The Room Podcast

In The Room with Graham Fortgang, Founder of MatchaBar. Season 5 continues with Graham Fortgang, co-founder, and CEO of MatchaBar. Graham runs MatchaBar alongside his brother, Max, whom he’s worked with for over 7 years. We asked Graham why he and Max fell in love with matcha and, to break down their mission of bringing matcha to the mainstream whether through grocery stores, online shipping, or wholesale offerings. From guerrilla marketing in the busiest grocery stores to flying to Japan to study the origins of matcha, Graham has dedicated his life to his cause of bringing more attention to the benefits of matcha over your regular caffeinated drink. This week’s episode explores insights and themes such as the thousand-year-old origins of matcha, the power of hustle in building a business, and tactical tips on being an omnichannel retailer in 2022. Let’s open the door. For The Room Podcast in your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter. 4:29 - What was Graham doing before MatchaBar?6:40 - What made Graham and his brother, Max, decide to take MatchaBar seriously?9:51 - What was it like owning and operating cafés?11:53 - How did guerrilla marketing become an integral part of the MatchaBar brand?13:08 - How did it benefit Graham to study the history of matcha?16:00 - Who were the early suppliers of matcha to MatchaBar?18:02 - How was the transition from real cafés to a CPG brand?20:37 - Who was the first retail partner that believed in MatchBar?22:30 -What brought the decision to capitalize MatchaBar?24:14 - What has been the added value of having household name celebrities as endorsers?25:14 - What is Graham’s favorite matcha drink?26:33 - Why direct to consumer has been successful for MatchaBar and how the company has incorporated E-Commerce?23:44 - What advice does Graham have for another founder planning to rebrand their business?30:10 - Graham discusses how customers are the most sensitive they’ve ever been.31:10 - Who is in Graham’s D2C tech stack?32:22 - What is the next tool or platform that will help brands connect with their customers?35:02 - Where does Graham think this current movement for brand and product transparency is going next?37:05 - What are other trends to look out for in the CPG category?38:19 - What is Graham looking forward to next in his life and career?39:35 - Who is a woman in Graham’s life that had a profound impact on him? Be the first to know when new episodes drop - Receive Our Newsletter Season 5 of The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley. WX Productions

In The Room with Jeremy Cai, Founder, and CEO of Italic. We start off season 5 of The Room with Jeremy Cai, the Founder and CEO of Italic. Jeremy and Italic are changing what it means to be a manufacturer by connecting directly to customers and consumers, breaking from the traditional path of utilizing a middle-man distributor. Jeremy details the evolution of Italic, expanding on the changes they’ve made to the business model. Plus, we ask him about the future of the E-Commerce space and any predictions he may have. For The Room Podcast in your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter. 3:21 - Who is Jeremy Cai and how has his family background influenced his interests?4:42 - Jeremy compares what he learned from his time as a Theil Fellow to his time running his two subsequent startups.8:02 - What inspired the start of Italic? 12:37 - Who was the first manufacturer to sign up with Italic? 15:41 - What was the first product Italic sold and how did Italic get consumers to join?18:01 - What is the design process of Italic’s product offering?22:45 - Was getting a VC the first step in getting Italic off the ground? 23:18 - Who was the first Venture that said yes to supporting Italic? 24:48 - What led Italic to step away from their original mandatory membership model?27:11 - What does Jeremy think the next innovation in E-Commerce is?30:24 - Italic is not a brand but, they can create an experience.32:56 - What is Jeremy’s favorite product on Italic?33:51 - How has the current supply chain crisis affected Italic?35:14 - What advice would Jeremy give to a new E-Commerce startup founder?36:30 - What’s new for Jeremy in 2022?38:29 - Who is a woman that has impacted Jeremy? Be the first to know when new episodes drop - Receive Our Newsletter Season 5 of The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley. WX Productions

Welcome to the last episode of our four-part mini-series Movers & Shakers! This week, Madison and Claudia sit down with Ryan Mundy, Founder & CEO of Alkeme Health. Any football fans? You may also recognize Ryan as the Super Bowl-winning safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After eight seasons in the NFL and playing across three teams, Ryan retired at age 31 and embarked on a self-discovery journey to find his identity outside of football. This led him to spend time both on the investing side at Techlete Ventures and starting his first company SWZLE, a sustainable CPG brand. That year, Ryan and his family faced an unfortunate number of personal health crises, ultimately shedding light on healthcare inequalities that millions of Black Americans must face. From this personal experience came Alkeme Health, a digital health platform that features content from black practitioners and respected experts in wellness, including psychology and mindfulness to tackle the issues that are historically unaddressed by health tech, such as intergenerational trauma, systemic racism, anxiety and microaggressions. The platform is set to launch in January 2022. This week’s episode of The Room Podcast explores insights and themes such as endurance on and off the field, building an ecosystem of culturally competent care, and healthcare's future in America. Let's open the door. Movers & Shakers is proudly sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley.

Welcome back to The Room- today’s conversation is another installment in our mini-series, Movers & Shakers where we sit down with early-stage entrepreneurs to hear about their stories. Today we sit down with Paige Finn Doherty, Founding Partner of Behind Genius Ventures. Behind Genius Ventures is an early-stage fund investing in product-led growth companies and play at the pre-seed/seed stage. They are backed by Bain Capital Ventures, Tribe Capital, Bonfire Ventures, and others. Behind Genius focuses on API-first products, wellness, creator economy, and dev tools. Paige is also the author of Seed to Harvest: A Simple Explanation of Venture Capital. Today we chat about her passions, how she got into venture, and her take on future tech trends. Let’s open the door.

In today’s episode, Claudia and Madison sit down with Gaby Goldberg, an investor at The Chernin Group. A self-proclaimed Gen Zer, Gaby natively understands the creator and gamer economies. Through a self-discovery semester off from Stanford, where she spent time working at a startup in Tel Aviv, Gaby fell in love with venture capital. Through Twitter, she landed her first job in VC at Chapter One. After this experience, she found herself at Bessemer before recently joining The Chernin Group to focus on the evolving space of crypto. Today's episode explores insights and themes including navigating early career milestones, the concept of modern friends, and the future of Web 3. Let’s open the door.

Before the launch of season 5 of The Room Podcast, we are so excited to introduce a four-part mini-series: Movers & Shakers, where Madison and Claudia sit down with early-stage entrepreneurs and influencers to hear their stories. In this week’s episode and series launch, we sit down with Madison Campbell, Co-Founder and CEO of Leda Health, a health and wellness startup turning the conversation around sexual assault into actionable change lead. A company created for survivors by survivors, Leda Health provides the care and resources needed for a full recovery and works towards bettering the many systemic shortcomings surrounding sexual assault services. We chat with Madison on her journey to founding Leda Health and her mission and vision for the future of healthcare and wellness. Let’s open the door.

As we recently wrapped on Season 4 of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia take a trip down memory lane to look back on our past two seasons. Over the past year, we’ve had the most amazing guests come to join us in The Room to share their inspiring stories. Take a look back on some of our key themes and insights from the past two seasons. Thank you so much for joining us for four seasons now! We have so much more in store, but for now, let’s take a look back and open the door.

In the Season 4 finale of The Room Podcast, Madison and Claudia sit down with Andy Ruben, Founder and CEO of Trove, an end-to-end technology and supply chain platform, unlocking second-hand shopping for your favorite brands. Before founding Trove, Andy served on the senior leadership team at Walmart, including the role of Chief Sustainability Officer. A big congratulations to Trove who recently announced their $77.5M Series D funding. With the resale and e-commerce space expected to hit $64B in annual sales by 2028, Trove is at the forefront of enabling top-tier brands like Patagonia, REI, and Lululemon to capture this rapidly growing market. This week’s episode covers key themes such as how we empower sustainable consumption, the art of the reframe, and building a business in a supply-constrained market. Let’s open the door. Season 4 is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley. …

In The Room with Katie Warner Johnson This week on The Room Podcast, we are excited to share our conversation with Katie Warner Johnson, Founder and CEO of Carbon38. Carbon38 is one of the leading activewear e-commerce platforms, carrying brands like Beyond Yoga, Isabel Marant, Adidas by Stella McCartney and their own line. Katie's journey to disrupting the activewear industry started early on as a professional dancer from childhood and later, a Physique 57 fitness instructor. After years of being immersed in the health and fitness world, Katie realized that the sports bras and leggings that were being sold were just not meeting the needs of women. She decided to move to Los Angeles and build a business that provided fashion-forward activewear designed by women, for women. In this episode, Katie talks about the relationship between being a performer and an entrepreneur, serving the needs of her customer, The Boss, empowering women with women-led brands, and the future of activewear. Season 4 is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley.

In The Room with Sashee Chandran In this week’s episode of The Room Podcast with co-hosts Madison and Claudia, they are joined by Sashee Chandran, CEO, and Founder of Tea Drops. Founded in 2015, Tea Drops are organic, ground leaf teas pressed into fun shapes that dissolve in water. Think of a bath bomb, but tea! Using 15% less waste than traditional tea bags, Tea Drops provides an environmentally friendly, convenient, and high-quality tea experience. Tea Drops are now sold in nearly 2000 store retailers around the United States. This week’s key themes include what it's like to start and fund a venture-backed business in the CPG space, the importance of passion and grit, and the future for D2C. Let’s open the door. Season 4 of The Room Podcast is sponsored by our friends at Silicon Valley Bank and Cooley.