Trailblazers

This week we chat with Annie Reardon! Annie Reardon is co-founder and co-CEO of Ludo and leads marketing and sales for the company. Annie is a front-end engineer and has been building in the infrastructure and big data space for three years. Fascinated by technological infrastructure and future applications of blockchain, Annie is also passionate about making emerging technology more accessible, particularly for women and underrepresented communities.Before founding Ludo, Annie worked as a front-end software engineer with JP Morgan Chase, and previously worked at Influenster. To date, Ludo has raised millions to further the development and expansion of its software. Annie has also been recognized on Crain's 20 in Their Twenties list and Forbes 30 Under 30.Follow Us!Annie Reardon: @annielouuuuLudo: @ludoErica Wenger: @erica_wengerDear Twentysomething: @deartwentysomething

This week our host, Erica Wenger, chats about her most recent essay: Elephant DNA!On this episode Erica dives into the formula to know if your company has "elephant DNA". She goes through the concept of Elephant startups characterized by their transformation of customers into members and the cultivation of communities, examining the primary drivers of these companies, particularly their community-driven nature.Read the essay here: ELEPHANT DNAFollow Us!Erica Wenger: @erica_wengerDear Twentysomething: @deartwentysomething

Tara Bosch made Canadian history by scaling her company to be the fastest growing CPG brand founded by a solo female founder...ever. When a love affair with candy devolved into an unhealthy relationship with food, Tara became inspired by a conversation with her grandmother about the detrimental effects of sugar. She soon dropped out of college to fulfill her dream: to create the future of candy. SmartSweets can now be found in 160,000 stores across the USA & Canada, with partners including Target, Kroger, and Costco. Scaling SmartSweets to be the fastest growing CPG brand founded by a solo female founder in Canadian history, she landed a $360M majority acquisition by TPG capital 4 years after launching the company from her basement.As a leader, Tara is wildly passionate about empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs and believes their big impact-driven visions are needed more than ever before in the world, leading her to create a first-of-its-kind initiative- Bold Beginnings. In addition to fostering connection and tailored support to entrepreneurs with big visions, Tara is working to normalize the feelings of self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and insecurities that all entrepreneurs face, while putting funds back into the ecosystem supporting women entrepreneurs to bring their visions and companies to scale.Publicly, Tara has been recognized for how she beat the statistics of women in entrepreneurship not only by being a solo founder, but maintaining ownership of her brand, keeping gender parity on her board and scaling a team that has always been 80% female-identifying.She is the recipient of several entrepreneurial awards, including being named Canada’s Most Powerful Women Top 100 Award, Forbes 30 under 30, Peter Thiel Fellow, and EY Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year.Follow Us!Tara Bosch: @taraboschSmart Sweets: @SmartSweetsErica Wenger: @erica_wengerDear Twentysomething: @deartwentysomething

This week we chat with Niven McCall-Mazza! Niven McCall-Mazza is Editor-in-Chief of theSkimm, overseeing its news, money, wellness, audio, and video teams. Under her leadership, theSkimm has helped its 12 million+ audience stay up-to-date on current events, focusing on how they specifically affect women's lives, health, and financial security. She has scaled the company's editorial team and products, expanded its DEI efforts, and spearheaded its 2018 midterm election campaign – which activated 200,000 people to vote. Prior to joining theSkimm, McCall-Mazza was a Senior Editor at NBC News, managing the company's breaking news coverage across all platforms. At NBC, she earned an Emmy nomination for her work covering the San Bernardino shooting and an Emmy win for coverage of the 2014 MH17 plane crash. In addition to her role at theSkimm, McCall-Mazza is on the Board of Advisors for Grace Farms Foods, which uses food to foster good in the world. She was also featured on GV's 2021 Impact List as one of 25 women making a difference in their company's culture and success.Follow Us!Niven McCall-Mazza: @nivenmccallmazzatheSkimm: @theSkimmErica Wenger: @erica_wengerDear Twentysomething: @deartwentysomething

Kimmy Scotti, co-founder and CEO of Fig.1 and founding partner at 8VC, is a serial entrepreneur and active investor. She shares her early journey, starting a jewelry line at 15, and how it sparked her passion for entrepreneurship. Kimmy emphasizes the importance of balancing ambition with community involvement and shares insights on nurturing personal growth through resilience. The unique bond she has with her twin boys illustrates her belief in manifestation and goal tracking as tools for achieving one's dreams.

As a Halloween special for this week, our host, Erica Wenger talks about the unsettling myths surrounding fundraising and venture capital.On this episode Erica shares her 2 cents on what people get wrong about fundraising and Venture Capital. Erica delves into the common misconceptions that often mislead aspiring entrepreneurs and offers valuable insights to demystify the world of fundraising, and hopefully help you get ready to navigate the intricacies of VC and fundraising with confidence!For anyone having doubts and fears about becoming an investor or wanting to break into VC, this episode is for you!Follow Us!Erica Wenger: @erica_wengerDear Twentysomething: @deartwentysomething

This week we chat with the one of a kind, B. Pagels-Minor! Erica and B know each other as solo GPs in the early stage venture capital world. In this episode, B shares how they've navigated various industries (including the world of venture as of recently), especially as a non-binary person of color. B has an amazing story, and we were so honored to have them on the pod!B. is an award-winning product strategist, podcast host, startup advisor and investor, executive coach, and a respected thought leader in agile technologies. B.’s fierce drive to promote diversity in tech and impact authentic change continues to define their work and life outside of their work. B. is a proud graduate of Northwestern University with a focus on history and an MBA and master of information systems from Robert Morris University. B. gives back to various organizations by being the Vice Chair & Secretary on the Board of Directors at Howard Brown Health, one of the top 3 largest LGBTQ community health centers in the country, Vice President & Secretary on the Board of Directors at the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago, and Board of Directors of both the Northwestern Alumni Association and Outfest. In 2022, B. Was honored as one of the Queer 50 from Fast Company, 35 Hero Advocate Executives by Involve People and Yahoo Finance UK, and a finalist for 2022 LGBTQNation heroes of the year.Follow Us!B. Pagels-Minor: @bpagelsminorDVRGNT Ventures: @dvrgntventuresErica Wenger: @erica_wengerDear Twentysomething: @deartwentysomething

This week we chat with Mike Jones! Mike is co-founder and managing director of Science, a Los Angeles-based multi-asset investment firm partnering with and investing in disruptive consumer technology companies in traditional venture equity and blockchain investments. As a serial entrepreneur, Mike has built, invested in and been on the board of consumer tech companies like Dollar Shave Club, Liquid Death, and PlayVS. Science’s blockchain practice has invested in Web3 startups such as Dapper Labs, RealBlocks and Protego Trust, which is one of just three banks to have OCC approval to hold custody of digital assets.Before Science, Mike was the CEO of MySpace, and he has advised the founders of Snapchat and TikTok. His experience and expertise in both large and small companies focuses on strategy, growth, and operational efficiency, and has resulted in over $2B in exits. Mike started his first company in college and continues to build new companies within his firm Science Inc. He currently lives in Aspen, Colorado with his wife and two kids.Follow Us!Mike Jones: @mjonesScience Inc: website hereErica Wenger: @erica_wengerDear Twentysomething: @deartwentysomething

This week we’re talking all things angel investing with the enthusiastic & knowledgable, Brian Nichols. In this explained episode, Erica and Brian chat through what exactly angel investing is, who can be an angel investor, how to get deal flow, how to evaluate startups once you get that deal flow, and so much more. Most importantly, Brian shares his story as an angel investor and why/how he joined the Hustle Fund team to build Angel Squad.Over the last decade, Brian has helped build Lyft, Zoox, On Deck, and BlackBird past a combined market cap of over $5B, and helped raise $500M. In 2019, he decided to try something new. He decided to shift his focus from building businesses to investing in them. He teamed up with Ann Miura-Ko to start Uplyft (Lyft alumni syndicate) and it started with 300+ of Lyft’s earliest employees who have invested over $30M+ together. He soon found myself becoming the go-to "alumni syndicate guy” and helped Airbnb, Stripe, Pinterest, DoorDash, and many others get their alumni syndicates off the ground.After opening up the Lyft alumni syndicate to the public (any accredited investor can join, regardless of affiliation with Lyft), he started to notice a trend. There were folks from all over the world, all professional backgrounds, who were investing alongside them. These folks didn't have access to a network, the knowledge, and the guidance that he was lucky to have.So, in October 2020, less than a year into the pandemic, he quit his job and joined Hustle Fund – his favorite early-stage VC – to build Angel Squad. The results were pretty phenomenal. In 2.5 years, 1,400+ people joined Angel Squad, and as a group, they have invested $21M+ in 50+ startups. They have reporters, scientists, founders, and students from all over the world in their community.Follow Us!Brian Nichols: @b_nicks11Read Hustle Fund's Angel Investing Starter Kit HEREErica Wenger: @erica_wengerDear Twentysomething: @deartwentysomething

This week we’re talking all things community design with the expert on all things community, Gina Bianchini. In this explained episode, Erica and Gina chat through the founding story of Mighty Networks (Gina's company), her community design framework, the difference between a community and an audience, and so much more. Gina gives a masterclass on how to build a scalable, self-sustaining community.Gina Bianchini is the Founder & CEO of Mighty Networks. Her mission at Mighty Networks is to usher in a new era of digital businesses built on network effects. Mighty Networks serves small and medium businesses that offer digital memberships, online courses, community, and subscriptions–all offered in one place under their brand, instantly available on every platform.Before Mighty Networks, Gina and Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen launched Ning, a pioneering global platform for creating niche social networks. Under her leadership, Ning grew to ~100 million people in 300,000 active social networks across subcultures, professional networks, entertainment, politics, and education. It was sold for $150M in 2010.In addition to Mighty Networks, Gina serves as a board director of TEGNA (NYSE: TGNA), a $2.7 billion dollar broadcast and digital media company, and served as a board director of Scripps Networks (NASDAQ: SNI), a $14.6 billion dollar public company which owned HGTV, The Food Network, and The Travel Channel that was purchased by Discovery Communications in 2018.Gina and Mighty Networks have been featured in Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Wired, Vanity Fair, Bloomberg, and The New York Times. She has appeared on Charlie Rose, CNBC, and CNN. She grew up in Cupertino, California, graduated with honors from Stanford University, started her career in the nascent High Technology Group at Goldman, Sachs & Co., and received her M.B.A from Stanford Business School.Follow Us!Gina Bianchini: @ginabMighty Networks: @mightynetworksBuy her book Purpose: Design a Community and Change Your Life---A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Your Purpose and Making It Matter HEREErica Wenger: @erica_wengerDear Twentysomething: @deartwentysomething