Sançar's Sahin, Co-founder at Oliva, a B2B2C startup that provides on-demand therapy, coaching, and classes. It has previously worked with employees of companies like HubSpot and Sifted. Oliva focuses on effective process matching to build a value-based platform.  In today’s episode, Sançar shares his personal story of experiencing burnout while working in a fast-growing startup and the importance of addressing mental health in the workplace. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [01:26] Sançar's personal...

In this episode, Sarah Kingston, co-founder and Chief impact officer of In Good Company, discusses their mission to help good businesses thrive. They define good businesses as those that have a positive impact on people, planet, and communities. Sarah shares how their journey began when she met her business partner, and they discovered the problem of finding and connecting with these impactful businesses. They also highlight the challenges these businesses face in reaching and growing their...

In today's episode, I speak to Rodney Williams, who's the co-founder, chairman, and president of SoLo Funds, which is a B-Corp-certified community finance platform that's now used by more than 1 million users. Members can borrow and lend money between themselves rather than go to traditional lenders, loan sharks, or banks. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [01:16] Rodney's personal background [03:18] What other alternatives exist [04:50] How does SoLo work? [07:25] When and how do your customers use...

Mark Horoszowski, the CEO and co-founder of Moving Worlds, a platform that's supporting social enterprises by connecting them to corporate content and pro-bono professionals that can really help them get ahead. In today’s episode, we discuss how their platform can help social entrepreneurs or if you're in a corporation, how you can actually work with social entrepreneurs all over the world.  EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [00:54] Mark's personal background & journey[09:56] Moving World's impact in...

In today's episode, I speak to Krish Himmatramka, the founder of Do Amore, a direct-to-consumer startup that sells engagement rings with conflict-free diamonds. Each ring also funds water projects, which can be traced using GPS coordinates and photos that prove there's an actual impact. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [01:05] Krish's Journey [03:47] How the Water Project Happened [07:50] Approaching Do Amore with Traceability [11:56] Verifying source and responsibility of Diamonds/Gold [15:01]...

Eleanor Kaye, Executive Director of the Newton Venture Program. Program helping people from underestimated and overlooked backgrounds break into the venture capital industry and also advance their careers once they are in the venture capital industry. In today’s episode, we discuss her journey in the venture capital industry and talk about some of the challenges in the industry and how the Newton Venture Program is curbing them.  EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [00:41] Eleanor's personal background &...

Rene Haas, the co-founder, and CEO of NeoCarbon. A company that has created a product that removes CO2 from the atmosphere by retrofitting industrial cooling towers with direct air capture devices. Direct air capture has been promoted as one of the most promising solutions to climate change. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [0:47] Rene Haas’s background.[4:33] Do entrepreneurs have to start from bigger companies before committing to start-ups?[7:45] Intentionality of building a company around your...

In today's episode, I speak to Max Stossel—an award-winning poet and filmmaker, as well as the founder and CEO of Social Awakening. Max has spent the last year speaking in front of more than a hundred thousand students, parents, and educators, talking about how social media and social media addiction affects our lives. With Social Awakening, he has made it his mission to help teenagers thrive in a digital world where apps are radically optimized for engagement by leveraging addictive...

Tess Cosad, the co-founder and CEO of Bea Fertility. A company making fertility care more convenient and affordable. The company is leveraging a method called IntraCervical Insemination or ICI, which has proven to actually have a 50% success rate at only a 10th of the cost of IVF. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [0:30] Tess Cosad’s background.[1:56] Fertility & Infertility, who actually has this problem?[3:43] How do existing solutions work?[6:27] Why was IUI the go-to treatment?[9:07] Strategy behind...

Chieu Cao is the co-founder of Mintago, a financial wellbeing platform for employees offering financial education, financial planning tools and pensions through salary sacrifice. He’s worked for many years at some of the world’s most renowned brands like Amazon,  Microsoft and Yahoo. Before Mintago, he co-founded PerkBox which became one the fastest growing employee service platforms. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [1:17] Chieu Chao's background.[4:07] Next step after leaving Perkbox.[6:04] Lessons...

In today's episode, I speak to Matt Semmelhack, the co-founder and CEO of Boox, reusable boxes, and shipping bags, eliminating single-use plastic and cardboard from eCommerce shipments.  The rise of eCommerce has been massive in the last few years and further accelerated by the pandemic. We'll dive into some of the most sustainable options to reduce the negative environmental impact of shipment. [01:00] Matt's Personal Journey (How he started Boox)[08:09] Comparing the environmental impact of...

In today's episode, I speak to Khyati Sundaram the CEO of Applied, a platform helping businesses to take bias out of their recruitment processes through anonymized recruiting, and algorithms that help them predict which candidates will be performing best in their roles, based on objective criteria rather than anything subjective and any biases. The company also offers AI-based tools to help write job descriptions that are likely to attract a diverse set of candidates rather than biasing...

In today's episode, I speak to Erin Davis, co-founder, and COO of Enduring Planet, which is a revenue-based financing platform for climate tech startups. The platform allows climate tech companies to raise funding without dilution, without giving away equity, and without any personal guarantees and collateral. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [00:45] Erin’s Personal Journey[06:49] What Enduring Planet is all about[09:13] How Enduring Planet lets founders do what they do best[11:13] Enduring Planet's Value...

Tom Foster-Carter, the founder of Lollipop, (online shopping assistant ) is on a mission to help solve the health and obesity crisis and reduce the food plastic waste on the planet. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [00:13] Tom's personal background & journey[6:26] Lollipop business setup and purpose[12:08] Food waste control mechanisms[15:34] Mistakes and lessons learned[20:57] Reading and not applying[23:43] Intentionality of business build-up[30:18] Sacrifices of “Change the world”...

Amee Richie and Jake Elliot-Hook, the co-founders of Sweet Bottle. Sweet Bottle has developed a reusable plant-based water bottle, which is made from sustainably sourced bamboo and wheat straw For every bottle sold. The company plants a tree and removes plastic from the ocean. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [0:34] Amee & Jake's personal background & journey[2:52] Sweet Bottle’s crowdfunding campaign[3:54] How Amee & Jake promoted their crowdfunding campaign[4:57] Sweet Bottle’s PR...

Robin Saluoks, the CEO and co-founder of eAgronom, a platform helping farmers adapt to sustainable farming practices and increase revenue through the voluntary carbon market. In today’s episode, we discuss how he built his company from the ground up. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [00:27] Robin's personal background & journey[5:02] Farmers management app[6:37] Using farming to capture carbon and greenhouse gasses[9:33] Impact of farming in battling climate change and farmer’s solutions[12:10] How...

In today's episode, I speak to Anna Maybank, co-founder of Break Room, a platform with a mission to improve working conditions for low-income jobs by creating transparency, sharing salaries, working conditions, and employee ratings publicly. Break Room has raised more than 7 million dollars in funding from the likes of Pro-founders Capital and North Zone, has about 65,000 members, and more than 600,000 jobs rated on its platform. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [00:32] Anna’sPersonal Journey[03:45]...

Peet Denny, the founding partner at Climate VC, which is a new venture fund investing in climate tech ventures, and the fund is based in the UK. Climate VC is planning to actually fund a hundred startups over the next three years. In today’s episode, we discuss how he built his company from the ground up. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [00:55] Peet's personal background & journey[3:28] How the machine learning model works to track rainforest destruction[5:03] Climate VC journey and thesis[7:22] The...

Martin Holden-White, the founder of Grubby, (one of the highest-rated recipe kits in the UK) is on a mission to make plant-based cooking more accessible across the world. In today’s episode, we discuss how he built his company from the ground up. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [00:30] Martin's personal background & journey[02:30] The inception & launch of Grubby (Before COVID hit)[04:20] The relaunch of Grubby[05:56] Competing with big players in the D2C space[07:39] Weaving sustainability into...

With the increasing severity of the climate problem, thankfully, there are organizations like Cervest that offer their climate intelligence program to empower companies and individuals to analyze their climate risk and make climate-informed decisions. For this reason, Cervest’s Founder and CEO Iggy Bassi joins us today to educate us on why we need to quantify and act on climate risks.  Some of the highlights of this episode include the extremely useful advice that Iggy shares on building a...

Alex Farcet is Founder of Rainmaking and Startupbootcamp, and these are just two of the many hats he wears. Rainmaking harnesses the power of entrepreneurship to help corporate companies implement innovation and impact initiatives, and Startupbootcamp is currently the largest industry-focused startup accelerator in the world.  In this episode, Alex shares what led him to starting these companies and what drives him to keep them going. As someone with tons of entrepreneurial experience, he...

Today, we were joined by not just one but two co-founders: Marcela Flores and Angela Newtons, who are the brains behind Tierra Foods, a startup with a mission to change the way we feed the planet. Through agroforestry and regenerative farming, Tierra Foods develops carbon-negative ingredients that help restore the planet. So, not only do these plants and ingredients help sequester carbon, but they taste good too! In this episode, Marcela and Angela share how the Carbon13 program was vital in...

Think of candy, but in this case, it’s made out of upcycled fruits and vegetables (yes, you read that right) and it helps the environment, so it’s not only good for you but it’s good for the planet too! That’s what FAVES by Climate Candy is, and its co-founder and CEO, Amy Keller, is here to school us on food waste, climate change, candy manufacturing, and so much more. Amy is also the CEO of Pureplus, which works with farmers to turn their unwanted produce into plant-based powders, which...

Tailor-made nutrition. That is the tagline of Nourished, a company dedicated to personalized nutrition supplements that are vegan, friendly, not to mention, delectable, and are made through patented 3D printing techniques and sophisticated encapsulation gel technology. Its CEO and founder is Melissa Snover, a seasoned entrepreneur who has founded multiple companies. In fact, in 2019, she raised the highest female founder seed round in the history of the UK, so there is definitely a lot that...