Startup to Storefront

You probably don't have to think too hard to recall the early days of the coronavirus lockdowns. When all we wanted was an excuse to get out of our homes, bikes became that excuse. You could head out your front door and get some exercise while maintaining your social distance. It was the perfect pandemic escape. And so it was no big surprise when bike sales skyrocketed. One would think that it would be a great time to be in the cycling business. Instead, a global economy dealing with supply chain delays, factory shutdowns, and parts shortages meant that there was no supply to meet the demand. Not exactly what any business owner would call ideal. Our guest today is Diaa Nour, founder of Ventum, a direct-to-consumer bike brand out of Heber City, Utah. Ventum first burst onto the scene with their triathlon bike, turning heads with its signature Z-shaped frame. From there they quickly expanded their lineup to include road and gravel bikes to mirror national trends. Diaa has big plans on the horizon for Ventum, but before he can accomplish those goals he's got to maneuver around the global supply chain backup just like the rest of us. Listen in as we cover everything from why starting a bike company was way more difficult than he initially assumed, why he prioritized sponsoring female triathletes in an effort to level the gender wage gap between men and women, and why he chose to partner the brand with perhaps the most polarizing figure in cycling, Lance Armstrong.

Parents will always want what's best for their children. Many go to great lengths to give their child just the tiniest leg up if that will mean success down the line. Whether that be after-school tutoring, private music lessons, or waking up at 5AM on a Saturday morning to drive your kid to practice, it's not difficult to find examples of parents making their child's development a priority. But what about that child's nutrition? Our guest today is Mark Brooks, co-founder of Brainiac Foods. Mark, together with his co-founder Jonathan Wolfson, found that certain nutrients were essential to early brain development; notably choline and omega-3. The problem is, it's not always easy to get your child to ingest foods that contain these nutrients. So the two founders decided to put a twist on a product that was already a hit in school lunchboxes: yogurt. By adding choline and omega-3 to yogurt they were able to support early-childhood brain development without asking parents (or kids) to sacrifice taste for growth. Listen in as we cover everything from why they're not trying to be the #1 applesauce company, why food is the first line of defense when it comes to healthcare, and why it's not nutritious if it's not eaten.

If you were born before a certain point in time, hearing about a Good Humour ice cream truck might conjure up nostalgic memories of a carefree summer. Younger generations might be more familiar with Good Humour products found in the freezer section of grocery stores all over the country. This is the story of how a single ice cream truck grew into a chain with national distribution, but it is not the Good Humour story. Our guest today is Ben Van Leeuwen, co-founder of Van Leeuwen ice cream. Ben's first experience with ice cream came from working in one of those Good Humour ice cream trucks, and his tale parallels theirs in many ways. He eventually branched off and created his own ice cream, selling it out of a truck on the streets of New York City before expanding into storefronts and grocery chains nationwide.But in order to get the full story you'll have to listen in as we cover everything from why his vision for the company was massive from the get-go, the importance of mentorship, and why making good ice cream isn't rocket science.

The prevalence of gluten-free food options is no accident. Manufacturers saw that there was a sizable portion of the population who wanted foods that wouldn't wreak havoc on their digestive systems and they responded. To a lesser extent, the same is true for foods catering to the lactose-intolerant among us, but the latter hasn't quite reached the level of the former. There are all sorts of statistics that contradict each other on how many Americans are actually affected by lactose intolerance, but the gist is the same: it's a sizable portion of the population. Our guest today is Katy Flannery, co-founder of Beckon Ice Cream. As someone who suffers from lactose intolerance, she knows firsthand how frustrating it can be to crave a food that you know would not be in your best interest to eat. So she and her co-founder Gwen created an ice cream that seemingly does the impossible: is full of dairy but without the problematic lactose. Listen in as we cover everything from how she kept a photo of Tom Brady from his time at the NFL combine on her desk to inspire her, the importance of knowing when to kick in a door vs finding another one, why they were told to bring on a male co-founder when they started to raise capital (and why they ignored that advice).

Our guest today is Stefanie Olson, founder of SheBuilds. What started out as flipping a single house has turned into a career spent renovating, flipping, and building new properties from the ground up. SheBuilds now tackles entire housing developments, most notably for the town of Paradise, California. In 2018, the Camp Fire raged through Paradise, destroying 95% of its structures and killing 85 people. To this day it remains the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history. Stefanie has been a big part of the rebuilding process, helping those who were displaced by the disaster a chance to call Paradise home once more. Listen in as we cover everything from how she used to go so far as hopping backyard fences to scope out potential flips, why she'll never sell a house without staging it, and why no one ever leaves enough money in the budget for landscaping.

On some level, we're probably all familiar with life-changing events. You never know when or where they'll take place; nor can you predict how you'll emerge from the ordeal. But we can all look back at our lives and pick out at least one point where our trajectories were forever altered. For Jennifer Stojkovic, one such moment came when a close friend was murdered. As she wrestled with the suffering that comes in the wake of such a tragedy, she set out to erase what suffering she could in this world—she became vegan. But to truly make an impact, changing her own dietary regiment wouldn't cut it: she needed to create something bigger than herself. And thus, the Vegan Women Summit was born. But you know by now that there's always more to the story, so listen in as we cover everything from how lab-grown meat is changing what it means to be vegan, why women don't invest, and why vegans don't all fit into the same box.

Our guest today is Joan Barton, founder of Dirty Girl Construction. In another life, Joan was a music composer crafting everything from orchestral symphonies to commercial jingles. But when a friend asked her to oversee the construction of his house, she said yes and figured everything out as she went. The ability to create and build a house from the ground up spoke to her in such a way that she switched careers and went into contracting full time, eventually founding her company in 2008. Joan is now at a point where she can look back at her long career and impart the wisdom of someone who's been around the block a time or two. Hell, at this point she's basically built the block. Listen in as we cover everything from how being a waitress helped her market her company, how the construction industry enabled her to avoid selling out, and why she considers her plumber to be an artist.

The concept of biohacking has been around for a while now, and the term can encompass everything from tracking your sleep to getting a blood transfusion from a younger person in an effort to fight aging. Yes. Really. The idea is to find ways in which we can harness the fullest potential of our bodies so that we may perform at our best in whatever we do. The term biohacking can be a deterrent to some, as the more extreme methods are often the ones that come to mind when discussing its merits. Our guests today are Lauren Berlingeri and Katie Kaps, co-founders of HigherDose. Their goal is to make biohacking more approachable and remove some of the stigmas that comes with it by designing products like the infra-red sauna blanket that can easily be used in a home and by educating their community on the benefits of routine self-care and wellness. Listen in as we cover everything from why biohacking has never appealed to a broad spectrum of women, why it was hard for them to be taken seriously the first time they raised money, and why they decided to offer themselves up as test subjects for the most extreme bio-hacks on the market.

Our guest today is Angela Cacace, founder of Move Over Bob, an online community sharing resources, inspiration, and knowledge to a growing number of women in skilled trades. Bob in this case refers to the men who have long dominated the industry, but Angela isn't trying to make this an 'us vs. them' fight. Instead, she wants those who already have a seat at the table to move over and allow anyone and everyone a chance to join the ranks of skilled trade workers. Listen in as we cover everything from why the No Child Left Behind Act is responsible for a reduced trade labor force, how winning a competition on the show This Old House turned her hobby into a career, and how to deal with the struggle of managing both a family and a business at the same time.

This episode is part of our continuing series centered around NFT communities. Like any other brand, creating a vibrant and engaged NFT community is no easy feat. Yet it is this trait that separates those with staying power from the ones that are only in it for the rug pull. It requires management, moderators, and members to be aligned and in constant communication. Our guest today is LeSandre Morris, founder of Nudie Community. She has built a fiercely loyal and motivated base through creative and intentional marketing which led to selling out all 10,000 Nudies in a matter of minutes. Listen in as we cover everything from why NFT communities are like high school cliques, why it's important to hire from within your community, and why your network is your net worth.