Ventures

In this episode of Ventures, my guest Alice Crisci (https://www.instagram.com/fertilityanswers_/)  and I discuss her journey as a cancer survivor and entrepreneur in the medical/fertility space. While many people turn to “Dr. Google” when trying to find answers to their medical questions, Alice and her team have created a more sophisticated and personalized approach for finding answers to fertility-related questions. In addition to talking about MedAnswers and their first vertical, FertilityAnswers, Alice and I also talk about mental health for founders, how to validate an initial entrepreneurial idea, and how to think about smart resource allocations for effective go-to-market strategies.  Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-29 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following:  1:40 - Alice intro, background, cancer survivor, entrepreneur. 7:15 - The earlier years of Alice’s life. Where did the kernel of entrepreneurship come from and what were her early learnings? 10:37 - What did Alice teach those 75 journalism students in her high school years about how to be excellent at sales. 13:16 - How was sales part of Alice’s career in her 20s? 15:53 - Coming through cancer, doing advocacy work, and starting MedAnswers. 18:42 - What was the original pitch that landed Alice’s first $50k investor check? 19:42 - What is MedAnswers? What is the problem? What is the solution? 21:52 - When answering questions online, the more context the better. MedAnswers helps with this. What is an example of the kind of information that MedAnswers provides to experts (anonymously) to give the best possible answers? 23:57 - Education session. How does Alice typically guide someone who is new to the fertility care process? 28:16 - What is PCOS? 29:40 - What is a metabolic disorder? 32:10 - Nuances between Alice’s liberties as a “patient advocate” vs. a medical provider.37:09 - Advice for entrepreneurs about how to get started and know their idea is validated?40:43 - How did Alice initial market her product/service?43:32 - What is epigenetics? Should people stop smoking pot when trying to get pregnant?46:33 - What advice would Alice have for entrepreneurs starting now with regard to their go-to-market strategy. 48:55 - Resource allocation strategies during go-to-market operations.50:44 - Self care. In the dance between raising money, building a product, making customers happy, etc.. How does Alice maintain mental health and sanity? https://www.unplug.com/ https://journey.live/ 57:30 - For MedAnswers, what is the vision in the coming years? Where is Alice and her team heading next?  Healthy babies for healthy families. 1:00:04 - Where can people best find Alice and MedAnswers online? https://fertility.medanswers.com/ https://www.instagram.com/fertilityanswers_/ Special thanks to our sponsor: https://www.startuprocket.com 

In this episode of Ventures, my guest Valerie Groth (https://www.ryanbanksacademy.org/) and I discuss the Ryan Banks Academy story, her background in social work and in Chicago Public Schools, resiliency when starting a school and nonprofit, and life for students in a pandemic. With social entrepreneurship gaining increasing attention globally, in this conversation we dive into a number of topics to help founders think about relevant issues to address with new ventures.Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-28 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following:  2:47 - Val intro, background, and journey into starting Ryan Banks Academy. 6:11 - What is social work? What career paths are available?  8:22 - What do social workers learn in school? What tracks are common?12:08 - What is the work that Val was doing day in and day out during her time working with Chicago public schools? 16:40 - What started the kernel of the idea for Ryan Banks Academy?20:43 - Comment about entrepreneurs who can’t stop thinking about an idea :) 21:18 - What steps did Val start taking initially to make RBA a reality?23:33 - Comment about Madeleine Albright and what she’s had to go through in her career.23:51 - How and when Val left her day job to start her new venture.25:45 - What is Ryan Banks Academy? What stage is the school at in its growth?  28:09 - Fundraising, rallying a team, and establishing a board for a nonprofit.32:29 - What has life been like during the pandemic for RBA? 35:38 - What kind of lessons is Val learning about entrepreneurship in general in this season? 37:09 - From Val’s perspective of inner city dynamics, what social problems can (and should) entrepreneurs be thinking about? What would be her call to action to fellow founders?40:29 - What is Val learning about the conversation around race and racism? How does she think about the conversation? 44:18 - What are the ways in which people can help out with Ryan Banks Academy? 46:43 - What is Val’s vision for RBA in the next 5/10/15 years?  48:05 - Final words for the entrepreneurs, investors, and other listeners curious about RBA. Special thanks to our sponsors: https://mybirdbuddy.com, https://www.startuprocket.com, and https://satchel.works 

In this episode of Ventures, my guest Foxy Davison and I discuss her journey as a community advocate and venture-builder in Seattle’s Central District and beyond. Foxy has a remarkable ability to listen and serve, and we - as fellow entrepreneurs - have many things to learn from her about how to pay attention to our communities. In addition to hearing about her entrepreneurial pursuits, we also discuss how to focus and step back from opportunities that might otherwise seem important, and how to effectively identify an internal compass in order to say yes and no to the appropriate things. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-27 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following:  2:27 - Quick intro and background.3:18 - Where did Foxy first begin to realize that she had entrepreneurial drive and passion?8:02 - In terms of “paying attention to your community”, where did she first begin the process of spinning up new ventures and helping others with theirs?10:58 - Raising awareness and support for those afflicted with Sickle Cell Anemia.13:55 - What lessons did Foxy learn about her community while working as a 4th grade teacher at T.T. Minor?16;30 - What was Foxy up to in St. Louis when she moved there? 18:14 - When she moved back to Seattle (late 2000s), what types of entrepreneurial ventures was she up to?20:45 - What is/was Clean Greens up to? What is their mission? (Bring fresh food to the Central District, and provide jobs for the local community)22:09 - What aspects of the change of the Central District over the past couple of decades were good and not-so-good?24:22 - The Cortona Cafe story27:48 - Lessons for entrepreneurs: listening to our community. Where does Foxy’s story take her after Cortona?36:26 - What is Work Release? What kind of effort was/is Foxy doing in that world?40:03 - Knowing when to say “no” and when to step away. What advice does Foxy have?43:33 - Brainstorming ideas for different programs in the work release world? How did she and her team come up with the idea and test/validate it?46:42 - Lessons to be mined from raising kids. 47:22 - What kinds of ventures is Foxy passionate about in her short to medium future?54:56 - Final words for the entrepreneurs/investors listening in about how to better listen to their markets and communities. 56:29 - FYI - the best way to reach Foxy is via direct email: foxyandjason@q.com  Special thanks to our sponsors: https://mybirdbuddy.com, https://www.startuprocket.com, and https://satchel.works 

In this episode of Ventures, my guest (Jed Collins: https://www.tiktok.com/@fullbackoffinance) and I discuss the basics of financial literacy and Jed’s journey into the NFL and entrepreneurial venture thereafter. Of particular interest is not only Jed’s story and important content he is teaching young people, but also how he has been using TikTok as a marketing engine to grow his business. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-26 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following:  2:50 - Jed intro and background; his journey into the NFL and into now teaching financial literacy.9:02 - Jed was a receiving tight end at Washington State University. He had 53 catches his senior year (which is amazing). Question: What’s the story from there to getting into the NFL?16:14 - What is Jed up to these days? 21:29 - What is the basic motivation, structure, and content of Jed’s book: https://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-Vehicle-Driving-Financial-ebook/dp/B08596991L 27:18 - This curriculum needs to be in every school across America. How are things going with Jed’s entrepreneurial journey? 32:16 - Regarding founders with their day job, what financial lens should they be thinking about regarding when to leave their day job. 35:30 - Word of caution to hold on to the day job as long as you can.37:20 - Once you fully understand that you have something - and it’s validated - then it’s best to build the day job.38:00 - “When is my idea validated?”38:35 - In what ways has Jed approached marketing his book and course?40:00 - TikTok marketing; how to find an audience there. 43:33 - What is the difference in the audience and mechanisms on TikTok? 45:40 - What is Jed’s big picture vision? What is his hope for humanity? 1m people to U.S.E (Understand, Strategic, and be Efficient) money and open a ROTH account.49:22 - How can people find Jed online? https://yourmoneyvehicle.com and FullbackofFinance on the socials. https://twitter.com/fullbackfinance // https://www.tiktok.com/@fullbackoffinance 

In this episode of Ventures, Sol Cates (https://twitter.com/solcates, cloud and cybersecurity expert at Thales) and I discuss advice for founders regarding technical infrastructure security. We also have a bit of a Random Show at the end of the year here as we discuss ways to combat COVID-19, provide technical founder training, practice self-discovery with the Enneagram, and think about New Year’s Resolutions. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-25 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following:  3:10 - Sol intro, cloud and cybersecurity expert at Thales. 8:40 - What advice does Sol have for startup founders with regard to cyber security and security by design? Follow a good framework such as Cloud Native. 14:10 - Rapid Antigen Tests. See: https://satchel.works/@wclittle/a-primer-on-viruses-antigens-antibodies-contagiousness-vaccines-and-covid-19-testing Also see: Michael Mina, MD, PhD (Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Immunology, Harvard) that if we were all equipped with rapid antigen tests, we could defeat COVID-19 within a month. Check out this article he wrote in Time and this podcast he did recently with Lex Fridman.   18:11 - Technical founder training & learning to code. Motivation / background. See: https://satchel.works/@wclittle/learn-to-code-as-an-entrepreneur &  https://www.codefellows.org/ & https://hotwire.dev/ 25:33 - The Enneagram. Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality and Google search around to follow the rabbit trails. 41:29 - New Year's Resolutions. How to develop models that work. Diet, exercise, sleep, time management, money, etc.. For doing your homework on health science, for example, check out: https://satchel.works/@wclittle/health-science.  46:58 - Last word of advice from Sol; never let a crisis go to waste, build a team of experts around you. 47:38 - Find and follow Sol at https://twitter.com/solcates Sponsors: https://satchel.works, https://www.startuprocket.com, https://mybirdbuddy.com 

In this episode of Ventures, Joel Fariss (https://joelfariss.com; a design research and strategic futures associate at Gensler) and I continue our conversation from Episode 21 and explore the implications of self-defined virtual identities and data stores as it relates to innovation, human progress, Dream Thinking, and Web 3.0.  Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-24 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here.In this episode we cover the following:  1:56 - Recap of Episode 21, the epistemology of design, the future of work, and opportunities for humanity to make lemonade out of this lemon of a year. 2:30 - Discussing the tee-up of virtual identities, Kanye’s recent hologram gift to Kim, and identity in the Web 3 era. 9:31 - Problems with confirming identities, including virtual identities that are tied to the same human. What types of problems/crises will be associated with this?14:35 - Pent up anger / frustration in society right now across politics and sociology. In the early days of the Internet, where our inner thoughts began being published online, that became problematic. What dangers (and promising signs) do we need to watch out for in the 2020s?29:58 - If we were to design a utopian future where virtual identities are playing a key role, what would that look like? In fact, how do we define flourishing as humans? United Nations: Universal Declaration of Human Rights28:03 - The importance of improving childhood experiences to bring about a better world; a lot of work is needed here. The human brain is constantly thinking about terrible things and beautiful wonderful things. How do we design a future to tease out the beautiful things? 35:14 - The Web 3 era will allow people to own their own identities and data. Is there a future where new markets are created for subsets of people’s virtual identities? How is Joel thinking about this in the Web 3 world? (A discussion on virtual influencers)43:15 - Reinventing roads / basic public infrastructure. 43:26 - New economies are going emerge, which will require new value creation, and technology innovation will be the driver of this. 45:30 - In Joel’s work at Gensler as a design researcher, what does he see the coming year looking like in terms of the corporate world and work design? 51:44 - Final thoughts around the concept of virtual identities and human flourishing in the web 3 era. Dream Thinking. How are we going to encourage people to be “good” ? We have a grand call to action for entrepreneurs.

In this episode of Ventures, my guests Franci Zidar (https://mybirdbuddy.com) and Kyle Buzzard (https://protaventures.com) discuss the Bird Buddy story from an idea to a successful Kickstarter campaign. Bird Buddy is a smart bird feeder that notifies users of visiting birds with a live stream and AI-assisted photo capturing features. We discuss many aspects of the story to date, including early validation work, design interactions, and the incorporation of feedback from interested customers. We also dive into practical advice for aspiring hardware/IoT entrepreneurs considering a Kickstarter campaign as part of their marketing strategy. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-23 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following:   1:40 - Franci intro, path as a technical entrepreneur leading up to him co-founding Bird Buddy2:32 - Kyle’s intro, path as an industrial designer, Bay Area to Chicago, to being a partner at Prota Ventures working with the Bird Buddy team.3:27 - Introduction to Bird Buddy. Where did the idea come from? 7:23 - At what point did the team get serious about testing the validity of Bird Buddy as a business? What did those tests look like? 11:24 - Kyle’s advice for founders building hardware/IoT startups; how to best validate an idea in the early stages, using Bird Buddy as an example.13:24 - Where did the Bird Buddy and Prota Ventures stories converge?  (Shout out to Danny and Daniel from https://ioterra.com/ for the intro)17:09 - For hardware entrepreneurs trying to figure out next steps - once they are serious about taking their business to the next level - what advice does Kyle have? 18:55 - Comments on “Hardware is Hard” in the VC/Angel community.21:31 - What information was Franci looking for when he was Googling around and found Ioterra and Prota? 23:55 - What is the history of the design of Bird Buddy? 27:16 - Product details of Bird Buddy. What was the rationale for the features? 31:26 - Product materials and industrial design in light of the brand strategy; i.e. the balance between fun/playful and tech-focused. 35:02 - How is the Bird Buddy powered? 36:17 - What is the vision for the software, data, and AI features moving forward? 41:27 - What questions are bird experts/scientists/conservationists (ornithologists) asking?45:25 - Kickstarter strategy advice for hardware entrepreneurs, building community, and the evolving purpose of Kickstarter from “incubator to accelerator.” 50:33 - How has the Bird Buddy team been communicating with their audience? Check out: https://www.facebook.com/mybirdbuddy 55:30 - Community development: groups on social media/slack vs. direct email and facebook pages. “Bird of the Day” and steady blog content. 58:10 - How did/does the Bird Buddy team think about Public Relations leading up to (and through) the Kickstarter campaign? 1:02:00 - Final words of encouragement and advice for entrepreneurs. 1:04:50 - How can people follow up with Franci and Kyle? https://www.linkedin.com/in/franci-zidar/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-buzzard/ 

In this episode of ventures, my guests Joe Clarke (TaskBill.io) and David Parrott (ProtaVentures.com) and I dive deep into the world of web development. We discuss its history over the past few decades, languages and frameworks, tools for entrepreneurs, tips for those learning to code, and thoughts about the upcoming “New Magic” from the Rails and Basecamp communities.FYI: If you are learning to code, check out my new series: https://satchel.works/@wclittle/learn-to-code-as-an-entrepreneur For this podcast episode, visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-22 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following:   2:58 - Joe intro, journey as an entrepreneur, TaskBill.io and Hosting Playground5:02 - David intro, journey from video games to over a decade at Amazon Web Services8:22 - Code and the teenage years. What Joe and David did when they were that age, and their advice for teenagers today.15:06 - Will’s journey from elementary school, middle school, and high school learning to code a little bit here and there.17:19 - What were Joe and David doing and learning during the 2000s and 2010s? What programming languages were they working with and what kind of applications were they building? 24:29 - Big shifts in the late 2000s and 2010s, jQuery, Single-Page Applications, how were Joe and David thinking about modern web applications during this time? 29:24 - From a pure education standpoint, describing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and frameworks on top of JavaScript. 30:30 - What stack did/does Joe build his companies on? How did/does he think about JavaScript frameworks?33:34 - Will’s experience with Angular 1 & 2, Ember, Backbone.js, React, Redux, and how he advised founders to think about their software stack for their startup. 33:05 - A brief journey through David’s experience with AWS. What did he learn during that season and how he thinks about progressive web apps, StimulusReflex, and Rails. 41:03 - Does Rails scale? How do Joe and David think about this question? 46:55 - What are Service-oriented architectures? 50:17 - What are “Serverless” architectures?53:08 - What is Joe learning now in the Stimulus/StimulusReflex as he’s building Taskbill.io? What is TaskBill? 57:58 - What do Joe and David think about the upcoming “New Magic” that the basecamp team is releasing? What do they think it will be? What potential pitfalls might there be? 1:04:05 - For the developers considering using Stimulus/StimulusReflex and/or New Magic, what are considerations to keep in mind when choosing your software stack? 1:09:58 - Discussing how developers have a choice to determine where RAM and CPU computation take place (i.e. on client machines or on back-end servers). 1:11:54 - Final words from Joe and David. Advice for entrepreneurs choosing their stack, and advice for investors doing diligence on technical teams.1:17:12 - People can find Joe @jclarke on Twitter, and at TaskBill.io, and get a hold of David at https://protaventures.com. 

In this episode, Joel Fariss - a design research and strategic futures associate at Gensler (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelfariss/) - and I discuss the nuances of the word “design” in light of 2020 and the future of work and innovation. Based on his experience at Gensler and in the nonprofit world, we dive into the connection between design and value for humanity, the need for time and space for humans to innovate, and the role of grief to create a more equitable work environment. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-21 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following:   2:40 - Joel intro, design and his journey into Gensler. Design “as a mental model for perceiving the world”. 6:18 - How does Joel think about and define “Design” more broadly? In thinking about the trajectory of human civilization, check out The Ascent of Humanity by Charles Eisenstein.11:53 - Thoughts about design as a software engineer.19:30 - Why we do what we do. The importance of the heuristic of “how am I contributing to humanity”? In thinking about the trajectory of human civilization, check out The Ascent of Humanity by Charles Eisenstein.21:43 - Will as a grad student, thinking about time efficiency, practicality, contributions to society, and designing experiments.23:18 - Standing on the shoulder of giants. Where good ideas come from. The adjacent possible.  25:28 - Thoughts around the future of work and humanity in light of the pandemic. 36:48 - Where does humanity need to go? What needs to be introduced into the Future of Work conversation to benefit humanity? Some great reads regarding work: Brave New Work, Theory and Practice of Resistance to Work, Bullshit Jobs, Can't Even, Dying for a Paycheck, Humanocracy, and Reinventing Organizations. On data, value creation, and future economics check out Who Owns the Future, Radical Markets, Neo Feudalism, Debt, and The Post American World.43:04 - Doing what we can as society to give people more time, which can lead to adjacent possibilities. At the heart of innovation, what has Joel seen “not work” and what has he seen that is promising?49:06 - From a DE&I perspective, what has Joel seen in light of the pandemic and changing landscape of work and design? We talk about the role of grief as an important part of the work environment. To learn more about what grief is and why it is so important, read The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis Weller.55:01 - Where can people find more about Joel online? http://joelfariss.com // https://twitter.com/joelfariss // https://instagram.com/joel.fariss/

In today’s episode of Ventures I had the honor of interviewing Omari Salisbury (https://twitter.com/Omarisal) about his journey as an entrepreneur in the international media space, his company Converge Media (https://www.whereweconverge.com/), their unique spotlight in Seattle, and their new campaign NoExcusesJobs (https://NoExcusesJobs.com) in collaboration with Prota Ventures (https://www.protaventures.com).  Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-20 for detailed notes and links to resources (videos, articles, etc…) mentioned. You can watch this episode via video here. In this episode we cover the following:   2:41 - Omari intro / background / what he’s up to at Converge Media.4:49 - When did Omari know that entrepreneurship was in his DNA?9:40 - What kind of work did Omari do while he was a teenager into his early 20s? 17:14 - How did Omari end up doing radio and media in the Middle East and Africa?  23:12 - Importance of life experience that facilitates people from all over the world to be successful entrepreneurs in the USA, and more about Omari’s experiences abroad and locally in Seattle. 29:40 - What motivates Omari to be genuinely interested in people and the truth? Where did this drive of curiosity come from?37:25 - A discussion about biases and prejudices. How does Omari listen and learn? How should we collectively listen and learn? 45:58 - From Omari’s perspective, what’s his general thoughts on DE&I efforts globally and overcoming biases?52:07 - What is the vision and mission of Converge Media? How are Omari and his team executing toward that vision/mission? 57:56 - A discussion about https://NoExcusesJobs.com // Why Omari is launching a campaign to help people of color land living-wage jobs. 1:02:39 - Final words from Omari to entrepreneurs and investors. 1:11:52 - How can people practically help out Omari and Converge? https://www.whereweconverge.com/donate 1:14:15 - Is Converge currently taking on sponsors? (Yes, and Omari talks about what that relationship can look like),