with his dad to learn what real life business experience would teach him How he and his brother learned even more about business through a popular brunch spot and nightclub they started in Manhattan in 2013 and then through a commercial lending business they started with their friend and roommate Why a disappointing Valentine’s Day turned into a pretty awesome business idea that Sunny and Seema quickly started to develop, even in the midst of their very new relationship with each other How they used social media to grow their business, which included some posts from the Kardashians that brought in more traffic than they expected and the brilliant idea Sunny had to navigate that in the moment What led to the development of the Eternity Rose and why that has become the next big thing in florals Ways they continue to innovate, add product offerings, educate their customers and offer new and beautiful ways to have florals in homes, offices, and really anywhere What advice Sunny has for keeping the morale strong within the team culture, hiring people you trust, and creating vision boards to keep your eyes fixed on the future of your brand ###To Find Out More: VenusETFleur.com ###Quotes: “Through life you go through things like that, and as long as you look at it to sort of bring out the positive, it's always going to teach you something good. There's always going to be something that you take out of it to develop yourself.” “We were able to do something very, very foreign to us, but it kind of taught us that as long as we work hard at it, we have the right team, the right support, the right hard workers, we can do it.” “I love getting opinions from people that are close to me, but also the more opinions, the more complicated your decision becomes.” “I think not getting too much sort of cloudiness in your thoughts and just like still staying true to what you're thinking and what your gut tells you.” “That's one of the beautiful things about a business is like if it feels right, do it. You're the one that's going to be doing all the work. So make sure you just sign off on it yourself and just hit the ground running as fast as you can.” “It was like this feeling of like this is going to be different. This is going to be new. And this is going to be something that is going to be big.” “Once we were able to inject the perfect version, being our Eternity Rose, into the florals...that lifted that restriction on geography for me. And I was able to continue to try and grow as fast as we could. So that was a big thing.” “I think development everywhere is what keeps me going. It keeps me really sort of on my toes. Like, what can we keep doing? How can we continue to grow?” “We started to introduce these new product categories to where we educated customers on where else you can utilize florals within your space.” “You can plan for demand and you can buy inventory, but you also have to make sure that you have enough people that can package and design and so on. And then also customer service. As we grow, all the sides of the business grow and it's important for people to remember all those other parts of the business as well.” “I think it's very important for couples out there that are looking to get into business together to make sure from the beginning that you have that alignment and understanding.” “You want to move quickly. So a lot of people might just be like, "Hey, we'll figure it out as we go," but then as you go and those things become pain problems, it can also negatively impact the business, but more so even the personal relationship.” “We need to have that work/personal life balance, which is very, very important for sure. And I always recommend that.” “I think team building and really understanding who those people are is super important.” “It's something that I'd say is not just to hope to get to the goal and then look back at the journey. Also embrace it as you go through the journey.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How her supportive parents and an excellent makeup artist helped her fall in love with makeup and education at an early age How she went from working behind the Chanel counter in Syracuse to working behind the Estee Lauder counter in New York City, to working with a new company called Stila Why her study at Syracuse University in elementary and special education actually gave her a unique skill set for being a makeup artist and educator in the beauty industry Why she left a job she loved and was thriving in to take an incredible opportunity to lead and develop the education program for the then unknown brand, Smashbox, which brought her from NYC to LA How her role at Smashbox helped her develop skills that would later help her as a Founder of her own company How in the midst of her growing career, her physical ability suddenly changed unexpectedly and continued to become more and more of an issue until she was finally diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease How her diagnosis sparked a desire to solve this problem not just for herself, but for any and everyone who struggles with the current makeup tools available, laying the groundwork for a very inclusive brand How she found the partnership she needed to bring her idea to life and reimagine the beauty industry in a way that would make a difference for so many How building an online community before launching during the pandemic has created some genuine momentum and success What great advice Terri has to share when it comes to building a great brand and being a great leader in a world that pushes back when you want to bring about change ###To Find Out More: https://www.guidebeauty.com/ ###Quotes: “Even with the things that have been the most challenging, if you wait long enough, something beautiful will be born from it. Something good happens.” “Learning as much as I could about every piece of that puzzle was only going to benefit what I was going to do in my own world. And so I think that was probably the biggest takeaway.” “If you're starting something new, a thousand percent know why you're there and what you want to do, so that when it does come time to speak up, you can stand confident that you are standing on something strong.” “I realized that I could do something sort of bigger and larger than myself. So I set out to start to reimagine makeup applications for people like me who have a physical limitation.” “I've learned over the years that sharing is what connects you to people and it's so helpful.” “We need to be thinking about larger groups. We need to be thinking about community.” "Think about the needs of the greatest group and include those who have the greatest need and in the process, you will end up creating a better product or process for the whole." “I think that in the industry there needs to be a shift of thinking. You're not creating a separate product, you're creating one of better products for the whole.” “I believed what I was doing. I felt strongly that I had the right product and I had the right story and then I had nothing to lose by sharing it.” “If you feel like you have something to offer, you're doing yourself a disservice, you're doing somebody else a disservice. Give them the opportunity to say yes or no. You got nothing to lose. You really don't.” “I will never regret asking. I will never regret trying. But I certainly know I will regret it if I don't. And so I'm happy to deal with the sadness or the frustration or the anger of whatever comes if it doesn't work out my way. I'm not willing to spend the rest of my life wondering what if.” “Life's always going to hand you change ups. And then it's just about taking a step back and figuring out how you pivot with it.” “If you hit a roadblock and you're not sure how to deal, talk to people who do.” “Everything we do will have that thoughtful moment, whether it's this revolutionary way to make the application easier or just little thoughtful moments that just make it more pleasurable to use.” “If you are passionate, if you want to do it, get out there. Know that it is not easy and that is OK.” “There are days where you may want to hide under the table. Don't let anybody tell you you can't. Just remember to get back out from under the table eventually and move forward.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in rural Maryland and discovering a personal passion for water quality in her community led to a love of science and a desire to work in that space where science can make a difference in public health How she started her first company while in high school and landed a scholarship to Wake Forest University to study science and business with the requirement to keep starting companies while she studied and what kind of discoveries that led to as a result What took her from the company Kera10 which she started, to working in finance at a private equity firm in New York City right after college Why she left private equity and moved to San Francisco looking for something more fulfilling and worked with an early autism behavioral phenotyping company, a wireless breast pump company, and then 23andMe How she started Modern Fertility and what her initial fundraising was like with the topic of fertility at the forefront of conversation Why it is so exciting to now find Modern Fertility products in 1500 Walmart stores in the US and what a customer now receives with that How she met her Co-Founder, Carly, and what is next for Modern Fertility and their mission to make fertility information more accessible to women everywhere ###To Find Out More: https://modernfertility.com/ ###Quotes: “And so it was really understanding that we have this massive fertility information gap that is fueled by celebrity pregnancies not telling us the dynamics of their specific journeys and just this broader kind of cultural moment that creates kind of this difference between expectations and realities.” “I think really holding yourself accountable to being intentional around how you were spending your time and what you were prioritizing, I think that's one of the hardest things about an early stage company or really any role.” “As I look at just every kind of threshold that we've had as a company, you build the muscle to really look at those challenges differently. And you're kind of threshold of what you even view as a challenge just continues to increase.” “So I think the role of a CEO is to get a C minus, hopefully not an F, but a C minus in a lot of different things, not let any balls drop and then try to hire experts that can do that job 10x better than you would ever dream of doing it and being able to have a really collaborative relationship with those folks to get it to the next level.” “I really think just the team that you bring on and hire will continue along with the broader strategy to define success.” “As a Founder/CEO, you're looking at your company as a product. And you really need to transition your mindset to really thinking about all of the dynamics of your company and where it exists in the broader ecosystem as defining your success.” “I love criticism honestly. I just thrive on people poking holes in different ideas. And I think when you can really dive in and have exciting arguments, you're building a better and better company.” “We were one of the first research reports that came out around how Coronavirus was impacting fertility. And what we found is that nearly a third of respondents were delaying their family planning decisions because of COVID.” “I think diving back to that concept of taking a first step, making that list... That's really, I think, the core essence of entrepreneurship.” “So I had the idea. But I knew that I wanted a Co-Founder. And I think that that's a really important distinction to make…”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How even as a kid living in difficult circumstances in New Jersey Steve was always driven to survive, carve out his own path and conquer challenges How an in-school suspension led to the opportunity to teach himself code in the computer lab, which led to a new business using Google to sell mortgage leads How he went to several colleges and even took college for granted while he was building his business selling mortgage leads to mortgage companies before losing it all during the mortgage crisis of 2007 Why he ended up working in the stock room of Victoria’s Secret and then went into stand-up comedy while he worked through the loss of his business, wondering what was next Why he moved to LA to pursue comedy, even after a devastating loss in his family, and realized that he could fill his shows because he was great at marketing How being better at marketing than at comedy led him to the opportunity to begin to run ads for clients on Facebook and the start of MuteSix What unique organizational structure and key factors have led MuteSix to see 265% year over year growth for the past four years and what is has been like since being acquired by Dentsu in 2019 ###To Find Out More: https://www.mutesix.com/ ###Quotes: “When people have low expectations of you, when you just are able to take all that kind of energy of negativity and just really reposition it, it really humbles you and it gives you the kind of step up to be successful.” “It's so important to reconfigure yourself, to look at things from a much bigger picture…” “I don't think that you should only focus on the things that you're really good at. I think you should focus on the things that are going to grow the business.” “I always say we got to at the right time. Right place. Right time.” “I think a lot of times when someone is not successful at a job or career, it's not because they're not good or something, it's because they weren't put in the position to be successful.” “We wanted to win, but we wanted to win with our team. And I think that camaraderie and that kind of like togetherness, really propelled the business to being something more than just the business.” “We wanted to really empower entrepreneurs. We wanted to build an environment and get this collective talent together to really drive meaningful impact.” “There are a lot of things I can do to be successful at making money. But the lasting imprint that you have in this world is the impact that you have in people's lives.” “I think there's definitely a deep value of being all in on something because so many people or are not all in on anything. They're just half way into ten things where you could be all in on one thing and see success.” “When I think about leadership, it’s less about what you say and more about what you do.” “You don't need to find the ideal thing right away. I think that everyone puts pressure on themselves to figure everything out right now, but we all have time on our hands. And it takes time to figure out your path and your mission.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in a multicultural home that valued high level professional careers led to a period of trial and error for Isharna, helping her to learn what types of jobs were not a good fit for her Why she wanted to be a park ranger but went to Australia National University where she studied law and economics instead How she worked in government in Australia, turned down a job offer at a prestigious law firm, and then worked in management consulting all while wondering what she really wanted to do How she moved from Australia to Jakarta, Indonesia to build a health food company, what she learned there as a result, and why she left after only a year How her interest in tech and the changes taking place in the tech world led her to the US where she started doing some freelance consulting work for an Australian start up, which led to her finding a position at Steel House in LA What led Isharna to work as a venture capitalist with Embark Ventures in LA for a little over a year before her aha moment came that led to the start of Coral How she came up with the name Coral and her experience with talking to investors about funding an app to help people with their sex lives How she raised over $3 million and what advice she has for entrepreneurs who are fundraising What drives Isharna to keep building her company and how she continues to grow personally and professionally in very intentional and attainable ways What great advice she has for raising funds, leading a team, and balancing life to remain capable of doing the best job possible and also enjoying it ###To Find Out More: getcoral.app ###Quotes: “I was seeing all of these really profound shifts occurring and realized that that was sort of where I wanted to be in terms of my career.” “When I think about hard power, I think about clear authority. And when I think about soft power, I think about influence essentially.” “I've had two key sort of overarching passions in things. How can I create a business that does something good for the environment? How can I create a business that does something good for the way people feel?” “I love diving and I kind of thought about sexuality like diving, in the sense of there's this whole that exists under the surface, and it's always there. It's always under the surface and you can choose to consciously go and take a look at it. And so that's where the name came from.” “For those raising money in a taboo subject, I would say even more, it's a numbers game because there's just going to be a huge percentage of investors who don't get it, or don't want to get it. So it's going to be inherently more difficult to raise money, but that's part of what our competitive edge is.” “I think it's just like the maintenance of energy in the face of continual rejection can be really difficult.” “We are really touching people in quite a deep level and providing space for them that feels good for them. And so that is hugely motivating.” “Part of entrepreneurship is backing yourself.” “The ability to sort of roll with the punches and not take that out on your team and be understanding of them and their lives is quite important.” “Essentially an entrepreneur's ability to understand themselves and understand what they need to recharge and perform to the best of their ability is super important.” “I didn't come into this knowing how to do anything really, and I'm having to learn every step of the way.” “I can create my own version of what success looks like, and it doesn't have to fit into the sort of white Silicon Valley bro box.” “I think the path of entrepreneurship is filled with a lot of fear and some of that fear is helpful. It's like self-preserving. And some of that fear is self-defeating. It actually prevents you from doing what you really want to do.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How he grew up in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania with supportive middle class parents who came from different economic backgrounds How John made his way to California with a dream of being a part of the film industry where he worked in the mailroom at Paramount Studios and worked on the sets of movies, television, and commercials How his time on set led to an interest in writing, which he did for years while waiting tables in Hollywood Why 9/11 became a pivotal moment for him, which led to an interest in joining the LAPD How a decision to buy antique chairs to refinish and sell led to pursuing a woodworking education at Cerritos College and finding something he really enjoyed doing When the idea for Semihandmade was put into his mind and how he started testing the concept in clients’ kitchens with great success How a collaboration in 2013 with designer Sarah Sherman Samuel became a catalyst for lots of growth and opportunity What John has learned and how he has grown as a person and as a leader and what recent changes have been made with his team that have poised Semihandmade for the next wave of growth ###To Find Out More: Semihandmade.com ###Quotes: “I'm proud of the diversity of our 55 people. The fact that I think maybe 12 out of the 16 top people are all women.” “So as a leader I'm still learning.” “My strength is asking questions and being willing to admit there's a lot of stuff I don't know. Just the idea that you don't know what you don't know. And there's a ton of that I don't know.” “I'm proud of what I've done and what we continue to do as a company, I'm also aware that it can be so much easier.” “Be fearless. You're putting yourself out there. It takes a huge amount of courage.” “Consume everything in that space. Listen to podcasts like yours. Read magazines.” “There's so much content in the world right now that wasn't available like three, four or five years ago for people that want to start businesses.” “Don't be afraid to reach out to people.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in Scotland and watching his dad grow his own successful business planted early seeds of entrepreneurship in Ross’ life Why he dropped out of college after only one year How he built a successful menswear business in the Middle East after finding a gap in the market How becoming plant-based in his eating and meeting Elliott Kessas on business in Paris led to not only a new best friend but also a new business idea and partnership How Daring Foods got its start with Sun Basket and how they launched in the US with big ambition and lots of confidence in their product What Ross is learning about hiring as their team grows rapidly and how fundraising $8 million in their Series A went after being in the US for only a few months, during COVID nonetheless Why being willing to take advice from those who have built successful businesses before is something that Ross loves What is next for Daring, where you can find their products, and advice he has for aspiring and seasoned entrepreneurs ###To Find Out More: Daring.com ###Quotes: “We were unapologetic about how we wanted this product to be.” “Daring stands for a lot. We believe in challenging the status quo.” “Our pillar, in the beginning, was looking at the health gap within plant-based meat that was missing and naturally keeping it as pure as possible made sense for us.” “Hire for your values. There are a lot of really great, talented people out there, but are they great for your company?” “When you go after money from people like Maveron or venture money, you have to be willing to go through it all because you are an early-stage company...there's a lot of due diligence that needs taking place. So if you ask for it, be willing to go that full way.” “The fundraising was a great opportunity for us to really question our sales channels, our hiring process, our team, our org chart. It was just three months revising our business plan.” “There was no plan B. It was never like, "Okay, well, if this doesn't work, we’ll do this." It was like, "This is going to work.’" “I come up against these challenges every single day, and a year ago it might've broken me. Today it's just part and parcel of running a business.” “You can do a lot together. I really believe teams win. Teams win.” “Fundamentally I love to take advice from people who have done it.” “And I will say to anyone who is looking to raise capital, do your due diligence as well.” “I think grit is super important. You're going to go through challenge, conflict, critique. You have to be willing to just go, go and go and then endure it. I think being able to adapt and be nimble.” “I think entrepreneurs have to be willing to shift focus fast and understand that sometimes that product-market fit isn't right, and you have to adapt.” “I think this is a great time to be launching your own company. It's a phenomenal thing to be running your own company and doing your own company and challenging norms.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Kristel grew up playing tennis in Holland, came to the States for college, and met the love of her life, Michael Why an internship at Deloitte helped her realize that even though she was studying finance at university, she was not interested in a future career in finance How that realization led to a Masters degree program in London where she studied business Why Michael’s cancer diagnosis at 24 and Kristel’s childhood experience with her mom having cancer led her to learn even more about food and how it can help or hinder a person’s health and wellness How her new plant-based lifestyle and nutritionist mom and aunt helped her not only find - health for herself but also helped Michael to be healthier than ever after he came home from cancer treatments How that first detox Kristel put Michael on paved a way for them, to not only continue to help themselves but also to share their findings with others through the products they were developing and mixing by hand themselves How Kristel and Michael started marketing their products, came up with a name, and realized they needed financial support to grow their new business How they started very small in fundraising and reached the $17 million mark after building and scaling the business together since 2015 Why they moved from Holland to Berlin to be a part of the startup culture towards the beginning of their journey as Founders, and the ways they connected with partners that would eventually help them scale What brought them to the US to scale their business here and how they did it even when investors in Europe told them it wasn’t a good idea Kristel’s passion for helping others with their health and intention to properly source their ingredients Her advice, life lessons, and ways she is consistently creating a healthy company culture, especially for the 80% of her team who are women To Find Out More: YourSuper.com Quotes: “You have to actively listen to actually hear something.” “Read the ingredients list versus the nutritional table. Be actually curious about what ingredients are in your foods and what you're putting into your body.” “But like we always felt we had to say yes to everything. It's really funny. We couldn't... We didn't focus in the beginning at all. Huge lesson: focus.” “But I think, in the beginning, it's also a beautiful process to be a little scattered, to like, kind of see what sticks and then start to focus in on that and do more. So I guess that was kind of what we had to learn.” “And a lot of things you hear, you try to figure out by yourself, but like, just to just hear it comprehensively and going through the process, doing it and still having someone to ask questions was so helpful.” “That's something we're very passionate about and just really also realize that with the way we source, and especially now since we have been scaling, you can have a massive positive impact in those communities by just having partners with actually real value.” “The process though, was really long because even when we started scaling, what you will quickly realize when you start scaling is that you need more inventory.” “Sometimes fundraising and finding the right partner...it's timing.” “Morning routine is everything for me.” “Honestly I think a really big one is just trusting yourself and just really trusting my gut instinct. I think that's probably one of the biggest lessons I've learned.” “Even when we started the business, a lot of people were like, "Oh, how did you do that?" I'm like, "I just asked myself, what's the worst thing that can happen?’" “You have to make so many decisions every single day. I think the more you build up that skill of just being able to just decide quickly, even when you don't have all the information, but trust your instinct or just look at the information you have and just being able to move forward. And maybe you make mistakes, but you iterate again.” “I think that the biggest thing I've learned is work on yourself and then the business will grow.”

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How her go-getter nature kept her busy in college with internships and jobs leading to a job in PR and a realization that PR was not her long term goal Why a marketing job at Estee Lauder Companies was a better fit for her and became the start of what now has been 20 years in the beauty industry What led Allison to Mac Cosmetics and then L’Oreal Paris while she was getting her MBA and learning about digital marketing Why she left L’Oreal to work for AOL What led Allison to work for an Australian skincare company called Jurlique, and then Beautycounter How she became more and more interested in not only clean and natural skincare but also aluminum-free deodorant and took the opportunity during maternity leave to investigate an idea for a better aluminum-free deodorant How she launched type:A as a DTC brand initially and was confident in herself and in the network she had built over the many years she had worked in the beauty industry How she went from bootstrapping type:A to raising $2.4 million and what advice she has for founders who are preparing or in the midst of fundraising Why time management has been crucial for Allison as a CEO and ways to keeps that in check What she has learned as a CEO about herself and about running a successful business and also a hint of what is exciting things are coming in the future for type:A To Find Out More: typeadeodorant.com Quotes: “I very much have approached my career as one foot in front of another.” “I think the biggest takeaway is you have to go after what you want. It doesn't just fall into your lap. You have to make your own opportunities.” “Be humble and open to constructive feedback.” “The more I surround myself with the people who treat me the way I want to be treated and vice versa and are sort of positive influences, the negative falls away.” “There's so much I know that I feel confident I can execute. And there's so much I don't know, but I know who to call that I trust will be a great advisor or can point me in the right direction or can get me the right resource.” “You just got to keep talking and talking and talking and sharing your story and fine-tuning your pitch and really also figuring out what it is about your business that is worth investing in. And if it is, then investors can get behind it.” “At the end of the day, it's all relationships.” “It's so true when they say the investor needs to believe in the founder. It is about the business. It's about the potential, but it's also believing the founder can take the business there.” “I learned over many conversations with investors that if an investor is sort of pushing in the line of questioning around you, your company, or your product, and it's not aligned with where your strategy is going, there may not be a fit there.” “So really trust your gut in it's a two-way street and this person, even if they're not super active, is still going to be part of your company in a way.” “Just kind of following the trail and just continuing to have conversations, the ones that aren't productive are productive in a different way that you're not expecting.” “But this is something that I learned out of my experience in the beauty industry was ownership of your formula leads to more control and that can translate to more transparency. And that's what we're all about.” “The biggest thing that I've learned, or I'd say the most impactful practice that I've been able to put in place is insane time management.” “I think time, the value of my time, has been something I've never put as much emphasis and focus on until I became CEO.” “Things that have served me really well are having confidence in myself and my abilities and being open with myself and just kind of very self-aware and constantly challenging myself to say, do you know this well enough? Is there somebody else that you can ask?” “Believe that you know something really well. You have a great product. You have a great concept. Think it through. Stress test it, and be open to the tough feedback that will ultimately make it a better fit for the market, make it a better business, and give you a better platform to launch and grow.”

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in the creative city of Sante Fe provided the fertile ground of learning to think outside the box How her airline stewardess mother and businessman father inspired her growing up Her first business startup on campus at Stanford where she ran a yogurt and pizza shop while studying both English and Policy Her experience at Stanford business school after working in consulting and her shift to focus on marketing Why her time at Clorox after graduating from business school was a rich time of learning and growing in marketing How her work at AAA helped her learn the power of membership branding How an encounter at a business school reunion led to her leaving AAA and working to build Match.com How her time at Match.com gave her lots of meaningful impact and a few great claims to fame How, in her work as CEO of Trustee, she turned the company around from nonprofit to for-profit status and led a successful fundraising round How her downtime in San Francisco as an Airbnb host led to her involvement with a Women’s start-up lab, and eventually to the founding of Babyquip in 2016 Why their Shark Tank episode airing at the cusp of the COVID shut down was still successful and helped push them through to gain another investor during the quarantine period What’s ahead and the advice Fran has for aspiring entrepreneurs To Find Out More: Babyquip.com Quotes: “And honestly, as a female entrepreneur, my number one thing is to be confident.” “One time I was watching a television show with my then pre-teen son, and it was about how many relationships started online and he looks at me says, "Mom, you made that happen.’" “It usually has to go back to who's running the joint and whether or not they want these team dynamics to work out or not. And whether or not they set up a culture that rewards teamwork or rewards the bigger voice of the room.” “So it was tough to turn things around, but when you're down, and much like we are now, you take risks, you make moves because what do you really have to lose?” “What it comes down to honestly, many times is you need a support network because those things do happen.” “There needs to be more money for women. Honestly, more women need to get very rich because that's the only way the money will really flow down to younger entrepreneurs.” “I think brand values made a big difference here, and we're very focused on who we're helping, which is not just the families, but the moms who are delivering and cleaning the gear.” “Look, if it's in your blood, you're going to do it and you're gonna find a way. So we can't be afraid to sort of pivot and test.” “The challenges are a feature, not a bug.” “Team and team dynamics are really critical. It's easy to get those wrong and it's hard to fix it.” “I think for women in particular, if you're going after the female market, embrace it. Don't apologize for it.” “One of the things I always like is when you build a company, you're providing jobs for people. And that's a pretty awesome responsibility.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Bry’s big family and entrepreneurial father provided a great childhood, team spirit, and competitive edge, with lots of inspiration that led her to where she is today How she studied computer animation at university in London, was interested in film and advertising, and was a full-time producer in London by the time she finished her degree How lessons in the TV, advertising, and marketing industry gave her a knack for problem-solving and also incredibly thick skin Why she decided to discontinue her first company, Lilly Loray, to move to something greater, even though it was an incredible experience How her desire to run her own business continued to grow after she had her children and why she became most interested in the food industry Why, after discovering jackfruit at a music festival, Bry knew this was the plant-based meat alternative she had been searching for How she was introduced to her Co-Founder, Jennifer Pardoe, who was working at her own plant-based consultancy called PB&Co How they launched into the ZZZ Pizza chain and then Papa John’s in January 2020, leading to over 20 million slices of jackfruit pepperoni sold How they’ve been able to raise 1.6 million in British Pounds ($2.1 million) even during COVID How Bry ensures she is building a cohesive team that compliments each other well, how hard lessons can lead to stronger companies, and why she believes that everything happens for a reason Why she has learned that confidence and learning to let go and delegate has helped her grow as a person and leader and how these lessons continue to open new doors for the company ###To Find Out More: JackandBry.com ###Quotes: “When you're working in the advertising industry, you know, there's always an answer.” “You have that mentality that you have to solve the problem. You're a problem solver.” “It was a really lovely lifestyle business, but I don't do things by halves.” “I came across jackfruit at a music festival, and I saw that the fleshiness of it, the versatility of it, and its flavor hugging qualities could lend itself to plant-based meats. And I knew then that I really wanted to go into something food and plant-based and use jackfruit as my core ingredient.” “You have to tie everything together. It's about just that at the end of the day, delivering big results.” “When you bring on a team, and now we've got nine, I was doing everything that they were doing and more. And now they're doing every single job far better than I could ever have ever done, but I had to let go. I had to let them take control of that.” “And just growing confidence that I can do this. I had the belief in the business at the start. And as you know, we all know, it's just growing in that, in a confidence that we can do it.” “I know that when you have a vision for something and a passion to make it happen, that really helps drive you to stop at nothing until it happens.” “You might not have every answer, but there's always a way to learn, whether it's online, or podcasts like this one, or reading a book, or finding a mentor.” “Do your research, find gaps, get an amazing team, someone with experience to support you and have faith in you and your business. And just think big.”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Adelle’s childhood in Central Coast California included entrepreneurial flair and drive to be a high achieving difference-maker How she started out wanting to become an actress, studied political science in college, and then found herself enrolled in the Acton School of Business in Austin, TX, graduating with an MBA. Why after graduating from Acton, Adelle decided to go into product marketing at BigCommerce and then TrendKite, both of which were incredible learning experiences that provided valuable lessons that she carries with her still today How she met and worked well with her business partner, Garrett Ozar, at both BigCommerce and TrendKite before founding Eterneva together in 2016 Why she believes that the ability to collaborate well is vital to the health and success of a company and how she strives to cultivate that within Eterneva What led to the awareness of and connection to a lab-grown diamond company that became the answer to honor her dear friend and mentor who passed away How the tenacity to find a way to honor her friend and mentor by having her ashes turned into a diamond that she could treasure, led Adelle to discover that there was an immediate product-market fit for Eterneva How the early days of bootstrapping Eterneva not only helped them build the company with intention but also helped them realize that they are coming alongside their customers in their grief journey in powerful and positive ways How Adelle’s knack for networking has helped them through great fundraising rounds with wonderful investors who have been a great resource How their successful appearance on Shark Tank led them to an investment from Mark Cuban How and why Eterneva has experienced continual growth and partnerships even through COVID, including a partnership with Baylor University’s grief program to learn more about grief and how people can be helped through the process Why she is passionate about ideas for future expansion as they continue to create and build this brand new category of grief wellness ###To Find Out More: eterneva.com ###Quotes: “What does it mean to live a life of meaning and how do you make sure that you're integrating that into what you go and do, cause you don't want to live with regret and look back and say, what was this all for?” “You learn what it's like to fail, to fall on your face, to not get it all done, feel unprepared and completely sleep-deprived.” “There is no A+ in business. You just have to figure stuff out.” “You should wait and make sure that you found the idea that is worth 5 to 10 years of your life. There should be a checklist, and it should clear that bar before you jump ship.” “This is not really a diamond company that we're building. This is just as much about the grief changing journey that somebody is going on by having something positive to look forward to at a time they had nothing to look forward to. It's creating a conversation with their community in a way that nobody was engaging with them previously.” “It's just kind of that constant balance of making sure that everything you're saying is really intentional and just erring towards building morale, building the team up and making sure that the levers behind the scenes are working.” “You just have to constantly be humbly failing and learning and trying to be better.” “We're really creating an entire category and our biggest opportunity is awareness building.” “Advisors are wonderful, but I think what has been really great is having a CEO coach.” “Really what we are is a grief wellness brand. And our vision is to be leading a cultural movement that de-stigmatizes loss and opens this conversation up…”

###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Jordan always was that kid who was looking for a way to work and hustle to make some money because he liked the freedom to do his own thing How he ended up in real estate after studying some in pre-med, some in pre-law and still not really knowing what he wanted to do His time in economic development for a public/private partnership between a couple of counties in the Lowcountry of South Carolina in a difficult economic situation and how that led to the fertile ground for a new business idea to grow How the lessons he learned in the real estate industry led to an even stronger work ethic, trust, and authenticity that would be an asset as a founder and CEO How his natural interest in interior design, furniture, and architecture led to the idea to reach out to some furniture factories and list them on eBay to turn a profit What happened after Jordan decided to give his new business 90 days to see what kind of opportunity he had there, and why he moved from eBay to a website How Jordan bootstrapped Industry West in the early days and built a solid foundation without any venture capital Why the health of company culture is so important to Jordan and Anne, and how they strive to cultivate it every day, even during remote work How maintaining 100% ownership of their company has helped them in 2020 to be able to pivot quickly and meet their customers’ needs Advice that Jordan has to offer for couples who are thinking about running a business together Why he sees himself as a servant leader, and why he feels very strongly about the responsibility to give back to the community ###To Find Out More: Industrywest.com ###Quotes: “There's something about the freedom that affords you to do things you want to do.” “I think there's something about having a task in front of you that's difficult and daunting, achieving it or failing at it, and then seeing why you failed. But when you achieve it, you can push through it, and you look back and think like, wow, that changed me as a person. That is incredibly rewarding. Let's go do it again.” “This was literally like, if I keep this small for now, I can grow organically. I didn't know anything about venture capital.” “I don't want to take the credit for things for being in the right place at the right time. I think that has a lot to do with it... I think timing is luck.” “We've always made sure that every dollar we're spending has a return on it. And we can clearly track those dollars.” “I think this year has been the perfect storm of confluence of really negative forces and things happening in the world and the marketplace.” “It's important to listen to your customer. It's also important to lead them towards what you feel like the brand represents.” “I think of myself more as a servant leader.” “I take a lot of pride in the development and the growth of the staff that's here.” “I'm pretty much an open book when it comes to being honest around what's happening in the business and maybe to a fault.” “I think business leaders and owners and those that there are growing businesses, have a responsibility to give back to the community.” “Nothing happens overnight. So let's build something meaningful and lasting.”

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How this first-generation Texan, with parents who immigrated from Asia, earned an engineering degree and thought she’d become a doctor How, instead of taking a path in medicine, Christine found herself on the manufacturing side of the Folgers Coffee Company with Procter & Gamble How her desire to go back to school led her to earn her MBA and taking her to the “other side” as a marketer, interning with P&G in China in 1990 and launching a shampoo that is still the number one shampoo in China How the lesson from her parents to always find a way to go get what you want and find your place pushed her to persevere through challenges throughout life and also to take opportunities as they came along in her career What brought her back to the US to join the Dow Chemical Company that became her first training ground in strategy working in their think tank where she learned to dream big on behalf of a company How Christine created her Leadership Legacy Statement while working at Coca Cola How her career path has led her through multiple opportunities to become a great leader, learning to influence others in positive ways and building healthy teams that communicate well How her time as an investor and mentor at SKU in Austin, TX solidified her desire to work with a founder to scale a company in their next step of growth How all of this experience, over many industries, helped her be prepared for this role as CEO at Gathered Foods where they are focused on propelling change through craveable plant-based foods, making an impact of all beings and our planet, and wanting to be globally relevant and make a real difference To Find Out More: gatheredfoods.com Quotes: “As a leader, if you want that success, you have to make sure that everyone is working to the same North Star.” “I really try to surround myself with people who are better than me.” “I'm also very self-aware that I am not a founder myself. That's not my strength area. So really, what I can offer is kind of a skill set to help someone who has that ability to start up something. But I could be the one that can help scale it at that next phase.” “It's not always going to be easy, but you really need to have a passion and a commitment and authenticity to what you choose to do.” “Don't compromise on what you believe that you want. So again, you have to be self-aware about where you want to do, what you want to do, and why you want to do it.” “I need to be inspired by my manager, and I also need to learn from my manager. So in turn, I feel like I have that obligation then to do that with my teams.” “If you are in your silo and it's not working, and you don't ask for help, you're losing. But then you quickly spiral because you've got no one to help lift you out. But if you can reach out your hands, and you've built a team of trust and respect, there will be a lot of hands to reach out to help lift you up. And then together go find a win.” “It's very easy to have self-doubt. It's very easy to feel a little bit lost, and I will tell you that's part of the journey.” “There are going to be ups and downs for sure. But the broader picture is about choosing joy because life is just too short.” “Everybody needs to play to their strengths. And that's how you win in the end. Remember to have fun, right?”

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: Why growing up with a celebrity veterinarian father in LA in what neighbors called “The Dr. Dolittle House” set Brandon up to understand the needs of pet owners How his raging case of ADHD as a kid helped him learn to think outside of the box, learn how to assess his own abilities, and work with others who were better than him in areas of weakness How he, like many kids who grow up near Hollywood, went to work in the entertainment industry after college, working at Fox and CAA, which taught him humility and attention to detail How his first business start-up, Lootsie, was full of lessons learned, but only made it to year five or six before it was decided to close it down How learning to know when you shouldn’t be, and when you should be, drinking your own Kool-Aid is critical as a Founder and CEO and how to find that balance Why learning to fire yourself, as a CEO, from specific roles and hiring others who are better than you in those roles will lead to an empowered and efficient team with a collaborative culture Why it is imperative that a Founder/CEO is honest with himself/herself about whether or not the company is working and how to handle it when the company doesn’t work out How gratitude and the encouragement of his support system helped him work through a failed business and gave him the confidence to take the step towards the next company, Airvet How Brandon realized that pet owners have a need that was not being met in many cases and how he could do something to help How COVID actually led to a perfect opportunity for Airvet and also a pretty breezy fundraising round that closed with $14 million To Find Out More: Airvet.com Quotes: “Saying ‘no’ is a learned skill and it's hard to do because there's nothing more important as an entrepreneur than being focused. And being focused means a lot of no.” “There's a lot of problems in entrepreneurship with mental health. And I think a lot of that has to do with the inability to prioritize and time management.” “There's so much that can be said about humility. And I think as you craft and fine-tune your skillset, knowing when you're drinking your Kool-Aid, when to sell and when not to sell.” “One of the best skills that a CEO can have is getting excited around firing yourself from each one of those roles and hiring people better than you at that and smarter than you at that, at those particular areas.” “If you're the best person on your team, you have not done yourself a service. If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room.” “Humility is one of the best skills a CEO can have.” “But you ask yourself, am I continuing because I so believe in our mission or am I too proud and do I have too much ego to allow myself to move on to the next adventure and tell people it didn't work out?’” “Because as lonely as it is for me, if you have a family that doesn't get to interact with you or see you, but yet they live in the same house, it's really lonely for them too. And we don't realize often how much we need them.” “You have to make sure you prioritize what you're not willing to sacrifice and stay true to that.” “Stepping out of myself and my ego and my guilt and all of that and seeing the support system that I'd built and the people that still believed in me is what got me the confidence and excitement back to go quickly do the next thing and take that leap of faith again.” “So much of being an entrepreneur is being willing to eat enough dirt until your dirt becomes caviar.” “The wisdom that I'd impart on any future or current founder is not to forget your why and stay true to that because it's everything.” “Passion alone is not enough. You also have to look and be honest brutally with yourself.”

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How an early start helping out in her father’s store gave Gail an appreciation for owning her own business and led to an independent spirit Why she loves to get herself out of her comfort zone and challenge herself as much as possible and how she started doing that even as a child How her study of political science and journalism lead to a pivotal moment of inspiration with a well-known television news anchor How she transitioned from journalism to politics to public relations and then, after 16 years at a PR firm, was feeling like there was something more Ways her front-row seat within the business world led to great insight and advice for herself later on The importance of women being at the leadership table How her unhappiness in corporate life, her frustration over how long it took to make a great cauliflower pizza crust after a long day of work, and her desire to honor her father after he passed away led to a transition into entrepreneurship that would change her life Why she just knew she had to start her own company even though she may not have felt ready How she came up with the name CAULIPOWER and raised millions from one investment fund How the timing of her launch and the ways she has done things differently has lead to incredible growth and an excitingly unique brand Ways she makes sure the taste of their products are always great and how she fought past some hard struggles to get CAULIPOWER into Whole Foods and WalmartWays she works through the highs and lows of building a business and why she sees the lows as gifts in the long run What gives Gail so much joy as her brand continues to build a community around the lunch or dinner table and how she stays connected to her consumers in personal ways How she stays focused on the people cheering her and CAULIPOWER on, why she thinks it’s ok to break some rules sometimes, and what’s coming next for this dynamo company To Find Out More: Eatcaulipower.com Quotes: “I have always measured success by how comfortable I can get in things that are inherently uncomfortable to me.” “I think the day you stop learning and the day you stop caring is the day you have to leave.” “I think it's actually a reason why a lot of women, in particular, enter entrepreneurship because they want to create the work environment where they can thrive and be happy. And sometimes that doesn't always exist in corporate America. So we're forced to create it ourselves.” “Women bring a lot to the table, but the corollary also has to be considered. What's missing when the woman isn't there? And quite frankly, I thought it was quite a bit.” “I realized I wanted to do something more meaningful, something more long-lasting, something that would honor everything he gave me and everything he taught me, and what better way to do that than to follow in his entrepreneurial footsteps?” “I always say starting a business is like having kids. If you wait for the right time, you're never going to do it. So you can't wait for the right time. You can't wait for that time when you absolutely know, because you don't.” “There are people who graduate from business school and have an idea and have a plan and execute upon that plan and hire all the right people and all that. And that's great. And that is a fantastic and really smart way to start a business. That was not my way. I had a gut feeling.” “When I think about the scariest part about starting CAULIPOWER, even today, I think it's how close I came to not doing it.” “Sometimes you have to break rules. That's your job as an entrepreneur. You follow some, and you break some.” “I also didn't know that the lows would be surmountable. That you have those lows, but you could also work your way out of them.” “I think one of the wonderful things about having lows as an entrepreneur is it just makes the highs that much more wonderful.” “I like how, to me, the dinner table or the lunch table, or any place that we eat together and share food is the most important place in the home.” “You have to take risks. You have to. Otherwise, you're just going to be like every other company that's currently out there. So do things differently.” “I bet everything that I had on a vegetable.”

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in Southern California included lots of siblings, the beach, and hard work at his parents’ donut shops How a successful pool business paid his way through college and then became the first “exit” of his entrepreneurial career His first out of college employment as a hazardous waste scientist How his younger brother’s success with an online business sparked curiosity and a pathway toward starting his own successful business How his interest in SEO and popular search terms led to the discovery of the potential in portable air conditioner sales How Newair went from operating in his parents’ garage to the large facility they are in today Why Luke believes that having great people on your team is one of the best things you can do for your company How learning from mistakes and working through challenges such as tariffs and growing pains has lead them to be stronger than ever and has now set them up to diversify and grow even more Why building leaders within your company is key to a healthy and vibrant company culture and a thriving work environment What he has learned along the way and advice he has for other entrepreneurs who want to change the world To Find Out More: NewAir.com Quotes: “Build in that leadership so that you don't just hit a wall, which some companies can definitely do because then they haven't built those competencies into their team.” “Luckily, I've got a great group of friends. I'm in a really good CEO group, and I've got a bunch of other CEO friends. Having a network is huge.” “I think having good guidance, and a great group of friends and mentors helped me, and I definitely would advise everybody to grab onto some good mentors.” “Truly, we need to be a best place to work because otherwise, we can't attract the best people.” “Marketing overall, it's not just social, it's also thinking about SEO and organic ranks and how you're going to rank on your retailers if you are selling through channels.” “What I like about selling into these retailers is they're advertising for you. They're branding for you.” “Build relationships, build your brand.” “When you're an entrepreneur, you're going to have to deal with a lot of anxiety and stress. So people have to be able to deal with that.” “You don't have to be one type of person to be an entrepreneur.” “I think, as a CEO, probably the most important thing is being a good decision-maker, being curious, having a very open mind about things because the more we know that we don't know things, the better.” “Everybody's talking about how we can make change in the world, change in diversity, in all of these different aspects. And I truly believe being an entrepreneur is a great place where young people should be looking. Because you can make a lot of changes as an entrepreneur.” “When you start your day, think about what you're going to create instead of what you're going to consume.”

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in small-town in the Midwest established a hard-working ethic and a discipline influenced by a unique school in Iowa that taught transcendental meditation How dreams of California took Jessica back west to UCLA for college to study Fine Art How her dad is known as the Father of the Infomercial Her experience working as a Television Literary Agent at Endeavor (later William Morris Endeavor) where she learned that there will always be mistakes, but also there are solutions Why work ethic in the agency world is so critical and also a huge part of her success How she came to be a part of her father’s established ad agency company and fell in love with it, even though that was never part of the plan How she l came up with the company’s mission and vision, company strategy, yearly planning, which then led to her becoming the COO, then the CEO, and then the owner of Hawthorne Advertising Her recent discovery of the Entrepreneurial Operating System and how that has streamlined all the moving parts across the organization How Jessica and her teams have created a culture of giving back, enjoying work, making sure her company is a great place to work and helping their clients’ companies thrive and grow is at the core of what drives them Ways she leads by example in personal and professional daily growth through organizations like Vistage and YPO Some of the many awards Jessica has won, such as LA Business Journal’s Top Marketers in LA, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, 40 Under 40 and Rising Star awards, CEO of the Year, and more How getting the execution and operations behind an idea right is the only way to actually bring good things to fruition and how this includes not only managing people well but managing your own time well Ways her high efficiency, incredible organization skills, ability to delegate, and drive to complete daily tasks leads to less stress and more successful output Jessica’s advice to learn all parts of the business To Find Out More: https://www.hawthorneadvertising.com/ Quotes: "I do appreciate growing up in the Midwest and the values that I got from the Midwest and the work ethic that comes from that.” “Many entrepreneurial paths are born out of necessity.” “I never wanted to get a job or have an experience that anyone handed to me. I always wanted to do it myself. I never wanted to owe anyone, anything ever” “We're always going to have problems… Nothing is ever easy. But it is how you approach everything in a way that you're coming to fix it. You're coming with solutions instead of just coming with complaints.” “What is important within our culture is that it's not about the individual. It's about the client's best interest. And if we are growing their company and their campaign as a result, then we're all growing together.” “It's really important to me that people work very hard, but that they have a lot of fun and enjoy what they're doing because we're spending more time at work than really any other parts of our life.” “Those who do focus on personal and professional development are those who keep coming along with you on the ride and help drive the growth of the company and what you're doing.” “Getting the execution and the operations right is absolutely critical to anything because you can have the greatest ideas ever, but they are absolutely worthless unless you can actually execute them.” “You have to figure out how to execute and operate to be able to bring things to fruition. And it is about consistency.” “I can really perform at a high level every day because I push myself to work and complete everything so that the next day I can start completely fresh.” “Learn all parts of the business, start from the bottom. I'm a big advocate of starting from the bottom.”

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How his love for building things started early on and his entrepreneurial drive was influenced by his mother His first businesses on eBay and in IT and how he made good money selling security cameras to restaurants while still in high school How his love for the League of Legends video game led him to go to LA for an internship at Riot Games where he helped them launch into their biggest market to date, China How he had a difficult choice to make between going back to work at Riot or continue to build out the software he had designed to help his mother’s restaurant business How he learned to not just be a great engineer but also taught himself how to be great at sales by going door to door to over 300 restaurants Why Jiake and his co-founders decided to pivot from Survly to ProspectWise How the fallout between Jiake and his co-founders provided a hard, but important lesson on how vital the health and culture of a team is How his tenacity and drive to keep going, with the trust and encouragement of investors and mentors and family, led to a new co-founder, new possibilities, growth, and profit How being vulnerable and asking for help became the key to him rebuilding his company How Outer grew 20x this year and has a cash flow positive status as a company How Outer created over 100 neighborhood showrooms in 80 cities in the US How Jiake’s experiences have helped him become a great leader and continue to build not only a thriving business with a great team but also a network of satisfied customers To Find Out More: https://liveouter.com/ Quotes: “I'm still a very introverted person, and I'm an engineer, but I had to learn how to sell, get rejected a lot, and get turned away.” “I think most startups fail due to founder fallout.” “I think there's a lot of hesitation that entrepreneurs face with being vulnerable that prevents them from getting the help they need to potentially succeed.” “We had to take the hard route of figuring out what is broken about outdoor furniture. When it comes down to the furniture, it's all about material.” “We knew we had a product-market fit because people really love it and because they can't stop talking about it.” “To truly let go, as a leader, is a lot easier said than done.” “I don't get too over the top in my head and say, ‘Wow, we're going to dominate the world.’ I have to think about potential downturns that could come too.” “Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to really get to know your own business while you're in the middle of building it. But once you find the true calling in that mission, it feels great.”

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in California, playing varsity sports and running for offices like class president showed her that her personality was full of drive and fight Why college in New Orleans with a study abroad in Spain became an eye-opening and important experience How her internship at Ford Models and Susan Blonde Inc music company in NYC during college summers was both fun and informative How her initial dream of becoming a publicist in LA was abandoned but eventually led to a job at E! True Hollywood Story How her time at E! revealed her hidden talents of matchmaking and led to her toward being known as the “Resident Dating Expert” Where she got the name for her company and how she first started as a blog How her time in the incubator program at the Founders Institute led to a lesson on trusting yourself as the expert of your own idea Why Three Day Rule’s time on Shark Tank was worth the risks and difficulties they endured to get on the show Why Talia believes having a strong and healthy company culture is critical to success and how she and her team intentionally cultivate this How fundraising as a woman with a growing family became a challenge for Talia during both of her two pregnancies and how, with grit and determination, she overcame that Why her unplanned role of CEO helped her gain clarity Her advice for other entrepreneurs and how she balances the stress of life, work, and family To Find Out More: threedayrule.com Quotes: “I'm such a strong believer that the best ideas don't have to come from the business team. You know, a lot of times they come from our matchmakers that are on the ground.” “I went out two days after giving birth and closed nine investors.” “I always say a determined woman is unstoppable. People just have to recognize that and move forward.” “I should have followed what I was actually passionate about, but instead I was listening to the trends, and what I recognized, in the end, was that I was the expert.” “I always look at everything like a pie where my husband gets a slice, and my work gets a slice, and my kids get a slice. And if I can get a little sliver for me, then my day is so much better.” “I never thought in a million years that I would be a CEO.” “I would say find something that you care very deeply about. And once you have that, do whatever it takes to make sure that it's successful. You're gonna hit a lot of bumpy roads, but be a fighter and you will get through it.” “So I would say half my job is bridging the gap between people who actually like each other and don't know, and the other half is really helping people become their best dating selves.”

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Chris Tolles experience with art school at RISD built a foundation for his love for design Why his international and humanitarian travel on a Thomas J Watson Fellowship ignited his entrepreneurial drive How volunteering at an MIT D-Lab conference and sneaking into an event led to an invitation to join an MIT startup How he turned an award-winning green initiative prototype into an impactful functioning product Why Chris’ time with One Earth Designs led to the realization that he wanted to go to business school Why leaving Hong Kong to get an MBA at Boston University was an important step in his career How his time with Steelcase and IDEO, Innosight, and Emulate helped Chris prepare for the decision to become his own boss How going from working for others to working for himself paid off and the pivotal lessons he learned on the way How meeting Dr. Emilia Javorskky led to Crowdfunding and the unique and successful start of Sundaily Why transitioning from a suncare company to a skincare company led to profound lessons as a first-time founder Why the move to Grove Collaborative has been so successful and what is next for Chris and for Sundaily To Find Out More: getsundaily.com Quotes: “If I really cared about making a difference in people's lives, I needed to be as comfortable designing the business model as the object itself.” "Maybe you're just not made to work for other people.” “Emilia... I have a super vivid memory of this exact conversation. We're in this teeny little conference room, and she's like, "By the way, I got my own ideas, and the one I'm most excited about is ingestible sun protection." “The beauty of entrepreneurship is that the answer is never obvious, and there's no answer that's ever like the best clearly. So it's a judgment call.” “There are two main kinds of risk in any entrepreneurial effort. There's technology risk. Can it exist? And then there's commercial risk. Can you sell it?” “If I won't die for the problem, it's going to be really hard for me to lead the company.” “I was so fired up about the thing we were doing that I underestimated the likelihood that we could end up in a place very different from where we started.” “It's kind of lame, but “know thyself.” If you don't know what you want in life, man, it's so hard to go get it.”

In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Brian Ree started his first tutoring business in high school How the internet boom inspired an idea for an online fine jewelry lifestyle brand How a hobby turned into a content business and developed 450,000 active subscribers Why studying and reading about other entrepreneurs and finding patterns is an important part of the entrepreneur’s journey How he came up with the idea for DAILYLOOK The challenges he faced from pivoting DAILYLOOK into an eCommerce brand His process of choosing a business model that would drive customer retention organically What he learned from making the best,and worst, hiring choices The ins and outs of raising $11.5 million of capital How his Co-Founder helped the company be as successful as they are today The importance of physical health in building a business Experiencing self-doubt as an entrepreneur and how to overcome it To Find Out More: dailylook.com Quotes: “I think there's a lot to be gained in experience from working with great teams and great people.” “I definitely recommend having and surrounding yourself with as many experienced mentors as possible.” “People that didn't have positive experiences with other coworkers in previous jobs will still tend to give a mediocre or medium type of reference check.” “When you start a business, I do recommend that, depending on the business of course, that you have a co-founder.” “I think the mental game is a challenging one. And with time and experience, I've learned my ways of how I cope with things in challenging times.” “As an entrepreneur, self-doubt can creep in from many different angles and places and times.” “I try to maintain the perspective and mindset of being a lifelong learner and always intellectually curious and open to learning new things. Learn from new people around you.”

In this episode, David Greenfeld and I chat about his entrepreneurial journey from being a hip hop artist, to working for Tesla, to living in Italy where he became inspired to build Dream Pops. Dream Pops is changing the game in the ice cream world by providing a delicious, modern, plant-based frozen dessert that looks really cool, tastes incredible, and is good for you! They’re packed with superfoods, and they're dairy, gluten, and soy free. We talk about the spiritual side of building a business, his first partnership with Starbucks and more - so grab a Dream Pop from your local Whole Foods and tune in to hear David’s incredible story. In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How this LA native was inspired by his entrepreneurial family growing up. How he got interested in startups and started his “Just wine” company while still just a junior in college at Berkeley, CA. How taking a job in the finance world ultimately helped him become a more successful entrepreneur. His take on a plant-based lifestyle. How he got the idea for Dream Pops. The importance of not hiring your friends and seeking exceptional talent. His time in Italy and why traveling is important for perspective as a CEO. How to build your tool set and why it’s critical. Gratitude and David’s evolving metrics of success. The importance of spiritual stamina. How he stays focused and motivated with his ultra-important morning routine. Why you want to have other entrepreneurs in your inner circle. The importance of asking for help, and following up on offers of support. David’s advice on channels, shipping, and distribution for CPG. David’s best book recommendations. His vision for an “ice cream shop of the future” and what’s next for Dream Pops! Quotes: “You’d be surprised how many people want to help you with no monetary gain.” “When your back is against the wall, you’d be shocked at what you’re capable of accomplishing.” “ Most people shouldn’t be entrepreneurs. There are huge sacrifices emotionally, financially, and psychologically. For me it makes sense. I like coloring outside the lines of the unknown. I can’t stand structure so it (entrepreneurship) makes sense for me. But that’s where self-awareness is so crucial and you know, I learned the hard way.” “My advice is to go get the tools.” “You really need to not hire your friends.” “Understand how little you really need.” To Find Out More: https://dreampops.com/

Welcome to episode 8 of the Stairway to CEO podcast, I’m your host Lee Greene and in this episode, I sat down with April Uchitel, the recently appointed CEO of Violet Grey. Violet Grey is a luxury beauty brand and online retailer known for its expert curation of industry-approved beauty products. April shares with us her impressive career journey, from climbing the corporate fashion ladder at DVF where she helped build the brand from a $6M company to a $300M company to diving into the startup world working as Chief Brand Officer for Spring. April talks with us about what she’s learned along the way, how building relationships have been essential to her success and what it’s like to now be called CEO for the first time. In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How an early penchant for shopping at Contempo Casuals sparked a lifelong passion for fashion. Why she credits studying Sociology and Psychology in college with helping her to be successful in sales. The tools she used to manifest her dream job at DVF. What NOT to do and why you should never burn bridges. Her take on the nuances of successful scalability. The value of a Shared Economy approach. Why she knew it was time to pivot and leave fashion for tech. Why she considered naming Spring’s first blog post “Fuck the Department Store.” The critical importance of company culture. Why “good enough” is a bad thing. What the toughest challenges she faces as a CEO are. Her best advice for others aspiring to a CEO title. Quotes: “It took me a while to learn how important it is to champion yourself.” “There is a fine line between overselling yourself and not having the goods to deliver.” “My heart and soul and purpose were in disrupting the industry.” “I think we, especially as women, feel like we can’t do it unless we are a thousand percent qualified, whereas men say: I can do one of these things, I can do the whole thing.” “You have to really believe in and love what you do.” “The leader sets the tone.” “Sometimes we’re paving the road while we’re driving.” “Get ready, fasten your seatbelt, and suck up as much information as you can.” To Find Out More: https://www.violetgrey.com

Today, on the Stairway to CEO podcast, I’m hanging out with Erik Huberman, the Founder & CEO of Hawke Media. Hawke Media is a full-service marketing agency based here in Santa Monica, California. Since launching 4 years ago, Erik has been named one of Inc Magazine’s “Top 25 Marketing Influencers” and was on Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2016. In this episode, Erik shares with us his entrepreneurial journey from selling beanie babies at 8 years old to building Hawke Media into an award-winning marketing agency valued at over 75 million. As always, if you like what you hear, subscribe to the show and leave us a review -I hope you enjoy this episode! In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How his dad challenged him and helped him to avoid the pitfalls of being a “spoiled rich kid” by encouraging him to get a job at just 8 years old. How selling Beanie Babies sparked a lifelong passion for business. Why he believes that sales is not about selling. How the market crash of 2008 steered him away from pursuing his father’s real-estate legacy and why he chose to become an entrepreneur instead. How he doubled his income by starting consulting work with major brands The realization that all companies, big and small, suffer from the same problem with finding good marketing talent and how that inspired him to start Hawke Media. Why he believes there are 3 pillars of successful marketing and what they are. Why you should never trust a company who guarantees ROI. How to train your managers to be leaders and why you should take it seriously. Why money is not his only barometer of success. Why clarity of vision is the most important thing of all. Quotes: “If you can’t sell Rubik’s Cubes, don’t start a Rubik’s Cube company.” “You can’t take any of it personally. Things happen –– it’s okay.” “Sustainably do something you love every day. I say sustainably because you need to make a living, you need to make money, whatever that means to you, but you gotta just enjoy it. Life’s too short. It’s not just about money. There are plenty of rich people who are miserable –– that to me is not success.” “Just get shit done. What are you actually doing? Don’t get caught up it the buzzwords and the hype and all the talk. Just go to work. Get something done.” “If you have to raise money to get your product to market, you have the wrong team, or you’re the wrong person.” To Find Out More: https://hawkemedia.com

Welcome to Episode 6 of the Stairway to CEO podcast, I’m your host Lee Greene and today I spoke with Katie Johnson, the Co-Founder & CEO of Carbon38. Carbon38 is a luxury activewear brand and online retailer featuring a curated selection of activewear designers. Katie shares her story about how she went from working as a professional broadway dancer to building Carbon38 into a hundred million dollar company that sells activewear from over 250 brands and employs nearly 100 people. She talks about how she learned to bring out her inner alpha while working as a fitness instructor, how moments of crying in the shower can lead to pushing through boundaries she never thought she could, and how a vision setting workshop in LA helped her create her 5 year vision for the future, which has already begun to unfold. In This Episode You'll Hear About: How a very young Katie leveraged seasonal Cherry Blossom tourism in her native Washington DC to create a flourishing lemonade-stand business. How she learned to out-alpha a room full of alpha women. How working a room is like performance art. Something unexpected that Katie has in common with Sheryl Sandberg Why getting very specific about your vision for the future is essential. The importance of having soul and spirit as a brand. Why going IPO is not her metric for success. How Katie sees her position as a CEO as a means to a greater end and why she’s in it for the long haul. How she raised capital and created a partnership with Foot Locker. Why you shouldn’t listen to naysayers and doomsdayers. To Find Out More: https://www.carbon38.com Quotes: “I think being an artist and being an entrepreneur are exactly the same thing.” “I put my needle on that record (vision of future success), and I’ve been playing that record in the back of my head and it’s infiltrated all of my decisions since then.” “I’ve never been allowed in my upbringing, or in my own character, to feel hopeless. I’m an off-the-charts optimist and there’s always a solution.” “It’s not final until you’re dead, and even then there are negotiations.” “The bigger I can be, the bigger Carbon can be, the more opportunity we can create, the more ability we have to shape, and that is such a gift and an opportunity.” “Anything is possible, you’ve just gotta be smart, be scrappy and get your head in the game.” “Ignorance is such a gift when you’re trying to start something.” “Have fun. If you’re not having fun, pivot ...you only have one life.”

Welcome to the fifth episode of Stairway to CEO! In this episode, I interviewed Courtney Reum, the Co-Founder of M13, a consumer product-focused, brand development, and venture capital firm based in Los Angeles. Along with angel investing and building an impressive portfolio packed with top startups including Pinterest, Lyft, Ring, SpaceX, and Thrive Market, just to name a few, he also Co-Founded Veev Spirits with his brother Carter and is a best-selling author of the book “Shortcut Your Startup." Courtney shares how he went from working at Goldman Sachs to building Veev Spirits from a 2-person startup to one of the fastest growing independent liquor brands in the US which was acquired in 2016. He talks with us about his biggest failures, what he learned from it, what it was like to get his company acquired and how he thinks about managing burnout. In This Episode You'll Hear About: How skipping class senior year actually lead him to pursue an Ivy League education at Columbia University in New York City. How he sharpened his selling chops pushing Lingonberry pancakes at IHOP. How life is all about options and how important it is to keep yours open. How he ended up moonlighting as a card-carrying food critic and founding Zagat’s first internship program. How a fateful injury ended his dreams of being a pro-athlete, but spurred his journey into finance and on to become a successful entrepreneur. How Kevin Plank from Under Armour helped him decide to become a founder. How he came up with the name for Veev, why he decided to start a spirits company, and the challenges he faced branding a “healthier” alcohol. The unusual approach he used to raise capital for Veev. The biggest challenges they faced and the importance of focus as a founder. Some of the most useful tips from his best-selling book: Shortcut Your Startup. His exit strategy from Veev and his advice on strategies for getting your company acquired. (Hint: pre-court your buyers). Re-inventing the wheel — the creation of his investment firm and platform M13. His take on founder burnout and how to keep employee morale high. His biggest takeaway and his number ONE piece of advice for new startups! To Find Out More: https://www.m13.co/ Quotes: "Life's just about options and so the more options you have the better it'll probably turn out." “I was not the person who always knew what he wanted to do.” "If you're starting a company and you think you might want to sell it, make every decision from the beginning with that in mind.” “Always balance getting in the trenches with analysis paralysis.” "You're doing things you've never done before. You either have this incredible gut or really good people around you because being asked to do things that you've never done every day is really tricky.” “Do what you do best and outsource the rest.” “Being an entrepreneur is like being a hopeless romantic — it’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.”

Welcome to the fourth episode of the Stairway to CEO podcast! In this episode, I interviewed Brian Garrett, the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Crosscut Ventures, a top VC fund in LA where he's been investing in startups for over 10 years. Brian shares his story—from a family tragedy that happened at age 13 to a recent healing experience that helped him break through the barriers that have been holding him back. In this episode, Brian talks about the importance of being vulnerable, the characteristics he looks for in founders to invest in, his take on the founder-investor relationship, and why he now believes in the saying “Let the game come to you.” In This Episode You'll Hear About: How a tragic life event at a young age shaped him into the hard working person he is His Dad’s interesting background and how his dad made a life for himself after separating himself from his two alcoholic parents What triggered his quarter life crisis and what he did about it How he met his Co-Founder Rick Smith and how Crosscut Ventures came about His experience with fundraising the first fund for Crosscut Ventures The worst pitch he ever received from an entrepreneur and why His perspective on the process of raising capital from investors as a founder Why he thinks being vulnerable is important and what characteristics he looks for most in successful founders A recent trip he took and what he learned from an incredible healing experience What components are beyond the control of even the most hardworking founders Why following your passion is the most important thing to consider when building a business To Find Out More: http://www.crosscut.vc/ Quotes: "Use the criticism as a way to sharpen your pitch or your angle but don't take offence to it because we're no more qualified to do this than anyone else out there." "Pessimism of the intellect and optimism of the will." "You can't force circumstances to your favor, but there are some things you can do to get a slight advantage." "Not everybody needs to be part of a startup that scales from 0 to x in 18 months. There are many great businesses that are built overtime and you just have to let what the market gives you. You have to take advantage of it as it comes and just be smart." "You gotta let the game come to you."

Welcome to the third episode of the Stairway to CEO podcast! In this episode, I interviewed Sahil Jain, the young and brilliant Co-Founder and CEO of AdStage. AdStage is an advertising technology company that allows businesses to better understand and consolidate all of the data from their online ad spend across multiple networks in one place. Sahil shares his journey from dropping out of high school to work for Yahoo! at age 17 to building his own company and the many invaluable lessons and insights he learned along the way. In this Episode You'll Hear About: How and why Sahil dropped out of high school How he landed a job at Yahoo! full-time at age 17 His experience working for AOL at age 19 and why he got fired The valuable lessons he learned from his first startup What prompted Sahil to launch AdStage Why he’s not a big fan of outsourcing How his emotions impact his business and how he stays consistent and patient. His process for hiring the right people and how he gauges if the applicant is the right fit Why his company hosts hackathons His experience in raising capital for his business and tips on pitching Why he thinks staying naive is an important part of success His perspective on the future of digital media & advertising His advice for aspiring founders or anyone looking to start a business To Find Out More: https://www.adstage.io Quotes: "It's really important who you start a company with and it's really important to pick your founders properly and people who you get along with philosophically as well as just in general." "My co-founder and I often remind ourselves that if we're having a really bad day, we can't bring it in with us to the office." "Hiring is your most important job as a founder and as a leader." "Getting someone excited (about your business) can be done in many many different ways." When it comes to fundraising: "I think the most important thing is authenticity."

Ariel Kaye has known from a young age that she wanted to learn, improve and move forward in all aspects of life. Today, she talks with us about her journey in starting Parachute Home, a popular direct consumer brand offering bed and bath linens as well as other home essentials for the modern home. We discuss the challenges and rewards of fundraising, how to build a collaborative environment and ways to tell a story in a big, bold and undeniable way. In This Episode You’ll Hear About: Ariel’s unconventional path from working in Advertising to starting her own business. How Ariel merged her interest in building a brand with her passion for high-quality home essentials to start Parachute Home. What she did to update investors and show progress in order to secure capital. How she took feedback and applied it feverishly to better herself and her company. Best lessons learned and tips on hiring the right people based on your own core competency. Some of the challenges she faced in building her confidence, and ways she encourages camaraderie and bonding within the Parachute culture. Why it’s not rare to see employees of Parachute cardio boxing each other. What investors need to feel and see, and what Ariel has done to bring out the “crazy” within her own pitch meetings. Her recent $30M Series C round, and why fundraising is like a performance. How Ariel measures success, and her focus on building a long lasting brand. The moments where Ariel felt most defeated, and how she got back on her feet. Ariel’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. To Find Out More: Parachute Quotes: “You have to fake it til you make it.” “You are investing in the person so much more than the actual idea” “I had to let go of my own insecurity regarding the types of people that would be excited to work here.” “When you have a great brand that people are inspired by, it becomes a lot easier to recruit people.” “You are your own biggest advocate. You must put the excitement and passion on the table so it can be felt and experienced by others.” “Nothing is easy, and that’s what keeps it fun.” “Everything takes longer than expected.” “I think when you have an idea you really believe in, it’s totally worth following that passion.” “You have to get used to things going wrong, and moments that are overwhelming.”

Title: Following Your Gut with Daina Trout, the Co-Founder & CEO of Health-Ade Kombucha Description: Welcome to the first episode of Stairway to CEO! I am your host, Lee Greene. In this week’s episode, we are joined by Daina Trout, Co-Founder and CEO of Health-Ade Kombucha. Daina not only has one of the most successful kombucha drinks on the market, but she is a candid and powerful business owner that tells us all about her journey in building her company from the ground up. You will hear the raw, fermented truth on fear, insecurity, imperfections and why it’s okay to have them while working towards your vision. In This Episode You’ll Hear About: Her early experimental days with fermentation and kombucha both as food to enjoy and also to heal. The ways the universe lined up to put her in contact with her best friend and co-founder Vanessa. What a Kombucha Scoby is, and why you might want to put it on your head. How a focused and inspired one hour meeting led to the famous anchor logo and the Health-Ade brand name. The feelings of excitement mixed with fear that Daina and her co-founders felt when they all quit their jobs at the same time to work full time on Health-Ade. The price that comes with being an entrepreneur and why you should embrace it. The glamorous side of owning a business that we see vs what we don’t see behind the curtain. Challenges within the fundraising process and tips Daina has about negotiating contracts as a founder. What Daina does to keep her 200+ employees in sync and create great company culture. Practical advice for things you should know when starting a business venture. Her personal journey as a CEO and how Daina gained confidence in who she is both personally and professionally. To Find Out More: Health-Ade Kombucha Quotes: “Creative things sometimes best come out from being in a pressure cooker.” “All of our friends and family were asking us to please not quit our jobs and start a kombucha company from the farmers market.” “It’s not about being fearless. I wasn’t fearless at all.” “Starting a business is just constant problem-solving, in every way you can imagine.” “The weird thing about confidence is that it’s already there inside you.” “I did then what I knew how to do, now that I know better, I do better” “Being awesome is wildly inconvenient”