Future Optimist

Jay Giraud is the CEO & Founder of Damon, and he’s an award-winning mobility entrepreneur, speaker, and inventor. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com ➡️ https://damon.com You might not know this about me, but I got roped into motorcycles by a good friend who convinced me to watch MotoGP. I’ve always enjoyed watching the sport, and the future of electric motorcycles is just so exciting. Damon builds all-electric motorcycles that feel like they come straight from the future. They’ve raised tens of millions in funding and won numerous awards from Popular Science, CES, and more. But most importantly? Learn how he found a life and career of meaning for himself, with plenty of twists and turns along the way.

Gustavo Rubacha is the CEO and Founder of LutiBand and LutiKey, two life-saving devices that he invented after having a heart attack at 37 that changed everything. ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com ➡️ https://lutiband.com LutiBand is the world’s First smartest emergency Wearable. of its kind that helps you stay active, connected, safe, and healthy.  It is a state-of-the-art medical alert device that uses the most advanced technologies to keep people connected and aware of one another's safety at all times.

Ross Blum is the president and COO of Skyline Robotics, makers of Ozmo, the world’s first high-rise window cleaning robot.  ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com All those windows you see downtown? Someone’s gotta clean ‘em. And apparently it’s a $40B industry. Skyline Robotics have already received millions in funding, and Ross has had a meteoric rise to the top that I find fascinating. He’s innovated his way to success in an unlikely category, so there’s lots of gold to be found in this episode. 

Today my guest is Mick Ebeling, a man who’s been named one of Fortune’s 50 greatest leaders, and his organization is the only one ever honored twice by TIME Magazine for top invention of the year. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com His incubator is called Not Impossible, and through it he tackles enormous problems that affect us all, like food insecurity. 50 million people are food insecure in the US, and through Mick’s work, he’s been able to distribute hundreds of thousands of meals with his innovative technology-based solutions. We’ll learn how Mick transformed his career from film and film production into making a meaningful impact around the world. 

Praveen Penmetsa is the CEO of Monarch Tractor, all electric, driverless tractors that are going to revolutionize the way all commercial farming takes place. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com The importance of Praveen’s work cannot be overstated, the very future of humanity depends on developing smarter solutions to manage our farmland. Praveen has gotten over 80 million dollars in funding for his company, and his personal story is so inspiring. Learn how he left India to come to the US, where his talent for engineering led to him building a number of exciting products, ultimately creating his game-changing new company that will change how farming takes place around the world. When you learn what these tractors can do, you’ll be as blown away as I was.

Andrea Demichelis is the founder of Elliot for Water, a mission-driven enterprise to give access to water to millions of people. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com How does it work? Simple. Instead of setting your search engine to Google, set it to elliotforwater.com, and search as you normally would. The ad revenue and search revenue is diverted to organizations providing drinking water and building solar and other renewable energy sources. In 2020, Elliot for Water hit the goal of donating 1 million liters of fresh water. It’s an approach to doing good I’d never considered, and that’s why I know you’ll be fascinated by Andrea Demichelis. 

Gary Oppenheimer is the founder of AmpleHarvest.org, an organization that links millions of amateur gardeners to local pantries. ➡️ Watch this episode on YouTube ➡️ Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com Have you ever had a few too many tomatoes in your garden? Know someone with an extra basket of zucchini? AmpleHarvest.org makes it incredibly easy to make sure that your excess food doesn’t go to waste. Food waste is one of THE defining problems of our era, and Gary Oppenheimer has made it his life’s work to solve it. His efforts have landed him on CNN, in the White House with 2 sitting presidents, on TEDx, and more. I support everything about this man’s journey.

William Santana Li is quite the remarkable individual. Through incredible grit and determination, he rose through the ranks of the Ford Motor Company to become the youngest senior executive at the company at the age of 28. Watch this episode on YouTube Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com He was given a $250 million budget to build a Ford subsidiary called Greenleaf, which led to him getting bitten by the entrepreneurial bug. He was recruited by SoftBank Venture Capital, made famous recently by WeWork & the show WeCrashed, and funded or worked on a series of startups before landing on his current start-up, Knightscope. Knightscope is a publicly traded company that’s raised millions and millions in funding and makes autonomous security robots in silicon valley, to assist with security and law enforcement around the country. Needless to say, in this episode, I’m about to get schooled. 

Daniel Tonkopi is a Ukrainian serial entrepreneur who has forged his own, eco-friendly and thoroughly unique path through life. Watch this episode on YouTube Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com He’s traveled extensively in his career, and now he has a business based in Los Angeles and Kyiv, Ukraine. A series of business ideas led him to founding his current company, Delfast bikes. But this isn’t your ordinary e-bike. Delfast has the Guinness World Record for the longest distance traveled on a single charge, with a range of 200+ miles. The bike also has a max speed of 50mph, making it far and away the most powerful in its class. In light of the current situation, they’re also donating 5% of all sales to support Ukraine. Daniel has such an inspiring story of triumphing over failure and staying true to his roots.

Edward Soffer calls himself an “intropreneur” at Interactive Brokers. Heavily involved in finance, Edward saw a few years back that he wasn’t focusing his attention on what really mattered to him: sustainability. Watch this episode on YouTube Episode Highlights: beattheoftenpath.com With 20 years of experience in financial services, Eddy initiated the IMPACT app at Interactive Brokers, a publicly traded company with billions in capital. Eddy works in what’s called ESG, or Environmental, Social, and Governance. He has spearheaded technology that makes it easier for consumers to understand exactly what they’re investing in, so they can only support companies and missions they believe in. He’s proof that you can facilitate change within your company, and I think you’re going to really get a lot out of this conversation, I know I did.