Julia Collins is not only known for co-founding Planet FWD and Zume Pizza, but she’s also known for her kindness and what she calls ‘realistic optimism’. 

In conversation with Pam Kostka, Julia shares her secrets on how she stays kind and positive throughout the founding journey in this special edition of my firstminute alongside Pam Kostka from July 14th 2020. 

Pam was the CEO of All Raise whose mission is to amplify female voices, accelerate their success, and create a tech culture where women are leading, shaping, and funding the future. She is now Operator In Residence & Limited Partner at Operator Collective, which brings together 200+ of tech’s most exceptional executives from diverse backgrounds to invest in and supercharge the next generation of enterprise tech.

Joining Pam is Julia, the founder of Planet FWD, the regenerative food company focussed on reversing global warming through sustainable food production. Previously, Julia co-founded Zume Pizza, helping the SoftBank-backed robotics company raise $423 million before she stepped down in 2018.

During the session, they covered everything from their experiences of founding, funding and building VC-backed startups as well as discussing the importance of what needs to happen now to meaningfully increase diversity and inclusion in the founder-funder ecosystem.

Both of our guests are exceptional leaders with a passion for diversity and inclusion in the tech / VC space, making for an insightful and inspiring conversation!